The Brotherhood of Claws and Fangs (IC, Members Only)

[Dyste]

(OoC/Signups here)

When Tyroth Blackfang was young, he felt alone in the world.

While he certainly knew other people, he was the only one with a scaly hide, wings, a tail, horns, claws and fangs. Due to his differences, he thought himself an aberration, someone to be feared and hated.

Then he found out of others like him. He learned that he was hardly a freak, but one of a race of beings, a powerful and noble one. He dedicated his life to giving his people a better life.

Then he learned that his own people were not the only intelligent Drakon out there; after becoming a king, he began diplomatic relations with many other nations, learning of others like them, and others that while quite different at first glance, could still be considered one of the draconic races.

It was for this reason Tyroth chose to expand on his original desires; instead of merely working to give the Draconids a better life, why not benefit other Drakon as well? After all, not all of them were savage monsters or evil conquerors; many of them were simply people, like his own kind.

Upon reaching out to other nations with the suggestion of a place to meet and discuss what they can do for their kind, the king was pleased to see many shared his desire to benefit the Drakon of the world. For this reason, he founded the Brotherhood of Claws and Fangs, to benefit dragonkind.

Fort Cardia Dua
Southern Dyste

The meeting place for the Brotherhood was situated on one of the medium-sized islands in the archipelago south of the mainland of Dyste, a set known as the Cardia Dua Islands, rumored to be a place where dragons once lived long before the Monarchy of Dyste existed.

While the stone fortress looked like it had been there for ages on the outside, it has actually been constructed just a single month ago, the strength of Draconids and the dexterity of kobolds making it a surprisingly easy job. Magic spells had been placed along the walls for security, and the fort was already staffed by a few Draconids and many kobolds eager to meet several other kinds of ‘bolds’. The sides of the fortress had been adorned by banners displaying the logo of the Brotherhood.

Myrah Blackwing was the head of the staff present at the fortress, as well as a possible substitute if Tyroth was forced to leave for whatever reason. She had been part of the Castle Staff for over three centuries, though it was clear to her that part of the reason she was chosen for this task was due to her father being the castle’s steward, Strom Blackwing. The Dark Draconid felt herself more than up to the task, though, having spent the last month aiding the king in preparations for today… speaking of which, where was he? The guests were about to arrive and their host had not yet arrived…

Some of the kobolds working at the top of the fortress looked upwards, pointing at the sky. What appeared to be a purple ball of fire was heading towards them, falling like a meteor! However, when in landed, the impact did not leave a crater, but instead a Draconid emerged as the flamed dissipated. The massive black-and-gold form of King Tyroth was recognizable anywhere in Dyste.

“You always have to make an entrance, sire…” Myrah sighed. This was hardly the first time she had seen her king arrive in this manner.

The king straightened out his mantle while laughing, “GHAHAHA! Always make a good first impression, I say! Besides, I hoped that was a good beacon for any guests that do not know the way… speaking of which, did you know who is coming?”

Myrah pulled a piece of parchment from her cloak, “Hmm… Phyrra Nile from Aravea, Andron Blachteile from Saurisia…”

“Yes, I expected both of them to send representatives. And obviously Alduin is coming, seeing that I already spoke of him about the idea…”

“... correct, his name in on the list as well. Daalk 'Olmar of Ruskarkand and Kourano Tunak of Stormwrath are also expected…”

“Ah, some fellow MSU members! I wonder how Tyfis is doing…”

“... and also Duke Sun Wu from the Ming Empire, and Empress Keralia Drakesong from Kalbana.”

“Hm, I haven’t been to either nation before, but that is one of the advantages of holding this meeting, correct?”

“Indeed, Sire. Those are the only names I received, but there may be others coming as well.” Due to a slight delay in communication, Myrah had only gotten this list the day before, and could not be assured it was completely up-to-date.

“Very well. I am certain the first of our guests is arriving soon, so I shall wait to greet them!” The king moved to the entrance hall of the fortress in order to welcome the other drakon and other guests that would be arriving shortly. The next big step in his dreams would be realized today…

[Stormwrath]

The SXCV Livia was within 100,000 kilometers from the planet where the Dystans inhabit. It had its cloaking devices activated to prevent the locals from suspecting the anomaly. IIDs were pretty useful for getting the ship there from say, a planet on another galaxy. After several minutes, a landing shuttle disembarked from the mothership and began to enter the planet's atmosphere. It also had cloaking devices so it wouldn't draw any attention; but that may be considered as magic, as the planet is known for its mystical beings inhabiting its surface. Such were the precautionary measures taken by the Stormwrathians.

Kourano Tunak was on board, with four Homurakian guards to escort him. Being the president of the Tanabiku Draconid Cultural Association was an important position, especially as he was to represent his species in the meeting. He had a specially made Metaverse Eye for him to use, as dracomorph eyes are different from human eyes. Tunak is currently using it to browse through the agenda of this meeting that the Dystan King Tyroth had organized. One of the guards could be observed talking to his companion indistinctly. Another guard was adjusting his light armor suit.

