Davinci
(#33446792)
Level 4 Spiral
Familiar
Malachite Gladekeeper
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 48/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Nature.
Male Spiral
Expand the dragon details section.
Collapse the dragon details section.
Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
4.36 m
Wingspan
2.16 m
Weight
127.01 kg
Genetics
Radioactive
Giraffe
Giraffe
Radioactive
Hex
Hex
Radioactive
Underbelly
Underbelly
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 4 Spiral
EXP: 23 / 4027
STR
23
AGI
10
DEF
6
QCK
8
INT
6
VIT
6
MND
7
Biography
|
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
|
| xxxx |
In late May, 2017, everyone was busy, getting ready for the Greenskeeper Gathering. His parents took turns watching over the nest, but their attention was divided. Omena and his partner Vehka had gathering to do, so he spent most of his time with the nest sleeping, and Enviga was busy helping to prepare food, and had brought a table to the nest-side so she could at least try to get enough done so she wouldn't have to cook all day and night through the festival, even once the single had hatched. So it's not surprising that they didn't notice the soft green glow at sunrise and sunset, marking the egg with the beloved shape of Nature's Tree. Not that it would have made any difference. Omena is a nearly silent dragon, focused on his partner and his work, and Inviga always made fun of dragons who believed in tales that the Gladekeeper and the other deities might mark certain dragons as their particular messengers. So when Davinci was born, he was considered a lucky festival baby--the usual sort of special, but nothing more. He was treated with bee-cake and steak and taught Gladekeeper's lore with the other hatchlings. It was noted that he asked particularly piercing questions and that he read a lot from the clan's scrolls, so when he challenged the teachers, his scholarship was praised and he was given special instruction in how to bring things up without being disrespectful to his elders. He wanted to know everything about nature, and was quite zealous in collecting seeds and planting seeds, protecting cocoons and egg-sacs, nests, and newborns. He read the scrolls, and took to writing corrections in them. The Clan Librarian caught him at it, and called him in to her office. "Davinci, you've been writing in the books." She frowned, and furrowed her huge, imperial brows at him. He stood tall, none of the usual squirming or wiggling spirals are prone to. "Yes. I have." He met her eyes with a visible challenge. Taken aback, she raised her voice rather more than she normally did with hatchlings. "That's a horrible thing to do! Why would you do that?" "They were wrong. I merely wrote corrections in them." "You've scribbled your 'corrections' in books on every realm in the world. You've never been to the Southern Icefield, the Starfall Isles, or anywhere but here." The long, skinny hatchling nodded, not the least nervous or intimidated by the yelling imperial. "That is true. But the scrolls were incorrect." "Why in Somieth would you think that?" The hatchling paused and thought for a minute, cocking his head to one side as if listening. "I--it's as if the knowledge is whispered in my ear." "And you trust this imaginary voice?" "It's not imaginary. It's real. It tells me where to find baby animals whose parents were killed, and where plants that need a bit of water or ash or compost are. It told me when the festival bee-cake I'd hidden to eat later had spoiled, so I wouldn't eat it and get sick." "Your nose would have told you that." "My nose told me it smelled different. I didn't know that meant it had spoiled, not at first. And then I knew, as surely as I know when the sun will rise and set, or when it will rain." The imperial growled, and then reminded herself it was not right to scare babies. With an effort, she lowered her voice. "Well, whatever you do or don't know, you must not write in our scrolls." "Not even when they're wrong?" "Not even when they're wrong." "But I can't just leave those lies sitting there!" Finally, the hatchling seemed distressed. "Older and wiser dragons spent a long time researching and observing before they wrote what they learned into those scrolls. They worked hard to make them as accurate as they could. It is disrespectful to write all over their words. You know that dragons can honestly disagree, right?" "I--I guess so." "And you have not spent years observing things and recording what you saw." "No, of course not." The tiny spiral's tail started winding around his legs. The imperial sat back, trying to look less imposing. "So it is very rude to call what's in our scrolls 'lies'. You see that, right?" "I--I understand truth. That's easy. Polite and rude is hard." "Well, you must not write in the scrolls." "But the truth matters!" The spiral was standing tall again, with no fidgeting at all. It was clear that, hatchling or no, this young one would be a dragon to reckon with as an adult. "I tell you what--we have plenty of paper. If you find something that you think is mistaken," the imperial stressed that word, "you can write up what you think it should say, and we'll store your writing with the scroll in question. That way, researchers can compare the two and see which one is more accurate." That was the end of Davinci writing in scrolls authored by other people, but soon nearly every scroll in the library had at least one accompanying sheet of paper. That wasn't Davinci's first clash with authority. He became a sought-after companion for gathering expeditions, until he started lecturing his elders. Whether it was pushing that they should not over-harvest a plant, leaving some to go to seed or pushing them to harvest this thing instead of that thing, he just would not be silenced. And he was just as bold in telling his elders they were "mistaken" (he had at least learned that word from the Librarian) as he was in correcting scrolls. It didn't help that the other young dragons started to listen to him more than to their elders. What had been a happy, well-ordered lair became a place of arguments and disputes. Once Davinci grew up, the clan warriors invited him to start training and spoke of the honor of serving Gladekeeper, but Davinci smiled at them and said he was serving Gladekeeper in Somieth. He knew--he said--that Gladekeeper didn't want him to join the ranks of the exalted. He had work to do in Somieth. He kept on tending the jungle around the lair and bringing back food for the clan, and teaching anyone who would listen. The older dragons started to avoid him, and the youngers looked more to him than their parents and the clan leaders. It all came to a head when a hatchling, a mischievous little coatl, vanished. She had last been seen talking to him, and the other dragons, old and young, came to him. They found him high in the library, twined around a perch, busy writing on a brand new scroll. One of the younger dragons asked, "So where is little Silly?" He shrugged. "I don't know." The missing hatchling's mother glared at him. "She was with you at mid-day." "Yes, she was. She wanted to know about frogs. I was happy to tell her. And then she started to ask about fish, and I answered those questions too." "So, where is she now?" "Her stomach started to rumble and she wandered off. Did you ask the cooks if they've seen her?" "I did, and they haven't." "Ah." Davinci kept on writing. "She had good questions. I'm writing about the things we talked about." The coatl, one of the clan's warriors, tore the scroll out of his hands. "She's missing!" "Hey--give that back!" One of the younger dragons, a Guardian, imposed his large body between the smaller dragons. "Davinci, can you help find her? You can find wolf cubs whose mother died--why not find Silly for her mother?" Davinci blinked. "But her mother isn't dead." From the other side of the guardian, the mother's melodious voice could be heard threatening Davinci. The librarian leaned her head over the guardian's back. "What about your voice?". She had never believed in Davinci's voice, that was clear even to him. "Can't it tell you where the baby is?" Davinci tilted his head as if listening. "I think it might, if she were in danger." He offered that hesitantly, then added, more firmly, "But it has nothing to say about her now." "So you think she's all right?" The guardian offered helpfully. "Well, I've never tried to locate lost dragons before. Maybe that's not part of my work. Or maybe it is, and Silly isn't lost. I would think it's most likely that she's fine and she knows exactly where she is." "But her mother doesn't know where she is." "What if she's not fine?" one of the other warriors growled. Davinci considered. "Well, if she's dead, there'd be no reason I'd know where her body is." "She's dead?" The mother wailed. There was a sound of ripping paper and then the coatl was diving over the guardian, claws outstretched toward Davinci's face. "What--wait--I didn't say that!" Davinci curled around, under the perch, and darted around his guardian friend and up toward the chimney. "I'll kill you!" The enraged coatl gathered her magic. The guardian tried to block her away from the chimney, in the process accidentally kicking the other warrior in the face. He roared and slashed out blindly, hitting the Clan Leader. A brawl erupted, knocking over bookshelves and sending scrolls flying. Davinci got wedged in the chimney, and in struggling to get out, showered everyone with soot. In only moments, the Librarian stood tall, and yelled as only an imperial can yell, "Stop!" Everyone paused, and in the silence, a high, melodious voice sounded. "Mama?" They all looked down. There was Silly, struggling to carry a trout almost as big as she was. She was soaked, and her path into the library was a mess of water and soot and crumpled, torn paper. "Mama? I caught us a fish! Look!" Things calmed down, but many dragons remained angry at Davinci. Silly's mother was sure she wouldn't have wandered out of the lair to go fishing if Davinci hadn't told her where the fish could be found. The Librarian banished him from the library, which made him deeply unhappy. The clan leader, who already didn't like Davinci for his lack of respect for his elders, nursed his slashed leg and blamed Davinci for saying such a hurtful and clueless thing, thus starting the fight. And the young dragons were deeply disappointed that Davinci not only hadn't found the missing child, but hadn't even known better than to irritate the warriors. It became clear to Davinci, as it had been to many of his lair mates for some time, that he was no longer truly welcome in the lair where he'd been born. People were noting that dragons didn't have to train to join the exalted. The cooks left whatever he'd gathered to be processed last, if at all. And the librarian wouldn't even let him use pen and paper. He decided to travel the world, to see the things that he somehow knew about in person, so someday a new clan might believe in him, and respect his knowledge. And along the way, he would teach as many dragons as possible about the importance of caring for the natural world. It was Gladekeeper's work, and his own work. It was sad, saying goodbye to his father and friends and (from the door) his beloved library, but he was barely out of sight of the lands he'd lived in his whole life when his heart lifted and a smile grew on his face. There was a whole world to see and know, and to write and teach about. He found he was looking forward to it. | xxxx |
a labor of love brought to you by:
artist | WyldDandelyon (lore writer) | trainer
artist | WyldDandelyon (lore writer) | trainer
Click or tap a food type to individually feed this dragon only. The other dragons in your lair will not have their energy replenished.
Feed this dragon Insects.
Feed this dragon Meat.
This dragon doesn't eat Seafood.
This dragon doesn't eat Plants.
You can share this dragon on the forums by either copying the browser URL manually, or using bbcode!
Exalting Davinci to the service of the Plaguebringer will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.
Do you wish to continue?
- Names must be longer than 2 characters.
- Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
- Names can only contain letters.
- Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
- Names can only contain letters.