Flight Rising Discussion

@tigressRising
May I be on the pinglist?

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5UVTy6N.png[/img][color=orange][size=6][u][b]~Fire~[/b][/u][/size][img]https://i.imgur.com/5UVTy6N.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=48&bodygene=15&breed=12&element=11&gender=1&tert=98&tertgene=11&winggene=13&wings=62&auth=8bcaf86989dfc9974405986dbf80f06875207e3a&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Dear Fire Flight, Hello. My name is Honor Smokespine. Honor is the name I was given by my clan’s trainer when I said I wanted to be exalted to the Tidelord, and Smokespine was the name I took for myself when I arrived at the Spiral Keep. I was born and raised Unnamed, as the clan I grew up in believed that names were something that had to be earned, either through great deeds or through life-changing experiences. I was in the latter camp. Many clans in the Ashfall Wastes work as blacksmiths, and mine was no exception. Yet, despite the efforts of my parents, I had neither talent nor passion for blacksmithing. Still I was forbidden from pursuing any other career, as almost every dragon in my clan was either a smith or a warrior, and I was even worse at battling than I was at metalworking. As a young Coatl I feared that I would be forced to work at the forges for the rest of my life, or else scrape out a living by running menial tasks for more talented smiths. But that all changed when I first visited the Sea of a Thousand Currents two years ago. It was during the Wavecrest Saturnalia, when I was walking down a street lined with food stalls. There were so many of them, selling all kinds of foods and snacks I had never seen before. But what caught my attention was a simple stall at the end of the street. It was giving out free samples for a simple dish called “sushi” - chunks of raw fish and vegetables placed on top of rice, and then wrapped up with dried seaweed. At first I hesitated to try it, since there wasn’t anything like it at home. But I was curious, so I took a piece and ate it. It was [i]divine[/i]. The strong taste of fish was balanced out by the light, crunchy vegetables, and the salty seaweed provided the perfect counterpoint to the sweet rice. I begged the owner of the stall, an elderly Skydancer, to let me work for her and learn how to make dishes like sushi. At first she wasn’t sure, but after seeing how passionate I was she gave in. I spent the rest of the festival working at her stall. There I learned how to cook and prepare dishes - not just sushi but also traditional water dishes such as smoked fish, seafood gumbo, tempura shrimp, and chowder. At the end of the festival, I asked my cooking mentor who she was and where she was from. She told me that she was an Exalt under the Tidelord, and that she worked as a chef feeding his army. It was at that moment that I decided I would take that same path - I would Exalt myself to the Tidelord just as she had, and I would learn to cook meals for other dragons to enjoy. In hindsight there were probably easier ways to become a chef, but I haven’t regretted a thing since then. Under the Tidelord’s service, I found my true calling as a cook. I began as a simple commis chef due to my lack of formal culinary training, but as my skills grew I graduated to a line chef, and then a sous chef, which I currently am now. I like my job. The benefits are very nice: steady pay, regular work hours, complimentary living space, free healthcare from Exalted doctors, and of course fulfilling work. And the job I and other Exalts do as cooks is [i]very[/i] important - probably the [i]most[/i] important job out of all the Exalts. An army marches on its stomach, after all - without food, even the mightiest military will be too weak to fight. It is because we cooks do our job that other Exalts have the energy to do their jobs. Not to mention that food is a great way to bring dragons from different backgrounds together. Every flight has their own cuisine and preferred ingredients - seafood for Water, leafy greens for Nature, spices for Fire, and so on. Like the Exalts, our cooking is a fusion of all the flights - we mix and match ingredients, share cooking styles, and the resulting dishes become something all dragons can appreciate, a blend of the familiar and the exotic. I love it when we get new Fire exalts in the kitchens - their flames are very handy for cooking food, especially since few conventional flames will stay lit in the damp and watery conditions we have to work in. Fire dragons are also prized for their ability to withstand heat, as the kitchens can get very hot when we have to cook meals for thousands of dragons three times a day, and anyone who cannot handle the heat is quickly told to stay out. I also appreciate how many dragons from Fire understand Coatl, as yelling at an assistant for messing up loses its impact if no one understands what you are saying. (And for the record, [i]no[/i], I cannot be bothered to swear in any language other than my native tongue when I get that angry.) Anyways, I need to get back to work now. The kitchens are working double time because of the festival, and I need to make sure the cooks under my command aren’t slacking off or making mistakes. Happy Wavecrest. I hope you enjoy the food. From, Honor Smokespine [/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CkneRT5.png[/img][color=87CEEB]][size=6][u][b]~Ice~[/b][/u][/size][img]https://i.imgur.com/CkneRT5.