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serpentface · 22 days ago

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A few birds of prey found in (and beyond) Imperial Wardi claimed land: the crow kite, dove eagle, and golden eagle.

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The crow kite is a small, nimble hunter. This particular species is found exclusively west of the Blackmane mountain range and east of the Mouth seaway, though has close relatives elsewhere. They're mostly found in grasslands, where they can be seen hovering in midair while scanning for prey below. They primarily prey upon insects caught in flight, though will also regularly take rodents and lizards and can grapple with prey almost as large as themselves. Most of their diet consists of live prey, though they will opportunistically scavenge.

They are threatened by larger birds of prey, though are notably aggressive and proficient at mobbing most threats.

The crow kite has a particular partnership association with the (broadly unnoticed to be Sapient by humans) 'talking crows' who live here. Mutualistic and/or stealthily parasitic interactions with other animals characterize many crow cultures, and kites represent the only raptors that crows in this region partner with (largely due to posing no threat to themselves/their young).

Both (mostly) benefit from the overall relationship- the kite is slightly larger and notably more powerful than a single crow, while the crows are highly social and can keep more effective watch for predators as large groups. When foraging in association, they are highly effective at warning each other of threats and teaming up to drive them away. Crows will take on predators they wouldn't even dare approach as a large group with kites on their sides (notably the dove eagle, which is rarely outright mobbed by smaller birds due to their tremendous agility and capability of turning the tables on pursuers), and the two species are known to drive away substantially larger mammalian predators (occasionally even humans) from carcasses and resources. Kites also have beaks better equipped for tearing than crows, and can open some carcasses that crows cannot.

The most dramatic form of this association is the 'adoption' of kite chicks by some crow families. Kites rear clutches of 3-5 eggs, and the crows will occasionally steal an unguarded chick and raise it to maturity in order to fully monopolize the benefits of this partnership. Kite chicks adopted by crows do not heavily compete for resources (as the crows have a significantly more generalist diet) and serve as permanent attack dogs/can openers for their adoptive families while out foraging. This is not Particularly beneficial to the kite, who (having imprinted on their crow parents) will not readily mate with their own species, and will often be allowed to do most of the work of mobbing predators (when deemed too risky/too much effort for the crows themselves). An adopted kite's propensity to form one-sided pair bonds with their adoptive species is also utilized to assist in the labor of rearing chicks, where it can be coaxed into bringing kills for a nesting crow 'partner'. The crows generally do bond with their 'adoptees' (though not as fellow crows) and don't tend to perceive this relationship as wholly exploitative.

This association in of itself is widely noted by human observers, hence the kite's common name. Most peoples in this region have largely negative outlooks on crows (ranging from being despised scavengers to respected but frightful animals, and in all cases are considered potentially bad omens), which is extended to the crow kite. Crow kites are often regarded as omens of death and misfortune, sometimes even more intensely than crows. One of the most widespread beliefs (across several cultural groups) is that seeing a crow kite and crow perch together on top of a home indicates the impending demise of a mother and infant during childbirth.

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The dove eagle is a mid-sized specialist predator of smaller birds, found widely across the temperate and subtropical eastern continental mass. It is most associated with the killing of doves (hence its name), though the majority of its prey is passerine birds and it is occasionally known to take small mammals and reptiles. It is a very powerful predator and exceptionally agile in flight. It also has notably long legs, and can occasionally be seen pursuing prey on foot. It is most abundant in savanna and wooded regions, as well as mountainous areas with high cliffs, as it usually hunts in short bursts from high perches. It can be somewhat of a pest in human settlements, where it poses a threat to poultry.

While often an irritant to people for its predation of avian livestock, it tends to be regarded for its beauty, with its bluish-hued feathers, sleek profile, and elegant flight. Its light blue-gray eyes are notably distinctive among predatory birds here. Light eye colors commonly have sinister and/or apotropaic associations among peoples south of the Viper seaway, which carries into folklore surrounding dove eagles. They are often ascribed the power to paralyze prey with their stare, to be capable of inflicting curses, and/or to be able to frighten off evil spirits with their glare. They are often left unharmed where other threats to livestock would be killed out of fear of receiving a curse.

