Senka

Overview

Senka is a night bird chimera bonded with Afanas Korovinovich through The Musubi ceremony, serving as his Alter Ego in their Exalt partnership. The creature serves as Afanas’s eyes and wings, tirelessly scouting The Tumult in search of the Chrysanthemum Cloak Warlock.

Bond with Afanas

When the Muna managed to recreate The Musubi ceremony, Afanas was one of the first to volunteer to bond with his chimera. He needed Senka to traverse The Tumult in search of the Chrysanthemum Cloak Warlock who had murdered his family and conducted forbidden experiments at Cebir.

Abilities and Function

As a night bird, Senka possesses the ability to fly tirelessly over the altered lands. Through the bond created by The Musubi, Afanas can look through Senka’s eyes, allowing him to scout vast territories and dangerous areas that would be impossible or deadly for a human to navigate.

This connection enables Afanas to:

• Survey The Tumult from above
• Search for clues about the warlock’s whereabouts
• Visit dangerous locations like Cebir safely
• Investigate experiments and sites from a distance

Role in the Hunt

Through Senka, Afanas visited Cebir and made sense of the experiments conducted there by the Chrysanthemum Cloak Warlock. The bird’s tireless flights and aerial perspective provided Afanas with crucial information about the mage’s esoteric and unholy research that flouted the Faction’s Mandates.

The Confrontation

During one of Senka’s explorations, the bird came face to face with the warlock. The masked figure turned toward Senka, spreading his arms in a greeting. Through the bird’s eyes, miles away, Afanas watched. After all these years, he finally had proof that the warlock existed, that he had not dreamt it.

The warlock addressed Afanas directly through Senka, his voice booming in Afanas’s mind. He urged him to join him in The Tumult if he dared, promising to be there waiting to offer him his due. This confrontation confirmed Afanas’s long-held belief and solidified his determination to hunt down the warlock, even if it meant joining the Rediscovery Endeavor to pursue him into the Terra Incognita.

Card Lore Timeline

386 AC - Assisting Nimue Megalith Sealing

Afanas opened mouth letting Senka burst out in thick mauve plumes. Nighthawk spread wings while alabaster mask solidified to cover head. Afanas felt Mana flowing like pure spring water and immediately channeled into Effigy placed at feet.

Megalith was shaking and ground trembled. Tumult oozed from floating crystal. Afanas needed to send it back to age-long slumber. Statuette of Nimue shattered and Afanas felt her presence burst forth. Lady of Lake manifested holding Excalibur. Without saying word, Nimue plunged sword into Aether mass buried to hilt. Tremors stopped and glimmers faded.

392 AC - Bringing Mana from Tumult for Node Creation

Circle of standing stones emitted amethyst glow as anchored itself in world thanks to Mana Senka brought back from Tumult. Place crackled with magic and power - maelstrom of fleeting ideas captured by node Afanas created. Complex geoglyphs and fragile cairns provided finishing touches to arcane creation.

Afanas held out hand and Senka landed digging claws into flesh. Pierced skin with beak drinking blood seeping out. This was offering for help given. Afanas gritted teeth letting Senka lap up vital fluid. That’s enough. Nighthawk took flight while Afanas materialized strip of fabric around wounds immediately stained red.

Like shadow, Senka soared above site. Like bird of prey chased down ideas catching them on wing and swallowing like common mice. For brief moment, anxiety bubbled to surface of Afanas’s mind. Each time they advanced, he watched Senka grow stronger and stronger. Its wings grew larger, just like night within. Afanas needed it to grow but was it wise to let it gorge itself like this?

Origins

Senka was found imprisoned in a steel coffin aboard the frigate carrying Afanas’s family toward Cebir (~327 AC). When the Kraken destroyed the ship, the coffin split open and Senka emerged, sinking talons into Afanas and lifting him from the icy waters. The bird remained at his bedside throughout his convalescence, and like Afanas, had lost an eye. The circumstances of Senka’s imprisonment — sealed in a metal container aboard a ship heading to Cebir, where Sylas operated — and Saskia Averina’s later accusation that Sylas failed to deliver a creature she called “the Strix” suggest Senka may be the undelivered Strix. If so, Senka’s spontaneous bond with Afanas during the shipwreck prevented the delivery, which Sylas later “atoned” for. Saskia’s subsequent remark about finding “a target in Yzmir domain more interesting than the night bird” further implies she remained aware of Senka’s existence.

Relationships

• Afanas Korovinovich: Bonded partner through Musubi, serves as Afanas’s eyes and scout
• Basira al-Arshad: Bravos warrior Senka hovered above during Cebir confrontation (392 AC)
• Kaizaimon: Oni Alter Ego Senka threatened with violet lightning during clash (392 AC)
• Saskia Averina: Referenced “the Strix” as a creature Sylas failed to deliver; may have been intended recipient of Senka
• Chrysanthemum Cloaked Warlock: Target of search through Tumult; possibly transported Senka in steel coffin toward Cebir for delivery to Saskia Averina
• Lady of the Lake: Guardian Eidolon manifested during Megalith sealing (386 AC)