Kenku

The Kenku are desperate and mischievous, often living on the streets and working as petty criminals to live day to day, haunted by the curse that stripped them of their voices and their wings. As their legend goes, in a time lost to the history books, the kenku once served a mysterious and powerful entity on another plane of existence. Most believe they were scouts and explorers for the deities of the Elemental Plane of Air, relatives to the lawful aarakocra, while others believe it to be a mad, fallen deity that they plead worship to. Whatever the truth, according to legend, the kenku betrayed their master, unable to resist the lure of a beautiful sparkling treasure, and they plotted to steal the item and escape to Elideria.

Unfortunately for the kenku, their master discovered their plan before they could enact it. Enraged, the entity imposed three dreadful curses upon them. First, the kenku's beloved black wings withered and fell away from their bodies, leaving them bound to the earth. Second, because their ingenuity and skill had turned toward scheming against their patron, the spark of creativity was torn from their souls. Finally, to ensure that the kenku could never divulge any secrets, their master took away their voices. Once the entity was satisfied that they had been sufficiently punished, the kenku were banished to Elideria, forced to wander a world that could not hear their plight, nor understand their noble origins.

Rejected by All
Because of their selfish nature and inability to convey their thoughts appropriately, kenku are shrugged off as societal pests. Although criminal organizations may pick up kenku refugees for their own dastardly needs, the kenku would much rather spend their time delving into ancient texts in search for the means of which to end the curses that have been placed upon their bloodlines. This fanatic devotion, however, has even earned them the scorn of the gods themselves, and rarely ever are the kenku heard by deities when they plea for respite. This rejection has left the kenku entirely self sufficient, and frequently do they find themselves getting into trouble because of this.

The kenku believe that they have descended from an aarakocran ancestry, just as the other aarak races had, and that before they had been stripped of their wings and voices, they were once a proud race of god worshipers, yet the greed of their ancestors warped the kenku so much that they would be the bane of their aarakocran gods. The kenku believe in this only because of the known history of the three aarakocran races, the tales of the Godsworn, the Godforsaken, and the worshipers of false deities, the kenku believe that they are the fourth wheel; the Godscorned.