Moec

Moec came from an arcane clan and soon after that she started picking up interest in dark magic. One night she saw Zina meddling with bones and mumbling mystical things in her cave alone and the flames started dancing in the night. That is where she got her final spark and Zina soon taught Moec the basics of witchcraft and talking to the dead...

For Moec this wasn't enough and she went even deeper, some think she went too far... She now talks to beings invisible (and unhearable) to others and binds souls to things. The only dragon not afraid of her is Muvain, a puppetmaster and her companion in life.

When her son Karthus left to join the friendly clan, where Moec also previously lived, she gave this a gift. Muvain had crafted their son a puppet resembling a bogsneak and Moec wanted to bring her own part to the gift so she brought the doll to life. No one knows how or with WHAT she did that and she will never tell...

One night a lonely pearlcatcher wandered to her lair and stared at the Shadow, smoke-like dark being in the corner of Moec's lair that only Moec saw and could talk to. Moec named her Herexxia and started teaching her and she quickly learned whatever Moec taught her. And after Herexxia came Seth, a young spiral who was led there by "mysterious quiding feeling" - which ended up being Herexxias own pet ghost. Moec eventually found out that Seth was naturally skilled in alchemy.

One day Zina called every witch, dark shaman and others who had anything to do with magic perceived as "dark". She had decided to gather all of them in one place and form a coven. Moec didn't like the idea of coven, so she and the two spent theirs nights in their own lair "to be close to Muvain" as Moec told the coven. Muvain didn't want to move to the coven with others because of all of his puppet making equipment - which made a good excuse to Moec.

One night there was a thunder storm, rare thing in cold areas like this. Milawai came to Moec's lair begging for help, as Moec was brewing dark gooey stuff with Seth and Herexxia to enhance their powers. Owen was struck by lightning and when the three of them went outside to help, Moec found stones melted to crystals by lightning. Moec grabbed one of the crystals that made crackling sound and they hurried back in. Next night when they were alone again, after the storm had calmed, Moec took closer look at the crystal. That small thing had raw primordial power in it and because the brew had failed she thought that maybe... and as she dropped the crystal into the cauldron, its contents exploded with lightnings and the boiling hot goo flew to Moec's eyes. Never she had felt burning that bad and and as she tried to get the goo off her face, she flew around their cave in panic and pain dropping stuff from shelves and tables. Finally her wings ceased to work and she dropped to the floor. She felt as someone wiped her face clean and as she opened her eyes she couldn't believe what that goo had done to her sight and she stared all over the cave in amazement. She heard Herexxia whisper to her, asking what she saw, and all she could answer was "Everything..."

Moec had visions, she saw beyond stars, she saw the deepest places under the sea, she saw things moving in the darkness and saw echoes of the ones who had lived long before them. She saw so much magic and power everywhere, but no matter how hard she ever tried to grasp it, it slipped away. Ghostly beings refused to stay in her claws, slipping away like smoke. Stars felt slippery, squeezing themselves from between her fingers. It all frustrated her greatly. What is the purpose of seeing if you can't gain the power you see?! It felt as if universe just wanted to toy with her! Her students continued practicing on their own, worrying for their teacher and adopt mother who spent her days screaming her anger out or staring into nothing, rising her hands from time to time like trying to touch something.

She heard how dragons talked about how cold the air has gone and how the Council of Four was having meetings in order to choose a new place to live. And Moec knew exactly where she wanted to be! Moec went in to talk to the Council. They had to move to the Sunbeam ruins! She tried to tell them that it was warm and sunny place which would be great too everyone, they must see that! What she didn't tell was that her only reason to go there would be the Hewn City, the ruins touched by the Shade, the only place on Sornieth she would surely be able to grasp the powers she saw around her. But they didn't listen... No. The fools decided to follow those imperials to the ashen wasteland with nothing more than forges beside each other, one of the least magical places in Sornieth! FOOLS! IDIOTS! One day they will feel the rage of Moec and then they will pray that they had listened to her!

They had a new home now. All of them. And Moec felt.. strange peace inside. The rage had subsided. The voices and shadows had been left behind to torment someone else with their corruption and thirst for power. Right after they found the huge obsidian dragon skull and settled in, she felt a strange connection to the vast sea that started from the lava stone beach under their lair. Moec spent her days staring into the mists that rose from the hot waters, enjoying the calm, moist and hot air surrounding her and the mist that danced its way up to the sky. She heard hatchlings talking about monstrous figures slowly roaming in the mist and felt their fear. The shapes far in the mist concerned everybody, but the neighboring clan had assured them that the shadows never came close but lingered in the far distance. Instead of fear, Moec felt longing when watching the black steaming sea and the shapes in it. The sea. It called to her. And it took her into its dark and warm embrace.

It felt strange. The way the ocean twisted her. Squishing, tearing, strething, moldin her anew. But it never felt unpleasant. The currents washed every crushing thought away, showed her the good and pleasant memories she had made... and new ones. These were memories of someone else. Memories from deep under the ice. She saw dark beings caged deep below the surface, twisted by something called shade. A thing that was spoken in old tales. She used to guard them and make sure they never escaped. And then she saw herself: a small dark fae experimenting and fiddling with powers that should have been left alone, and black shadow creeping around that figure slowly tearing its way under her skin and driving her mad.

She gasped and let the hot air fill her lungs. She felt heavy, so heavy. Like there was another dragon in her back. Looking at her feet she saw a thick fur. And the smells! She smelled so much more, salt of the sea and the sour smell of fish in it, the forges far up in the mountain, she even smelled what kind of metals they used up there! She lifted her head towards the sky and let out a deep growling sigh "I'm born anew.." And then she smelled familiar scents. She looked and they were there, sitting in the beach looking terrified. Moec felt warmth and smiled.

After Gaolers emerged, Moec wanted to make sure that no one else gets corrupted by the Shade. She had been saved from it at the last minute and now that she had the nose to smell the corrupting powers of the Shade she had to use it. She talked to Morthal and started recruiting passing Gaolers without homes to take their place in her Shade Patrol. Together they would make sure that the Shade won't get a foothold in their home!