Cognizance

Clan seer

Most dragons believe that only the Eleven are responsible for dragon-kind.

They are quite wrong.

Shade- that life-draining darkness that had twice attacked the land- surreptitiously thrust itself into a few dragon eggs that had been laid outside of the territory of the Eleven. The dragons that hatched from those abandoned eggs looked like natural elemental dragons, but were filled instead with the life-draining hunger of the Shade. These aberrations- greater horrors- grew and drew energy from the sources of power that gave them their names. Two such monstrous "dragons"- Holes and Apocalypse- melded their forms together to spawn more horrors, of which Cognizance is one.

Holes, Apocalypse, and all of their hatchlings were the stuff of nightmares for many dragons and beastfolk alike. As Cognizance grew older, he came to dislike the destructive Shade nature that had warped his parents, terrified multiple mates, and twisted his children into horrors as well. Cognizance began to resist feeding on other dragons' fears of both knowledge and the unknown, but instead of permitting him to escape its clutches, Shade instead forced knowledge that he hadn't asked for into his mind whenever he slept. These sudden instances of clairvoyance put Cognizance constantly on edge, but dealing with them with his brutally blunt personality was even worse. Revealing the information often proved just as damaging to others as withholding it- and both Holes and Apocalypse enjoyed said damage thoroughly.

At times, Cognizance managed to hang on to a mate long enough to have hatchlings, and each followed their own ends. Some of them, who had been spared the Shade nature, mingled freely with natural dragons, seamlessly blending into their lairs and leading unremarkable lives. Others flew to the service of the Eleven- perhaps to make amends for their existence, or perhaps simply to end their own brief but agonizing struggles against the Shade's will. A few lurked alone in quiet lairs, unable to contest the overpowering will of the Shade with their own weak personalities.

As time passed, the Shade's intrusions on Cognizance's mind became more frequent, and didn't wait for him to sleep. Suddenly, at any given time of day, he would simply know something that he could not possibly have known before- the Shade forced knowledge that it had absorbed elsewhere on to him as though his mind were its personal storage space. When that happened, he momentarily forgot where he was, or what he was doing prior to the appearance of the knowledge. At times, he even forgot who he was. Holes rejoiced in this, and tried to "console" Cognizance by noting that he gained additional energy from the frustration that Cognizance experienced each time the Shade's knowledge seared holes into his self-awareness. Cognizance soared from concealed frustration to boiling fury- his father's selfish glee was the last straw, and he finally left the lair to strike out on his own.

He traveled to the Shifting Expanse, where his occasional lapses of agency would hardly be noticed, and stayed there for a few weeks. One day, while resting in a shaded crevice, he was hit by a bolt of plague magic. He got up as if to attack, but realized at once that the attack had been a mistake. Instead of fighting the tiny Fae that had accidentally hit him, he introduced himself. Not wanting to mention his parents in any way, he simply explained that he was spawned by the Shade.

The Fae, Jiralun, replied that he was lying, without a moment's pause. Cognizance was at once interested in this dragon who spoke of what she could not know with such certainty. He explained knowing-without-knowing to Jiralun, as he followed her back to her home lair, and she only replied that it made sense that knowledge from somewhere else would shock his system. Instead of being afraid of his nature, she spoke of him as normal. Had Baenre not already been familiar with the greater horrors that sprung up just outside of the Plaguebringer's territory, Selkynn would not have even believed that anything was different about Cognizance at all. It was Baenre's idea to put Cognizance's unwanted gift to work, and to have both Jiralun and Mitusalen journal everything the Shade shoved into Cognizance's mind. Selkynn picked up on Baenre's not-so-subtle hints, and pronounced Cognizance the clan seer.

These days, Cognizance enjoys his present immensely, but makes sure to remember his past. Since he's aware that many of the hatchlings he raises will have a much more intimate fight with Shade than even the Eleven will ever have, he makes sure that he takes time to teach them what he knows- everything he knows.

The Shade plans to return, and Cognizance intends to be right on the front lines when it does.