Kannagara Application

[itsanaurakthing]

CHARACTER INFO
Name: Thesik
Canon: Dragonlance
Point taken from canon: 6-7 years after Draconian Measures
Age: 7 (chronologically, adult by a little less than 2 years)
Gender: Female

Appearance: Unless you can tell sex by scent, it's nearly impossible to determine that Thesik is female. She's about 6'9", covered in golden scales that are barely starting to tarnish at the edges, and humanoid. Her legs are digitigrade rather than plantigrade like a human; she has a short tail, claws, fangs, green slit pupil eyes, short barbels on her snout, and spines that go back from the top of her head. She's built fairly lean, and prefers to wear robes or a simple cloth kilt and vest with pouches tied to her belt. The only metal weapon she carries is a dagger. There's a faint scar on her upper right arm from an arrow.

Pics of auraks here.

Her accent when speaking Common (which is almost identical to English) is somewhat similar to Romanian, but not quite; it's not as heavy, and the vowel pronunciation is not the same. Because of the shape of her mouth, soft sounds come out more as hisses or growls, and some of them are just flat out impossible for her to make, like soft d and t. It's also impossible to roll the r, like in burro or arroz.

Because of her non-human anatomy, she can make a wider range of sounds. She's capable of deeper, bordering on subsonic, sounds in her chest, and can even do ultrasonic sounds in the back of her throat. Nasal sounds are impossible, though, due to the nasal cavity being different.

Her voice is a bit deeper than the average human female's, and has almost a musical quality to it, and it's clearly not human.

Background: Draconians were created in 342 AC from the stolen eggs of metallic dragons via dark magic, to serve as shock troops in the War of the Lance. Initially, males and females were created, and when it was discovered that draconians had turned out stronger and smarter than planned, the females that had already hatched were killed, and the eggs that hadn't hatched yet locked away. The few males of that first batch were made to swear an oath to keep their existence a secret, and thought them all destroyed in the destruction of Neraka at the end of the War of the Lance.

However, when Neraka was destroyed, the eggs were no longer there. A group of Daewar dwarves had stolen them, along with other treasures, and stashed them in a cave deep in Thorbardin, the mountain dwarf kingdom. Only one of the group survived; they had argued over the share of treasure and ended up killing each other.

Four hill dwarves found a journal the surviving Daewar had written of the theft and the journey during the summer of Chaos in 383 AC. These dwarves lived in a village that shared a valley with a regiment of draconian engineers that just wanted a place to live out however long they were going to naturally in relative peace. The two groups would raid each other back and forth, as a sort of game; at least, up until the draconians left and the dwarven military burned their village down. This angered them, and on their next raid, they didn't play as nice, killing a few of the military members. During that raid, the map inside the journal leading to the treasure was obtained by two draconians named Kang and Slith.

They didn't know what exactly was on the map, and when one of the dwarves went to attempt to retrieve it, they found out that part of the treasure was female draconian eggs. This was the first any of them had ever heard of females existing.

The dwarves and the draconians both went to retrieve the treasure, the dwarves planning on destroying the eggs and the draconians not caring as much about anything but the eggs. A deal was worked out - the draconians were allowed to take the females unharmed as long as they moved out of the valley.

So, with newly hatched females to raise, the regiment began to travel to a new home. Things went well enough for the first month, but then goblins began harassing them for unknown reasons. That first winter, the females were only five months old and barely more than toddlers, and the regiment was holed up in what seemed to be an abandoned temple of Paladine. There were a handful of Sisters still there, though, and although the draconians treated them respectfully and offered their protection, the head Sister attempted to kill the young females. Her family had been killed by draconians during the war, and she had gone mad with grief. She was stopped by another Sister, and the females were unhurt.

During the trek, the males treated the females, only twenty of them, as precious treasure. They weren't allowed to learn how to fight for fear of hurting themselves, and they were watched night and day. They were at least taught how to use magic properly. Thesik was the only aurak of the bunch, and from an early age, she was watched more closely. Male auraks have some rather obnoxious qualities, and it was unknown if females would exhibit the same. She turned out not to, possibly because of her close friendship with one of the bozaks, Fonrar.

