Races of Wild

CHAPTER 3RAPTORANS80a sapling tree. They often contain miniature birds’ nests aswell as love potions and fertility charms left there as offeringsto the goddess.Rites: Clerics of Ventila bless weddings, raptoran hatchlings,the proceeds of every hunt, and the land around the cliffdwelling. At the beginning of each spring, a great festival isheld at which couples plight their troth. Ventila’s clerics alsopreside at the feast that precedes a young raptoran’s departureon the Walk of the Four Winds.Herald and Allies: Ventila’s herald is a 20th-level raptorancleric. Her allies include Medium, Large, and Hugewater elementals.Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff.RAPTORAN HISTORYAND FOLKLOREEvery raptoran has heard just about all the legends of therace, but few strangers ever witness such tales. Raptoransare willing to tell these tales to nonraptoran friends theyhave come to trust, but they otherwise keep them withintheir flocks.Two of the most often told raptorian legends aresummarized below.MYTHIC ORIGINS:TUILVIEL AND THE BOARIn the days when the mortal races were young, TuilvielGlithien kept to herself, rarely spending any time with theother gods and gliding through the night skies alone. Hersolitary nature drew the attention of Lolth, who claimed thenight and resented Tuilviel’s influence over it. Lolth decidedto trap the winged huntress and slay her.After turning herself into a fearsome boar, Lolth let Tuilvielspot her from above and then began to run. The Queen of Airand Night had never before encountered a boar that couldrun so fast or so far. On and on she flew in pursuit of thebeast, striving to plunge her foot spikes into its flesh at everyopportunity. Still the boar ran, diving into the underbrushwhen Tuilviel flew low and emerging again at a dead run. Theboar’s hooves tore deep ruts into the earth as it ran, keepingahead of its winged pursuer.At last, the boar ran into a canyon whose mouth was overgrownwith brambles. Thinking she had the boar cornered,Tuilviel dove into the canyon, only to find that it had no exitand the brambles held her fast.Still in boar form, Lolth attacked Tuilviel. Realizing thatshe was outmatched on the ground, the Queen of Air andNight ripped herself free of the brambles and took to thesky. From above, she tore at the remaining brambles, peelingaway the boar’s defensive shield. Finally, she seized the boarand flew away with him. The boar struggled mightily, butTuilviel held fast. Droplets of blood from the many woundsshe had already sustained rained down to the earth, formingthe first raptorans where they struck.On and on she flew, and finally she reached a great crevassethat led directly to the realms below the earth. After droppingthe boar into this pit, Tuilviel settled onto a nearby tree to rest.The night was hers, and never again would Lolth succeed inreclaiming it. Ever since that day, the raptorans have shareda hatred of Lolth with all elves who are not drow.THE RAPTORAN WHODEBATED WITH HIMSELFLong ago, a band of orcs sought to make war on an encampmentof humans who intended to found a town on the edgeof the wilderness. The aggressors scouted the area, thencamped in a hidden canyon to discuss their plans. In a shorttime, several raptoran sentries challenged them. The orcs,not realizing that simply asking permission to camp wouldprobably have enabled them to stay without incident, attackedthe winged creatures immediately.Fiercely the raptorans fought, and their footbows downedseveral of the enemy. In the end, however, the orcs prevailed,slaying all except one raptoran. They captured the survivor,who was named Yuilith.“You,” said the orc leader, “will fly to the humans andtell them that the orc tribe is peaceful and intends to sendrepresentatives at dawn tomorrow to offer an alliance.”“Do not think to do otherwise,” warned another orc,“because I will follow you and shoot you from the sky if youtry to fly away or if you say anything else to the humans.”The orcs let Yuilith go and sent their finest archer out tokeep track of him.“Hah! Good plan! Sneaky plan!” said the other orcs afterthe raptoran had left. “We really attack at dusk, before they’reready! They’ll never expect us!”As Yuilith flew toward the humans’ settlement, careful notto get too far away from the orc archer that followed him onthe ground, he wrestled within himself about what to do.If he told the humans what the orcs wanted him to say, hemight survive to return to his flock and share the tale of thisgreat adventure—yet at the same time he realized that theorcs were almost certainly not telling the truth.I wish I could return to the flock and put this matter up fordebate, Yuilith thought. I may not be qualified to make thisdecision myself.On the other hand, Yuilith realized, his raptoran upbringingwas supposed to have made him self-reliant. He hadlearned how to fend for himself in perilous situations whilehe was on the Walk of the Four Winds, and perhaps he couldalso rely on his good judgment to make the right decision inthis crisis.Yuilith went back and forth in his mind between sayingwhat the orcs wanted and warning the humans to beware ofthese savages—between possibly escaping with his life andprobably being skewered by an arrow if he disobeyed theorcs’ instructions. Finally he neared the humans’ camp, anddecision time was upon him.Landing on a tree branch at the outskirts of the encampment,he called to the humans. “Good day!” he cried.