Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal (Richter's 4th Alt)
Jul 13, 2014 4:22:01 GMT -6
Post by Jabal on Jul 13, 2014 4:22:01 GMT -6
Name: Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal or “Giant Scale of the Mountain”
Nicknames: “Jabal” (in Draconic) or “The Mountain” (in Common)
Class: Dragon
Element: Earth
Age: 3234
Born in: Lycia
Appearance:
Dragon:
- A giant among dragons, Jabal got his nickname for a reason. Just over 20 meters tall and 40 meters long, and weighing just under 200 tons, Giant Scale of the Mountain is one of the largest dragons to ever grace Elibe, and thus an awe-inspiring and fearsome figure to behold while in full dragon form. Like many earth dragons, Jabal is wingless and thus incapable of flight. But even with wings he would likely be too massive to fly. Far from the slender, long, elegant forms that many dragons sport, Jabal’s body is a gigantic bulk of powerful muscle and bone. His neck is shorter and thicker than most dragons, but like the rest of his body, what it lacks in flexibility it makes up for in power. His tail is the one exception to this rule however; long, prehensile, and whiplike, Jabal’s tail is longer than he is tall and an exceedingly powerful weapon in its own right.
Jabal’s spiny scales are a dull, dusty grey, which don’t look all that much different from shale rock and definitely contribute to his mountainous appearance. But in spite of this, one of The Mountain’s most striking features are the dozens of long, sharp, jagged dorsal fins that run down the dragon’s spine, starting at the base of his neck and ending just before the tip of his tail. As dangerous as any sword, numerous enemies have met their untimely ends ripped to impaled or ripped to shreds by the spikes on Jabal’s already deadly tail.
Human:
- In human form, Jabal remains a colossal figure, taking the form of a 7’9” man with a fearsomely large and powerful physique. Anything but gangly or lanky, his shoulders are broad and his arms are thicker than the legs of most men. His hands are massive too, large enough to wrap one hand alone around the skull of a full grown man in one hand.
Jabal sports a broad, square jaw, appropriate given the rest of his build, but his expressive eyes attest to an ancient intelligence one would not expect from someone as large as he. His stone grey hair is cut short, a spiky hairstyle that in some ways resembles the spiny, craggy mountains of his homeland, while his muscles resemble the brown, rolling dunes of Nabata. Jabal’s skin is generally smooth and flawless, but scattered scars across his body serve as pleasant reminders of battles of an age long past. One exception, though, is the massive scar that runs across his chest, from the top of his right shoulder to his left hip. This scar was left by the abominable sword Durandal, and is Jabal’s greatest shame.
Although immensely proud of his draconic heritage, and not a stranger to spending much time in his human form nude, Jabal appreciates the style that human clothing can bring. While one could easily see him in furs and hides, the typical outfit of choice for a human mountain man, Jabal’s outfit of choice shows a bit more forethought. On his upper-torso he sports a red and black hempen jacket lined with traces of gold silk that extends below the waist. He normally wears the jacket partially open while choosing not to wear a shirt under it, exposing the skin of his scarred chest. He keeps his sleeves rolled up just below his elbows, and on his right hand wears a brown leather, fingerless glove while leaving his left wrist bare.
Around his waist Jabal wears a thick brown leather belt with a large bronze belt buckle. The buckle is embossed with an image of jagged peaks, the symbol of his clan, though the buckle itself shows signs of tarnish. His legs are covered by dark brown leather pants, along with tall, black leather boots.
Personality:
Jabal’s personality is as large as his tremendous size, boisterous and loud, and while he can look quite fearsome to those who do not know him, he is really quite jolly at heart. However, this jolliness does not preclude a fierce competitive streak. Jabal likes being the strongest, the fiercest, and the all around best at everything he does, and because of his exceptional size and strength, typically is. He used to being the greatest, and because of this doesn’t deal well with being upstaged, and doesn’t react well, in any sense of the word, to defeat.
He carries himself with an air of arrogance and cock-sureness born not of conceit, but of absolute confidence. As a the ex-chieftain of the once great Musenen Jabal clan, and an exceedingly powerful dragon in his own right, Jabal understands his own strength, even if others do not. Insults and boasts do not easily penetrate the thick scales of this earth dragon, and most egos pale in comparison to Jabal's own mountain-sized one. He will not back down from a fight, as those who could realistically oppose him are few and far in between, and will not shy from using displays of force to put others in their place.
And while Jabal is innately good-hearted, he is not the most understanding of people. Smart enough to know when he's in the right and stubborn enough to not admit when he's in the wrong, the stone haired dragon will very rarely change his opinions on a matter through anything less than a slap in the face. Advice he will take, but if it lies contrary to his own assessment of a situation, it'll only be considered after his own path taken fails him. This same stubbornness, however, is what allows Jabal to see even the most difficult tasks through to the very end, far beyond points where most people would have thrown up their hands in despair.
Jabal cares for those close to him, and is fiercely protective of his family and friends. As the leader of his tribe, Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal considered his clan an extension of himself, and any shame incurred by any of his own was shame to be taken upon himself. He was always looking to protect and teach the weakest members, and would never fail to help those in need. That being said, despite his large heart, Jabal is not openly affectionate, and his form of caring might seem harsh to outsiders.
But as they say, the greatest of saints make the worst of sinners. The violence and wroth of the Scouring twisted Jabal’s good nature into something far darker. The Mountain had always been neutral towards humans, seeing them as little more than sheep to be guided, but the atrocities of the war against dragons forged a great hatred within him. No longer the jocund and nurturing chieftain he once was, the events of the Scouring transformed him into a spiteful, embittered machine of war. His love for his dragon kin became a sword of hate for humankind. His natural competitiveness became a warlike desire to dominate. His stubborn determination, once the constructive foundation of his tribe, became a hammer of absolute destruction. Now he awakes from his long slumber, unaware of the years that have past, his heart still awash in turmoil.
