Caurath

Caurath, is the most dreaded punishment among the Aarakocra, a penance not of chains but of sky and stone. Those judged guilty of grave crimes against their people, betrayal, kin-slaying, or the profanation of sacred winds, are sentenced to Caurath: a year suspended high in the perilous crags, wings bound, exposed to the endless gnawing of nature in a remote location. This is done when the condemned is bound to the cliff (or crag) itself with sky-cords braided of leather and feather. Their wings are stretched and lashed flat against the stone, their talons bound so they cannot climb or claw free. They are forced to face outward, looking upon the skies they cannot enter, while the wind and rain scour their body.   Food and water are brought only sparingly, just enough to keep them alive for the turning of a year. Frost carves their skin, storms batter them raw, scavengers peck at their feathers, and the sun burns them by day. They are alive, but powerless, a creature of the air pinned against the stone, like prey upon a hunter’s wall.    

History

The tale told among the high crags speaks of Kaelrith, an Aarakocra who slew his own clutch-brother in envy of his wingspan. In the earliest days of their race, murder was unknown among them, and the elders were horrified. No death sentence seemed fitting, for to simply cast Kaelrith from the cliffs would grant him the flight he had desecrated with blood. Instead, the priests of the Syranita decreed he would be bound to the living rock, denied the sky for a full cycle of seasons.   Kaelrith endured storms, frost, and starvation until at last he hurled himself from the cords, wings broken and body dashed on the mountain below. His death was remembered not as a tragedy, but as a warning: the one who turns against kin is not allowed the freedom of the wind.  

Legacy

Cainites find this story amusing and often retell it as a living proof of every creature innate nature to fill their role in the plan of Cain.