]Description
Dusky shades of tarnished gold sweep across this queen's svelte hide like glittering coins left to the elements. Deep shadows show in the craggy places giving the impression of grime that isn't actually there. Muddy goldenrod stains each angular talon, stretching up along her long limbs and laying in haphazardly speckled patterns over the length of her neck. The mire washes over her back, curving in splotches along her sides before stretching out to dip even the fork of her long tail in its hue. The wide stretch of her wings are held by strong, stable spars, the ends of each murky as if they have been dipped into the same dark chocolate that clings to her neckridges. The soft stretch of sails bare hints of other colors where the light reflects, the speckled pattern showing like some distant nebula of space contained within the folds of her wings. There is some light to this queen, though. Bright touches of maize cling to her underbelly, lightening the places along her limbs and drawing her out of darkness. The most striking thing, though, is the way the color marks her muzzle and eyeridges, the pale shade masking her nose and lightening around whirling faceted eyes.
Physicality
Miguel: Tulio, did you ever imagine it would end like this?
Tulio: The horse is a surprise…
Miguel: Any… regrets?
Tulio: You mean besides dying? Yeah. I never… had enough… gold.
If nothing else is certain in this world, from now on you will /always/ have enough gold. More than enough. Her early growth spurts may baffle the dragonhealers who will likely be at a loss to explain how a queen from such a small-blooded lineage has managed to somehow outstrip either of her parents when it comes to size. Maybe it’s a fluke of chance - some strange genetics that had been left dormant only to pop up again a generation later. If you ask her, though, Sonyxaeth will say that it’s because of you. There is so much that is amazing about you Esiae and so you needed a dragon just that much bigger in order to contain it all.
Of course, being one of the biggest dragons on PERN is going to come with some downsides, especially during those fledgling months where she’s just learning how to get around. She’ll grow in strange bursts, and never as proportionately as the other hatchlings around her. It might start with her wings - leaving them oversized and causing a series of mishaps as she struggles not to step on them. Then, just when you think she’d have grown into those, her tail seems to take its own turn and she’ll have trouble with not bumping it into everything around her. As frustrating as those moments might be for the both of you, rest assured, they won’t last.
The final few months of her growth will even everything out, bringing wings and tail and limbs into proportion. As large as she is, those early weyrling days will have taught her how to get around without any of issues other larger dragons might have. She always has a good knowledge of herself and where she is, making mishaps such a rarity that you know if she does bump into something, there has to be some deeper reason behind it. As graceful as she might be on the ground, the air is where your Sonyxaeth truly shines. Just by drawing her wings in, she can manage quick bursts of speed that will leave you breathless. Once she gets airborne, the thirst for this windswept feeling will drive her to try new things and you may find it difficult to keep her flying straight and steady in formations when all she wants to do is twist and turn in the air. And have fun explaining to her that she’s too big to pull off some of the maneuvers that the blues and greens are doing.
Egg Name and Description
Forms in Celestial Darkness Egg
At first, this egg seems to have been coated in little more than dusty charcoal, blanketing the entire shell in the mire from top to bottom. Here and there, a few speckled traces of white can be seen from a distance, forming into detailed arrays of softer colors up close. Pinpoints of light cascade around the endless night, highlighted in places by the most subtle of shifts of color like an aurora fading the shell in hints of silvery steel and sky blues. Here and there across the celestial landscape, little lines seem to have been etched, marring the beautiful image as if someone had cut faint scars in the dark. These seem so random, like the wayward strokes of some careless blade. Yet perhaps there is more than meets the eye here.. A hint of a form that the imagination draws from the patterns of lines between those stretched out motes of white.
