Dragon Share

My friend Azurenight told me I should post my theory in hear: I do not think the shade lies within all dragons, however I do believe that dragons can be shade touched like Honeybean and Wannabean (click on link bellow and read bio if desired!) http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=198840&tab=dragon&did=29270899 [img]http://i.imgur.com/qmyuHR6.png[/img] Clan backstory: yes this has to do with my shade theory. Clan:Opal A tunnel leading to an underground sanctuary; A small warm spring lake where merfolk play, with a small island in the center hosting a beautiful pink flowering tree, illuminated by glow in the dark stones on the cavern walls, and surrounded by a series of caves where dragons can stay as guests for a small fee or stay overnight for free. This action is out of the kindness of [b]Opal; A spirit that dwells in these caves that belongs to an oracle who pledged to bring peace to the flights and clans because of a prophecy she had that if their not brought together; the Shade will come back and be unstoppable[/b]. All peaceful beasts and dragons are welcome here. Others cannot pass the forcefeild. [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/304436/30443503_350.png[/img] This dragon is the reincarnated spirit Opal that protects all that live in her forcefeilded cave. She was originally a human saint that lived during the second age, then a great oracle in the Spiral keep, and now is an ethereal spirit that takes form of a dragon that lives in a giant opal at the center of the ceiling overlooking her cave. The Shade is coming...

[color=#800040]@Azurenight Some of my dragons have some input regarding a clanmate who's possessed by the Shade! (she has lore in case you're interested). [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=4717185] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/47172/4717185_350.png[/img] [/url][/color] [columns][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/45220/4521943p.png[/img][nextcol][color=#800040]Molly: "Hi there! I am Molly, one of the scientist at the Cloudscrape Marauders and I'm here to give you an idea of what we're dealing with. My partner Artemis and I have been studying Phobos' condition for a while now, and tried to find a cure. Artemis is the one coming up with new ideas, while I mainly record the results and try to evaluate them and offer changes to optimize the various lotions, tinctures, spells and other things she comes up with. So what are we looking at here, exactly? She is one of the older members of the clan, one of the few who joined the clan when it was still small and developing. She did not always have the black splotches on her hide; instead they formed later in her life and kept spreading. They keep changing position and shape, as if they were alive. Additionally, it seems as if she's being slowly eaten from the inside - something keeps eating away at her and destroying tissue. The effects of this are most noticeable on her wings, but are spread over her whole body and most likely also affect her internal organs. Besides obvious effects on her appereance, we also noticed changes in her behaviour. Phobos is barely able to move on her own, and her memory keeps failing her. She is very lethargic, will barely eat or drink, and constantly complains about being in pain and feeling ill. There are some days where her condition is exceptionally bad - she seems to forget who she is, will not respond to her name, and will run away to hide somewhere, often hurting herself in the process. She doesn't recognize any faces in this state, not even her sister's, and will attack if she feels threatened. Neither can she communicate in this situation, only grunt and scream, which makes trying to help her and find out what she needs extremely difficult. While we aren't 100% sure that it is the Shade that is affecting her, since there aren't many records regarding the Shade other than the tales of old, there is no other explanation we could find for her strange condition. We researched Sornieth's mythology, asked our most proficient magicians for spells and curses that might have a similar effect and even tried to induce the effects in mice, but weren't able to get any results. We also asked Cecilia if she knew of any parasites that could cause this and to take DNA samples and examine them, because we thought - or maybe hoped - that Phobos' condition might be caused by some kind of mutation. We also received info from her sister that Phobos confessed to her that when she was younger, she once found something strange in a pool of water that looked like a dark cloud with thousands of eyes. When she touched it, it had disappeared. While it could have been just her imagination, we must note that what Phobos supposedly saw does fit the descritions of the Shade that we can find in folklore."[/color][/columns] [columns][color=#800040]Cecilia: "I'm a biologist, so usually this is not my field of research. However, my clan mates asked me to evaluate whether Phobos' strange condition might be caused by something organic. You might already have been told this, but the dark splotches on her hide are not caused by genetics of this specimen, but rather formed way later in her life when she was already an adult. It's not noticeable all the time, but the patches of black keep shifting position and take on strange forms unlike any pattern I have observed so far in dragons. This laves me to believe that there must be an external factor involved in forming the patterns. I took skin samples of the affected regions several times, but I could not find any traces of foreign DNA. Several other samples - spit, urine, mucus to name just three - had the same results. Neither could I find any unusual gene patterns or mutations in her genes. I implanted her genes into tissue samples of other dragons, but it didn't seem to affect them at all, neither did treating cell cultures and mice with her mucus, saliva, blood and other body fluids have any effect, which could mean that her condition is not caused by any compound she produces herself, nor can it spread to others like bacteria or a virus could. I also managed to rule out the possibilty of a parasite, or an organic one at least. I could not find any signs, be it DNA fragments or metabolites, of any parasite I know of. This leads me to believe that whatever is affecting her must be of either magical or extraterrestrial origin - or both."[/color][nextcol][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/218416/21841545p.png?mtime=WQ2QsAAANXU.png[/img][/columns] [columns][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/50269/5026845p.png?mtime=V0RppgAAMEo.png[/img][nextcol][color=#800040]Artemis: "My partner Molly and I have been studying Phobos' condition for a long time and tried to reduce the symptoms or at least keep them in check. We work together with the clan's healer, Edrea, to try and find a cure, but so far, the best we could do was stop the spreading of the black marks for a few days. After that, they always seem to become immune to the cure we developed. We tried various things: mixtures of traditional healing herbs, brews, magic, lotions ... all kinds of combinations of weird plants and animal parts that are rumored to have healing effects. Some of them had no effect at all, others at least kept the black splotches in check for a while. Sadly enough, Phobos' condition seems to have worsened over the years, and nothing seems to help. We're still trying out new things, but we're slowly loosing hope. At this time, we can only hope to at least ease her pain until she passes away - or whatever else will happen to her once the Shade has taken over."[/color][/columns] [columns][color=#800040]Kassiopeia: "There are many strange things out there in the universe. I have looked up into the sky for what seems like a lifetime to me, and I have seen things that are similar to what I can observe in Phobos and what is commonly reffered to as the Shade, though I am glad to say that I have never encountered it myself before. I can hear the shapes on her skin whispering, tingling with anticipation. Something is not right with this dragon, and I would not hesitate to call it evil."[/color][nextcol][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/82506/8250580p.png[/img][/columns] [columns][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/112845/11284499p.png[/img][nextcol][color=#800040]Tequila: "I am afraid that I do not have much to contribute. I am one of the researches who work together with Cecilia, and my main fields of research are microorganisms, pathogens and poisonous substances. I was asked whether I knew of any toxins or pathogens that could cause a condition like Phobos', but I am afraid that I do not. I also doubt that there would be any substances out there that could cause something extraordinary as this, seeing how complex her symptoms seem to be and how long they have been plaguing her already. I took some samples, but couldn't find a trace of an unknown substance that might be the cause of this."[/color][/columns] [columns][color=#800040]Dimitri: "I have been studying the night sky of Sornieth for years now, and have aquired a lot of knowledge about the universe and it's workings. It is rare, but on some nights, there is a strange darkness that seems to creep on the edges of the night sky, darker than the night itself. Sometimes I can see what looks like eyes, or arms stretching out towards the ground. The shapes on Phobos' body and their behaviour do remind me of that strange phenomenon, though I cannot say whether they are related in any way."[/color][nextcol][img]http://i.imgur.com/oVPYbY5.png?1.png[/img][/columns]

