They're "cousins", the crows and the Raka. they can turn into each other.

But for some reason, I always pictured Nawat as "white" though a very well-tanned white. I believe that when he comes back in TQ he is described as "sun-bronzed" or something.

but when i actually though about the logistics of the Raka connection, (I can't believe I'm using the word 'logistics' when I'm talking about magic) i figured that it would only make sense for Nawat to be black.

Something to ponder.

oh... and can PART-RAKA turn into crows? or do you have to be full-blood?

27/female/Toronto

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Actually, the raka coloring is more bronze, like Indonesian/Malaysian mixes, and Nawat's just a little more brown than gold-brown. The bloodlines with more black in them come from southern Carthak, while northern Carthaki bloodlines, Yamani bloodlines, and eastern bloodlines combined ages ago to make the basic raka strain. The crows are blue-black in their hair and eyes, and brown in their human skins, like Kyprioth as a young god.

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Can Kyprioth turn into a crow? Or are the crows human form like Kyprioth because the chose to ally with him? Or did Kyprioth borrow the crows human form? That seems like something he would do, borrow a form and like it so much it became permanate.

  

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. Kyprioth likely appears in human form to Aly and the others because it's a form they understand, or a form he's comfortable in.

and yes, he CAN appear as a crow (or, likely, anything he wants) because he did back in TC.

27/female/Toronto

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That's right, I'd forgotten about him turning into a crow. I was thinking that gods were limited to one form. I don't really know why, I just assumed their apperance was pretty much static, with a few exceptions.

  

They probably can adopt any form they want to suit different races of humans or, on the occasions that they do appear to animals, take on their form.

In reply to what this post's author said, I don't think the raka can turn into crows, full or part nonwithstanding. Crows can turn into humans, but humans, unless they're like Daine and have wild magic, or Numair and are strong enough to shapeshift into animal form, cannot turn into crows.

Which brings me to a somewhat non-related question. Has anyone ever thought about the difference between Daine's shapeshifting and Numair's? Besides the fact that Daine can take on any form and he can only take on a hawk's form. Somehow, I see their abilities as being different - the simplest way of explaining this is that Daine, in whole, actually becomes an animal, but she still knows that she's Daine and that her primary form is human. In Numair's case, though, I think it's more like he takes on the form of an animal, but it's like he's shoving a human body into a made-to-fit animal costume. It reminds me of Lirael's Charter-skins in the Abhorsen trilogy, for those who have read it.

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I would imagine (Imajane? weird) that Daine's transformations use up a LOT LESS power as well.


oh wait... while thumbing through TC in search of the quote on how Raka can turn into crows, I found this:

His skin was dark, but not raka brown -- more like her Da's coloring than a raka's. (shouldn't raka be capitalized?)


oh, and here's the quote that says that raka can turn into crows: page 288 of hardcover TC:

"Then there have been other crows who turned into people?" asked Aly. She couldn't help but think that someone could have mentioned that earlier.
"Rarely," said Ulasim. "But there are tales, jsut as there are tales of those rakra who turned to crows rather than die....

27/female/Toronto

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