Digizel

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

I've thought about it for a while, and I do have some extra ideas or suggestions to put forward for the remaining Fellowships, in case anybody is curious:

If we're okay with doubling on Fellowships, then I do have another idea for Stargaze's last Fellowship.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

"___ is consumed by the Isle’s immediate problems; you will show them why they must focus on the future. Take a Friendship Gem from them."

Shieldwing would probably be a good match for this. He is absolutely obsessed with the Isle's predicament, wanting to repel the Darkness once and for all as soon as he can. After all, his entire goal is to get beyond the Cloudstalker, and thinks all of the political teachings he's being forced to learn is a waste of his time because he doesn't need to learn this stuff to combat the Darkness. This could get to the point where he just wants to go out and deal with the problem directly whenever he can.

Perhaps Stargaze, the one he sympathizes with the most regarding this big, dramatic destiny, can make him realize that he'll never make any REAL progress on his ultimate goal if he's just throwing himself at every threat that's in front of him. It's like treating a symptom rather than the more dangerous underlying disease causing it. What if he ends up getting himself hurt in an encounter that didn't matter, and then can't be at his best when his clutch needs him most? Stargaze could show him that just putting himself like a wall between the Darkness and others is only going to cause the Darkness to build up on the other side like a dam, until one day it's just too much and that dam will burst and get washed away with everything else.

Getting Shieldwing to see that there's a right way and a wrong way to do this, especially when they don't even really have a grasp on what the Darkness even IS, could work to tighten their bond a bit more. Especially since he's so concerned about getting past the Cloudstalker in the first place...that he hasn't even really considered what he would actually DO once he got to the surface anyway. xD

