Shadow
(#42423079)
Level 1 Pearlcatcher
Familiar
Ornamental Eyewing
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 46/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Shadow.
Female Pearlcatcher
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
5.26 m
Wingspan
4.93 m
Weight
404.51 kg
Genetics
Obsidian
Crystal
Crystal
Mist
Shimmer
Shimmer
Heather
Smirch
Smirch
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Pearlcatcher
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
6
AGI
6
DEF
6
QCK
7
INT
7
VIT
6
MND
7
Biography
SHADOW - Nightmare Collector
found by Ebony3
The rumors surrounding the Nightmare Collector flow fast and thick, as any tale too large for the truth tends to do. Some say she is a monster, shaped from bile and sinew, woven together with slivers of moonlight and threads that were spun from the Shade. Others maintain that she is an apparition, the ghost of a dragon once wronged, and that her abilities are proof of her search for the dragon who ended her life. She means to terrorize him until his heart stops, to send him every nightmare he has ever known all at once, and those caught in her web along the way matter not.
And as all rumors do, most contain a kernel of truth. The Nightmare Collector is a monster, and she does possess the power to inflict nightmares upon her victims. But there is no hint of the Shade about her, nor is there a dragon who exists as the target of her single-minded wrath. There is only a Pearlcatcher who was once a curious child, and the bones she has held fast to all this time.
As origins go, Shadow led an entirely typical life in her youth. She was born into a clutch of three, raised among a glade of glowshrooms, and held dear by an entire clan, one that found every new life joyful and precious. By all accounts, there was nothing out of the ordinary about her, not even her sense of curiosity. She was a child, and all young dragons are expected to raise questions, sometimes even ones that their elders cannot answer.
Where she began to differ was in her willingness to pursue those questions.
Many of her inquiries could be eased away with a tall tale or a towering tome. Fact or fiction, she could typically be satisfied by any answer, so long as it was given with confidence. And yet when she asked about the pearls her family carried, that other dragons of their kind bore with them everywhere, there always seemed to be something missing. Entire lives could be contained in those precious gems, memory after memory added like a fresh coat of gloss, and still no one could explain to her what magics allowed it so.
She wondered too what would happen if dragons impressed their memories onto another's pearl by mistake, or if there were practices of sharing pearls. And what of pearls belonging to those deceased, or pearls of children too young to form lasting memories yet? Her questions were endless and often unanswerable, and it troubled her so to reach such an impassable point.
There was only one path forward from there, a path she had to take into her own hands. It required patience and pluck and more than a bit of stealth, and from one act, the Nightmare Collector was born.
Shadow elected to experiment in pursuit of her answers, despite the obstacles. No Pearlcatcher would willingly donate mucus to another pearl, especially not where precious memories were concerned, and taking it by force was out of the question. Just a dollop taken silently, though, was another option entirely, and Shadow decided to start with her family, stealing through the den long after dark, swabbing the slightest hint of mucus away and onto her own pearl.
Not all experiments are successful. Many are even dangerous, and that night, Shadow discovered this truth the hard way. Instead of collecting memories, she found herself accumulating nightmares, terrible dreams about losing loved ones, natural disasters, faceless creatures in the dark, and so much more. It overwhelmed her, sent her rushing from the den, and by morning, the sheen of her pearl had shifted to an inky blackness, punctuated by flashes of unearthly blue.
More questions have come to haunt her since her exile from her birth clan and the consequences of her actions. In taking another Pearlcatcher's mucus, she received nightmares rather than memories, saw into their deepest fears with unprecedented clarity. On the one hand, it may be possible to relieve dragons of their fears by trapping those visions in her own pearl. On the other, she wonders if she could protect herself by exploiting those terrors to convince others to do her bidding. More than that, she wonders if possessing another Pearlcatcher's deepest feelings in physical form could allow her some modicum of control. And could the concept apply beyond her own breed?
There is much to learn still, and though part of her is hesitant, the rest of her is hungry for more. Or perhaps it is not her any longer. Phobos, the reclusive necromancer she has befriended, has suggested that she has grown into someone else from stealing so many nightmares. He holds no fear of her, given that his own pearl is morphed beyond recognition, but he cautions her on her studies. How many nightmares can she take before she becomes a nightmare herself?
The rumors say the Nightmare Collector has webbed wings, that her face is but a skull. Her ribs jut out from her body, so thin from lack of nourishment, and her horn glows with the fading light of stolen dreams. All rumors are false. All rumors are true.
The Nightmare Collector continues her research.
Bio by Tues.
headshot by bioluminosity
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Exalting Shadow 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.
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