So I made a long bio again.
@ecology
Edid: Darp; got Gaoler orders mixed up. Should be Keeper, not Sentinel (she's not that important. XD) Fixed.
Ever since she hatched under the Southern Icefield's vast, frozen terrain, Shiv knew that she would become a Keeper. When she was old enough, she apprenticed under a Gaoler who protected a particular block of ice, encased in which was the horrendous form of a piece of the Shade. It almost looked like a large dragon with glaring eyes and a jagged, partially-open mouth, inky and smoky in form. It was like this monster was made by happenstance, only forming a dragon's rough shape, but actually being drops of color that went swirling down into the water before freezing in place. It was a frightening creature...but thanks to the Icewarden and their pillar fragment, this ice would never melt. The creature could never go free. All the same, she was taught the stories. The Shade was capable of many, strange, supernatural things. It was why they guarded the world against it.
Eventually, Shiv took over for her mentor in guarding the frozen Shade piece. Many years passed. Word began to reach her that the world above the ice had opened up, and she heard many unusual stories about other, fantastic kinds of dragons who lived up there. From the news she heard, many young Gaolers were abandoning their ancient way of life, surfacing and exploring these strange, new lands.
Part of Shiv despised the idea. The Gaolers had such an important job, and now these young dragons were abandoning it for their own selfish desires? What about the fate of the world? What about the Shade? It wasn't disappearing just because the world above was new and different. The jobs below still needed to be maintained...and fewer and fewer Gaolers were getting their much-needed apprentices.
And yet...another part of Shiv wondered what it would be like. What if venturing above had been a possibility available to her when she was young? Would she have done the same as so many others and gone out to see the world? What new and unusual things awaited dragons up there? Shiv chastized herself for thinking this and curled up to sleep next to the ice, as she always did.
That night, the elderly Gaoler had a dream. She was guarding the ice block as usual, and the day had gone as it did every day. But then, she heard a voice. "For years you have guarded me. You have lived your life in service to your duty as a Gaoler as faithfully as a Guardian looks after her charge."
Shiv whirled around, looking to the piece of Shade encased in the ice. To her surprise and horror, the dragon-shaped, smoky creature no longer looked simply like ink in frozen water, but instead looked like some sort of finned dragon with the still, smoky Shade bit surrounding her. Somehow, Shiv knew that this dragon was called a Guardian, and she had the same colors as Shiv, herself.
"You may believe that you guard me, but am I not the reason you are here? Is it not I who am keeping you here? Are you not the trapped one?"
It was most definately the Shade fragment speaking. The creature in the ice was unmoving, but the voice eminated from her.
"Do not speak to me!" Shiv spat.
"You know the power of the Shade!" she replied, her booming voice shaking the icy cavern. Shiv crouched low and bore her teeth threateningly at the fragment. The shaking stopped, and the fragment's intonation went back to being cordial. "You do not see what is right in front of you. Look at your reflection."
Shiv didn't trust this fragment, but she followed the direction all the same. To her surprise, her reflection showed herself, but not in her current form, gnarled, old and dissheveled. Instead, a lean, young adult with a soft gradient to her fur and impressive, natural shards on her shoulders stood there, keen-eyed and full of life. White streaked her coat and wing membraine. She was a true beauty.
Shiv bore her fangs once again, refocussing on the fragment. "Why show me this? What are you trying to do?!"
"I am tired of this confinement: seeing you waste away... Let me use my power to give you a chance to live your life differently in this new era. The reflection you see I will make into reality. You will no longer be the Icewarden's prisoner."
Shiv hissed and spat at the Shade fragment. "I do not trust you! And how dare you dishonor the great Icewarden! He protects this world from your vile kind! Deciever! You do not wish for my freedom, but your own!"
A cackle echoed through the cavern and the ice keeping the Shade-wrapped Guardian splintered, causing the old Gaoler to jump back in alarm.
"I am already free!" proclaimed the fragment as the ice cracked yet more. "Careless Keeper, how do you suppose I was able to speak with you in your dream?! Never sleep against the ice encasing me, lest you be tainted!"