Or, if doubling up isn't ideal, then it could be @BleakBlueJay's Sylph that makes this one work. Maybe Sylph is more obsessed with societal problems, possibly including her own. Maybe it's in regard to problems that this division among Houses is causing or something along those lines?

~~~

As for @Vertigo's remaining Fellowships, the Dream one could apply to basically anyone. But Stargaze might work pretty well for that one, due to Stargaze and Shieldwing being pretty intertwined with one another, so if Fellwing is introduced to Stargaze through Shieldwing along with the rest of the clutch (since Shieldwing is the one bringing her into the clutch), then that could be an "Ah ha" moment for Fellwing as she finally understands who this dragon really was. The actual dream could be somehow vaguely related to Stargaze's destiny as The Orphan?

And if you're looking for a Knowledgeable character for your other one, then Sylph might be your best bet? Shieldwing is definitely not going to fit that mold, and it's possible that Skobeloff might but he seems more of a rogue and trickster type of character than one who would be that knowledgeable. But as a member of House Myndoth, maybe he knows more than he lets on~ Sylph, though, is a former member of House Myndoth, and as a Rebel, has a unique Move that demonstrates superior knowledge of society at the very least and a Shadowself that implies that in the moment, they believe that they know more than anyone else ever could regarding the society's problems.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

<Snipped quote> could easily be tied into the other fellowship Fellwing and Shieldwing (I just realized they're both "wings") have. Maybe after the battle Shieldwing was gravely wounded/vulnerable? Or it could be an unrelated event, maybe an emotional vulnerability after something bad happened that Fellwing had foreseen, so she knew to be there to warn him or be there for him afterwards. Like the death of someone or the like.

That is, if the DM permits doubling!

@Vertigo

This is a nice idea, and though I already had one set to be tied up by Sylph...I'm not gonna lie, I really do like the idea of Fellwing seeing a moment coming that will leave Shieldwing emotionally vulnerable and comes to his aid. Especially considering the fact that she's from House Kebros, which is the House that was most involved with the Darkness' corruption besides Yeraktos. I think it could be plenty of fun for them to be particularly close~

And doubling down on that is that their names are similar, yet kind of opposing depending on the way you read into Fellwing's name~ One is a set of wings to shield and protect, while the other set of wings CAN be interpreted as sinister, dangerous or malevolent~ This is absolutely not how Shieldwing will see it, but maybe some other dragons can see it that way~

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

That DOES raise a question, doesn't it? Now that I think about it, nothing in the Fellowships actually specified that the dragons in each one HAVE to be different dragons. Is it fine to double up on them? It might make a decent amount of sense, considering it would be pretty hard to get everybody's to line up perfectly like that, considering how widely varied all of the different characteristics are?

So I guess the question for our GM here is...is it okay for two of a Dragon's fellowships to be taken up by the same other dragon? If so, then I presume that would mean that, IC, those characters would be particularly close?

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

I took the liberty of going through all five of the characters in question and figuring out which ones have been filled in and which ones are still blank, so that I could post them all in one place for convenience! As it turns out, BlueJay's Sylph is the only one that currently has all three ready. For reference, those are:

Skobeloff convinced the clutch to take you in after you left your House. Explain how they exemplified your virtue, and give them a Friendship Gem.

Stargaze worked with you to expose the treachery of an Elder dragon who had fallen to the Darkness. Give them a Friendship Gem.

You have helped Shieldwing to question one flawed tradition of their House. Tell them what it was, and take a Friendship Gem from them.

Sylph

Worth noting that the second one in that list is not necessarily confirmed yet, but if BlueJay is good with that, then Sylph would be finished.

Apart from that, these are what the other characters are still missing:

(Only one of the following)
___ has stood by your side in a fight against a monster of the Darkness. Explain how they exemplified your virtue. Give them a Gem.

___ was there when you were most vulnerable. Give them a Gem.

Shieldwing (Stargaze, Sylph accounted for)

___ is consumed by the Isle’s immediate problems; you will show them why they must focus on the future. Take a Friendship Gem from them.

Stargaze (Shieldwing, Skobeloff accounted for)

___ is a fellow prankster, a lover of tricks and jokes just like you. Explain how they once got one over on you, and give them a Friendship Gem.

Skobeloff (Stargaze, Sylph accounted for)

___ ’s knowledge is unparalleled within the Clutch, but they do not see the danger ahead. Take a Gem from them.

___ helped save you from the Darkness. Explain how they exemplified your virtue. Give them a Gem.

You dreamed of ___ long before you two met. Tell them what the dream was about and take a Gem from them..

Fellwing

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

I've definitely been keeping track, and I just need one more to get filled in. I've basically only got one more to fill in at this point. One will probably be going to Sylph, but it can be either. Which just leaves Skobeloff or Fellwing to take up one of mine. And then once one of those gets taken, the last one will be attributed to Sylph~

Gave Vertigo an example of one for Fellwing, but haven't heard back on whether that was fine or not. Until then, I'll be leaving it open in case somebody comes up with a different idea~

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

<Snipped quote by XxFellsingxX>

Stargaze: PRANK FIIIIIIGHT!!!

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Shieldwing: Huh!? Where, Who? What? Wait... \*smacked by chicken* Ah! Why!? ><;

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Guys…

Look at our Dragons’ colors

Red (Shieldwing)
Blue (Sylph)
Green (Skeboloff)
White (Stargaze)
Black (Fellwing)

…Tiamat’s clutch! Are we the baddies?! XD

@Guardian Angel Haruki

I love how this worked out. Plot twist: We are all secretly eggs from a massively evil, five-headed dragon that caused the Darkness problem in the first place! Gasp!

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

After looking at the others to see if they have stuff that fit for me, I think I've come up with the best ones that work with Shieldwing that haven't already been taken.

@Guardian Angel Haruki's Stargaze:

I like the one you chose and I think it works great! Here are my ideas from your fellowship list:

___ was a friend to you when you felt all alone in the face of your destiny. Explain how they exemplified your virtue and give them a Friendship Gem.

The moment Shieldwing becomes aware that Stargaze has this amazing destiny in front of them, he is going to take a keen interest. Especially with his own ambitions of doing something to combat the darkness. He will probably feel a strong kinship with her, and would definitely promise to help her fulfill her mission, no matter what. He knows what it's like to feel the pressure from a big, important mission and to have all kinds of expectations forced on you, so he will definitely be able to empathize and sympathize with her. And the moment he finds out that she's a victim of bullying, he will IMMEDIATELY come to her aid, standing protectively with her and growling at the bullies and trying to get them to back off. He won't even be afraid to get into fights with them if he has to~

All of this I think leads pretty well into Stargaze and Shieldwing's relations. Heck, maybe Shieldwing is the one who brought Stargaze into the clutch in the first place~

I could probably get the other one from Stargaze to work as well ("___ is consumed by the Isle’s immediate problems; you will show them why they must focus on the future. Take a Friendship Gem from them."), especially if you wanted to take a Gem from Shieldwing instead of giving two. But I think the former option goes best with the one Stargaze will be taking from Shieldwing's own list. Idk, I'll leave that decision to you!

@Vertigo's Fellwing:

___ helped save you from the Darkness. Explain how they exemplified your virtue. Give them a Gem.

You dreamed of ___ long before you two met. Tell them what the dream was about and take a Gem from them.

Both of these work really well for Shieldwing honestly, so I'm good with waiting until somebody else picks an idea from one of these, or if you have any particular ideas yourself!

The former is good because it could tie into my Fellowship option of Fellwing option of standing by Shieldwing's side in a fight against a monster from the Darkness. Perhaps Fellwing one time had a vision she didn't like and went off on her own, but Shieldwing noticed and followed her. And while she was on her own, she ended up getting attacked, for Shieldwing to come to her aid. Perhaps, as a raw-scaled drake, he couldn't beat the monster in a straight fight like what he was used to, so the two of them had to get creative and used their environment to take them down?

Alternatively, the dream one works pretty easily for just about anybody honestly, and is open ended enough to be tied into basically any Fellowship of choice. xD So if somebody else works better for the Darkness one, then this could be a good backup.

And then Shieldwing is already part of Sylph's Fellowhips, so that would just leave Skobeloff, but...really the only one of Skobeloff's fellowships he would work well with is the last one ("___ gave you their trust and confidence at a time when you knew you didn’t deserve it. Ask them why they believed in you, and give them a Friendship Gem."), but it already ties into Sylph, so that's about all she wrote. Hopefully Fellwing fits your prankster fellowship better than he does. xD

If not, I suppose that Shieldwing could potentially fill that role. As you say, a more direct result might get one over on Skobeloff a bit easier than a typical prank. He doesn't really LIKE pranks like the Fellowship states, but he tolerates them within reason and might be willing to get back at him sometime.

EDIT: Also aww, poor Fellwing, the only member of the clutch not to have an S name~ xP

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

@Digizel -- my thoughts are that, while Shieldwing doesn't take well to trickery or pranks, his questioning of authority appeals to Sylph. They find him annoying (the over-confidence, the arrogance) at times, but can recognize the common goals, and a friendship could grow there.

@BleakBlueJay

This does make sense. Although he doesn't question the authority or traditions so much as dislikes how hard they can be on him. He follows their traditions as best he can. Although, in terms of your Fellowships, that does give me an idea. One of Sylph's Fellowship questions are:

"You have helped ___ to question one flawed tradition of their House. Tell them what it was, and take a Friendship Gem from them."

Perhaps this could be in reference to Shieldwing. Perhaps Sylph came to him while he was frustrated or angry after getting a particularly nasty scolding for his attitude in a lecture on politics (perhaps they were even present enough to overhear him getting yelled at or something). They could maybe approach him, converse with him and comfort him a bit by talking about how the Brynbacks are too focused on being at the forefront of dragonkind politics anyway. And perhaps how this makes them come across as elitist, considering they're the only ones who actively teach this kind of thing as though Brynback being a superior House suited for leading were just a fact.

What do you think?

