Echeneis
(#81999363)
Level 1 Undertide
Familiar
Bluefin Charger
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 50/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Water.
Male Undertide
This dragon is an ancient breed.
This dragon is hibernating.
Expand the dragon details section.
Collapse the dragon details section.
Personal Style
Ancient dragons cannot wear apparel.
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
17.14 m
Wingspan
16.42 m
Weight
3795.59 kg
Genetics
Robin
Swirl (Undertide)
Swirl (Undertide)
Cyan
Foam (Undertide)
Foam (Undertide)
White
Sparkle (Undertide)
Sparkle (Undertide)
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Undertide
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
7
AGI
5
DEF
7
QCK
5
INT
5
VIT
9
MND
7
Biography
"I heard," Polaris dryly glanced upward before Annemarie could say anything, and promptly returning to her book.
Harvest blinked. "I thought you would be more excited about the newly-discovered Ancient."
"Oh no, I am excited," Polaris reassured her. "I just don't see the need to bounce off the walls. Also, Aberrations were more exciting. No limbs are an obvious adaptation to underwater life and have a semi-precedent in the form of Banescales; but two heads were thought impossible until Aberrations were discovered. Still, this means-"
"I'm more excited about the thesis I can write, if I can get published again that would be amazing," Anne openly admitted. "Also, I came here because Regina's putting together a team to go there and see the Undertides. Do you want-"
"Technically, my speciality is magic and physics, not biology; if we're going purely by that you're more qualified than me," Polaris paused. "Huh. That's... a rare sentence. I'll go with you to the Seaward Coves, if only because I can calm down arguing dragons."
In Attendance:
REGINA BLAZELIGHT: Alright. We're sending a group of dragons to go and see. First off, Annemarie expressed an interest because... get this... Anne wants to get a thesis on them published before her rivals.
LAUREL PAPAVER: Why am I not surprised?
DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR: To be honest, I would be more surprised if you were.
LP: Fair.
RB: Next, we need Water dragons, so naturally we're sending Primal, Proteus and Anthozoa. No objections there, right?
ANTHOZOA HELIOPORA: No. I will endeavour to protect the rest of the team.
PRIMAL BLUEFIRE: (Scoffs) I'm a seer, I'm pretty sure I can see danger coming from miles away.
PROTEUS PHAROS: Who's fishing in my place?
ORTHOS RHĒGMÍS: Me.
BETELGEUSE HYPÓKIRRHOS: Who's taking care of Gorynich, then? And yes, I told Laurel, she came down to the coves so we might as well make Gorynich a legit Clan member.
RB: (exchanges wary glances with AVA STARLING) ...Gorynich as in the strangely mutated Aberration, right?
LP: Yes. Either way, Thabit and Maggie can take care of them.
MAGNOLIA FLORIS: ...that's fine.
BH: ...fair.
ELIO SHADOWBANE: And who's keeping the Seaward Coves monster-free?
TOJI EVERWINTER: Orthos and the warriors. Treat it as a training session or something.
ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT: (To herself) This serves as a perfect opportunity to expand the Seaward Cove grottos. (Out loud) Oh, that is, with your permission.
ES: I was already planning to do so. My main concern is the logistics - our Clan is not built for dragons with no legs, and forcing them to stay in the grottos are... I don't know if they would be very willing to do so.
POLARIS EVERWINTER: (Yawns) First solution would be to see if they are proficient in creating bubbles of water around themselves so they can swim around within said bubbles. Size shouldn't be a problem, considering that Malus and Antho can easily traverse the tunnels. If water dripping everywhere is the concern, then Annemarie can probably make trinkets that summon said bubbles around them. Or let the trinkets make them hover.
MARIA STARLING: If it's hovering, it has to be Harvest, not her. The bubble should be fine. I hope.
AVA STARLING: ...I was under the impression that she's a Nature dragon.
PE: I thought the surname would give it away, no?
HARVEST ZEPHYRSONG: Nope, Wind dragon, my eye colour is the result of an accident. Same with Maggie, actually. Oh, yeah, Annemarie, congrats on the promotions.
HIKARI CASPIA: So our final team is Annemarie, Primal, Proteus and Anthozoa, yes? In that case, I can ask our resident architects to plan out the expanded grottos and start taking note of what materials we need. Does anyone have any other news?
DJr: That would be perfect. This is related, but the Undertides treat Abyssal Maren as family... if we convince an Undertide to join, we have to accomodate the Maren.
ES: Which would actually bolster our coastal defense, but... we'll leave it to the planners. Any other concerns that need to be raised?
HZ: Are we letting them catch their own seafood?
TE: Actually, yeah, that's a valid question.
ES: They can follow the same system as Proteus - catch their own seafood, give the rest to us, in exchange we give them some of our excess food. We can ask them what they want for accommodation and work from there.
PP: Sounds acceptable.
RB: Great. We could probably even start a kelp farm off the shore or something, that could potentially boost trade.
**: And new ingredients that I won't have to source... actually, scratch that, the quality of the kelp straight from the Tsunami Flats probably can't be beat... sorry, off-topic.
MSe: When are we setting off?
RB: Tomorrow 4am.
PB: Sure. I'll make trinkets that'll let all of you withstand the ocean depths... Anne, if you wear something on your head does it affect Marie?
ASe: Well, Marie's earrings are protective charms and they've been working on me, so... yes?
