Tamlin
(#56653955)
the straights are at it again |he/him
Familiar
Peony of Rockbreaker
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 50/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Wind.
Male Skydancer
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
4.86 m
Wingspan
4.06 m
Weight
759.37 kg
Genetics
Shadow
Petals
Petals
Seafoam
Butterfly
Butterfly
Silver
Firefly
Firefly
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Skydancer
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
4
AGI
5
DEF
4
QCK
9
INT
9
VIT
4
MND
9
Biography
The appearance of the Skydancer startles you. He isn't draped in armor like the other two, and so moves with relative silence through the rocks near the mouth of the cave. As the morning sun rises, filtering through the dense fog that permeates the forest, you wander out of your borrowed den, only to see him perched on a boulder above you, looking down at you with a mixture of irritation and pity.
"Do you know what's down there?" he asks, gesturing into the mouth of the Cathedral.
You do not. No one has told you a thing about where you are or what this place is, other than that this is a sacred place that few dare to disturb. You shake your head and the Skydancer rises, his antennae twitching curiously.
"Would you like to?"
"Do you know what's down there?" he asks, gesturing into the mouth of the Cathedral.
You do not. No one has told you a thing about where you are or what this place is, other than that this is a sacred place that few dare to disturb. You shake your head and the Skydancer rises, his antennae twitching curiously.
"Would you like to?"
Magic in the Forest
While magic may be a staple of life in Sorenith, teeming in every corner of the world, in the forest between dimensions it works a bit differently. The forest is cut off from the elemental magic of Sorenith by the boundary that lies between the two dimensions, but these borders are often volatile. Those with the aptitude for it can draw on the energy generated by these shifting boundaries between worlds and manipulate the fabric of reality itself in order to do magic. However, doing so is not easy, and it often comes with a price. Spells are prone to failure, often rebounding back on either the caster or those around them, and spells that succeed aren't guaranteed to last forever. The only ones who can use magic with ease are the spirits who inhabit the forest, a talent that has not gone unnoticed. Dragons who don't have a natural talent for casting, or whose talents are unrefined, will sometimes strike deals with the spirits, becoming warlocks bound to their service. While not all dragons who do magic do so at the behest of a spirit, there are enough who do to make others nervous whenever a non-elemental caster comes to town.
Dragons who stumbled into the forest from Sorenith will find that their elemental allegiance is weakened, if not sapped completely away from them. However, if they learn to harness the energy of this world, they will find that sometimes - if only briefly - they're able to harness the elemental magic they were born with once more. A link back to their original home. Their magic often becomes more unpredictable than it once was, however, and because of its elemental nature, it is very easy for elemental casters to cause terrible destruction when their power is unleashed. Lightning and Arcane dragons often have the most luck reconnecting with their element, as the unique energies of their homeland seem to permeate the barrier between worlds more easily, leading to more portals between the two dimensions in those particular territories.
Full Name: N/A
Nicknames: Tam (rarely)
Gender: male (cis)
Sexuality: heterosexual
Family: RoyalWraith (sister)
Mate: ?
Other: ?
Basic Info
Tamlin is an accomplished mage who excels at both defensive and offensive magic. While harnessing the unstable energy of the forest can be a struggle for many magic users, he rarely has problems. He's lied for years about why this is, however. He claims it's natural talent and a deeper understanding of their world, but that's only somewhat true. While it is true that his applications of magic are his own invention, the power and stability behind his spells are not. He has had dealings with a spirit named Derelict for years who allows him to use some of her power for himself. Whether one considers that cheating or not, it makes him a formidable foe.
While he is gifted with many forms of magic, illusion and abjuration magic comes easiest to him. When facing a problem, he prefers to wear his opponents down until their will to fight has been drained, whether that means tormenting them with illusory horrors or putting up impenetrable wards for them to hit their heads uselessly against. Offensive magic is often his last resort.
Tamlin's weaknesses lie mainly in his physical abilities. He is not a strong fighter or a swift flyer, and without his magic he would be easy to best in combat.
