Oath of Blood and Bronze Hesketh

[Flights] [Clutches]

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Long before men set foot on the stones of Pern, they fought with daggers of bronze precisely the shade of this hatchling's hide, polished to a sheen that would admit no tarnish. He is built like such a weapon, straight and true, every line of his body sharp and precise. The square line of his muzzle is hard as stone, light seeming to reflect there as of the surface of a mirror, fading into shadows along the underside of his jaw. Sunlight echoes and glints off the sails of his wings, each bony spar delineated in ebony against the pale membranes. Almost skeletal, there seems to be no fat to pad his figure, just muscles taut as wire visible beneath the shimmering hide, but purpose compensates for lack of bulk. Every movement of limb is exact, right, proper. Only the tail is marred, a blotch of green-black there, a stain like ichor smeared over its length which will not be washed away.

*Art by the lovely Tarish


Egg Name and Description

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Sugar-dusted Lokoum Egg
A powdering of white like an early snow has sifted over the surface of this amorphous egg, pale dust on an ovule of almost translucent-looking rose. A play of shadows beneath the frosted surface gives an illusion of depth, hints of burgundy melding with fuchsia and ruby where the rime has been evidently wiped away. On the lower curve, the coating has accumulated to a greater degree, the shell like clouded alabaster where it rests on the side of a sandy hillock, allowing no grain to cling unwanted on the smooth surface.


Hatching Message

Grains of sand fall away from the surface of the Sugar-dusted Lokoum Egg as it shifts, but the movement is so slight that it would have been easy to miss if one were not watching closely. The next shudder is even smaller, stirring the sand around the base so that the egg seems to sink, gelatinous, without any obvious movement of its own. Sand covers the darker swath of the egg's shell, leaving only a snowy field of white visible above the surface.

The Sugar-dusted Lokoum Egg wobbles again, like a shiver going through a bowl of jelly, one surface moving one way while another goes the opposite direction, causing striae to form along the surface. The little lines widen as the cracks grow larger, but the membrane underneath the shell holds it together as the pieces grow more distinct and the movements of the occupant underneath become visible.

A true crack finally forms in the surface of the Sugar-dusted Lokoum Egg, light gleaming off the moist hatchling form within. Another push and a talon emerges, followed by a bronze wing. After a moment of struggle, the Oath of Blood and Bronze Hatchling leaves the shards behind and strikes out on his journey towards the Candidates.


Impression Message

A rush of wind whistles past your ears, sending a chill down your spine but not seeming to disturb so much as a lock of hair of any of your fellow Candidates. The sharp-edged bronze is standing in front of you, now, it would be difficult not to notice that, but your mind seems momentarily to be elsewhere. There is a roar like thunder, a blast like a trumpet voluntary played by a hundred thousand musicians. « You hear it, then? » inquires a rumbling voice. « You hear the call? » Oh, yes, you hear it, a beckoning that straightens your shoulders and forces your chin up. A call to adventure, to just action, to live all the things you've read in all those books. And to journey with you, a companion, a true friend, no mere noble steed but the noblest of Pern's creatures, in front of you with his whirling eyes turning joyous. « I am Hesketh, R'sul, » he tells you. « There is a marvelous world out there, and you and I will see it together. »


Personality

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In the feudal days of Europe, a squire was a soldier who apprenticed in the service of a knight. He would serve as assistant and helper, not just a common man-at-arms. This role aptly describes you and Hesketh—he the knight in shining armor, you following behind taking care of all the practical concerns.

For the earliest days of Hesketh's life, that means food, oil, cleaning up after him, keeping him company as he sleeps and dreams of glorious days to come. Even princes must be children once, but Hesketh will be ever impatient to attain adulthood and leave Telgar to explore the world outside. As training stubbornly refuses to fade into a ten-minute montage accompanied by power chords, he will get bored, and it will be your job to keep his mind on the goal, whether it be flight, flame or your first trip into the black cold of *between*.

With adulthood, Hesketh will reach his full potential, leaving those awkward younger Turns only a distant memory that he would prefer you not regularly bring up. « In truth, I would not have you informing that fair lady of my infant indiscretions. I must maintain my image! » While he is not shallow, that image is important to him, that he be seen as the great and noble bronze, especially by the females. Your job is to support that, to tell their riders tales of his greatness so that they will swoon in his presence. Although he is scrupulously honest about the facts of the present, the fuzzy draconic memory means that he will prefer to have descriptions of his feats embroidered a bit so that they match his own image of himself. « Surely that wild feline I slew was larger than that! »

You will not lack for material, however, because Hesketh is never going to be content to stay home and have a nap while you read. There are honors to uphold, innocent lives to defend out there. Perhaps Thread is long gone, but Hesketh will not lay idle because of that fact. No mere transport dragon, him—he would vastly prefer to work in a more exciting field, like search and rescue or security, which requires cleverness and not mere bulk.

He has great deference for women and children, both human and otherwise, a protectiveness that extends to even strangers because he tends to perceive them as being frailer and less capable. This may not endear him to the greens and golds, of course. Hesketh will have a special interest in gold flights, because as he will put it, « I wish my descendents to be as numerous as stars in the heavens. » Should he catch one, he will hover over the resulting eggs almost as much as the dam herself, unwilling to trust their safety to a female alone even if he won't dare tell her that directly. He will never understand just why it is that the queens allow those Candidate folks to wander around so close to the eggs, and you might just have to distract him with some terribly important errand to get him to leave the poor kids alone.


Mindvoice

Thunder of Galloping Hooves
Runner's hoof beats, the rhythmic pounding of a drum—Hesketh's mental presence is steadfast, honorable, honest and inescapable. His voice is the deep rumble of distant thunder, but constrained by a severe formality. Every title must be correct, every word enunciated… you won't catch him using contractions no matter how relaxed he might be. Where he lacks a specific title, generalities will do, borrowed from those the humans use: "My lady," especially, because Hesketh is nothing if not chivalrous. He has an eye for details that many other dragons would miss, and therefore he tends to possess more insight than most, but he never speaks of anything until he is absolutely sure of himself. His thoughts can be both sword and shield, a wall of defense against the outside world or an occasional devastatingly witty remark, though he will often ruminate over those for days before chancing to use one.


Inspiration

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The Sugar-dusted Lokoum Egg was based on something you might know better as Turkish Delight, a sweet confection that we Westerners generally know as the temptation of Edmund Pevensie. Your Oath of Blood and Bronze Hesketh is modeled upon the knights and princes of old, the defenders of honor and virtue such as Prince Rilian of Narnia or Sir Didymus of the Labyrinth. The sword which served as the basis for his physical description can be seen at http://www.templeresearch.eclipse.co.uk/bronze/images/urnfield.jpg. Both egg and dragon were written by Hassaleah for you, and Hesketh is now yours to mold into the perfect lifemate for R'sul.

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Credits

Name Oath of Blood and Bronze Hesketh
Dam Gold Aelith
Sire Bronze Dhonzayth
Created By Hassaleah
Impressee R'sul
Hatched May 31, 2007
Telgar Weyr
PernWorld MUSH

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