ES: And no other queries? Very well, we can end here.
"Quick question, how do you swim?" Anthozoa raised a claw and glanced down at her. "Aberrations don't seem the most streamlined."
"Water magic propulsion, which incidentally lets us achieve relatively deep depths - but admittedly we've never been so deep underwater before," Marie admitted. Their tails were no longer intertwining, which meant that the one that Anne was controlling was unconsciously lashing about. "Anyway, shall we?"
"Yep."
The dive, naturally, got harder the further down they got. Anthozoa ended up towing the rest of them because he was simply that big and capable of such feats. The water steadily got darker and darker as he cut through the gloom, and eventually they reached the edge of the Leviathan Trench.
"I... don't remember this area being so lively," Primal finally frowned.
"We grew up in the Tsunami Flats," Marie blinked. "This is entirely new to me, so... Are you taking notes?"
"Obviously."
She could feel Anne rolling her eyes.
"Anyway, those must be the Undertides, right?"
Proteus' comment made all of them look in the direction of a very large banner billowing in the water along with tiny balls of light illuminating the normally dark place. There, a whole congregation of dragons were gathering, from tiny Faes all the way to Imperials larger than Anthozoa, and on the other side seemed to be a couple of winged serpents along with what must be Abyssal Maren. The leaders of the modern dragons (well, the group of "modern" dragons included a few Gaolers, Banescales, Aberrations and Veilspuns, so... non-Undertides) were two Guardians dressed in Tidelord regalia addressing the largest Undertides of the lot.
"...we can just watch, I guess?"
"Sorry for troubling you both," Zia apologised.
Merak shrugged. "Really, it was no trouble. I got a good workout, and we actually accomplished something."
Oh, right. His voice was naturally booming, and the acoustics were... hmm. Fortunately, Zia didn't wince, and instead glanced down at the river bank she was standing on. Oh dear, was that mud on her leg? Oh well, she could clean it later.
"Right... anything else?"
There were none, so everyone just went off to do their own thing.
"Greetings," the light blue (and rather sparkly) Undertide responded. They had a rather strong accent, but was still understandable. The sandy brown Undertide with green eyes and long sail-like fins just nodded along. Curious, Nature was extremely far from here, why...? Oh well. Maybe they were green in this lighting?
"We would... like to go see the world," the brown Undertide enunciated. Well, not unexpected, Marie supposed.
Primal blinked twice. "Well... if you wish... do the rest know?"
Two nods later, Annemarie shrugged, and the group tried to give the Undertides an explanation of what the Clan was like... or rather, the Seaward Coves sub-Clan was like. It was slightly difficult, given that they had to first explain what the Beacon and Lanternlea Port were like, but hopefully they managed to get it across.
And then the energetic blue Undertide (whose name was apparently Echeneis) started asking about why Annemarie had two heads, and that led to a whole other discussion about Aberrations.
"...maybe you should go rendezvous with the surface first," Primal finally said to Proteus while the brown Undertide (named Basilisk) was animatedly chatting to Anne about the difference between swimming and flying (the consensus was that swimming relied on buoyancy and was only necessary for propulsion, but flying relied on forward motion to provide lift and keep dragons aloft, so forward motion was required to not fall down and go splat.
"Agreed," Proteus sighed, and promptly zipped back up.
Obviously, he had anticipated rapid changes in depth and pressure, so he could adjust accordingly. He had not anticipated Ava of all dragons standing on the edge of one of the docks in Flotsam Town, nor was he expecting her to announce (rather reluctantly, he had noted) that since she was the fastest dragon in the Clan she had been relegated to messenger duty.
By the time he had finished updating her, Anthozoa's head had popped out of the water, followed by the rest. Ava eyed them with a critical eye, gave the group a perfunctory nod, and asked, "So I can tell them to expect two?"
"Yes, and if Reg and Polaris and/or Elio could meet them personally that would be nice."
"I see. Stand back."
"...sorry?" Echeneis blinked, but promptly took the cue from Anthozoa.
Ava's wings promptly swept wide right after everyone swam at least 30 meters away from the docks, and she hammered them down with about 10-metre wings of air and her instant updraft technique augmenting her own wingspan. The sheer amount of air she moved in that instant sent her climbing upwards at supersonic speed, shooting up and puncturing a hole in the overcast clouds in moments.
"Ow," Anne winced as she barely threw up a shield made of water waves; the overpressure caused it to collapse in her direction. Already, small but high-powered swells were radiating outwards, and she had the sinking feeling that they would become tsunamis once they hit land. Yikes.
"Showoff," Anthozoa muttered under his breath, completely not appreciating the water that had just slapped his face.
"Nah, I'd say she's earned it, I remember when she was still trying and failing to nail down the technique," Primal shrugged. "Can we take off in a more... normal manner?"
"...how do we do that?" Basilisk finally asked.
Huh. Good question.
"This... might a problem," Proteus finally commented as he spotted Tuuli faltering. "Actually... y'know what? I'll show them the secondary runway."
The secondary runway was apparently doing a Split S and being almost level with the calm sea, then entering the extremely spacious cavern entrance and landing with a splash in the ten-metre-deep water.
"You have seaweed on your wings," Polaris observed from where she had actually set up a beach chair made of ice on the anti-slip mats on the side of the landing area. And yes, she was actually lying down on it like this was a normal day at the beach. "Clear the runway, next dragon incoming."
