Penddraig Chronicles

HENG JOON (Grey, M)

Heng Joon, Chief Advisor to Emperor Jien Shen Zhong, was renowned for his supercilious approach to all matters under his jurisdiction. Which covered a wide and far-reaching swath of power within the Empire.

One of his primary functions was to see to the security of the Empire, and that he did with a cunning and wit that had some observers express doubts at his having the Key to the Treasury as another of his duties. Still, no one could deny his successes, so he continued excelling at both roles.

When the Nocturne dragon, Serenada Notturna, came to him with the news that a Frostbite dragon seemed to be the problem in Desert Rim Forests he was at first inclined to dismiss it as unimportant. But he heard the dragon out and, for thoroughness, interviewed a number of the Desert Rim Forests immigrants.

It soon became clear that this was more than one dragon overstepping the boundaries of politeness by preying on other dragons' traditional hunting grounds. A huge amount of food was disappearing in these raids, more even than a Frostbite could need. So he resolved to put his best investigators, Agent 086 and Agent 099, on the case.

SEAGRAVE (Black, M)

Seagrave really didn't know much about himself, or his kind, and he was a bit overwhelmed when he came into Spice City at first. He had been raised by humans, and he vaguely remembered that they were kind and generous. And that they had called him Seagrave. And that, one night after he had reached adulthood, they just him near the city while he was asleep. How he came to be in their care in the first place, he did not know.

Spice City was something of a culture shock, and it took a little while for him to adjust. However, he soon fully embraced the dragon way of life and reveled in his new freedom. He particularly loved meeting other dragons of different breeds and discovering their customs.

MOVE - FBI (Pink, M)

Move loved the city. The constant noise of dragons moving around in the ruins of the human city, on cobblestones so old even dragons couldn't remember their purpose. The calls of the merchants selling their precious spices from all over Penddraig. Spice City had been his home all his long life, born, hatched and raised, and he cared about it with such a ferocious loyalty that it made his slender body seem twice its size when he was provoked.

But he was not at all sure about all these newcomers... There were the Zoyas and the Motleys, passing through as they had both done for centuries, but these Desert Rim Forests immigrants looked like they meant to stay! Setting up camp in the far edge of the markets, meeting with the most important of all citizens, acting as if it was their right to move in and change the society mores at their whim.

Why, even Heng Joon, a dragon one could normally rely upon to maintain standards, was giving these interlopers a ridiculous amount of attention, when all that was really needed was to send them back to fight their own wars. Oh, maybe send some of our military might with them, but never never let them get a foothold in the real citizens' circles.

BUTTERFLY GOBBLER (Black Tea, F)

"All these new dragons!", Gobbler thought, unable to decide how she felt about them. They were good for business, of course, and she was ever a practical dragon. But they seemed to drag noise and clutter behind them, and they unsettled her cats.

Gobbler ran a small business trading in cumeric, but her real vocation was her family of cats. They numbered up to 43 at one point, but she had learned to restrain her enthusiasm and compassion to a sensible limit. To a number of felines she could safely care for. It was not without its dangers, rearing cats; many dragons saw them as either vermin or food. Either perception led to the same conclusion - that they could kill any cat they came upon.

The newcomers had done nothing yet to indicate such attitudes about her cats, but she and they had to remain alert to the danger signals. It was as probable as not that they were showing their best side, being new arrivals, and that their future behaviour would not necessarily be so tolerant.

PRETTY MINNIE (Pygmy, F)

Minnie was one of the Pygmy dragons who first developed friendships with the kind-hearted Mistress Kay, a friendship destined to change the lives of all around them.

She and Tiny Sprite enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Spice City, and the feeling of safety it gave them, being in such a large group of dragons. But their first love would always be the rocky crags of the Alpine Ridge behind the city.

Flocks of Pygmies flew up the slopes and in the clouds in exuberant shows of speed and dexterity, that had a young girl's heart thumping with excitement. So, when Tiny Sprite started traipsing all over the island on these "expeditions", as he liked to call them, it seemed perfectly normal to once again fly with the flock she had known all her life.

KATOR LIGHTNING (Electric, F)

After Kator's hatchlings with her mate, (CB Electric), were all long gone, she decided she wanted to see a little of the world. So she set off from her highland home, heart set on adventure.

She passed through the Desert Rim Forests practically unnoticed due to some furore about an Ice Goddess. How foolish, to worship a Frostbite dragon! How strange are the ways of different dragons. This was much more interesting and exciting than she'd imagined.

Heading off from the forests, she made her way to Waterfall Landing, to see with her own eyes the majestic river, that flowed so serenely up above in her own home, cascade in sheets of roaring torrents over the cliffs. What she saw so enchanted her, that she stopped a while - well, the entire breeding season in fact.

