alright, so, summary—a day ago, your characters received a letter calling you to the council chambers for a ~*~mysterious meeting~*~, telling you to be packed for a journey, signed by anara. the rest—what your character is doing at the time, how early or late they arrive, their thoughts on the summons—is up to you.
also, @anyone who might be reading this, we're definitely still taking applications!
im on the road right now and my driver isn't exactly the steadiest so please excuse any typos...
@Gisk: a tail-less whiptail...i definitely wasn't expecting that! off to the character tab with ye.
@RedDusk: the overall military force of caerel is severely lacking. technically, each fief should be able to supply at least twenty men at arms in times of national crisis, but with the isolationism many lords have gotten so lazy that some of the names on the list have died of old age, and the ones that haven't are severely undertrained. whenever the lack is brought up, the lords wave it away by saying the dragons are fearsome enough to make up for it. each fief does have a rrained complement of city guards, though, that rotate from village to village every few years.
as far as dragonriders being a separate faction, you're mostly right. civlians regard dragonriders as a breed apart, the strongest of the species, and look to them for protection. for their part, since their services as protectors are really no longer needed, dragonriders sit inside the mountain amongst themselves. as for the food, draketooth is capable of supporting about half its population; the rest comes from tithes from across the island. with fifty separate counties supporting one entity it's not a huge burden on individual farmers, and dragonriders usually don't charge for any other services they do for the populace. anything else they need like smithed goods they trade for with delver-found valuables. also, keep in mind the population of dragonriders isn't that big, and also that dragons only need to eat once a week or so.
on the subject of the character sheet: yeah, it's probably a little long...i'm considering scrapping the talents/flaws section, or at least just the flaws section. i trust yall to run realistically flawed characters without writing it out piece by piece. (and you're welcome for the formatting—that's always the most tedious part of writing a CS imo)
@Gisk: i have actually thought about the central ruling body, just didn't put it on the first post because we're pretty much immediately leaving caerel. i'll be adding this blurb to the 'on draketooth mountain' section:
Caerel's general government is a little different than the dragonrider's. The hereditary title of Lord/Lady belongs to whoever is in charge of each fief, and there are about fifty fiefs of varying size across Caerel. The Lords loosely convene four times a year—attendance isn't mandatory but highly recommended, so some of the outlying fiefs do not make an appearance. The Lords themselves elect three Barons to settle disputes and lead meetings, and there is at least one in attendance at every meeting. However, the annual spring meeting of all Lords and all three Barons, plus the dragonrider General, is mandatory, to discuss matters most important to the future of Caerel.
hopefully that clears stuff up? so there's not exactly a knighthood, persay, but lords/ladies might gift land to certain people in exchange for their service/vassalship.
as far as what dragonriders do, that's one of the things that has grown somewhat murky over time. when there was still regular contact between the islands, caerel was known as one of the most fertile and productive—the dragons protected the island from invaders time and time again and often made long journeys across the water with a speed only dragons can achieve. these days, they're an important part of the economy—heavy lifting, transport, deep sea fishing, things like that. the dragons don't mind, but some of the riders chafe at the 'common work.' mostly, the island supports the dragons because it's how it's always been done, but you have a point—after a century or so of isolation, some people are questioning why they should have to give a significant portion of their product over to dragonriders.
and now on to characters:
@Archmage MC: magnus looks pretty dang cool! i hadn't considered making alchemy a big part of the rp, but it's a very interesting concept. as far as bonding with a young dragon, i'd prefer her to be as close to a hatchling as possible, but if you go with a deep sea habitat for your custom breed it would make sense that not every female dragon is monitored. once the details for the custom breed are ironed out, go ahead and move him over to the character tab.
@Guilty Spark: maria looks like a total badass. cool history, too! she's set for the character tab.
@RedDusk: apples and cheese are indeed fantastic together. for a second when you mentioned a nest high up in the vines, i thought we were about to see a flitwit, but the image of a starscale swooping in out of nowhere in the middle of the night with his rider raining death from above is, admittedly, awesome. kaisen seems well fleshed out—off to the character tab!
if anyone has any more questions, feel free to ask—the more worldbuilding now, the less confusion later!
hey everyone, something unexpected came up and im only here for a moment, but all questions will be answered tomorrow morning. promise i havent vanished!
"Peaceful, yes," Lily replied automatically, eyes once again closed as someone crested the stairs to the temple. "Quiet..." Her words were, as if on cue, punctuated by the pop of a disappearing felidrake. "...not quite."
She finally deigned to look up, glancing over the other redhead with a critical eye. Painfully tall for a girl, really, and she carried herself like a bird ready to take flight at the slightest sign of trouble, but she had a sweet face—and as far as Lily thought, redheads were clearly superior in every way.
As she finished her quick assessment, she idly scratched the felidrake's head with a finger. She'd learned—quickly—that were she to pause in petting the little beast for even a moment, there would be some very sharp claws digging into her legs. The cat dragon seemed to think it had found the one statue in the entire forest that was warm, soft, and came with petting limbs. Marvelously lazy creatures. She knew she always liked cats.
The other girl crouched down, and Lily raised an eyebrow, glancing down to make sure the drake wasn't startled into fleeing.
