Nika

Diminutives: Chargeless Gender: cis female she/her Orientation: ... Friends: ... Allies: Aldith (there's an Understanding at least) Amaltheia (the kindest of the Guardians about it) Enemies: ... Imperials, Guardians Likes: storms Dislikes: Imperials, Emperors, Lightweaver, Beastclans, storms (it's complicated)

job | job Physique: significant old battle damage, electric scars Temperament: withdrawn, somber, wary Flaws: distrust Summary: Her charge was a young sickly Imperial who was struck by a plague that not even Plague dragons could really understand, she took him to the edge of Light and Nature to seek out medicine (bc she didn't dare take him deeper into Plague territory itself), which loads of others did too, lotsa dying, lotsa Imperials dying in the same spot, they formed a very weak Emperor that she had to take down along with the area's able dragons and beastclans. Now she hates Lightweaver and almost hates Imperials but no longer trusts them. She returned to her charges home near the Expanse but stayed on the Light edge of the boarder to keep an eye on Imperials and prevent the formation of Emperors. ▬∞☉∞▬ One of the few to face an Emperor and live. One of the Imperials involved was her own charge. She does not speak of what happened to her charge, but it is impossible to miss a Guardian who failed in their duties. Most non-Guardian clan members know to treat a Guardian's loss of a charge with solemnity and respect, though for the more fantastical and gossipy of clan members the subject of what happened to leave a Guardian without a charge is too fascinating to leave alone. They spin series of speculative tales of drama and loss among themselves, each more sensational and melodramatic than the last. Yet the reality is far beyond any of their most crafted imaginings. Among Guardians, the subject is far more severe; discussion that is simultaneously tragic and mournful while holding her in contempt in the same breath. The contempt spawns from the fact that she is still alive while her charge is not. She is a pariah of Guardian culture, many consider it shameful that she did not pass with her charge or allow herself to go after she failed. Some are even wary of her and consider that such a moral failing that they view her as dangerously unsafe and untrustworthy, incapable of emotion or connection. The more sympathetic or generous Guardians don't view her quite as harshly, but they do regard her with (well-meaning) pity and can never begin to comprehend her situation. Their interactions with her are brimming with sympathy but are sparse, and stilted and uncomfortable. Nika discovered the abomination that is Emperors when she was sitting watch, stunned and in shock, next to her charge's body, after losing him and other former clanmates to a brutal Beastclan raid. She was awestruck and horrified when the Emperor began to form. The monster was frail, for an Emperor at least, and was composed of only four young and weak imperials, not far past fledglinghood*. So it was not as formidable or devastating as an Emperor at its full potential, but that is not saying much. Even more dragons were lost to the Emperor battle than the initial Beastclan raid that formed them, and even the Beastclans returned to help take it down, to the devastation of their own numbers as well. The battle was the worst experience of her life, and took an even greater emotional toll than physical. She came close to death and now bears the scars of her own charge's claws, teeth, and lightning magic across her body. In the aftermath, she dug out a lavender spine from one of her wounds. It was the last remnant she had of him, it was a painful reminder to keep but far more painful to throw away, she wears it now around her neck. She never confirms what it is, but to those who get a good look at it, it is clear that it is the spine of a dragon, and they can connect the dots. She is protective of it, as a final memorial, but it is a far cry from the drive she felt for her charge, and those who assume that it still serves as her charge as he did are sorely mistaken. She often wonders how she never saw it coming, and on particularly rough days feels resentment and rage at the Tidelord for not granting her a seer's knowledge of what was to come so that she might have avoided such a fate for herself and for her charge. She finds herself wondering even more often what sort of goddess would allow her children to become such monsters. She can't even begin to entertain the thought that it could have been by design. She loathes the Plaguebringer for the illness that lead them to Armas' death and abominable resurrection. Her emotions get particularly twisted during storms, especially ones involving lightning. They make her simultaneously sorrowful and pained and terrified while also being a comfort and reminder of him, if a wistful one, that makes him feel close again. Which emotions dominate depend on what sort of days she had lately. While still mourning her charge and loving him in the deepest manner a Guardian is capable of, she is now distrustful of Imperials and dislikes them greatly. Only the memory of her charge spares