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=74&bodygene=7&breed=6&element=6&gender=1&tert=21&tertgene=13&winggene=8&wings=23&auth=21f0529d148204f182932a2123578feceb15d8fa&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Dear Ice Flight, Hi everybody!!! How are you all? Still as [i]cool[/i] as ever? Is Icepop still giving you guys the [i]cold[/i] shoulder? Don’t worry about it, I’m sure he’s a n[i]ice[/i] deity deep down. Haha! XD Sorry about all the puns, I just couldn’t help myself. It’s just been [i]sooooo[/i] long since I got to make Ice puns!!! Not that Water Flight doesn’t do puns, it’s just that their puns tend to be on the watery side. They’re still fun to make though - you [i]otter[/i] try them some time. ([i]Sea[/i]?) Anyways, my name is Wintry Icefur. Well, that’s the name I have now. When I was younger everyone called me and a bunch of other dragons in the lair “Fodder,” which - not gonna lie - sounds like a silly name to me. But dragons named Fodder always become Exalts, and being an Exalt is a huge honor, so I guess Fodder is a super special name for some reason??? I changed my name to “Wintry Icefield” after I was exalted to the Tidelord though, so that way I could remember where I came from no matter how long I spent in the Sea. Anyways, when I joined the Tidelord’s service I was immediately put onto “preservation” duty. At first I was like, “okay, weird” since preservation is usually Ice Flight’s thing, but it turns out that’s why they wanted me there in the first place! First I started out small, freezing shells and fossils in chunks of ice and delivering them to special storage facilities. (Can’t tell you where they are though - that’s classified. :P) Then as I got better with my Ice magic I froze rare fish, endangered plants, and the skeletons of long-dead sea creatures from previous ages - so that if the species ever got wiped out in the wild, the frozen samples could be thawed out and revived. And one time, a bunch of prophecy bubbles escaped from the Spiral Keep, and the oracles were going crazy trying to catch them because they were top-secret bubbles or something. They managed to grab a few, but the currents carried the rest away and it looked like a bunch of Water’s secrets would get leaked (haha) into the outside world. Luckily I happened to be in the area, so I did the first thing I could think of - I used my magic to trap the bubbles in a hollow sphere of ice, and then brought it back to the seers. When they opened the ice shell, not a single bubble inside was damaged. The oracles were so impressed by my magic and quick thinking that they assigned me to Special Preservation Team 6! As part of this elite group I and other specially selected Ice dragons seal away - Oops! I forgot I’m not allowed to tell you guys this stuff. :( There are some “things dragonkind was not meant to know” and all that. The exact details of what I do are classified, but basically there are some, uh, [i]bad things[/i] in the ocean, both living and nonliving, and Tidelord doesn’t want anyone finding them because [i]very bad stuff[/i] would happen if they did. So when Exalts or Water clans find any, uh, [i]bad things[/i], my team gets sent to whatever cave or trench it’s living in and seal off all entrances to it with our Ice magic. Then a bunch of mages come in and cast lots of spells to keep it from getting out. Not that any bad things have ever gotten out, of course!!! And if anyone says that some bad things [i]have[/i] gotten out, and that they’re swimming around in the Sea [i]right now[/i], then they are obviously and totally lying. Oh, I’m so sorry!!! This letter was supposed to be about the Exalts you guys sent to us from Ice Flight, and I got sidetracked and wrote about other stuff. :( Anyways, I’m usually too busy with my job to personally look after all the new Exalts who come in from Ice. But according to their instructors, your Exalts are doing super well!!! Most of them have been put onto preservation work, doing the same stuff I did when I was first starting out. They also help out with cataloging all the stuff they freeze, and with transporting the frozen goods. Sometimes when I get free time I like to chat with the Ice Exalts and catch up on news in the Southern Icefield. And, if I find an Exalt who’s super skilled with Ice magic, I write a note of recommendation and give it to my supervisor. There haven’t been any newcomers to Special Preservation Team 6 yet, but fingers crossed! I’d love to have a new friend to show around. That’s all I have to write for now. I hope you guys have an awesome Wavecrest! Water Flight has been working hard for months to make this festival super fun, so I hope you’ll check out all the [i]cool[/i] events. :D And if you do see any eldritch-looking creatures (not that you [i]would[/i] of course, just in case), [i]stay very far away[/i] and let an Exalt know, OK? XOXO (with hugs and kisses), Wintry Icefield <3 [/center]

