Patriarch

Enchanted Candle Trinkets Just the sort of thing you wouldn't want to see floating on its own at the end of a dark hallway. 47

Patriarch "I am not who you see."

Memento Mori Generation 1 Nascentes morimur melancholic | patient | generous

Memento mori (Latin: "remember that you have to die") is the medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. This curse would be traced down his lineage. All Vigil's children were destined to die, like any dragon. But they would be given a second chance. It was up to the children if they would accept the bargain.

---

Cold. Pressure. Darkness.

He should get up. Which way was up? He knew that it would be bad to stay like this, but at the moment he couldn't quite remember why. First, there had been too much sound; now there was none at all. There was something important about his situation, but he couldn't think. He tried to stand, but his body wouldn't move. Where was he?

North face of Mt. Morrakgon, in the Cloudscape Crags.

"What?"

You're on the north face of Mt. Morrakgon, in the Cloudscape Crags.

"I was climbing..."

Yes, with a rather inexpert guide. Too late in the season for amateurs, but that can't be helped now.

"There was a noise... the avalanche!" The realization swept over him, and he struggled in sudden panic. "I have to get away!"

It's too late for that now.

"But I'll die!"

You have. Or very nearly, anyway. By the time your companions dig you out, it will be too late to revive you. Unless... yes, you're their child, aren't you? If you would Bargain for a Second Chance, we may be of use to each other.

---

It took a long time for them to locate his body under the snow, longer still before they could restore life and motion to his frozen limbs. Sadly, it seemed many of his memories had been left behind, buried in the snow. Worse, his snout had been badly frostbitten; he had lost his sense of smell. He was alive, yes - but who was he?

He wandered for a time, trying to invent a new identity, but without the ability to form new scent memories, nothing seemed to last. He eventually settled with the Cthonic Conclave, in Dragonhome. Liasons with several female dragons left him with children and grandchildren, some of whom have also been granted a Second Chance. They call him Patriarch, the head of a family he cannot properly remember. For now, their memories suffice for him to stay.

If you ask, Patriarch will tell you that the dragon who fell under the avalanche truly died that day. Without memories, how could the dragon before you be any more than a shell? Yet, an empty vessel is useful for what it may contain. With the aid of Dreamers' Conduit, Patriarch can channel the spirits of the dead. Through him, they can borrow a living body long enough to preserve their knowledge, complete unfinished business, or simply enjoy the pleasures of the living one final time.

His old life is lost to him now. Yet as a Mourner, Patriarch can live fragments of a hundred lives, each one, for a time, more real than his own seems to him now. The one memory that never fades is his bond with Dreamer's Conduit. His familiar claims to be the ghost of a medium of great skill, though so long dead that it, too, remembers little of its former life. For both dragon and familiar, the practice of channeling the dead is the only identity that remains.

Patriarch's relationship with the other members of his Krewe is in a constant state of flux, depending on the needs and whims of the ghost he is currently channeling. Brooke, Doughty, Witness, and Spectre may all assist a ghost in achieving its own ends. Patriarch's grandchildren - Acheron, Ksenia, and Veles - are all more likely to make demands of their own. But when the channeling is through, all have their own little ways of reminding Patriarch that he is home.