Because she met with another phenomenon that enchanted and awed her, a Gold Shimmerscale named Mahzarin Gull. And that was how she ended up detouring from her planned route, to find a midwife willing to make the trip to Alpine Ridge. It was impossible to predict with any certainty what breed the hatchling would be, prior to being born, and if it was a Shimmerscale, Kator would need professional backup.

At first, she sought help from the Drakes in Coastedge Wood, but they would have nothing to do with her. She had broken their taboo on cross-breed mating. Still, a kind soul told her many of the midwives had moved on to  Desert Rim Forests, but there, she was told they had gone on to Spice City. This adventure was turning into an odyssey, and Kator was heartily to have made it to the city, where she rested until the egg was born. It was, as is the way of these things, a Shimmerscale, of course. But finally she found someone willing to go with her back to Alpine Ridge, where she and her hatchling would stay until it was strong enough to make the journey back to the Great Sea and his father.

LIGHTSSHIELD (Guardian, F)

LightsShield thought she had faithful friends and a supportive family, until the day she announced that she was expecting an egg from her mating with Motley Linen. Then, their true colours showed! Such an archaic view to parenting. From her parents, she was not so surprised, they were both quite old and stuck in their ways. But to hear young dragons like herself, talking as though the very thought of a match with a Motley was taboo, it was inexplicable.

Every mating season, the Motleys stopped their endless round of traversing the desert to find mates in Spice City. That was their traditional way of bringing new blood into their tribe. There have been a lot worse methods in dragon history.

So, yeah, she knew what she was doing. Her hatchling must leave with the nomads when next season came along, if it was a Motley, but that is just the way it is with the Motleys. And she was too young to be tied down permanently with young ones. No doubt she'd be happy to see it go.

SUMMONER THORIN (Thunder, M)

Dragons were always nervous around Thorin, but he was used to it. It came with the job. Dragons thought something was wrong at the very sight of a Summoner, for their role was to summon the Guardians Of Nature, beings of such mythical power, most dragons did not dare speak of them.

But they need not worry too much this time, he thought, because the Summoners had chosen to meet here in Spice City because of its convenient location at the crossroads on their three preferred habitats, and they were not going to be here long. A long drink of cooling well water, always so welcome to Thorin, after a season or two in his home in the Desert. Then they would be off again at first light, to continue southeast to their true target of their interest.

SUMMONER NARIKO (Thunder, F)

Unlike the other Summoners, Nariko never felt comfortable around other dragons. She saw the looks, could practically smell the fear. And for what? They would not summon the Guardians Of Nature unless all they knew was threatened, at which time she sincerely hoped they would be glad to see her.

And although they never stayed in the city more than a day or so, she could not rest comfortably or sleep soundly until she and the other Summoners were on the Old Spice Road, away from those fear filled eyes.

But this night was different... this time she met someone in her wanderings late into the evening. Someone who had her forgetting all about fearful glances and about nothing except the fierce intelligence and integrity she saw behind his eyes.

SUMMONER LEURA (Magma, F)

There was nothing like a good splash around in the water troughs at Spice City to really rest the nerves. Leura could never quite guess what it was those early humans might have been up to in such amazingly large tubs of water, but she thanked them heartily.

And her nerves weren't all that she'd wish, to be honest. She was never happy with these "inspection tours". She didn't like trekking about one end of the island to the other. It didn't seem to bother the other Summoners, but to Leura, this senseless traipsing was a waste of time. It had not provided a single case of abuse of the environment in the 300 years she had been a Summoner.

It made her grumpy.

SUMMONER MAGMA (Magma, F)

Magma was looking forward to the tour this year. Mating season was upon them, she had no attachments and it had been years since she had actively sought company. She was hoping to find a dragon who met her high standards and who had a sufficiently comfortable acceptance of her work. She hoped she could raise a little family for awhile, between her Summoning duties. Which weren't all that onerous, she felt. Although she had heard Summoner Leura on the subject - endlessly.  

SUMMONER JOKULL (Ice, M)

He never knew how he stood it, this living in the temperate zone, on the edge of a desert. What was he thinking? Of course, he hadn't been, had he? Nope, he'd been following his heart and common sense did not have a hope against such weaponry.

But he wasn't in love now, and he couldn't bear to be out in bright sunshine, so he hid himself away in the shadows. Where a pair of chatty Nocturnes, Serenada Notturna & Nocturne In B Major, quizzed him on his purpose here.