Story:
Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal was born the first son and only child of the then chieftain of the Musenen Jabal tribe, which in the common tongue means “Toothed Mountain”. They were a tribe of dragons that resided in the mountains that separate the Nabatan desert from what is now Lycia, in the valleys and peaks where only dragons dared to go. Exceptionally large, even by the standards of his own already mountainous tribe, Dakhm Qesherh’s birth was seen by all the members of his tribe as an auspicious event, and from the first day of his life, he was chosen to be groomed as the rightful successor to the chieftain.
As the centuries passed, Dakhm Qesherh was educated in the ways of his tribe, and grew to become the largest and strongest of all the Musenen Jabal. It was not long before he, in the traditional way, challenged his father to single combat for the right to lead their tribe.The fight was long, and the very mountains shook beneath the two battling dragons, but eventually Dakhm Qesherh came out the victor, taking the mantle of chieftain from his father and becoming the rightful chieftain in the eyes of his clan. It was then that he was given the title of the clan leader, “Jabal”, which means “The Mountain” in their ancient tongue. None who challenged Dakhm Qesherh ever succeeded in besting him, not of his own tribe or neighboring dragon tribes, and eventually no one continued to try.
Under Jabal, the influence of the Musenen Jabal tribe expanded, eventually coming under control of all of the mountains of Missur, Kafti, and Caledonia. Many dragon clans joined the Musenen Jabal out of respect or awe, but some dragons resisted, too proud or too stubborn to let themselves fall under the Giant Scale of the Mountain’s rule. When they did protest, Jabal invoked the ancient traditions of his clan, and he himself challenged their champions. Time and time again he proved himself victorious, and with each victory his clan grew larger. Even some humans respected Jabal’s power, forgoing their own customs of rule to bring themselves under the Musenen Jabal.
But eventually the symbiosis between humans and dragons came to an end. No longer satisfied with their lot in life, the humans started a war against dragonkind, a war so legendary that it is now known as the Scouring. Some say it was due to the rise of the great dragon clans, like the Musenen Jabal, which threw off the balance of power between humans and dragons. Dragons would laugh in the face of this, saying that the fledgling human race had no business dictating what was appropriate for their far, far older race, but humans have a history of meddling in affairs not their own. No race on Elibe has proven to have the audacity that humans do, which is surprising for a race so young.
But whatever the case, as the head of the Musenen Jabal, Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal found himself at the forefront of the Scouring. Jabal rushed into battle, not one to let a race as young and foolish as humans to win their foolhardy war against what was, in his opinion, a far prouder, stronger, and greater race. Many early battles were won by dragonkind, and Jabal stood victorious amongst them, a wall of tooth and scale that that halted any from invading his homeland. But at some point this changed. The humans, now fully organized, marched in unison against their perceived oppressors, and their sheer numbers began to win out against the far less numerous dragon armies. Jabal found his lands covered by more humans than he could even react to, and the Musenen Jabal were forced to retreat deep into the mountains once more.
In desperation, the dragon clans cried out to the greatest of the tribes, the Divine Dragons, in aid, but their cries for help fell on deaf ears. The Divine Dragons maintained their pacifistic stance, and would rather watch as the world burned around them than join in and help their brother and sister clans. This infuriated many of the dragons, including Jabal, who kidnapped a hapless Divine Dragon girl and twisted her power into a means to create artificial dragons dubbed “War Dragons”. With their numbers bolstered, the dragons returned to the fray, turning the tides of war back in their favor. They regained much of their lands, but not before the unthinkable happened.
Woe it was to dragonkind when the humans unleashed their secret power, the Eight Divine weapons. These weapons, each wielded by a great hero of humanity, were designed with one, sole, nefarious purpose: to wipe out all dragons, and they did so with surprising effectiveness. These Divine Weapons cut through swathes of War Dragons and overturned all the progress the dragon clans had made with their artificially bolstered numbers. Jabal saw his family and friends cut down around him, and realized that something drastic needed to be done or the race of dragons would find themselves little more than dust in the face of the humans unexpected power.
It was then that Dakhm Qesherh Al-Jabal, the Giant Scale of the Mountain and great clan leader of the Musenen Jabal, strode out onto the battlefields of what is now known as Lycia to challenge the first of the Eight Heroes he found. In a turn of events that can only be remembered as ironic, Jabal crossed paths with none other than the Little Knight, Roland. With torrential rains pouring down around them and brilliant bolts of thunder tearing open the sky, the two waged war against each other, splitting the very earth around them as they did. But try as he might, even Jabal could not exceed the power Durandal, and was struck a grievous blow across the chest by the infernal sword. His chest split open, Jabal was left there for dead on the field of battle, a symbol that no dragon could surmount humanity’s newfound power.
After the Scouring Ended, it was on the place that Jabal and Roland fought that the Lycian League was founded and Ostia was built, constructed over the massive dragon’s buried corpse. But unbeknownst to Roland, Durandal had not slain Jabal. The great dragon fell into a death-like coma, his body trying to repair the damage caused by the Divine Weapon that felled him. Under the earth he slept for over a thousand years, healing, unknowing of the changes happening in the world above him, but now he has begun to stir. He slowly awakens, disturbed by the destruction of Ostia and the eruption thereafter, now a being displaced by time and weakened by his millenium of sleep. His powers reduced to a mere pittance of their true potential, Jabal strikes out to see what has become of his homeland.
