Whip Swish

Like most kenku, Whip left his home at the age of eleven to find his new flock. The first couple years of traversing the Southern edge of the Sword Coast were hard on the young kenku. He felt so alone, but it was the discovery of a small hamlet, situated East of the Forest of Tethir, that changed everything. There was a community built by races usually shunned in the more populous places of the world. Halflings, kenku, half-orcs and half-elves, shifters, even tieflings, all coming together to build a village that welcomed every race.

In this village he met Tick Tock, a beautiful kenku with dark brown feathers and green eyes. (Her name came from replicating and assembling clocks and various gadgets as the master artificer’s apprentice.) Whip and Tick fell in love instantly, and went about making a home and starting their own flock.

However, up until then Whip hadn’t found a name. He started working as the blacksmith’s apprentice and realized he had an affinity for the rapier. The speed and ferocity he displayed while sparring… what better place to find a name than the furious sound made by his blade?

And so, for nearly two decades they lived happily in their little hamlet raising their family surrounded by friends.

Unfortunately the village bordered the kingdom where Firkraag, the meddling red dragon, met his end at the hands of adventurers. Subsequently his son Nyrriem went insane planning vengeance against those responsible. Nyrriem went into a blood rage, during which he stumbled upon Whip’s hamlet. Nyrriem burned everything to the ground, in addition to killing everyone. He then flew off towards the mountains. However, Whip survived the flames by pure chance, hiding in the cold blacksmith’s forge that hadn’t been lit that day, all the while hearing screams of those he loved from outside. In the span of an hour he lost everything that was important to him.

Whip had always looked similar to a raven with his jet black feathers and eyes. But after three days in the forge, terrified of what he’d see when he left, he finally stepped out and saw his reflection in a puddle. All his feathers were gone, and the dark black luster of his beak had faded to a dull gray. But when his feathers grew back they were stark white, and his eyes turned a deep ice blue.

Afterwards Whip roamed the Sword Coast aimlessly, feeling lost and broken. He might have wasted away to nothing, but Vandal found him at a seaport. Vandal took him in and helped him regain his strength, and through Vandal Whip learned of the Wish artifact. As a result he began training as an Eldritch Knight in hopes of becoming strong enough to retrieve the artifact and give flight back to the Kenku race… But what about his family?