Wings of Fury 2

Name: Zaya-Viel Madina

Species: Tsavari, Third Song

Song: Second Song, with a focus on the rapid dissipation of thermal energy in an area. So, her element of choice is ice. Yes, third song tsavari aren’t supposed to be able to use the second song. No, she doesn’t trust you enough to explain this.

Age: 31

Origin: The Stalwart Hull of Zrucan, Salin. Zrucan was the first of the Arcologies to suffer a Harmony Core breach and survive. The arcology’s Harmony Field is still partially functional, albeit weakened, allowing some of Salin’s Dissonance to leak in. This causes minor to moderate Song phenomena within its bounds, which the people of Zrucan have largely adapted to. At a glance, Zrucan is a twisted, half-destroyed hulk of a superstructure, surrounded by makeshift structures of scrap metal and other sorts of scavenged material. Though harsh, Zrucan has a very strong sense of community - no one can survive the apocalypse alone, after all.

What, you didn’t really think it would look like Mad Max, did you?

Home: The Polar Cosmopolis of Stemspire, Salin. Stemspire is the best-known of the tsavari arcologies off-world, due to its location - built around the stem of the world. It’s the only arcology with any notable amount of non-Tsavari population due to its location, and it’s also the only place on Salin to find off-world traders. Densely populated, it’s probably not the best place to raise a dragon - though that’s something to worry about later.

Appearance: A third song tsavari, with vibrant orange scales that fade to a more golden color around her head frills. Three reddish-orange eyes. Surprisingly short, at only 5’6”, though relatively muscular from a life of adventure. Notable purplish discoloration and scarring in uneven patterns, mainly around her extremities.

Generally wears a set of well-worn adventuring gear - or rather, scavenging gear. A reinforced jacket to protect against the elements, sturdy pants, heavy boots, gloves, a protective leather shirt for some layer of proper armor. Also has a wide-brimmed hat with cloth to protect the head and neck from the elements. Even if the weather is nice here. Always carrying at least four knives and a small crossbow, among other adventuring supplies.

Personality: A little on edge at all times, and thus very easy to startle. Generally friendly, albeit slow to trust. Very, very talkative, though the line between talking to herself and talking to other people sometimes gets blurred. Unusually prone to confusion, disorientation, and generally losing her train of thought. Would kill. But not for you, yet.

Biography:

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Zaya was, originally, a scavenger (or at least, a scavenger-in-training), working to gain a basic mastery over the third song in order to serve in one of Zrucan’s many scavenging groups, traveling the wastes to find useful materials and ancient technology for the good of the arcology as a whole. This was, unfortunately, a dream that wouldn’t last. One particular foray into the wastes of Salin ended in disaster - a particularly severe surge of the Fourth Song led to the group wandering confused in the realm of the dead for more than a week, and a full half never returned. Zaya, though a survivor, was left with a lifelong fear of death, ghosts, and other such things, and immediately retired as a scavenger.

Still, you can’t keep a curious mind down. Zaya began to spend much of her time exploring the ruins of the arcology, marvelling at the impossible technology that must have produced it so long ago. What must have happened, to make the world how it was now? Could what was lost ever be recovered? Someone had to try. So began an obsession with archaeological research, with seeking untouched ruins that could still contain pieces of a forgotten past - or at least technology that still worked, which was sort of the holy grail of archaeology and scavenging alike. Frankly, there was a fine line between the two.

Zaya’s research eventually led her to a great discovery, mentioned briefly in some obscure old texts. It wasn’t easy to piece together the location, and it was harder still to find a way to get there. It seemed to be the headquarters - or at least, an important building - of some ancient, possibly-secret organization, which might have still been intact, if the testimonial of some scavengers from Stemspire were to be believed. Zaya began to put together an expedition, using up a vast majority of her own resources to hire a team of mercenaries to take her there - one from each song. While her fear of the realms of the dead still stood, Zaya had found herself unafraid of most other things since then, and her quest for knowledge helped push past what fear remained.

