Dracna
Lieutenant of the Watch
The Watch patrol moved along the street like scattered ghosts. Pale white figures in the predawn dark. A tall one bent nearly double skulks along the wall, peering into the allies and down the spaces between buildings, then crossed to the other side to do the same.
“Ffffffff!”
The group stops, turning to the bent one.
“Ffffft!” from that one.
“Whistle idiot!’ says the one in the middle of the street. The others chuckle. “Light.”
“Me not can, Blenum, sir.” the voice is high pitched and squeaky like a rusty hinge.
“Keep trying monster.” replied the man.
“Yes sir.”
A torch springs to light suddenly bright and near blinding in the dark narrow street, held up by a stocky Dwarf. Two other humans stay in position watching up and down the street.
Blenum walks to the alley where the bent one now stands upright, towering over the others at 2 meters. Squinting red eyes reflect the light.The broad dark muzzle with leathery dark nose projecting forward. Tawny brown fur sticks out from the white leather shirt and covers the head and neck. A dark mane sticks up between large rounded ears. The human looks up to the creature standing a head and half taller. He has light brown skin, thick eyebrows, strong square chin on a clean shaven face and pale hazel eyes. “What do we have Dracna?”
“Blood, fresh. Body.”
Blenum looks in the alleyway then turns to the figure behind him. “Svarta, can’t you see in the dark like the Ghenid?”
The girl turns. She is black haired, white skinned with a gaunt figure and gave him a bored look with her violet eyes. “I let the dog do the sniffing.” she said.
“Am not dog, Elf!” came Dracna’s high pitched growl.
“Wage, light please.” Said Blenum motioning the dwarf over.
A black furred body lies in the narrow alley. Blenum carefully slides along the wall, motioning Wage the Dwarf to follow.
“Another bugbear. They kill each other all the time, the filthy beasts. We’ll alert the body wagon to haul it to the poor pit. No one ever claims the body.”
“Should ask around? Witnesses?” asked Dracna head and ears down as she gazed at the body.
Blenum laughed. Shaking his head. “Bugbear( Bugbear) ? In Monster town? No one cares. No loss.” The metallic blood smell fills the narrow space. Blenum does a quick search for pouches, belts, coin. Dracna wipes her mouth with the back of a furred hand. Swallowing. She thinks that the old way dies hard. The body is meat. The words of the Clan Matriarch in her ears. “We do not do this here. Civilized and not cannibals. Still the monsters to them. Do not give them more cause to hate us. Leave the dead untouched. The meat is unclean.”
Blenum stands, tucking something into a pouch on his belt. “Dracna, you stay and watch the body.”
She nods silently, eyes flicking from Watch patrol figure to figure.
Svarta blew her a kiss as the squad moved out along the street.
Dracna watches the torch, then leans back listening. “Anything Krarue?” She asks the air. Her Shadow, the chained ghost of grandmother’s brother, whispers in her ear that nothing living moves nearby. She slips into the alley and looks at the body. Squat, 1.4 meters, bandy legged with hairy arms that reach almost down the whole length of body and legs, and covered with shaggy black fur sticking out of a bloody shirt and holey trousers. The large round head is hairless, swollen, colored and creased like a pumpkin but with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth stretching side to side. Deep set triangular sockets with flat dead eyes. “Us they hate. Fear” she says to the body. “Monsters. Barbarians. Cannibals.” She wonders if the Bugbear had any appreciation of the city, of art, of written words. She knows the wild ones hate everything but power and will sell their souls for a strong leader.
She looks at the several wounds. Sharp and blunt. Several attackers. She sniffs and looks around, quickly spotting the dark drops of blood behind the body, deeper down the alley. She follows the blood. The trail exits on another street. More blood. Another Bugbear laying at the curb. Several bloody spots on the cobblestones and raised walk. Dracna examines the scene. A bloody dagger by the alley. She takes that. She checks the Bugbear. Dead. She feels for pockets, pouches or hidden stashes. A key. Some coin in a bag under the arm. Into her pouch. Empty cheap wood scabbard. A scrap of paper with a map, that looks suspiciously like this part of the street. A boarding house marked up the street. Not some Bugbear duel. Ambush. Who and why? She looks up and down the street. The tenements. Small shops. No candle lights. Someone heard or saw something. This was not a quick knife. Blows were traded. Noise made. They stayed to take the weapons they could see. She thinks. "That they could see." Someone else with poor night vision - Human, Centaur, or Gnome. The other monsters that lurked in the shadows and prowled the city streets at night didn’t need torches or lanterns to see well.