"How are you still dry?" Proteus did as asked.
That question was answered when Basilisk landed and shed most of her speed. The water immediately splashed in Polaris' direction, but it instantly turned powder snow which landed harmlessly on the ground. She didn't even look like she had exerted any energy in doing so (nor had she looked in that direction). Then again, she was an Archmage.
Basilisk promptly turned her head in surprise at the complete non-reaction of this Skydancer.
"Modified shield spell, any water that comes into contact with the sphere turns into snow, muck disintegrates, and normal air - and dragons - can pass through," was Polaris' almost bored response as she turned the page on the book she was reading. "Decided to fiddle around with the equations this morning because I was bored. Obviously, it still needs improvement, but at least I got the bit where it'll just slide off the sphere down pat. I'll see if I can improve it so that magic air currents get blocked so I can spar Ava on more equal footing. I could take inspiration from the Sweet fight, but she already knows what to expect. Maybe I should just summon a blizzard and freeze her wings and limbs?"
"I heard she was working on a hot air spell with a massive AoE to counter that, so maybe not," Anne offered as her wings flared wide to act as air brakes and she landed with a controlled stall next to Polaris, because she was small enough to do so. "Can't you make the condensation she leaves behind sharpen into ice knives or something?"
"As a diversion, yes," Polaris' voice took on a thoughtful tone. "My main problem is her outflying the knives... do you think she'd appreciate a massive block of ice forming above her head the instant she tries to take off?"
"I think Spindrift would be less appreciative of it since it would most likely result in a concussion and an unconscious Ava," Marie pointed out. "Still, go for it if you think it's effective. How would you get rid of the ice, though?"
"Easy, turn it to extremely cold water vapour or mist, and then even if she gets through it, the ice will collapse and I can just freeze her wings with rime."
"Normally I would complain about the sheer amount of magical energy you would need to carry that out, but you're-"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't dare expend so much on it, I cheat by making Ice XVIII. Denser than normal ice, naturally conducts electricity, and only exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures so Ava would definitely not have encountered it before. The difficult part is forming it but given my skillset and the fact that it's only supposed to last long enough for Ava to hit her head on it, artificially creating such conditions wouldn't be too hard..."
"Should I be worried about how easy she's making it sound?" Proteus loud-whispered to Anne.
"You should be worried about how much she's thought it through," Marie loud-whispered back. "I'm pretty sure I saw an old thesis of hers that she wrote when she was still a Master about artificially creating a modified solution of concentrated ice magic without using alchemy; when one drop of it was poured into the Academia's lake by accident the entire lake froze. Principal Ahephyx was furious both because the combined efforts of Archmage Rancollo Lavala and his Fire mages couldn't do anything, and she basically got one-upped since her specialty is alchemy and transmutation. She... did get vindicated when her alchemically-created essence of pure fire magic managed to unfreeze the lake, but apaprently Polaris was 'punished' by organising ice-skating competitions and being in charge of the Crystalline Gala preparations. I'm fairly sure she improved upon the solution in her spare time because I saw a bottle of it in her room, so yeah- hi Antho."
Anthozoa landed with the largest splash yet, and as promised the modified shield spell worked wonders in turning the small wave into dazzling crystalline snowflakes that lazily fell around her. This time, though, the circle around the chair was clearly visible.
"Minor correction, it's a hemisphere, I sank half of it into the ground then decided that I didn't need to shield the underground section."
The best part was that she was still reading and hadn't even looked up yet.
There was another splash, and Echeneis landed in the water before swimming over to join Basilisk. Apparently Primal took this as a cue to land as well.
"Polaris."
"Primal."
With that, Polaris got off her beach chair with a hop, and it promptly disintegrated into snowflakes. "Harvest took the liberty of creating trinkets that will allow you to hover, so that the lack of water won't be an issue. It should be spacious enough for you to move about. Here..."
In Attendance:
REGINA BLAZELIGHT: Well, that went well.
POLARIS EVERWINTER: I would tell you to not jinx it, but it already happened, so...
RB: Hmm. Also, on a private note, could you show me the notes for the modified spells you came up with this morning?
LAUREL PAPAVER: Me too, I would like to see if I can create a lightning version.
PE: I already locked up the library, it's like 10pm. I'll show them to you tomorrow, Sōkō wants to see them too so it's fine. Also, Annemarie looks rather determined to finish her report with conclusive results before her rivals can send in their theses, so... I may have to give feedback for her.
RB: Sure.
ELIO SHADOWBANE: Overall, a good first meeting with them - and they're curious about the world, which means an easier time communicating. We might not even have to use the grottos as their living space - we can just dig out an area in the main Clan, have Polaris turn that area into a mini Tsunami Flats, link to the Seaward Coves, and that way they'll be happy.
PE: That's Annemarie's expertise, not mine, but she's guiding them around so you'll have to get her to inform them later.
LP: I assume that the standard protocol is for all Lightning dragons to stay away?
ES: No, actually, you should interact with them. They're not covered in water, it should be safe.
ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT: So I assume they'll be interacting with the others, right?
LP: Most likely a few at a time, depending on schedules. Also, keep them away from Helleborus.
HIKARI CASPIA: You know Helleborus will find them either way, right?
LP: Is "not having a repeat of the Helleborus vs Delonix fight" too much to ask for?
RB: ...fair.