Mindvoice and Touches
Threads of Destiny
Like the threads of some inescapable melody, she whispers into your soul with hints of violins rising and falling along the scales. Delicate harmonies interweave together, layering one ontop of another in a way that can tug with the deepest sadness or embolden one to great feats of courage. The thrum of distant drumbeats sounds above the symphony, as if stirring it to greater meaning and importance, but even in the quiet moments you can still hear it, as if it sounded out the steady rhythm of your own heart. Her presence shows itself in the faint hints of light that play in your peripheral vision, like lightning against the darkness behind your eyelids. Each time, there is a pause, and then the rumble as if thunder were sounding somewhere in the distance. A warm breeze, humid with the salt of sea welcomes you and draws into fond memories, but a rare irritation brings a tumult like the reach of stormy seas.
Threads of Destiny thrum softly in the distance, like music being played upon your heartstrings. The feeling is strange and alien at first, but there is a tentative quality to it, searching for understanding. Where does your strength come from? What is it that brings you to these sands and sets you before the great wheel of fate? Pale shadows of blue find their way in the dark, drawing with them the scent of endless grasslands and deep forests. A cool breeze draws away the heat of the caverns, bringing with it hints of salty sea air. The sweet pull of adventure waits for those brave of heart and strong of will. Will you take the chance?
Threads of Destiny calls to you in a voice like those familiar songs from the lower caverns, holds, and craft halls. The voice of a mother singing to her child mixes in a harmony of deeper tones throughout the ranges of age and gender. Lullabies - love songs - heroic ballads all merge somehow to make something new. So many people - so many voices out there in the world beyond - and yet you bring your own here to this place. You hear it softly at first, but then louder as a steady beat seems to form in time with the faint music that plays. No, this is no drum, but the sound of your heartbeat, testing the way it finds rhythm with the rest. Would you join your voice to this song? There is a need from within - to find someone with a strong heart that resonates with its own - searching for that one voice - that one spirit that it might forever walk the pathways of life beside.
Threads of Destiny appears in your mind as a single red strand that rests around your neck, the end disappearing into the ether. Where it touches, gentle heat spreads as if this were something fated - something meant to be. What began so softly comes through with the subtle shades of glowing hearth fire and the warmth of blankets in the coldest months. It brings with it a herald of song like the chorus of a hero finally coming home to be greeted into the arms of those they love. It dares even the most unsure of hearts to be more than what they are - to become something worth telling in song and story. Are you be the one the fortunes foretold - the one to whom the string leads? Could you someday find your place among those ones who find immortality in the heavens? Time will tell… The light - the warmth - it all draws away slowly. Now is not the time. Soon.
Hatching Message
Wobble Message
Tap. Tap-tap. The sound comes from the Forms in Celestial Darkness Egg as the tiny occupant makes itself known. There is a sudden little jolt from it, as if it bounced once and then landed again right in the same little mound of sand, sending little trails sliding down the sides as the motion makes room.
Crack Message
Just as sudden as the first, a second quick motion shimmies the Forms in Celestial Darkness Egg to the side as it topples off of the mound of sand and goes end-over-end before landing with a crunch at the base of the pile. The force of the impact sends fissures up through the shell, showing lines of white behind the dark exterior.
Hatch Message
Something creels from within the Forms in Celestial Darkness egg, the first hint of a dark shape showing as the hatchling thumps against one of the cracked walls of its prison. A moment later, the egg turns, and with final heave, the egg splits into three pieces, revealing its occupant, now sprawled backwards on the sands. The largest chunk of eggshell, having been lobbed by that final kick, skitters to a stop a few feet from the nearest of the white-robbed candidates.
Sands Pose #1
Truth Behind False Divinity Gold Hatchling seems confused for a moment. Her sudden, upside-down emergence into the sight and sound of the hatching grounds seems to take her a few breaths to recover from. The little queen flops sideways and looks up at Seryth, creeling once with confusion, then catches a glint of something in the stands, cutting off the sound. Maybe it's just a passing firelizard, but the flash of color, the movement of the people, it all seems to draw her attention with wonderous eyes, talons smoothly pushing her onto her feet as she takes those first hesitant steps - in the wrong direction.
