[centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/qNmApkD.jpg?1[/img][/centre]

The shadow watched as the drighina danced, and all about it draug were gathered as though they were so many moths come to the glorious flame. It was not often that the draug found themselves drawn in such great numbers to another's voice, even if that voice was the sublime song of the singing trolls of the ocean waves. And a sea troll, it was known, heard the song that the crashing waves sang every dusk and every dawn and in the moonlight and by morn. But they came by the dozen, those raptured draug - this, after all, was no normal singing sea troll; for on its head sat a shadow.

[centre]O trolls, o friends, gather around 
and let's all praise the moon becrowned 
with light and radiance divine 
and all things beautiful and fine. 
And when you're gathered hear me tell 
a tale I heard in a seashell:
[i]The night was lovely, dark, and deep 
and all the world seemed fast asleep, 
when from the blackness of the world 
an inky tendril stood unfurled. 
A tendril, friends, from the deeps come, 
with arms and legs - but mouth yet dumb. 
Awaken! - eyes that saw the ocean - 
witness now the fathomless motion 
of earth and sky and wind and trees; 
and hear the singing on the breeze.
You little god with hand and eye 
whose greater half is sat on high, 
come forth on land and sing anew 
so all on earth may worship you - 
may worship at the fount of love 
and worship her who shines above. 
Come forth you inky thing of song 
and sing to those who waited long 
upon your coming and your rise;
and sing to her, and fill her skies
of moonlit night with all our sighs. 
We waited long to sing with you 
since all the gods wandered from view, 
and everyday thought that the day 
was come at last when from the bay 
you'll rise again to sing and dance 
and all our dance and song enhance. 
Now then, my friends, that day has come 
so see as god arises from 
the inky ocean great and deep 
where all the gods were long asleep.[/i]
So there was I, oh dancing friends
to witness as the god ascends
and 'pon my head he placed his palm
and sent a shiv'ring lance of calm
within my breast and in the heart
to sow therein the seed of art!
But calm, o friends, is but a shadow
and soon, ah soon, there grew the echo
of rocking sound and crashing waves
and all that art and passion craves.
And oh, I sang, and oh I cried
and all the ways of music plied
until I sat beneath the shade
of what you see above my head.
Spoke he, that inky shade of verse
in union with the universe - 
[i]We will walk, oh weed-haired fellow
upon your head this ink-stained shadow
and near the woods and on the shores
will come to you the draug in scores![/i]
And why, fair shade, will the draug come
sang I while marching to the thrum.
[i]They'll come,[/i] spoke he with singing free
of harsh command or cold decree
so that the siren of his voice
caused all about to - ah! - rejoice
[i]because a dance and song will call
upon their coming by nightfall
and there beneath our Gibbou's moon
will come about a twirl and tune
as would bring smoke and wood and cheer
and rid the draug of their masked fear;
bathed in the light of the night sky
where wood will dance, and trolls will fly.[/i][/centre]

And the draug danced around that singing drighina, their intricately carved pipes smoking and their primitive masks bobbing. They circled about the singing sea troll, now laughing in their musical way, and now erupting into verse to complement the drighina. The smoke increased, and their movements grew lethargic until all about the yet-singing troll they lay sprawled, gushing words without immediate meaning to any but themselves; feeling stripped of the trappings of linguistic form. And ah, it was delightful to behold - as much a delicacy on the ear as the countless herbs and spices of the Mydias were on the tongue and nose. 

And as they sat there in the tremors of that drugged poetic stew, gushing melodious feeling so that all about for miles and miles were caught up and captivated by it, there gathered about them an ink of night and moonlight, and rotting hands rose to weave the ink into their smoking pipes. And then there was scratching - grotesque monstrous nail against wood. Carving, carving. Ah, watch the beast make beauty! And once the drugged and blissful draug had carved their masks as intricately and as beautifully as they did their songplant pipes, they looked on them and were happy. 

But one of them moaned and wept that his pipe should be the colour of wood and night and light, while his mask - now so beautiful, now art - should be so brown and plain. And so he gripped a loamy stone and mixed it in his hand with seawater until it was a deep brown mixture, and he whispered to the night so that its darkness curled up into the mixture, and he called on the forest so leaves of green fluttered on the breeze. And he crushed them in a rotting fish hand and mixed them in until it all was a paste and left it there for a time, whispering to it and singing and prodding it with his melodious voice until in his hand it was no more a paste and mixture, but purest ink of leafy green and muddy brown. And so, that great artisan let out an ecstatic weeping laugh and sang the ink into his mask so that the intricate carvings and colourful ink interweaved and embraced and sang and danced with each other.

And there, at the centre of the mask's forehead, rose unbidden a perfectly symmetrical hand of green and brown, and seemed to shine for a few moments before it no longer did. And that artisan brought it to his face and felt the ink and carvings move and weave to the shape of his face, and he looked out onto the world in shock and all about the befuddled draug let out muffled cries of surprise. And they knew too that they wanted after just such a glorious mask of art. Under the spell of smoke and song that set their minds flying off to other realms, the draug scratched wood and crushed ink to make new faces to match their beauteous sound.

[list][*][hider=Summary]A drighina has been inspired by a shade which rose from the ocean's depths. This shade is Meghzaal's avatar, which had been forming in the ocean depths for millennia after the collapse of the ink tree and formation of the ink ecosystem near the Ku.
The drighina sings a strange song that attracts a number of draug, who smoke their weed (songplant) in their intricately designed pipes while wearing their relatively primitive masks. As they sing and dance, they enter into a stupor and are inspired to carve their masks as beautifully as their pipes. In their stupor, they are able to access ink magicks, and so their masks are not only beautifully carved, but also colourful. These masks, when made in mask-making rituals of this kind, appear blessed and have the symbol of the hand on their forehead.
When worn, these masks latch onto the face of the wearer and their visage becomes as beautiful as a) their voice, b) the carving in the mask, c) the inks and colours used and patterns on the mask. Inspired drighina will go around enchanting draug in this way all over Toraan, so that it eventually becomes something of a draug coming of age mass ritual.[/hider]
[*][hider=Might]| 5MP and 5DP | 5 MP towards Song | 3 DP towards Tattoos/Glyphs | Next Domain: Art |

- 3 MP to unlock the Song portfolio.
- 1 DP to grant all draug the ability to go through a coming of age mask-making ritual full of ink, poetry, and song, and plenty of weed.
- 1 DP to grant ink glyph blessing to masks made in the draug maskmaking ritual, meaning that the more beautifully inked the mask is, the more beautifully carved, and the more beautiful the song of the draug when making it, then the more beautiful the mask becomes when it is worn and latches onto their face. (+1 DP towards Tattoos/Glyphs Portfolio)
- 1 DP to unlock ink magick for the draug, allowing them to do such things as collect, for instance, sun rays or moonlight, or the darkness of the night, or crush leaves or collect bits of wind to use for making ink that has some of the properties of the things gathered - e.g. an ink with sun rays will be quite hot and might shine in the dark etc. good for plants etc. a source of vitamin D.
- 1 DP to grant the hand of ink & poetry and the hearteye symbol great power, making it especially attuned at channelling ink magic - e.g. the symbol may be a particularly effective ward against danger if the hair of a guard dog is used in it etc. (+1 DP towards Tattoos/Glyphs Portfolio)

| 2MP and 1DP | Song Port Acquired | 5 DP towards Tattoos/Glyphs | Next Domain: Art |[/hider][/list]