Etude

E T U D E

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Level 25 Fighter
Crystal Pools

H I S T O R Y

Etude
{a French word meaning study in musical terms;
in her case an under-study}

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Study is exactly what it will take to determine who Etude is and where she came from in this life. The only clues were a mess of broken musical instruments amongst a grave of warrior dragon-bones hidden in plain sight. If you happened to stumble into this unfortunate territory and view the ghastly scene, your eyes would take offense and your gut would wrench. Was it a vicious battle, or perhaps, a terrible whirl-wind, or possibly dark magic, which laid these dragon-kind down? Surely it was some form of evil that took life so innocent, stripped every tree of it’s leaves and left the terrain bare as sticks stuck in the mud.

The coli team, iSpy and Fyrste, of the Arcane flight Starkeeper Clan were scouting for enemy infiltrators and they happened upon Etude in disputed Arcane/Wind/Plague territory where this fierce encounter had left an unsightly amount of carnage. Undoubtably, Plague handiwork was identified. Half dead, Etude was scavenging in a nearby cave to stay alive. It's still a mystery why her parents brought her into this battle at such a tender age. Perhaps they perished there; impossible to say based on the remains found. iSpy, who took pity on Etude's dirt covered form, tucked her beneath her wing for warmth and fed the starving creature by talon until the poor thing fell asleep. Clutching her gently, they headed back to Arcane at sundown.

According to the research done by Starcane, Starkeeper’s clan librarian, an 'etude' is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. Her name provides a bit of a clue to her original parentage. It is suspected that she is the orphaned child of refined, wealthy and quite gorgeous dragon-kind, which were accidentally caught up in the cross-fire with Plague. Based on her name, it is suspected they were one of the famous, now MIA, traveling musicians for the Mistral Jamboree occurring each March in Wind flight.

CRYSTAL POOLS CONCERT

Quote:
"Sound is the vibrational force of both offense and defense in battle."
~Starlight18

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As Etude grew up, iSpy became her defacto caretaker and took Etude on clandestine missions where the "mother/daughter" ploy helped to conceal iSpy's real purpose for traveling out of Arcane territory. It was on these trips that a desire to work against the enemies of her flight were germinated. Etude recently discovered that her Wind element is best suited for the Crystal Pools and is determined to stay in Starkeeper's clan for the present time to study and train specifically for this new venue. Etude learned to make musical noises which sound something like a whirlpool or tornado depending on whether fighting in water or air. Her enemies become distracted thinking that a natural disaster is about to engulf them. Quietly, she strikes.

Lately, there are too many dragons crowding the Mire and loot is not as plentiful as it was a year ago. Her best friends, iCandy and Tsolma, no longer in training and needing to take on ‘real jobs’ for the clan, keep busy in the Workshop and Ruins, respectively. Oh how she loved teaming together with these two friends in Ghost Light Ruins for the fun of it; for they loved defeating and capturing bosses, laughing and carrying on like teenagers, as they sported their prey before the eye-rolling iSpy and Fyrste. Etude, a bit lonely now, wants her own adventure. The cool, refreshing sights and sounds of the Pools call to Etude.

Finally, now that Etude has completed her training and achieved Level 25 status, she can no longer ignore the travel bug. As sorry as she is to leave her adopted Arcane home, where she was trained to fight by iSpy, a grumpy, but lovable old spiral who is probably far past her fighting days, Etude has chosen to move to new territory and take on the Crystal Pools enemies. It's not that she is ungrateful to iSpy for her upbringing, but a deep yearning to learn the real fate of her parents constantly pulls at her heart. Her connections run shallow and traveling being no object of fear, a search for them means moving on; an obsession, really.