Marte Festerfang, elder Imperial. So old in fact her scales have splintered in a way that, from a distance, makes her look crystalline, but up close, you see just how ragged she is. Furthermore, she is afflicted with Gembond, a disease that on occasion can be contagious but is mostly genetic or caught from certain species of cobra. As her age extends and her condition worsens, she's decided to return to the flight from which her species came to devote the last act of her life to a quiet existence of virtue. She's never settled her roots until now, and in general Faith is new to her, but better late than never

Selected Virtue: Peace
Hindering Vice: Regret

• The dragon who's somehow still the classiest

Birthplace:


Marte, not caring much for the unforgiving Plague society, left to see the world for herself, starting her life anew in the Lightning flight where she was considered a proper beauty and frequent muse of artists. Upon revealing a later recognized singing talent, she became a classy celebrity, well adored within the community. Among her adoring fans was an Imperial from her birth flight, a hard working male named Emerald (aptly so given his glistening green scales), he had left the Scarred Wasteland to find something more to life than just surviving, and settled on thriving in Lightning society. They hit it off well and eventually became mates, moving temporarily to the Sunbeam Ruins as they wanted their hatchlings to grow up in a more peaceful environment than Lightning and especially Plague. Between her hatchlings and her love life and her success as a musical sensation, Marte was happy.
That was, until she contracted Gembond from Emerald. He was unaware he had Gembond until recently, thought that they were just uneven scales that needed to be looked at, but it was now too late. Arguments spiraled out of hand as stonelike growths began appearing on Marte's body, which she plucked off herself much to her pain in order to remain as she wanted the public to see her. Amidst the heated debates, Marte and Emerald's children all left their parents to escape the harsh, chaotic atmosphere their lives had become, saying some none too pleasant things to both their mother and father before flying elsewhere. To add to her misfortune, Emerald eventually died from Gembond, though death from Gembond is uncommon it's still very much possible if the gems grow over the face too much, causing suffocation, and that's not if infection sets in or need of amputation. After a very meticulous funeral, Marte felt...distraught beyond words. In their last months together before the condition got so out of hand, Marte and Emerald had been arguing constantly, and she was weighed heavily by guilt that she didn't truly let Emerald know that she still loved him in spite of the chaos that consumed their marriage.
Marte had since put her vanity aside, but in it's place came a depression that allowed her Gembond to worsen, as she had neglected to treat it. One year later, she decided that it was time to do something about it, so she flew to the Southern Icefields, as cold slows Gembond's spread, to see if she could find someone to treat it while she could delay the crystals encroaching across her body.
It was there that she continued to sing in the meantime, but her tone and approach were far softer and more somber than when she was in the Shifting Expanse. While medics in the frozen land worked on her condition, she caught the eye of a wealthy Coatl, also from the Plague flight, named Mars, who had seen that The Southern Icefields were becoming more and more territory of other flights and thought it was time Plague put in their hand. He'd hoped to make an establishment where she would sing to draw in customers, after all, it was the famous Marte Festerfang singing there. The two started a very superficial relationship, which resulted in a few clutches of eggs (the hatchlings all leaving the nest as soon as they could), but the union itself was very unfulfilling, and even after the establishment Mars made was set up, Marte's singing didn't have the same heart as before after juggling her grief with her illness and unhappy love life, causing less income to come in and the establishment to go defunct, so the two inevitably split paths.
The years droned on, and nothing the medics could do could cure Marte. Her sickness worsened with age, and her once famed beauty faded as her scales cracked and her eyes dulled. Tired of everything, Marte decided to go home, not only to the only place she knew what happiness was, but to the place her species originated...where she was called to return, the Sunbeam Ruins.
Not many would take in an elderly Imperial, surely asking for an Emperor to emerge, and the prospect of catching Gembond however unlikely it was was none too pleasing, but the Morning Rose Tribe accepted her due to their beliefs in helping any dragon in need. Marte settled in with the Clerics of the tribe, hoping to learn a thing or two about...correcting the mistakes she made in her youth, her vanity and her hot-bloodedness and her reticence and her depression...all consuming her life and causing her to go on a wild goose chase for beauty that would fade regardless. Maybe the healers here could cure her of her illness, maybe they couldn't, but they were kindly dragons, younger and older, and they looked out for each other...something she hoped she could pick up.
These days, Marte is learning more and more about the ways of Light, and is adjusting well, ever grateful that the Clerics are accepting of her, Gembond and all. As her selected virtue is Peace, she tries to quell arguments and come to compromises all while trying to set up friendships between dragons in the tribe. She enjoys helping in the little ways she can, from a talk to getting something out of reach, and even reminiscing with dragons who heard of her and ask to hear her sing, and though it still isn't as powerful as it used to be...just a fragment of the satisfaction she once felt has returned to her voice.
In particular, Marte has become close friends with Claudia, a fellow Plague dragon who is trying her best to live in a society so different from what she used to live in, but far better given the torment she went through for her empathy in a harsh environment. Marte appreciates the kid's enthusiasm, and feels a sort of kinship given their birth flight and ending up in the same clerical order. Claudia has even heard of the famous Marte Festerfang and hopes to hear her sing like she used to someday, maybe for the rest of the order, too. Marte wonders if she can ever sing like she used to, but it's a nice thought, and part of her sees the young Coatl as a granddaughter of sorts. In addition, a Serthis healer by the name of Eliezer was accepted as a member of the tribe (given their attempt at making peace with Beastclans), and now tries to use his knowledge to tend to her illness, and his hope one day is to cure the former songstress of her affliction so she may live to an even riper age.