The Storm-Bird
"Raise your arms to the sky and it will come for you. It will lift you away. Its talons are ice, and they protect you. Its wings are frost. Its eyes are two holes. It has only to look at the flames and they are quenched."[1]
The Storm-Bird is a mysterious avian creature that patrols the lands of Parabola.
A Defender of Dreams[edit | edit source]
"Found in Parabola; or perhaps it would be more accurate that it finds you there."[2]
A well-known fact of life is that nightmares and other dangerous thoughts are almost always just that: thoughts. But in Parabola, rules are made to be broken, and sometimes, the horrors that the mind can dream up forget to stay within the confines of the head, resulting in conflagrations and other disasters that can place all forms of surrounding life in danger.[3] The Storm-bird is a being, visually similar to an large avian, that is drawn to these firestorms of fear.[4] It does not appear to be malevolent, merely curious,[4] and it can help rescue unwary travelers from these horrors, dousing the flames with merely a glance. However, this help comes at a price: of knowledge or perhaps something else entirely.[5] This role in rescuing unwary dreamers from the perils of their nightmares made real is recognized by the Viscountess of the Viric Jungle, another denizen of Parabola who shares this common cause.[6]
Appropriately, the Storm-bird resides in its Cloud,[7] a cold, wet, and foggy location,[8] where it apparently collects mechanical trinkets, such as scraps of metal, intricate whirring contraptions,[9] or expertly crafted model ships.[10] According to at least one witness account, the Storm-bird is also capable of summoning dream-ships and presumably other weapons to aid in battles against particularly tough nightmare-opponents, but the veracity of such tales remains unknown.[11]
A Bird's Biology[edit | edit source]
"Its eyes are pits of darkness. It is drawn to fear, curious, not always able to read what it means."[4]
Storm-birds are biologically unique even when compared to the creatures of Parabola. Their eyes are dark and their wings are cloud-colored,[4][12] with a wide wingspan and a texture like the soft down of a young chick.[13][14] The birds also emit an aura of frost with feathers and talons of ice,[15][1] and they can even weep snow when severely distressed.[14] When multiple Storm-birds are assembled, they behave as if they cannot see one other, or indeed as if the others are not there at all.[16]
When removed from Parabola, they slowly fade from existence, as if their essence was so intertwined with dreams that existing outside of them for long would be difficult.[17] In fact, Storm-birds aren't quite "real" at all, they are "dream-projections": beings that apparently manifest in Parabola from the dreams of a greater being in reality.[18] Possibly as a result of this greater nature, and the fact that Storm-birds can easily destroy nightmares, Fingerkings actively avoid Storm-birds and refuse to possess them, regardless of whether or not the bird tries to repel them itself.[15]
A Story of Spices[edit | edit source]
"The Storm-bird gives a pleased cry you've never heard before, and tries to snuggle its head against Mr Spices."[19]
"Mr Spices is taken aback. It seems to want to comfort the bird without getting too close. "Do you have a toy?" it asks you urgently. "A miniature train, or a model motorcar, perhaps?""[19]
Storm-birds have a unique reaction to Mr Spices' Private Stash; instead of a typical sedative effect,[20] the bird seems invigorated when exposed to the drug, to the point that its wingspan expands significantly.[21] Storm-birds also seem to cast shadows that appear more bat-like than one would expect, similar to that of a young Master, and when allowed to fly freely, Storm-birds also tend to travel towards the Bazaar.[22] It is thus implied that the bird may be a dream-projection from Spices' unborn progeny.
Spices' pregnancy has been a complicated one; it regularly takes drugs from its Private Stash to soothe itself and ensure its child is born healthy, and perhaps dream more deeply than it normally would.[23] This is a possible reason for the Storm-bird's unique reaction to the Private Stash's medications.[24] The tendency of the Storm-bird to fly towards the Bazaar may also be in line with its nature as a progeny of the Masters; according to Mr Fires, such offspring are usually kept in the Bazaar's spires as "common property".[25]
In the presence of Mr Spices, the Storm-bird is unusually happy and affectionate, and Mr Spices itself shows some awkward affection in return. However, the Storm-bird also eventually melts away, like a dreamer's Parabolan self fading as it approaches its "real" body.[26]
As a Curator, Mr Spices experiences its offspring's ingrained hoarding tendencies as a form of pregnancy cravings,[27] as well as thoughts conferred by its devil parent, the Solicitor-Baroness.[28] In turn, Storm-birds seem fascinated with trains,[29] and some like to race the engines that run through the Great Hellbound Railway, their only competitor in sheer speed and booming sound.[30][31]
