Jigsaw

Found pawing through the wreckage of a city ruined by war, he was fitting together pieces of wreckage in order to fashion makeshift tools and hiding places. After investigating a trail of shell fragments, the Zyymurgy clan stumbled across the burning embers of an annihilated thatched roof. The heat had cultivated a forgotten egg, who now hid among the shattered stone and charred remains of the once-flourishing city. At first, the young creature hid from the larger dragons, unsure of their purpose. Coaxed out with food, he is now in their care, and his unique talents are being planned for, in order to best benefit the clan.

When first discovered, the baby was thought to be a runt Guardian. Despite his beautiful coloration, he was small, and Ahktah felt that he needed special protection. Their first child, from their first mating with Nyppa, had just recently started a nest with one of the newcomers adopted into the clan, and Akhtah felt that Yantah and Pythik could be good parents to the young dragon.

Yantah and Pythik were delighted to have the new baby in their nest, but as he grew it became obvious he wasn't just a runty Guardian. As the horn on his nose began to grow, and the ridge of spikes become more obvious, it was clear he was no dragon that the clan had ever seen before.

Having been abandoned as an egg, and having no knowledge of his parents, Jigsaw worried he was some kind of freak. If he wasn't a Guardian like his adopted parent, a Mirror like his other parent, a Fae like the wise mage Nyppa, or a Tundra like the pink wizard Rezza, then... what could he possibly be?

Since his birth, the dragon had always been fixated with digging and tunnelling, and when brought back to the lair in the jungle, he was quick to expand the underground levels. His propensity for digging made him a good friend to the wizard Rezza, and as they dug together they often shared many deep conversations.

The subject of what he was came up eventually, and with not just a little bit of prying, the dragon finally admitted he wished he knew what he was, and that it bothered him that he didn't know, and that there was no one like him around.

The somewhat secluded nature of a Nature dragon's lair and burrow made the clan a very nuclear unit, all interacting with each other and working together, but to the effect that they were somewhat isolated from the other clans in the area. As such, the small clan hadn't had dealings with the others enough to have met any other types of dragons but the Plentiful species.

That is, except Akhtah.

The mighty green dragon had been all over the world and met all kinds of dragons, and had knowledge beyond the others' reckoning. Nyppa shared in this knowledge but only by second hand knowledge from tales and books; Akhtah had lived it, meeting those of Jigsaw's kind.

When the great Guardian dragon observed the youngling baking for long hours in the sun, expressing great interest in trapping fish and a great preference eating it, but an almost comical distaste for water, and excessive burrowing habits, they soon came to realize the young dragon's true species.

As the dragon approached maturity, the horn on his nose began to grow, and the spines grew in sharper and longer than ever before, and Akhtah could no longer deny their suspicions.

As the Thundercrack Carnivale end date drew near, the Guardian leader suddenly announced that the Clan would be visiting the Shifting Expanse and taking part in the festivities.

Under the careful eye of the clan leader Akhtah, the several dragons made a pilgrimage south from the Viridian Labyrinth, down through the Tangled Wood, sailing across the Sea of a Thousand Currents, all the way down to the Shifting Expanse. It was just a brief flight across the great chasm in the desert to the cities of the Tempest Spire, and the festivities.

It was at this festival that Jigsaw met several dragons of unusual kinds: the Pearlcatchers who barely had a word for any but their own kind, the Spirals who whirled actively and excitedly through the sky chattering away, the stout and craggy Snappers with powerful compact bodies, the rare and agile fierce-looking Wildclaws, and even a few of the gorgeous and regal Imperial dragons, with beautiful feathery wings and branchlike antlers.

And the Ridgebacks.

They were more common that Jigsaw had ever imagined; there were whole colonies of the spiny dragons living under the sands, serving the Stormcatcher in cities. Though he had no hope of finding his parents and didn't really try, he was elated to meet others of his own kind.

When it came time to head back to the lair back in the Gladekeeper's realm, Jigsaw was reluctant to follow, having met so many friends like him - but Akhtah let him know that there were dozens of Ridgebacks just like him living in the Viridian Labyrinth and serving the Gladekeeper too, and Jigsaw was more willing to go home.