When the females were about a year and a half old, they were just about full grown, and they were getting very tired of being coddled. The two sivak sisters were used to gather information, and they would snag whatever bits of cast-off equipment that they could, hiding it from the males. Thesik would often get information out of their main guard.

One night, they saw flashes of light, as if from sunlight on metal, in the distance, and knowing that the males would never listen to them, Thesik and Fonrar decided to investigate themselves. They snuck out at night, planning on acting as scouts in case it was more goblins. It turned out to be more draconians, though, who didn't realize they were female, and when they saw Thesik, they about fell over themselves to follow her. In draconian society, auraks are at the top.

The males had tried to spring a trap on the goblins, only to find that they'd had a trap sprung on them instead, and were about to be killed. Thesik and Fonrar led the new draconians there, and saved the regiment.

They were led to a fort nearby where the bulk of what was left of the draconian race had gathered. The goblin army continued to mass to numbers of near 40,000, laying siege to the fort. It was revealed within a day that the new regiment had females with them, and after the initial curiosity had passed, the females were left alone. Fonrar, their leader, made the decision for them to start learning sword drill on their own, in secret. With the males busy preparing for battle against the goblins, they weren't watched as closely. The sivak twins, on one of their information gathering trips around the fort, stole twenty brand new swords.

The twins also decided to play a prank on one of the officers one day, setting up a water barrel drop. It wasn't Gloth that walked through the door, though - it was General Maranta, the aurak in charge of the fort. He was very displeased, but proceeded to inspect the female troops, not paying much attention to any of them until he reached Thesik. He asked her a few questions, making her very uncomfortable, and finally left.

Kang, the commander of the regiment, found out about Dark Knights being in the area, and went to ask for their aid under orders from General Maranta. While there, he discovered from an old human friend Huzzad that the knights had learned of the female draconians and wanted to eradicate the race now that they couldn't be controlled. Huzzad was found out, and after sustaining a blow to the head, brought to the fort to be cared for by the female draconians.

Regarded with wariness at first, Huzzad quickly became like an older sister to the females, and they would go to her for advice. She accidentally let slip to Kang that the females were learning to fight, and when he became upset, she gave him a very stern lecture that made him realize he had to stop coddling them.

The females were allowed to receive proper training, with Thesik's best friend Fonrar becoming their subcommander. There had been several mysterious disappearances around the fort, including Slith's, along with new draconians arriving, and it was discovered during the goblin attack on the fort that General Maranta was using a magical artifact called the Heart of Dracart to create more draconians, which Slith, 'dunderheads'; the process took the soul of an existing draconian and split it into pieces. The aurak wanted complete control of the race and meant to kill the females.

The females and Kang defeated General Maranta early into the battle. Thesik cast a spell that set him on fire and killed him, and they took the Heart of Dracart. Huzzad was killed by a crossbow bolt, and after the females excluding Thesik avenged her death (she stayed with the dying woman, cradling her in her lap), the group went to help with the goblin threat. The regiment had built a device that was called the Drunken Dragon, and Thesik cast an illusion spell on it to make it look like a real gold dragon. Kang used the magic in the Heart to detonate it, causing massive damage to their besiegers and allowing the draconians to win the battle.

Once the aftermath had been dealt with, including a funeral for Huzzad and putting her ashes in an urn for the females to take with them, the regiment continued on their way to their new home; the other draconians in the fort left with them. They weren't harassed by goblins anymore, so they were able to make it without further problems. They named their new home Teyr and promptly began rebuilding the ruins of the ancient city and set up their own government.

Because of the nature of male auraks, that type being rare, and Thesik being the only female, an arranged pairing was set up between her and one named Artisanthax by Kang. He didn't like having to do so, and Thesik agreed to it knowing that it was best for everyone. She knew that if she had chosen to say no that Kang wouldn't have forced her into it; she considers him to be a surrogate father as did almost all of the females, and knows that she's considered to be a surrogate daughter.

