The Keas were a sentient species of modified keas/parrots that lived on the planet Nest, originally native to Earth. They developed intelligence through many generations of selective breeding.[1]
Biology[]
Personality[]
Though personality differed on an individual basis, overall the Keas were extremely mischevious and playful, like their Earth counterparts. When speaking, they would insert extra syllables and out-of-tune notes, and change topics constantly and then change back and expect the Ravens to follow them. When the Humans from Lusitania arrived on the planet, the Keas would either steal their items or poop on them repeatedly.[1]
History[]
Origin[]
Before 87 BX, the current Mother of the Quispe mining clan loved and studied birds. She had been a scientist on Earth, before she followed her husband into space. She brought with her two populations of birds that she knew well, Keas and Ravens, as they were the most intelligent kinds. For some reason, the Mother was worried about the Earth being destroyed in an alien invasion, and so she also brought with her the frozen embryos of thousands of other species. She named the ship of the Quispe the Ark, as they would be prepared to find another world and bring to life the plants and animals from Earth. The clan remained in the Kuiper Belt, and made their living by mining asteroids and sending metals back to Earth.[1]
In 87 BX when the Formics invaded the Sol System, the crew witnessed the defeat of the onslaught of the Formic Scout Ship, but also saw a larger fleet amassing outside of the system, and decided that they could not help humanity in the Second Formic War. The Mother assembled the crew in the cargo bay and asked the crew if they would go with her to find another world and save humanity from extinction. The Ark was capable of this voyage, especially after they took possession of a habitat module from an abandoned trading post in The Belt. It was already growing enough food crops to sustain ten times their population, and it had plenty of room for the birds free to soar and fly, to nest and breed.[1]
During the voyage, the birds bred intelligence into themselves. After around two centuries of voyaging, the Ark had arrived on a habitable world, and it was named Nest and settled by the Runa, the Yachachiyruna, the Keas and the Ravens.[1]
The ravens continue to breed themselves into ever greater intelligence. The Keas saw how closely the ravens communicated with the humans, and the great advantages they gained, and so the keas began to encourage the most intelligent birds to mate.[1]
In the second century of the colony around 313 AX, some humans were so furious with the mischief of the Keas that they started making traps and caging them where they could do no harm to humans' projects. When the Ravens saw it, they declared a relentless guerrilla war against the village of humans. The humans could do nothing without constant bombardment and tearing. Everything they built the bids broke or weakened, and the birds pecked at their faces, tearing their ears. The birds never blinded any of them, as they wanted it to be a war whose scars might heal. To avoid them, many of the villagers took refuge underground. The Ravens opened the cages and set the Keas free, forging an alliance between the birds. Thus, the Folk of Nest retreated fully underground and decided to live separately from the birds. However, they bore a deep resentment against the birds. Every few centuries, some group of humans would seek to take back the surface, with slogans like, 'We made them smart, now make them obedient."[1]
The Last Shadow[]
When Peter Wiggin II and Si Wang-mu arrived on the surface of Nest for the second time, they were swarmed by Keas who took their belongings. Royal Son, nameless at the time, spoke into Wang-mu's ear as he was the one with the best human speech among the group. When the Raven Dog appeared they scattered. After some time had passed, Wang-mu stressed to Dog that they needed their belongings back or else they would leave. Within moments, the Keas had swarmed all over them, returning everything.[1]
A few days later, the Folk invited the Lusitanians to a banquet underground. However, when they arrived, the Folk used a biological weapon and attempted to kill the Lusitanians. When they escaped, they turned against the other species of Nest with an ultrasound and infrasound riot control weapon that the Yachachi Ruqyaq had created 20 years ago, killing hundreds of Ravens and Keas. Soon after, the Lusitanians arrived with a Box to rescue the birds and Yachachi. Jane sent the Box full with birds back and forth dozens of times, after instructing the Keas not to damage things on Lusitania. Eventually there was no birds left except for a few that hovered off in the distance, apparently with no wish to go even under threat of death.[1]
The humans then went to the meadow on Lusitania to sort the birds. Jane told them to divide themselves into their breeding populations, then instructed the Keas to form a group who wanted to be alone and a group that wished to be with the Ravens, as they could not be trusted with humans. One by one the patches of birds disappeared as Jane sent them to the colonies.[1]