PE: Honestly, I'm more interested in what magic they can use, but that'll have to wait until either a paper gets published or the Undertides are free. Maybe both.
MAGNOLIA FLORIS: Is there anything urgent we need to discuss? I need to go babysit Gorynich.
HIKARI CASPIA: Nothing too urgent on the agenda, no.
(MAGNOLIA FLORIS leaves the room)
HC: Okay, now that she's left we can discuss the actual matter at hand.
DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR: Oh, good. Room's secured. So, the new Undertides. Are we assuming that they're diplomats, permanent Clan members, or...?
ZIA: And we can't ask them directly because...?
(Pause)
ZIA: All of you are too paranoid.
ES: Consider it an exercise in information gathering.
RB: We... could probably treat them like the Aberrations, honestly.
PE: One of the rare few moments I wish Ava was here... oh well, I could get theses from my fellow Archmages, there's the one Annemarie's writing, and... oh.
LP: What are you looking at me for?
PE: Hikari, do we have the resources to host an intra-Clan tournament? Fastest way to find out combat abilities, so we know how they can coordinate with Proteus, what they're capable of, their usual MO, and stuff like that.
LP: Also, you're basically trying to get a chance to beat up Ava consequence-free, aren't you?
PE: Well... I wouldn't say consequence-free... and I do want to test out some theories on magic I have...
RB: She didn't deny that she wanted to beat up Ava... I just hope that this doesn't get leaked to her...
HC: She doesn't have the key word this is under, don't worry. Also, Polaris, you do know Ava's a glass cannon, right?
PE: Nah, she can take a few beatings. Anyway, I know the majority will be happy with the tournament, so... yeah.
ZIA: And here I thought that our main priority would be to focus on Dusk's imminent threat...
HC: (Sigh) Bread and circuses, Zia, bread and circuses...
ES: I... it's not that drastic; technically, we are preparing. We're bolstering our Clan's combat capabilities by having everyone hone their fighting skills. On that note, approved.
LP: I'll participate as a combatant, Merak can commentate, I for one want a rematch against Sweet.
PE: See? Bloodthirsty.
LP: (Sputters)
ES: Alright, we can end here, Hikari can organise the tournament.
...
That was... scarily fast. I'll forward to Ahephyx.
Polaris
As it turns out, you and another group submitted at the same time. Fortunately, yours was more on their social habits, theirs was on biology (did you know that their frills are venomous?) so I asked Ahephyx and it should be fine.
Before you ask, no, I cannot block the other paper. 1, the ERB would probably vivisect me; 2, the other group has Archmage Phorcys Thalássēs backing them (and honestly I'm not surprised, the old Guardian has always been a- sorry, not the time or place to complain). Still, congrats, you're getting published.
Laurel blinked at the sudden cheers emanating from Annemarie's room, then ignored it in favour of talking to the Undertides.
Polaris
Harvest blinked. "I thought you would be more excited about the newly-discovered Ancient."
"Oh no, I am excited," Polaris reassured her. "I just don't see the need to bounce off the walls. Also, Aberrations were more exciting. No limbs are an obvious adaptation to underwater life and have a semi-precedent in the form of Banescales; but two heads were thought impossible until Aberrations were discovered. Still, this means-"
"I'm more excited about the thesis I can write, if I can get published again that would be amazing," Anne openly admitted. "Also, I came here because Regina's putting together a team to go there and see the Undertides. Do you want-"
"Technically, my speciality is magic and physics, not biology; if we're going purely by that you're more qualified than me," Polaris paused. "Huh. That's... a rare sentence. I'll go with you to the Seaward Coves, if only because I can calm down arguing dragons."
---
SECRET
ZENITH'S LIGHT MEETING - TRANSCRIPT
Date of Meeting: 30 Riot, 4e 40294ZENITH'S LIGHT MEETING - TRANSCRIPT
In Attendance:
- ANNE SEYMOUR, MAGISTER (ASe)
- ANTHOZOA HELIOPORA, WARRIOR (AH)
- AVA STARLING, "MINTAKA" / DELTA SYNDICATE BOSS (AS)
- BETELGEUSE HYPÓKIRRHOS (BH)
- DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR, PRINCESS ROYAL (DJr)
- ELIO BLAZELIGHT SHADOWBANE, HMTK (ES)
- HARVEST ZEPHYRSONG, MAGUS (HZ)
- HIKARI CASPIA, SECRETARY / TRANSCRIBER (HC)
- LAUREL PAPAVER, CHIEF JUSTICE (LP)
- MAGNOLIA FLORIS, "CAPELLA" (**)
- MARIA STARLING, "PROCYON" (MS)
- MARIE SEYMOUR, MAGISTER (MSe)
- ORTHOS RHĒGMÍS, SEAWARD COVES LIFEGUARD (OR)
- POLARIS EVERWINTER, ARCHMAGE (PE)
- PRIMAL BLUEFIRE, SEER (PB)
- PROTEUS PHAROS, SEAWARD COVES GUARD (PP)
- REGINA BLAZELIGHT, ETERNAL STAR OBSERVATORY CO-DIRECTOR (RB)
- TOJI EVERWINTER, POLARIS' SECRETARY (TE)
- ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT, DUCHESS (ZIA)
REGINA BLAZELIGHT: Alright. We're sending a group of dragons to go and see. First off, Annemarie expressed an interest because... get this... Anne wants to get a thesis on them published before her rivals.