"Have you come to evict us from the ruins?", they asked. "Or are you going to confront the Frostbite dragon that is terrorizing dragons in Desert Rim Forests?" That one caught his attention.

What would make a Frostbite veer so far from its usual benign behaviour? Perhaps it was just as well the Summoners were heading in that region. He'd have to tell the others - when the sun went down.

SUMMONER HIROYUKI (Ice, F)

It was her first trip out as a fully fledged Summoner, and Hiroyuki was nervous. What if she made some major diplomatic blunder? Would she even recognize the need for circumspect behaviour when it appeared?

Of course, nothing like that had ever happened on any of her previous endeavours as an apprentice, and this was, after all, a routine tour. Right? Then why this feeling of foreboding?

She was too agitated, and let's face it, too hot, to sleep. The cool night air was so soothing after the heat of the day, and she decided to take a walk, only to run into Summoner Jokull, also clearly restless and disturbed.

Hiroyuki knew right then and there that something must be up. She had never seen Jokull look anything other than calm and serene. Tonight he was pacing restlessly beneath their snug corner of the Spice City ruins, clearly preoccupied with some weighty problem.

CONCERNED CASSIE (Cassare, F)

Cassie had that expression of concern and hesitancy that had so often lodged on her face that it had generated her nickname. But this time, there was nobody who would dispute the basis of her fears. The Summoners were in town, making their presence felt, and she just didn't know what to do. Like everyone else, she feared their awesome powers, but unlike most, she was in a tight spot, because she could unwittingly bring down their wrath upon her, by just being there.

She was a Cassare. She couldn't help that, or that her very presence drained the magic out of the air, putting the wielders of magic into the uncustomary position of defenselessness when they remained near her. So she would avoid them, go up into the mountains for a bit, take a little holiday. But for how long? And where were they going? How awful to go off into nowhere, only to discover they were going there too!

RIKO RINA (Grey, F)

Riko's relationship with Hi Hatchlings was, of course, strictly professional, but she admitted to a bond between them of extraordinary strength. It was the burden of their mutual responsibilities to their charges that brought them so close, she reasoned.

The pair were in charge of rearing and civilizing the horde of little monsters that the Imperial Court left in their care daily. The hatchlings seemed to be evenly divided between totally cossetted and spoiled brats, and those who were left to their own devices by absent parents, leaving them feeling lonely, resentful and neglected.

It is true, being in the Imperial Court was an exalted position, but could these parents not spend at least a little of their time focusing on their hatchlings? Riko often wondered what on earth were they doing, becoming parents at all.

Still, she and Hi Hatchlings (a nickname she had bestowed upon him - they were his opening words every day without fail, the moment he stepped into the nursery) had the situation well in hand and most of these little creatures would grow up to be useful and courteous courtiers.  

HI HATCHLINGS (Black Tea, M)

Everyone agreed, there was never a more devoted worker than Hi, when it came to looking after the Imperial Court's hatchlings. He had a knack with them, and they all seemed to respond to him in more positive ways than their own parents could manage. In fact, several of them were actually jealous of his care taking skills.

Superficially, it seemed he had all he wanted, but that was not true. Hi knew he was not that good at expressing himself to other adults and equals the way he related to hatchlings. It left him inarticulate in the most important conversations he wished to have. Those between him and his caregiver partner, Riko Rina.

He wanted to raise a family of his own, and he wanted to do that with Riko. His feelings for her had grown the longer he was in her company, and now he wondered if he could ever live without her. But how to tell her so? And what if she rejected him? He couldn't bear to be with her every day, knowing she despised him for his love... so he said nothing, growing sadder the longer he held his feelings to himself.

TAKE EXIT 8 (Pink, M)

"What good were these bloody Black dragons", Take Exit thought, "if you couldn't rely on them when a real threat to you and your prey was concerned?". And this blather about Ice Goddess, ridiculous! Cowards, that's what they were. And there's darn near half a dozen of them. Surely they could manage one out of control, feral dragon. For that surely was what they were dealing with, wasn't it?

AI BOOTH (Pink, F)

This was, AI thought, one of the very rare occasions that she agreed with that irritating excuse for a dragon, Take Exit 8. Clearly a rogue dragon was doing the rampaging through their habitat, even if it did seem to disappear into the night frosts before anyone could get a look at it.

But that gave her an idea. It would take very skilled hunters indeed to track a creature that carried its mantle of ice and snow around them. Perhaps she should mention to the Black warriors that there were some very fine trackers in Coastedge Wood, among the Copper dragon clan that lived there.

With increased tracking abilities and the extra dragon power, perhaps the fighters would be more willing to hunt down this creature and stop it - by fair means or foul, as far as she cared.

