willekieker's Clan

Clan Cyperus Lore

Clan Cyperus was founded by a dragon of the same name and his wife Lelli. The intention was to create a safe haven for any kind of dragon that wished to join them, particularly those not native to the Contagion. Although not especially prosperous, Cyperus' clan has been steadily growing. After years of living on the Contagion itself, Cyperus and Lelli decided that in order to better accommodate a growing population they ought to move nearer the Seedscar. There they founded Cyperia, which was named by its inhabitants, not Cyperus and Lelli. The dragons dwelling in Cyperia said to Cyperus that it would attest to his efforts as long as the city would stand.

Cyperus and Lelli were startled one evening as Xiang, an esteemed resident of Cyperia, rushed into their home rather frantically. He told them that he had been to the Spiral Keep, and that what he saw there had grave implications for the future of the clan. He told them that he had seen in the water the face of a dragon nearly identical to Lelli- and that this dragon would run Clan Cyperus tyrannically. Xiang said that he could not see any further than that, but if this future were to become reality, the purpose of Cyperia as a waypoint between wandering on the Contagion and dutifully serving the Plaguebringer would be abandoned.
In light of this warning, Cyperus and Lelli agreed that they could not allow any Mirror descendant of theirs to take the throne. They knew they couldn't forbid only their Mirror children to be crowned, and so crowned Eilen, their adopted son, their heir.

They had another son at the time, Bashok; when he learned that the opportunity to rule had been stolen from him, he was furious. He stormed off into the contagion, on the outskirts of the seedscar, where some of the more reclusive residents of Cyperia chose to live. One such dragon was Navi, who lived in a small cluster with his parents, Kaya and Alona.

The small family took pity on Bashok, believing him to be an ordinary wanderer, and welcomed him into their home. He and Navi grew close, and one day Bashok realized he couldn't continue lying to Navi about his identity, as he had truly grown to love the other dragon. They had a special connection; both had a strained relationship with their parents, felt dissatisfied with life in Cyperia, and disapproved of the executive choices of the current Monarchs. Bashok finally cracked and told Navi everything, who he really was, who his parents are, why he left. He expected some kind of adverse reaction--disbelief, fear, revulsion, anything--but recieved none. Instead, Navi met him with understanding, and after a long, soulful talk, the two determined to run away together, where they could never be found--until they wanted to be.

Their destination was the Schism, a ravine located at the very bottom of the Castitas Mines. Nobody ever went down there, for it was dark, cold, and soulless, but as Mirror dragons the two young males were more than suited to such a life. Rarely did they venture out, as they were able to sustain themselves on the crawling things that lurked in the deep, but when they did, they seldom returned alone.

As it turned out, dissatisfaction was common in Cyperia, and it was relatively easy to convince others--particularly newcomers--to abandon their old lives and join the conspiracy. The most common recruits were Aberration, as they didn't mind so much the cold and dark. The pair also took under their wings an orphaned Nocturne named Kaph, who Navi saw traces of his young self in, and they raised him as their own.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the disappearances were beginning to draw attention. The Monarchs had no solution, and no clue that the Schism even existed, and so in order to distract the antsy citizens of Cyperia from the recent wave of exaltations and untraceable vanishings, they arranged a wedding between Eilen and a Skydancer from another Clan named Eel. They knew it was a temporary fix at best, but in reality it only generated more outrage, as the citizens of Cyperia felt as though their needs were being shelved in favor of foreign relations, meanwhile rumblings of rebellion quietly permeated the discourse.

The newlywed Princess Consort was publicly ridiculed, and Eilen strongly considered asking her to go home for her own safety, but after much discussion they decided together that they were a family now, and they would stand by each other through anything life threw their way, no matter how hard or humiliating.