The spacecraft descended to somewhere in one of the islands of the Cardia Dua Archipelago in southern Dyste. That island had a fortress built there, which was probably the meeting place since it had the Brotherhood's banners draped on its mighty walls. They landed safely in the grassy plain right next to the fortress; probably some would notice, as the grass below the ship began blowing in a certain manner, reflecting the way the grass blows when a Terran helicopter prepares to land. The ship appeared for a few seconds, just enough for Tunak and the guards to disembark. As soon as they did, the AI controlling the landing ship reactivated the cloaking device once more.

They have managed to observe the ball of fire coming down on the fortress. Tunak then said, "This is the meeting place. I'm confident that you shall be guarding me in this meeting, correct?"

The four draconids said in unison, "Yes sir."

"Good."

The entourage arrived at the gates of the fortress, which opened before them. They entered and made their way to the keep in the middle. That was probably where the members of the Brotherhood will gather. As they stepped into the entrance hall, which was splendid despite its apparent age, the draconids saw a large black and gold figure.

"So this is King Tyroth Blackfang", Tunak said in a quiet voice.

[Ruskarkand]

Absorbed in a peculiar energy, a vast silhouette soared through the empty expanse - like a lone star through the dark chasm of space. It rocketed forward, and from it came a quiet murmur - a single incantation as the form's sleek figure broke its profile to make a somatic gesture. With a single rip of its forepaw's talons, a gate was torn throughout the plane; and the figure shot right through it without even a moment to think. To him, the action was second nature - the use of gates to cross vast distances was a common practice, but one that would often fail - were it not for the gift of insight. He did not truly know of his location and its vast details, but he knew where it was that he'd arrive at, and that to him was more than enough. In the blink of an eye, due to the absence of its creator, the gate amid the void merely vanished - returning the plane to the empty black realm it once was beforehand.

A deafening boom overcame the Chromatic Dragon as they emerged, seemingly from nowhere, to be graced by the familiar sound of screeching wind - it was overpowering, and even the two thin membranes over his eyes couldn't stop them from drying out. Emerging from such a means of travel was always particularly hazardous, inferred from the nature of how the slightest adjustment to his wing profile was difficult - and to actually undertake any action, such as banking of rolling, would result in catastrophic, bone-snapping repercussions. Gingerly, he merely took to keeping his wings in a level profile in order to maintain his glide until he came to slow down enough. Daalk bore experience through his age - flight for a beast as proportioned as he, or any Chromatic Dragon, was always demanding - far from easy. It took him a great deal of blind flight until he finally found himself capable of surveying his immediate surroundings, and he was immediately impressed by the view. However, he was more-so taken aback from the peculiar sight of a vast pillar of fire, barely catching onto the phenomenon as he came to finally see.

Not a single iota of doubt surrounded him - this was only reinforced when he came to focus on the fortress of which it originated from. The banners and the general look of it all opted to flash a few warning signs in his mind. That was no doubt where was headed. The vast Dragon banked to the side, pulling itself from its cruise heading as it folded its wings in so it could begin a steady descent - orientated towards the castle, he managed to force out a bemused chuckle despite the oncoming wind. His thick, azure coat of scales betrayed his presence in the sky as they emanated a mildly vibrant sheen - forcibly polished from sand blasting against him those many years ago in his home. However, whether or not he was expected as of this moment time was unknown, but as far as Daalk was concerned; he had all the time in the world. If he was late however...

It did not take much time for the Blue Dragon to find a means to land - a vast, plain expanse before the fortress provided him with an ample opportunity to touch down on all fours and come to a gradual stop to get his bearings on solid ground once more. The procedure was simple enough - his form would come to eventually rest for a small moment before picking itself up once more. The feint odor of ozone gas hung around his quadrupedal figure as a throaty sigh emanated from him. He was one part eager for what the moments ahead of him held - but in the shadow of his doubt, he was felt the intangible ping of his nerves poke at his mind. He knew not what to expect, and that drew forth a number of feelings. He was predominantly weary, but he knew he'd make every effort to try and keep himself reserved until he was comfortable - everything would right itself in its own time, he merely hoped that nobody would come to be bothered by the passive aroma that he carried with him.

Daalk's stark moment of hesitation had passed, and he began to make leeway for the vast entrance of the Fortress - the Entrance hall to follow shortly afterwards. Keen yellow eyes would constantly monitor his surroundings, briefly peering over each individual he saw to take in their appearances - a million faces to memory, he only wished that he had names to match. And on the off-hand, there was the premise of the names which he had yet to match to faces - and he wouldn't want to jump to conclusions so as to match someone by mere guess alone. Instead, he remained in the hall - reserved, he merely absent-mindendly commented on the surroundings with a hushed murmur. "My, my. This is quite the Castle."

[Saurisisia]

A sliver of black and gray approached the outskirts of the castle only barely a hundred feet above the Dystan countryside; it was a Saurisian VV-56, a variant of the V-56 Paleonous VTOL tiltrotor aircraft designed for the transport of VIPs. The VIP in this case was Andron Blachteile, a renowned diplomat and Army veteran of various conflicts stemming from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s, who was here to represent Saurisia on behalf of the Brotherhood. The Ritwinge adjusted his glasses as he glanced at his sole bodyguard, a sleeping Ankylosaur whose bulk matched his own, and smiled as he looked back out the window. It's funny, he thought, just two hundred years ago, the Drakónian and Saurian races viewed each other with equal animosity and now? Now, they are generally at peace with one another and have a close friendship, almost forgetting that, once upon a time, the two races were at constant war with each other.

