Mardok [Ars BT]
Nov 20, 2018 13:07:18 GMT -6
Post by Mardok on Nov 20, 2018 13:07:18 GMT -6
Name: Mardok
Class: Dragon
Dragon Element: Arcane
Born in: Bern
Appearance:
His human form is that of a very large, impressively built man. His skin is sunbathed to a light tan, his hair wild, dark, and of medium length. Mardok’s eyes are usually dark like an onyx, but the turn golden when he draws power from his dragonstone. His body is covered in various scars, particularly around the left-side of his torso.
Mardok is commonly seen wearing a black and green chestplate that does not resemble anything made by modern humanity - though not so ancient that it is unrecognizable. He has the skinned hide of a beast tied around his waist as well, the fur on the hide a light brown.
Mardok’s dragon form is also quite large. A hulking terror of scales and muscle - he walks on all fours though he can rear up on his hind legs for moments at a time. He possesses large wings but cannot fly well due to his size - the wings instead serving has shields and weapons thanks to the thick scales on the back of them. He has very thick ivory horns on his head that won’t do well to pierce anything, but can bash against opponents and protect his head. Mardok’s claws are thick, black, and razor sharp.
Mardok is commonly seen wearing a black and green chestplate that does not resemble anything made by modern humanity - though not so ancient that it is unrecognizable. He has the skinned hide of a beast tied around his waist as well, the fur on the hide a light brown.
Mardok’s dragon form is also quite large. A hulking terror of scales and muscle - he walks on all fours though he can rear up on his hind legs for moments at a time. He possesses large wings but cannot fly well due to his size - the wings instead serving has shields and weapons thanks to the thick scales on the back of them. He has very thick ivory horns on his head that won’t do well to pierce anything, but can bash against opponents and protect his head. Mardok’s claws are thick, black, and razor sharp.
Personality: Mardok has two main layers to his personality, with a vast array of complexities intermingled between the two. The top layer is alert yet reflective. Mardok constantly takes in his surroundings - like an animal dropped into a new territory. Even if the land is unchanged many of these human cities are completely foreign to Mardok, and he’s also aware that the politics of the land are currently beyond his full grasp of understanding. As such Mardok is open to learning about the world and, by extension, learning about modern humanity...though old dogs do not easily learn new tricks.
Mardok is quiet and tends not to speak at length to most. What bit of his focus doesn’t extend to the world around him is turned sharply inward - as he struggles and strains to look deeper within himself for what he should do. He has a good grip on his temper and emotions, but his current state of affairs is still distressing and painful to him, so he can come off as a bit on edge in a...forcibly composed manner. Even if he no longer has a tribe he still wants to remain chieftain of himself - and that means controlling his emotions even in the most trying of situations. Beyond his own beliefs and discipline, however, there is the distrust Mardok has in humanity. He has no one to vent to or open up to, so he must keep his darker emotions hidden for his own protection as well.
Easier said than done.
Beneath his calm lies the storm, though. Mardok does not hate humanity for the Scouring - he believes in right of conquest and can accept at least on one level that dragonkind lost. However his own beliefs mean there is no truly worthy outlet for the agony and rage he feels for his lost loved ones - or the concern he has for his best friend, who may still be out there somewhere. This is an aspect of his nature that he tries to keep in check, as he always did, but should Mardok be pushed too far or should he meet someone he deems worthy of unleashing that anger upon, then he lets himself become a monster. An incandescent, lonely dragon whose pain and sense of loss cannot possibly be sated by violence no matter how strong the temptation.
In truth Mardok is wracked by rage and pain from the moment he wakes from his coma, whether he shows it or not, and those emotions burn away at the back of his mind at all times. It is only his own will and virtues that keep him from rampaging wildly against the world, and no doubt getting himself killed once and for all. Perhaps when he finds his purpose for still walking Elibe, he can begin to finally heal.
History: Born a few hundred years before the start of the scouring, Mardok was raised by the chieftain of his tribe - selected at a young age to be worthy of the duty. Mardok never had a say, by the time he was cognizant of his surroundings it had already become his reality. His childhood kept him separated from other young dragons, for he had extra lessons that needed to be taught to him. He could only watch the others play together with silent envy.
When Mardok he reached maturity the escalating tensions between dragonkind and humankind had reached their peak. Mardok, though young, had the duty of leadership forced upon him. There was never another option - aside from fleeing the tribe and abandoning them to face the never ending forces of humanity, which only grew over time, while the dragons dwindled down one by one.
As such Mardok never had the luxury of fantasies or dreams. He suppressed them - buried them deep to a place where he could no longer hear or see them. All that could matter to him was the continued survival of his tribe and draconic victory over humanity. Mardok couldn’t just be an older brother to his sister - he had to be the captain of her war host. He couldn’t just be a dutiful son - he had to be his father’s most powerful warrior. Though Mardok’s natural disposition and his duties left him a bit distant emotionally from his loved ones he still did treasure them dearly.
Which made all the more painful when their numbers were ground down to nothing, little by little. Humanity’s armies continued to rebuild and invent new strategies, while the dragons failed to understand their overwhelming strength would not be enough. Mardok remembers the faces of each member of his tribe, and he remembers the day they did not return from the front lines with him.
Eventually Mardok himself was gravely wounded - overwhelmed by the superior numbers and strategy of the tenacious and desperate humans. The dragon’s gashes were so deep that friend and foe alike thought him dead on the battlefield. It was only Tieria - an old friend who had refused to fight in the war and thus was exiled by Mardok himself - who checked on the fallen dragon to see that he was alive. She dragged him off of the battlefield and deep into a cavern she had hunkered down in to avoid the fighting.
It had been nearly too late for Mardok, though, and he spent over a millennia comatose inside of that cavern. To him, though, it had felt even longer. His sleep was deep and mostly dreamless, not even aware that he had been so thoroughly unconscious until he woke at last. His savior was nowhere to be found - he only scarce remembered being saved in the first place. Mardok was not prepared to the world he would step into beyond that cavern.
Dragon kind was gone. His life’s mission had ended in failure. Mardok began to travel, to try and understand the changes that Elibe had gone through while he had been left in his coma. Mardok’s body was weak, his draconic form beyond what his still recovering body could manage, so he couldn’t enact vengeance on humanity...if he wanted to.
In truth the emotional impact of his new reality was devastating, but he did not feel hatred for the slayers of his race. Dragons would have done the same to humanity had the end result been flipped, after all. Yet all the same, so many loved ones had long been lost, and the purpose his life had been dedicated to was not only a failure - it no longer even existed.
Where did he go from here?
