LYDA. There was absolutely NO WAY SearchCo was going to let you walk away without your very own blue dragon! We had a blast creating this guy and making him your dream dragon. There’s a little bit of Disney, mixed with a little bit of fairy tale, blended with some darker elements of our egg theme to make up your beloved Jagastjarnath! We hope you enjoy him as much as we enjoyed watching him come to life in this inspiration. He is yours to do as you wish, so please mold him however you’d like!
All the hugs and squishes, -R’xim, Nasrin, Vosji & the rest of CritterCo17
Creation In Her Darkness Egg
Blacker than the deepest nightmares of mortal man shadows wrap around this pit of an egg. Light seems to be sucked in with nothing left to pour out to mortal eyes. Hesitation and caution hover about the curved dome of this egg. Those brave enough to reach within the darkness will find it smooth, almost as if nothing was there after all and this is simply a hole to infinity dug endlessly into the sands.
Egg Inspiration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyx
"Nyx is one of the original gods, born of Chaos." - N'tael
Hatching Message
Chaos breaks after it was born anew, the shell a thin thing that is no longer a sufficient keep for the dragonet within. The bastille breaks, the shell crumbles once started, but even now the being within must rest periodically, for exertion is now a thing for mortals. Finally, a shoulder is wedged against the shell when the dragonet kicks and out comes Retribution. Or Destiny. Or a topic of Dreams. Perhaps he is all of the above.
Hunt Among the Stars Blue Dragonet
A nocturne made flesh takes the final form of a blue who ransacked the sky for a little of its color when twilight wrests the horizon. There’s a pallor to his base that only gives glimpses at his throat latch and about the start of his muzzle where it parts from his head to a darkened jab, arrowhead nostrils barely a sliver for a face celebrated in memory. Dusky heron blue brings an impasto solution to great spade-shaped wings, spars fletched in magpie shine. A long neck and spine give his ribs some span, the hollows between bones still an aether of soft luminescence, like an aurora borealis smudged from night’s palm print. Proportioned limbs give a good stance anchored by the pierce of black enamel claws.
Public Impression Pose
Hunt Among the Stars Blue Dragonet musters the last of his resolve to find the missing portion of his existence, something present in this crush of candidates. With each camp groomed to link up with the other, the blue hatchling calls to his ancestry and rejects two, three, five candidates. He considers a stripling lad from the salt-producing Hold, then reassumes the hunt. He follows a scent trail, sees her tracks in the sand, and finally catches up with the one who will give him the most gain.
Private Impression Message
There’s displaced air from something nearly striking your face, entirely too fast, and with the hiss of a pit viper. The experience is repeated again, from the opposite side… and the aim is improving. « Stand still, won’t you? » A luscious voice comes with the price of a tilted accent. « Or actually, Lyda, go ahead and run if you wish it. I have the feeling it would be all the more interesting. » A coolness descends despite the geothermal power of the sands under your feet, an assurance of tall grass and damp earth, the reach of small tree limbs that may break off and stay with you. « Call me Jagastjarnath, my dearest Lyda. »
Clutch Theme Inspiration/Dragonet Tie-In
The theme for this Search cycle was ‘Such a Beast’, which meant that we collected egg descs for creatures of myth, prehistoric monstrosities, your 5th grade polymer clay fantasy critter, whatever animals that are legendary or extinct, real or fake. Jagastjarnath hatched from a egg desc’d after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. Which was the PERFECT model for an inspiration. Jagastjarnath is a creature of the night, a beastie that loves to be nocturnal regardless if poor Lyda needs sleep. His personality quirks teeter upon the dark side, as does his physical appearance… which makes him as mysterious as a moonlit sky over the ocean~
Description Inspiration
His description and messages are truly an amalgam of sources: Nyx from the original egg inspiration and her offspring Aether and others (she, like most gods, was very prolific), the aurora borealis, a night heron, and hunter— of course! We made him on the larger spectrum for a blue, and made his face memorable from the array of markings and straight symmetry of his snout.
Name Inspiration
Long names? Check. Y-and-j? Check, in fact, the J is standing in for where a Y might go were this another dragon with another name and another source. Jagastjarnath was definitely a team effort that started with our general inspiration for his personality and looking for something that met the long, y-j sound and other language requirements. R'xim tossed a bunch of words into Gaelic but didn't find anything that came up with the sounds you had asked for.