LAUREL PAPAVER: Why am I not surprised?
DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR: To be honest, I would be more surprised if you were.
LP: Fair.
RB: Next, we need Water dragons, so naturally we're sending Primal, Proteus and Anthozoa. No objections there, right?
ANTHOZOA HELIOPORA: No. I will endeavour to protect the rest of the team.
PRIMAL BLUEFIRE: (Scoffs) I'm a seer, I'm pretty sure I can see danger coming from miles away.
PROTEUS PHAROS: Who's fishing in my place?
ORTHOS RHĒGMÍS: Me.
BETELGEUSE HYPÓKIRRHOS: Who's taking care of Gorynich, then? And yes, I told Laurel, she came down to the coves so we might as well make Gorynich a legit Clan member.
RB: (exchanges wary glances with AVA STARLING) ...Gorynich as in the strangely mutated Aberration, right?
LP: Yes. Either way, Thabit and Maggie can take care of them.
MAGNOLIA FLORIS: ...that's fine.
BH: ...fair.
ELIO SHADOWBANE: And who's keeping the Seaward Coves monster-free?
TOJI EVERWINTER: Orthos and the warriors. Treat it as a training session or something.
ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT: (To herself) This serves as a perfect opportunity to expand the Seaward Cove grottos. (Out loud) Oh, that is, with your permission.
ES: I was already planning to do so. My main concern is the logistics - our Clan is not built for dragons with no legs, and forcing them to stay in the grottos are... I don't know if they would be very willing to do so.
POLARIS EVERWINTER: (Yawns) First solution would be to see if they are proficient in creating bubbles of water around themselves so they can swim around within said bubbles. Size shouldn't be a problem, considering that Malus and Antho can easily traverse the tunnels. If water dripping everywhere is the concern, then Annemarie can probably make trinkets that summon said bubbles around them. Or let the trinkets make them hover.
MARIA STARLING: If it's hovering, it has to be Harvest, not her. The bubble should be fine. I hope.
AVA STARLING: ...I was under the impression that she's a Nature dragon.
PE: I thought the surname would give it away, no?
HARVEST ZEPHYRSONG: Nope, Wind dragon, my eye colour is the result of an accident. Same with Maggie, actually. Oh, yeah, Annemarie, congrats on the promotions.
HIKARI CASPIA: So our final team is Annemarie, Primal, Proteus and Anthozoa, yes? In that case, I can ask our resident architects to plan out the expanded grottos and start taking note of what materials we need. Does anyone have any other news?
DJr: That would be perfect. This is related, but the Undertides treat Abyssal Maren as family... if we convince an Undertide to join, we have to accomodate the Maren.
ES: Which would actually bolster our coastal defense, but... we'll leave it to the planners. Any other concerns that need to be raised?
HZ: Are we letting them catch their own seafood?
TE: Actually, yeah, that's a valid question.
ES: They can follow the same system as Proteus - catch their own seafood, give the rest to us, in exchange we give them some of our excess food. We can ask them what they want for accommodation and work from there.
PP: Sounds acceptable.
RB: Great. We could probably even start a kelp farm off the shore or something, that could potentially boost trade.
**: And new ingredients that I won't have to source... actually, scratch that, the quality of the kelp straight from the Tsunami Flats probably can't be beat... sorry, off-topic.
MSe: When are we setting off?
RB: Tomorrow 4am.
PB: Sure. I'll make trinkets that'll let all of you withstand the ocean depths... Anne, if you wear something on your head does it affect Marie?
ASe: Well, Marie's earrings are protective charms and they've been working on me, so... yes?
ES: And no other queries? Very well, we can end here.
---
"Well, we're here," Anne commented as the salty breeze tousled her mane. As a side effect, Marie looked slightly annoyed because she had tried keeping it down."Quick question, how do you swim?" Anthozoa raised a claw and glanced down at her. "Aberrations don't seem the most streamlined."
"Water magic propulsion, which incidentally lets us achieve relatively deep depths - but admittedly we've never been so deep underwater before," Marie admitted. Their tails were no longer intertwining, which meant that the one that Anne was controlling was unconsciously lashing about. "Anyway, shall we?"
"Yep."
The dive, naturally, got harder the further down they got. Anthozoa ended up towing the rest of them because he was simply that big and capable of such feats. The water steadily got darker and darker as he cut through the gloom, and eventually they reached the edge of the Leviathan Trench.
"I... don't remember this area being so lively," Primal finally frowned.
"We grew up in the Tsunami Flats," Marie blinked. "This is entirely new to me, so... Are you taking notes?"
"Obviously."
She could feel Anne rolling her eyes.
"Anyway, those must be the Undertides, right?"
Proteus' comment made all of them look in the direction of a very large banner billowing in the water along with tiny balls of light illuminating the normally dark place. There, a whole congregation of dragons were gathering, from tiny Faes all the way to Imperials larger than Anthozoa, and on the other side seemed to be a couple of winged serpents along with what must be Abyssal Maren. The leaders of the modern dragons (well, the group of "modern" dragons included a few Gaolers, Banescales, Aberrations and Veilspuns, so... non-Undertides) were two Guardians dressed in Tidelord regalia addressing the largest Undertides of the lot.
"...we can just watch, I guess?"
