#Clìfeid

[theshimmeringisles]

WARNING: The following contains mentions of detailed violence, suicide, mental illness, drug/alcohol mention and spousal abuse. Please read at your digression.

Clìfeid Shinnan’vok (Surname taken later in life) Name Meaning: Soft Snow Son of Shinnan Nicknames: Clif, Killer, Pretty Boy (via Credomhain only) Gender: Male Age: 675 at time of death (possible suicide) Species: Kurosian Dragon Breed: Yinvaht+Urlathei Hybrid Main Element: Ice Minor Element: Fear Patron Gods: Main: Unnamed Shadow Diety Minor: Mahoura Titles: Stalker of Shadows, The Bee Keeper Relations:

Mates: Many, notably Creidmheach

Sire of Ifreann and Ciar Creid’vel

Sire of more than two dozen other children throughout Kurosia

Bio:  Much about Clìfeid is unknown until he made his mark on Kurosian history by being found by the then-monarchs in their private chambers with the head of the then-Chroma’s Admiral strapped to his side. He tossed the head of the Chroma’s most decorated and seasoned warrior to the King and Queens’s feet in their personal chambers, declaring that he wished to be one of their chief assassins, and that he would still serve them until his dying breath. During his fight against the late Admiral, his throat had been deeply cut, altering his voice to a near-whisper until his dying days.

But that did not mean he could not kill, or spy. Clìfeid was enlisted in many assassination contracts following his Grounding, still fully capable of fighting against Chroma and others the Kuros pitted themselves against or had war declared on them by. After all, he had spent an undetermined part of his life training to kill the Chroma’s most powerful, and knew well how to take their lives without being noticed. For seasons Clìfeid fought bravely, serving his monarchs and his people, dispatching of many an enemy the Kuros found themselves pitted against.

But it would eventually become too much for even a seasoned killer, and for no other reason than wishing to pursue other avenues of life, Clìfeid stepped down from his position. Assumed an entirely new identity, dying his scales and feathers an entirely different hue, and stepped out into the public eye for the first time.

And was promptly bowled over by one of the stockiest, rudest Brokt teen he’d ever laid eyes on. With a crude laugh she helped him back up and barreled off on her way with a gaggle of other Brokt and students headed to the colleges. With a snarl Clìfeid went about his business, his life carrying on mostly normally from them on.

Over the course of the next few generations, Clìfeid lived as any other Kuros did. He made a name for himself as a bee keeper, being one of the few who could walk among their hives without being stung by the ferocious breed that called the Kuros’s capitol home. The honey that he gathered was well sought after, specifically by non-Kuros, who claimed that his honey had psychoactive affects and helped those with PTSD and other mental illnesses. Clìfeid felt as if his life had finally become somewhat normal.

Until the Chroma declared war on the Kuros again, and he became one of their primary war criminal targets. Forced out of retirement, Clìfeid was enlisted not as a soldier, but as a military strategist. Though many suns had passed since the peak of his activity, and many things had changed, what he had seen and could recollect during the peak of his career as a paid killer was invaluable. But Clìfeid could not remain behind the front lines for very long.

The first-born son of the Admiral who’s life Clìfeid had taken challenged Clìfeid‘s honor, and revealed his greatest shame gathered by their own spies. Clìfeid hadn’t spent all of his life until killing the Admiral training to kill; he’d been a petty thief in Bjartr Tunga, fed tales of glory days of old from one of his banished Kurosian parents. Determined to live most of his life honored by his true people, Clìfeid had traveled to War Fang, killed the Admiral in his sleep, and spun the story that would cement his honor among his people.

Furiously, Clìfeid accepted the challenge, and the fight between the Admiral’s son (who had become the Electricity Guardian for the Chroma) and the former assassin who had fought so desperately for his own honor was long and bloody. For a time the battle around them ceased, as the Kuros and Chroma watched the two rip and tear at each other furiously for hours. Even with numerous ice shards causing the Guardian incredible damage, he still fought Clìfeid; and even with his scales burnt and his vision permanently damaged from the lightening that had been shot through him, the assassin still fought.