@Azurenight [i](( sorry but this is kinda gonna turn into a mini-story, I have a penchant for writing stories instead of short info ))[/i] [i]The sickly looking Bogsneak flicks his tongue, before speaking up,[/i] [img]http://38.media.tumblr.com/51fc61ac770a524e9468f174afa94d7f/tumblr_inline_n1xc79Kcic1rb3m8r.png[/img] [columns]"Had you once asked the citizens of this Clan whether the Shadetouched still existed, you'd be met with a guffaw and a reprimand- being promptly told that The Shade is merely a tale! The King, however, was a little less skeptical and had us Druids search various regions of Sornieth whenever strange and unexplainable happenings occurred. We were not successful, for our searches turned up nothing Shade related. That was until about five years later - you see, the thing about The Shade is that it leaves traces: wisps of black mist and an inky substance are the most notable signs, apart from the obvious destruction of course! Now, there was a small outpost village north of the Driftwood Drag - [i]he pauses, his eyes darting as if in search of words to say[/i] - that was in quite a.. hmm.. fuss would be a bit of an understatement.. ah yes, the entire village was in a state of hysteria! Their entire town was destroyed, and you could barely see through the black.. vapor? No, mist? I'd rather say 'fog'.. yes yes! The black fog! You see, not only did it completely obscure parts of the town, but it had a rather potent toxin to it - the thickest parts of the fog would completely disintegrate physical matter! How awful! [i]He coughs[/i]. I apologize for getting carried away, but you must understand! We'd never come this close to The Shade before! Now, after inquiring about the cause of the destruction we received a rather.. disturbing description. [u]"A large, bone-covered monster with huge masses of fur and feathers soared above us, a blood-curdling shriek escaping from it's hideous maw! It breathed the most putrid smoke, it spat black drool, it's teeth were oh-so sharp! Et cetera, et cetera"[/u]. That was along the lines of the numerous descriptions we'd received. Apparently after it was done leveling the entire town, it flew South towards the Foxfire Bramble - and that's where we headed. We didn't have to look far, the beast apparently had a penchant for drooling everywhere; we only needed to follow the trail of thick slime. When we got closer we began hearing.. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcHvkDWXPno]noises[/url]. It was unlike any animal or dragon I'd heard, it sounded warped.. like, like it's vocal chords were damaged - but that wouldn't make sense, not with all those villagers crying about how hideous the monster's roar was. Upon getting closer the noises suddenly stopped, and a dark fog began seeping from the once-source of the noises. It meandered it's way towards us, like it was sauntering, as if it was taking it's time admiring the surroundings. This was it, The Shade. We pressed on towards it's source. The fog stung badly and my skin began peeling like it was sunburnt, some parts even began melting - [i]he unbandages his neck to reveal a burn-like mark across his skin[/i]. We walked for only a minute before we saw it, [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=275675&tab=dragon&did=20368078]the monster[/url] we'd been chasing and the descriptions didn't do it justice, not one bit. It was an Imperial, once. It had too much fur, too many feathers and too many horns. It's face was the worst, another beasts' skull had fused to it and through the eye-sockets you could see the monster's eyes. Shiny black - like polished obsidian - and an air of malevolence. There were fifteen of us when we began our encounter, and after we'd captured it there were only four - including me. The rest had been.. [u]consumed[/u]. Not eaten, but.. something else. Like they'd been digested on the spot, does that make sense? No.. probably not. I don't want to talk about how we'd caught it, it's rather.. gruesome, and I was lying when I said that the rest of my party had been consumed - a handful had in fact [i]melted into an unrecognizable sludge[/i] from the sheer amount of magicka it took to handicap The Shade. The physical body can only handle so much magic... [i]He shuddered before continuing[/i]. We summoned a back-up party and hours later the beast was residing in a pre-built dungeon located fifty feet under one of the Clan outposts. It was bound securely and required eight different scrolls to unbind it, we'd hidden each scroll in locations I will not disclose. Ever since we'd captured it, we've conducted numerous tests upon it and The Shade that resides within. We were smart enough to cast numerous wards on ourselves beforehand every time we went to see it close-up, but the guard who'd opened the chamber one day wasn't so smart. He became 'afflicted', as a one scroll described. This wasn't the plan, but it was perfect nonetheless! The effects of The Shade, being studied in real time! What a treat, no? Over the course of a few months our subject began degrading further and further into... insanity? No, not quite! His movements became jittery and erratic, and his speech was becoming more and more garbled.. like trying to speak over static. Warped? Somewhat, yes! His skin started developing a grayish hue, and black veins began making themselves present across his skin. The appearance of the veins was the trigger event for what we call 'Phase Two', which was the manifestation of The Shade's powers. The subject's saliva began to resemble sewage and his breathing became visible in the form of the 'black fog'. Then his face began to warp. The bones became more pronounced, and began to resemble that of a diseased rat! His teeth elongated and the fur present on his face grew and became wiry. We had an illustrator [url=http://imgur.com/a/yP0mU]sketch a side-portrait of the subject's head at the beginning of our study, and one afterwards[/url]. The subject was nowhere near as strong as the Shadetouched monster we'd captured, and that may be why he expired before the full effects of The Shade took hold of him. We didn't risk contamination, so we disposed of the subject and took every precaution possible to minimize any lingering presence of The Shade on the corpse." [i]He took a moment to relax, and breathe. Then continued.[/i] Now, this would have been the end of it had it not been for [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=275675&tab=dragon&did=28070263]Buer[/url], who is either the bravest or the [u]most unbelievably idiotic[/u] Imperial I have ever met. You see, Buer approached us one day asking if he could see the creature for himself. Normally we'd have declined without a thought, but Buer is a respectable man and his line of work often has him working with entities not unlike our lovely Shadetouched prisoner. So we let him see the monster, all alone. No supervision needed because Buer is sensible, right? Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! [i]He started laughing.[/i] So the next week, Buer comes back to me with the stupidest grin on his face. He then shamelessly announces to everyone in the room that he his 'latest experiment' had been a success, and that he has made hatchlings with guess who? The Shadetouched Imperial, of all the possible dragons in Sornieth and he had to choose the incredibly lethal monster! Now, I was in total disbelief until he presented me with three eggs. They weren't like normal eggs though, they had a strange.. presence to them. I quickly realized that this was a chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity to study The Shade in eggs and hatchlings. What would happen to a child of one healthy and one afflicted dragon? As it turns out, Buer's little 'escapade' provided invaluable research for us. Not only had we learned that The Shadetouched prisoner was female, but that Afflicted were able to produce hatchlings! Buer claims he has managed to communicate with the beast, but we cannot verify this. It seems it's only comfortable enough to relax alone with him - so unless we spend our resources attempting to tame it and have a somewhat basic conversation of sorts, we won't ever find out. He won't stop insisting it is sentient and aware of itself and The Shade, and we're willing to believe him - but we'll take his words with a grain of salt. Ah, we also discovered that The Shade was in fact, present within the hatchings, but not enough that it could possess them. They exhibited certain symptoms, such as the black drool and skin discoloration, but not the more severe ones such as twitching or the killer fog. This was good, but alas, hatchlings grow up fast and once they became adults and decided that being Shadetouched wasn't as 'quirky and fun' as they'd played it up to be - and they sent themselves to serve the Gods. Shame. Maybe one day we'll get one that stays with us? [i]He realizes that he's been talking for quite a while.[/i] Oh my! I've went on long enough, I do hope you found this somewhat useful to your research! I do hope we meet again, yes?"[nextcol][img]http://i.imgur.com/DMlVeya.png[/img][/columns]

