Dire Rook

Dire Rooks are a species of corvid bred and reared by the Carcolie, who maintain them as riding mounts and beasts of burden in the way that some other cultures keep horses. Though born of small size, they progress through their lives until they reach large size at adulthood, sufficient for carrying a single medium creature or an equivalent load. Carcolie who specialize in the breeding, riding, and mounted combat upon Dire Rooks are known as Ravenmasters.

Dire Rooks are reasonably intelligent - perhaps much moreso than horses and other common land mounts - and a few very old examples are sentient creatures in their own right, keeping council with their masters and delivering messages on their own.