The dove eagle has the most extensive significance in the Hill Tribes cultural sphere. This bird is one of many avian forms ancestors can take when visiting the world of the living, and the vast majority of its birdsign-omens are wholly positive. The dove eagle tends to be a signal of impending success and good luck in economic ventures, and its presence/gaze chases away bad luck and evil spirits (perhaps at the cost of some poultry here and there, which sometimes may be a message of ancestral disapproval as well as just a general bummer). Its feathers are considered lucky and utilized in magical practice (bundles are waved to banish malicious spirits from homes and objects, single feathers are sometimes worn as good luck charms), though feathers must be retrieved from around nests or by chance, as killing predatory birds is taboo.

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The golden eagle is a very large, bulky predator. This particular subspecies (distinguishable by its dark, mostly solid colored wings) is very widespread and can be found throughout much of the northeastern hemisphere, adapting to a considerable variety of habitats and climates. It is occasionally a threat to livestock, being wholly capable of killing the tiny offspring of horses, and sometimes even a threat to newborn cattle (they are known to kill very young calves by knocking them off cliffs when the opportunity presents itself). They are noted for their dramatic courtship displays, wherein coupling pairs lock talons and spin towards the ground in freefall.

They tend to be highly regarded animals in most of this region. They tend to garner associations of regality, power and (usually masculine) strength. They are frequently used as symbols of monogamous romantic love and devotion, notably mating for life (most partnered pairs at least rear chicks together for life, though extra-pair copulation is fairly common and often goes unnoticed by observers). Their mating death-spiral makes frequent appearances in Wardi poetry as a romantic allegory, sometimes as a simple representation of foolhardy love and sometimes representative of the often challenging nature of first-time marriages (very commonly arranged, and often between strangers in the upper-class contexts that mainstream poetry tends to focus on).

Most proto-Wardi groups appear to have held the eagle as a high status sacred animal in ancient history, and very old outsider recordings of these earlier practices describe these birds as highly venerated in association with a non-personified but semi-deified sun and/or sky. Proto-Finnic groups that migrated here appear to have had associations with golden eagles in a funerary context (these migrants most likely practiced sky burials early in their history here) and to have adopted the golden eagle's semi-deified status from proto-Wardi groups they interacted with/absorbed/were absorbed by.

The centrality of the golden eagle has largely been lost in contemporary practices, but remnants of its status are still obvious. Cholemdinae folklore describes the golden eagle as one of God (who is the sun)'s most devoted creations, who tried to stop the theft of fire that would destroy the first world. Surviving 'heathen' North Wardi practices that similarly venerate the sky as a central deity describe the golden eagle as its messengers, also capable of traveling to and from the land of the dead. The King of Eagles, the first golden eagle (and first bird in general), father of dragons and the winds, is lightly venerated as a deity-spirit throughout most of the Hill Tribes religious sphere, and the spirits of dead ancestors are considered to frequently take the form of these birds. Contemporary Imperial Wardi animal-folktales also tend to cast the golden eagle as a king of birds, commanding and served by lesser flying creatures. While not outright sacred animals in the Faith of the Seven Faced God, they have noted solar associations. They are sometimes used as sacrifices to the Face Inyamache, and their feathers are given as offerings and worn by priests to this deity-aspect.

#creatures #The golden eagle is like Basically the same as the irl one but I gave them the bald eagle death spiral behavior because I needed a big #fucking bird that will do that and these guys were already establised #The other two are LITE spec bio though squarely within irl genera. (especially the kite. This is just like. a standard kite mostly)#Not totally related but I don't Think falconry is a major practice here (extant but there's no real falconry Culture)#but it's a HUGE thing in the contemporary Burri Republic especially Kosov (much of which is mountainous/part of a plateau)#This same subspecies of golden eagle is the most favored captive bird and sometimes used for fairly large game #Mostly used for smaller game though particularly for furs (the winters on the plateau are VERY cold for the subtropical latitude)#I have a wip about that I should finish it #Traditional Burri religion involves a very large pantheon and there's 2 falconry gods (one predominantly devoted to it and one as a #secondary association)

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beifong-brainrot · 4 months ago

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your analyses of Lin came to mind the other day when I saw someone post about how “Lin should be able to smack Korra at least once.” And like. It’s not just one post, it seems to be a common ‘jokey’ attitude in the fandom, and…it’s really interesting how much the fandom loves Lin acting violent and aggressive towards everyone - particularly against Korra, who acts in a similar “aggressive” manner but not nearly as shitty (imo), but the fandom seems to despise her for it.

So I was wondering if you have any thoughts specifically on Lin and Korra’s relationship? Both in canon and how the fandom treats them?