It's funny how things change over time, isn't it?

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the bodyguard addressing him, "We are approaching the fortress, ambassador. It should be in view right now."

And indeed, he could the site in question right now, a rather large fortress that had banners surrounding the premises which had the symbol of the Brotherhood King Tyroth formed emblazoned on them. Yup, this must the place, Andron thought, to which he smiled regarding the obviousness of the statement. It wasn't long after that the craft touched the ground and the door was opened by the Ankylosaur, who saluted the ambassador (who, in turn, saluted back) before the two Saurisians headed right towards the rather enormous gates to the fortress itself. The two wouldn't be too hard to recognize since, for one thing, the ambassador was being escorted by an Ankylosaur dressed in a green uniform who glancing at everyone they passed; for another, the ambassador himself was clad rather formal clothing (as well as his distinctive glasses) which hid a surprisingly powerful frame, built over years of military training and battle experience and kept in shape through rigorous annual exercises. It undoubtedly would not be long before the Draconid King spotted him amidst the small crowd of representatives...

[Olwe]

The Olwean airship had been teleported in using a Planeswalker portal... Karnos Blackclaw and his pilot, Maximillian -- who had opened the portal, as Karnos himself was not a Planeswalker -- had felt Tyroth would enjoy the presence of a non-Dystan airship as a sign of increased solidarity, but there had been no other way to get the craft here from the Olwean homeworld of Yavanna.

"If there's trouble, give me a call," Maximillian said as he landed the craft. "I'll be on my comlink. Dave, don't fiddle with that."

The piece of toast with eyes and a mouth that had been hovering near the control panel said defensively, "I wasn't doing anything." Dave had been accidentally given life when Maximillian lost control of his magic one day... as the creator of that life, Maximillian had become responsible for it and had to keep Dave out of trouble, a monumentally difficult task.

Maximillian sighed and turned his glowing eyes back to Karnos. They flashed in a distinctive pattern... white, blue, black, red, green, and then back to white again to repeat the cycle. It was the 'color wheel' of Olwean magic, personified in one of the few beings who could wield all five colors. "Just try not to find trouble. I'll probably be distracted. Dave! Don't make me slather butter on you!"

Guffawing with laughter at the antics of the airship's pilot and nominal copilot, Karnos disembarked with his small entourage in tow... it had been decided that all three draconic species native to Olwe should be represented in the delegation, so in addition to the Draconid there was also his trusty Kobold assistant (who went simply by 'Assistantbold') and a female Dämonfeuer in the uniform of the Olwean Diplomatic Security Corps. Her rank insignia identified her as a Major, and her nametag said 'Schmidt'. She was fully woged, since her dragon form would probably be more attractive to the locals than her Human one anyway.

"Gerda," Karnos cautioned her as they walked into the castle, "be on the lookout for trouble, but don't start any. I'm not expecting there to be any actual need for a military presence here, so this is basically a vacation for you."

Gerda nodded. "Understood," she said. "There's King Tyroth."

Karnos looked... it seemed as if Gerda hadn't been the first person to spot the Dystan ruler. He and his fellow Olweans waited patiently behind the delegation from Stormwrath.

[Stormwrath]

Tunak stepped inside the castle, along with his four guards. They were stunned at its scale and beauty, and saw it fitting for a meeting like this, although a meeting room would be nice as well. He wondered how such a castle could still hold together and last for so long. He spotted the Dystan king, who was recognizable because of his size and his black and gold scales. He thought that dracomorphs back in the Homurek Kingdom would be easily dwarfed by King Tyroth. Tunak began to walk towards the king and prepared to introduce himself to his Majesty.

"Salutations your Majesty!", the dracomorph began. "The Stormwrathian Archemperor Percival I, and the Homurek King Porthos III, send their congratulations in the formation of the Brotherhood. I am their representative, Kourano Tunak, and it is a pleasure to meet you, o King."

[Dyste]

The king did not have to wait too long in order to meet the first of the guests; while he was familiar with Stormwrath, having visited there a few months ago, he did not realize the first representative was from there until they mentioned Emperor Percival, who had had the fortune of meeting personally. He had to make sure to stand a short distance away in order to not look down on them, "Well, hello, Kourano! I am very glad you could make it; I did not get the chance to meet any dracomorphs while I was in Stormwrath, so I am glad to finally meet the, ahem, draconids of the Empire!" It still took a bit of getting used to, his own species name being coincidentally the name of the Empire's term for draconic species...

The next visitor would've made him stand guard in his youth; the sad fact was that not all of his experiences with traditional quadruped dragons were pleasant ones. But times had passed, certainly. "You must be Daalk 'Olmar, of Ruskarkand," He crossed his arm over his chest and bowed his head; Ruskarkand was one of those nations he only had some contact with in the past, though he was hoping through this, the banquet a short while afterwards, and the Multi-Species Union, their relationship would improve. "I am King Tyroth Blackfang of Dyste. I hope your stay here is comfortable; I have designed this place so both bipedal and quadrupedal Drakon can fit. If you need anything, you need only ask the kobolds..."

Speaking of them, the kobold staff were very excited to see all the types of '-bold' present; they were already discussing among themselves what they were going to refer to each of the guests as. Daalk's name was the easiest: 'Bluebold!'. They were still determining some of the others (except Karnos, who was obviously a 'Giantbold'.)

