Say it with us now:
"I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be, than me."


Sawyer, our darling dear, our sweet, our pet, you've brought so much interest with your character and your personality in general that it would be a crime to not give you what would make you happiest. It was a pleasure to put work in to make sure this happened, and all of us hope that you continue doing exactly what you have been, 'cause WE LOVE IT. — Kyara, Mayte, Sadaiya, Trek.

Sudden Darkness Egg

At first glance brightness and joy seems to sparkle from this unassuming ovoid. Pleasure curls from domestic tranquility till closer inspection reveals devious undercurrents of pure black. Close inspection reveals the growing horror of deepest black which reveals itself only in the absence of light, a horror which inspires fear of a frozen or burning demise.

Egg Inspiration

There is nothing more frightening than the abrupt absence of light that comes from a power outage. Especially if you live in an area where heat or air conditioning are important. -K'vvan

Hatching Message

Sudden Darkness Egg is still, quiet, and serene. Perhaps it is a dud, an egg which will not hatch. But no, for there, in one abrupt movement, the egg shatters under a ferocious blow from within. No stumbling entry into the world for this young dragonet, no. There is a distinct sense of PRESENCE when this brown steps from the remains of his eggs, already focused on the candidates with a whirling and contemplative eye.

I Am Brown Dragonet

Ebon-cloaked with browns so dark as to be black dust their ash over a frame classically composed. Each line follows the next with fluid brawn, from the dramatic points of his ferocious snout, to the tapering length of his serpentine tail. His burly limbs and sturdy torso hulk beneath the dramatic canopy of silken wings, casting shadows over seasoned oak contours. The shadows clear towards his stalwart chest, leaving only its traces in endless whorls of russet, a stark contrast against the lighter buff of sunrise that breaks on his tum.

Public Impression Pose

It’s almost a shock when that lurking brown stops, so much motion brought to a standstill. He sits there on the sands before the audience, craning his nose back and forth. He is statuesque in that moment, as he searches, searches for just the right one. Finally, oh joy! It’s as if the right one was there, all along. Again, sudden movement, as if I Am Brown Dragonet has sprung forth, evading any distractions to find his keeper until he’s able to stare up into honey’d brown eyes, his head craning up to peer closer.

Private Impression Message

Opaqueness overtakes you, cancelling out the Sands, the noise, the light. In this moment, there is you, and there is quiet, and a sense of WEIGHT. Slowly, drifting in from some nebulous corner of this opaque world comes a presence, a dark overwhelming feeling, taking you in, moving within you, as two minds slowly encounter and wrap around each other, spiralling ever upward, seeking to edge the other out, but knowing one cannot be without the other. Dampness ensues, the cool, almost clammy call: « I am Wyrraith. You are Sawyer. Come, it is time to eat. »

Theme Inspiration

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There is a popular understanding in our culture that the superhero is the one with some super special abilities who is good, and the supervillain is the one with their own special abilities who is bad. That isn't really the case, though, is it? The truly effective heroes and villains in both literature and art are those who are flawed somehow, who are not wholly good or bad. The best superhero doesn't always make the right choice, and the ultimate supervillain shows signs they could be redeemed.

It is within that nebulous area that Wyrraith takes shape. He is also neither wholly good nor wholly bad; he is simply who he is meant to be, and he likes it that way. After all, in fulfilling a necessary role to the best of our abilities, we can find purpose for our lives. So it is with Wyrraith.

When you began to describe Sawyer's ideal lifemate, you gave so many excellent examples of the flawed superhero (or villain). The Hulk, Mr. Hyde, Wreck-It Ralph, the Beast… but what resonated most with the the idea of an instinctual being with unlimited capacity for both good and bad was Groot. When Groot first appeared in 1960 in the realm of Marvel, he was an invader bent on capture and experimentation, though his backstory goes deeper than that. He was not content to buy into the abusive prejudices of his kind. He went his own way, defending another creature his kind felt were inferior. He was exiled for his choices and actions, and his story developed from there.

Later on, he would be portrayed as a monster in 1976, and as a nightmare figure in 1997. When he reappeared in 2006, he would become one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which is the version portrayed in the hugely successful film. In short, he went from nightmarish villain to blockbuster superhero. And why? Because it is within a character's development and depth that we find the truth of their existence, and to Wyrraith, truth is the heart of everything. Including Sawyer.