Sands Pose #2
Truth Behind False Divinity Gold Hatchling only gets to wander off for a moment before the huge head of her mother, Seryth, appears and blocks the hatchling's way. Small wings flutter as some silent conversation passes between the two. With a trilling chirrup, the smaller dragon turns her attention in the direction of the line of white-robed figures. At least, in the direction she remembered them being. When did it get so dark? Still, something seems to have emboldened the little queen, who straightens her shoulders and walks dutifully towards the shadowy line of figures. She tries to cast a look back at Seryth, but even the big form is just a darker splotch against dark. With a brave flick of her tail, she strives forward towards the unknown.
Impression Message
Public Message
Truth Behind False Divinity Gold Hatchling seems to have finally set herself to the task at hand, eyes focusing as the lights flicker on. Her sure-footed path takes her right on by a few male forms, ignoring them for the most part. She blows a whuffle of hot breath at their ankles and moves right along. After bypassing a few girls with only a sniff and a glance, she takes a step back, letting her eyes move along the row of candidates. This is harder than it looks. Her tail flicks once, and then her head tilts, as if hearing something that isn't audible to anyone else on the sands. Curious, she takes a single step forward, then another, in no great rush but with determined steps until she finally stops, looking up into the eyes of a girl with flowing blonde hair and wild brown eyes. She croons softly, reaching her head out towards the girl's hands.
Private Message
A whisper of distant music catches your ears, seeming so strange and out of place within the heat of the sands. It must be the sound of the firelizards above, crooning to the hatchlings. Then, there is a steady th-thud, th-thud of drumbeats, starting low, but becoming more and more insistent. Just one of the dragons shuffling their feet, right? The sound grows louder, louder, as if it were sweeping around you and enveloping you. Th-thud, th-thud. No, it isn't drumbeats at all, but your heart. Not just /your/ heart, but two hearts beating in time with one another. « Esiae. » Something whispers to you, saying your name with such warmth that it is nearly heartbreaking. The voice is so familiar, as if it is one that you've known all your life - have waited for all your life. The music that had escaped you those long days ago on the sands returns, and it is your heartbeat that sets the tempo. « What are you waiting for? » A feeling of joy threatens to overwhelm you, creeping into every part of your being. « We've got so many adventures waiting for us. Let's start by seeing what that delicious smell is! I'm /sssoooooo/ hungry. »
Personality
Miguel: Look! El Dorado! The city of gold! This could be our destiny! Our fate!
Tulio: Miguel, if I believed in fate, I wouldn't be playing with loaded dice.
It may be hard to believe, but Sonyxaeth has always believed in fate. So many hands passed over her egg and she reached out to each one, looking for a place where she truly belonged. It wasn’t until you came that something sparked inside of her, like a tightening of a guitar’s string ready to be plucked into the notes of beautiful music. That thread, the drumbeats of her heart and yours that you couldn’t shake - neither could she. So when she hatched upon the sands, there could be no other in the world except you. You are twined as two parts of the same song, the same thread, the same heartbeat.
Tulio: Stop! This is not a proper tribute!
Tzekel-Kan: You do not want the tribute?
Miguel: No no, we want tribute. It's just that, um… Tulio, tell him.
Tulio: The stars are not in position for this tribute!
Miguel: Like he said! Stars! … Can't do it… Not today.
On the other side of the coin, believing too much in fate can bring out some quirky behavior. She’ll pick up on superstitions that she hears from both humans and dragons alike, which means she might insist on avoiding cracked pavement, or will warn you about stepping underneath the ladder that another weyrling is using to clean his dragon. You might have trouble dissuading her from these beliefs when she’s young and the world is a big, scary place. As she gets older, though, this quirk will settle into something calmer. Sonyxaeth loves the stars, and she’ll look to them for guidance in her life as if their passage speaks of all things. So, while some of the more immature ideas she gets might fade over time, she’ll still cling to the idea that the stars can tell her which herdbeast are tastiest just now, or when the perfect time to clutch is - which will inevitably, always be at night.