"It seems to like you, doesn't it?"
"Oh, I certainly hope so," she grumbled, nonetheless continuing to gently stroke the soft fur, carefully avoiding the spines on its back. "This little monster gobbled up half of my pork jerky, burped, and went straight to sleep. If it doesn't like me, it's playing games with me, and I don't appreciate that."
As reluctant as she was to disturb the little thing, Lily glanced over to where she'd set down her cage. "Seems a shame to cage them," she muttered, then turned back to Scarlett. "Wouldn't happen to have any iron bracelets on you? It'd tickle me pink to have one of these things on a leash."
credit to pheberoni Standing at five foot ten and solidly built, Anara is the last thunder-rider in Caerel, and it shows—her hair is always slightly frizzy with static, and she always seems to smell of ozone.
AGE— 38 Bonded for 25 years.
GENDER— Female
HISTORY— No one can quite remember when the Keltor family arrived on Caerel—it seems as if they’ve simply always been. However, they’ve also always been farmers—the Keltor farm is the main producer of sugarcane on the island. When the last mated pair of thunder dragons had a clutch of two, thirteen year old Anara was one of six potential riders sniffed out, and the only one with no dragonriders in the family, not to mention the youngest. No one thought she’d be one to bond with a hatchling, but when Inirath emerged from her egg, she made a beeline for Anara, and the rest is history. Her family is still almost overwhelmingly proud to this day.
Life among the dragonriders was vastly different than Anara’s agricultural childhood—and she loved it. She took to training with gusto, and never expected any special favors just because of Inirath’s breed. Even as a junior rider, she had a reputation for treating everyone equally, from riders of the clumsiest flitwit to the most majestic sea drake. As a senior dragonrider and council member, she maintained that sense of equality, and ever so slowly began to change common thinking throughout the island—every dragon has value, no matter how small. The councillors from the Flitwit and Starscale riders are still grateful. Many an unsuspecting dissenter has muttered complaints in the tavern about Sergeant Keltor, only to be shouted down by her supporters.
So when the drought hit, many looked to Anara for guidance. She remains in contact with her family, so she was immediately aware of any weather changes, and the lack of rain has her as worried as any farmer. It was her idea to go to other islands for help, and she will personally lead a team of dragonriders in search of something to bring back the rains.
PERSONALITY— For all that she’s well known throughout the island, Anara is surprisingly quiet. She’s not unfriendly, but reserved, more willing to listen to others than talk herself. She considers every word before she says it—this slow speech and her size can combine to give the impression of stupidity, at first glance. Make no mistake, though, she’s smarter than many of her peers—she just waits before she uses it, and she never tries to show off. Many of those who live in close proximity to dragons look to her as their leader, whether by dint of her accomplishments, or simply because of the dragon she rides—she shoulders the responsibility admirably, but sometimes she just wants to go flying for fun.
It can be difficult to get to know Anara, especially these days, but you will never have a more loyal friend. She sticks by her friends through thick and thin, and is more than willing to stand between them and danger, and would trust them with her life. Even if she doesn’t like someone personally, she takes the thunder dragons’ legacy of guardianship very seriously. It’s these traits that have made her so valuable to Caerel—from farmers to dragonriders, the people know she’d do anything to protect the island.
TALENTS/SKILLS—
Veteran dragonrider—after more than two decades bonded to Inirath, Anara is one of the most skilled riders on the island, and is very knowledgeable about dragons in general.
Leader—due to her age and experience, younger riders often look to her, and she’s skilled in tactics and mediation.
Swordfighter—Anara is skilled with a short broadsword and shield, and to a lesser extent, hand-to-hand combat.
Tip top shape—With very few exceptions, dragonriders are in the best shape they can be. Anara is no different.
Dragon-hearted—This is the common name for someone who has a ‘gift’ with dragons. Anara doesn’t overstep her boundaries, but other dragons tend to respect her.
FLAWS/WEAKNESSES—
Isolated—Anara can find it difficult to delegate, sometimes, taking the most dangerous and difficult tasks for herself out of a desire to protect and keeping dangerous information to herself.
Somewhat sheltered—Anara has never left Caerel, and while this isn’t uncommon for the island’s inhabitants, she can’t really know about other islands’ opinions on dragons until she gets there.
BIG dragon—Inirath is not exactly...stealthy. She tends to attract attention. A lot of it.
EXTRAS—
Anara is dotted with small scars—in addition to the ones on her face, there are several across her hands and arms, mostly burn scars acquired during training.
She’s used to flying at high altitudes—a slightly lower oxygen percentage doesn’t bother her.
Sometimes, when it’s very late, she needs reading glasses. Not that she’s likely to have them on her.
NAME— Inirath
GENDER— Female
BREED— Thunder Dragon
APPEARANCE— Inirath is a darker silver than most thunder dragons. She’s also on the larger side.
PERSONALITY—
Stately—thinks pretty highly of herself.
Confident—she knows she’s badass.
Protective—Anara would go so far as to call her possessive, but...
EXTRAS—
Loves lying in the sun (and probably blinding everyone below)
Picky eater—takes only the best bulls to eat.
When things get serious, though, she and Anara work together like a well oiled machine of electric death.