@Rainbowditto Dash sat leering between Acalendra and her animated corpse for a long moment before his eyes go painfully wide and he lets out the most horrendous bellow. No sooner has the loud shout finished shattering the still air then he gets up and starts to run in circles around the back of the room. It appears he's searching for some way out, but in his hysteria he cannot find the door to his left. His clamoring about draws a Coatl from the back. ------- [columns][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/221740/22173991p.png[/img][nextcol]"Dash, my love, what has you so upset?" [/columns] ------- The Coatl finally manages to catch the hysterical Wildclaw, though she does not managed to settle him. His first response is to point to Acalendra. -------- [columns][img]http://i.imgur.com/IW1obGt.png[/img][nextcol]"UNDEAD!" [i]he screeches[/i]. [/columns] -------- The Coatl turns in Acalendra's direction and notices right off the undead at her side. With a sigh she returns her attention to her mate. ----- [columns][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/221740/22173991p.png[/img][nextcol]"Please excuse us for a moment. Dash come lay down." [/columns] ------- Dash drops most of his weight on his mate as she moved him towards the door on the left. ------- [columns][img]http://i.imgur.com/IW1obGt.png[/img][nextcol]"Rest, yes. That sounds good." [/columns] -------- The couple disappear through the door and all goes quiet. A moment later the Coatl wanders back out into the room. ------- [columns][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/221740/22173991p.png[/img][nextcol]"I do apologize about that. Dash has a horrible fear of the undead. Bad past," [i]she said simply on the subject.[/i] "Well then, he's asked I continue the topic. So I do have to ask, dear. What made you wish to use The Shade to reanimate your friend there when there are so very many other ways to do it? Other things that are not so much deadly." [/columns] ------- [i]So very sorry for the late response =( RL demanded attention.[/i]