Cue Naneska suggesting Scandinavian sources, and Vosji leaping into a Swedish dictionary while skimming over your dragon's personality. She came up with 'jaga', meaning 'hunt,' and 'stjarna', 'star,' and rolled it together to suggest Jagastjarnath — meant to be a pronounceable and elegant example more than a final product. Except R'xim and Naneska both liked Jagastjarnath as it was, so it stopped being an example and became his name!
Depending on what rules of grammar you'd like to stretch the meaning from, it could be calling him a 'star hunter' or a dragon who 'hunts among (under) stars.' Perhaps your dragon prefers feeding at night, calling a literal sense from his name as well as the figurative.
While the technical "correct" pronunciation is Yea-gast-yar-nath, SearchCo has come to think of it as Yaga-STAR-nath. He's your dragon, and this is Pern wording rules, so how you really say it is up to you (and him)!
Mindvoice
Jagastjarnath has a sophisticated voice that soothes and chills all at the same time. There is a tinge of ice etched upon every purred syllable that leaves his tongue and some would even say that he has a very faint Fortian accent. That, of course, is left up to interpretation. Every dragon will form his or her own opinion about where he developed such a voice — afterall, how can a dragon adopt an accent they’ve never heard? Hmmm… It reminds us of a very familiar villain that we all love to hate, and we bet you can guess who we’re talking about.
« I despise guessing games. »
*ahem* Yes, Jagastjarnath, we know you do.
We find that his voice coincides quite well with a chilly evening ocean sky that happens to make up most of his mindscape. Illuminated by a bright full moon (some would argue that he inherited such a moon from his wolfish father, Lukoith) and blanketed by a clear night sky, an endless ocean stretches into the depths of his consciousness. Because of this, Jagastjarnath’s mood may change with the rising and falling tide. He is water-called and his mindscape embodies everything that is mysterious and dangerous about the ocean.
The general feel around the ocean of his thoughts is like chilled autumn air in the late evening hours, thus making him a creature of the night. If Jagastjarnath could live a strictly nocturnal life, he most certainly would. His inner thoughts are chilled with night air over restless ocean waves.
Depending on his current frame of mind, his inner ocean will resemble that which he feels. If he is in a foul mood, the water will churn. If he is content, the water will be calm. If he is pensive, the ocean will reflect like glass. You’ll know right when you tap into his consciousness just how he’s feeling if you ever have any doubt, Lyda. Just be careful that the waves don’t splash you if he’s feeling perturbed (it happens more than you know, especially if he has nosy greens getting all up in his space).
A glittering night sky bejeweled with diamond-like stars paints itself above Jagastjarnath’s ocean. It’s breathtaking. You’ll feel captivated whenever you see it in all of its glory, especially if he’s in one of those moods that stills the ocean to glass. At that moment, you’ll see nothing but those twinkling stars and you’ll wonder how you ever lived a life outside of his. Jagastjarnath has that effect on everyone that visits his mindscape, especially you.
When you’re wanting one-on-one time with Jagastjarnath, he’ll communicate with you much like the ocean did with Moana. The ocean will rise to meet you and interact with you through your senses — you’ll immediately breathe in the salty sea air and feel the brisk ocean air that perks you up if you were feeling drowsy. There are multiple scenes in the Disney film Moana that bring the ocean to life, and that is exactly how Jagastjarnath will greet you whenever he senses your presence within his consciousness.
Those who visit his mindscape will not get such a greeting from him. This method of how he communicates through his mindscape is reserved only for you, Lyda, and those who’ve established trust with him. Like in the movie, not everyone could see the ocean interacting with Moana. Jagastjarnath is very, very fickle about who gets to establish a bond with him… and you.
Physicalities
We opted to convey a significant length to your life-mate as an adult so that he’s comparable to a small brown, if someone were to get out their measuring tape. Like the night heron, he’s able to appreciate the world from a view above the earth, yes, via those pretty wings, but also in stature. He’s an adept walker for dragonkind, which may sound very basic, but when you’re talking about giant flying creatures, how they move on the ground is often a sort of afterthought. But like water, and a big cat (how’s that for a matched pair), he moves with a good conscience of motion.