Shiv panicked as the cavern began to collapse around her and the Guardian in the ice lurched, its prison crumbling away. A smokescreen of snow blinded Shiv...and she woke with a start, gasping and wide-eyed from her nightmare. She got to her feet as quickly as she could, jumping away from the ice she had been leaning up against. To her horror, she saw that the Shade in the ice block had moved. It no longer looked like ink frozen in water in the shape of a Guardian. It looked like a whirling cone, the tip of which ended right where her boidy had been pressed against the ice...and there was far less of the shadowstuff than there had been before she'd fallen asleep.
The Shade fragment's cackling echoed through Shiv's mind, at first as a memory, then as though her voice was echoing loudly through the caves. Shiv's vision whirled as a sudden bout of dizziness consumed her, and she collapsed to the ground. The world spun and the cackling continued until Shiv fell into unconsciousness.
This is where Shiv's story splits. The Shade fragment that had partially escaped put Shiv back into place, and finished funnelling into her body. The old, dissheveled Gaoler was transported to the surface by the Shade fragment which now lived within her, and built a little hovel in the snowy woods to live in. It was the fragment who did the work, as Shiv's own mind was half-shattered by the Shade within her, who sectioned off most of her conscious ability from her body's consciousness. The Shade then cloned Shiv and put Shiv's personality, thinking and reasoning ability into this new, unhatched dragon. The Shade fragment quickened the little one's growth into a young adult as she slept, all while implanting memories of growing up with her elderly grandmother, and said grandmother's mental decline into an old, yammering Gaoler who was overly supersticious of the Shade, but still quite capable of looking after herself.
By the end of it, the new Shiv looked exactly as the reflection in the dream had, and all of Shiv's duty to combatting the Shade remained within her older form. This new Shiv was curious, adventuresome, a little reckless, and somewhat rebellious in nature, but was otherwise Shiv. What remained in the old form was barely enough to function as an independent dragon, but the new Shiv didn't think anything of it. She had her memories of her grandmother, and wanted to find her own life out there in Sornieth.
And so, the old Gaoler was imprisoned by the Shade as a host who didn't have the mental capacity to do anything about her situation, while her new self wandered off none the wiser. The fragment had freed herself...and had an avenue in which to spread, if she so chose.
Old Shiv
Shiv clone
@ecology
Edid: Darp; got Gaoler orders mixed up. Should be Keeper, not Sentinel (she's not that important. XD) Fixed.
Ever since she hatched under the Southern Icefield's vast, frozen terrain, Shiv knew that she would become a Keeper. When she was old enough, she apprenticed under a Gaoler who protected a particular block of ice, encased in which was the horrendous form of a piece of the Shade. It almost looked like a large dragon with glaring eyes and a jagged, partially-open mouth, inky and smoky in form. It was like this monster was made by happenstance, only forming a dragon's rough shape, but actually being drops of color that went swirling down into the water before freezing in place. It was a frightening creature...but thanks to the Icewarden and their pillar fragment, this ice would never melt. The creature could never go free. All the same, she was taught the stories. The Shade was capable of many, strange, supernatural things. It was why they guarded the world against it.
Eventually, Shiv took over for her mentor in guarding the frozen Shade piece. Many years passed. Word began to reach her that the world above the ice had opened up, and she heard many unusual stories about other, fantastic kinds of dragons who lived up there. From the news she heard, many young Gaolers were abandoning their ancient way of life, surfacing and exploring these strange, new lands.
Part of Shiv despised the idea. The Gaolers had such an important job, and now these young dragons were abandoning it for their own selfish desires? What about the fate of the world? What about the Shade? It wasn't disappearing just because the world above was new and different. The jobs below still needed to be maintained...and fewer and fewer Gaolers were getting their much-needed apprentices.
And yet...another part of Shiv wondered what it would be like. What if venturing above had been a possibility available to her when she was young? Would she have done the same as so many others and gone out to see the world? What new and unusual things awaited dragons up there? Shiv chastized herself for thinking this and curled up to sleep next to the ice, as she always did.
That night, the elderly Gaoler had a dream. She was guarding the ice block as usual, and the day had gone as it did every day. But then, she heard a voice. "For years you have guarded me. You have lived your life in service to your duty as a Gaoler as faithfully as a Guardian looks after her charge."