Tuilo: All right. Here's the plan. In the dead of night, you and I grab some provisions, hijack one of those… one of those longboats… and then, we… row back to Spain like there's no mañana!
Miguel: [pauses] Back to Spain, yeah?
Tuilo: Yeah.
Miguel: [uncertainly] In… a rowboat.
Tuilo: Yeah!
Miguel: [sarcastically] Great. Sensational. That's your plan, is it?
Tuilo: That's… pretty much it, yeah.
Miguel: [delighted] Well, I like it! So, how do we get on deck?
From the moment she first finds you on the sands, Sonyxaeth will take her place not only as your lifemate, but your partner in crime. She’ll be the first to encourage those rebellious urges to sneak out of the weyrling barracks and go for a midnight swim, or to creep down to the kitchens and raid the stores for meatrolls. Even when things call for stealth, you’ll have a hard time convincing her not to creep along behind you as if she were some overgrown feline thinking they can hide behind a tree or a boulder far too small to offer any real cover. More often than not, she’ll look to you to have some ‘grander plan’ for everything, and even when it doesn’t make sense she’ll stand by you. Even if you get caught, she’ll never weasel out of blame and will be there right beside you through thick and thin.
Miguel: Tulio! Tulio, we've done it!
Tulio: Is that the map?
Miguel: It's all right here!
Tulio: You *still* have the *map*?
Miguel: The whistling rock! The stream!
Tulio: You kept the map but you couldn't manage to grab a little more FOOD?
Miguel: Even those mountains! You said it yourself, it could be possible, and it is! It really *is* the map to El Dorado!
Tulio: [pause] You drank sea water, didn't you?
What good is a life without some adventure in it? Sonyxaeth has such curiosity about the world around her that it’s hard for it not to infect those around her. As a weyrling, she might pick up on a tale of just how amazing the forests are and try to convince the other young dragons to make a ‘jailbreak’ from their normal duties in order to see it. Stories of far off places will always capture her imagination. She’ll crave that feeling of the unknown that comes from being someplace dragons or humans so rarely have a chance to tread. It’ll take a time or two before she understands that she can’t stick her head down into dark caves without ending up with bruised headknobs and a tendency to get stuck. Even in those places she can’t go, your dragon will want you tell her /everything/.
As much as the distant horizons will always call to her, and each story that a rider brings home will spark that urge to see the things they’ve seen, there is also a quieter side to your lifemate. She’s a creature who sometimes basks in simple pleasures. She can get lost in the sight of a flaming sunset upon the horizon, or fascinated by the feeling of dew on spring grass between her talons. There is so much beauty in the world around her and she’ll store them away in her mind and often play them back for you at the end of the day while you’re readying for sleep, sharing with you the contentment and comfort she finds in the world around her. The most beautiful of all the things though, are you, and the place she calls home. She’ll inevitably be quite picky about choosing a weyrbarn, insisting on one that has a view of the sunrise over the lake that stretches out to the sea beyond.
Miguel: Hey, Tulio, look on the positive side: at least things can't get…
[a thunder clap. It starts pouring rain]
Tulio: Excuse me, were you about to say "worse"?
Miguel: No.
Tulio: No? You're sure?
Miguel: Definitely not, I'm going to revise that whole thing.
Tulio: Yeah. We are at least in a rowboat.
Miguel: We are in a rowboat.
[the boat drifts away to reveal the sharks following it]
Sometimes a great deal can be accomplished just by looking at it with a positive attitude. Sonyxaeth isn’t the type of dragon to sulk over things, even if she isn’t immune to the sadness that comes and goes in life. When bad things happen, she focuses on the good things in life - the fact that you’re both alive, food is warm in her belly, and tomorrow brings another day.