@Lightningwind @Hokayse @RaiStarDragon @Chaosarceus @FaeWolfling @DazzlingSnek @Hexingisfun @HeyPiezanos @fuwafuwa @MoonEclispe @SilentRiver @Taiyou @CoralGrove @thistlestars @KairinRose @Wildtail @InkedMyths @britonro @SnoringHyena @AnnieBee @GreatLordHades @Lonefox @Jeevas @TheWhiteTigerGod

Letters from our Fire and Ice representatives have washed ashore! Read them here!

Also for future reference, the rest of the letters will probably be posted around 6-7 am FR time each day since I have classes in the morning. :P

@GuardianDragonak Sure thing! Adding you to the pinglist.

@tigressRising May I be added to the pinglist, please?

@Molu Sure thing! Added you to the pinglist.

[center][img]https://imgur.com/379BCK6.png[/img][color= FFD700][size=6][u][b]~Light~[/b][/u][/size][img]https://imgur.com/379BCK6.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=131&bodygene=10&breed=4&element=8&gender=0&tert=103&tertgene=12&winggene=20&wings=93&auth=1d37c23cad90c30448742fcbf7bd8a0ba69d08fb&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Dear Light Flight, Greetings. My name is Galahad Solareye, formerly of the Mirrorlight Promenade, currently of the Tidelord’s Exalts. Before I became an Exalt, I was born to a wealthy Light clan in the Sunbeam Ruins, and from birth I was expected to be adopted by another well-off clan, betrothed to dragon who would create beautiful offspring with, and work in a cushy job while wearing fine silks and jewels. It was how my parents lived, and I was expected to follow the same path. But life has a way of surprising you. Despite my many attractive qualities (my looks and charm being only a few), my clan was unable to find a suitable clan interested in adopting me. Given my inability to be adopted and Light’s dominance-heavy culture, the clan leader decided that I should be trained and exalted to the Lightweaver. I accepted this fate as any dutiful son would - becoming an Exalt is regarded as a high honor, and this way I would bring my clan wealth and prestige instead of being a burden. Visions of scholarly debates and basking in the Lightweaver’s glory filled my head - so you must imagine the shock and horror I felt when the clan leader told me she had changed her mind and that I was to be sent to the Tidelord instead. Apparently the Water Flight was paying premium price for Exalts that week due to a push for dominance, and my clan wanted the extra wealth. Though the prospect of leaving Light terrified me, I was nothing but a dutiful son to my clan. Once my training was complete I packed my few personal belongings and left for the Sea of a Thousand Currents. When I first arrived at the Spiral Keep to check in and report my new Exalt status, I was still hopeful that I could find a comfortable job working in bureaucracy or education, since Light dragons are known for being scholarly. However, the recruiters took notice of my incredible fitness, a result of good breeding and the combat training I had received before being exalted. They decided that they couldn’t let such peak physical conditioning go to waste, and so I was assigned to the Search and Rescue division of the Exalts. Search and Rescue Exalts, as the name implies, patrol the Sea searching for dragons and boats lost at sea or in trouble with wild beasts or foul weather and had to be rescued. I was given basic training on the most important aspects of the job - how to properly put on and wear safety equipment, how to swim through rough currents and fly through heavy winds to reach drowning victims, and how to assist panicking victims in the water without getting pulled down with them. But my main purpose was to stand on the boat that my S&R patrol piloted and use my Light magic to light up areas and find dragons in the water when it was too dark to see. At first I didn’t think highly of my job, considering myself a glorified searchlight. But then the maelstrom hit, and I saw why S&R’s mission was so important. When the maelstrom swept over the Sea, it was gigantic - easily the size of the Twisting Crescendo, if not larger. Many lairs were washed away in the storm, as were many dragons. Every active patrol in the Search and Rescue division was dispatched to find and rescue any dragons unfortunate enough to be caught by the storm. My team was sent out when the storm was at its strongest, and my crewmates struggled to keep the ship afloat in the rough seas while I illuminated the surrounding waters so we wouldn’t crash into any rocks or debris. About 20 knots away from the Fishspine Reef, we spotted a fishing boat unlucky