Vulcan'fernas {Vol-k-ha-n--fe-r-nus}

Magma-Born Vulcan'fernas

"I am the child of Inferno, a descendent of Doitean herself. I whet at her teat, nourished on fire, passion, the heat of emotion. I am the Magma-Born, the Firestorm, the Flameheart. The first Ruby Tane to bless Valerick with its presence in millenia untold. You stand before me, a mere mortal kindred, one of the untold mass, not easy to differentiate by my eyes. Speak, mortal, wag thy tongue, and do it swiftly. Elsewise I shall assume you twisted, broken, of fell intention, under the influence of the Void and its fell powers and I shall free you from your miserable existence with my flames. I am Vulcan'fernas! Speak or be burned to ash!"

Before you, having leapt forth from the magma below up onto the stone floor of the caverns you find youself in, shaking off magma. Scales of glittering orange, seeming to crackle with embers and flame upon its underbelly and running up from its legs, the scales slowly becoming more and more red as one ascends its form, giving way to pure Doitean filled ruby elegance running from the tip of its snout all up the top of its head, down the back of its neck and back to its thick whip like tail. All of this shows a lack of maturity for its kinds, from theory and limited fossil records. Yet the creature, despite this and its obvious lack of size and adult maturity, it is no less majestic. Sparks pop and crack in the air around the Tane, nostrils show wisps of smoke with every exhale. Its eyes upon you like warm coals, black, flickering with orange and red, igniting like a bonfire with excitement. Its size and scale colors make obvious this creature is not a full blooded or mature adult, it is clearly no hatchling, for its Magmis-Verin is visible running up its chest and to its bottom jaw, the bulge in its chest marking clearly where its Elementias Sac is, the heat and radiance obvious, like liquid flame, letting you know the Sac is full, and the creature is grown enough that it can breath fire. Its eyes pierce each of you with a heat and excitement, as it awaits your words, the air around it crackling and sparking with heat and fire.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Vulcan'fernas is in excellent health physically and shows no signs of any affliction, not even that which Valerick causes in all Tanes by the very nature of its corrupted manna. This is unsurprising however as the physical changes, if any occur, are generally the last to occur.

He is a majestic specimen, even for a youngling, his glittering scales as if a bonfire, almost seeming to crackle and radiate heat, their beautiful palette almost hypnotizing. He is a youngling, and thus has yet to develop the decorative horns as heavily as some of his kind eventually grow, that seem the texture and shape as if small flows of magma hardened and cool upon the hide of the creature, though a small number have begun to show themselves. His Magmis-Verin is clearly visible and radiant, the deep ruby glow strong and notable, an indication of health. His tail has a unique birthmark of sorts, the first 2 feet or so of the tip black as coal, the scales seeming as if charred or burned.

Facial Features

Vulcan'fernas looks the part of a youngling, his face scales still predominantly more orange and light red, less the deep ruby hue of an older Tane of his kind, and the darker igneous like protrusions that grow over the decades and centuries are few, mostly just on his upper snout and quite small save for two that protrude almost as if horns from his head just behind his orbital cortex and brachia bulge in his skull, which protects his hearing facilities. His coal like eyes show the flickering embers, and are healthy and vibrant, and his nostrils trail a bit of ashy smoke every time he exhales, another sign of good health in Ruby Tanes.

Identifying Characteristics

The birthmark upon his tail is a notable one, and a telltale feature, as well as the two larger horn like igneous protrusions he has grown at such a young age. Even if there were many other Ruby Tanes still alive on Valerick, these features would help mark him as unique, as no two Ruby Tanes would have the same ash mark, as such birthmarks are known, nor the same protrusions and igneous growths at the same rate.

Physical quirks

Vulcan'fernas has an interesting tic of sorts, one that physically manifests itself when interacting with other creatures, one he cannot seem to help. When exchanging dialogue, even in a non-hostile or friendly manner, he cannot help but flex his front claws, scratching, scorching and shifting soil and rock, leaving scorch marks or even divots. He simply just does this, entirely unconsciously, every few moments, even if he is not intending to move or jump. He does not know why he does this, on some level he is only partially aware that he does it at all. If it is brought up directly Vulcan'fernas will often either dismiss it or if someone insists on pushing him, he may get excitable and rather angry and aggressive, seeming to be bothered by it.

He also has a bit of a sweet-tooth, loving berries, maple trees and sap, as well as apples and pears.

