Adventures in Soliverance - NPC Kenku

 As part of the groundwork for the game I put together character profiles for the main NPC's that you can choose to be part of your group in the game, this will help during the process of making the narrative game as I can relate back to this document when trying to understand how certain choices made in the game by the player would be perceived by the NPC's or how they may react etc. I also intend for 3 possible outcomes for character to character interactions based on the players perceptions which itself can be based on how many conversations the player were willing to have, basing these 3 outcomes as good/neutral/evil similar to the D&D and ethical belief system of the Lawful-chaotic alignment chart.

1. KENKU

Name - Batswoop

Unlike most races, Kenku names are unique verbal snippets rather than words. Because Kenku identify each other by sound, names mimic noises and voices:

• Warriors take combat sounds like Sword Slice, Bow Twang, or Skull Crack.
• Criminals use animal noises—Barker, Growler, Whiskers, or Squawker. This sends covert signals.
• Artisans pick craft sounds: Metal Hammer, Chisel Chips, or Brush Strokes.

Class - Rogue/Assassin

So this gives understanding to the name of this character now as being an assassin they would aim to be as silent as possible, hence the name being a very stealthy silent sound.

Appearance - Imagine a humanoid raven, stalking the rain-slicked streets of your favourite fantasy metropolis, cloak pulled tight to conceal glittering black feathers. This is the Kenku, though wingless they possess unrivalled talents of infiltration, deception and thievery. Their signature mimicry allows near-perfect imitation of voices and sounds. Yet beneath the sneaky exterior lays profound melancholy - the Kenku remains haunted by the loss of their wings and voice.

The Kenku were winged ravenfolk who dwelled on the Elemental Plane of Air in service to a mysterious, powerful patron. In their greed and hubris, the Kenku conspired to steal a prized treasure from their master and escape to the Material Plane. But their scheme was discovered, and the furious patron cursed the Kenku for their betrayal.

This primal curse contained three terrible afflictions:

1. The Kenku's wings burned away, banishing them from the skies forever. Even today, Kenku feel compelled to dwell in towers and high ruins, longing for their lost flight.
2. The spark of creativity was snatched from their souls, leaving the Kenku unable to conceive new ideas or create original works. Their talents now lie in mimicry and duplication.
3. Finally, their voices were ripped away, forcing the Kenku to communicate solely through sounds and voices copied from others. Kenku speak via disjointed mimicry.

Cast out of the skies and bereft of original thought, voiceless Kenku were left to wander the Material Plane as exiles. Without wings, most survived through cunning and thievery in downtrodden cities. Their talents developed towards infiltrating, spying, scamming, and other roguish deeds.

Kenku now live in nomadic flocks, each member contributing how they can, from elders who share wisdom to hatchlings learning survival skills through mimicry. United by loss, the Kenku dream of reclaiming what was taken—a dream that sometimes compels them toward adventure.

Batswoop is about 5 foot tall with silky black feathers covering his form, wearing tattered black hooded robes with red glyphs as a trim over the top of brown leather armour adorned with plenty of pouches containing a number of smoke bombs, throwing knives and invisibility potions etc. For weaponry Batswoop owns an ornate pair of Ebony daggers shaped like talons with feathered handles that hold a raven head as a pommel, one with sapphire eyes and the other with ruby eyes, choosing to kill targets with the ruby eyed blade and defensive kills being made with the sapphire eyed blade. Around his neck is always a silver necklace with a pendant in the form of an all-seeing eye, the symbol of his flock of assassins symbolising their inner eye and dream of regaining their wings, creativity and voice. 

Interactions 

Lizardfolk character mistakes the Kenku's necklace as a symbol of another of her gods as an Imix symbol (her religion is based on the Mayan one and the Imix is a symbol of the underworld and representative of the very idea of multiple different dimensions and existences. Consequently, it's also associated with madness and insanity). Due to not being able to explain otherwise due to lack of voice brings frustration to the Kenku.

good - After conversing with both characters you understand the mixed communication due to the Lizardfolk being blinded by her faith and the Kenku unable to use language, and are able to act as a go between and explain what each character believes the symbol is to each other

neutral - You pay no attention to these characters and learn nothing of their squabble over the necklace and it goes no further.

evil - You understand both sides of the characters belief over the necklace but take one side over the other depending on your own perceptions;

 If you take the lizardfolks side you believe that the Kenku has succumbed to a madness due to their own curse and defend their plan to remove the creature from the group during the trip in the tomb where they attempt to attack the Kenku who stabs the Lizardfolk with their Sapphire-eyed dagger.

If you take the Kenku's side you believe that the Lizardfolk's god is a false god and is actually the patron who cursed his race and she has been sent to cause more pain to his already insufferable life and she is actually one of his marks, allowing him to take her life with his ruby-eyed dagger.