Miguel: Forget the sacrifices!
Tulio: Miguel!
Miguel: We don't want any sacrifices!
Tzekel-Kan: But all of the sacred writings say that you'll devour the wicked and the unrighteous.
Miguel: Well, I don't see anyone here who fits that description.
Tzekel-Kan: Well, as speaker for the gods, it would be my privilege to point them out.
Miguel: [shouting] The gods are speaking for themselves now! This city and these people have no need for you anymore! There will be no sacrifices! Not now! Not ever! Now, get out!
You know that little voice in your head that tells you when you’re going to far? Well, that little voice is you, and there are times where you might need to reign in some of her tendencies to get herself into trouble. When she’s young, it might be speaking up and questioning something during weyrling lessons and only draw a little ire her way. The problems come later in life when dealing with riders from other Weyrs, where she won’t really see a problem stating how the queens at Xanadu are clearly superior, or making claims that she can fix things when she really has no ability to do so.
Even so, Sonyxaeth has her heart in the right place, and there are times where she sees something wrong in the world and has no choice but to step up in defiance of it. At these moments, the queen that she could truly be starts to shine through. She won’t tolerate riders lording themselves over holders or crafters. She won’t even allow the weyrbrats to pick on one another in her presence. She knows, in her heart, what is right and what is wrong and in those moments when she steps up and makes her feelings clear, it’ll come out of nowhere and likely surprise you as much as it does the others around her.
Tulio: The little voice, remember? Just imagine for a moment that you have one. Now, what would it be saying about Chel?
Miguel: Um…[purrs]Tulio: [sighs] Well, it was nice working with you, partner.
Miguel: Tulio, I just want you to know… I'm sorry about that girl in Barcelona.
Tulio: Sor— you— you..ffff-
When it comes to the bronzes and browns of the weyr, your gold is no shy or dainty damsel. She has a body and she knows how to use it. The faintest flick of the tail, or a shift of the wings. Even when the mating urge isn’t upon her, she’s likely to favor those males she prefers with those teasing gestures, bumping past them or nuzzling against their shoulders and crooning as if she could draw them in and claim them all for her own. It’s a trait that could get her into trouble, especially if she goes flirting with some foreign gold’s weyrmate.
When the urge strikes, Sonyxaeth is all about the challenge. She wants the strongest and fastest of the males to catch her and will accept no less. Here is where her acrobatics may throw some lesser prepared suitors who can’t quite keep up with her displays, flying far and high and dancing through the skies as if she were meant to be a part of them forever. Her feelings will likely sweep you up right along with them, making the experience completely overwhelming, blocking out conscious thought until you wake in the aftermath.
While some golds have an irritation at being sands-bound, this isn’t the case for your lifemate. She sees each egg as a treasure - a new thread of life that must find someone out there just for them - just as she found you. Each egg is tended to, sometimes obsessively so, and candidates are welcomed with more warmth than wariness. That doesn’t mean she’ll tolerate any funny business, though. Candidates who goof off around her eggs will all too quickly earn the queen’s ire and that might just get them kicked off of the sands for good. Sonyxaeth isn’t a dragon to often give second chances when it comes to /her/ children.
In the end, Sonyxaeth truly cares about the people of Xanadu. When she’s not off chasing adventure, one of her favorite things to do is lay in the meadow and let weyrbrats use her as a jungle gym. Patient and kind, she is all warmth and welcome for those who offer the same to her. She’s far more down to earth than many of her golden counterparts, less concerned with the cleanliness of her hide or the order of things and more with the happiness of those around her. She has a fascination for children and human families, finding a joy and fascination in the differences between them and her own hatchlings. Which might just lead her to nudging you towards starting one of your own.