The duel came to an end when the Guardian took hold of Clìfeid’s left wing, and ripped it from his body. With the gaping wounds bleeding freely, Clìfeid collapsed, unable to move. The Guardian stood over him, triumphant, his body humming with wild arcs of electricity that would poised to finish the job.

But they never came. Before Clìfeid’s eyes the Guardian’s head turned a full and unnatural 180 degrees, the crack of bone and sinew filling the silence that had fallen.

Standing over him was the Brokt from all those years ago, looking down at him with a feral grin. “Well,” she bellowed, more to the gathered crowd than to him, “don’t just sit about gapin’! There’s a war to be fought!”

Creidmheach Stòrach’vel Name Meaning: Believer Daughter of the Broken Nicknames: Brick, Creid Gender: Female Age: 412 at time of death (accidental: alcohol poisoning) Species: Kurosian Dragon Breed: Brokt Element: Earth Patron Gods: Main: Bruja’heim Relations:

Daughter of Stòrach Duslach’vel and Clachair Poll’vel

Distant relation of Scarmane/Ea’Gann

Dam of Ifreann and Ciar Creid’vel

Mate of Clìfeid Shinnan’vok

Bio: Daughter of the Broken, she was called.

Daughter of the Incomplete, at times.

Sometimes even called broken herself, throughout her life.

But from a young age she understood why they called her that. Looking into either one of her mothers’ eyes, she could see it. That generations before they had her, they’d been broken by their enemies. Captured by the ones who challenged the Kuros the most, and tortured for years. The one who could call sandstorms to her aid changed her name, so ruined was her spirit when she and Clachair escaped.

They were hailed as war heroes, for on their way out they tore a path through the soldiers of the glowing ones’ forces, leaving bodies in their wake from their glimmering castle all the way back to Kurosia. But though their return was celebrated, it also caused unrest among the people; the two were inseparable. They rarely left one another’s sides. For a time they called one another mjia; for a very, very long time. But then her egg appeared between their sleeping bodies one night, and they turned against one another.

This was not the Kuros way. What they’d been feeling for years was wrong, in every sense of the word; the people had seen it, but they’d been so blinded by the horrors inflicted upon them. They tried to separate from one another. Tried to seek out others to keep them company. But the pair could never truly split apart while they took brief moments to help raise Creidmheach. In those moments, Creidmheach saw just how much they hated what had happened between them.

Sometimes it was just words. Whispered so that she didn’t hear, leaving one or the other’s eyes raw and glistening with hurt. Then snarled. Then shouted. Then Clachair struck Stòrach, and from then on, it became violent. Both blamed the other for having fallen in love while trying to survive the torture they’d endured.

Until it came to a violent and bloody head with their teeth buried in each other’s throats.

With Creidmheach being witness to the entire fight.

From then on, she wasn’t the same. She was loud, cocky despite her own broken spirit, and crude. She swore that one day she would be so strong, that she’d never be so weak as her mothers. And anyone who called her broken or less than they themselves were, she’d beat into a bloody pulp.

Over the years she gained a name for herself as a Brokt to be reckoned with. But it was rare that she even briefly considered entering into mating contracts. Even if the other could match her in battle, the memories of her mothers stopped her blood cold, and usually the prospective would earn themselves a sharp blow to the head. Creidmheach didn’t have many friends, either.

Not until she saved the life of another Kuros in battle.

The fight itself had been long, and gruesome. She’d heard up close the reason why the former assassin had accepted the challenge. Watching it filled her with some foreign emotion she could not name; respect, perhaps? Admiration? No, no. Certainly not that. Whatever it was, she’d felt her body move without her will when the Chroma scum had been building up the killing blow. Took a powerful bolt of lightening right into the eye, burning it out of its socket in an instant, but the shock on the Guardian’s face had been worth it as she’d snapped his neck with her own claws.

Standing over the former assassin’s body, she’d shouted at the two crowds, which had launched the battle back into full swing while she dragged the dragon’s body to the healer’s tent.