The next representative Tyroth needed no guessing on the identity of; Dyste had established friendly relations with Saurisia years ago, one of their earliest allies on the world stage, he was very familiar with all the types of Drakeni. "Andron, I presume? Welcome to Dyste. I am glad to see you could make it to our first meeting here. Have you met Ambassador Kreml Highwing? If so, how is he doing?" Kreml was known for his fondness for Drakonia, his wife and daughter living in his villa there.

The last person to show up at this point was the one the Royal Draconid was the most familiar with; he was from Olwe, a nation he had known for ages (he was a close personal friend of the Emperor and Empress, and had known Lord Olwe himself), he was the same species as the king himself was (contrary to popular belief, Draconids - his race, not the term used by Stormwrathians - were not exclusively found in Dyste, though they were most common on this set of islands), and he knew the representative personally. "Karnos! I was hoping you could make it here today. Ah, and look at the little one with you," the king created a hand shape out of energy and used it to rubbed the assistantbold's muzzle. His own assistant, the kobold called 'Minityroth' do to her scale patterns matching the king's was also present; with Karnos also resembling the king, the three could easily be confused with being related!

Tyroth then took a step back to address everyone present, "I thank you all for being here, on the first day of the Brotherhood of Claws and Fangs. I have dedicated much of my life to aiding our brethren, and I feel that this is the next big step for our kind. I would like to spend today determining just what we should be doing for our kind with this alliance: what is our goal, ultimately? What steps should we take to benefit our kind? How should we interact with other species? And so forth. But, I digress... some of you may be a bit hungry, yes? I know I am," the king patted his stomach; his appetite was almost as legendary as the tales of his adventures, "Directly straight ahead is our Grand Hall, where we shall be meeting; my staff has taken the initiative to prepare some food for us. If you require something specific to eat, just ask some of the staff; the kobolds might not speak Common very well, but they do understand it!"

Each of the delegations were assigned a pair of kobold staff members in order to assist them. Of them, the ones assigned to Karnos warmed up to him the quickest; kobolds and Draconids greatly trusted one another. The others were a bit more wary; they did care about their fellow -bolds, but the size difference could be a bit disconcerting to them at first. They would warm up to them in due time, though.

[Aravea]

While the King greeted the guests who had already arrived two matte black objects appeared on the horizon rapidly drawing close to the fortress. As the two objects drew nearer in became apparent that they were not mere objects but rather a set of two sleek V-78 Falkens. Aboard this aircraft was the Aravean delegate, General Phyrra Nile, who wile rather young by Dystan standards was one of Aravea’s top diplomats and had served in a multitude of posts. She pondered this for a moment and thought “It actually is rather funny to see how far I have come since my first meeting with Arcturus well over thirty years ago. To go from being a mere lieutenant in a back water outpost to now being retainer of the Imperial family and serving as ambassador to the Brotherhood….” Phyrra was snapped out of her musings by the voice of her accompanying bodyguard who stated “General we have almost arrived at the destination. We need you to go ahead and prepare for your disembarkment.“ PAs the Falkens began their descent the golden scaled and blue uniform clad draconis stared out at the fortress and carefully mulled over the events that would play out today. Finally, the aircraft touched down just outside the entrance to the fortress.

As the vehicle landed she and her entourage disembarked and proceeded to make their way into the castle where they were greeted by the other delegates and the Dystan royals. The draconis bowed to the King and said “Greetings your majesty, I am General Phyrra Nile of the United Commonwealth of Aravea. I must say that is an honor to meet you and my fellow ambassadors. Oh and before I forget, my mistress the Empress wishes to discuss something of great importance with you at a later date.” As she finished her introduction the draconis nervously stared at her fellow delegates and carefully analyzed their expressions for any potential useful details.

[Otulia]

Tinkerer sighed as he crashed into the surf. Hubris has a strange way of biting you in the tail, didn't it? He'd been far too prideful to accept that, half the size of a human being, he couldn't make the trip from Valitora to the Cardia Dua. As it was, he'd refused all help in travel (though he'd accepted it in other terms) and had furiously beat his little wings across what could be better described as a continent than a country. Why are thye always so bloody large? he thought, the peaceful waves lapping his hindquarters. Well, as it was, he'd made it. Lost half his weight and sanity, but made it nonetheless.

Now, if he could only get up and make it to the hard-to-miss castle up on that hill there. Why on earth any draconic nation, especially one so draconic as Dyste, would have to defend itself from foreign invasion, was beyond him. Despite being more strong-willed and independent than most wyverns, he had the almost obsessive worship of dragons as benevolent deities elevated to "force of nature" status. In Otulia, that had helped him with pushing his race forward, here, he hoped it would work even better.

Finally, he had managed to wearily pull himself up into the bipedal position. He was a wretch. Along with looking dangerously thin, his orange-irised eyes were bloodshot, his scales crusted over with salt (he'd crash-landed more than once), and he had several strings of seaweed around his head. His lips were cracked and torn, and his wings looked like a shredder had started to consume them, then, deigning to find more palatable materiel, spat them out partway through.

