Xemcel

The wide open plains and high crags between Earth clan territories fall under no jurisdiction save perhaps that of the Exalted, who are far more concerned with fighting elemental battles at Dragonhome's borders or directly attending the Earthshaker than managing every hill and mesa. Therefore these lands are riddled with places where criminals and outlaws can hide from justice, in hidden ravines or dark caves out of view and away from major roads. Some clans send out their own warriors to root out crime in the region beyond their own borders, and mercenaries can always make a good living protecting trade caravans and nomadic clans, but they can't handle everything.

This is where dragons like Xemcel enter the picture. He can hunt down specific dangerous criminals so the clans they wronged can get their justice, without having to dispatch one of their own and leave themselves undermanned. Xemcel is necessarily very well-informed, maintaining a network of contacts among couriers and guard-dragons across Dragonhome so that he can be alerted to sightings of his targets or news of fresh bounties being offered.

Xemcel's home base is in the badlands just outside the Diabase Demesne, although most of his time is spent away tracking down bounties. Occasionally his profession puts him mildly at odds with Pele, should one of his targets claim sanctuary at the Demesne lair, but typically in the end he gets them when they leave, if the Demesne's own system doesn't deem them in need of a trial on its own territory. He is a dragon of few words, seldom speaking unless necessary. He puts his pursuit above pleasantries, but even in peaceful times he can be monosyllabic and seem distant even without meaning to. In a crowd, Xemcel hangs near the edges or anywhere else he can observe others' movements and plan how to intervene or get away if something goes wrong.

His most frequent targets are members of the Hydra Scorpions gang, if he can find someone brave enough to speak against them and risk not only the Scorpions' ire but likely that of their community. There's a few members of the mob that Xemcel has brought in multiple times, only for them to escape or be released. His most notorious rival is the hardened Spiral known as Shaulus, with whom he had several run-ins before the Spiral even joined up with the Scorpions. After all of his time going up against the widespread gang Xemcel's had to lie low and rely on Pele's protection himself to avoid retaliation from his target's comrades.

Some may wonder why Xemcel's never gone after the most obvious target in the Demesne near his own den- Melehan, who escaped from the Fortress of Ends after doing something deemed punishable by an eternal sentence. Partly it's because Melehan has Pele's protection as a member of the Diabase clan, but in truth, if Xemcel thought Pele was harboring a truly dangerous criminal, he'd try to bring them to justice no matter what Pele said (not that he's keen to let her know that). Mostly, Xemcel doesn't see Melehan as a threat to anyone, being a paranoid recluse who spends most of his time hiding from everyone. But lastly, Xemcel's not single-minded nor narrow-minded, and doesn't have the heart to take someone like Melehan and throw them back into an infamously harsh prison that so traumatized them in the first place.


(lyrics adapted from Big Iron by Marty Robbins)