Shiv whirled around, looking to the piece of Shade encased in the ice. To her surprise and horror, the dragon-shaped, smoky creature no longer looked simply like ink in frozen water, but instead looked like some sort of finned dragon with the still, smoky Shade bit surrounding her. Somehow, Shiv knew that this dragon was called a Guardian, and she had the same colors as Shiv, herself.
"You may believe that you guard me, but am I not the reason you are here? Is it not I who am keeping you here? Are you not the trapped one?"
It was most definately the Shade fragment speaking. The creature in the ice was unmoving, but the voice eminated from her.
"Do not speak to me!" Shiv spat.
"You know the power of the Shade!" she replied, her booming voice shaking the icy cavern. Shiv crouched low and bore her teeth threateningly at the fragment. The shaking stopped, and the fragment's intonation went back to being cordial. "You do not see what is right in front of you. Look at your reflection."
Shiv didn't trust this fragment, but she followed the direction all the same. To her surprise, her reflection showed herself, but not in her current form, gnarled, old and dissheveled. Instead, a lean, young adult with a soft gradient to her fur and impressive, natural shards on her shoulders stood there, keen-eyed and full of life. White streaked her coat and wing membraine. She was a true beauty.
Shiv bore her fangs once again, refocussing on the fragment. "Why show me this? What are you trying to do?!"
"I am tired of this confinement: seeing you waste away... Let me use my power to give you a chance to live your life differently in this new era. The reflection you see I will make into reality. You will no longer be the Icewarden's prisoner."
Shiv hissed and spat at the Shade fragment. "I do not trust you! And how dare you dishonor the great Icewarden! He protects this world from your vile kind! Deciever! You do not wish for my freedom, but your own!"
A cackle echoed through the cavern and the ice keeping the Shade-wrapped Guardian splintered, causing the old Gaoler to jump back in alarm.
"I am already free!" proclaimed the fragment as the ice cracked yet more. "Careless Keeper, how do you suppose I was able to speak with you in your dream?! Never sleep against the ice encasing me, lest you be tainted!"
Shiv panicked as the cavern began to collapse around her and the Guardian in the ice lurched, its prison crumbling away. A smokescreen of snow blinded Shiv...and she woke with a start, gasping and wide-eyed from her nightmare. She got to her feet as quickly as she could, jumping away from the ice she had been leaning up against. To her horror, she saw that the Shade in the ice block had moved. It no longer looked like ink frozen in water in the shape of a Guardian. It looked like a whirling cone, the tip of which ended right where her boidy had been pressed against the ice...and there was far less of the shadowstuff than there had been before she'd fallen asleep.
The Shade fragment's cackling echoed through Shiv's mind, at first as a memory, then as though her voice was echoing loudly through the caves. Shiv's vision whirled as a sudden bout of dizziness consumed her, and she collapsed to the ground. The world spun and the cackling continued until Shiv fell into unconsciousness.
This is where Shiv's story splits. The Shade fragment that had partially escaped put Shiv back into place, and finished funnelling into her body. The old, dissheveled Gaoler was transported to the surface by the Shade fragment which now lived within her, and built a little hovel in the snowy woods to live in. It was the fragment who did the work, as Shiv's own mind was half-shattered by the Shade within her, who sectioned off most of her conscious ability from her body's consciousness. The Shade then cloned Shiv and put Shiv's personality, thinking and reasoning ability into this new, unhatched dragon. The Shade fragment quickened the little one's growth into a young adult as she slept, all while implanting memories of growing up with her elderly grandmother, and said grandmother's mental decline into an old, yammering Gaoler who was overly supersticious of the Shade, but still quite capable of looking after herself.
By the end of it, the new Shiv looked exactly as the reflection in the dream had, and all of Shiv's duty to combatting the Shade remained within her older form. This new Shiv was curious, adventuresome, a little reckless, and somewhat rebellious in nature, but was otherwise Shiv. What remained in the old form was barely enough to function as an independent dragon, but the new Shiv didn't think anything of it. She had her memories of her grandmother, and wanted to find her own life out there in Sornieth.
And so, the old Gaoler was imprisoned by the Shade as a host who didn't have the mental capacity to do anything about her situation, while her new self wandered off none the wiser. The fragment had freed herself...and had an avenue in which to spread, if she so chose.
Old Shiv
Shiv clone