And so, in this state, looking like a dazed, tiny, starving castaway with hints are tiny dragon, he willed himself up the slope (he fell three times, which couldn't've been good for him). After finally reaching the top, he rewarded himself with a rest. He tried to breath through his nose; his mouth was so dry it could've been dust, so he decided he'd have to keep his mouth shut for the time being. Oh well, plenty of time for that later. With his chest now caked with dirt from the climb as well as crusted with salt from the sea, he began half-stumbling, half-dragging his way towards the Castle.

[Olwe]

"It's good to see you too, Tyroth," Karnos said. He used Tyroth's first name partly out of actual familiarity -- they were fairly old friends, after all -- but also partly out of Olwean-ness... formality was a bad word in Olwe, so people tended to use first names most of the time. "I don't believe you've met Major Gerda Schmidt... she's representing the interests of our other native draconic species, the Dämonfeuer, and at Jason's insistence will be acting as my bodyguard too." Karnos was, like most Draconids, quite capable of taking care of himself, but he was also extremely valuable to Olwe... extra protection being ordered was something he had finally gotten used to about a century into government work.

"Honored to meet you, Your Majesty," Gerda said, defaulting to formality because she didn't know Tyroth (and because members of the Diplomatic Security Corps, due to having both diplomatic training and military discipline, tend to be more respectful than other Olweans).

At the mention of food, Assistantbold jumped up and down excitedly while Karnos agreed, "Yes, let's eat... I'm quite hungry myself, and I'm sure some of the others are too." The Draconids needed lots of food to fuel such large bodies, but they weren't the only big folks here this time around.

[Ruskarkand]

Daalk found himself detracted from his idle passage of time - his drifting mind brought to bare when he was addressed by a voice calling his name. He cradled his head to the side to bare witness to the King offering a curt bow to him. Such gestures were recognized, but impossible to return in due form. Instead, he took to vocalizing his response, amending no particular tone to his words. "A pleasure to meet you, good Sir King."

There wasn't much more to it. He found himself quieter than he would of liked to have been, Surely, there would be more to talk about beyond introductions later on - The Dragon inferred that the King must of known most things about him regardless. He was glad that the Castle would of been able to accommodate something such as himself beyond the foyer. He drifted his attention away as the King went to greet the other guests, instead shifting to potential matters which might come to be raised as a topic given enough time. Other than preliminary ideas though, he had nothing. A moment or so later, he found his attention shift back to the King addressing everyone as a whole - particularly about the matter of the Grand Hall, what'd be discussed and food.

A bemusing thought. Something such as himself, he'd equate to a tank which never read 'full'. No Dragon, as far as he knew, was different. Some self-restraint was required, but he'd likely come to have something in due time. For now, he simply took to waiting - becoming little more than an unwavering statue as he delved back into his own plane of mind in order to explore the vast amount of thoughts circulating within. He'd spurn himself to move, eventually. Either that, or the Kobolds assigned to him would come to constantly make sure his attention didn't drift away from the matter at hand. Daalk would come to do either, he just prioritized sorting his thoughts out first and foremost.

[Dyste]

Tyroth was about to lead the representatives to the Grand Hall when the Araveans arrived; Tyroth was friends with the Fouke noble family, having spent one of his vacations in his summer home with them. "The pleasure is all mine, Phyrra," Like Olweans, he usually referred to people by their first names unless they explicitly disliked it, and most did not object, for most were worried about offending him in turn, despite the king's reputation for being easygoing. "The Empress wishes to speak with me? Well, that can easily be arranged!" He had the feeling they were going to be meeting soon anyways.

The king had Myrah take his place at the front hall; any future guests would be directed by her to the Grand Hall. A short walk took them to an set of silver doors. Tyroth pushed them open to reveal two circular tables, one surrounded by ornate chairs, the other containing the food. And food there was indeed! Aurochs, a type of large cattle imported from overseas were the main attraction; many types of drakon were meat-eaters, and with a lot of the kitchen staff being kobolds, it was unsurprising that a lot of the food present was meat. Sausages, meatballs, ham, steak... certainly the carnivores had their share. However, there were still a few other options; a type of bright-red pasta was present, as was a salad with a blue leaves, looking rather like spinach. There were also sandwiches, primarily for the sake of the kobolds, who enjoyed being able to carry their meat in a single hand easily. The walls had the flags of the nations present, more banners of the logo, and portraits of varying types of Drakon, with one of Tyroth himself behind the golden chair clearly designed for him. For the quadrupedal members, red cushions could be substituted for the chairs.

Tyroth himself grabbed a little of everything, and sat at his chair. "Please, take as much as you like. Now, I must admit, an alliance like this is a new experience for me; Dyste has been involved in alliances before, though mainly it is either my wife or another representative who deals with it. But, I was thinking... I would like to know what all of you want out of this brotherhood. For me, I desire cooperation and understanding between our species and people." Drakon were often rather prideful, and were not looking for helping hands. That said, how could they expect other species to treat them with respect if they could not do so with one another?

Willing Tinkerer was found stumbling towards the castle by a pair of kobolds, who were walking a much longer reptile; this was an Earth Drake, or 'groundbold' as they were known. It was a juvenile one, not quite at its full size, but it was still around seven feet long. The pair stopped in their tracks when they saw the wyvern, a species they could clearly tell was a type of 'bold', but have not seen before. The two tried to determine just what type of -bold he was...

