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Image Credits: Lines from Chaosium / Warp Graphics Elfquest game
Snakeskin
Bonded to: . From:
Age: 2000+ Born in: unknown season Died: -550 during troll ambush
Soul Name: jhai Known By: Wolfpaw Found:
Sex: Mate Status/Sex Preference:
Parents/Relatives: half-wolfblooded (mother pure elf, father wolf-blooded) Unknown parent names, Orchid sister
Mates/Children:
Recognized Lifemate Wolfpaw, daughter Wolf Sister, son Spearbreaker; grandson Vanguard, granddaughter Rally
Original Tribe: Mothermoon Revived
Arrived to Bald Mountain: 350
Height/Build: 4'6", sturdy and muscular, broad shoulders
Hair Color, Length, Style: white with shimmery silver overtones, wavy and fluffy, to shoulders/top of back
Eye Color, Size, Shape: deep blue, nearly indigo, large and high
Skin Tone: though he has a reasonably olive skin ton he burns badly if exposed to too much direct sunlight; note that he does actually have face-fur, but he's got a lot more pure blood in him than wolf, and as such it's practically transparent, visible only as a bit of silvery sheen on his handsome jaw
Voice Quality: rich and deep, fatherly when pleased, terrifying as needed; uses words as well as sending and chooses those words carefully. No one wants to hear him yell at them
Clothing -- Summer: tends to wear the blue leggings without top pieces
Clothing -- Winter: as shown, blue leather bodysuit with grey fur, bracers of leather with snakeskin on arms, knee high fur topped boots, big leather belt, and snakeskin knife belt
Jewlery Worn, Made: none, though he does think more belts are cool
Tatoos/Markings/Scars: a reasonable number of scars had been apparent on his body and limbs, including what appear to be burn wounds that others offered to fully heal, however he keeps those to remind him not to go out into the sun all that much...
Pets/Animals Kept: none
Notable Posessions: he will take trophies from snakes or lizard creatures that he kills, by now it's habit but not why he's named Snakeskin originally; he keeps stories in his head, but he will certainly learn how to keep them by 'writing them down' in the future!
Holt Function: Memory Keeper and Storyteller
Strength: very high, those muscles aren't just for show
Dexterity: extremely high
Agility: very high
Health: high, he is a durable elf
Size: above average
Intelligence: extremely high
Appearance: above average
Charisma: high
Magic Power: high
Magic? How Powerful? Sending 9/10, Memory and Transfer 9/10 - he is quite adept at keeping track of information particularly about elves near him. He can take memories and emotions and share them with those nearby, recalling things even from elf minds that have fogotten details themselves. He can send directly to a massive group, up to 40 elves, and his mental voice is quite clear and strong even at ranges up to 10 miles. A more intimately familiar mind may sense him at up to 30 miles away
Magic Feeling 3/10 though he's able to do so, he doesn't concentrate on this since there's elf magic everywhere now
Wolf Bond 2/10 he's never 'expected' a wolf bond, though it still runs in his blood and he will gladly learn how to ride a dragon or other creature instead
Climate/Locations Preferred: enjoys chilly climates and high altitudes, which puts him more often than not up with the Childmoon elves on top of the cliffside
Current Residence in the Holt: With a clear view of the entire valley, Snakeskin's personal den is at 6,6 on the map, the central peak of three, which due to the shape of the peak, he's taken to calling 'flop-cap peak' since it seems to fold over at the top - it's actually due to the naturally occurring and now-reinforced cave entrance near the top, but it most certainly looks like the top of a leather hat...
General Likes: dreamberries, wine, flirting
General Dislikes: bright sunlight, surprises
Fears/Worries: he is not really afraid of anything right now, he's been dead, what more is there?
Special Strange Info: He was named not for his chosen protective gear of snakeskin and leather, but when he was very young and the tribe was on the move in hard sunlight. A terrible sunburn caused his pale skin to shed almost entirely, leaving painful scars for many eights, and though he healed from it he's never forgotten the lesson. However he does then go on to collect snake skins and treat his name as though that's why he earned it, and actually very few elves even now remember why he was named - most weren't around!
Basic Personality: he is old, though not the oldest of the elves among this group, and would have remained with the Mothermoon group while others with similar powers would go with the Childmoon tribe if he'd lived
How they feel about
Humans: he remembers the era when they were still hunting the wolfrider tribe they left, but it's been a very long time since then, and they have changed quite a bit! Not all, obviously, but he is curious about their behaviors near this large Bald Mountain holt
Elves -- herders: that just takes all the fun out of hunting, doesn't it?