Oh yeah, I think I've seen that post! I've honestly been wanting to do more Lin metas but have been holding off because back when I posted a lor of Suyin defences I got a not insignificant amount of nasty anonymous asks, and I know that Lin is beloved by the fandom so while I make my passive aggressive comment from time to time, actually dwelling on the subject is a bit of a gambit.

Honestly, it's not even that I dislike Lin. I actually enjoyed her character a fair amount when I first watched the show and was totally on board with the fandom loving this character. But eventually I got so tired of the constant takes about how everyone in Lin's life is soooo mean to her and how she never did anything wrong and she's secretly just a lil bean , she's just a biy grumpy guys.

And, oh, the jokey comments about how Lin should be allowed to smack Korra, a teen, who, in my opinion gets smacked around fairly enough in the show. Or how she should be allowed to curbstomp Tenzin, despite us knowing very little about their relationship other than the fact that Lin atatcked his house and misused her power as a police officer to terrorise his new partner. Or how Suyin, a woman who has gone through so much to change and become a better person and still keeps ger heart open for those who hurt her, should die or be killed.

Like yeah, they're jokes, but they speak to how the fandom quickly takes Lin's side in most situations, even when there is more nuance to the situation. I think taht due to tlok having such a large amount of violence and fight scenes ans perhaps due to the personality of Korra herself, the fandom has normalised Lin's aggressive and often physical behaviour. And because most of the characters are teens, Lin's immaturity as a person doesn't stick out too much.

But Lin isn't a teen, like Korra or Mako. She's a 50+ year old woman and a fucking cop at that. She should know better. I think one of my favourite questions Lin's character mames me ask is: "how long can you cling to your trauma before its your responsibility to strive to do better?".

This isn't to say that Lin is a horrible person. I'd actually say she's a pretty good person. It's obvious she cares and she can try to be empathetic when the chips are down. But her lack of emotional maturity makes it difficult for her to actually act on her feelings when not in a life or death situation.

Ultimately this is what I like about Lin as a character, her duality. A very protective and thoghtful person, who has stagnated in a shell of anger and aggression.

And I think Lin's relationship with Korra ilustrates this duality perfectly.

I do enjoy Lin and Korra's arguments due to their chemistry and the excellent voice acting. But like it is still an adult yelling at and holding an actual grudge against a 17 year old. Who is already under a huge amount of stress.

I also think that we often forget that in her tiffs with Lin, Korra often starts off with a suprising amount of calmness and grace. She often attempts to actively connect with Lin and express her point through conversation, despite this being sonething Korra markedly struggles with.

Korra : But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I had it ... Lin: [Aggressively.] Can it! You should have called the police and stayed out of the way. Korra: [Slightly pleading tone.] But I couldn't jut sit by and do nothing. It's my duty to help people. See, I'm the Avatar.

[...]

Korra: Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? [Excitedly.] You're Toph's daughter! Lin: [Seriously.] What of it? Korra: [A hint of amusement suppressed in her tone.] Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together.

Through the first season, we're lead to infer that Lin's unfounded animosity towards Korra has something to do with her grudge against Tenzin. I can see this not only due to Tenzin's association witg Korra as her teacher and the son of the previous Avatar, but also due to some similarities between Korra ans Tenzin. They're both people saddled with a major responsibility and legacy, who struggle with forming their own identity due to that legacy. Plus, the comic we got about young Tenzin is essentially 1 to 1 Korra's first day in republic city.

Side note: can we stop demonising Tenzin for leaving Lin? I'm pretty sure it's not confirmed that Tenzin left her purely because he needed to have children. And honestly if after he broke up with Lin, she damaged his home, used her posution to terrorise his new partner, and held a grudge for 11+ years, I'm honestly not to sure what to think about their relationship pre breakup. ESPECIALLY with how willy nilly tlok plays with female on male abuse. No, I'm not saying Lin is an abusor, but there may be other factors we need to consider. I mean Lin does outwardly laugh and sympathise with Korra throwing Mako's desk across the room which is the Makorra abuse moment ™️

Though I also adore the implication in B3 that Lin is also reminded of Suyin by Korra. This also is a comparison that makes sense. Korra and Su were both young, rebellious women who had to leave home to find themselves. Both had tendency to be sarcastic and were opinionated and had a habit of defying authority etc.

And I think this may be even more of a reason why Lin has such an aggresive vendetta against Korra and also why she's so controlling in the later seasons. Particularly when she gets on Korra's ass at the party and says that Korra is "nothing special" feels targeted towards Lin feeling like Suyin got special treatment.

