Fell the Grinner

Fell is an unusual Glacia dragon who abhors commitment and connections; while he has made friends in his travels, he avoids cities and populous places like the plague. The sight of his starry, white-swept wings and fanged grin are talked about regularly wherever he happens to be residing at any given time. While most do not mind his appearances, he is often scowled at and chased off by anyone in authority, due to his propensity to poach for food and avoidance of following orders.

He has no family, no House or place to call home, and he claims to like it that way. However, his grinning facade is a cover for deep-set insecurities and a past he doesn't broach with anyone, no matter how well he knows them. Instead, he would much rather challenge whomever tries to a race - and then vanish into the forest's deep shadows, leaving that area until his presence is forgotten.

Name: Fell

Nicknames: Lil Shit, Grinner

Species: Aethyrian dragon (Glacia)

Gender: male

Age: young adult

Status: single

Role: none

Mother: Azuria (NPC/deceased)

Father: Zenith

Appearance

Fell is a young adult Aethyrian dragon of the Glacia variant, relatively small (at around 6 feet at the shoulder) and thin of stature, with icy blue scales that sparkle iridescently in both sunlight and moonlight. Gradients of blue, purple, white and silver cover him from snout to tail-tip, dotted and speckled with lighter freckles of white, lavender and cyan that catch the light even against his darker markings. White swirls and spots mark his face, shoulders, sides and neck, ending at his tail; darker blue stripes curl across his muzzle, cheeks, the top of his neck, paws and tail. Some smaller markings in both colors can be found on his legs and wing arms, both lighter and darker against his base. He has wide, elliptical wings perfect for sharp movement, though less so for soaring flight; the webbing is star-studded deep blue streaked through with white swirls on the ventral side, and light blue shading to purple with dark blue stripes on the dorsal.

All of his spikes, antlers, spines and claws are a dark blue fading to lavender at the tips, sparkling with star-markings that shimmer in all light. Large antlers that do not shed jut from his brows, a 14-point crown that he sharpens on trees and stones to keep from growing dull with use. Several small spikes surround his eyes and rise from his cheeks, as well as his elbows and hocks, and a small spike on his chin. Larger, jagged spines can be found along his back, the leading edge of his wing and his wing-thumb, ending in a double-crescent shape at the end of his tail. His paw pads are a soft pink-lavender, and the tip of his tongue is stained purple while the rest of his inner flesh is a gray-pink.

His eyes are bright and slanted, consisting of an iris with a triple-color gradient behind a round pupil. This gradient ranges from cyan, through blue to purple, and holds flecks of other colors similar to some crystals. His teeth are white, most similar to a canine's in basic distribution, though his fangs are slightly broader and longer.

Personality

Born to a single mother beneath the towering trees, he was raised on stories of the stars, magic, and elements; he was taught the dangers of getting too close to those that dwelt within great cities or those belonging to Houses or families too concerned with political intrigue to care about those beneath them. When she stopped coming back home to their little crystal cavern, he held those lessons close - lessons that followed him his entire life.

Upon first meeting, Fell may seem happy-go-lucky, goofy, even arrogant. He enjoys contests of flight and skill, and jumps at the opportunity to challenge others to small competitions beneath his trees or in the skies overhead. He cracks corny jokes and pokes fun at himself, making others he meets laugh and smile. However, he is immensely competitive - he prides himself on his speed and agility both overground and in the sky, and loves a good race. He may pout if he loses, but will challenge again (and again) until he wins, or until his opponent threatens to find a guard.

However, his boasting and wide grins cover some deep-set insecurities that he's carried with him from the egg. One is that he never knew his family, only that families were not to be trusted, and that has made him wonder if both his mother and himself were cast out and unwanted from some clan or city he's unaware of. Because of this, Fell harbors feelings of being unworthy, and may sit for long moments watching the night sky and thinking of what may have driven his mother away. He thinks that, should he enter a city or be found by one of the noble families she warned him of, he would be driven out in much the same way. Thus, he is sure that no individual he treats with on the road is tied to any large population center, and runs at the sight of a guard or soldier of any kind.

Fell makes friends with animals far more easily than he trusts others of his kind, regardless of societal status or role. He likes squirrels the most, and refuses to hunt or eat both them and birds. Some in his home he's named and feeds like pets. He also enjoys birdwatching, and may be caught lounging and sunning his wings as he watches the world go by.

Abilities

He inherited his ice element from his mother, purple with hints of cyan in color due to its connection to Aether. His glyph magic, also purple in color, has the potential to be very strong - but he has no experience using it. Without any real training, he can only figure out the most basic of spells and has focused primarily on healing as it serves his solitary existence well. As this is fully based on his reiatsu and his species cannot harness the element of light, he cannot mend injuries larger than small scratches and abrasions, though he is very good at driving off infection and controlling bleeding.