When he’d come to, the former assassin who’d been grounded introduced himself, and asked why she’d saved him. With a shrug, she’d grinned at him, unable to answer his question. Over the next few months, Clìfeid helped her adjust to the prosthetic eye gem she was given, while she taunted him relentlessly about having become Grounded. In reality, she had a great deal of respect for him accepting his fate with such grace. According to law, he hadn’t won back his honor; she had. And though others sneered at him at times, Clìfeid did not let it affect him. His chief concern was that she was well enough within the next season.

....all so he could challenge her to a mating contract.

To her own hidden, personal horror, she accepted.

Trivia: Clìfeid

Clìfeid’s parents were second-generation Kuros, both of whom had parents that fled Kurosia due to falling in love. As such, Clìfeid has differing views than most of his brethren of love, but on retiring from assassination, adapted well into that role. (According to many of his mates, he was very generous as a partner.)

Bees (and most other insects) not stinging Clìfeid is due to his Urlathei parentage.

This is a trait he passed down to Ciar, who not only is rarely stung, but is also immune to most bites from spiders and other insects.

Clìfeid’s voice claim is Rorsach from Watchmen, but he can’t raise his voice above more than a harsh whisper after his throat is cut.

Clìfeid has very close friendships with his fellow Kuros and those he left behind in Bjartr Tunga. After he is Grounded, he takes up writing to them regularly, which is allowed as Bjartr Tunga is considered a neutral territory and a good hub of trade for the Kuros.

After Ifreann freed Titus and was banished from Kurosia, Clìfeid did something he’d never done before: sampled his own wares. He found that it did indeed induce a momentary high, and as he ate more over the next few seasons, kept building a tolerance to it.

Of his last two daughters, Clìfeid did not have a closer relationship with one or the other; he loved them and paid equal amounts of attention to them both. The two knew they were deeply loved by him, and he was unashamed to shower them with affection that others would sometimes scoff at; the girls didn’t mind, and enjoyed feeling like they meant quite a lot to their sire.

Before his grandson could hatch, Clìfeid wrote a letter to Asiirha, encouraging him to follow the path that made his heart happy rather than what he thought would gain the attention of those he looked up to. This would deeply affect Asiirha later in life when, shortly before The Fall, Ciar gave the letter to him. She hadn’t had the heart to tell him about it, as her sire’s death still pained her greatly.

Trivia: Creidmheach

Creidmheach’s mothers likely would never have entered into mjia partnership if they hadn’t been captured and kept for as long as they had. Stòrach herself often told her daughter that the only reason they became so close was that a sense of battlefield camaraderie had been warped by their captors. This kept Creidmheach from forming many close friendships with others, so fearful was she that she might end up like them.

Most Brokt are unable to undergo the painful process of having their horns carved. But not only did Creidmheach do this twice, she had it done four times.

Though her descendants are many, few of Scarmane’s blood were strong enough to endure the pain horn carving caused.

Like Clìfeid, Creidmheach found herself turning to substance abuse when her daughter brought their family shame. Already a regular drinker from adolescence, the Brokt became a fully blown alcoholic, despite Ciar trying on multiple occasions to get her mother to drop the habit.

Creidmheach’s voice claim is Fionnula Flanagan. (Example)

Creidmheach had a habit of giving those she crossed paths with on multiple occasions nicknames. Despite his scars (or perhaps because of them), Creidmheach would often call Clìfeid effeminate pet names, but ‘Pretty Boy’ was her favorite. (It was his, too.) She called her daughters ‘Tiny’ and ‘Puny’ frequently, alternating between the two.

Despite their ranks within Kurosian society, Creidmheach is quite theatrical about her daughters’ sizes and physical strength. She believes they are not truly Brokt unless they physically match her bulk. When Asiirha hatches, she looks at Ciar with wide-eyed shock, and blurts out ‘You pushed THAT chunk outta your vent?!’ Hers are the first words that Asiirha hears when he comes out of the egg.