---
"We can potentially host a few Undertides here," Melo gestured to the large grotto and watched as Zia hummed in approval. Well, the non-underwater part was about twice Melo's size (and Melo wasn't tiny), while Merak had actually managed to submerge himself completely in the underground river bit before walking around (though he had had to come up for air), so it would probably be large enough to fit. It was also near Proteus' and right next to Anthozoa's room, and the large underwater tunnel led to the main area so it was convenient."Sorry for troubling you both," Zia apologised.
Merak shrugged. "Really, it was no trouble. I got a good workout, and we actually accomplished something."
Oh, right. His voice was naturally booming, and the acoustics were... hmm. Fortunately, Zia didn't wince, and instead glanced down at the river bank she was standing on. Oh dear, was that mud on her leg? Oh well, she could clean it later.
"Right... anything else?"
There were none, so everyone just went off to do their own thing.
---
"...hi," Anthozoa finally greeted the two Undertides looking curiously at them. The negotiations had ended a while ago, and so both groups of dragons had just kinda... mingled."Greetings," the light blue (and rather sparkly) Undertide responded. They had a rather strong accent, but was still understandable. The sandy brown Undertide with green eyes and long sail-like fins just nodded along. Curious, Nature was extremely far from here, why...? Oh well. Maybe they were green in this lighting?
"We would... like to go see the world," the brown Undertide enunciated. Well, not unexpected, Marie supposed.
Primal blinked twice. "Well... if you wish... do the rest know?"
Two nods later, Annemarie shrugged, and the group tried to give the Undertides an explanation of what the Clan was like... or rather, the Seaward Coves sub-Clan was like. It was slightly difficult, given that they had to first explain what the Beacon and Lanternlea Port were like, but hopefully they managed to get it across.
And then the energetic blue Undertide (whose name was apparently Echeneis) started asking about why Annemarie had two heads, and that led to a whole other discussion about Aberrations.
"...maybe you should go rendezvous with the surface first," Primal finally said to Proteus while the brown Undertide (named Basilisk) was animatedly chatting to Anne about the difference between swimming and flying (the consensus was that swimming relied on buoyancy and was only necessary for propulsion, but flying relied on forward motion to provide lift and keep dragons aloft, so forward motion was required to not fall down and go splat.
"Agreed," Proteus sighed, and promptly zipped back up.
Obviously, he had anticipated rapid changes in depth and pressure, so he could adjust accordingly. He had not anticipated Ava of all dragons standing on the edge of one of the docks in Flotsam Town, nor was he expecting her to announce (rather reluctantly, he had noted) that since she was the fastest dragon in the Clan she had been relegated to messenger duty.
By the time he had finished updating her, Anthozoa's head had popped out of the water, followed by the rest. Ava eyed them with a critical eye, gave the group a perfunctory nod, and asked, "So I can tell them to expect two?"
"Yes, and if Reg and Polaris and/or Elio could meet them personally that would be nice."
"I see. Stand back."
"...sorry?" Echeneis blinked, but promptly took the cue from Anthozoa.
Ava's wings promptly swept wide right after everyone swam at least 30 meters away from the docks, and she hammered them down with about 10-metre wings of air and her instant updraft technique augmenting her own wingspan. The sheer amount of air she moved in that instant sent her climbing upwards at supersonic speed, shooting up and puncturing a hole in the overcast clouds in moments.
"Ow," Anne winced as she barely threw up a shield made of water waves; the overpressure caused it to collapse in her direction. Already, small but high-powered swells were radiating outwards, and she had the sinking feeling that they would become tsunamis once they hit land. Yikes.
"Showoff," Anthozoa muttered under his breath, completely not appreciating the water that had just slapped his face.
"Nah, I'd say she's earned it, I remember when she was still trying and failing to nail down the technique," Primal shrugged. "Can we take off in a more... normal manner?"
"...how do we do that?" Basilisk finally asked.
Huh. Good question.
---
One hour later, they had managed to attempt a kind of gliding flight, so Anthozoa decided that he would be the one to lead the v-shaped formation. That had lead to a discussion on upwash and wingtip vortexes on Anne's part and a guide on how to fly that way, so... they tried. Anthozoa took a running start off the docks and the rest followed suit. Primal pointed out landmarks for the Undertides' sake while on the way there, and eventually they reached the runway of Zenith's Light."This... might a problem," Proteus finally commented as he spotted Tuuli faltering. "Actually... y'know what? I'll show them the secondary runway."
The secondary runway was apparently doing a Split S and being almost level with the calm sea, then entering the extremely spacious cavern entrance and landing with a splash in the ten-metre-deep water.
"You have seaweed on your wings," Polaris observed from where she had actually set up a beach chair made of ice on the anti-slip mats on the side of the landing area. And yes, she was actually lying down on it like this was a normal day at the beach. "Clear the runway, next dragon incoming."
"How are you still dry?" Proteus did as asked.
That question was answered when Basilisk landed and shed most of her speed. The water immediately splashed in Polaris' direction, but it instantly turned powder snow which landed harmlessly on the ground. She didn't even look like she had exerted any energy in doing so (nor had she looked in that direction). Then again, she was an Archmage.
Basilisk promptly turned her head in surprise at the complete non-reaction of this Skydancer.
