Quest for the Swamp Bronze Jarath
jarath.gif

A nearly sickly green hue has invaded the entirety of this bronze's hide, prominent along his smushed muzzle, around oversized, flaring nostrils, and sweeping back towards wide-set faceted eyes. Headknobs are short and rounded, set further from the rusty ridges that run down his back then most. The color darkens as it sweeps backwards and over the short, thick neck, and broad shoulders, still haunted by the gaseous green undertones. Wings are large, to support his bulky form, green-bronze spars strung with paler, near khaki-bronze sails, the same pale hue brushing just lightly against his belly, like an annoying stain that simply won't go away. Limbs and tail follow the same design as his neck - short and wide, giant trunks to support his giant body.


Egg Name and Description

MummifiedICreamSticks.gif

Mummified Ice-cream Stick Egg
This egg is about the same width as most of its fellows, although it does seem slightly stunted in the height department. Really though, it is hard to tell the exact dimensions, as the entire thing appears to have been wrapped quite tightly in rough gauze-like bandages. Beneath these bandages, the shell seems overly rigid, unyielding, as though made of something quite a bit more solid than just bandages. In fact, in places the aged brown bandage has become frayed, and even loose. One such part is tucked away almost out of sight, where the bandage has grown a gaping hole, revealing what looks like wood.


Hatching Message

Mummified Ice-cream Stick Egg starts to wobble, the movement causing the gauze-hued bands to apparently shift back and forth over the touch interior, even though it is, in fact, the whole egg moving.

Mummifed Ice-cream Stick Egg is old, and getting quite fragile. And so, the movement has damaged it, a crack appearing the supporting structure, the covering starting to fall apart a the cracks spread.

Mummified Ice-cream Stick Egg is over and done with, the pressure from within being too much for shell to withstand. And so, the shell dissolves into dust, the cracks having triumphed, leaving instead a new structure upon the sands.


Impression Message

An odd, rather distasteful smell begins to invade your mind, stubbornly remaining for a moment before it's pushed out by the scent of crisp air, olives and khaki's creating a rather neutral backdrop. And then, a beam of golden light, and a deep voice hmms, seeming to ponder. « That'll do, A'thiel, that'll do. » The Scottish-accented voice considers for another moment, as if deciding he should actually introduce himself. « Jarath. Yeah.. Jarath. » And, behind it all is a bit of stubbornness, as if daring to you contradict him. « A'thiel. Are you going to eat that? »


Personality

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While calling him a 'stupid ogre' may be a bit extreme, Jarath fits that stereotype quite well - stubborn, serious, and stand-offish.

There are few dragons on Pern that are as stubborn as Jarath. No matter the subject, Jarath's likely to have his own opinion, and that's the end of it. If you make a change to his couch, straightening it up, even if it's for the better, you'll hear about it. « I want my own couch back. It was my couch. It was how I wanted it. » If you're lucky, he'll forget about it relatively quickly, and you can just leave it how you want it.

In addition to his surroundings and belongings, Jarath can be stubborn as to how things are done. He generally believes things should be done with a serious attitude, so the first time he observes something like Ilianath's feeding grounds gossip time, he'll be rather frustrated. « This is no place to gossip. Eat. Just eat. » Because at least for him, talking and eating don't mix so well.

His generally serious attitude tends to make him come off as seeming rather gruff and grumpy. While the other weyrlings are enjoying a rowdy bath, he's likely to be floating, enjoying his own little bubble of serenity, snapping now and then if they get too close, or disrupt his routine. « Watch it, Anstarath! » He also has no qualms with telling people exactly what he thinks, straightforward, and with no sugar coating. « Vsetovith, you looked horrible. » This tendency will only become more prominent as he ages, and younger dragons continue to appear. Once graduated, he's quite likely to steer clear of any large gathering of weyrlings, and thus the resulting chaos.