Luckily, things turned out well with Artis, though it was a little rocky at first. He clearly adores her, and never pushed her into things she wasn't ready for, and she cares about him as well. He even named the herb shop he runs after her. She spends much of her time working with the Minister of Information and advising Kang, who became the Lord-Governor of the draconian nation of Teyr. She's regarded as a princess, if not a queen, and while she is aware that there are some draconians that would prefer her to be in charge, she's perfectly content to wait for Kang to step down, no matter how long it takes or the reason.

She and Artis's first clutch of children, all three daughters, are about two years old. Unlike the first generation of draconians, the natural ones mature at roughly the same rate as a human. When she's not busy with government issues, she takes care of her children and spends time with her mate.

Personality: Draconians tend to be Lawful Evil, but there are some, like Thesik, that are Lawful Neutral instead. The males were raised very harshly by the humans, thrown into a large chamber once hatched and forced to fight each other for the scarce amounts of food they were given. The strong were rewarded, the weak died. The females, however, never had to commit fratricide just to survive, and are very close with one another. Thesik considers all the other females as her sisters, even though they aren't related by blood. The males in the regiment that raised them are practically family, and she views Kang as a surrogate father. She also has a soft spot, like all the other females, for Cresel, who was their main guard when they were younger and often told them that he hated doing it.

The females never fought in the War of the Lance, either, so while they've been raised to distrust other races, especially humans, the dislike doesn't run quite as deep. The same applies to metallic dragons, who would kill draconians during (and after) the war and considered it to be a mercy. They largely view their warped children as perversions. Thesik and the other females were raised with stories about dragons, and fear them, but have never before dealt with one. Chromatic dragons are somewhat distrusted, but not feared.

Like male auraks, Thesik is a bit prideful, but not to near the same degree. She doesn't expect to be worshipped, though she won't turn it down when it happens or be rude to those who don't. All personality similarities with males end there. She isn't arrogant, or self-serving, and has a tendency to daydream. That tendency also means that she'll get distracted by things around her, so she needs someone to keep her focused on the goal. Her best friend Fonrar, being very goal-oriented, does that very well.

She is very perceptive, and picks up on the underlying meanings of people's words rather easily. When Cresel once said that he'd be fine with digging latrines for the rest of his life (because it would mean that he would stay alive rather than be killed by goblins), she understood what he meant immediately while Fonrar was confused and thought he just liked to dig latrines.

She's very curious, and enjoys learning new things. She can be a bit naive at times, but that certainly doesn't mean she's a pushover. She will stand up for herself and for those she cares about, and she doesn't like being coddled. She's quite capable of taking care of herself, thank you.

When Thesik was younger, she felt like a bit of a freak because she didn't have wings like other draconians. She was told that auraks didn't have them, but thought that maybe they'd grow in one day. She's since accepted that they won't, and doesn't worry about it anymore. It's just another aurak thing to her, like her natural talent at magic and her unerring sense of direction.

She doesn't particularly like to kill, but she will if the people she cares about are threatened, and she won't feel bad about it afterwards. Maranta's death shook her up only because of how horrific it was watching him burn and the fact that she hadn't intended to kill him. She's fiercely protective of her sisters, Kang, Artis, and her children, especially, and any draconian child, because of how few of them there are yet.

Killing done by others doesn't really bother her much unless she's close to the one that was killed. She also isn't bothered by things like eating other races when necessary; when they were on the run from goblins, food was running low and they were forced to eat what they could. That meant a kender encountered on the road became a meal once.

The way draconian raise their children could be considered a bit rough by other races. She doesn’t hesitate to use warning growls, or cuffs on the head, or even pinning one of her children down if they continue to misbehave to show dominance. Her interactions with her mate can be viewed as a little rough, too; a light punch on the shoulder, or a bite, are signs of affection from females to their mates. It's fairly common for her and her sisters to punch each other as well, or to get into small scuffles.