History
Tamlin is an odd dragon who has always found himself on the fringes of society. Born in Serpent's Crossing, his natural talent for casting unnerved even his own parents, and they discouraged both him and his sister, Wraith, from doing magic, lest their friends and neighbors think less of them. The hatchlings weren't satisfied with this, however, and they would often sneak out into the swamp away from prying eyes to practice. Tamlin learned quickly and found that illusions in particular came easily to him, while Wraith's abilities developed much slower. She found she didn't have the patience for "using real magic to do fake magic" and often focused on learning more offensive spells that would make her a more fierce fighter. Together they made a formidable team, and few dragons dared to mess with them. Even so, they eventually found that their presence in Serpent's Crossing was unwelcome, and they decided to leave when they were old enough to make it on their own in the larger forest.
The siblings were largely self-sufficient, hunting their own food and living like wild dragons without the trappings of civilization. They encountered many spirits, often fighting them away without thinking much of it. However, Tamlin began to get curious about them. The people of his hometown were terrified of spirits, but why? He wasn't sure he'd ever actually seen one hurt anyone. Were they just afraid of the idea of what they could do? He and Wraith stopped attacking on sight as much as they used to and started trying to parlay with the spirits they saw. At first many of the spirits were wary, but the friendlier ones warmed up to the pair. By the time they reached adulthood, they were regularly running with the spirits of the forest as if they were spirits themselves.
Chapel Falls, a stretch of woods bordering a small river and waterfall near the Cathedral, became their home for a long time after that. The spirits there were largely benevolent, but didn't care about the war being waged by the spirit hunters and the various denizens of the Cathedral. They were content with their lot, only getting involved on a whim from time to time. So to did Tamlin and Wraith. They knew Lacewing and Nox long before Repro's escape and everything that came after, so when Lace and Banshee approached them asking if they were any good at warding, they decided to try their hand at it. They had nothing better to do, after all, and Repro's attack on Serpent's Crossing had left them feeling uneasy, despite the fact that they hadn't been home in some time. They decided they would rather help keep spirits like Repro locked up, if only because dealing with them personally out in the forest itself sounded like a nightmare.
Wraith was no good with the wards, but Tamlin found he understood more than he was expecting. It was time-consuming to reinforce them, however, and the rituals he had to perform left him vulnerable. Wraith was more than happy to watch his back, though, and they fell into a comfortable routine. Then he started to notice the sabotage.
When the wards were fresh, they were difficult for spirits to tamper with, but Tamlin began noticing that older wards were degrading much faster in certain places than they should be. The tampering looked deliberate to him, and it made him nervous when going out to fix it. The more degraded warding took twice as long to reinforce as the other wards, and while she guarded her brother, Wraith began noticing more activity in the forest while he was performing his rituals. One day a rogue spirit actually dared to attack them as Tamlin began working, disrupting the ritual and further damaging the wards. Tamlin began pushing himself harder, trying to find ways to perform these rituals faster, but it was no use. It was beyond his capabilities. He tried talking to the spirits in the Cathedral, but none of the ones living there could perform the sorts of warding that could keep spirits at bay. Some knew ways to degrade wards, but this was extremely powerful magic, and not the kind that was needed. The unfortunate reality was that they all had always been spirits, and only spirits who were once mortal were capable of constructing spirit wards.
How convenient, then, when Tamlin came across a spirit claiming that she used to be a witch.
Derelict initially seemed disinterested in helping Tamlin. Yes, she said, she was familiar with spirit wards and had constructed her fair share back when she was mortal, but she had no reason to get involved in any mortal business anymore, nor did she care about the spirits in the Cathedral. Tamlin continued to bargain with her, and she eventually revealed that she was interested in Europa and her prophecies, but the great seer jealously guarded such knowledge. Tamlin had never heard anything about Europa knowing any prophecies before - he'd been under the impression she just had premonitions. Derelict corrected him, saying that Europa was perhaps one of the most powerful spirits in the Forest, powerful enough to gain a devoted following of witches back when the world was new. The Europa Coven, she said, had been host to the most powerful magic users this world or any other had ever seen. Most became spirits like her, though some met...grislier fates. And all of this had been forseen by their leader.
