Veles

Canopic Jar Trinkets A decorative jar that contains the remains of an ancestral dragon. It is a bad omen to touch, move, look at, or sell this type of artifact. 72

Veles "Call for me when you're ready to discuss my fee."

Memento Mori Generation 3 Nascentes morimur acquisitive | uneasy | ambitious

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.

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Shortly after he hatched, Veles began to change. Whether through latent genes or some unidentified magical influence, Veles was soon a Banescale. That's when his worrying started. Banescales had been driven to extinction by enemies. What has happened once may happen again. All the reassurances of his clan and kin could not give Veles back his sense of security.

The obvious first step was to amass a secret horde, one only he knew how to access. If he ever had to flee treachery, food and treasure would be key to survival. That was how his First Chance ended - an inexperienced burrower, caught in a cave in at a secret location too far for others to hear. That was when The Lone Wolf came to him.

The Lone Wolf's demands are simple: survival. Tend to your own needs first, last, and always. Let others fend for themselves, and let predators take the hindmost! They are no concern of yours. A lone wolf is a desperate, unhappy thing, and Veles often wonders what happened to separate his familiar from its pack and drive it to such a state. Paranoid, aggressive when cornered, The Lone Wolf refuses to answer.

His natural tendencies encouraged by his familiar, Veles has assumed a rather mercenary outlook on life. He readily fell in with the Bonepicker mindset that his new talents were to be used in the acquisition of assets and influence. If only he had more, then he could finally feel secure again.

Veles has a reputation as a positively predatory negotiator, but one with an unimpeachable ability to get the job done. That his exorbitant fees leave the desperate client bankrupt doesn't concern him. And if Veles feels that a potential client is a threat to himself... or to his breed... or to his Krewe... or to his Clan... or to Earth flight... or to Fire flight... the situation can even become extortionate.

The only time he forgoes his fee is for a client of sufficient influence and power that the debt has value in itself. Of course, a sufficiently paranoid person might point out that political leaders have been known to persecute those who hold their debts, rather than repay them. Veles doesn't sleep well at night.

Part of what makes Veles so successful are his connections to Krewe and Clan. The Krewe in particular has taken to invoicing him for "subcontracted work" or "donations for the cause," just to keep his demands in check. Sometimes these fees make their way discretely back to a sympathetic client. If the client is sufficiently unsympathetic, they may find themselves the target of Acheron, Ksenia, or Brooke.

Familiar and dragon are a good match in some respects, but these ties create a bitter point of contention. Worse folly (from the familiar's perspective,) Veles feels an obligation to the welfare of his breed. And that Veles should have chosen a singular mate feels like a betrayal of the only bond that ought to matter. In the eyes of The Lone Wolf, Veles owes him his life; any other bond encroaches on what is rightfully his.

Fortunately, those same bonds provide the means to keep The Lone Wolf in check. Growl too loudly, and he risks drawing attention from the Krewe's familiars, which badly outnumber him. Veles' mate Covenent is far to fierce to be intimidated by the snarls of one old ghost. And her familiar has an eerie ability to bite the intangible, and a baffling conviction that the female should be dominant over the male. It would be far too risky for The Lone Wolf to try to drive Veles into the "safety" of solitude. For now, dragon and familiar are locked in a profitable but uneasy alliance.