"Kobold?" No that didn't sound right... "Skybold?" He was too big to be a Wind Drake, that is for sure... 'Firebold?' Fire Drakes were larger than this... while Tinkerer was not fluent in Kobosh, he was capable of hearing the frequency they spoke in. While the words were foreign, they did seem to be quite concerned for him.

[Otulia]

Hope you don't mind me assuming that Drakine and Kobosh would be pretty similar. If you do, just TG me and I'll edit it, of course.

Tinkerer could reasonably understand the kobolds. Kobosh, from what he could tell, had only a few minor differences from Drakine, like Netherlander and German or Spanish and Italian. It was garbled, with a strange, foreign accent, but just a notch below incomprehensible.

"W-water..." he finally struggled. He could actually see the dust particles come out of his mouth. Well, this was embarrassing. Finally, he forced himself to speak, willing the words out of his mouth in Drakine that he hoped his counterparts could understand.

"Water... food... bath... please?" Politeness had been drilled into him so much that he automatically tacked on the last word.

He rubbed his dry eyes. Bad idea. The ocean water only made them sting even worse. Thinking that they might take him to literally, he made one final verbal effort.

"Bath... first... others... table?" With this last strenuous effort finished, and fought to keep himself balanced. For once, he one, and remained standing to see what the kobolds and their large companion would do.

[Olwe]

"That is what I would like, as well," Karnos said after Tyroth finished speaking. "Cooperation, understanding and perhaps a bit of romance... I am, after all, Olwean." He waited for the laughter -- harder from those who knew of Olweans and their tremendous sexual appetites -- to die down before adding, "But I am sure a lot of us are interested in free trade between our peoples, as well. The Olweans have a long trade relationship with Dyste, but almost no contact whatsoever with the other nations present... assuming that's true of everybody else, that you've already met or will be meeting drakon from completely unfamiliar nations today, you've probably considered the opportunities already." Dragons and some other species similar to them had a reputation for being good with money... it was what had given rise to the popular mythological image of a dragon sleeping atop an enormous treasure hoard.

[Stormwrath]

"Oh my goodness."

The dracomorph was certainly amazed at the amount of delicacies that the Dystans have prepared for this event. True, draconids are indeed known for their voracious appetites, but this really was too much of an exaggeration. All kinds of food, from meat to plants, were placed all over a large table, all of them made in a way to make both eyes and mouth water in both pleasure and potential stomachaches. The guards had no time to waste. Quickly they grabbed plates and dug in. Tunak went and took some Auroch and a few sandwiches before proceeding to where the other representatives of the Brotherhood were seated. A glass of wine was being laid out at the table already for him to drink.

To answer King Tyroth's question, Tunak said, "The Brotherhood has certainly been founded on the principles of mutual cooperation and understanding among us, who represent a large variety of draconic species. I'm quite sure that many of us haven't found out about other draconids, so this is a very huge opportunity to learn about each others' cultures. After all, I am sure that some of us come from nations that may not seem to have a population of draconids, such as my own."

[Alduinium]

Alduin had always had an issue with arriving on time to anything, ironically enough. It seems the years of ruling Alduinium has perhaps began to take their toll on him, starting with his mastery of time, or at least his ability to arrive anywhere on time. This was quickly demonstrated by his mildly late arrival to one of his only true allies meetings, and one in which Alduinium was supposed to make other allies, for that matter. He began his flight towards Fort Cardia Dua, hoping to at least arrive before any talks started. He would go by himself, of course, no need for a Dovah to bring along any kind of protection (even if his Foreign Minister did advise him to at least bring her along in order to help him during the talks, a request he denied).

He was surprisingly fast, even in ‘casual’ flight, going from his home land back in Alduinium all the way to Dyste in a mere half-hour (though perhaps helped by the seemingly chaotic and inconsistent ocean that separated the two lands, where time seemed to flow in a most unnatural manner), a far cry from his far slower flight during the old times, and a sign of what years of eating hundreds and thousands of souls has done to improve his power. Before too long, he arrived on the Fort in no time, slowing down, before landing perfectly onto it’s entrance. While certainly not as flashy as Tyroth's meteor landing, he most assuredly planned to one up it in an entirely different way.

“Zu'u lost bo, Tyroth!” He said, going through the gates, thankfully large enough for him to enter. His voice was loud and booming, easily audible even from inside the fortress, causing minor vibrations as he loudly announced his presence. He was late, but at least he was fashionably late, and that was at least better than simply being late.

[Saurisisia]

It certainly was not long before Andron was approached by a large Draconid with gold-and-black scales and, as he had been briefed by someone affiliated with ambassador Frederickson that any Draconids who were gold and black in color would be members of the local Royal Family. And, of course, even someone who had gotten the bare minimum of information in regards to Dyste would know that this particular individual was King Tyroth himself. Smiling and adjusting his glasses, the Ritwinge replied, "Why, yes, I am, Your Majesty. I have to be honest, this is my first venture here to Dyste and I was chosen as representative of Saurisia in this particular organization. Unfortunately, no, I have yet to meet to ambassador Highwing as I have only recently been received this particular assignment."