The Kenku is fascinated by the Dwarves ability to constantly fix things around the village. could they possibly fix his curse, the dwarf is equally interested in the craftmanship of the Kenku's daggers. But you could mistake the Kenku's excitement at the Dwarf possibly being part of the party as the Dwarf being a mark for them to kill and may either leave one of them behind or bring both to see what occurs.

good - You bring the characters closer together after constantly conversing with the Kenku and learning about their curse and if they both make it out of the tomb the Dwarf will promise to build the Kenku a mechanical pair of wings.

neutral - The Kenku is never able to communicate with the Dwarf due to inability to access language but the Dwarf can still find out the origin of the daggers from just observing them if they are ever brought out in front of him.

evil - The Dwarf learns of the Kenku's assassin background rather than just a rogue and learns nothing of their backstory so has no empathy refusing to have anything to do with them and if they also learn of your lies about the Pericolosum in the mine entrance to the tomb he will assume you are in cahoots with the Kenku to kill someone in the group and sabotage one of your exits. 

The Wood elf cares for all forest creatures and so has a positive affinity for the Kenku, well aware of the tragedy of their race since elves are one of the eldest races in the land. They can work well together and even help overcome the Kenku's language barriers if left to work together in groups. However the Wood elf can offer a romantic interest to the player as well so depending on their own perception of each character can lead to jealousy over the closeness of the two or perceived jealousy from the player of the Kenku if not spoken with enough i.e. if you follow a romance option with the Wood elf but don't communicate with the Kenku you may perceive their actions as jealousy rather than wanting the wood elf to help explain what they mean to someone.

good -  The Kenku is able to form good relations with the rest of the party through the Wood elves assistance with language and move away from the assassins flock into a new one within the village now among friends, and you can still attain a romantic relationship with the Wood elf herself if good communication is had with both characters.

neutral - No advantage is gained or lost with the Kenku's language barrier nor a full romantic investment with the Wood elf is reached as neither character is fully communicated with.

evil - Out of jealousy from yourself you can attempt to kill the Kenku and he will stab you in defence with the Sapphire-eyed dagger but not deliver a killing blow, this leads to the Wood elf leaving the adventure. Or out of perceived jealousy from the Kenku you are in a situation where they reach for their blade and you instinctively push them down a hole but it turns out they were reaching for a throwing knife to help with the task at hand your own lack of communication attempts with them meant you didn't understand how precise they were with them. This may occur differently as the situation has you stood on one side of a hole with a button on the other side needing to be pressed and the Wood elf can also do this among others.

Due to the Warforged's aversion and disinclination to battle and violence they do not naturally see eye to eye with the Kenku, who's' whole line of work is violent death. The Warforged will desire to have the Kenku not involved with the group so any choices of splitting the group they will choose the group without the Kenku however you can try to help them understand each other a little better and why the Kenku has gone down the path they have chosen and why the Warforged is against violence.

good - The pair will come to an understanding of each others life journey's and how they came to be who they were with the significant stances on violence, similarly to the good interactions with the wood elf, the Kenku will find a home within the community of Wyvernpond and find they no longer need to follow a life of an assassin and thus can live a much more peaceful life.

neutral - With little to no interactions with the pair they will continue to avoid being in each others presence and continue with their opposing views on violence and lifestyle choices.

evil - Depending on the characters viewpoints you side with can alternate how they end with each other, if you side with the Warforged they will commit their last act of necessary violence by burning away the Kenku's hands so they can no longer use them for violence which will utterly traumatise the Kenku who's brought back to the memories of his races wings being burnt. The Warforged then self-destructs so as to never be able to commit acts of violence ever again.  If you side with the Kenku then they will get sick of the Warforged's lack of violence unless attacked and will stealthily attack them with a throwing knife to a key point on their back that removes their aversion to violence however it also restarts their processors and they no longer remember their history of the war or the loss of their closest friend which is where their human name came from instead responding to the original serial number designation given to them UBX51292

There is a jealousy from the Kenku aimed at the half-orc due to one having little to no use of language with the half-orc being able to perform to crowds with their voice. Though the Kenku doesn't understand that the half-orc is one of the worst bards in the lands.

good - The Kenku will use it's mimicry skill to emulate the half-orcs voice and together will be able to produce a more harmonious tone.

neutral - You pay no attention to these characters and learn nothing of the Kenku's jealousy of the half-orcs voice.

evil - If you choose to see the Kenku as nothing more than a killer and don't try to understand where their jealousy comes from they will go on to slice the half-orc's throat at some point so as to be no longer triggered by the singing from them.

The changeling is an unknown when it comes to the group, almost a reflection of the player character due to their ability to change into anything and will take a keen interest into any of the other characters if given the ability to do so. The idea of conversing with the Changeling is to learn more about yourself though ignoring this entity will lead to them being negatively viewed and thus become a more negative character. They will take on appearances to start demoralising or antagonizing the rest of the group like in the case of the Kenku - growing wings etc.