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--- agavod [2025/12/15 20:00] – Ricolensko Bowenzori
+++ agavod [2025/12/16 12:15] (current) – [Extinction and Rebirth] Ricolensko Bowenzori
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-The **Agavod** (//Aves Passeriformes Agavodidae//) is the common name for the large bird of prey which is the symbol of Hoontz. Agavod's historic range is all of Edevane. In the years leading up to the Great War, the Agavod had become rare due to widespread hunting. But by the time of the arrival of the Unplugged Hive, pupulations had rebounded, for reasons that we will discuss below.
+The **Agavod** (//Aves Passeriformes Agavodidae//) was the common name for the large bird of prey which is the symbol of Hoontz. Agavod's historic range was all of Edevane. In the years leading up to the Great War, the agavod had become rare due to widespread hunting. And of course, after the Reaping, they were rendered completely extinct.
-Agavod are typically a dark brown, and occasionally black. Their beak, talons and eyes are a striking golden color.
+Agavod are typically a dark brown, and occasionally black. Their beak, talons and eyes are a striking golden color. Or so we are led to believe, although no specimens survive from that time, and we have only drawings in children's books to go on.
-==== Diet and Societal Significance ====
+Agavod feed primarily on small rodents. While, presumably, in ancient times, they forraged everywhere, since the rise of more modern civilization, Agavod have increasingly gravitated to towns and cities, where they keep the rat and mouse population in check.
-Agavod feed primarily on small rodents. While, presumably, in ancient times, they forraged everywhere, since the rise of more modern civilization, Agavod have increasingly gravitated to towns and cities, where they keep the rat and mouse population in check. For this reason, Agavod are considered good luck, but are also largely responsible for disease control.
+==== Agavodian Plague ====
 During the brief period in the 2040s (CR) when hunting Agavod became popular in the city of [[Kopel]] and surrounding countryside, the rise of the rat population was immediate and meteoric. As the fad reached its height among the wealthiest Kopelites, the poorer class, and especially rural farmers, were subjected to a flood of rats which destroyed large portions of the nation's crops and livestock. So many farmers died of rodent-borne illnesses - later termed the Agavodian Plague - that it was another decade before the famine was brought under control.
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 ==== Political Significance ====
-The Agavod has been part of the coat of arms and other symbols of the City-State of Hoontz since ancient times. It is a powerful symbol of safety, the protection of the Spirits, and, by extension, the protection of the government. It appears on banners of Hoontz dated as early as 1650 CR, but was likely used even earlier. It became the central symbol on the official flag of Hoontz by law in 1908 CR.
+The political symbolism of the agavod is complicated.
+The agavod has been part of the coat of arms and other symbols of the City-State of Hoontz since ancient times. Legends tell of how the then-village of Hoontz was overrun by rats, forcing all of the villagers out of their homes. Suddenly, a flock of agavod swooped in from the sea, destroyed all of the rats, and then promptly disappeared. Naturally, the village elders claimed credit for this miracle. The bird is thus a powerful symbol of safety, and the protection of the Spirits, but also the protection of the government. It appears on banners of Hoontz dated as early as 1650 CR, but was likely used even earlier, as the historic origins of the legend are murky. It became the central symbol on the official flag of Hoontz by law in 1908 CR.
 {{:hoontzflagsketch.jpg?400 |}} The flag of Hoontz features a black agavod soaring over a snowy mountain range. The sky is golden and the mountains are red. (The image included in this article is an initial sketch, presented to the Council of Hoontz as part of the design process, and is on display to this day in the Council Chambers.)
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 As a result it was many years before the Agavod regained its modern popularity as a symbol of peace, health, and protection. Now that the Kopelites and Hoon are close allies, these past unpleasantnesses are mostly forgotten.
+==== Extinction and Rebirth ====
-==== Black Market Trade ====
+During the Reaping, the agavod, like so many other species, was completely exterminated. This posed a dilemma for the leaders of Hoontz, for whom the agavod was such a symbol of hope, not to mention their official flag. While there was no risk of another Agavodian Plague, since rats, too, were extinct, there was a strong superstition that other terrors would befall in the absence of the agavod.
-One bizarre quirk of the Agavod's physiology is that within hours of its death, the feathers and beak begin to break down and disintegrate. Thus, a preserved Agavod feather or beak are typically only possible when the bird is hunted and immediately preserved in an airtight manner. This has led to extremely high costs associated with collecting these artifacts, and preserving them in the field immediately after a specimen is obtained. The study of **why** this breakdown happens is still something of a mystery, due to the difficulty of obtaining samples on which to experiment.
-Although the Agavodian Plague presents the most obvious example of why this is a terrible idea, hunting Adavod remains popular among the very wealthy. (Although, notable, not in Kopel!) Preserved agavod feathers are worn on the lapel by the very wealthy simply to demonstrate that they are very wealthy. Thus, it is considered good luck to give an Agavod feather as a gift when someone moves into a new home.
-Most regions have very strict laws against hunting Agavod, but the reality is that a gift of a few feathers often suffices to get officials to look the other way, and allow a claim that one simply happened to stumble upon a recently deceased specimen.
-The beak, in particular, tends to be extremely expensive, since each bird -- obviously -- has only one, and removing it and preserving it quickly upon the demise of its owner is a tricky, messy business.
+During this time the [[Bosecutian Foundation]], which had already started doing their great work, released a small flock of automaton agavod as a demonstration of some of the same technology that some suggest led to the Unplugged Hive arriving in the first place. (Although that is, of course, still widely debated.) According to contemporaneous accounts, these "birds" looked little like the originals that inspired them, but they so delighted the population that they became much beloved.
+While the original machines have not survived, they were replaced, over time, by a successive series of improved models as the Foundation continued their generational labor, right up to the modern versions which can in fact be seen flying around in the very footage of the arrival of the Unplugged Hive. The mechanical agavod were increasingly used to test new innovations that the Foundation was coming up with. It is said that towards the end, people were coming to mistrust them, since, by that time, even the Foundation didn't fully understand how they worked.
+ --- //[[author:Ricolensko Bowenzori|Ricolensko Bowenzori]] 2025/12/16 12:15//