Creative Corner

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wCFlXpc.png[/img][/center] [font=Century Gothic][size=5][i]You find yourself in a vast archive. Row upon row of bookshelves soar over your head, housing colorful tomes of every shape and size, their golden lettering gleaming in the light of carefully placed lanterns hanging from the ceiling or perched on wooden desks. A dragon could get lost in this sea of books, you think, and yet you find yourself drawn to a curious tome lying open upon one of these desks, the scrawled text luring your gaze. “You’ve got a good eye,” says a voice. You turn to regard a blue skydancer dressed in robes, a quill in one hand with a heavy tome tucked under his elbow. “That there,” he tells you, “Is a mysterious book of tales known as the [b]Dragon Diaries[/b]. It is a compilation of diary entries written by several dragons, describing different eras in the history of the Brightwing Clan. Each entry is written in their own distinct voice, hosting a broad variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Some entries seem to stand on their own, while others seem woven together in a larger narrative that continues to unfold the deeper you delve.” The skydancer smiles. “The beauty of it is that [b]you can hop in anywhere[/b] - no matter where you begin, you’ll undoubtedly find an entry to pique your curiosity, I daresay. The entries are grouped into segments referred to as “[b]rounds[/b],” with each round containing [b]12 brief entries from 12 different dragons[/b]. If you’re curious, there is an [b]index[/b] in the front listing each round. “The interesting thing about it, though, is it appears to be ongoing. Every so often, one of the scribes from the Archives will arrive with a new entry to file into its pages, further adding to the tale. I am told that if one were to [b]‘subscribe to the thread[/b],’ they could be notified every time a new entry is added. Although I’m not quite sure what that means, you appear to be a clever dragon, so I suspect you’ll figure it out. “And if that tome there is not enough to sate your appetite, there is [url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2134863"][b]an earlier edition featuring 12 completed rounds[/b][/url] that you might enjoy,” he adds, gesturing to another volume beneath the first. “But enough of my blathering -- I’ll leave you to it. Happy reading!” With that, the skydancer turns and heads deeper down an aisle of shelves until disappearing from sight.[/i]

[center]~ ~~~ [size=6][font=Century Gothic][b]Index[/b][/size][/font] ~~~ ~[/center] [emoji=lightning rune size=1] [url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2841726/1#post_42783957"][size=5][font=Century Gothic][b]Round 1 - The Shifting Saga Begins[/b][/url][/size][/font] - [size=5][font=Century Gothic]The Brightwing Clan has been zapped halfway across Sornieth to the Shifting Expanse! How did they get here, and can they return home? - [b]Complete[/b] [emoji=sword size=1][url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2841726/3#post_45146452"][font=Century Gothic][b]Round 2 - The Shifting Saga Part 2[/b][/url][/size][/font] - [size=5][font=Century Gothic]While desperately seeking a way home, the Brightwing Clan stumbles upon several surprises. - [b]Complete[/b] [emoji=aberration size=1][url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2841726/6#post_51443803"][font=Century Gothic][b]Round 3 - Aberrations Arrive[/b][/url][/size][/font] - [size=5][font=Century Gothic]A bloody ritual gives way to the arrival of a dangerous new breed of dragon. - [b]Complete[/b] [emoji=torch size=1][url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2841726/9#post_54333317"][font=Century Gothic][b]Round 4 - The Rise of Ruin[/b][/url][/size][/font] - [size=5][font=Century Gothic]The darkest tale of the Brightwing Clan yet. - [b]Complete[/b] [emoji=crescent moon 1 size=1][url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2841726/13#post_54750265"][font=Century Gothic][b]Round 5 - Blackened Skies[/b][/url][/size][/font] - [size=5][font=Century Gothic]Thick smoke blankets the skies of Brightwing as a new ruler rises to the fore.[b]- Complete[/b] Want more? Check out my previous Dragon Diaries thread [url="https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2134863"]>>here<<[/url] [center]~ ~~~ [size=6][font=Century Gothic][b]FAQ[/b][/size] ~~~ ~[/center] [emoji=scroll size=1] [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Can I use this format to write my own stories?[/b] [size=5][font=Century Gothic]Sure! I’d just appreciate it if you credited me and included a link back to this thread.[/font][/size] [emoji=subscription update size=1] [size=5][font=Century Gothic][b]How frequently do you update?[/b][/font][/size] [size=5][font=Century Gothic]While a round is [b]ongoing[/b], updates are usually daily or semi-daily. As for when a new round begins, the best way to know that is just to subscribe to the thread to get notifications :)[/font][/size] [emoji=new friend size=1] [size=5][font=Century Gothic][b]Do you RP?[/b][/font][/size] [size=5][font=Century Gothic]I sure do -- send me a pm if interested and we can set up a scenario.[/font][/size] [emoji=comment size=1] [size=5][font=Century Gothic][b]Comments are welcome![/b] I love to know what people are thinking, and I nearly always reply.[/font][/size]