She speaks in the Ghenid language. “Krarue, I give you blood and you will look in each room facing this spot.” She scoops some of the gelled blood onto her own dagger and recites a chant while tipping the gore into the vapor of the ghost’s form. The offering swirls, broken up and vanishing with the misty shape. She grabs the second body and drags it back to the first to resume watching. No one will talk of the missing Bugbears. The bodies are only passing interest for the neighborhood. Probably the fight will be talked about. Probably not to her. Blenum wouldn’t care. Maybe another Sergeant? She waits and watches. She hears her Shadow’s report about the rooms. After sunrise and the stirring of people, the body wagon rolls up with a Goblin and Human chatting with the Centaur pulling it. They give her a double check -seeing a Ghenid in the Watch Whites is unusual even for this city. She lets them load as she heads back to the watch station, the morning crowds edging away from her.
“Ffffffff!”
The group stops, turning to the bent one.
“Ffffft!” from that one.
“Whistle idiot!’ says the one in the middle of the street. The others chuckle. “Light.”
“Me not can, Blenum, sir.” the voice is high pitched and squeaky like a rusty hinge.
“Keep trying monster.” replied the man.
“Yes sir.”
A torch springs to light suddenly bright and near blinding in the dark narrow street, held up by a stocky Dwarf. Two other humans stay in position watching up and down the street.
Blenum walks to the alley where the bent one now stands upright, towering over the others at 2 meters. Squinting red eyes reflect the light.The broad dark muzzle with leathery dark nose projecting forward. Tawny brown fur sticks out from the white leather shirt and covers the head and neck. A dark mane sticks up between large rounded ears. The human looks up to the creature standing a head and half taller. He has light brown skin, thick eyebrows, strong square chin on a clean shaven face and pale hazel eyes. “What do we have Dracna?”
“Blood, fresh. Body.”
Blenum looks in the alleyway then turns to the figure behind him. “Svarta, can’t you see in the dark like the Ghenid?”
The girl turns. She is black haired, white skinned with a gaunt figure and gave him a bored look with her violet eyes. “I let the dog do the sniffing.” she said.
“Am not dog, Elf!” came Dracna’s high pitched growl.
“Wage, light please.” Said Blenum motioning the dwarf over.
A black furred body lies in the narrow alley. Blenum carefully slides along the wall, motioning Wage the Dwarf to follow.
“Another bugbear. They kill each other all the time, the filthy beasts. We’ll alert the body wagon to haul it to the poor pit. No one ever claims the body.”
“Should ask around? Witnesses?” asked Dracna head and ears down as she gazed at the body.
Blenum laughed. Shaking his head. “Bugbear( Bugbear) ? In Monster town? No one cares. No loss.” The metallic blood smell fills the narrow space. Blenum does a quick search for pouches, belts, coin. Dracna wipes her mouth with the back of a furred hand. Swallowing. She thinks that the old way dies hard. The body is meat. The words of the Clan Matriarch in her ears. “We do not do this here. Civilized and not cannibals. Still the monsters to them. Do not give them more cause to hate us. Leave the dead untouched. The meat is unclean.”
Blenum stands, tucking something into a pouch on his belt. “Dracna, you stay and watch the body.”
She nods silently, eyes flicking from Watch patrol figure to figure.
Svarta blew her a kiss as the squad moved out along the street.
Dracna watches the torch, then leans back listening. “Anything Krarue?” She asks the air. Her Shadow, the chained ghost of grandmother’s brother, whispers in her ear that nothing living moves nearby. She slips into the alley and looks at the body. Squat, 1.4 meters, bandy legged with hairy arms that reach almost down the whole length of body and legs, and covered with shaggy black fur sticking out of a bloody shirt and holey trousers. The large round head is hairless, swollen, colored and creased like a pumpkin but with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth stretching side to side. Deep set triangular sockets with flat dead eyes. “Us they hate. Fear” she says to the body. “Monsters. Barbarians. Cannibals.” She wonders if the Bugbear had any appreciation of the city, of art, of written words. She knows the wild ones hate everything but power and will sell their souls for a strong leader.
