Ematan

Ematan had a difficult childhood. He was born in the Lightning Farm of the Shifting Expanse from a military family. Both of his parents were elite royal guards in their respective lair, but this led Ematan to miss his parents who couldn’t afford to raise him since their duty kept them frequently far and away. He severely lacked guidance, affection and discipline from his parents which resulted in him to grow into a stereotypical angsty and stupid teenager who always argue when its time to do his chores no matter how simple and trivial they are; the sort that does the exact opposite of what a smart adolescent dragon should do just to spite people and get attention. This got him into trouble several time and tarnished the reputation of his parents.

To solve this issue, Ematan’s parents began searching a way to leave him in someone else’s so that he could finally have what they could not provide for him and maybe repair the damage done. Their only mistake was to ask Ematan who he would like to have as a new foster parent. He wasn’t the most brilliant of all dragons. He was terribly naïve and gullible. To select a foster a parent, he chose the one who would offer him the most privileges. He chose a scientist working on some war machines that basically offered him all his riches and no rules. Ematan didn’t realise this was an obvious lie.

Ematan was from a powerful bloodline and magic ran strong in him. This was reflected in his primal eyes and is what interested his new foster father. He wanted Ematan life force to power his machines and continue his experiments. The easily fooled teen would spend a few years being plugged into a machine which drained him of his life force. He could have spent the rest of his miserable life in such a state until a war party of ice dragons launched a pre-emptive attack on the factory, killed his torturer and freed him. Seeing the boy was simply a fool and innocent, they brought him back to the Southern Ice Field with them. There was just one problem with their good intentions. The Southern Ice Fields are an inhospitable land and the clan that rescued him, small and poor.

For them, life was harsh and Ematan was completely incapable of pulling his own weight. He was still young and his strength returned very quickly, but he still had no survival or fighting skills and frankly didn’t tolerate the cold very well. They tried their best to teach him the basic of plants gathering or hunting, but it was to no avail. He didn’t want to apply himself to such tasks. They were boring. He was always whining as to why he was forced to do the clan’s chores, the boring stuff like cleaning up the snow, melting ice for fresh water, gathering plants in view of the lair or watching the eggs in case they hatched. The truth is, these were the only things he knew how to do correctly and even then. Half the plants he gathered were not comestible, he shoveled snow in air holes or secret exits as for melting ice for fresh water, that was just a task invented to keep him busy, but he was still bad at it. At some point, their generosity and patience was spent. Ematan was an adult who was about as useful as a hatchling, but ate like a fully grown guardian dragon who was yet to find a Charge mind you. He was asked to leave the clan and given some rations to maybe find himself a life somewhere where people are prosperous enough to take care of him. It was rather cruel and they knew it, but life in the Southern Ice Field frequently is. Ematan decided to go North, toward the Windswept Plateau. Of course, he got lost and ended up in the Ashfall Waste instead.

Through sheer luck, he ended up in the Cinder Marsh rather quickly, following a caravan of nice fey dragons who were in search of the refuge themselves. Ematan had swore to himself that this would be his forever home and that he would prove his worth even if it meant doing all the clan’s stupid chore for a while. Once in the Cinder Marsh, Ematan learned that a clan of guardian dragons were protecting its borders. They were very respected by the population of the area and being a guardian himself he thought that it was a sign of destiny. He would become a member of the Ash Guard! Except he didn’t know how to fight. At first, their leader, Nideth, was unfazed. Ematan was young, maybe she could train him as she did with many other dragons. In the meantime, he would squire for them and help maintain their lair and fortifications. Of course, Ematan was enthusiast at the prospect. He would impress the Ash Guard by his determination and “mad chore-doing skillz” as he would put it.

This turned quickly to disaster. Everything went wrong. On his first day, he threw out a precious collection of geodes thinking they were just pebbles as well as mementoes from a fallen member of the Ash Guard. For this, he was expelled and forced to find somewhere else to go. Since he had a hunch that one day he could be a great warrior, he decided to join The Blood Pack who accepted to train him provided he could carry his own weight. Like for the Ash Guard, Ematan proposed to execute the clan’s chore to earn his keep and training. He applied himself with twice more passion. He scrubbed the entire lair clean, including the blood soaked altar where the Blood Pack conduct their initiation ceremonies, a sacrilege for which, once again he was chassed. That’s when he stumbled upon a Brimstone Alchemist named Teiru who, wiser then most, saw some talent and future in the boy despite a lifetime of failure. Of course, she also knew of his reputation as a walking disaster and flatly refused to have him as an aid. He’s so bad at chores he might misplace priceless alchemical compounds. She didn’t need to lose purple sludge for nothing. Instead she directed him toward someone even more naïve and clueless then him, the lost dragon sea turtle named Bubble, a wandering gardener who could use someone to protect him and who always found the best food. Gentle and eternally patient, both could be of use to one another. Ematan would gain food, a real mission and a way to potentially use his incredible vigor and strength to good use while Bubble would gain a protector. Finally, Ematan was in the right spot to become an adult and shed is teenage years behind.