Parakaws
Erendorn’s Greatest Spellcasters
High up on a rock that is infused with great magic and sits on a mountainside, a city of white ascending spires climbs high into the clouds. The edges of this city are so steep that, if you were to look down, the slopes of the mountain would be lost from view.
This is the City of the Parakaws, the greatest spellcasters of all civilised races in Erendorn. With great wings and silken feathers, the Parakaws are a highly intelligent species of humanoid birds. Bewitching to behold, these creatures draw their celestial powers from the stars themselves. This is learned at the Amphitheatre of Magic; and often at night, creatures in the land below can hear the Parakaws practicing their spells.
The City of the Parakaws
Since this place of ethereal magic is higher above the ground than any other settlement in Erendorn, the City of Parakaws is breath-catchingly cold and always bathed in pure sunlight. Its graceful white buildings are balanced by trees and flowers that fill the air with their perfumes.
Gentle streams flow throughout the city. Some simply fall off of the edges of the rock, cascading cleanly through the air towards the ground. Some streams have bridges formed from magical barriers arching over them. Between all this, the Parakaws weave peacefully through the city, dressed in robes spun from fine silk.
Leadership
Stellazon the Celestial leads this civilisation, and formed the revered Council of Parakaws. This select group of wise and powerful mages protects the interests and well-being of the citizens within the city, ensuring that outside threats to their race are minimised.
The Watchers are the Parakaws’ first line of defence against these threats, and they are the eyes of the Council. With their powerful staffs in hand, they guard the perimetres surrounding the city, their eyes penetrating through all the clouds and watching the ground below. Quarrik the All-Seeing, the Head Watcher, informs the Council of any dangers or problems arising in the lands below so that they are always one step ahead.
The Divine Library
Every piece of information obtained by the Parakaws throughout history has been carefully archived in the heart of this city: the Divine Library. Made from gilded alabaster stone, this grand feat of architecture looks down over the city from the Great Garden. Over 500 floating steps precede this monument, and when you reach the top the air is filled with the gentle murmur of running water.
The Divine Library is a trove of knowledge. Every inch is lined with copious rows of books, scrolls and tomes. Every morsel of information, every secret, every rumour, every piece of history and every fragment of Parakaw knowledge is contained within these graceful walls. Yannorix the Divine is the keeper of this library, and has sole power in deciding who can access certain sections. At the tips of her fingers, an entire history is inked on paper and bound in leather, and some of the knowledge must be protected. Therefore, it is Yannorix’s duty, along with the Librarians who serve under her, to determine whether a Parakaw should be granted access to the information they are requesting.
The Forbidden Tomes
But there is one section of the Divine Library that no Parakaw can enter. The Forbidden Tomes are said to contain some of the darkest spells and secrets in the whole of Erendorn. Only Stellazon and Yannorix has access to these tomes.
The secrets, the forbidden knowledge, the void magic and the necromancy that they contain is too dangerous to risk falling into the wrong hands. Long ago, Stellazon and Yannorix sealed these tomes in a hidden corner of the Divine Library so that no one would undo the chaos within their pages.
Have you read last week’s character profile on the underground dwellers of Erendorn?