Description Inspiration

We wanted to include elements of shadow in there with juuust the faintest nod to the day. He’s a beautiful dragon, there’s no doubt about that, and very striking. There are some superhero elements in the description, too, like Hellboy's little tail, and Groot's oak-like body, with some very Hulk-like proportions. And those russet whorls? Maybe they're not plaid, but… Ralph's shirt gets a very russet tinge to it when things grow dark.

Name Inspiration

We latched on to one particular piece of your request- that the name sound rather growly. We took that and started mixing around. Your idea of Groot had us swinging around for plants. Digging deeper it was suggested that Sawyer, the wild little thing that she is, requires a root. That idea led us to Google Translate and the Welsh word for root- gwraidd. Sadie pointed out that ‘wraith’ was a pretty word. Mix gwraidd about, put in a bit of ‘wraith’, and we landed on what seemed like the perfect name A little bit of root and a little bit of growl.

But then, of course, why would a name be easy? We had settled on a name; we used it everywhere in the Inspiration, but then…one of us typed the name incorrectly and instantly fell in love with the typo. It felt right, it read right, still had some rrrr…we just couldn't help it.

Wyrraith.

Mindvoice

When Wyrraith first touched your mind amid all the commotion and activity on the sands, there was a cool, indistinct quality to his mind and to his voice. As his mind and essence bonded with yours, however, that obscure cloud would soon dissipate, revealing his true self to you in stark, vivid detail. In those final moments before Impression, Wyrraith's very being was still forming, and out of the ether of creation, touched by your influence, his inner being sprang to life, shaping itself around yours, both embracing and encompassing who you are, while cementing who he is.

He is a driving force bent on sweeping you along with him both for your own good and for his. He is both shield and barrier, dominion and defender, censor and cultivator, but he is all these things because it would be unnatural for him to be anything else, which is the truth he will reveal to you, Sawyer, on a daily basis. Others might see him as a simple, chaotic brute, but you will know right down to subconscious levels that he does not mean to be so black and white, that his true existence is within the grey. There is a depth to him in which you can (and possibly sometimes will) lose yourself.

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Wyrraith understands the bond better than most. It is within him that Sawyer is made whole. It is within her that Wyrraith is made whole. Is it not then better that he envelop her mind within his?

I am Wyrraith. You are Wyrraith. We are Wyrraith. Three statements, one meaning.

Wyrraith's mind is complex, but there is an instinctual order to it that will become more defined as he ages. To those other than Sawyer, however, it may seem the opposite, more chaotic, more wild, more simple, but that could not be further from the truth. He feels everything, and while intellectual understanding might be beyond him, the truth of what he witnesses and feels will become readily apparent to him long before his clutchmates begin to grasp such enigmatic concepts, and in trying to share how he feels, he may blast others with a barrage of sensation that might reinforce the idea that he is a wild being of chaos. Within the cacophony of color and emotion, Sawyer will find a peaceful oasis of love where others sense only the jarring clash of senses.

As Wyrraith touches Rhakanth's mind, a wash of carnal red and shadowy black swirls and whirls around splashes of stormy green slashed through with vivid violet. It is lit with the afterglow of lightning while the scent of its electricity slowly fades, tingling the nose and turning the taste of glorious meat into a bitter, acrid postscript of singed leather. Amid the sounds of crashing pressure and sudden vacuum, his deep words reverberate, settling with the roll of aftershocks. « We eat now. » Thunder recedes and the wash of crimson gives way to the bluest skies while a belated thought is shared, « Speak later, » after which he retreats entirely, leaving only blank silence in his wake.

Meanwhile… Outside the compressing safety of Wyrraith's mind, Sawyer can sense her lifemate's irritation at being interrupted. Hunger is all. Hunger and Sawyer. Always Sawyer. Inside their existence, the harmonious calm of a life intensified all but drowns out the clamor of scents and sounds, while never-ending eddies of color flow around them.

How does Wyrraith speak? With truth. Unlimited, boundless truth. The kind of truth that both cuts and heals, binds and frees, illuminates and subdues. He speaks what he feels, he shares what he does not understand, he rejects what he believes to be false. His mind is honesty personified in every beautiful, ugly, harsh, gentle aspect of life.