But, like, Nynnth, and many of his clutch siblings, that will be no instantaneous thing. And they have a bird thing going on. Case in point:
In his early youth, there’s going to be some… milestones, shall we say. Ever see a baby bird up close? His mouth is going to be huge because he’s going to be signalling to you that you should stuff it as often and as much as possible. Mother bird. You’ll have to use the good sense of your weyrlingmaster staff to judge how much to feed him and not how much he wants to be fed. This won’t be an uncommon problem for weyrlings in general, but yours will have the FEED ME face intact for probably the first couple of months. Then it will stop being so much like a black hole and more like a normal orifice.
His wings will grow very fast and heavy initially, becoming very prominent within his age group. His muscles and ligaments will not be strong enough to hold them in place so be prepared—
Mwahaha. Thank you Scar. Be prepared to have them hang at 45° angles and they’ll probably be knocking into things, gaining some inconsequential scrapes and bumps, and when he sits, they’ll drape like they’re made of lead. Or Cremla’s poundcake she swears is part of a truly healthy diet. This stage will only last a few short sevendays, if that, until his muscles gain the strength and dexterity needed to manipulate them to his sides. After that, there will be no more gracelessness and he’ll have this thing called “growth” down to an endurable science.
After a span of time has passed when the clutch monsters can be cleared to hunt for themselves, you may notice Jagastjarnath becoming captious and picky. Should you offer food cut by your hand, he will eat it with fair gusto, but at the initial hunting trials in the feeding pens, he’ll tarry, get lazy-eyed, and seem to lose focus. He may outright tell you he doesn’t feel the urge to hunt and the herders may tell him to stop stressing the beasts if he isn’t going to feed.
One evening, you’re going to be asleep and Jagastjarnath’s hunger will urge him out into the bowl. You’ll be forced to follow and watch him stalk the pens with an unknown finesse, aim well, and snap his first kill. In two days you’ll experience deja vu, he’ll want to exit the pens under cover of darkness and eat in relative peace. The weyrlingmaster staff may bar your first attempts at nocturnal outings, but let it be known Jagastjarnath likes to eat at night, when the predator in him is ripe and he blends into the element of moonfall and seclusion. How this is going to affect your sleep schedule is not really his paramount concern. And if there are bags under your eyes?
“Oh, that's attractive.” -Princess Merida
Personality
Alright, Lyda, you said you wanted a darker dragon (not ‘evil’ per se, just more complex) and that is exactly what you got with Jagastjarnath. He has some striking personality quirks that make him stand out in a crowd, or, well… perhaps that make him stand away from the crowd. Unlike the majority of his clutch siblings, Jagastjarnath enjoys his alone time and prefers the quiet solitude of his ledge or anywhere that doesn’t have an abundance of chatty greens. He just can’t stand incessant gossiping and chattiness, really. It’s not in him to be ‘popular’ and join the rest of the group when they all start talking about how much fun it’d be to hang out by the lake one summer afternoon. Nope. Rather than at the lakeside with his clutchmates, he’ll be lounging in the shade with his proverbial sunglasses on. And maybe, just maybe he’ll watch from a distance.
Does Jagastjarnath require friendship? We could argue that he’s fiercely independent and doesn’t need companionship with anyone other than you, Lyda. But, let’s be real. He’ll know a few dragons that won’t drive him up the wall on a good day. In fact, his brother Aberith might be a good associate to have since he doesn’t say much of anything. This, of course, makes Jagastjarnath very happy. What’s better than having a bosom buddy that barely talks?
“I don’t think…” said Alice.
“Then you shouldn’t talk,” said the Hatter.
Jagastjarnath is not quite on the I-hate-everyone-and-think-everything-is-stupid level (yet), but he’ll certainly have days when he feels like everyone at Igen can flake off. He’s a bit of a mystery to those that don’t know him and he doesn’t give off warm n’ fuzzy vibes on a good day. He’ll actually go out of his way to avoid contact with most dragons and people at the Weyr because his tolerance level for, well… anyone is so low. This explains why he prefers to be active at night when most of the dragon population is asleep and tucked nicely into their abodes. This is when you’ll catch Jagastjarnath is some ‘cheery’ moods.
And are you a night owl, Lyda? You might want to consider becoming one if you aren’t already since this is the time when Jagastjarnath will want to have his heart-to-heart talks with you, or he’ll want to steal you away for a night flight, or he’ll want to hunt. His namesake, ‘Hunt Among the Stars’, is very true. If you can find the time to take him out for a moonlit hunt near Nerat or Keroon, he’ll be elated. Well. As much as Jagastjarnath can be elated, that is.
« Forgive me for not leaping for joy. »
We forgive you, Jagastjarnath, even if you ARE solemn six days a week and 80% on Sundays. (We think he’s so cute when he’s brooding. Just don’t tell him we said that plz.) When he’s being all broody about life in general, don’t expect a lot of people and dragons to flock around him since he’ll have his resting Scar face on — it’s an effective deterrent to make sure that he won’t be bothered by the rabble. This ensures that folks are discouraged from approaching him and, Faranth forend, talking to him. In case we haven’t already established this personality quirk yet, Jagastjarnath does not like to mingle with other dragons. He prefers the company of silence, so if there are dragons out there that don’t talk a whole lot (hello Aberith and Zsaviranth) he’ll be slightly more inclined to tolerate them.
Jagastjarnath thinks that the golds are broodmares, bronzes are dude-bros, browns are bumbling, blues are boring, and greens are downright irritating. Hey, we didn’t say that he hates them. He’ll just remind you of what he thinks about each color when you ask why he doesn’t want to interact with the other dragons at a gathering.
“Do you want to—”
« No. »
“Well, how about—”
« No. »
“Maybe we could—”
« Oh yeah, let me think… no. »
He’s cynical, your Jagastjarnath. The general dragon populace might not understand why he’s so ‘difficult’ to get along with and after a while some will just stop attempting to lighten him up. Of course, there will be some of those persistent types that want nothing more than to make him smile and laugh, but… eh heh. The battle is futile. Any sound of laughter rolling over his oceanic mindscape is rare and should be well noted whenever it does happen. It’ll usually mean that he’s developed a sliver of respect for the individual who inspired such a reaction.
“It is better to be feared than loved.” -Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
As we said, he’s a nocturnal dragon and requires very little sleep whenever he can get it. Power naps are not above Jagastjarnath. They can recharge his proverbial batteries in a jiffy and he’ll be ready to participate in drills and PT on short notice — this might blow the minds of other riders and dragons. How on Pern can he do that when others need a handful of candlemarks at the very least? Maybe it’s genetics or maybe it’s just that his priorities about being awake at night are just so strong. Either way, Jagastjarnath doesn’t need a ton of sleep to function during the day. Maybe while he’s lounging in the shade away from everyone he’s secretly taking a cat nap… He’s artful like that.
There’s a fine line that Jagastjarnath walks when it comes to being self serving as it borders against being conniving to get what he wants. Truthfully, he wants very little outside of being left alone to think. You help him meet most of his needs, Lyda, and you are his true twin flame. While you might not share these icy personality quirks of his you do know what it takes to truly make him happy (even if no one ever really sees what that’s like for him on the inside). Jagastjarnath is private. He doesn’t like a lot of people up in his space. You might find yourself explaining why he’s being such a snoot in public, or why it seems like he’s being snooty. It’s the resting Scar face we talked about earlier.
That face… Yeah. It’s a thing. And just because he has it on doesn’t mean he’s plotting the demise of those pesky greens. Nope. It just means that he’s thinking, which is a very dangerous pastime as it churns his thoughts. You’ll need to ask him what he’s thinking about if you find him looking like that when no one else is around, and he’ll usually have no problem sharing his opinion on whatever it is he’s thinking about.
« Wouldn’t it be nice if we lead our wing instead? »
Contrary to his lack of enthusiasm for most of the dragon populace, Jagastjarnath does have ambition and drive to be the best at what he does. Whether it’s hunting, or fighting thread, or improving his endurance level, he is quite driven when he wants to be. Does he ever show his passion for climbing the ranks at Igen? Rarely. Will folks know what his true goals are in life? Probably not. He keeps them to himself at all times unless you ask him. He’ll share secrets with you. Just be careful if you share said secrets with anyone else, Lyda, because he’ll know it was you who spilled the beans. And the aftermath won’t be very pleasant (IE: you’ve been warned~).
He was born with this personality, mind you. It’s not like something transformed him from a bubbly, cheery little blue into something much more solemn. From the moment Jagastjarnath broke shell and spilled onto the sands, he knew he had a match out there waiting for him. You’ll experience growing pains with him as you both learn about each other’s personality. There will come a day when it all clicks for you. You’ll have this deep understanding from Jagastjarnath’s perspective and life will just make perfect sense. All of his personality traits and mannerisms will settle deep within your being when you discover what makes him your hunter amongst the stars.