enough to be out on the open sea when the storm hit. The boat was smashed to pieces by the fierce waves, and its crew members were close to meeting the same fate. While I made the victims easy to spot by focusing my light on them, my more experienced teammates dove into the water to grab them while clutching giant life preservers with a rope tied to one end. The other end of the rope was attached to a winch, and once a diver had reached and gotten hold of a victim, I and other Exalts still onboard would run to the winch and furiously crank the handle, which would pull both dragons onto the ship. It was dangerous and terrifying work - a single error could cost the lives of both victims and rescuers. But despite the risks, not a single Exalt hesitated when diving into the water to save another dragon’s life. Miraculously, every dragon survived, including the Exalts and all 11 crew members of the sunken fishing boat. We would later rescue 23 more survivors before our ship grew too full and we had to head back to shore. Seeing the veteran Exalts heroically risk their lives to save others, the joy and relief of drowning dragons when we rescued them… After the storm, I resolved to take my duties as a Search and Rescue Exalt more seriously. My greatest hope is that someday I will show as much selflessness and courage under fire as those brave divers did. I take an interest towards Light dragons who join the Search and Rescue division, so I am usually assigned as their instructor and supervisor. I teach the new Light Exalts how to concentrate their Light magic so that it’s powerful enough to illuminate a dark sea in a stormy night, but not so powerful that it burns any dragons who get caught in the beam. I teach them how to create signal flares by firing beams of light, and what the different colors and frequency in flares mean. I also teach them how to read sea charts and write incident reports, dull but necessary parts of our job. But most importantly, I teach them the importance of respecting and trusting their team. It doesn’t matter what background you come from - a wealthy Light clan, a small Water fishing village, a marsh along the Plague border - when you’re out in the surf desperately clinging to your life preserver in one hand and a panicking victim in the other, your life is in your team’s hands. The point of Search and Rescue is to find and save those in need of help, and then fighting to bring everyone back home safe and sound. And do to that, everyone needs to work together, and everyone needs to perform their role, no matter how dull it may seem. And that concludes my letter to you all. Lately I’ve been too busy to write ever since the maelstrom hit, as we’re still looking for dragons who went missing in the storm. Your Light dragons have proven very helpful in this regard, as their magic allows us to search even at night. I thank you all for the support you have shown Water Flight, and I wish you all a happy and safe Wavecrest Saturnalia. Yours truly, Galahad Solareye [/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pYNBskL.png[/img][color=7200BD][size=6][u][b]~Shadow~[/b][/u][/size][img]https://i.imgur.com/pYNBskL.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=12&bodygene=12&breed=11&element=7&gender=1&tert=15&tertgene=9&winggene=16&wings=127&auth=dc677da2e0a192b7f8b172a749fecc31ce19f638&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Dear Shadow Flight, [b]BOO![/b] Did I scare you? Ah, I’m only messing with ya. My name is Trisha Muckstreak, and as you can probably guess, I’m the Shadow representative for our letters from the Exalted thing. My childhood was pretty typical for a Shadowling - I grew up in the Tangled Woods chasing other hatchlings through bramble mazes, playing pranks on other dragons, and hanging out with my friends while daring each other to eat the glowshrooms or drink Shadowbinder’s drool. Then one night, a friend of mine bet a thousand gems that no one in our group had the guts to exalt themselves to the Shadowbinder and come back. (We miiiiight of had mushrooms for dinner…) Everyone else was too shocked by the blasphemy, but I was never one to back down from a dare. I told my friend to pay up now, and then I ran to the nearest Exalt outpost and told them I was exalting myself. I even filled out all the official paperwork and everything. Unfortunately I had forgotten one important thing - my friends and I had been partying on the islands on the Shadow-Water border, and in my inebriated state I had accidentally gone into Water territory instead of Shadow. By the