She thought she might talk to those new Blacks who came in just the other night. They seemed more competent and self-assured than the locals were.

AGENT 086 (Black, M)

Agent 086 and Agent 099 were Spice City's two best investigation agents, sent by Heng Joon to gather information regarding this mystery dragon said to be ravaging Desert Rim Forests' food sources. So it was not really all that surprising AI Booth observed that they seemed more competent than the local retired Black warriors. But they were not happy. They were supposed to be keeping a low profile.

Still, her information was useful. That there were excellent trackers nearby made a frontal assault more tenable than it first had seemed. Still, they would have to restore order among these hotheaded civilians long enough to make them see that there was a practical proposal on the table.

In the meantime, he deputised AI Booth and sent her over to the Coastedge Wood to recruit a couple of Copper trackers.

AGENT 099 (Black, F)

How sad to see such division among the dragons of Desert Rim Forests over a matter that should have been easily solved by some coherent approach to the problem. She hoped that with the arrival of Copper dragons to act as trackers, the question of the identity of the creature raiding their larders would be established once and for all, and this nonsense about an Ice Goddess would be stamped out.

In the meantime, order needed to be reestablished, and hers was the firm hand that was needed to achieve it.

SANAYAN (Red, F)

Sanayan refused to be cowered by the hot tempers of some of the residents of Desert Rim Forests. She also didn't much care whether the strange apparition was a rogue dragon, a visitation sent by the Ice Goddess, or a figment of everyone's collective imagination.

She had eggs that needed incubating, and since most of her erstwhile colleagues had 'abandoned ship', she was frantically busy and too tired to bother with speculation. So long as she could get a decent meal of deer or goat, she was satisfied with the place she was now coming to think of as home.

INKYUBETO (Red, F)

Inkyubeto came from a long and proud family of Red and Gold dragons. They had all made their way through life following in the footsteps of the previous generation, and becoming specialists at incubation. But Inkyubeto hated the life, and had left the family's home in Coastedge Wood in the hope that one day she would be able to live on skills other than incubation.

Now her new home was threatened, and she once again faced the choice of stay, and continue working through this local crisis as best she could, or move on to Spice City. Opportunities for learning another occupation in the field of fertility might be more likely in the city, but Inkyubeto didn't fancy yet another role to do with eggs and hatchlings. Already she had seen more in her young life than many would ever see.

Besides, she had come to like the relative quiet of this settlement, and had been getting guidance and practical assistance from another (hunter) dragon on the finer points of hunting, preparing and preserving game. In the city, she would be forced back into the incubator role.

So she opted to stay. Continued her tuition with another (hunter) dragon, and prayed things would all work out for the best.

NING LIM (Grey, F)

Desert Rim Forests had been Ning Lim's home all her life. Long before it had become fashionable to do so, Lim's parents had chosen to settle here, in the peace and quiet of civilization's outpost rather than in the hurly burly of the city.

Lim's name, in fact, meant "tranquil forest", and that is exactly what it had been, for the last two centuries. Such a furor and divisive conduct as of late had never occurred in all of Lim's life, and she was not equipped to cope with it.

She considered leaving with those who left for Spice City, but she didn't have their skills in fertility, or any other except a calm demeanor and a faithful belief that all would always be well.

So she stayed in her troubled home, and attempted to soothe ruffled feathers, praying that a solution would turn up before blood was shed. About the apparition she had no opinion, which might well have made her unique at the time.

GOLD N HARVEST (Harvest, M)

Gold N Harvest and Hungry Reaper were unlike most Harvest dragons, they chose to share a cave together overlooking the Desert Rim Forests year round. About food, they were not so companionable, and generally hunted separately to avoid rancour.

Come mating season, they sometimes went their separate ways as well, but each knew they could count on the other rejoining them when the season ended. So their current rift over the 'apparition' hurt. The sticking point was, should they join the other dragons who were off to hunt down and ...stop... the creature?

Hungry Reaper was driving Gold mad with her entreaties that he don't go. He understood her reservations, but to him protecting their food supply was just cause in putting an end to the devastation being caused by what seemed to be just one rogue dragon.

What else was there to do?

HUNGRY REAPER (Harvest, F)

She knew what ...stop... meant, when Gold N Harvest tried to justify his proposal to hunt down the creature devastating their forests, and she didn't want to see blood on her dear friend's hands.

She didn't think she could ever look at him the same way again, if he came back from that sort of adventure. How could he even contemplate it? It seems no matter how close you can be to someone, you can never really know them completely. Never be sure of them.

She would have to leave and find a new home for herself and her hatchlings, if he did not come to his senses.