Upon seeing the food the Dystans had laid out in the banquet room, Andron was most overjoyed at that sight. His bodyguard, on the other hand, was indifferent, due to much of the food being meat-related rather than plant-based. At least some of the food was vegetarian, he thought to himself. Nevertheless, they immediately began finding plates and scarfing down on their food; Andron spoke up in response to Tyroth, "Generally, yes, Your Highness. We of Saurisia seek cooperation, understanding, and increased protection against our rivals and enemies." The ambassador's bodyguard snorted in amusement at his little comment.

[Dyste]

Tyroth ate silently - no, more accurately he did not speak while eating - hearing the suggestions of some of the fellow members. He was about to speak when another voice boomed through the hallways, one Tyroth was very familiar with. The Draconid King had some notoriety for befriending old enemies - Mishera and Lissah of the Black Fangs were from antagonistic clans whose surviving members allied with Dyste afterwards - but perhaps the most surprising one was Alduin, whom he had personally fought for several consecutive days with drawing to a stalemate. The Dovah was lead into the Grand Hall, "Drem Yol Lok, fahdon, he said with a smile on his face; while nowhere near as amazing a linguist at his wife, Tyroth had taken up several languages to aid in diplomacy. "Please, grab yourselves a bite to eat, if you do eat all, that is. We were discussing we we would like out of this alliance. Feel free to suggest anything!"

By the time Tyroth had managed to take a break from eating, he had though of the comments from the Olweans, Stormwrathians, and Saurisians. "You all bring up excellent points, my friends. Trade amongst our people is necessary for our people to thrive, I am certain we all have goods others can take advantage of, like how we have precious minerals, gems, produce, fish, and of course, magical items." Many items within the fortress were magical in some variety, though the potency varied wildly. " Regarding culture, yes, I do think we need to share ours, both with ourselves and others; I always take delight in learning about the cultures of other drakon, so feel free to share anything with our other members. And as for romance... well, I suppose my good looks and charm has given me many admirers, GHAHAHA!" Despite his jovial attitude, Karnos knew that Tyroth was not making that up.

"And regarding your point, Andron, it is true that we should deal with protection. While our species may be powerful, there are many potential threats to our kind. I have had to deal with so-called 'dragonslayers' in my youth; most were fools who thought having a shiny sword could allow them to kill me, but there were a rare few who actually dd have what it takes to potentially kill one of our kind." While much tougher now than in his youth, Tyroth was nearly killed by such a hunter with a specifically enchanted weapon back then, the same one that caused the scars on his Knight Commander's chest and eye. "That does bring us to a question I have for you all; how should we deal with non-Drakon nations? I know that is a multifaceted question; obviously if you are here, our own nations are not a problem in that regard, and there are plenty of nations that desire good relations with us, but there are those that are ignorant of us, or fear us. What say all of you?"

---

Tinkerer seemed almost ready to collapse. The kobolds did not know if the Wingedbold - yes, that should do for now - could survive for much longer without some nourishment. It was then they saw a cyan draconic head pop out of the ocean. "Seabold!" the kobolds said in unison, taking Tinkerer near a ledge. Unlike the common Wind Drakes and less common but still easy to find Earth Drakes, Water Drakes could very rarely be found in mainland Dyste, mainly due to requiring a good amount of sea water. Still less rare than Fire Drakes, which given their temperament was probably a good thing.

The Water Drake spewed a clear water at the wyvern; 'Seabolds' were famed for their ability to purify aquatic areas. The freshwater helped to clean Tinker, aided by one of the kobolds using some scale polish on him.

"You understand us?" The other kobold said, noticing the similarities on their vocal patterns. "Here for that summit? We shall take you there..." reaching into the bag he was carrying, he pulled out a sandwich. "Want this? I can get more at the fortress..."

[The Swarmind]

Ignore this. The Swarmind is a different account of the Mangled and for some reason I can't delete this post.

[The Mangled]

Noctrue was flying high above the sea glaring down at the islands it passed. Soon an island with a large fortress came into view and Noctrue began his decent crashing down and landing around a few kobolds. It lifted up one of the kobolds and spoke, "It is excellent to see that lesser creatures are enslaved here." After Noctrue said it while admiring the tiny drakon it threw the kobold away and began approaching the gates. Noctrue threw the doors open almost breaking them off their hinges especially after so many other large creatures had thrown open the doors. As Noctrue crawled down the hallway it spoke to its self quietly with its top mouth. The large corpse drake approached where Noctrue sensed so much magical energy and entered with a loud boom. Noctrue glared down at the many drakon ambassadors and sat down larger than most of the drakon there. Noctrue listened in and figured out one of the small drakon that yielded very much magical energy was the king. "I am disappointed that such a small drakon is the one who called this meeting. I was expecting some great wyrm larger than me." Noctrue said then continued listening to what was said in draconic.

[Ruskarkand]

The Blue Chromatic Dragon finally roused himself from his lapse of thought, partially attributed to the sudden outburst of noise around the premises. A throaty hum rung from him as he glanced down to the Kobolds assigned to him. Small creatures although they were, they were no doubt useful in his perspective. The solid camaradiere between the Chromatic Draan and Chromatic Dragons of Ruskarkand solidified as a bond due to each splinter species' weaknesses and strengths attributing for one-another. Their versatility was to be admired, for there were many things that tiny beings could do which massive Dragons such as Daalk himself could not even fathom of partaking in. That said however, this meeting was something a being such as himself could attend. He'd need to spend less time dwelling on meager thoughts and rather spend more time on actually participating within the group's talks.

