Menae

Menae has little memory of either of her parents, since they both left to serve the gods long before she ever took her first real steps or stretched her wings for the first time. She grew up hearing stories of them, though, that they were both amazing, ferocious warriors whose skills at combat were to be envied if not emulated.

When she became old enough to hunt, Stormrush, the founder and then-leader of Clan Fulgurite, began to put together a pair of teammates for her before Menae stopped him. She would do this alone, she said. She would prove herself as a worthy combatant. And she set off by herself, only her own determination to keep her company.

And prove herself she did. She fought many battles alone. Sometimes Menae barely crawled away alive, but she did and healed and came back stronger than ever before. She takes teammates with her now, now that she's proven herself every inch a warrior and even bears the scars of badly-healed close calls to show for it. Sometimes she trains younger clan warriors as the Ridgeback Shale once trained her. Sometimes she goes out with peers to hunt down meat and giant insects to feed her massive and still-growing clan

Menae isn't ready to follow her parents and sisters to the feet of Stormcatcher and isn't sure she'll ever be. A life of eternal battle causes her no fear, but to battle the dragon servants of other gods forever? It seems... a waste, somehow. Endless and without meaning. Maybe she's just not devout enough or maybe it's a mindset she has to grow into -- time will tell on that front -- but she much prefers the constant battling of worthy prey to the point of keeping her clanmates fed and finding the occasional bit of treasure to the idea of becoming a pawn in an endless war between gods who are, usually, more or less at peace with each other.

Besides, sometimes even the gods can't intervene in purely mortal matters.

Menae spearheaded a bloody coup, a rebellion to overthrow the tactically brilliant but unsustainably iron-fisted General to take control of Clan Fulgurite. It was a battle Menae entered expecting to lose. Now that she's won, she's taken the clan to the lands of the Gladekeeper and back again, still somewhat lost.

She has the leadership, but she lacks direction, strategy, even purpose. Maybe someday she'll find it.