Loblolly

Other planets. Other dimensions. These places could hide anything. These places could hide anyone. And there's only one group of dragons with the courage and expertise necessary to brave other planes and meet these alien beings: the crew of the Riftrunner, under the command of Captain Loblolly. Their mission is to be the first dragons to contact people from outside Sornieth, bringing a message of peace and cooperation. To make sure that message gets across, Loblolly's friendly face will be the first look at a dragon these aliens see. She's worked really hard on it! Loblolly has studied alongside many different beastclan and dragon species, and come up with the most universally friendly expression possible. First contact is going to go so well!

But Loblolly got her position as the Riftrunner's captain for more reasons than just her friendly face. (Though that was certainly the most important one.) She has quite the knack for learning languages, for one thing. Loblolly speaks the most common languages of every flight, along with a number of beastclan languages. She also understands a few different sign languages, coatl humming, fae crests, and the coded messages hidden by the Arcanist in the stars. So however life in other planes communicates, Loblolly knows she'll be the first one to learn how to speak back. She's been practising her minor spellcasting to make sure that's the case. If they communicate via light or smell, she'll be able to simulate that via magic. The colourful light spells are particularly fun — although more distracting to her crewmates than she would have expected. Quant's walked headfirst into a wall on multiple occasions because he was watching her practice magic. (Not that he needs to be distracted to do that.)

It's not enough to simply make friends with aliens, however. You have to — ha, just kidding! That's all Loblolly cares about. Sure, she's supposed to be a diplomat, going through all sorts of protocols and formalities to make a good first impression for dragonkind. But she's just here to meet some cool aliens and learn all about them. Maybe write a report or two about their society for the dragons back home — can't make them jealous without letting them know all about what they're missing, after all.

As the captain, Loblolly doesn't have to do any actual work that goes into maintaining the Riftrunner. She's got a crew for that. However, that hasn't stopped her from feeling like she should contribute more, even if just to be a good role model from everyone else. Unfortunately, she doesn't know anything about engineering, or dimensional magic research, or even how to care for Lotorc's plants. And as they haven't actually done any exploring yet, Loblolly's felt somewhat useless. She helps the rest of the crew with their projects when she can, but there's only so many minor errands she can run before she's bored out of her mind. So, reluctantly, she's returned to her old training regimes.

Before Loblolly found her true calling in learning about other cultures, she was an apprentice battlemage. With a real knack for making things explode (even more than the average arcane dragon), she was given special training as a hatchling to refine those magical skills. Not for combat purposes, but for not-exploding-herself purposes. That training eventually became battle training over the years, and soon Loblolly was looking at a life as high-ranking member of the Arcanist's exalted warrior-scholars. But that's not what Loblolly wanted. Exalts are intimidating. And they don't have any friends! They're the exact kind of dragons that Loblolly didn't want to be. She had focused on the supportive combat magic in an attempt to make friends among the other warriors in training — strengthening claw slashes, reinforcing scales to withstand magical assaults, that sort of thing — but it never worked. She's not very good at that kind of magic, so the dragons she was trying to help mostly got annoyed that her spells weren't giving them as much power as they desired. That's why Loblolly abandoned her training, instead choosing to go looking for friends all across Sornieth.

But some of the things Kirko says are true. There might be dangerous things out there in other planes. Things that have no concept of friendship. To protect her crew, Loblolly knows that she will need to be able to fight. So she's returned to the spells she once forsook. Gravity strong enough to crush bones. Maelstroms of arcane energy that warp and tear their way through space and anything unlucky enough to be in their way. And her most powerful spell, a rain of crystal meteors that leaves nothing but irradiated craters as far as she can see. However, as useful as these skills might be to the crew, Loblolly trains in secret. She doesn't want to let anyone know she has that much power. Then they might be scared of her. And then they won't want to be her friend! That would be absolutely devastating.

Sadly, all the work Loblolly's put into her friendly face might go to waste if her crew scares off the aliens before she can befriend them. And if anyone's going to do that, it's Cyrus. He simply doesn't care about anything outside of his research. If Loblolly doesn't watch him carefully, he'll do something horribly insulting to cultures from other worlds in his quest for knowledge. Or worse, he'll start experimenting on the aliens! The Riftrunner is supposed to be on a journey of peace and cooperation, which does not involve kidnapping people and dragging them back to that laboratory of Cyrus's. Loblolly's considering locking him in his lab whenever they find life in other dimensions to befriend. He might not even mind — he certainly prefers spending as much time cooped up in there as he can.

If there's one dragon in Clan _______ that Loblolly sees as a role model, it's Melodie. That imperial won't let anything stop her from meeting new people. Not storm, not fire, and certainly not an active battlefield. It might have something to do with her size and impenetrable scales, but Loblolly's pretty sure it's more to do with her disarming charm. Just look at Melodie! She's so cute in all those scarves. Nobody could possibly be afraid of a thirty meter long dragon who wears such a wonderful outfit. And there's evidence to support that — she's had so many successful interviews with creatures that usually don't trust dragons. Maybe Loblolly should get a scarf or two? They'd look great with her friendly face.