Rigel

Rigel is the closest thing the Clan has to a religious leader; any dragon seeking spiritual guidance comes to him. Though his allegiance is to the Arcanist, he believes that no Deity or Flight is better than any other, and that happiness and fulfillment can be found on any spiritual path. He is happy to offer his wisdom and guidance to dragons of any Flight. Rigel also serves as a historian, and will write about important events that occur within the Clan.

Being a child of the Arcanist, Rigel is also incredibly curious. For the most part, this does him no harm, but a bout of curiosity regarding Celia's workshop led to trouble for both him and the Clan. He snuck into it one day, and discovered the particle accelerator she had built; his scars are the result of her anger at his intrusion. Disturbed by Celia's great machine, he later went and informed Kaith, who in turn informed the Gladekeeper. The Gladekeeper, displeased with the presence of a technological abomination in her forest, exiled Kaith - who permitted Celia to have her workshop - and the rest of the clan from the Viridian Labyrinth.

Rigel is a lover of knowledge, and of sharing knowledge, and he makes his writings available for all to see.



This most glorious Clan, originally aligned to the Gladekeeper, was founded one week and two days prior to the first Thundercrack Carnivale, by the Fae dragons named Kaith and Swooshy.

Though skilled at Magic, Kaith and Swooshy were unable to defend their lair using Magic alone, and so hired a mercenary, a Mirror called Nomsy, also aligned to the Gladekeeper, to aid them in combat.

One of her first actions as a clan leader was to establish peace with those around her. She successfully established peace with the nearby Karabair herd of centaurs, led by one Helen Karabair, and agreed to defend them against aggressive dragon clans and share our harvests when possible. She was less successful with the nearby Patricia, a lone ridgeback whose garden rivals that of Kaith's in size.

A great plague of darkness fell upon the lands soon after the founding of the Clan. Some claim it was the Shade, others claim it was a force greater than the Gods themselves, but the Founding Fae, who lived through the event, say time seemed to turn back on its own. Things that had been found were lost, and children that had been born disappeared, only to be born again. To comfort those disturbed by the event, the Glorious Arcanist bestowed upon each clan a golden chest. Though he mistakenly sent more than one chest to some clans, including that of Kaith and Swooshy, the honorable Founding Fae returned the extra chests, and went about their lives.

Kaith soon found her calling as a mother of Orphans, and began providing homes to abandoned youngsters. The first among these were an orphan Fae called Marina, aligned to the Tidelord, and an orphan Coatl called Wisp, aligned to the Lightweaver. Marina has left us to join another Clan, but Wisp remains, and has taken a new mate called Amazon, aligned to the Flamecaller. Others have come and gone, including a Fae named Chantilly, and a pair of Skydancers named Freyja and Aeonium, but their time with Kaith was short before their departure.

Nomsy was soon joined by two orphan warriors: a young Mirror called Irisa, aligned to the Glorious Arcanist, and an enigmatic Ridgeback called Celia, aligned to the Stormcatcher. Both have proven themselves fine warriors, and having trained Irisa and Celia, Nomsy soon departed to serve under the Gladekeeper.

Celia inadvertently brought home a young Guardian dragon called Kenneth, also aligned with the Stormcatcher, and became his Charge. At first, Celia was upset by the presence of Kenneth. But, as appears to be common with such relationships, the two soon became friends, mates and collaborators in Celia's research.

(Personal Note: Celia is an interesting subject indeed, with her mysterious, machine-filled tunnels and extensive knowledge of archaic sciences. She will not share her knowledge with me, nor will she tell me the nature of her research. She swears she does not use magic, but whatever experiments she is performing release tremendous energy, and they give me terrible headaches! I must find out what she is doing down there.)

A wave of new clans appeared around this time, and with these new clans came another great plague to devastate the land. The Plague of Insatiable Hunger, though short-lived, was painful nonetheless, as any food eaten provided only short-lived satisfaction before the ill dragon began to starve again. The plague passed quickly, however, and the world's depleted food stores were replenished by the Gladekeeper, who generously shared her forests' bounty with all clans and Flights.

The arrival of the first Imperials was an interesting day indeed, as both Alexandra and her mate Larimar were haughty regarding their pure lineages. They thought themselves royalty, ordering others about and challenging even Kaith. However, they proved to be rather naive, as Alexandra fell prey to the charms of a wandering sorcerer. This wandering sorcerer, a sinister Mirror called Foroze, aligned – by birth only – to the Glorious Arcanist, takes pride in causing pain to others. He is a treacherous, ungrateful wretch, as he denies the glory of the Elemental Gods who created him and his ancestors, and instead grants his allegiance to the Shade. Now that Alexandra has gone, Kaith keeps him shackled to a stone along the border of the clan's territory, to prevent him from causing trouble elsewhere or, Gods forbid, summoning forth the Shade. He, the terrifying Exgal, and the abominable Ulsev who I dare not speak of are ordered to keep away from the rest of the clan.

Kaith saw fit to take on a young centaur apprentice around this time. The filly, Thais Blacktail, was only two years of age when Kaith began instructing her in meditation and magical channeling. She does not live among us; rather, Kaith visits the Karabair herd and Thais one a week to track her progress and to instruct her further.