"Modified shield spell, any water that comes into contact with the sphere turns into snow, muck disintegrates, and normal air - and dragons - can pass through," was Polaris' almost bored response as she turned the page on the book she was reading. "Decided to fiddle around with the equations this morning because I was bored. Obviously, it still needs improvement, but at least I got the bit where it'll just slide off the sphere down pat. I'll see if I can improve it so that magic air currents get blocked so I can spar Ava on more equal footing. I could take inspiration from the Sweet fight, but she already knows what to expect. Maybe I should just summon a blizzard and freeze her wings and limbs?"
"I heard she was working on a hot air spell with a massive AoE to counter that, so maybe not," Anne offered as her wings flared wide to act as air brakes and she landed with a controlled stall next to Polaris, because she was small enough to do so. "Can't you make the condensation she leaves behind sharpen into ice knives or something?"
"As a diversion, yes," Polaris' voice took on a thoughtful tone. "My main problem is her outflying the knives... do you think she'd appreciate a massive block of ice forming above her head the instant she tries to take off?"
"I think Spindrift would be less appreciative of it since it would most likely result in a concussion and an unconscious Ava," Marie pointed out. "Still, go for it if you think it's effective. How would you get rid of the ice, though?"
"Easy, turn it to extremely cold water vapour or mist, and then even if she gets through it, the ice will collapse and I can just freeze her wings with rime."
"Normally I would complain about the sheer amount of magical energy you would need to carry that out, but you're-"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't dare expend so much on it, I cheat by making Ice XVIII. Denser than normal ice, naturally conducts electricity, and only exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures so Ava would definitely not have encountered it before. The difficult part is forming it but given my skillset and the fact that it's only supposed to last long enough for Ava to hit her head on it, artificially creating such conditions wouldn't be too hard..."
"Should I be worried about how easy she's making it sound?" Proteus loud-whispered to Anne.
"You should be worried about how much she's thought it through," Marie loud-whispered back. "I'm pretty sure I saw an old thesis of hers that she wrote when she was still a Master about artificially creating a modified solution of concentrated ice magic without using alchemy; when one drop of it was poured into the Academia's lake by accident the entire lake froze. Principal Ahephyx was furious both because the combined efforts of Archmage Rancollo Lavala and his Fire mages couldn't do anything, and she basically got one-upped since her specialty is alchemy and transmutation. She... did get vindicated when her alchemically-created essence of pure fire magic managed to unfreeze the lake, but apaprently Polaris was 'punished' by organising ice-skating competitions and being in charge of the Crystalline Gala preparations. I'm fairly sure she improved upon the solution in her spare time because I saw a bottle of it in her room, so yeah- hi Antho."
Anthozoa landed with the largest splash yet, and as promised the modified shield spell worked wonders in turning the small wave into dazzling crystalline snowflakes that lazily fell around her. This time, though, the circle around the chair was clearly visible.
"Minor correction, it's a hemisphere, I sank half of it into the ground then decided that I didn't need to shield the underground section."
The best part was that she was still reading and hadn't even looked up yet.
There was another splash, and Echeneis landed in the water before swimming over to join Basilisk. Apparently Primal took this as a cue to land as well.
"Polaris."
"Primal."
With that, Polaris got off her beach chair with a hop, and it promptly disintegrated into snowflakes. "Harvest took the liberty of creating trinkets that will allow you to hover, so that the lack of water won't be an issue. It should be spacious enough for you to move about. Here..."
---
TOP SECRET
ZENITH'S LIGHT MEETING - TRANSCRIPT
Date of Meeting: 31 Riot, 4e 40294ZENITH'S LIGHT MEETING - TRANSCRIPT
In Attendance:
- DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR, PRINCESS ROYAL (DJr)
- ELIO BLAZELIGHT SHADOWBANE, HMTK (ES)
- HIKARI CASPIA, SECRETARY / TRANSCRIBER (HC)
- LAUREL PAPAVER, CHIEF JUSTICE (LP)
- MAGNOLIA FLORIS, "CAPELLA" (**)
- POLARIS EVERWINTER, ARCHMAGE (PE)
- REGINA BLAZELIGHT, ETERNAL STAR OBSERVATORY CO-DIRECTOR (RB)
- ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT, DUCHESS (ZIA)
REGINA BLAZELIGHT: Well, that went well.
POLARIS EVERWINTER: I would tell you to not jinx it, but it already happened, so...
RB: Hmm. Also, on a private note, could you show me the notes for the modified spells you came up with this morning?
LAUREL PAPAVER: Me too, I would like to see if I can create a lightning version.
PE: I already locked up the library, it's like 10pm. I'll show them to you tomorrow, Sōkō wants to see them too so it's fine. Also, Annemarie looks rather determined to finish her report with conclusive results before her rivals can send in their theses, so... I may have to give feedback for her.
RB: Sure.
ELIO SHADOWBANE: Overall, a good first meeting with them - and they're curious about the world, which means an easier time communicating. We might not even have to use the grottos as their living space - we can just dig out an area in the main Clan, have Polaris turn that area into a mini Tsunami Flats, link to the Seaward Coves, and that way they'll be happy.
PE: That's Annemarie's expertise, not mine, but she's guiding them around so you'll have to get her to inform them later.
LP: I assume that the standard protocol is for all Lightning dragons to stay away?
ES: No, actually, you should interact with them. They're not covered in water, it should be safe.
ZIA SUMMERSHALL BLAZELIGHT: So I assume they'll be interacting with the others, right?