Lin being controlling towards Korra can also be seen as her trying to compensate for when she tried to similarly control Su, but Suyin ended up defying her. (While I see a lot of people bring up parentification between Lin and Su, I'll lean more towards it being a very intense rivalry)

Either way, Korra reminds Lin of people who have hurt her and the hurt she seems to cling to in some parody of comfort in familiarity.

This is one of the most visible patterns in Lin I see. Her absolute abhorrence of changing her mindset. She holds a grudge against Tenzin for over 11 years. She holds a grudge against Su and Toph for longer than that. She is so horrifically resistant to even touching the idsa that Suyin had changed as a person. And even after her and Su make up, the moment the opportunity arrises, Lin is back to typecasting Suyin as the bad guy.

People say that Korra was too harsh in The Metal Clan when she called Lin out.

Korra : Su's right. You're never going to change. You're always gonna be a bitter, lonely woman.

And yeah, it was objectively an incredibly mean thing to say and Korra was quite out of line. But she's not wrong. We see Lin struggle with making human connections, we've deduced that her grip on the past makes her hold grudges against people she's never met. We see her be immature, aggressive and emotionally closed off. If she were a healthy individual outside of Zaofu, I would encourage her distancing herself from Suyin. But clearly whatever coping mechanism Lin has is leaving her pushing people away and treating teenagers like her peers.

Like something clearly needs to change.

And I think that's another reason why Korra and Lin are such a fun duo. Because Korra goes through so mucuhchange herself. She shanges the world, she changes the lives of her friends, she changes herself.

And that's something Lin desperately needs and yet fears all the same. This also makes it even more interesting that Aiwei, a member of the Red Lotus who embody that "change" concept was a vital part of Lin and Suyin begining to reconcile.

And I think Lin knows this, to some extent. She knows her coping mechanisms are flawed, but she doesn't want to acknowledge this. But I need to talk about Lin's babystep trail of an arc in a different post.

I was gonna say that Lin and Korra are also similar but honestly other than their tempers and tendency to terrorise their tallass ex boyfriends, there isn't much there.

I still find Lin and Korra's relationship to have some sweet moments. I loved Lin and Korra's moment of kinship afterthey both lost their bending, how gently Korra grabbed Lin after she passed out in Zaofu, how Lin helped Korra get up the stairs after she was paralysed.

I think that one of the reasons they argue so much in B3 partocularly is because they care for each other quite a bit. They just embody two polar opposites. Korra- change and danger. Lin- stagnation and protection. Of course they'll fight.

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I don't exactly like how fandom treats Korra and Lin's relationship because it always feels ao watered down. This kinda extends to the entire Krew too. The 'Lin is like the Krew's mom' thing. Because on the jokey surface, yeah, i see it. Female authority figure who makes sure they don't get into trouble. Plus fandom has a tendency to forcefully assign cishet traditional family dynamics to found family.

But on a deeper level, acting as if Lin were a mother to the Krew is in my opinion, a bit of an insult to mothers everywhere. Because Lin acts less like an adult and more like a... slightly older teen? Which makes sense, we see that very little has changed in how Lin approaches young people since she was 22. She treats the Krew like peers, bickering with them and making snide comments, but then pulls the authority figure when she wants something. That's like the worst type of adult.

[This is ironic because my mom is actually very much like Lin and this is probably why I gave her so much of a pass when I watched tlok the first time]

Lin is a big sister/aunt figure to most of the Krew at best. Maybe except Mako but he has his own demons and is making himself a son figure whether Lin likes it or not.

But Korra is basically Lin's stand-in for her sister and they both act like it too. They act like me and my sister tbh. And Asami and Bolin barely interact with Lin anyway. There's more ground to posit Su as Bolin's potential mother figure!

Lin is a fascinating character to me, but fandom tropes have sorta ruined her for me. I came into the fandom really liking her character but ended up sorta jaded to seeing the same questionable takes about her over and over again. It just makes me see how little her potential is explored in the show. The writers failed Lin, not by not allowing her to 'win' against Su and Korra and Tenzin and whoever. They failed her by not giving her the storyline she needed. The storyline for which the main catalyst, Korra already was at the centre of the board. They half assed Lin's storyline and now literally every character who so much as looked at Lin has to pay the price.

[Ooh wow symbolism Lin glaring at Zaofu, Suyin's home, but actually glaring at her own reflection.]

I now realise that I have gone on for way too long and got hotrifically off topic, but I hope I have explained at least a few if my thoughts?

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