Snowheart

---

Lore details:
A dragon can choose to 'exalt' themselves and serve the Icewarden directly (analogous to going into the military). Dragons who are born from abandoned eggs are exalted in this way.

Snowheart
- Snowheart is an exalted ice messenger (glorified package/letter delivery) serving under the Icewarden.
- Snowheart is assigned to Frostwing as a mentor
Personality: cold on the outside, warm on the inside

Frostwing
- Frostwing was an abandoned egg sent to serve the Icewarden
Personality: bubbly, energetic

Stormfeather
- When Snowheart was younger, he loved Stormfeather - a Lightning Flight messenger - but love between flights is forbidden
- Stormfeather's mate is Thundersky
Personality: kind, reserved, serious at her job

Thundersky
- Thundersky's mate is Stormfeather
- Thundersky ends up dying and gets resurrected by Zerrul, now serving as the Death Organizer (DO). His job is to expand Zerrul's empire, calculate the best position of attack, suppress opposition (military general of sorts)
- was chosen specifically by Zerrul as he was adept in his field at calculations in Lightning flight
- Once he reunites with Stormfeather and saves her from Lich when they were on a mission to... take over Banescale clans? and Stormfeather was delivering a package/letter from the Southern Icefields. Lich finds out that DO's real name is Thundersky and belonged to the Lightning flight and that Stormfeather was his mate. As Lich and DO had grown close, Lich decides not to tell Zerrul, but warns him. Mistake.
- After seeing his mate, he grows selfless, fearing that Zerrul's empire will destroy the Shifting Expanse. No longer afraid of dying, and sick of ordering dragons to their deaths, he...
- becomes a mole and begins working against Zerrul
- Later, Lich catches him sneaking back from ice/lightning, and this time decides to tell Zerrul. DO argues that he'll kill him, but Lich disagrees, blinded by his quality treatment by Zerrul and pointing out that his position was too important. Out of fear, DO knocks him out, and rushes off to tell protagonists. Is speared in front of his mate(?). Zerrul praises Lich for his loyalty, but he feels really guilty and upset, having strong attachments to friends and all.
Personality: providing, serious || numb, fearful of true death

Lich
- Lich was a large, nameless Spiral in a savage clan in the Scarred Wasteland
- knew only surviving, fighting, and warring
- made a name for himself, notable for his immense strength and inability to die
- fatally maimed in a battle between Plague and Shadow flight clans for territory on the borders;
technically was the last man standing as he was surrounded by bodies of both flights and the only one left breathing
- zerrul flies from his kingdom (or before he founds his kingdom) in the Ashfall Waste to the Scarred Wasteland just to kill him in the midst of battle (as he's too strong to take down solo). he's too late to witness the battle, but finds him in the aftermath. he kills him. he then resurrects him and threatens that if he doesn't obey orders, he will release him to true death. lich complies.
- lich acts as Zerrul's personal assistant, guard, and later, his close companion
- lich reckons that his lifestyle as the second-hand man to a king is significantly better than his life as a clan member in Plague. Plus, he has no choice; Zerrul could take away what's keeping him animated at any time, and killing zerrul would result in his own death as the death of a necromancer means the death for everything it resurrects.
Personality: extremely loyal; cares more about zerrul than undergoing true death (would die again for him). after experiencing the death of his entire clan, zerrul is all he's got left

Zerrul
- Zerrul escaped "hell"
How?: Flamecaller could've been distracted, could have been the cause (maybe lied to his peers that they would all make it out alive in a rebellion but he forced his way to the top; great way to immediately introduce a character)
- and swam all the way up through the Great Furnace. He emerged, and the native banescale population were in awe. he might kill one to set an example, maybe even resurrect one. in any case, they then feared him and become important workers of his founding kingdom.
- Necromancer
- Resurrectionist
- Zerrul is born in hell (which again, is really just a high-temperature cavern deep underground). He gains the ability to resurrect dragons - which is unique to dragons in hell - by practicing Shade/black magic. Extending his magical knowledge, he uncovers a way to revive the dead (could be part of his escape plan? and also maybe places a bounty on him(?). Shade can explain the unexplainable).
Personality: merciless, ambitious, great at leading, brash.
Lich and Zerrul do share moments in the Overworld over little things that Zerrul has never experienced before. Lich teaches him basic things. They do grow fond of each other.