Special abilities

Vulcan'fernas is a youngling, that is the age category he falls into, having just hit a level of maturity where his Elementias Sac has kicked in, the organ beginning to do its job, his Magmis-Verin coming to life. The energy of it and radiance of it indicating good health, and also an indication he can tap into a primal ability, the Inferno's Breath, which is, of what Ruby Tanes can do, the thing that they are famed for even in what myths and legends still exist. Besides this, he can tap into the manna of his natural form and utilize the explosive energies of Doitean to leap great distances horizontally, as well as being able to weave magick, in a limited fashion, just beginning to mature and have such powers manifest within himself. He can also swim in magma and lava as easily as some creatures swim in rivers or oceans, and in fact he can process and gain nutrition from magma, a unique trait to Ruby Tanes, though that is far from all he eats. Like all Ruby Tanes, he is a dominant predator, however is not an obligate carnivore, but an omnivore, though with a heavy leaning for meat.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Vulcan'fernas was born of an interesting twist of fate. Within Firbolg'avik's Forge many millenia ago, a Ruby Tane's nest was buried and abandoned. Of the two eggs, one was crushed in the initial event that buried the nest, however the other was not. It was encased in magma, but cooled rapidly, effectively preserving, but also time-locking the embryo. Because Tanes cannot die in the typical sense, his spirit was merely trapped, shielded from the Void, yet held in stasis, asleep, waiting to be born. Nearly 140 years ago, Firbolg'avik's Forge had a minor eruption. Though it seemed not to even spew much more than ash, that eruption and the tremors it caused broke loose the hunk of volcanic rock that held the egg within which Vulcan'fernas was encased. When it fell into the magma, the sudden rush of pure Doitean shocked life back into the egg as it melted away the rock. The egg took a long time to draw in enough manna, even submerged in magma, to begin hatching, however many weeks after the eruption, the egg hatched and Vulcan'fernas was born.

The hatchling had a tough start to life, given the lack of parentage, however he is a true Tane, with no real equal in his biomes, and swiftly enough he learned how to control the mountains and coastline, learned how to handle his own powers. Magma, seabirds, deer, wolves and more are on the island which holds Firbolg'avik's Forge and he learned to hunt them all. As he has aged, he has become quite aware of the fact that sapient entities share the island with him, and that they were here before him. He has avoided confrontation with them as best he can, however in recent years he has started to mature. In doing so, unbeknownst to himself, as he had not parent to teach and warn him, his demeanor is changing. He is becoming more excitable, more violent, more territorial, more lusting. Treasure, art, food, manna, he is slowly falling to all of it, becoming corrupted, addicted, giving in to his passion. Not yet truly broken, this corruption which can take centuries, or even the better part of a millenia, is at least beginning to show in his temper and demeanor.

Recently, within the last two or three years, the peoples of the Emb'ralis Territory are starting to have tales spread. There have been sightings and in fact Vulcan'fernas has, within the last two years, interacted directly with people a handful of times. Of those, one ended quite poorly, which has seen the beginnings of local tall tales and legends spreading. The other few have gone as well as could be hoped. After all, he is a Tane, and as such the peoples do not really desire a conflict of any kind with him. Vulcan'fernas in truth feels remorse for the killing of the hunting party he indulged in, it is why he spared the last of them, Mycia'ili Dovetail.

Vulcan'fernas tries to actively avoid engaging with mortal beings now, seeing them all as a like creed, believing them to be the bringers of this corruption and taint that he feels within the Aether, his youthful ignorance not able to see the truth of what is happening to him, and not putting together the truth of the disappearance and lack of numbers of his own kind. He also avoids them out of a deep sense of self loathing and remorse, though he is unable to admit such to himself, for amongst the party of hunters he killed, one of them was a human child, a boy but of nine or ten years. The Ruby Tane cannot seem to evict the child from his memories and the face of the youth troubles him still when he attempts to rest, the boy's visage melting whilst screaming in his mind's eye. Such mental self doubts and conflicts only further weaken his ability to resist the corrupting influence of the Void within Valerick's manna, and slowly he falls into a deeper and deeper spiral of madness, addiction, violence, and lust.

