Stormcrow

When the Pale Men journey in pursuit of the White Raven, they return as changed men and women. Some become shamans, spiritual leaders and practicioners of magic, while others take on the roles of seers and soothsayers, guiding their tribe so they can prosper.   But roughly once in a generation, an aspirants return from their journey will be heralded by the darkening of the skies and a fierce thunderstorm will settle above the village of their origin. From those dark clouds, a bolt of lightning will strike the ground and deliver unto his people the Stormcrow, a demigod warrior blessed by the White Raven to act as the sacred guardian of the Pale Men.
 

Identity

Whoever the Stormcrow was prior to being chosen for his or her ascension becomes irrelevant after the fact. From that moment on, they embody the protective wrath of the White Raven and in a way cease to be a person entirely, becoming a living avatar of thunderous might.
  The Stormcrow does not speak nor spend time with his or her people but when their need is greatest, the storm will gather and its herald will destroy those who seek to do them harm.
 

Capabilities

Infused with the divine power of the White Raven, the Stormcrow is capable of monumental feats of physical might, their strikes cratering stone, pulverizing armor, and electrifying the blood within an opponents veins.
  Eschewing weapons entirely, the Stormcrow employs a type of martial art that mixes thundering unarmed blows with crackling lightning that the demigod seems to be capable of storing in and releasing with any parts of their body to destructive effect. This style is unknown to even the warrior scholars of the Enlightened Few, whose wing in the House of Learning is dedicated to the archival of methods of warfare.
  As is befitting of their avian patronage, the Stormcrow is also capable of flight, sprouting wings of white feathers at will. In combat, these wings can whip up cyclonic winds capable of scattering formations or deflecting incoming attacks.
  They are also capable of riding the electric currents of the storm that follows them, appearing miles away in the blink of an eye.
  As there has been no need for the forces of humanity, the Arachnitha or the S'aue to test their mettle against this god-like protector, their durability is somewhat of a mystery. However, it is safe to assume that the Stormcrow is capable of handling most anything Nascindor can throw at them.
 

Sightings

To the rest of the peoples of Nascindor, the Stormcrow is as mythical of a figure as the White Raven itself, with sightings few and far between.
  Those who claim to have seen the divine warrior often recount the altercations they have been in to be brutal and brief, with the Stormcrow appearing in a flash of lightning, brutalizing their would-be-opponents in a matter of seconds before vanishing to the turbulent skies once more.
  One of the better known accounts comes from none other than Xyp'sho the Elegant, the world-famous Glarithian painter.
 

"I had thought myself a connoisseur of the sublime, a painter capable of capturing the raw majesty of Nascindor. But how wrong was I!

  Nothing prepared me for the figure that descended amidst the tempest. The sky itself seemed to tear asunder, casting down a bolt of such searing brilliance that it etched its light into my very soul.

  When the afterimage faded, there stood a man, or something that wore the shape of a man, yet was crowned with an avian countenance.

  His skin shimmered with an electric pallor, veins glowing faintly with coursing light, and from his shoulders unfurled feathers of purest white that crackled and sparked as though the storm itself had wrought them.

  He did not speak, but his silence was louder than the crashing thunder. I watched as he moved, each step effortless and precise, like a dancer gliding through a world slowed to stillness.

  Where he struck, enemies did not fall. They disintegrated, their forms shredded by forces beyond my comprehension. His fists left streaks of lightning hanging in the air, burning and crackling as they faded into nothingness after having wreaked terrible destruction.

  I saw one of the brigands attempt to flee, only for this... this god to vanish in a flash of crackling static and reappear before the man could take another step. With a single motion, almost gentle, he shattered the man’s skull as though it were made of glass.

  And then, as suddenly as it began, it ended. The storm above reclaimed its champion, only the scent of ozone and charred flesh remained. I collapsed, not out of gratitude for my spared life, but because I knew I had witnessed something far beyond mortal reckoning.

  My legs trembled, for how could I ever again lift a brush and hope to capture even the faintest shadow of what I had seen?"

 

Relations

The church of Resounding Truth is very interested in the Stormcrow, as their power would be of monumental aid in the containment efforts of the Black Forest. The shamans and elders of the Pale Men keep telling the envoys of the church that they do not control the Stormcrow in any capacity, that they only appear when the White Raven deems their presence necessary.   The Arachnitha, particularly the Wandering Huntsmen, who share the Mourning Plateau with the Pale Men, hold the Stormcrow in fearful reverence. To them, they are a terrifying embodiment of their natural predator and are considered a kind of boogeyman to scare small children to the straight and narrow.
  But when thunder cracks the sky, all Arachnitha, young and old, retreat to their burrows. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry.