Alexei

Chief of security
Spirit Armor count: 100

Alexei had a happy childhood. His parents, two of the eldest dragons in Sornieth, raised him and his sister to be respectable members of society. Alexei had a knack for negotiation from a very young age. His parents spared no expense in moulding him into the respected ambassador they were certain the young Skydancer would become. As a result, Alexei often volunteered to deal with travelers and visitors to the clan. He mediated arguments among his friends and spent hours upon hours with the clan leader.

Alexei was a popular young dragon. He was kind, intelligent, handsome, athletic, and had a promising future. This led to all the more cause for concern when he began to smile less and less; to bury himself in reading rather than attend to his duties. He was more often found covered in dust and cobwebs rather than dirt and grass stains from playing with friends.

The cobwebs were from a tangled bit of forest, a place where light scarcely penetrated and few cared to tread. A little expedition had led Alexei to this place, where he met an interesting dragon, or so he thought. He never saw the being, just heard the voice leading him towards a structure hidden in trees. Was that… a library?

It was a large domed structure with a glass roof. Well, formerly glass. Most of the panes had been knocked out and had plummeted to the ground, where the shards lay in drifts across the ornate tile floor. Nature has begun to reclaim the library, and a soft carpet of moss and vines rested on almost every surface. The tomes within were ancient; clearly never meant to be found. Alexei read and studied, entranced by accounts of necromancy, spirit summoning, and possession. These were the things he learned, things most clans consider crossing a line, in terms of morals or power.

It was not long before Alexei decided to test his power. A visiting dragon with a nasty temper had been terrorizing the clan for several days, demanding food and shelter whilst pushing and snarling at his hosts. The visitor insulted Alexei in front of his family, and Alex decided he had had enough. He chanted under his breath, straining to remember the words. The intruder writhed in the dirt as Alexei's chant grew louder. The more he suffered, the faster Alexei’s chant grew. Horrific screams pierced the sunset.

The dragon died.

Alexei’s clan, terrified and disgusted, cast him out. It was a just action, but Alexei was furious nonetheless. The angrier he got, the louder those cursed words festered in his skull. That only scared him more. Alexei made himself a new life, and refused to use his magic on dragons. The guilt haunted him.

[um]

At first Alexei thought he was right. He applied for a position at the Home, an assistant to Esterkhazi, so that he could stay. Fortunately or unfortunately, Alexei's lack of magic was purely psychosomatic. Before he could even settle, one of the visitors, a radical who saw the Home as danger in itself, attacked the facility. Alexei tried to protect the others with claws, but he was thrown aside. In a burst of anger he began to recite what he remembered from his books. Out of the dirt floor of the Citadel rose blue-ish bits of metal, armor, that bent in the air, changing shape to fit their controller. Soon there stood on either side of Alexei a suit of armor, shaped for a dragon but with no dragon inside. Between metal segments was nothing but air. At Alexei's command the armor attacked and apprehended the dragon.

Alexei was upset, but glad no one was hurt. For once his abilities had helped others. He watched the armor, expecting it to fall back to pieces, but it didn't. Instead the suits took up position on either side of the doorway and stayed, as if displays.

Alexei expected to become a patient in the home, but his good intentions and apparent control of his magic allowed him to keep his freedom, and even earned him a promotion. As chief of security Alexei has amassed a small army of what he calls Spirit Armors, claiming they are imbued with the spirits of the original inhabitants of the Citadel. The suits of armor decorate every hall in the Citadel, waiting for Alexei to send them into battle. Alexei constantly patrols the halls and grounds, perhaps a tad overprotective of what many realize is his charge. His coworkers often joke that Alexei is a Guardian in a Skydancer's skin.

Alexei smiles more now, but is quite quiet. He usually just grunts unless he has something important to say. He still casually flirts with every female dragon who looks at him, but has no intention of going farther than polite conversation. He almost always has a large spider running over his paws, his pet, Steve.