Sek

ORIGIN STORY W.I.P.

Originally born to a small Aerie tucked away on the border of the Zephyr Steppes, Sek never once questioned her place in the world. At least until a flight dominance battle destroyed her small territory and ravaged her nest. The few dragons that survived the ordeal soon left the young Fae female unable to defend her own lands. Many chose to turn to the Windsinger for salvation, while others simply abandoned her to her fate.

Alone in the world, Sek found herself lost wandering the Windswept Plateau avoiding conflict wherever she could and scavenging what little food she could without drawing attention to her territorial invasion. With no place to call her home and no allies to call her own, the female fae soon lost track of the passage of time. It may have been days, maybe weeks, possibly even years before the Fae rouge finally met another Fae looking to prove his might and worth to the Windsinger. Taken by this valiant young drake, Sek agreed to help him in his task, and together they began building a new Aerie.

It wasn't until their clutch was nearing their hatching that Sek began to realize her new mate was just as fixated on Flight Dominance as the dragons that had destroyed her nest so long ago. And it wasn't until after their clutch was fully hatched that she found out her mate was laying siege to nearby Aeries in order to expand his territory and claim a greater army for himself. Unable to forgive these actions, the female fae began to encourage her young nestlings to spread their wings and seek their own fortune instead of following in their father's wingbeats.

Outraged, Nythogg banished his mate from his Aerie as soon as he found out she was encouraging their nestlings to abandon him, but surprisingly she did not leave alone. Several of Nythogg's "loyal" subordinates choose to leave with the fair fae female, declaring that she was more fit to lead an Aerie than her mate. But even with the small following, Sek had no where to go. Unsure what to do, she asked for the council of those who chose to follow her, who in turn encouraged her to leave the Windswept Plateau and the Windsinger altogether and choose to worship another deity. Intrigued by the idea, Sek led her group across the continent seeking something intangible.

As they traveled, the philosophies that would one day become the statutes which the Shadowed Aerie would be built upon, began to form. At first they sought peace, not war, with the Aerial territories they invaded. As they crossed into new territories, Sek would purposefully lead her group to the dominating Aerie where they would request food and shelter, and if they were denied this request, she would thank the Aerie for their hospitality and proceed to leave the territory. No matter how hungry or tired her Clan was, Sek would let no one hunt or rest within a territory without the dominating Flight's consent. As they traveled, they gained more and more dragons until they were large enough to be classed as a migrating Aerie, which ultimately made finding food and shelter even more difficult.

So they traveled. Traveled until they came upon the ruins of an old Shadow Flight Aerie. With no fresh scents to follow and no way to find the controlling Aerie, Sek allowed her gathering to rest for the night when she was visited by the Shadowbinder in the Dream Realm. The scarred fae learned that the nest she and her kinsman occupied was abandoned and had been for many years, destroyed by another deity's Flight looking to expand into the Tangled Wood without seeking the permission of either deity. As compensation, the invading Aerie was destroyed, but no other Aerie had tried to take the newly abandoned lands, leaving it untouched.

The Shadowbinder told Sek that she would allow the Fae to take over control of the territory, but had to align herself to the Shadow Flight. Upon inquiring as to how she could pledge her allegiance, the Shadowbinder instructed the Fae to fill a nest with a new clutch and have 1/3 of her current Aerie serve directly under the deity at her fortress within the Forum of the Obscured Crescent. Unable to make that decision for her Clan, Sek promised only to speak to her Clan about the offer.

The following morning, Sek held a council and informed them of the Shadowbinder's offer. Ecstatic, dragons immediately began volunteering to serve the Shadowbinder if it meant the rest of the Aerie finally had a place to call home, with a fair and just leader at the helm. Even before she agreed, the Aerie set about organizing themselves, and uniformly declared Sek be their first Sovereign of the Shadowed Aerie. By nightfall, almost all of the males old enough to breed had offered to assist in fulfilling the Shadowbinder's first decree of filling a nest, and just as many attempted to console her by telling her that the Shadowbinder had not specifically ordered her to fill a nest with a new clutch, if she was uncomfortable mating with one them for this specific task. There were a few couplings in the Aerie already, but Sek felt as though she was cheating the gracious deity by considering that option just because she didn't want another clutch herself.

So, she turned to her oldest friend in the Clan, a Mirror whom she had met in Nythogg's Aerie and had outright told the Fae male that he was not worthy of leading an Aerie. She couldn't deny that Virtue had been an important aspect of every decision she'd ever made before, and therefore turned to him for guidance. The Mirror told her to follow her heart, and if she was unwilling to perform this task that the Clan would still follow her wherever she went. It was only at this point that the Fae realized she had come to value the Mirror's insight so completely, and asked him to be the one give her a new clutch.