Thread
It’s an intrinsic thing in dragons to know what to do, in their gut, when Thread reaches the atmosphere. When the dragonets, excuse me— young dragons— are training with firestone in order to produce their own flames, Jagastjarnath is going to feel as fierce as any of them. He’s going to chew the rock as directed, wait the set duration of time, and when it comes time to flame, he’ll spook at the first sight of it.
And it’s going to take some guidance to see him through the shock. In time, he’ll learn to use fire as an ally, an instrument to smite his nemesis. This will almost become an obsession as he gradually learns about the different chemical components of firestone, which burn the strongest and which will lead to a duller flame.
Gradually, he has the knack to become one of the dragons who has both an eye for selecting the best grade for the circumstances of Fall, and will not be adverse to using the more common, lesser classifications of rock to chew as he, with practice, is adept at controlling the resulting gases and is quick enough to get closer to a target before flaming at it and getting out of the way. Conversely, give him a quantity of the high-phosphene content stuff and he’ll be like Merida on uppers, picking Thread off like dandelion fluff. If he could mount his kills, Gaston’s trophy wall would look like a third-grader’s bug collection.
“Merida, all this work, all the time spent preparing you, schooling you, giving you everything we never had. I ask you, what do you expect us to do?” -Queen Elinor
With the ability to last a full Fall’s duration, there’s going to be little trouble, in theory, getting admitted into the fighting wings. The self-discipline and skill it takes to be both good wingmates and leadership material is possible with your buddy, but empathy is a great mystery. If Jagastjarnath pushes you for advancement and you’re not ready, be prepared for a lot of resistance— or is it called “encouragement…”
During the days Thread is scheduled to visit, Jagastjarnath will want to surveille it before it reaches its destination, want to track the leading edge’s progress to learn of its habits. He’s almost unique at this when most dragons whip themselves into a frenzy when Thread is even mentioned. The hunter in him is sometimes reckless, but more often than not he tends to overextend himself, take too many clumps head-on, fill in for too many substitutions, want to rejoin his wing too soon when sidelined.
Flights
Unlike some dragons who chase anything with pheromones *coughTavuqthcough*, your life-mate is a clever, let’s call it a diabolical, courter. There may be an instance where, no one is in breeding mood, but he’s laying his charm down thick enough to spread with a butterknife. This would happen only to a select female, one whom he attempts to win before she even shows a clue of rising.
For the most part, greens exist to disturb the world’s natural order, at least according to Book of Jagastjarnath. He grasps the logic behind golds as broodmares and can excuse their matings once every Turn or two. Grudgingly. But he has the higher function to realize females are distracting.
He is discerning, conscientious of the energy and time commitments (for him and you) flights demand. Flights before a scheduled Fall are almost always a NO as he’ll preserve his best condition for the hazard he fights so well.
“Some people are worth melting for.” -Olaf the Snowman
Nine times out of ten, if Jagastjarnath is within the presence of a mating flight, he’ll probably just sneer at the wasted exertion and work that’s not being done by someone, somewhere. But there may be that seldom seen one-percent (or less) that stir something inside him and put his tail in proverbial knots. Will it be the same green each time? Or will he tire of the flavor of old flight bubblegum? And who is leading the Weyr when the senior queen is rising and every schmoe brown and bronze is chasing her tail.
For those uncommon females he does chase and catch, there’s the very real possibility he’s a secret cuddler, but this is completely classified data.
Credits
Name: Vosji, R'xim, Naneska
Egg Desc: N’tael
Dragonet Desc: Nasrin
Messages: Nasrin
Puppeteer: <credit>
Inspiration: Vosji, R’xim, Nasrin
Clutchmates:
Aleirian and Escaping the Trio brown Kyprioth
Doji and Dappled Behemoth of the Dawn brown Raktraeth
Herik and Chivalry Rides Again bronze Wendryth
Jinorav and Hanging by a Thread bronze Eyzaroth
Kairmine and Morning Star of the Rising Tides green Vedziyath
Rizalyn and Evening Star of the Restless Woods green Navikoth
Ryker and A Mirror Divides Them bronze Dhazkyth
Zavyr and Memories of Forevermore blue Nynnth
Harper’s Tale’s 77th PC Clutch
Igen Weyr’s 7th PC Clutch
gold Rajakhelath x bronze Tlazotezath & gold Niatskivhiath x brown Lukoith
30 June 2017