Sanctuary

(art by SilverWinter)


(art by Sarcophagus)

The alpha female of the Clan.

Sanctuary was born Clanless, a secret she guards carefully. She was raised by an Ice dragon, but after he was murdered by bandits, she fled to the Ashfall Waste, nearly dying during her crossing of the Ice Channel. She spent several years travelling through the continent, notably the Scarred Wasteland and the Starfall Isles, before she settled in the Sunbeam Ruins.

The bloody end of her childhood gave her a lasting frustration and anger with conflict. Her travels only reinforced it, as she spent more time avoiding marauders and Beastclan raiders than she did exploring new ideas. The murders she has witnessed and often failed to stop have kindled a deep fury with the dragons who fight, plunder, and kill rather than living in harmony with others. She despises the Dominance struggle, which she believes only reinforces competition and hatred between dragons, although on the surface, it is a contest of dragons' faith.

Although she hates conflict, Sanctuary is not a pacifist. She accepts that in some cases, violence is necessary to fight violence. She knows that the current system is fundamentally unstable; a coldness deep in her bones tells her with some instinctive certainty that within her lifetime, there will be a true war. She has learnt the hard way that preparation is the key to survival. When the war begins, Sanctuary does not intend to face the howling fury of battle alone. Thus, she founded her Clan.

The reason Sanctuary chose the Light Flight is because to her, the pursuit of truth is almost identical to the pursuit of perfection. Her white wings represent the search for knowledge. However, her black body represents fear, for Sanctuary believes that the conquest of truth is not only glorious, but dangerous. Truth can alter destinies - of dragons, of flights, of continents. Thus, as light and dark make day, the pursuit and fear of truth make the highest calling of dragons.

Sanctuary has learnt that watchful silence is the greatest defense from potential threats. Though not muscular, poisonously bright, or otherwise physically threatening to a dragon's eyes, her eerie stillness and guttural, rasping voice cause most dragons to flee her presence. It took her a long time to find Harbringer, which marked the true founding of the Whiteblood Clan.

The unusual Clan name punctuates the unusual methods of administration. Sanctuary chose "Whiteblood" as a symbol of the purity of her dragons, while subtly showing that the Clan is inclined to strength. No pacifist would name their Clan after the most common symbol of battle. Although strict and austere with herself, Sanctuary does not enforce a rigid system on her Clan. She tells them to choose their names, for example, rather than naming them herself; she also demands that they name themselves after a place of their choosing. She thinks names should be a reflection of the dragon, not of the alpha. At the same time, she refuses to abide by useless names such as "Thunder" and "Stella", which tell almost nothing. Her own name (chosen just before she founded the Clan) represents her wish that her Clan will be a haven for those dragons who will not perish needlessly in conflict. Her overarching goal is to create a Clan that will prepare, fight, and survive.

Sanctuary also encourages hard work from her subjects, refusing to let them lapse into relaxation and pleasure. She requires them to spend at least two hours a day on physical activities, like hunting or flying, and two hours a day on the delicate arts. Otherwise, the dragons are free to pursue self-improvement or rest.

Sanctuary finds that organisation of multiple dragons is much more difficult than organisation of her own self, and often she questions the validity of her methods. Despite her self-control, she has spent many sleepless nights worrying that her Clanmates, her subjects, her friends, will die because she failed to train them for the bitter reality to which she lost the early years of her life.

(thanks to celtic7irish for Hati!)