Europa, Derelict said, was afraid of her followers becoming too powerful, and thus she'd hidden many prophecies from them. When they came into this power fully, she stuck down a number of them, and she never explained what she'd seen to think this was necessary. Maybe she was just afraid of losing her own power. At least, that's what Derelict believed anyway. There was one prophecy that Derelict had heard rumors of - one that foretold the end of this world, the destruction of all dark spirits, and the freeing of all the mortals who had been drawn into the Forest through portals they couldn't go back through. She wanted to know the details. She wanted to know what Europa was hiding from them. If Tamlin could get her that knowledge, then sure, she could help with some silly wards.
They made a contract, and Derelict used her magic to create a link between them that would allow him to siphon power directly from her to fuel his magic. With Derelict's power at his back, Tamlin was able to perform the needed rituals much faster than before. He was able to keep up with the decaying wards and the increasing assaults by rogue spirits. It seemed like everything was going their way, so of course it was inevitable that something would go wrong.
Before he could fill the last of the holes in the wards, a spirit managed to slip through undetected and possess his sister. Wraith used her combat magic to paralyze both Tamlin and Banshee in their dens, but Lacewing was able to fend off the charm with his enchanted armor. The two got into a vicious battle that Wraith easily won long before either Tamlin or Banshee were able to free themselves from her paralysis spell. When Wraith disappeared into the Cathedral, Tamlin followed her, all the way down to the lowest caverns where the most dangerous spirits resided. The siblings fought viciously with magic, both powered by the magic of spirits, but as the battle worn on, Wraith seemed to get stronger while Tamlin seemed to get weaker. He couldn't understand what was happening, and eventually Wraith succeeded in knocking him out.
When Tamlin came to, Wraith was gone, and the cell that once held Bloodstone, the Witch of Blood and Iron, was destroyed and empty. The benevolent spirits were up in arms, and the Cathedral was full of spirit hunters trying to assess the damage. Tamlin told them what little he knew, and when a brutal hunter named Ferrous set out to track Wraith down, he insisted on coming with her. Together they managed to find his sister, and though they were prepared for a fight, it never came to that. The spirit had left Wraith already, leaving her a shaking, shell-shocked mess. They brought her back to the Cathedral, and for a while all she could do was mutter that the Era of Blood and Iron was upon them and the Godhunter could not save them.
Tamlin had no idea what any of this meant, and when Wraith finally came back to herself, she didn't remember anything about being possessed or what she'd said after. Banshee was out of his mind with fear and anger, and he was more than happy to take it out on Wraith since it was her body the spirit who did this was riding around in. Tamlin got into a vicious argument with him, and Wraith finally snapped, saying she was done. She was leaving. She couldn't risk something like this happening again.
None of the guardians saw the battle to bring Bloodstone back under control, but after a harrowing few days of waiting, the hunters finally returned with the rogue spirit. Arcrider, Banshee's former mentor, had apparently done something that finally brought the spirit down long enough for the others to bind her and drag her back. Tamlin asked her what she'd done, but she wouldn't say, and she regarded him with a mistrust that he didn't understand.
With Bloodstone locked up again, the hunters went about cleaning up the damage. One stayed behind to help Lacewing recover from his injuries, while the rest left to get on with their duties elsewhere. Some talked to Wraith, telling her they could take her back to Serpent's Crossing where someone would be able to ward her against being possessed again, but she would lose her ability to do magic. She decided it was worth it. Tamlin tried to convince her to stay, but she refused, and instead promised to come visit when she was able. It broke his heart, and he became increasingly withdrawn and anti-social.
Tamlin still maintains the wards at the Cathedral, but Banshee regards him with unease, and though Lacewing is often worried about him, even he isn't sure how to help. Tamlin in the meantime has been looking for any excuse to leave, but he doesn't feel he can until he's sure the wards are secure. It's not enough for the ones outside the caverns to be strong so rogue spirits can't get in - the ones inside the prisoner's cells need to be stronger too. And then there's the deal he made with Derelict to worry about...
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