them outright hatred. She can't hate Imperials after knowing Armas so dearly, and she finds it unthinkable to even come close to hating him even by faint association. She is one of the few non-Imperial clan members who knows Aldith's true role in the clan's elder council, and she is torn between appreciating Aldith for the extra security she provides and feeling an alliance over their shared goal of preventing more monsters and allowing her distrust of Imperials color her opinion of her. Armas was always a sickly Imperial. Small and fragile, but always rambunctious and playful. Like all Guardians, Nika was wandering in her Search and was passing through his home clan when she happened upon him as a hatchling. It was fate. She hadn't even had to travel as far as she expected. His home was right on the border of the Light and Lightning territories, she merely had to traverse her own home and part of the Shifting Expanse. Being a Water dragon, that was far more difficult than she would have liked, and she was more than a little grateful that she wouldn't have to travel it more, on top of the usual joy of coming upon her charge. His susceptibility to illness proved their undoing. He took ill with a severe disease, a plague that was raging throughout various clans of the region. It didn't take everyone, not even most, but those already vulnerable to an illness. It was so furious and quick, however, that all feared it. No cure was found quickly enough to counteract it when one started showing signs, not even by the few Plague dragons willing to help. She traveled with him from clan to clan, careful to keep him distant from the others, just in case, desperately engaged in a new Search. One to save her charge's life. Sometimes, on particularly grim nights, listening to his wheezing and coughing while she watched over Armas as they rested, trying her best to keep him warm by the fire and prop him up so that maybe, somehow, he could breathe easier, she wondered if this new "Search" was because the gods decided that her first one was too easy. They had stopped in a clan on the border of the Light and Nature territories known for its healing prowess, a skill buoyed by its rare cooperation with the Beastclans and the sharing of knowledge between the various cultures, daring to hope that this would be it. She didn't dare take Armas into the Scarred Wasteland to seek the wisdom of those who know disease and death intimately, as weak as he was, and the Plague dragons they crossed said they had never seen such a thing. She hoped that the combined efforts of those who dedicate themselves to knowledge and study and those familiar with nature and life, might be able to make a break through. The hope was in vain. The sickness was fearsome, and people traveled far to the same region as them, seeking the same help, the same answers. The Beastclans objected harshly to being potentially exposed to the sickness, not knowing if it could hop racial lines, by all the desperate refugees seeking help from distant regions. The increasing numbers of dragons in the area also built tension and distrust among them. They turned one day, amassing enough numbers to counter the dragons in equal match. Armas was struck down a split second before Nika could get to his side. Nika hates to think that if he had not been slain in the raid, she would have lost him anyway in an even more gruesome manner. One that was slower and would force him to suffer longer. That sort of inevitability was excruciating to think about. She had no way of knowing whether she would have preferred that, if it meant he had passed after they had set off again, far from other Imperials. Armas had been born in the Shifting Expanse, right on the border of the Sunbeam ruins. Not knowing what else to do, she headed back to his home and decided to stay here, on the Light side of the border. Light was the homeland of Imperials, and though she never wanted to see another Emperor again, she decided to stay in the territory, to ensure that another would not rise up. Not on her watch.

Charge Armas deceased Mate MateName [ PairName ] Parent/ Offspring (adopted) Name Deities Familiar Name

*fledgling - a dragon that is no longer a hatchling, but has not yet reached sexual maturity (finished their breeding cooldown); basically an adolescent/young adult

Armas generated by refreshing the Scrying Workshop until a Lightning Imperial generated. Only took a handful of goes, surprisingly.
Changed secondary gene from hypnotic to butterfly, because hypnotic. Unaltered otherwise.
Lightning chosen because Water is weak to Lightning and Plague. (Red Plague eyes felt heavy handed if was gonna turn into a monster.)
Lol "heavy handed" and I named the charge "beloved" and her "victor" like that's not on the nose at all.

Gen 1: AH

Breed Change/Gene Upgrade:
Tracklist for the unwilling to click:
[ Jaguar - Mogwai | Dead Hearts - Stars (cover) | Feathery Wings - Voltaire | Exile Vilify - The National | Wizard Motor - Mogwai | Stay With Me - Clint Mansell | Time - Hans Zimmer | Run - Ludovico Einaudi ]
Bonus Track (for scrolling all the way down here like a champ): [ Cold - Jorge Méndez ]