Gender Identity

Like any Tane, Vulcan'fernas' gender has some fluidity to it. If he were to be in the presence of a fellow male Tane, an evolutionary trait of their kind would see himself or the other tane's gender simply shift within a matter of days, if that was the only fellow Tane he was to be around. This trait helps insure a stable breeding population. Tanes in general do not often think of themselves in terms of gender, and when talking to each other they will use proper names or neutral pronouns, however they have a high enough awareness to know that other sapient species do not do this sort of thing as easily, nor see themselves or the world quite that way, so they readily adopt the pronouns and descriptors male or female as appropriate to whichever they are at the time. Vulcan'fernas is his proper given name, and would be even if he were to become a her. This is true because the name, like all Tane names, has no gender affiliations of any kind. It is merely a descriptor, a name given by Doitean to the birthing, translating more or less to Volcanic Bonfire or Furnace.

Sexuality

A Ruby Tane would generally be a passionate creature, and one that would be quite prominent within sexuality amongst its kind, breeding often with other Tanes. However as the corruption of the Void takes hold....and when he eventually learns methods to take a humanoid form.....well the consequences could be quite grave indeed.

Education

Tanes are something of an indirect hivemind/collective. Though he has no parents, Vulcan'fernas possesses knowledge passed unto him by Doitean directly, including that of previous Ruby Tanes, though some of that is fuzzy and lost to the noise of the Void corruption, which is part of how it afflicts him. The very manna is slowly altering him as it would any Tane, and though his intentions are for now, good and pure.....the signs are there. Without parents, he is also on his own and though he learns a great deal of Doitean and from the fragmented bits of memory upon the currents of flame left behind by those Ruby Tanes that came before him just by default of wielding the manna and absorbing it....he lacks any guidance and parenting, and as such, has a comparable understanding of the world around him to an orphan in some ways. This creates an interesting internal personality conflict, orphan versus near omnipowerful entity.

Intellectual Characteristics

Vulcan'fernas is sharp and pretty well educated for his age, though having lacked parents, he is less well educated than would have likely been average in the time of the Tanes. After all, a lot of knowledge that would have been passed down through their tradition of generational education was lost to him. However some of it was not. Between what bits of his mother, Firbol'avin's, hoard was left preserved and intact that he managed to discover, as well as the voices of Doitean directly, he has found some education, and has in fact expanded it upon some of the less tragically ending encounters he has had with sapient beings. However it is worthy to note he is likely slightly less intelligent than would have been normal for a Ruby Tane of his age that was hatched and raised in ideal circumstances, simply from the lack of available education.

Morality & Philosophy

Vulcan'fernas still bears the traits of a true Ruby Tane in this regard....mostly. A passionate and energetic zest for life, for seeking new experiences, meeting new individuals. They live for the fire and passion of life, to drink deep the ride of a "mortal" coil before returning to the Planar Seas. However, as is the curse of Valerick for the Tanes, ever since the hubris of their first ancestors opening the Aether into the Realm of Dreams, falling for the whispers of the entities behind the veil of the Aether's protective barrier, the touch of the Void is ever present in the manna of the world now. Vulcan'fernas, even as young as he is, is not immune to its caress. Slowly it is magnifying the worst sides of his traits. Passion becomes burning all consuming obsession, but slowly. A zest for life becomes an addictive personality. Love and a passionate almost quasi romantic side slowly become all consuming lust. Lust for experiences, lust for control, for treasure, and eventually for all matter of thing you can imagine.

Vulcan'fernas even now is beginning to show the barest shadows of this with his heightened aggression, his addiction to collecting sculptures and statues. This is a current obsession, and he does not respond well to being refused or bartered or haggled with if he decides he wants to take a piece of sculpture. He will generally offer a trade of some treasure, be it gold, paintings or other valuables from his modest hoard, however he will not respond well to being haggled, and may respond violently, at first, losing his temper.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Vulcan'fernas is motivated by excitement and passion, and slowly due to the corrupting influence of the Void, is beginning to become somewhat obsessive in nature, the worse parts of his excitement and passion. In particular, as of late, he has a unique fixation on sculptures and statues.

Vulcan'fernas Base Stat Sheet

Alignment

Chaotic Good, though the Good is slowly being eroded by the touch of the Void

Current Location

Depenwood, The Eternal Boreal

Species

Ruby Tane

Age

137

Current Residence

Firbolg'avik's Forge

Pronouns

He/His, They/Them

Sex

Male

Gender

Male (currently?)

Presentation

Male

Eyes

coal black with embers flickering within them, lizard like and reptilian in shape

Hair

None

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

fiery oranges and reds giving path to scales of the purest ruby along its back

Height

2.5 metres (7'6") tall, 10.5 metres (34'5") long

Weight

1075 kgs (2370 lbs)

Known Languages

Arcanis, Draconic, Celestial, Elven, Valarian