||The Bonekeeper||



A fascination with the dead is often very common among plague dragons but when fused with an interesting lust for life as well you tend to get very strange personalities emerging. Hollaw is one such strange personality, an obsession with bones lead him down a peculiar path in life that might have been akin to doctor frankenstein. He would start with finding dead things and meticulously removing layer after layer to expose what he found most fascinating, the bones. His old clan thought it odd but not much more than that. However that was until he started killing things to dissect them. Starting small and working his way up to intruders on his land, he argued there was always a reason for it, he never did it without reason. However even with a plague upbringing his habits were just too worrysome to ignore. The final straw was the lengths he went to in order to remove his own skin, exposing his skull, plague magic in place to prevent the spread of rot and keeping himself functional.

Hollaw was cast out from his clan and few would take him in due to his startling appearance, growing ever colder to the world he began taking lives with much less discrimination and used his kills to practice his own form of plague magic. Many see plague abilities as the acceleration of decay, something that will always happen so there is always something to take advantage of. However there is a small subset of dragons who halt the process instead, effectively preserving whatever they so choose. It often isn’t permanent though as spells break and rot takes hold eventually. Hollaw is able to prevent his own decay due to the fact he is still alive and his magic is ever present. Though it is possible when he is to die the held off decay would hit all at once but no one will know that till the time comes... He uses this magic to take his time with his dissections, he also had a pension for raw meat so it enables him to keep meat fresh for longer periods of time which is useful when you’re wondering aimlessly around sorneith.

Under the cover of night Hollaw through guidance of the stars made his way to the forest on the edge of the lairs spire, he had regularly been taken by the strange creatures of the starfall ilses and sought a new subject to study. It was here he found Tera, only noticing her by the soft shimmer of her wings and she crept along the forest floor in search of plant life for her own studies. He was completely lost in her, everything about her just drew him in, his tail flicking excitedly as he watched from the shadows, she had no idea of his presence. Tera was transfixed by her work, she found a small flower by the stump of an old tree and cried out in surprise, plucking it swiftly from the ground but not before placing a hand to the ground and as the flower was picked a new one replaced it. Life was not lost by her work. This confused Hollaw, they shared a fascination with life but she fixed what she took while he never could, was he wrong? Was he selfish? Lost in his own mind Tera slipped away unseen and Hollaw continued to stalk the forest at night for any hope of seeing her again.

Weeks went by, only managing to find Tera a handful of time as she never worked in the same place twice. One night while she worked in a nearby field he watched from the tree line, as she searched he saw a beast was also watching her but with more ill intent than him, he watched the ever familiar way it crept up on her and just before it stuck he did first. The large cleaver he kept fastened to him at all time sunk deep into the beasts belly as Tera cried out in shock. His piercing red eyes met her soft green before he was tackled to the ground by Maxwell, the mighty ridgeback keeping him easily pinned to the ground. Tera begged for his release, explaining what had happened. Maxwell allowed him to stand but refused to leave, he was still a stranger with a large weapon, his softly glowing eyes transfixed on the wildclaw even if he could not see him. Hollow explained himself, how he had seen her work and admired her for her dedication to life itself, he wanted to be like her, to learn from her.

It look some time before he was willing to join the clan itself but it turns out having a dragon around who can dissect meat so carefully, easily removing bones and knowing how to keep this meat fresher for longer is a welcome addition. His abilities are favoured by those with young hatchlings who tend to choke on bones they can’t yet break up on their own. Turning his obsession into something very useful lead him to cope better with it, killing out of true need so he and his family can eat. Turns out he is a rather impressive father too and of course Tera would have to agree there too. The pair are quite inseparable, he is now her body guard while she is out working at night as she gets too absorbed in her work to look out for herself despite the quick actions of the night guard. The flower crown he wears was given to him by his mate, so long as he wears it it will never decay.