Maple

The light glistened against the early morning dew, breaking through the clouds that had begun to break apart and show the blue of the day. It had been a long flight for the little Fae and he stopped to rest in the bough of a mighty oak. The landscape before magnificent, and also unfamiliar. The windy landscape stretched before him, a scattering of rising clifftops, like islands in a sea of rock. The cliffs were covered in long swaying grass, with ancient twisting trees, forms in the rocks and twisting rivers and waterfalls smashing down the cliffs. The sight was breathtaking - to see the world stretching before one and still have a wall of rock behind you. Maple couldn't wait to reach the top and see what he would find.

Maple was from a family of mages, explorers and warriors. He had seen spectacular feats performed by his brothers and sisters and cousins, and he knew he was capable of them to - he had the filigree gene and yet... He was yet to achieve anything. Instead, he wandered around searching for his purpose. He hoped somewhere in the highest furthest outreaches of the Windswept Plateau, he would find something.

"You know its not much further."
Maple startled at the sound. He had been so tired he had almost dropped to sleep.
"The name's OakLeaf, but call me Oaklee." A pink and green Fae fluttered in front of him. "I imagine your looking for something? Our clan hides in the place furthest and highest from anywhere. We get a lot of odd visitors."
"Ah... ah... oh. My name is Maple."
"Cute. Follow me, if you can." The Fae fluttered back into the branches of the tree and Maple hurried to follow. He was smaller than she was and lost her amongst the leaves. Eventually he emerged and was shocked by the sight. He had finally reached the top and before him was a village of the strangest kind. It was filled with dragons of all shapes and sizes, all colours, breeds ages and many of them were followed by familiars. The main structure was a rocky spire, almost a miniature mountain. A platform ran around it all the way from the ground to the spire and pathways branched from them to other rocks and spires. Caves were carved into the spires and dry gnarled trees sprouted from the rocks.
"This is amazing." Maple said, drifting into the village.
"Welcome." Oaklee said. "You can stay as long as you like here. There's always room."

This dragon is descended from Cedric and Alder, both outcasts. Cedric was found in an abandoned nest. While his adopted parents and a few members of his town accepted him quite well, he was treated poorly by the rest because of his strange new Filigree pattern. He eventually ran away to escape the humiliation and lived alone. Alder was the first in her family line to be born with the Filigree gene. They called it a "mutation" and insinuated that she was a monster. She abandoned them in order to explore Sornieth, learn more about magic, and find others who looked like her. After they met, they decided to continue Alder's mission together.

They would find during their travels that their Filigree allowed them to store excess magic, and served as a conduit that allowed them to access elemental energy around them more easily. It also allowed them to use sources of elemental magic and cast elemental spells that did not align with the element of their birth.

The two of them raised many hatchlings together over the course of time, and while all of their descendants became great at using magic, only those with the Filigree retained the traits Cedric and Alder were most known for. Their excess energy stores and their ability to use any elemental magic source.

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