(Rework) Selcouthian World Building (1): Songbirds
To understand Songbirds, we must understand the war that ravaged the realm of Selcouth.
Before the events of the story, Selcouth is ravaged by what is known as the Grand War. A war started by the ever growing Caligo Empire, who was taking over kingdoms and territories and taking its people as prisoners.
As the story goes, the war was started by the Imperial Ruler, who demanded that Agrona give up their land, lest they be killed and conquered.
Agrona was unmoving, and with its lack of cooperation, Caligo had decided to attack.
Soon, Agrona called on its many allies to help, and then the allies of those allies came to help, and before you know it, the entire realm was united against this common evil.
However, this war isn’t without its complicated history.
Agrona and many of the other kingdoms had decided to implement rules about women being disallowed to fight.
This made many of the women of these kingdoms very angry, seeing it as a means of taking their right to fight for their kingdom away.
And thus, the Songbirds were born.
Started by the youngest daughter of the De La Dáinn family, she donned the first songbird mask, a black uniform, and the songbird emblem. She gave up everything, her title, her name, her life, and her identity.
Soon, more women would join. And the population of songbirds would become close to 2 million.
They became incredibly skilled, and their sole goal was to not just fight in the war, but free the prisoners being tortured by the Caligo Empire.
Many would die, but many also survived to tell tales of their experiences.
Pandora De La Dáinn, the Admiral, would become something of a legend, however nobody knew it was her.
She differed greatly from how she original was before she left. She donned a new look, a thousand yard stare, and a newly necromantic eye.
Her mother feared what her daughter may have been apart of.
She was not one to stand by and do nothing.
Once a songbird, always a songbird.
Songbirds wear various masks, all depending on their job and rank:
The Admiral -> A raven skull patterned mask, the skull part made of a durable gold, while the “holes” are a black leather.
The Major Captains -> Varying Birds, typically birds of prey:
The Minor Captains -> Passerine Birds (Wrens, Warblers, Finches, Nuthatches, Thrushes, etc)
The Main Crew -> Blackbirds
Medics & Disability Aids -> Egresses and Storks
Cooks & Cleaning Crew -> Swallows
Corpse Cleanup/Cremators -> Vultures
Pediatrics/Childcare -> Peacocks
They all wear a similar uniform, however the colors and type of uniform will vary depending on class of songbird, and rank.
Admiral -> Wears a large military jacket with a fluffed collar, black cargo pants, and combat boots, an admiral/captain’s hat, and black gloves. She is covered head to toe.
Major Captains -> similar to the admiral, however they get to choose what type of coat they’d like. For example, the Bearded Vulture wears a fluffy coat over her shoulders.
Minor Captains and Below -> Will follow the dress code of their ruling major captain. Usually looking similar to them, with a few key differences.
- The Songbirds are distinctly all women.
- The Songbirds do not discriminate against trans women and feminine aligned people. (In fact they will fight for the correct pronouns and gender be put down on paperwork among other things)
- They also do not discriminate based on Sexuality
- Songbirds are vigilant, they will know if someone who doesn’t belong is in their ranks, and will get rid of them
- they are known to have the most rigorous training of any military entity in Selcouth
- They do not speak, unless it is via sign language or singing, they do not take off their masks or make themselves identifying in any way outside of their uniform.
- they are known as Songbirds due to their distinctive tendency to sing songs and act as essentially bards.
- Songbirds are a navy fleet, it’s harder to track them that way.
- only the Major Captains and the Admiral are permitted to keep guns on them. Other songbirds must use non/firearm weapons.
- they are terrifyingly fast and skilled. Many are amazed to see them fighting
- they have incredible teamwork
- The Admiral is known for being the most difficult Songbird to deal with, she is as strong, quick, and wise, as she is terrifying and ruthless to encounter