She looks at the several wounds. Sharp and blunt. Several attackers. She sniffs and looks around, quickly spotting the dark drops of blood behind the body, deeper down the alley. She follows the blood. The trail exits on another street. More blood. Another Bugbear laying at the curb. Several bloody spots on the cobblestones and raised walk. Dracna examines the scene. A bloody dagger by the alley. She takes that. She checks the Bugbear. Dead. She feels for pockets, pouches or hidden stashes. A key. Some coin in a bag under the arm. Into her pouch. Empty cheap wood scabbard. A scrap of paper with a map, that looks suspiciously like this part of the street. A boarding house marked up the street. Not some Bugbear duel. Ambush. Who and why? She looks up and down the street. The tenements. Small shops. No candle lights. Someone heard or saw something. This was not a quick knife. Blows were traded. Noise made. They stayed to take the weapons they could see. She thinks. "That they could see." Someone else with poor night vision - Human, Centaur, or Gnome. The other monsters that lurked in the shadows and prowled the city streets at night didn’t need torches or lanterns to see well.
She speaks in the Ghenid language. “Krarue, I give you blood and you will look in each room facing this spot.” She scoops some of the gelled blood onto her own dagger and recites a chant while tipping the gore into the vapor of the ghost’s form. The offering swirls, broken up and vanishing with the misty shape. She grabs the second body and drags it back to the first to resume watching. No one will talk of the missing Bugbears. The bodies are only passing interest for the neighborhood. Probably the fight will be talked about. Probably not to her. Blenum wouldn’t care. Maybe another Sergeant? She waits and watches. She hears her Shadow’s report about the rooms. After sunrise and the stirring of people, the body wagon rolls up with a Goblin and Human chatting with the Centaur pulling it. They give her a double check -seeing a Ghenid in the Watch Whites is unusual even for this city. She lets them load as she heads back to the watch station, the morning crowds edging away from her.
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
Dracna is ghenidly indifferent and has taken partners male, female, Ghenid, human, and other. She had the old human slave who had tried to give her comfort when her daughter had gone to the Underworld. In the city she confirmed the idea that she could give pleasure as well as just taking it.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Originally she sought the secrets of iron and steel working. She imagined that she could convince the tribe of the value of making their own rather than taking or forcing shoddy work from captives. As she learned more she also realized that the world was bigger and full of wonders. She began to wonder about the stories and lore in the books she stole in raids. She imagined stealing more and bringing wonders to the tribe. And then she lost her last daughter and she wondered about a whole different way to live.
Once in the city (Incaras, City of Mercenaries) she was swept up in oration, in theater. Watching street performers. Healers curing the sick and damaged. She imagined if she could have saved her first cubs from dying of illness. She knew they were not weak. Not unworthy.
Once in the city (Incaras, City of Mercenaries) she was swept up in oration, in theater. Watching street performers. Healers curing the sick and damaged. She imagined if she could have saved her first cubs from dying of illness. She knew they were not weak. Not unworthy.
Personality Quirks
She is always aware of being a monster and is frequently apologetic about it, unless there is advantage in being a monster. As an officer of Incaras City Watch. she would terrorize new recruits that she was a monster who would "Eat you heart if you disobey or break orders."
Most of the time she stands stooped over so she isn't so tall. Her paws curled to hide her claws. Careful about showing teeth.
Most of the time she stands stooped over so she isn't so tall. Her paws curled to hide her claws. Careful about showing teeth.
Hygiene
Dracna manages to look unkempt and disheveled at all times. She manages to get clothes dirty, smudged, stained or ripped. Her fur sticks out of gaps in her clothes or armor. Her braided mane always has a few ties loose or missing.
She does bathe and get brushed frequently and applies a bit of perfume and tooth brushing to reduce her scent and to be more appealing or acceptable.
She does bathe and get brushed frequently and applies a bit of perfume and tooth brushing to reduce her scent and to be more appealing or acceptable.
Social
Family Ties
Dracna has a light brown coat with spots in circular patterns of five or six spots and no central spot. This marks her as Eǂyelfua clan
Religious Views
She was raised as a tribal Ghenid and was fully following the teaching of the Demon Goddess Neghenu. She made her Aedoteerua: The Soul Chain and tomb offerings. She bound her cubs and pulled up their Ghosts for offerings once they died. But the youngest faded away and the olders vanished, no longer coming when she called and pulled their chains. So many things the Grandmothers said were false. And then they demanded that she betray the city and destroy all the wonders. She knew that Ghenid could never be in the city as they were - they would fight over it and destroy, killing and burning to send treasures to be kept forever in their tombs.