All events described above occurred before my arrival, and are written as described by Kaith and others in the Clan. I and my beloved Lyra were taken in by Kaith prior to the departure of Alexandra and Larimar. After their departure, four other Imperials took their place – Xenon, aligned to the Glorious Arcanist; Krypton, aligned to the Windsinger; Foxglove, aligned to the Shadowbinder; and Pyroclastic, also aligned to the Windsinger. All are far more personable, though their presence makes me and others in the clan uncomfortable. However, Xenon assures us that she has cast experimental magic that prevents the formation of Emperors from their bodies should they pass on.

(Personal note: I would not place my faith in Xenon's experimental spell. Aligned she may be to the Glorious Arcanist, but the Arcanist she is not, and if even the gods have not devised a way to prevent the formation of Emperors then I do not believe Xenon has. I do wish one pair or another would leave us.)

Four new Skydancers have joined our ranks since Lyra and I arrived: Mai, aligned to the Lightweaver, who has made it her task to safeguard the Clan's riches; Zuko, aligned to the Flamecaller; Sophie, aligned to the Lightweaver; and Howl, aligned to the Plaguebringer. We Skydancers have become quite numerous in the Clan, though some among us consider us a nuisance. Along with the Skydancers came another Coatl named Amazon, aligned with the Flamecaller, who is rather unusual in that she left the Ashfall Waste simply to keep fish which she does not even eat. She insists that she is happy here, however, and Wisp has taken her as his mate.

Due to a series of misfortunes, Kaith and her clan were banished from the Viridian Labyrinth. This was distressing to us all, and to the Karabair herd who had come to rely on our protection. Thais in particular was extremely upset, though Kaith has promised to return and visit when possible.

Celia became the target of some anger due to our exile, since my discovery of her machine had been the reason we were banished, and Kaith decided to relocate to the Stormcatcher's domain, the Shifting Expanse, to support her. (See Addendum for additional details.) Since our relocation, Kaith has found solace in the face that succulents and cacti fare well here in the desert. Her gardens became as abundant with growth as ever, and our territory is filled with all manner of desert plants.

(Personal Note: I am especially thankful for the abundance of aloe, which has helped alleviate the itchiness of sunburn, gembond flareups and the Ridgebacks' spine molting and regrowth.)

Upon visiting the Karabair herd, Kaith was aggrieved to find the entire herd slaughtered and their village destroyed. Though she says she found no trace of her former student, and though she hopes Thais escaped safely, she entered a period of intense grief and regret for their deaths and her inability to do anything to aid them.

Four others have since joined our ranks: Thallium and Antimony, two elusive nocturnes, have become apprentices of Celia and aid her in her work. Khryseis and Khrysos, two admittedly beautiful pearlcatchers, have also become permanent residents. They mostly keep to themselves, and fawn over one another. (I believe they consider themselves better than us!)

With them, our clan has grown to the point of another relocation - we have moved to the Carrion Canyon, where there is more space for us to grow. The land here is less hospitable, and Kaith has had some difficulty maintaining her garden in these arid, infertile grounds. With generous use of fertilizer and Celia's tunneling for water, however, it has proven possible, and her garden is just as lush as ever.

Addendum Regarding our Banishment

On the final day of the Flameforger's Festival, while Celia was away celebrating with several others in the Clan, I am ashamed to admit my curiosity could be contained no more, and I found a way to sneak into her workshop. What I discovered inside was incredible and disturbing – a gigantic machine, the largest I have ever seen. It was a great tube of metal nearly a mile long, which looped back in on itself. There were miles and miles of cables, and sensors and screens that displayed mysterious numbers and symbols. Its purpose I could not figure out, but I suspect that this is the source of the headache-inducing waves of energy emanating from her workshop. There were shelves upon shelves of books on ancient sciences which I would have loved to peruse, but unfortunately, I was discovered by Celia. I am lucky to have escaped alive, and that Kaith was able to stop her from killing me, though her wrath has left me permanently scarred.

How Celia managed to obtain the materials to build this thing, without the knowledge of Kaith, I do not know. How many clans' territories does this monstrosity extend beneath? Does it exude any poison? Is the energy it produces harmful? Fascinating though it was, I later told Kaith of my findings. She was disturbed, and went to ask the Gladekeeper for advice.

Had I known what the outcome would be, I never would have revealed Celia's secret, nor would I have entered her workshop in the first place. The Gladekeeper has deemed us defilers of her forest, and exiled us from the Viridian Labyrinth. The place where Kaith has raised us, nurtured us, and taught us to respect life is no longer our home, and we have been given until our eggs have hatched to pack our belongings and leave.

After the news broke, there was some understandable hostility toward Celia. Kaith has taken the exile with surprising grace, but Amazon and Lyra are devastated by the events of the past few days. Celia was hurt by their anger; her history is riddled with rejection from her peers and every clan she has ever been a part of. On the exterior, she is tough and aggressive, but she is obviously hurting from this new rejection. In a noble show of support for Celia, Kaith has decided to relocate our clan to the Shifting Expanse, Celia's homelands, and rebuild our lives there. Though we are all saddened to have left our home, Celia's engineering abilities have made the Shifting Expanse as comfortable for us as the Viridian Labyrinth.

Celia still refuses to speak to me. I understand completely, but I do wish we could become friendly again. What I wouldn't give to be able to read those ancient texts she keeps!

(Rigel has not written anything past this point. More will be added as he has time to write!)