Bird of healing

The Charadrius is a small maritime bird about the size of a dove in most cases. It's one of a relatively small number of birds which have or had (in the case of some extinct branches) relativesin all parts of the world.

In oral traditions, the first known mention of the charadrius is in the Jewish Torah where its listed as a bird which shouldn't be eaten. In the written records we currently have, the earliest mention of the charadrius is etched on tablets from ancient Persia. Much more was written by the ancient Greeks after Alexander the Great learned of this species during a visit to the palace of the Persian king Xerxes.

Though the charadrius family comes in a multitude of colours depending on geographical location, the magickal properties were only ever attributed to the white ones as far as we know. According to the ancient teachings of the Persians, the charadrius could divine whether a man was to live or die.  Before attempting to save a person brought before them the Persian healers would put a charadrius
near them. If the bird turned away from the person they were destined to die and the healers would have nothing more to do with them. However, should the charadrius stare intently at the sick person the healers would do all they could to save them.

Naturally Alexander was intrigued. He brought several cages of the charadrius back to his palace when he returned to Greece. His healers began to work with these birds and began to discover they could do far more than divine whether a person would live or die. A charadrius, once it determined a person should live, could absorb the person's sickness through its beak. Upon taking the person's malady the charadrius would fly up close to the sun to burn away the germs and then return to the palace. The ancient Greeks found this cure was most effective with those suffering from jaundice.

Of course, in order to discover all it's potentials, some healer figured it would be a good idea to eat one and write about the effects the meat had on his body. According to him, the bulk of the meat was stringy useless tripe. The marrow of the thigh bone did, however, improve his vision. When this fact went out to the common man the entrepreneurs of the time began to poach and sell this royal bird for a handsome profit on the black market.

In the medieval days a further discovery was made. Some ailments could be cured simply by catching the gaze of a charadrius. This did nothing to stop the poaching, but it did change the methodology. Once the charadrius was caught, a blanket was put over its cage until it was sold.  After all, what would happen to commerce if people were getting healed for free?

In time, the demand became greater than the supply and the magickal branch of this family became extinct to our knowledge. Now this beautiful and useful bird exists only in the astral realms, where the wise can still work with their healing properties if they know how.