So she sought another path...and found the @Church of Lyr. The liberal reformist Patriarch sought to steal away the Red God's minions. Defang them and put them under human rule. He gave her Exorcism to break the Chain with her Shadow. He performed the Cleansing Rite that washed away the old soul and gave her a clean slate. Free of the Chains of the Grandmothers. Stripped of the Chains she had held over her lost children. Cut off forever from every treasure, slave and possession she had hidden in her tomb. She was a monster and child of the Red God of Evil, so she could never be admitted to the Paradise of the Sun and Heaven. But she might be a homeless ghost or find a way to be reborn a human and then become saved. See Dracna and the Hierarch
When the Hierarch of the Church of Man, the highest high priest heard, he summoned the Incaras Patriarch and his "pets". Dracna's friends in the watch begged her to not obey and convinced her to follow their plan - disguising another Ghenid as her, mentally wiped and controlled by magics. They sent this one with the Patriarch and learned that the Hierarch burnt the converted and demoted the Patriarch for his heresy.
She was heartbroken, but was persuaded by another friend and former junior in the Watch that she could still follow the Sun in the Church of the Powers, where the Father Sun was not so harsh and hard as in the Lyr Church.
So she sought another path...and found the @Church of Lyr. The liberal reformist Patriarch sought to steal away the Red God's minions. Defang them and put them under human rule. He gave her Exorcism to break the Chain with her Shadow. He performed the Cleansing Rite that washed away the old soul and gave her a clean slate. Free of the Chains of the Grandmothers. Stripped of the Chains she had held over her lost children. Cut off forever from every treasure, slave and possession she had hidden in her tomb. She was a monster and child of the Red God of Evil, so she could never be admitted to the Paradise of the Sun and Heaven. But she might be a homeless ghost or find a way to be reborn a human and then become saved. See Dracna and the Hierarch
When the Hierarch of the Church of Man, the highest high priest heard, he summoned the Incaras Patriarch and his "pets". Dracna's friends in the watch begged her to not obey and convinced her to follow their plan - disguising another Ghenid as her, mentally wiped and controlled by magics. They sent this one with the Patriarch and learned that the Hierarch burnt the converted and demoted the Patriarch for his heresy.
She was heartbroken, but was persuaded by another friend and former junior in the Watch that she could still follow the Sun in the Church of the Powers, where the Father Sun was not so harsh and hard as in the Lyr Church.
Speech
She speaks in the typical high pitched squeeky voice of a Ghenid. Her pattern is a bit breathy, and punctuated like a Ghenid Peter Lorre.
Relationships
M'he. S'Oang of Eǂyelfua Clan of Incaras
Oang (Matriarch of Clan) (Important)Towards Dracna
0
0
Subversive
History
M'he bought Dracna's bond debt from Gazakral. She added costs and interest. Then she tested Dracna to find her strengths and weaknesses. She found a smart and skilled older female who had a different set of drives from M'he or most other Ghenid she knew. Dracna wanted to find a way to bring Ghenid the advantages of civilization - fine houses and things, art and culture, healing and medicine. Things many Ghenid would find soft, weak or only fit for sending to the fires to wait for them to enjoy in the afterlife. After a few years as guard, trainer of fighters and leased solder M'he listened to a plea to allow Dracna to infiltrate the city Watch. M'he instantly saw the potential and approved the application, encouraging it with bribes and political support of the local Tribunes.
Relationship Reasoning
M'he sees all the clan within the City as her personal property and beholden to her.
For her story: @ Dracna comes to the city in Dracna Stories
How did I get here? Cursed steps trapped by the Demon Queen Neghenu herself. Life in the tribes until it was empty. Stomach full of pain and hurt. Anhru and Yahn became empty and no longer smelled pleasing. Then to the city, a new start. Tricked and sold. Gazakral’s slave. I thought he wanted a strong mate to improve his status. I was wrong. He is a city Ghenid. Then M’he’s slave. Another city Ghenid, but matriarch (S’Oang) but still Ghenid, or more Ghenid - she doesn’t hear the songs or orators, smell the scents, taste the foods of the different kinds or see the art. I was part of the clan as a tool of the matriarch. Jobs she told me to do and coin to feed her. But a chance to see the city and the wonders.