At the age of 26, Zaya’s expedition launched, and long story short, it was a resounding success. Halfway embedded in a mountain in the wastes of Salin stood a small, metallic structure, the soft glow about it indicating that a Harmony Core still functioned within. The window to get inside was short - when the Second Song came again, the place could easily be re-buried. And so the team acted fast, breaching through an exposed window and making their way inside. The soft hum of the core began to rapidly fall to nothing, as sudden exposure to the elements overloaded the ancient machine - so not much time was left. The mercenaries, in typical mercenary fashion, began to ransack the place immediately for artifacts of any value, but frankly this was expected. It gave Zaya time to slip away and breach the ruin’s inner sanctum before the rest of them could get there. The ruin’s greatest secrets would be hers, now. Maybe the greatest discovery of a generation. Zaya crowbarred the door open...

... and found herself face-to-face with a dragon.

The vast inner chamber held an ancient, purple dragon, stood perfectly still, its face twisted an a frozen expression of pain or shock. As Zaya gawked, the dying hum of the Core finally fell to nothing... and the enormous dragon, in mere seconds, began to rapidly crumble to dust. Its skeleton collapsed from its disintegrating form, and its bones too quickly decayed to nothing, as hundreds or even thousands of years caught up in mere seconds. Zaya felt so, so cold. And then Zaya felt nothing.

The next thing she saw was the inside of an arcology hospital room. It didn’t take long to piece together the full story, as Xenia Kaihan, the fourth song mercenary she’d hired, soon arrived and filled her in. It seemed the inner chamber had been inundated with some exceptionally strong Song phenomena, perfectly preserved by the Harmony Core, and when the Core finally failed, a lot of things must have happened all at once. The temperature fell drastically, ancient bodies disintegrated instantly, and Zaya had been both severely frostbitten and blasted with some wildly uncontrolled magic that had knocked her out for two weeks. Xenia herself was the only one who’d seen fit to actually drag her out of there rather than leaving her for dead.

Her expedition ultimately a failure, and herself facing a long road to recovery, Zaya remained in Stemspire - at this point, it just seemed better for her health, and it was a better place to be doing non-field research. For the next five years, Zaya recovered from her brush with death, began training in the second song (because apparently terrible magic phenomena is enough to reattune your soul, which Zaya found concerning), and began to learn more on a new area of interest - dragons. What had one even been doing in a place like that? What’s the history of dragons at all? ...What are dragons, really? They don’t have those on Salin. Or they don’t anymore, apparently.

She had to know more. And what better way than to travel to a world actually known for having dragons on it? Alma seemed a strange place, sure, but she’d get by just fine there.

Dragon “slaying” wasn’t exactly what she was looking for, but who cares? It was the first chance she’d have to get close to a dragon at all.

Important Skills: Moderately proficient (albeit unconventional) user of the second song, with a focus on ice. Excellent survival skills. Very acrobatic. Good at climbing. Fairly sneaky. Can pick locks, disarm traps, and other similar skills useful for scavenging and “archaeology”.

Also a big nerd, who knows a lot about history (on Salin), linguistics (on Salin), dragons, and ancient technology (she knows very little about this one, but she’s at least looked into it!).

Important People:

Xenia Kaihan - Fourth song tsavari, 33. She/they. Moderately proficient user of the Fourth Song, and particularly the aspect of necromancy - that is to say, communication with the dead. Very big, very strong, very kind. She’s one of the rare mercenaries with actual morals and scruples, seeing it as her duty not just to protect the living but to soothe the restless dead as well. On Salin, that’s a continuing project. Became friends with Zaya over the years following the unfortunate expedition. Friendship evolved into dating. She and Zaya “share” a large apartment in Stemspire, though one or the other is usually gone on some adventure.

Vanja-Teku Madina - Second song tsavari, 29. Pronouns vary. Proficient user of the Second Song, and particularly the art of Fleshshaping. Genderfluid, and reshapes their body to suit whatever expression of gender they’re feeling on a particular day. A doctor in Zrucan, equally adept at dealing with grievous injuries and bodily dysphoria. Zaya and them are fairly close, and communicate by mail when feasible. Ready to throw down. If they like you, ready to throw down in a friendly way.