time I sobered up and realized what I’d done, I was already at the Spiral Keep. Naturally, exalting myself to Water hadn’t been my plan. I was scared - I was pretty sure that the Shadowbinder could take a good joke, but I wasn’t sure if the Tidelord would. So I panicked and told the Exalts all about the stupid dare and how I actually didn’t want to be there. Obviously no one was happy about me exalting myself for a joke, but they agreed to let me go back home. So you’d think that’d be it, right? Problem was, I had already filled out the exaltation paperwork and the paperwork had been processed. And this was before the bureaucrats overhauled the “Restoration” process and streamlined it. Back then, un-exalting yourself was a rarely-used, complicated, and really slow process - you could be waiting for weeks or even months before you could go home. In the meantime, to keep myself from going crazy with boredom, the Exalts let me help look after exalted hatchlings while I waited for my paperwork to be processed. Hatchlings are exalted to the Tidelord for various reasons - some are orphaned or abandoned, some are sent away from their clans to find a better life, while others are brought by their parents so the whole family can be exalted together. Whatever the reason, that still leaves a bunch of kids who need to be looked after so everyone else can do their jobs. At first I just did chores like setting out snacks and cleaning up messes, but once the Exalts knew me better, I was allowed to spend more time with the hatchlings. I entertained them with stories about life in Shadow, as well as old folktales, ancient legends, and stories about all the dumb stuff I used to do with my friends. The hatchlings loved my stories, and they loved all the “magic tricks” I knew like finding a coin in a hatchling’s ear or removing my thumb from my hand and putting it back. When the Exalts finally got back to me 3 months later and said I could go home, I realized I didn’t want to leave - I had grown to love the little scamps too. And so I ending up staying exalted to the Tidelord after all, working as a hatchling caretaker. A lot of the new hatchling caretakers who joined last week are Exalts from Shadow, and honestly I’m not surprised (and super proud). In my biased opinion, when it comes to hatchling daycare, you can’t find anyone better than a Shadow dragon. It doesn’t matter how clever hatchlings think they are when they hide their vegetables or slip away to go play; a Shadow dragon can sniff out their tricks easily because nobody can out-trick us. It’s like that old saying about the best dragon to catch to a crook is another crook - the hatchlings can’t outsmart us because we already know all their tricks as well as even better tricks. Shadow Exalts also make great hatchling caretakers because we know how to have [i]fun[/i]. We can use our Shadow magic to make awesome shadow puppets, to go with our [i]spoOoOoky[/i] ghost stories, and we know how to tell the funniest jokes and pull off incredible feats of sleight of hand. Not to mention Shadow dragons bake the best cookies! And what hatchling doesn’t love cookies? Certainly not any I’ve ever met. Anyways, I have to go now. The kids are super excited because of the festival, and if I keep them waiting any longer they’ll get into mischief. Not that I can’t handle their mischief of course, but there’s only so much time to enjoy the holiday already. I hope you all have a fun Wavecrest Saturnalia! ~Trisha Muckstreak [/center]

@Lightningwind @Hokayse @RaiStarDragon @Chaosarceus @FaeWolfling @DazzlingSnek @Hexingisfun @HeyPiezanos @fuwafuwa @MoonEclispe @SilentRiver @Taiyou @CoralGrove @thistlestars @KairinRose @Wildtail @InkedMyths @britonro @SnoringHyena @AnnieBee @GreatLordHades @Lonefox @Jeevas @TheWhiteTigerGod @GuardianDragonak @Molu

Two more letters have arrived - Light and Shadow! Sorry for the delay, I wasn't feeling too well this morning and I've only just been able to post these now. Hopefully I should feel well enough tomorrow to post the letters on time.

I hope you feel better soon dear! Make sure to not push yourself and take care of yourself.

Anyways, I love the Light and Shadows letters! Shadow especially since my own nest aid and adoptive father/uncle to any hatching in my lair is a Shadow dragon! And Galahad's letter was great too! My favorites so far are Water, Earth, Fire, Shadow, and Light, and I can't wait to see the rest!

Also I swear these scried dragons look incredibly nice. I'm tempted to try and find/breed for Honor Smokespine and or Trisha Muckstreak.