To find my first friend. Maybe second, but the first without a Chain.
Veborin was the first to see ME. A tiny pudgy Gnome tailor, standing no higher than my knee. He looked for me, asked about me without wanting or needing my influence. When I had none. He pointed the path out when I met him that day. Meeting at a wine stall in the western part of the city as we did for many weeks. My common still bad. He asked how I was.
“Veborin, I belong to city clan now, Do what they say.”
“You could become a citizen, then you would belong here.”
“I monster. They no want.”
“This is Incaras. You can be a citizen.”
“How? No coin. Just scary cannibal.”
He laughs. “That you are. But you can fight, yes? Big, strong. The Watch will have you and after a few years you become a citizen.”
How do I take this? Who will listen? I was arrested and beaten, but one listened and looked. My first meeting with fairness, if not justice. My teacher, a four leg! I went back to the Watch station. I asked for her. She met me. O*Hwee. I could talk to her - the wide green eyes, flat face, graceful pointed ears.
“You look, see I am true. Is fact I can be Watch?”
“Why? What do you want?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“Work watch, be citizen? Part of city Clan?” I stumbled.
“Why?”
“I want THIS for Ghenid.” a vague wave out across the sweep of the city.
“Take the city? Rule it?” Her face twisted. Cynical.
“No, they be city. Live city way.” I said. It seemed to surprise her.
“You have to obey the rules. Can you do that? Do you have honor?” She asked me looking me in the eyes, but not as threat.
“Can obey.” I told her, then with wrinkled brow asked “ What be “Honor”?
She smiled. “Yes, you can join the Watch. I’ll take you to the Captain.”
And with that I learned that I need to ask a Tribune in my district, which meant explaining to M’he how it was good for her - but she is smart and cunning and saw immediately. She got the Tribune’s support. And I was quickly a new recruit. I would live with the Watch in the Barracks. Train with them in the things I needed to learn. Veborin was right - big and strong was good. Scary too sometimes. And my Shadow. We Ghenid have the Shadow with us every night.
I always must be careful. They don’t see me. They see the tall monster. The fierce and savage Ghenid. I am one, but life in the city changed me more.
I was already changed. Always different. Too many questions. Always wanting to know why. The tribes and Mothers and Grandmothers say “‘Why” is unimportant. But I have learned it is important. I asked: “Why do we live this way?” “Why can’t we learn the making of things instead of needing slaves to do it or raiding for it?” “Why do we do so little for sick and injured cubs?” “Why do we let scheming Grandmothers kill our legacy?” There is much scheming in the city too, but also wonders. Books and orators talking about what is good or how to live well. Sages and scholars who ask “Why” and can tell you that not only is the blue lined lizard poison, but has it’s color as a warning and another lizard looks almost the same but has no poison, borrowing the fear of the Blue line one.
Theater where people pretend to be someone else, they wear funny clothes and say memorized words for jokes or to stir feelings or make you think. The different kinds and all their ways open and shared or traded rather than forced by chain and beating. Beautiful things made - paintings like binding and chaining a moment or a view for your tomb. Caught on fabric like a window. Ghenid have nothing like this. Mud, berry juice or blood and rough forms on hide of a tent. Soft things like comfort and companionship where you usually don’t have to watch for a knife or claws in the bright light. Respect for what you can do, not from fear and compulsion. Mostly. Or at least frequently.
And the other things I learned.
Current Location
Ethnicity
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Lieutenant of the City Watch. Inquisitor.
Circumstances of Birth
Born in the wild tribes of the north east scrublands at the edge of the Mountains beyond the gap at the north of the plains of Chentor.
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Old Fort City Watch Station
Gender
Female
Eyes
Red with flecks of orange.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Dark grey verging on black. This is bare spots and under the light brown and spotted coat.
Height
2m
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
I like the section about her personality quirks. Seems as though she's a little at war with herself, in a way.
Explore Etrea
She is always conflicted between her culture and instincts and civilized behavior. She was introduced to Centaur Honor principles and behavior. She swore to follow the Church of Lyr and tried very hard. She completely stopped using the Aedoteerua or the soft mark of claiming and tracking. Ghenid are matriarchal and males are always lower rank. In the Watch and the city anyone may have higher or lower ranks. In the Church it was wrong that she commanded humans or as female taking rank above males. (The Church of Lyr was my creation of an Evil religion dedicated to Good)