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 1 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Flutterheart[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=58188141] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/581882/58188141.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]I was born in a place far from my home. I hear tales of it from my numerous half-siblings: warm, sunlit hills, crashing surfs, great structures erected from the earth itself: some new, some ancient. But to me, the words ‘Sunbeam Ruins’ and ‘Brightwing Lands’ hold no meaning -- I’ve not seen any of it. The skies I am familiar with loom thick with clouds. Lightning crackles in bursts of fierce blue, striking at mysterious spires that line the horizon. The land below is dry and arid, ridged with canyons: The Shifting Expanse. We don’t know why we’re here, my family tells me. They regale me with the story of a sudden storm, a deafening thunderclap, a brilliant flash of light. And then in a blink, they were here: the entire Brightwing Clan, transported to a place far from home. They don’t know how; they don’t know why. No one was prepared to be torn away from everything they’ve ever known. I’m a child of House Eros. Technically we’re independent of Clan Brightwing, a decision my father made after being stripped of his rank and title by the Brightwing Council. But that was before my time. Everything was before my time, it feels like. All everyone talks about, all the reminisce about and strive for, is to return to the home I’ve never seen. I know I should wish for it, too. And I’ll admit it sounds nice: long stretches of sun-dried grass under a bright, cloudless sky. But I don’t ache for it the way everyone around me does. Storms can be beautiful, too: lightning flashes fascinating in their danger and mystery. For that reason I often find myself wandering alone amidst the canyons and dry dunes: the only one content to be exactly where I am. And that, I suppose, is why no one saw the shadow descending on me from above, a crackling burst sending me flat onto my belly. The last thing I remember is the looming silhouette of a wildclaw. And then, everything went black. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center]

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 2 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Solaris[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=31616425] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/316165/31616425.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]I am not one to easily fly into a panic. Level-headed and sure of myself, I can keep my cool even in high-pressure situations. But being flung halfway across Sornieth away from the Archives I’ve spent a lifetime tending to, there aren’t a lot of other options. From the moment I found myself in the Shifting Expanse, my mind whirled as I stared across the ragged plains, the thunder-laced skies ringing mercilessly above my head. We mustn’t panic, I told myself. Panicking will get us nowhere. No. I had to think. I had to determine what might have happened and how I could get back, as quickly as possible. After all, I was no mere librarian. I was a Firekeeper, a protector of history. The Archives needed me. Urias. Of course my thoughts would turn to the Blood Mage. Brilliant though he may be, whenever something cataclysmic takes place it always seems that he is in the center of it. But I couldn’t exactly storm down into the Archives cellars and demand answers this time, could I? Would he still be down there, anyway? Or was he zapped to this gods-forsaken place with the rest of us? I tightened my jaw, determined to find out. After all, Urias depended on the Archives even more than I did: beyond housing all his research, it also shielded him from his many enemies, and from the sun’s deadly rays. Though, I supposed, he wouldn’t have to worry about the sun quite so much here. And indeed when I found the Blood Mage he stood outside in plain sight, which was so unlike him I had to squint to be sure I’d identified him correctly. But the striking silhouette and colorful outfit were unmistakable. Resolute, I marched over to confront him. “Urias. Tell me straight. Is this your doing?” I spread my arms, gesturing around us as though my meaning were not obvious. The Blood Mage glanced to the side, not a bit surprised to see me. “In a sense, no. But in another sense, yes.” Of course he would give such an infuriating answer! [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center] @Morigan - So happy to have you along for the ride once more! You always have the best reactions & speculations :)