He prefers a quite, secluded environment, and will often seek refuge outdoors in the early months, to avoid the hustle and bustle of the barracks. However, you are always welcome to join him, wherever he may be, because you're his friend. And that's what friend's do. When it comes to others, though, he's very slow to make friends, what friends he does make. There will likely only be 1 or 2 others that he's comfortable around consistently, and it will take a lot of time and forced interaction for them to get to that point. If you weyrmate, he will likely spend a good portion of the time complaining about it, and trying to convince you to reconsider.

Physically, he's actually fairly mobile on the ground, despite his size, able to get from here to there without too much fuss. But, he does prefer floating in the water during relaxation time over sitting on the beach, the water removing some of the awkwardness of his body. Getting into the air will be an ordeal, given his weight, and at times it will take multiple attempts to do so, especially when he's just learning. As soon as he can, he'll take to dropping off high perches, in order to get off the ground. Once he's up, he can manage, but he'll never be as graceful as his clutch-sisters.

But, as always, these are merely suggestions - Jarath is yours to play, and yours to change as you will.


Mindvoice

Secluded Spurs of Stubbornness
Luckily for you, that while Jarath employs the odd green and brown hues of the swamp, he doesn't also have the wonderful, rank smells of the swamp. At least not usually. Usually his mind is an olive-green puddle, some patches darkening to forest green, while others lighten to almost khaki. But, depending on his mood, other colors peek in: a sunlight beam of yellow, red of picked berries, or even the orange hues of a roaring fire. Unfortunately, when his temper flares that afore mentioned swamp smell appears, like rotting vegetation, as if it may make you uncomfortable enough to give in to his stubbornness. Otherwise, whatever faint odor may reside there regularly is obscured by the scent of a crackling campfire, and the open air of a peaceful forest. His voice itself is rather deep, smooth, cultured fitting for his physical size, though uncharacteristic for his lumpy appearance. There is a bit of a roll to it, nearly a Scottish accent, which is even less what one might expect. But, without any background sounds, his voice seems secluded, even stubbornly so, all by itself.


Inspiration

This cycle's egg theme was 'Elementary school projects', and the Mummified Ice-cream Stick egg was created by Xylaihl. This is what she has to say about the inspiration:

When I was in school, one year we had to take a book, and make something in relation to that book. I took a child horror story (it may or may not have been one of the Goosebumps line) about a boy who had picked up this tiny (although my attempt turned out less tiny) 'mummy hand' in a garage sale some years earlier, and kept it as a good luck charm. He and his cousin wind up in trouble in Egypt, of course. I think it turned out that the hand actually belonged to a mummy in the very tomb they get stuck in, a princess or a priestess or something like that. As I've always had an interest in Egyptian culture, I picked that book, and made that mummy hand.

Method of construction: First I made a hand frame out of ice-cream sticks and glue, using my own hand as an example. Then, I got some gauze from the school infirmary - it was hard finding one that looked 'rough' enough for my liking - and wrapped it tightly around the frame in several layers. Once that was done, I made some black tea, and 'painted' the hand. I gave it several coats, until it came up a nice brown. Of course, it wasn't perfect. The gauze frayed at the edges, which I thought was okay since this is supposed to be an old hand anyway, and the ice cream stick of the little finger has broken through the gauze.

Your Jarath is based on Shrek, the (lead) character from the movies of the same name. Shrek is a grumpy, reclusive ogre who lives alone in a swamp. That is, until Lord Farquaad banished all the fairy tale creatures to the swamp. In a quest to get it back, he heads on a journey with the annoying miniature beast of burden, Donkey, to rescue Princess Fiona in trade for his swamp. He ends up falling in love with the princess, and beginning to rethink some of his philosophies.

His name is from 'Jarah' which is Arabic for boldness and bravery, both valid words for describing him, though the root cause for both is pure stubbornness.


Credits

Name Quest for the Swamp Bronze Jarath
Dam Gold Kilaueth
Sire Bronze Alhenaeth
Created By Leona (Egg), Niva, and C'ian
Impressee Athiel
Hatched November 18, 2006
Xanadu Weyr
PernWorld MUSH

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