Shade Magic
- Shade magic is magic that has properties atypical of normal dragon magic. Shade magic is caused by the seeping tendrils that are poured into the Earth by generations of native banescale populations who hurl Shade fragments into the Great Furnace as part of rituals. This act effectively removes Shade from the Overworld, but the Shade fragments become trapped deep within the earth, which is then absorbed by the dragons born into hell. Note that while some other deities are free to roam the surface if they so choose, the Flamecaller is locked inside the earth to protect "hell" from overflowing the Overworld with Shade, effectively protecting Sornieth. I suppose a long time ago she brought down with her honorable dragons to act as servants to take care of her and protect her location while she lay dormant. She would have casted her own spell or Shade repellent (or another deity would for her). Certain special dragon lineages/clans still care and protect her and her location, but the dragons populated hell, and now there's a whole hell hierarchy. Many clans have grown complacent with their ancestors' duties, and have neglected to take on their roles. Many dragons don't even believe in the Flamecaller, the Overworld, or the tales told. They have no concept of the Overworld. The clans are impacted by the Shade's presence, developing different forms of magic.

Zerrul Lore:
Zerrul believes in the Overworld (akin to how one would not believe in hell). He wishes to escape the hot, fiery, smoggy, acrid Underworld. The exit to the Great Furnace is located where the Flamecaller resides, which is heavily guarded and strictly off-limits. Zerrul tired of his poor living conditions and faithful in an Overworld, bands the miserable dragons together and starts an uprising. Dragons storm the honorable clans and a war breaks out. Zerrul fights and kills to make his way to the Flamecaller. He leaves his friends behind in the process. The Flamecaller awakens from her hibernation due to all of the commotion just to open her eyes and stare down Zerrul. Zerrul is in sheer awe, but wastes no time circumventing the deity and making his way to the exit.

The Flamecaller might not want any dragons escaping (something the old clans would've sworn not to do) because she fears the highly-concentrated shade present in the dragons would infect, cause problems, or wreak havoc on the Overworld.

The Flamecaller lifts her head/tries to prevent his escape, but this only destroys her hibernal den/collapses the exit and causes an earthquake. Zerrul swims to the surface and emerges from the Great Furnace followed by an immense earthquake and a great volcanic eruption that could be felt and heard from all around Sornieth. The native banescale populations immediately assume he's some type of deity and follow his command.

Now that he's made it to the Overworld, Zerrul's goal is:
Conquer. He wants power, something he never had in hell and was shunned by the aristocrats. He wants full reign of all of the Overworld and all of its unique and distinct lands, as he only had hell. He's very able-bodied and has special powers due to Shade magic that normal dragons don't have. This allows him to easily establish himself as a ruling power above other dragons.
His powers include necromancy, or an undying ability, which is a characteristic seen in the Shade and its persistence, which also prevents him from old age death.

Meanwhile, underground, the Flamecaller is disturbed, and the aristocrat clans are trying to suppress rebellion.

Zerrul could die by: Flamecaller herself bursts through the Great Furnace and drags him back to hell/kills him. This would effectively seal hell from Sornieth, and also allow his servants to 'live.'
Protagonists could kill him.

Flamecaller:
"I struggle to keep the heart of Sornieth from overflowing"
- reigns over "hell"
- only one exit from hell - The Great Furnace (giant volcano)

Hell does exist, but it's not for where dead spirits go. Once you die, you stay dead forever (unless you're resurrected, that is. Heaven does not exist). "Hell" is below the Ashfall Waste in the mantle of the planet. This is where the Flamecaller resides. Note: some deities are more active/interactive with their flight/others than others. For example, the Windsinger happily plays with his clans. The Flamecaller only interacts with dragons(?) that can withstand the heat in "hell." The Ashfall Waste itself is barren and inactive, victim to volcanic activity, lava, and other conditions that are caused by events underneath.

Map/Flight Path: