Svarog

Your name is Svarog.

You are the child of an ancient Imperial and Coatl. It is said that your father, the Imperial, is one of the oldest of his kind to exist. Whether this is true, you do not know.

While you are undeniably an imperial, you do show some traits of your coatl genetics. You do not have antlers. In their place is a massive expressive feather crest. Your wings are covered in feathers. And at the base of your tail is a pair of smaller wings.

You did as most of your siblings did. You left your hatching ground when you no longer needed to be watched, when you could hunt for yourself and had learned to fly. Like many in the Ashfall Waste, you took a job working in the sweltering heat of the volcanic lands, forging all kinds of things. But one day, there was an incident. You fell into the lava. Usually, this isn't a problem for the fire hatched. Usually, dragons of your element are completely immune to the flame. It was a really bad way to figure out that you were one of the very rare outliers.

You were rescued and treated for your burns. All your fur and feathers were singed off. The medic on site gave you a tonic. You still don't know what it was. But whatever it was, it healed you. You were grounded, unable to fly for months. You quit that day, not caring about working agreements or losing your source of income. There was no way you would be hanging around flames again. You took a train to the Sea. You didn't know what you were looking for, but you knew one thing: at least the Sea wasn't full of fire.

You rode the train to Churnscar Wharf. You sought out work there. Whatever work the local dragons would offer you. You spent your time there getting to know the dragons in the harbor. You took a job loading and unloading cargo from the ships that came through. Though the other dragons there quickly learned they needed to keep an eye on you. For reasons that are still unknown to everyone, smoke occasionally rises off you. And every time this happens, you feel the strong instinctive urge to jump into the nearest body of water. This isn't helpful in really any situation and the dragons around you were fast to become aware of this after you started screaming about being on fire and dove off the dock a couple times.

As your fur and feathers grew back, you discovered a strange side effect of that mysterious cure. They just seemed like odd growths at first. The doctors in the wharf examined them, but said they were harmless. You were shocked when you looked in the mirror one morning to find the growth on your forehead had changed. It was an eye! The ones between your slowly returning feathers had done the same. Though the ones on your wings are blind. That tonic must have contained a mutagen of some kind. The others in the harbor called it a blessing. Though from which deity, no one was sure. They would argue about it sometimes when they accompanied you to the tavern after a hard day's work. But their debates did get you thinking about the deities. It was after your new eyes grew in that you started visiting the library at the harbor. With all the commerce coming through from all over Sornieth, the selection of writings from all over the world was extensive. Instead of to the tavern every night, you started spending more and more evenings at the library, reading about the deities and the spiritual customs from all corners of the world.

Things continued like this for a while. Within a few months, enough feathers had returned for you to start relearning to fly. One day, a very strange ship came to harbor. It wasn't a ship actually. A few of the locals recognized the oddity. Nowhere Hospital they said: a nomadic group rooted in Plague and Lightning. A traveling hospital offering room and board for free and cutting edge implants for a high price.

You were beyond intrigued when the village sized chunk of Plagueland docked in the harbor, taking up one of the spots normally occupied by the largest of cargo ships. A lot of residents from the mass came to shore, included with them a wildclaw who hid his face behind a beaked mask and a skydancer with brilliant wings and an arm made of gold. They walked together and you welcomed them. They were immediately intrigued by your patchy adornments and extra eyes.

They formally invited you into their floating camp, even though no one needed an invitation. You accepted and found that though the place was odd, you felt comfortable and like you'd found your home. Though that wouldn't do, you were already living here at the wharf. The two dragons laughed at that, saying that didn't matter. You were free to stay as a guest as they traveled, but you were also welcome to take up residence.

At that, you asked what you could possibly offer them. All you really knew how to do was to smith, but there was no way you'd ever do that again. Otherwise, your experience was all in moving heavy things around. They asked about other aspects of your life, about your knowledge in a more academic sense. They were pleased to hear about your extensive learning about spiritual traditions. One of the things the hospital was lacking in was, well, anyone spiritual at all. They had no one who could reassure patients in that way or be called on to perform ceremonies. They flat out asked you if you'd be happy moving in and taking on that responsibility, providing emotional and spiritual guidance when requested.

You couldn't bring yourself to turn that offer down and by the end of the day, you already had all your things packed and moved to a suite at the inn portion of the traveling camp. It wasn't very spacious, but had all the amenities you needed and was outfitted with a lot of technology that was unfamiliar to you. Apparently progress made in the Shifting Expanse was slow to expand to other territories. Luckily, they not only traveled everywhere, but had direct lines of acquisition for the latest innovations. The small space was temporary while the vacant tent in the housing area was being cleaned and modified to your requests.

Preparing your permanent home only took a few days. You spent that time settling in and learning how things worked and getting to know your fellow residents. It quickly became clear this is a tightly bonded community of dragons who all share a common ambition and attitude. As a whole they had a purpose: allow Sornieth to be healthy. Act as an entity independent from the flights. Take no sides but one's own. Provide the best possible care to dragons, Beastclan, and animals alike. Let curiosity guide you, but only study fellow creatures when they grant permission. Such are the principles that guide the hospital.

It was hard to find your footing at first with your new work, but you settled in well over time. When you're not supporting a patient or their family, you're just generally helping out where you can. It's taken a long time to get you to trust that the ever present bonfire in the center of the camp is safe and that the dragon who maintains it would never let it harm anyone. You've sought help for your fear and it's improving. The first night you spent here, you ate in your suite away from the fire. This made your initial social interaction very limited as it was normal for the residents to gather around the fire for dinner.

But now you join them there. You still keep a good distance from the flames though. You help carry out traditions and rituals on request and perform traditional healing ceremonies when approved. These ceremonies always are when they won't harm anyone involved and won't interfere with treatments. You've found yourself contented here and never would have thought your calling would just float into a random harbor during your shift.

Upgrades: standard neural implant for hospital staff - allows mental database access and processing