Ekrem

Lore outline:
- Parents were one of the very rare few to break away from the caves to explore
- Was hatched in the fire territories
- Learned of his heritage and decided to return to the caves (maybe out of resentment for his parents leaving the clan in the first place and him not growing up with much knowledge of his origin's culture)
- Has a hard time coming to terms with his lack of knowledge about his bloodline's history, but eventually makes a home in the caves
- Has a family
- By this time, more and more dragons like his parents are eager to leave and explore, including all of his kids, and he is confronted with his initial feelings about staying in the caves/being born in the outside world
- Reluctantly follows his kids and leaves the caves, slowly warms up to the world over time
- Most of his kids have ventured off into the world on their own, except Pyrida who chose to keep her father company

---

The dark, ash-rich soil shifted gently around his claws as he nervously picked at the ground. A soft glow surrounded his form while he sat alone by the dark cave entrance to where his family slept for the night. The source of the light, motes of magic, floated around his body without a care for the internal conflict the young dragon was facing.

Earlier that day his parents broke the news to him and his siblings. They felt that their children were old enough to at least know of their heritage before leaving them to be on their own. Two of them took it nonchalantly, but oh... how little they were prepared for Ekrem’s reaction.

There is a group of dragons, one deep within the shadow territories, that is sheltered from the warm rays of the sun. A vast cave system is what they call home, and the dragons are specifically adapted to live in the dark depths with a unique ability to luminesce in a multitude of ways. With how closed-off the families were to the outside world, majority of the members developed their own culture and ways of life. Ekrem’s parents described the structures and roles that were in place to keep the society running, including the specific duties and tasks that they were assigned during their life in the caves. As they went on to mention old friends, relatives, cultural events and even celebrations and rituals, Ekrem’s interest intensified and grew, absorbing every word eagerly.

Then his parents went on to explain their choice in leaving all of it. Their reasonings hit him like a stone, heavy and cold.


At some point all Ekrem could hear was his own thoughts, completely blocking out his parent’s voices. Those thoughts hung with him, even through to the night where he now sat, contemplating. 'Why even describe the place like you did at first? It sounded so nice and close-knit, and some of the cultural events sounded so interesting... Why did I never know of this until now?' Ekrem’s gaze tracked one of his fireflies as it floated past his field of view. 'Why was I never told of how unique these fireflies were? Of their significance to my heritage? How much of my culture do I not know about, and how much have I missed out on?'

He remained there until just before sunrise. The expression on his face as he looked up to the warming sky was one of certainty. He wanted to leave this tumultuous landscape he was forced to grow up in, and he and his siblings were old enough to strike out on their own. Ekrem was going to travel to the Wispwillow Grove, to the home that he felt his parents denied him.


It only took about two weeks to find the cave system once he traveled to the Wispwillow Grove. The vague information his parents provided only got him so far, but he eventually encountered a couple dragons that were very startled by his appearance and who helped guide his way.

Apparently, the dragons in the society have a very distinct appearance, namely in coloration and special abilities, and Ekrem fit the bill almost to a T, minus his fire-borne eyes. The dragons he startled lived in the area nearby the society, and only knew of its existence due to the very rare encounters with those dragons who chose to leave and explore the outside world. After a very confused greeting, Ekrem explained his situation and asked if the dragons knew where the cave system was, of which they were able to take him to the exact location where they’ve encountered emigrating dragons in the past.

It was a rough start, bumbling around aimlessly in the cave network until he happened upon some signs of life. Carefully decorated archways, deliberate trails of mushrooms, vaguely legible scrapings on the walls. Eventually Ekrem made his way to a sort of highly intricate archway leading into a massive cavern that stretched a good couple miles. In the distance was what seemed to be signs of life—the glow of lights and movement excited Ekrem and he quickly made his way towards the source.

Since he looked virtually no different from the average dragon in the society, Ekrem initially gained no interest from the busy dragons going through their day-to-day lives. However, his aimless wandering and cluelessness eventually started to catch side-eyed stares and whispers.

---