Physicalities

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Wyrraith is big, but that's only the beginning. He has the shoulders and back of an ultimate fighter, with limbs as stocky and solid as hardwoods. He might not grow to be quite as long as some of his clutchmates due to a quickly tapering tail, but what good is length without strength and the knowledge of how to use it? And use it he will. On the ground, he'll have the sinuous, bow-legged gait of a komodo dragon, with no ounce of strength gone to waste. Just as he instinctually understands truth, he also understands strength, and he will come to know the worth of his own. But not at first.

For the first couple months, Wyrraith might underestimate just how much stronger he is than Sawyer, which might might end with some collateral damage along the way. Like the child who watches a moth with rapt attention, the moment he tries to capture it for a closer look, he might accidentally damage it, unaware until that moment just how much bigger and more powerful he is. While the extreme of that will thankfully fade as Wyrraith grows older, it might not ever fade entirely, to the extent that dragons and people other than Sawyer might choose to keep their distance rather than tempt those powerful legs and tail knocking into or around them.

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The hide around his shoulders will be continually stretching as his muscles gain bulk, though that will gradually decrease once he nears his full size. Until then, oiling his hide might need to be done several times a day, with a careful watch for any splitting. His wings will grow in odd spurts, with the spars growing too quickly for the sails, then the sails stretching until they're almost baggy, but only until the bone growth catches up. He might resemble an odd, gangling bat for a while until the proportions even out. They will in time, but those first few attempts at flying might not be as successful as one could hope. Who gets it right the first time, anyway?

In time, he will ride the currents and thermals as if he has come into his inheritance and is going to milk it for all it's worth. Perhaps he won't have the finesse of his blue and green clutchsiblings, but he will embrace his own strength and cunning with a savage zeal and use it to his advantage, whether it's in fighting Thread, chasing a glowing hide, or running down his next meal. When he reaches his top speed, he's still going to have the strength of 'sail and 'spar to bank hard, to pull out of breakneck dives, or to climb above Igen's vengeful storms, and he will glory in it.

After all, Wyrraith is about truth, and there is something utterly, starkly beautiful in the truth of movement. From afar, his dark body moving through the skies above Igen might look like some sort of interpretive, aerial dance, ferocious but oddly delicate. Sawyer, however, will come to know the sheer amount of joyful effort he puts into his every movement, the pleasure he derives from feeling the burn of every muscle, the caress of biting sand across his wings, the tug of rain as it cascades down his hide. Unless there is a job at hand (such as burning Thread from the sky), efficiency in movement will be lost on Wyrraith. He wants to feel everything, experience everything. You, Sawyer, will know his truths in how he thinks, but others will best learn his truths in how he moves.

Personality

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On the outside, Wyrraith might seem like this brute of a dragon who acts without thinking. He has a great capacity to wreck havoc on his surroundings, whether it's devouring his meal with messy gusto or clearing his own path through a knot of chasing dragons through any means necessary. Sawyer, however, will know the truth.

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His world is Sawyer, Sawyer is his world, and Sawyer is Wyrraith, just as Wyrraith is Sawyer. From the moment of impression, all of that became inseparable, and it both drives and guides Wyrraith to do what he does. In a way, he believes Sawyer belongs to him, though it tends to go a bit further than the normal rider-dragon sense of belonging. She is his precious jewel, and he will do everything he can to protect her. If some numbnuts ever decided to try to attack Sawyer with a weapon, for example, it wouldn't just be the guy's nuts that are numb. He'd be dead. It's a simple equation.

Don't mistake him for Sawyer's knight in shining armor, though. He is the sword of truth, and he is the cleansing fire that both consumes and nourishes Sawyer. She is his because it is the only way to be, for both of them. He will bend her to his will, and she will yield. She will want to yield. When the weyrlingmasters lecture about controlling the mindlink, it will likely feel utterly foreign and impossible to Sawyer. Wyrraith, meanwhile, will have it down pat. Their world will not end in chaos as so many others might warn, however. Sawyer will be devoted to Wyrraith in mind and body, but like any genuine master, Wyrraith's motives are as much to keep Sawyer safe and happy as they are to further his own goals, whatever they may be.