Elves -- magic users: he respects those with magic that the Wolfriders don't typically have, he hadn't seen so much variety when he lived long ago!
Elves -- bond-riders: now there's a way up into the sky, into the clouds!
Trolls, etc: he had never even heard of trolls before they killed him, and they have a few living in Bald Mountain?! Why? But he doesn't display this fear as such, and he knows better than to think that they're here without permission or observation
Bond Animal Info if any: none currently, his last wolf, named Elksnap, died nearly 20 years before he did
Skills: Though able to keep up with any hunting party easily, he's quite good with mental and social skills, and leverages those now more than anything else
Hunt:
he enjoys using a javelin for hunting since he has a very good throwing arm
Howl: he is very much the communicator, and enjoys collecting stories, secrets, gossip and news from all sources. Tucking it away perhaps for future use, but usually even if it's something that really happened to elves nearby, he has changed the details or left out names when he then relates the story unless they give permission to use it 'as is'
Handsome: Snakeskin is a charmer that's for sure, and he has the rugged good looks of any Wolfrider, along with the swagger, to prove it. He's not arrogant, but he definitely will use his looks and body language as easily as sending when he notices anyone 'interested' in him
History: He seems to combine the best parts of pure and wolf blooded elf lines - he is sturdy and muscular, fit for the world of physical pursuits, but his mind has never rested. It is when he's storytelling or teaching that he feels his skills are being used best. His sending and memory powers combine with his carefully worded stories and these are almost as strong visually as the Scroll of Colors. He claims - before dying anyway - to have seen spirits speaking to him, dead relatives or perhaps even High Ones, but then he's also prone to enjoying dreamberries, and spying on other people's daydreams and fantasies. He knows that some hard feelings might follow but he's a keeper of those secrets even if people won't offer them right off.
Since there were only an eight of elders of his age (and only perhaps 2 older) at the time their tribe split off from Goodtree's wolfriders, he is often looked up to by the younger generation but he's never hesitated to ask them for their opinion or knowledge. Though he looks like an elder with his frosty white hair, he and his sister Orchid both are genial and accepting of any elf regardless of their age or bearing. He's not quite sure what to do with all the different ones now; there are high-ones and first-comers and firstborn, gliders and gobacks, dark skinned ones (oh how he does have a very faint envy of them, their bodies adapted to the sun, his rejected it entirely!) and those who have traveled very widely. He seeks to start collecting those memories too, and perhaps with some help from the shapers of both Mothermoon and Bald Mountain, he can create a den worthy of keeping 'written' records. He'll have to learn to write and read first!
**
"Where did you get that?" Orchid asked, a tiny bit sharper than she really intended.
Snakeskin blinked a couple times, looking around innocently, and then realized she'd seen it. The large egg, almost bigger than his whole body with arms outstretched. It sat on the open part of the cavern's ledge, safely away from the actual edge of it and in a bit of a cupped nook that kept it from rolling about.
"It was here when I got here," he said simply. Orchid grunted and lowered her head.
"It absolutely was not," Orchid said, this time meaning the sharpness. But her brother turned calmly, his cloud-white hair nearly matching his cloud-soft fur vest as he stared at her.
It was here when I got here, I don't know where it came from. Maybe those Others brought it. In sending there were no lies, and Orchid immediately realized he was telling the truth - which ... well, honestly was a bit of a switch given his typical tall tales.
"Maybe it was a gift from the shapers," she slowly nodded, "but they didn't say anything about bringing their dragon eggs here."
The night was dark, but by its mid point it was to two full moons that this large egg hatched. The dragon that emerged wasn't clumsy exactly, but he was large, with under developed wings that would obviously have to do a lot of growing before he'd be flight-worthy, and little nubs of horns. He creeled and the sound echoed strangely in the cavern system, and that apparently took the entire Holt by surprise. Enough minds sprang into Orchid and Snakeskin's that they both had to wince with it. They quickly subdued those minds by offering a visual, a dragon - just born, and amazing!
"This is somewhat awkward," Snakeskin said, as several of those elves came rushing into the cavern ledge. "But I think we may need to hunt... a lot."
**
They did hunt, and over time numerous other elves and even dragons kept up with the demand of this growing dragonet. Unlike many that the Bald Mountain elves had tended to, this one grew fairly slowly, but as he did so, he emerged as a truly magnificent youth when his wings were strong enough to carry him. He'd taken the name Moonblink, mostly given to him by Snakeskin when he saw how he hid in plain sight. They would become a team, eventually, though it would be only after quite some years... And certainly this dragon would eventually be among the largest dragons on the world, dwarfing most of the Bald Mountain dragons!
| Dragon | Name: Moonblink |