@Ironpen Dash continues to take his notes even after the discussion has fallen silent. Eventually, he looks up and notices attention is on him. ------- [columns][img]http://i.imgur.com/IW1obGt.png[/img][nextcol]"This is fascinating! Thank you for these facts. I will definitely have to discuss this with our resident Beastkeeper. Perhaps he can share some insight into the effects of this corruption on the fauna. I wonder why Manticores are not affected?"[i] he whispers this last part to himself[/i].[/columns] ------

@Azurenight
((You cna prove it wrong if you want cause I forgot about the two new ones in teh Vents, I was only thinking about the gather/chest ones))

@VastPlaguesofAku The Wildclaw offers the Imperial a sympathetic look, while trying to discreetly twist his eyes to Clary still in the corner. He takes the notes handed to him and drags them over to note amplifier. ------- [columns][img]http://i.imgur.com/IW1obGt.png[/img][nextcol]"This sounds painfully familiar. I feel we should definitely figure out a way to help control this possession of the drakes. The consumption of draconic flesh is a very worrisome issue."[/columns] ------ [i]Sorry for the late reply[/i]

@Azurenight [center][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=21994545] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/219946/21994545_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] ---------------------------- [right]Acalendra laughed shortly and shook her head. "A bad past indeed! I can only imagine what sort of past one must have had to fear the undead so much. But no, this is not my friend. In fact, I only barely know his father. I simply revived him with the Shade for science!" At this, she clapped her claws together triumphantly. "There is so much untapped potential with the Shade! So much we don't know about it! I am more than willing to take the risk of death for science."[right] ---------------------------

@AceLizard Dash reviews the images carefully, making notations in his own notes about what he sees. ------- [columns][img]http://i.imgur.com/IW1obGt.png[/img][nextcol]"Do you have any other information concerning these cultists? I'm hearing a great deal on these Shade worshiping cults all about our world. It's distressing that members of our kind desire to worship something like that creature. As for the Spirit," [i]Dash has to pause and clear his throat- visibly disturbed by the image of the Spirit- before continuing[/i], "what does he do in your lair? Have you been able to study him?"[/columns] ------ [i]Sorry for the late reply =)[/i]