Inspiration
EGG: The theme for this season’s clutch was ‘things found in groups/assortments’. The Forms in Celestial Darkness Egg was built around the idea of Constellations. Points of light and the images we as humans associate with them, turning them into all sorts of shapes and stories. In those stars are images of animals, fantastical creatures, heroes, and yes - even dragons. The color for this egg is meant to give the impression of a night sky, strewn with stars, each set of them drawing something unique out of the imagination.
TOUCHES: For a long time, people have looked to the stars for guidance and as ominous portents of future events. Astrology tells that a person’s entire life can be written in the stars that lingered in the sky at the time of their birth. This thread of fate became the source for the the touches that came along with this egg. It touches upon that draw to become something worthwhile - something worth being written in the stars - and also brings images of those heroic ballads that have been carried with us throughout the ages. The last of the touches hints upon one of my favorite stories - the red string of fate. It is said to connect a person to the one they are destined to find, just as you were destined to find your Sonyxaeth.
MINDVOICE: Both in your application and in RP, you mentioned being ‘swept up’ by music, so much of that remains when it comes to your dragon. Into this, I threw in a few hints of your life on the seas to bring out some of the spirit of the Dread Pirate Esi, along with the rumbling storms that capture so much of our attention and fascination. The song I referenced for her mind was: Two Steps from Hell - Heart of Courage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUZ4_BMi-_Q
NAME: When considering a name for your new lifemate, we tried to take in as many of the things you wanted to see to create a name that is unique and as beautiful as you imagined. At first, I fiddled with names that started with ‘s-o’ (taking letters from both Seryth and Romth) and found out that the name Sonia means ‘beautiful’ in Punjabi and also ‘golden’ in Hindi. It seemed like the perfect basis for the name. Into that, I threw a dash of mythology and drew out ‘Nyx’ which was an old Greek deity of night, which nicely connects the egg theme through to her name and also covers your request for an unusual letter. Last but not least, I wanted to keep something of the suggestion you gave us, and so we tossed in the ‘ae’ from Sinaed. So together your dragon is Sonyxaeth, your beautiful golden goddess of night. For pronunciation, we were thinking: So-ni-zayth. Sony for short.
DRAGON: As you can certainly tell by now, your dragon is based on the good-hearted and sometimes overzealous Miguel from Dreamworks’ The Road to El Dorado. This, of course, came from your suggestion. Everything from his blonde hair to his thirst for adventure have been summed up together to create a dragon who hopefully fits neatly into the crevices to counteract those Tulio moments you have in your life. For her description, you asked for a dragon who wasn’t ‘ordinary’, so we tried to incorporate lots of interesting things to set your lifemate apart from others. With so many pale golds around, I picked out a dusky, tarnished color as the base, and painted the impression of space across her wings. The pale colors on her face are meant to represent the masks worn by Aztec cultures, pulling all the aspects of her egg and inspiration together into her description.
Miguel: My regret, besides dying is… our greatest adventure is over before it began, and no one will even remember us.
Tulio: Well, if it's any consolation, Miguel, you… made my life… an adventure.
Miguel: And if it's any consolation, Tulio, you made my life… rich.
Your adventures with Sonyxaeth are only just beginning, and we here at Xanadu hope that the life you two form together will be full of all the richness that you could ever dream of. We look forward to seeing what new stories you and your lifemate weave here at Xanadu. The future is yours for the taking and your Sonyxaeth will be there to boldly follow the road to every new horizon you want to travel. While we hope we’ve created the perfect lifemate for you, everything here that we’ve provided is just a guide on your way. She is yours to make your own.
Welcome to Xanadu. Welcome to your new life, and to all the adventures that go along with it.
- R’owan and the Searchco for Xanadu - Spring 2012
Credits
| Name | Truth Behind False Divinity Gold Sonyxaeth |
| Dam | Gold Seryth |
| Sire | Bronze Romth |
| Created By | R'owan |
| Impressee | Esiae |
| Hatched | April 10, 2012 |
| Xanadu Weyr | |
| PernWorld MUSH | |