The Ravens were a sentient species of modified ravens that lived on the planet Nest, originally native to Earth. They developed intelligence through many generations of selective breeding.[1]
Biology[]
Ravens were nearly identical to their Earth-equivalents, except they possessed the capability for human-like speech and thought. As they bred for intelligence during their journey, they expanded their lifespans from 20 years to about 40 years. However, like Earth Ravens, laying eggs shortened the lifespan of females. They also developed the capacity for philotic communication, being able to speak mind-to-mind over lightyears of distance. However, not all Ravens were adept at this.[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. They have many more generations per century than humans have, and the ravens began determining which birds should pair up and breed. Ruthlessly they killed those that they determined should not breed at all. By the time they reached a habitable world, all the living ravens understood human speech. As the colony formed, the ravens scouted and reported the flora and fauna of this world. 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. The Ravens continued to breed themselves to even greater intelligence.[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.[1]
The Last Shadow[]
In 3180 AX 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. The Raven Dog appeared and they scattered. Dog invivted them to meet the council of birds, and they followed Dog. After exchanging names, Dog asked why they thought the planet would have diseases, to which Wang-mu explained how they had recieved transmissions for how to build the Descolada molecule from the planet previously. When Wang-mu again requested for their belongings back, a swam of Ravens appeared, and Peter teleported them several kilometers away. They returned shortly with the Raven named Phoenix, to which Dog asked why they risked the life of their messenger. Dog asked if they would take her, but they refused until they had their belongings back. Within moments, the Keas had swarmed all over them, returning everything. Wang-mu asked for the Kea that had origininally spoke in her ear, and she named him Royal Son after explaining her own name. Royal Son asked to return to their planet with Peter and Wang-mu, to which Wang-mu deferred to the Council. Dog said that Royal Son was of little impotance so they agreed. The Humans and Royal Son teleported away.[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 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. 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, but Dog and Phoenix remained to test whether they could Philotically communicate with the Ravens in the colonies from Lusitania.[1]