However, his ice magic is somewhat more difficult to properly classify. While it can freeze as a breath weapon, and he may craft things of ice for limited periods of time, it isn't as cold or strong as it could be and it isn't for lack of trying. Its color - purple with cyan - seems to deepen and lighten with how much energy he puts into his element, and the blue tones in its center brighten with degree. Currently, he can breathe ice sustained for seconds at a time, and manipulation for a little longer. His summoned purple ice does not persist, and cannot be melted into drinkable water, though already-existing sources of ice he manipulates retain their usual properties.

History

Born to the Glacia dragoness Azuria in a small crystalline cavern located off the coast of the Heartlands, he was raised for some years seeing none but his mother's face. The island they called home was small but snowy and forested, and he grew climbing trees and exploring caves, fishing and playing on the beach. He was taught of the gods, magic, stars, the kingdoms - but also warned how dangerous other dragons and those races that dwell on the mainland were, regardless of how friendly they may seem. She told him of kingdoms, families and Houses that sought political power to the detriment of all else, using those beneath them as pawns in their games. Anger suffused her tone whenever she spoke of these, and he determined to avoid them at all costs. Here, his mother said, they were safe - they were hidden. None would come to such an island, as the trees were so close to hide them, and the rocks prevented any approach by sea. They were alone, unbothered, protected.

And for years, he believed this to be an undeniable truth.

One night, his mother did not return. He was barely older than a fledgling - some fifteen years of age - and had reached the ungainly growth stage of oversized wings and too-long limbs. He waited in the cavern entrance, watching the moons cross the sky above the ancient trees, but could not see nor sense his mother's return. He was hungry - and she'd flown to the mainland to take down larger prey, as their small island could no longer support two dragons' appetites. Days passed and she did not arrive, and fear overtook the young dragon. He went to the rocky beach and waited there for some time, growing hungrier and agitated, worrying over where Azuria might have gone. Finally, he decided to fly to the mainland himself - to look for her and bring her home.

It was a difficult flight. The journey wasn't long - but the winds were harsh and there were few places to land, making rest impossible. Scared of the ocean below, he forced himself to fly without pause, and ended up crash-landing on the other side amid twisted trees and spiky brambles. After he woke up, he searched long for his mother, but found little except for old ruins, tall trees, and overgrown roads leading to places he was too fearful to go find. The young dragon made his first kill in a plump rat that had gotten itself stuck amid some tree roots, giving him some much-needed nourishment and energy to continue looking. As the weeks passed, he found no trace - and the strong coastal winds unnerved his attempts to return to their small island home.

Thus, he stayed in a heavily forested area of the northern Heartlands. Discovering his elemental magic early on helped him survive the many dangers posed by the old forest's predators and hunters, and he was small enough to be able to wiggle into hiding places larger creatures couldn't reach. He avoided the elves living nearby as best he could, though some saw him and were sympathetic to the bedraggled young dragon's plight. Sometimes, he would find a basket of fruit and nuts left in the open - and he grew fond of apples and chestnuts in the fall. Winter's cold did not bother him in the slightest, though summer's heat and humidity made him long for the cool crystal caverns of his childhood home.

Eventually, the young dragon grew lonely, and began approaching travelers on the road - though he avoided any that looked to have authority, such as guards or gilded carriages. He would challenge other beast-races, such as other young Aethyrians, to races both on the ground and in the air, and would talk to the humanoids that passed through, trying to make them smile or laugh. He still thought of cities as dangerous places, and would flee if a guard or prominent individual noticed him, hiding deeper in the forest as well as he could. Years passed like this, and Fell grew into a strong young adult who's name was known throughout the forest he dwelt in. Putting forward a cocky face, he earned the name 'Grinner' from many - and 'Little Shit' from the soldiers and guardians he strictly avoided.

Trivia

Relationships

Azuria

[ mother ]

Fell's devoted mother, a runaway from an assumed prominent family. Vanished and never returned.

Zenith

[ father ]

Fell has never met, and doesn't know anything about, his father.

Arkadian

[ friend ]

These two first met when Arkadian landed in spectacular fashion, pulling a stunt where he swung around a tree branch with his tail. Fell has been in awe of him ever since, and challenges Ark to a race whenever they meet - to the detriment of anyone else on the road.

Credits

Coding and character me! Art done by myself (BTACD design, Arkadian), Carina using DragonOfIceAndFire's base (DI adopt design, shown below). Designs for the parents done by me on the same base!