Twinned Crows
Crows of the Forking Road that sit on both forks at once; whichever branch a traveller follows the crow down, it turns out to have been the right one.
Overview
Twinned Crows live on the Forking Road, and each is seen on both branches of a fork at once. Follow the crow down either branch and the branch proves to have been the right one. Travellers come home calling them luck; the Road's guides say they are simply where the paths meet.
Appearance
A Twinned Crow is a crow of ordinary size, black with a sheen that shifts through violet and gold like the Road's light. At a fork there are two of it, one on each branch, the same bird to the last feather, turning its head the same way at the same moment. Its shadows fall in several directions. It caws once, and the caw seems to come from both branches. It walks with a crow's jaunty step, and if a traveller chooses, one of the two is suddenly gone and the other flies on ahead.
Habitat and Range
They live along the roads of the zone, perched at forks on stones, posts, and the bare branches of trees, and in greatest numbers where many roads cross.
Behaviour and Temperament
A Twinned Crow waits at a fork until a traveller chooses, then flies ahead down the chosen branch, landing a little way on and waiting again. It eats what crows eat. It shows no fear of people and some interest in what they carry.
Abilities
A Twinned Crow sits where the branches will converge. Wherever it leads, the road ahead of it snaps back into one, as the Road's paths do when a choice is made firmly, and so the traveller who follows it never ends on a branch that is not their own. It cannot be on a path that leads to a paradox.
Life Cycle
They nest at crossings, and the chicks are said to hatch two from every egg, one for each road. No one knows how long they live.
Uses and Dangers
They give no luck of their own. Their use is that following one is a firm choice, and the Road rewards firm choices: the zone's own advice is to make a choice and stick to it. The Wayfinders are said to use the crows as guides when leading travellers out.
Lore and Belief
On the Material Plane, at crossroads, a crow sitting at a junction is good luck in many places, and travellers take the road it flies down. Gamblers say "follow the twin" for a bet that cannot lose. The crows are often confused in tales with the Chance Hares, which are always on the other branch; the crow is on both.
Where It Appears
- Overview: Natives of the Zones
In the Writers’ Guide
- Twinned Crows A Bestiary of Caeldon