~~~

In any case, these are my own Fellowship questions, so if anybody has any ideas of their own for these, let me know! These are all pretty easy to fill in, honestly, but I'd like to get some opinions from you guys as to which ones may or may not suit your own characters and their personalities. That way I could potentially go with the ones I think work best for each category. After all, you know whether or not they'd do these things better than I would. xD

___ has stood by your side in a fight against a monster of the Darkness. Explain how they exemplified your virtue. Give them a Gem.

___ was there when you were most vulnerable. Give them a Gem.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

It's all good! We can just put them here, and if we want to, we could retroactively slip them somewhere into the CS?

But yeah, as for Shieldwing's personality, here we go:

Shieldwing--as a member of House Brynback AND a direct descendant of Wroughtwing himself (a fact he is very proud of)--is filled with a grand sense of self importance, leading him to be a bit on the arrogant side. He is strong, confident, proud and brave--if a bit reckless and hotheaded. However, there is one aspect that he is always being scolded for by his superiors in House Brynback: he has no mind or care for politics or how to govern. It's not uncommon for him to complain about his superiors once they're no longer around (or even under his breath if they ARE), because they believe he's simply not trying or doesn't care. In actuality, though, he simply can't wrap his brain around it all, which leads to his more aloof attitude on the subject.

He is also actually secretly a very sensitive dragon. His hotheadedness is usually a ploy to cover this up, as he sees it as a vulnerability that can be exploited. He feels the pressure of his lineage and his house constantly, striving to make them proud at all times...and this leads to him beating himself up more severely than usual for every failure. He is also very emotionally vulnerable to pointed verbal assaults. While he can usually take jokes to a point (although it will likely get a rise out of him), when somebody is actively trying to cause emotional harm--whether it's out of malice or simply out of anger--it is easier to do than it seems. This vulnerability is only made worse if it involves insulting/belittling his traits that he takes greatest pride in and he is incapable of denying or otherwise proving the words wrong. This is also why he sometimes has a hard time handling criticism.

Despite his shortcomings, Shieldwing takes it upon himself to act like the de facto leader of the clutch, though whether the others recognize him as such or not is another matter. He assumes himself leader because he feels his lineage, battle prowess, the fact that Brynback teaches leadership as one of its main focuses, and the fact that Brynback has historically been the most resistant to the effects of the Darkness puts him in the best position to do so. While on the surface, this might come across as just another aspect of his arrogance and overconfidence, those who really get to know him on a much deeper level, those who really need him, or those who come to him in his moments of weakness will get to catch glimpses of a truer, deeper purpose for all of this bravado: love for and desire to use all of his skills to be useful to and care for/protect his clutchmates, even at the cost of his own health and well-being.

However, if there is one thing Shieldwing is passionate about above all else, it's that he wants to beat back the Darkness, no matter what. He is not afraid to tell his clutchmates about his biggest dream: To one day get beyond the Cloudstalker and make his way down to the surface of the planet, and create a foothold to finally begin a REAL counterattack against the Darkness. While he's not going to hesitate telling this to anybody, he will get easily embarrassed if people make fun of him for having such an unrealistic goal, and will often snap back in anger.