Mirek-Roda Madina - Third song tsavari, 27. He/him. Not proficient in any songs. He’s a farmer. Lives in Zrucan with his husband, a first song tsavari. A very supportive fellow, though he enjoys the simple life - as simple the life of a farmer in a half-destroyed arcology can really be.

Safa Qast-Yagmur - Urkadi, 53. They/them. Not a user of any Songs. A trader of books and writing supplies, who travels between the various worlds to hawk their wares. Also a writer of travel guides in their spare time. Jovial and good-natured to a fault.

Vaska Ekem - First song tsavari, 38. He/they. Proficient in the First Song, and specifically in the aspect of divination. A friend of Zaya’s in Stemspire, as well as a constant help with research. He still feels kind of bad about helping to point Zaya to the one ruin where everything went so badly.

Kestja Zol-Urbona - Songless tsavari, 32. They/them. Not proficient in any songs. A friend of Zaya’s in Stemspire, who runs a bakery not far from Xenia’s apartment. Shares Zaya’s interest in dragons (and a wide variety of other megafauna), and eagerly awaits stories of Zaya’s travels. They come from Alma originally, and specifically from the Tumbay Jungle. It is considered odd for a tsavari to move to Salin from another world, and it’s a long story.

Inventory:

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Dragons, the Second Chorus, by Marilynn Alphen. A surprisingly informative tome covering the life cycle of dragons, from egg to death. Sources are exhaustively cited, and many helpful diagrams are included. Artistic quality of the diagrams isn’t always the best, but it gets the point across.

Dragons of Alma: A History, by Florent Labeau. A well-researched history of notable dragons on the world of Alma. Obviously largely based on dubious historical accounts, but the author undertook a significant amount of field research in an attempt to investigate these stories.

Masters of the Second Song: A Treatise on Draconic Magic, by Slàine Novik. A well-worn book on draconic usage of the Second Song. Goes into detail on the different sort of magic dragons are capable of, and how it differs from the magic wielded by mortals.

Mating Rituals of the Wyrm, by Ivasaar Aragwyn. A book covering draconic mating practices. Not as steamy as you’d expect, but more steamy than you’d hope. Or less steamy. That’s not for me to judge.

The Old Cities, by Snorri Bronzemaul. A book about the ancient cities spread across the branch, and the unknown civilization that created them. Contains a lot of speculation and dubious sketches of the cities’ automaton defenders, mostly compiled from testimonial by adventurers daring enough to raid such places. Due to a lack of information, it’s not really clear how much of this book is accurate, but Zaya still finds it inspirational.

Traveller’s Guide to the Branch, by Safa Qast-Yagmur. A book containing maps of a variety of places on various worlds, along with useful context on various cultures and nations and the like. Useful!

Journey to the Far Branch, by Vas-Liang Yawen. A pulpy sci-fi novel prominently featuring a pair of ladies on the cover - one human and one tsavari. A surprisingly gripping story of two women traveling to fantastical worlds on distant branches, and finding love while they do so. Zaya leaves this one in her backpack, mostly.

Scavenger’s Outfit - A lightly-armored outfit intended to protect the wearer from harsh climates and weather. Not excellent when you’re, say, getting shot at (or fighting a dragon), but better than nothing. Stylish, if you like the post-apocalyptic style.

Backpack - A waterproof leather backpack with space for books and adventuring supplies.

At Least Four Knives - A set of sturdy knives, both for fighting and for utility.

Crossbow - A small crossbow for self-defense. Nothing special.

Rope - A length of rope, for all your adventuring needs.

Grappling Hook - What kind of adventurer doesn’t carry one of these?

Canteen - Water is essential for the continuance of organic life.

Lockpicks - A set of lockpicks, useful for a variety of purposes - very few of which are likely to be legal.

“Lockpicks” - A crowbar, some pliers, and a small hammer.