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 3 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Lovelorn[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=57471775] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/574718/57471775.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Glamour rarely understands my obsessions. Back on Starfall Isles, she didn’t understand my desperate striving to become a mage -- nor could she understand the withering disappointment I felt when I could not master the craft. Can she not see how magnificent magic is, how glorious it would be to wield it? And yet despite the lack of understanding, she stood by me, aiding my endeavors. She even followed me to the Shifting Expanse in pursuit of my latest obsession, though she didn’t understand this one either. “What could be so utterly enthralling about lightning?” the female Banescale has asked me several times now. “It’s not lightning that’s the enthralling part,” I would tell her. “It’s electricity. Haven’t you heard? Dragons at the expanse have learned to harness it, to power their incredible inventions!” “And how are you going to harness it, Lorn?” she’d ask. But I never knew the answer, until I met Encryption. I knew the wildclaw was unusual the moment I set eyes on him. He didn’t seem to move like a dragon: his limbs snapped in place, his head pivoting as though it were on a swivel. And there was an odd humming sound that reverberated around him, the whirl of gears sounding with his every motion. I first found him in an arid canyon, looking elated. “It worked,” he chortled to himself. “I can’t believe it -- it actually worked!” “What worked?” I couldn’t help but ask, curious soul that I am. A pair of eerily glowing eyes landed on me: lightning blue. “Oh, that doesn’t matter,” he said. “What matters is that I find myself in need of a place to stay for awhile. Would you be so kind? Help me out, and I may even be able to grant you something in return…” Well, that was a request too fascinating to pass up. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center]

[center]~ ~~~ [b][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Day 4 :[/b] [/font][/size][size=5][font=Century Gothic]Royal[url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=26086864] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/260869/26086864.png[/img] [/url] [/center][/size][/font] [indent][i][size=5][font=Century Gothic]One may think I would be horrified, flung leagues away from my lavish home and pampered lifestyle. And I do admit to missing sitting in my luxurious armchair, basking in the light of my regal hearth. But besides being the founder of the Brightwing Clan’s oldest and most prestigious Noble House, Royal-Relicsong, I also happen to be a very resourceful dragon. And where others see catastrophe, I see opportunity. Before we were all inexplicably transported away from our homeland, the Brightwing Clan was on the precipice of a new era. It is well known that our long-time Clan Leader, Hasil, was planning to turn the reins of the clan over to his adoptive daughter, Shezarni. It seemed a safe move, keeping the power squarely in the hands of House Luminant where it has been since the Clan’s inception all those ages ago. But this new development may change things. Now, as we scramble to determine how we got here and how we might return home, dragons are looking for answers, for guidance. Someone who can step up, embrace the role of the hero and lead them home. And once we are safely back within our homeland, perhaps clan dragons might reconsider who they want leading them: why not turn to the very hero who brought them out of their strife? That hero will not be me, alas -- I am just as old as Hasil, and not as ambitious as I was in my prime. The idea of ruling, once exhilarating, now sounds tedious. And yet, the power duly belongs to my house, my illustrious name. That is why this rising leader shall be none other than my trueborn son, Ragnarok. I have been priming him for this moment. House Royal-Relicsong boasts a vast network of connections, resources I have been teaching him to utilise. This is the perfect moment to put those connections to use. While the other houses are still helpless, still floundering, we will rise. [/i][/indent] [center]~~~ ~[/center] Morigan - You might just be on to something... :)