His entire form quaked momentarily, before it emerged from its prior state of being nothing more than a simple, statuesque being. The crackling of accumulated static electricity hummed from his hide for a few moments, but it would gradually come to subside as the Blue Dragon moved further into the hall. For a moment, he found his attention to focus on the various bits of cuisine arrayed out for the guests. Dragons of his caliber were no strangers to indulging themselves with various luxuries, but the premise of gaining more energy to burn off into electricity disavowed any actual feelings of hunger he might of had. Instead, he kept his focus on the present matter; the ethos of the group, or what it was going to be.

"I feel as though the basis of our interactions with one-another should be looked into. 'Drakon' are reputable to otherwise have an unsavory superiority complex, even over their kin, or beings who are ultimately similar to our kin. This may not be true for every individual, but it's not utterly unfounded." he spoke forth, before a mild sigh rung from him. He refrained from averting his gaze to look on anyone in particular, instead deciding to divert the matter away from any finger-pointing which could offend. "'Chromatics' such as myself, from what I've experienced, are often guilty of this. I fear others may harbor these feelings as well. I feel like it'd be worth touching upon such topics at the very least - to ensure that cohesion between one another is free from any form of -.."

Daalk opted to pause momentarily, finding himself amiss of a certain word. He simply cradled his head forward, before picking up one of his forepaws from the ground and spinning it in a small arc. Not so much a somatic spell gesture, but more of a hand gesture to accompany his next quip. "Well, you know what I mean, I hope."

[Olwe]

Karnos nodded along with what Daalk was saying. "I concur," he said. "Our public image is one of the reasons people are, as my good friend Tyroth put it, ignorant or fearful of our kind... anything we can do to ensure that we are well received by non-drakon will probably be worth the effort." He glanced up as Alduin entered... Karnos had never met him before, but due to his part in Tyroth's legend Alduin was mildly famous in Olwe and therefore instantly recognizable. It wasn't long before Noctrue entered as well, a fair bit more obnoxiously than Alduin. "Case in point," he said. "Arrogant, condescending... all the things outsiders point to as being wrong with drakon. This is exactly how we shouldn't deal with other nations, regardless of which species live there." He wished Noctrue had come to Olwe and pulled that shit... Tyroth was too gracious a host to vaporize him on the spot like he probably deserved.

[Otulia]

Tinkerer seemed almost ready to collapse. The kobolds did not know if the Wingedbold - yes, that should do for now - could survive for much longer without some nourishment. It was then they saw a cyan draconic head pop out of the ocean. "Seabold!" the kobolds said in unison, taking Tinkerer near a ledge. Unlike the common Wind Drakes and less common but still easy to find Earth Drakes, Water Drakes could very rarely be found in mainland Dyste, mainly due to requiring a good amount of sea water. Still less rare than Fire Drakes, which given their temperament was probably a good thing.

The Water Drake spewed a clear water at the wyvern; 'Seabolds' were famed for their ability to purify aquatic areas. The freshwater helped to clean Tinker, aided by one of the kobolds using some scale polish on him.

"You understand us?" The other kobold said, noticing the similarities on their vocal patterns. "Here for that summit? We shall take you there..." reaching into the bag he was carrying, he pulled out a sandwich. "Want this? I can get more at the fortress..."

Tinkerer was very, very glad for the spray of fresh water. It cleared away the salt, filled his cracked mouth, and the scale polish shined his body to a nice glint.

"Yes, I understand you, and I thank you," Tinkerer said earnestly. "I am indeed here for the summit. And..." he knew the kobold had said something else, but forgot it once he saw the sandwich. He almost bit off the poor drakon's hand in his eagerness to devour the treat. Pulling back guiltily, he said, "Thank you." Turning towards the 'seabold,' he said "And I thank you, too!" He hoped words were enough, he felt slightly guilty about that.

"Now, I will be even more grateful if you can lead me to this hall where the summit is... you said there was food there, too?"

[Saurisisia]

Andron nodded as he ate and, pausing to finish chewing and swallowing the food that he had gobbled up, spoke again. "Indeed, though I think it may also help if we helped teach the non-drakeni that they are every bit as capable of greed and arrogance as we are. It should, hopefully, help them understand that they should not judge an entire group of species based on a few negative traits alone."

When the dragon named Noctrue barged into the room, the Rotwinge sighed and shook his head. "Case in point, non-drakeni should learn they shouldn't judge all our kinds based on the actions of a loud few, regardless of how loud they are. Back in the not-so-pleasant days when Saurian and Drakònian kinds didn't get along so well, it was often common for Saurians of higher social status to try to slay Reglûs in order to claim the huge amounts of gold and other treasures they had obtained. And oftentimes, they kept it for themselves instead of giving it to those who actually need gold to help get through their daily lives, proving them to be none the better in terms of greed than the beings they slew."

[The Mangled]

Noctrue growls, "I feel your looking at this wrong, instead of trying to be on equal levels with weak mortal creatures I say we should assume our position above them. If only some of them fear us now, then we should make all of them fear us. Together no being could stop our wrath, our domination. We should take over the world and enslave its people." Noctrue settles down and looks around a little bit. He glares at a kobold. "I am quite hungry from my flight could I dine on one of the servants?"