Outside their bond, others will rarely get to see or understand the heart of who Wyrraith is. Others might see him destroy Sawyer's cot in the barracks and think he is merely destructive, or even that he is punishing her for something. Sawyer, however, will know he did it because it was an uncomfortable cot, and because this way she has an extra excuse to curl up next to him at night. When he flings the hide of that herdbeast at Sawyer, is he merely acting the savage brute, or was he trying to share part of his meal with his lifemate? It gets cold in winter.

Flights

Ah, that carnal hunt. It makes the blood sing. So much of what a dragon truly is becomes apparent when that instinctual lust pushes all other wants and needs to the background. When opportunity arises, Wyrraith will not shrink from the mating call. He will be ruthless in his intentions, savage in his blooding, unforgiving in the chase. Any green or gold caught by this hardened hulk of a brown could be both terrified by his ferocity and thrilled by his consuming ardor, in equal and dizzying portions, for he will be as resolute in his mating as he was in the course of action that took him there.

Wyrraith will not be one to play favorites, however. Monogamy is a fleeting and foreign concept that is the nemesis of his genetic makeup. As with everything else, Wyrraith is all about feeling that instinctual truth. After he and that green have touched down on land again, there may be some pillow talk paired with a love bite reminder. With no clutch in the making, however, his draconic memory will let things fade, and should they tangle again, it will be like the first time, only better, because he'll be more experienced.

Should a goldflight end in a clutch, instinct will once again take hold. Provided the queen allows him into the cavern, he will fiercely protect their eggs and strive to provide for the sand-bound gold. Should that same queen forbid him from coming near, you can bet he'll be camped right outside that cavern, possibly leaving offerings of dripping, bloody, possibly still-bleating meat.

In the end, when the eggs have cracked and the new dragonets have found their own lifemates, Wyrraith will wait and watch just long enough to ensure his progeny is safe and sound. Should any egg lie still after its fellows lie in pieces, Wyrraith will do his duty with solemnity, then return to his Sawyer, who is his priority. Always.

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Thread

In a very literal sense, this is what dragons were made for. Most can know or at least sense it on some level, but Wyrraith, in his innate perception of truth, will know it with absolute clarity. You might be hard-pressed to keep him inside the barracks as a young weyrling dragonet, because he will yearn to see it when he senses the other dragons heading off to flame the enemy. The further the two of you progress, the harder he will fight to join those other dragons. He can fly. He can flame. He can fight. He doesn't just believe it, he knows it.

When it comes time to join the ranks of the fighting wings, Wyrraith will truly come into his own. He will be a force of nature, fearless and unceasing in his drive to burn Thread to ash. He will quickly come to understand the true purpose of those flight patterns and formations. He will find his place within those formations and bloom. Whatever else others might come to believe of him, there would unlikely be a human or dragon who wouldn't want Wyrraith and Sawyer in their wing.



Conclusion

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The reason so many people fear forces of nature is because those forces cannot be controlled, and so will it be with Wyrraith. The truth behind that, however, is that there is always something powering and driving that force, and the aftereffects, while often brutal, are neither good nor bad. They simply are. Nature cannot hate, it doesn't plot and scheme, and it can never lie. Nature is the ultimate honesty.

From the ashes of a forest fire comes new growth. In the wreckage of a tornado, growth. After the floodwaters subside, growth. In the aftershocks of an earthquake, new terrain. May Sawyer become the end result of Wyrraith's thoughts and actions. May she grow and discover, and may she find comfort within his chaos and purpose beneath his wings.


Credits

Name: Kyara
Egg Desc: K’vvan
Dragonet Desc: Sadaiya, Trek-tweak
Messages: Mayte
Puppeteer: Sadaiya
Inspiration: Sadaiya, Mayte, Trek

Clutchmates:

F’in and bronze Rhakanth
Sa’id and bronze Vojeth
Th’bek and brown Tavuqth
Jaelynn and brown Otsoath

Instas

Rh’d and blue Nhyrth
Delila and green Amazolith
Tahi and green Golgrainth

Harper’s Tale’s 70th PC Clutch
Igen Weyr’s 3rd PC Clutch
Mayte’s gold Rhiscorath and R’xim’s bronze Shalnth
September 20th, 2014