Luscinia

Being an aspiring astronomer will often lead to many an hour spent staring into the sky, searching for all of its mysteries. When the sky stares back however, most dragons would probably retire their telescopes.
Luscinia never blinked.
She let her growing awareness of the Shade fuel her.
She learned many things, some of them including the fact that the Shade wasn't bound to space. It had already gotten in to the very planet she called home, infecting and changing certain parts of it beyond any understanding. Nobody ever had clear answers on what it does or why it behaves...like that. Nobody really even wanted to talk about it to begin with.
So she put down the telescope and got to work.

Looking at it as inherently 'evil' would be approaching it with a bias. A good scientist does not let that affect their research.
She has tried many things with the Shade over time. Tested all sorts of different properties of it. Collected samples from the areas of the rampaging Luminax. Her favorite research always includes samples from imperials. Even better if it's entire bones or even a cadaver. Their natural ties to the Shade and the things it can do to them fascinate her. Even stranger to her is that it otherwise lies dormant in them for the most part. She has figured out that imperials overall seem to have stronger magic, live longer, and a have a slightly faster healing time for their wounds than most dragons.
The majority of imperials won't go near her if they know what it is she's looking into, so she usually fluffs the truth a bit. Says it's for trials of new medicines and cures; says it's for important work researching how the different species' bodies handle the same things; says whatever she needs to in order to have their aid.
And for all intents and purposes, she isn't lying. She does intend to release information of that sort to the public and hopes it will be of great benefit.
But she'll be using the information for other things.

To her credit, she does not intend to make the Shade 'take over' the world or otherwise corrupt any and all beings. She does not intend to let it run rampant and cause chaos and mayhem wherever it goes. She does not wish to tempt the full mass of it back down from the heavens to finish its job on her planet. She is very careful disposing of anything after research, doing her best to keep things contained or properly destroyed. In fact, she much prefers testing the healing and curing properties of it, having had many successful trials on various animals thus far. (As it turns out, finding dragon volunteers for this is...difficult, and she will not lie about what she is doing to them if it involves actually utilizing the Shade. Luscinia has some standards to uphold, after all.)

As a result of mostly testing on animals, she has become a bit of a 'black market' vet on the side. She can always use the treasure and gems to fuel her research, and getting to do so is very much adding to her notes anyway. Dragons with pets they are desperate to try anything to save come to her. They never ask to know what she does, they don't really want to know. Who would she be to turn away research she gets paid to do by customers that don't ask any questions?
The results are not always good. No doctor has a 100% success rate if they've been in the practice for long. But the amount of animals brought back from the arms of Death themself speaks for her and keeps them coming back.

It's a shame the owners aren't aware of the possible, long-term side-effects.

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Familiar:

Longneck Vigilante

Familiar

The high passes of Dragonhome are generally safe for travelers thanks to patrols by these enthusiastic hoofed chaperons.

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