Overall, though, she's friendly and it's quite obvious that she's still very young despite her intelligence and her magical skills.

Abilities/Strengths: Thesik can survive on 1/10 the food and water a human needs, due to low metabolism. Her dragon blood allows her to see up to 120 feet in the dark (heat signatures on the infrared spectrum), and up to three times that in low-light (normal spectrum). Her day vision is slightly better than a human's, as is her hearing, and her sense of smell is much more acute (but not to the extent that she can track).

Being an aurak, she is a naturally skilled sorceror. Her spells are listed here, along with her limitations and the components necessary. She also has an unerring sense of direction, and never gets lost.

She is also fairly adept with a sword or a dagger, though she prefers to use her magic instead. She's physically stronger than a human, but not by much, and tussles with her sisters make her somewhat skilled at hand to hand.

Her perceptiveness and natural curiosity, and interest in learning make her a very good advisor in sticky situations. She'll take the time to learn everything she can about all sides before making a decision on what to do, weighing pros and cons.

She has some skill in basic engineering (siege engines, construction and the like).

Weaknesses: As stated before, she can be a bit naive at times, and possibly taken advantage of. Also, while stronger than a human and having some hand-to-hand and weapons skills, it is possible for a skilled human to overpower or defeat her in combat. This is part of why she prefers using magic, because she can use it from a distance.

Defining Quote(s):

"You're good at making decisions, Fon. You're good at taking on responsibility. When the two of us walk through a forest, you concentrate on the path. You look right straight down it to the end. You don't see anything else but the goal and how to reach it. Me -- I get distracted by the trees and the birds, the plants and the animals. I want to see everything. I'd wander around lost in that forest forever, Fon, if you weren't along to help me find the way out."

"Yes. But some day a tree's going to fall down on top of me or something's going to jump at me from that forest and I'd never see until it was too late. You, on the other hand, would be watching for it."

--

"I will not keep hidden! If anything bad happens it's going to happen to both of us!"

Significant Logs/Threads: http://kannagara-network.dreamwidth.org/330252.html?thread=17452812#cmt17452812

Action Writing Sample: Aurican? Are you still here? It looks like I've been brought back, and I don't know for how long this time.

[She looks a bit nervous, worried, the spines on the top of her head standing up slightly and her scales clicking quietly. She's pretty sure by now that she can trust Aurican, but there's still some lingering fear that maybe it had all been an act to get her in close so he could kill her.]

I'm going to need a place to stay, and... you're the only person I know here.

[She sounds sheepish, as if she's embarrassed to even ask.]

Third Person Writing Sample: She was back.

The first time she'd been to this Kannagara place, she'd spent no more than a couple of days there before being sent home. She wasn't sure why, though she was glad for it. She had things of her own to take care of, and didn't want to get involved with the affairs of the gods of this place. She didn't like not having a say in her decisions.

When she'd gone home before, she'd almost thought it'd been a strange dream. She'd met a gold dragon, one of her direct ancestors, and had formed a sort of friendship with him. All her life, she'd heard stories about metallic dragons and how they killed draconians, how they saw their children as vile perversions that needed put out of their misery. Aurican was from milennia before any of that had happened, and she'd been afraid that he would feel the same way about his great-grandchildren. She'd been surprised at his anger over how the metallics had treated their lost children.

The only people she'd told about it were Fonrar, Kang and Artis. She knew they would believe her, and help her sort out her feelings on the matter. She still wasn't quite sure how she felt.

Thesik wondered why she'd been brought back, and how long she would be there this time. Hopefully it would be short again, and she could go home permanently to her mate and daughters, and her job helping Granak and Governor Kang. She was needed, especially with her daughters being only two years old and extremely active; it was a miracle she and Artis got a good night's sleep at times.

She glanced at the massive tree, then down at the Hitomi in her hands. At least she knew one person from home. She wouldn't be entirely alone. Sighing, she sent a message to Aurican, hoping that he hadn't been sent back to Krynn. She felt a little guilty with that selfish hope, though.