Viper

When asked where she came from, what happened to her, or why she looks as she does, Viper's answers are always cryptic, and even somewhat foreboding. The dragonelle does not let many in close, nor is she deigned to speak in great length to any but a sparse few dragons, namely her adoptive son, Shukaku, and mated partner, Shrike.

In truth, she was born over vast seas, where dragons live in solitude and actively sought to stay away from others of their kind. Even so, as a nosy hatchling, great harm befell her at the hands of a witch, and she was thereafter cursed. She fled the land of her birth and flew for days and days, until her body could fly no more, coming to rest in the sands of the Shifting Expanse, where she discovered the first of the great and legendary crypts. Therein she made her home, defending the virtually undisturbed desert waste and using her powerful magics to control the sandstorms even as her curse made her less and less of a dragon.

Years after her arrival in Sornieth, Viper happened upon a dying and orphaned hatchling. Taking him under her wing, she raised the hatchling and taught him some of what she knew, how to manipulate the lands and fend for himself. They lived in some peace until the arrival of Shrike, a pirate-warrior on the hunt for the mythical treasure said to lie in Viper's tombs. The two did great battle, but were too evenly matched. In the end, the chemistry between them was undeniable, and Viper did the one thing she had never expected of herself-- she fell in love.

With Shukaku in tow, the dragonelles returned to Shrike's haunts in the Sunbeam Ruins. There, Viper and Shrike took oaths to their bond, and live out their days with only a mild amount of raucous.