magpie

a handsome pied bird for the open country — black mantle, white belly, and the blue-green lacquer kept for exactly two places, the wing tips and the long tail. it swoops on dropped shinies, keeps up to three treasures (one visible in its beak), and squirrels them away under coarse-dirt scars of its own. it is not tameable and it does not apologise.

if the crows live here too, the magpie robs their caches — digs the scar open, takes what was buried, puts the turf back — and the flock is told. for the next two minutes the crows explain, at speed and volume, how they feel about thieves. it is beatable socially, not by sword: crows diving at it wind up its nerve, and enough of that and it drops a treasure and flees. a well-loved flock around your base is the defense — which is what the thief is for. the crows' opinions, caches and grudges all mean more the moment something in the world wants what they have.

nothing is ever lost to a magpie. every treasure comes back out: dropped under pressure, buried where any player can dig it up (break the scar), or dropped on death. and it will not snatch from a standing player's feet — but drop a shiny and crouch, and the thief comes to you, the same gesture that draws a crow.