LP: Most likely a few at a time, depending on schedules. Also, keep them away from Helleborus.
HIKARI CASPIA: You know Helleborus will find them either way, right?
LP: Is "not having a repeat of the Helleborus vs Delonix fight" too much to ask for?
RB: ...fair.
PE: Honestly, I'm more interested in what magic they can use, but that'll have to wait until either a paper gets published or the Undertides are free. Maybe both.
MAGNOLIA FLORIS: Is there anything urgent we need to discuss? I need to go babysit Gorynich.
HIKARI CASPIA: Nothing too urgent on the agenda, no.
(MAGNOLIA FLORIS leaves the room)
HC: Okay, now that she's left we can discuss the actual matter at hand.
DAWN BLAZELIGHT JR: Oh, good. Room's secured. So, the new Undertides. Are we assuming that they're diplomats, permanent Clan members, or...?
ZIA: And we can't ask them directly because...?
(Pause)
ZIA: All of you are too paranoid.
ES: Consider it an exercise in information gathering.
RB: We... could probably treat them like the Aberrations, honestly.
PE: One of the rare few moments I wish Ava was here... oh well, I could get theses from my fellow Archmages, there's the one Annemarie's writing, and... oh.
LP: What are you looking at me for?
PE: Hikari, do we have the resources to host an intra-Clan tournament? Fastest way to find out combat abilities, so we know how they can coordinate with Proteus, what they're capable of, their usual MO, and stuff like that.
LP: Also, you're basically trying to get a chance to beat up Ava consequence-free, aren't you?
PE: Well... I wouldn't say consequence-free... and I do want to test out some theories on magic I have...
RB: She didn't deny that she wanted to beat up Ava... I just hope that this doesn't get leaked to her...
HC: She doesn't have the key word this is under, don't worry. Also, Polaris, you do know Ava's a glass cannon, right?
PE: Nah, she can take a few beatings. Anyway, I know the majority will be happy with the tournament, so... yeah.
ZIA: And here I thought that our main priority would be to focus on Dusk's imminent threat...
HC: (Sigh) Bread and circuses, Zia, bread and circuses...
ES: I... it's not that drastic; technically, we are preparing. We're bolstering our Clan's combat capabilities by having everyone hone their fighting skills. On that note, approved.
LP: I'll participate as a combatant, Merak can commentate, I for one want a rematch against Sweet.
PE: See? Bloodthirsty.
LP: (Sputters)
ES: Alright, we can end here, Hikari can organise the tournament.
---
OFFICIAL (CLOSED)
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON UNDERTIDES
BY: ANNE SEYMOUR (MAGISTER), HARVEST ZEPHYRSONG (MAGUS), AND MARIE SEYMOUR (MAGISTER)
000
MENTOR: POLARIS EVERWINTER (ARCHMAGE)
000
PUBLISHED: N/A
0
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON UNDERTIDES
BY: ANNE SEYMOUR (MAGISTER), HARVEST ZEPHYRSONG (MAGUS), AND MARIE SEYMOUR (MAGISTER)
000
MENTOR: POLARIS EVERWINTER (ARCHMAGE)
000
PUBLISHED: N/A
DISCLAIMER
All studies were conducted ethically. (A certain green Skydancer would quite literally have killed us otherwise.) In addition, the Undertides have just revealed themselves, so there is no guarantee that all the information is correct.
ABSTRACT
We......
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Archmage Polaris Everwinter for her guidance during this project. We thank the Undertides Echeneis and Basilisk for willingly sharing details of themselves and participating in tests...
---
Annemarie & Harvest,That was... scarily fast. I'll forward to Ahephyx.
Polaris
---
Annemarie & Harvest,As it turns out, you and another group submitted at the same time. Fortunately, yours was more on their social habits, theirs was on biology (did you know that their frills are venomous?) so I asked Ahephyx and it should be fine.
Before you ask, no, I cannot block the other paper. 1, the ERB would probably vivisect me; 2, the other group has Archmage Phorcys Thalássēs backing them (and honestly I'm not surprised, the old Guardian has always been a- sorry, not the time or place to complain). Still, congrats, you're getting published.
---
"YES!"Laurel blinked at the sudden cheers emanating from Annemarie's room, then ignored it in favour of talking to the Undertides.
---
Anyway, the important bit is that Phorcys contacted me. He's sending us an Undertide egg from the Water-Shadow border and an Undertide egg from nearer the Southern Icefield for study as a "show of goodwill", in exchange I-
---
"She... promised to send him the relevant data on the eggs when they hatch, and to not ice him to the spot when she sees him next," Harvest read aloud as she watched Sōkō and Annemarie snicker. "Moving on..."
---
-I'm still in the Academia, I'm hand-carrying the eggs back because they're fragile. Naming dibs can be decided later. Inform Regina for me, will you? Thanks.Polaris
1 | 2
Click or tap a food type to individually feed this dragon only. The other dragons in your lair will not have their energy replenished.
This dragon doesn't eat Insects.
This dragon doesn't eat Meat.
Feed this dragon Seafood.
Feed this dragon Plants.
You can share this dragon on the forums by either copying the browser URL manually, or using bbcode!
Exalting Echeneis to the service of the Lightweaver will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.
Do you wish to continue?
- Names must be longer than 2 characters.
- Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
- Names can only contain letters.
- Names must be no longer than 16 characters.
- Names can only contain letters.