eleilinn

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

"Hh!" Leith's eyes widened and ve drew ver hands close into ver chest when Gwynn vanished. That wasn't-- that couldn't-- How had that happened? Why had that happened? Ve wracked ver brain for some record of things like this. It has to be the dragons, Leith concluded, and took a breath to calm venself. If it was the dragons, then it was intentional, which meant that Gwyn was probably okay--after all, it would be counterproductive to get rid of everyone when they passed the test.

And it was time for the next test. Leith watched intently as the man, who introduced himself as Trevor, made his way to the table, then made his challenge. "Careful," ve whispered quietly as the two of them picked up weapons and the elf, Cova, slung an insult in Trevor's direction. "Sharp." Though that was probably a stupid observation--wasn't that the point of weapons, to be sharp?

Very sharp. Sharp enough to take a life. Leith's eyes widened in horror and ver stomach rose into ver throat as the pair fought, and Trevor brought his spear down on the elf's throat, killing her and sending blood all over the ground. Ve stepped back, horrified, eyes fixed on the slick patch spreading out from the elf's still body, dark and wet and filling the air with a sharp metalling tang.

The certainty that ve was going to die here settled even more firmly around Leith--of the two tests, both had involved some sort of fighting, be it single combat or a sneaking monk, and being raised as a scholar did absolutely nothing to help Leith handle those sorts of situations. What good would written words do against something as physical and threatening as a blade?

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

Previously

Baker knocked on the door to Leith's quarters in the back area of the library where the scholars stayed. Leith looked up from the letters ve was transcribing -- Raelyn had found them pressed between volumes of some of the older collections, and they were very old and fragile, so it was vitally important to ensure that they were carefully copied so that the copies could be added to the letter collections -- and carefully put down ver pen to open the door.

"Yes?" ve said softly, stepping back to let Baker into the room. What could this mean? What do you need? Ve waited patiently for Baker to address them, slowly circling the table and sitting back in ver chair. Leith kept ver eyes on Baker expectantly. Could this have anything to do with the strangers who had come to the library only a short time before?

Baker cleared her throat. "It seems you have caught the eye of some rather important people," she said, prompting a slight questioning noise from Leith. "They want you to go to the capital, to share your talents there."

Leith frowned. There were a million questions in ver mind. Who was they? Why did they want ven in particular? Ve had been aware that ver solution to the cipher in Andrean manuscript 224 had been of some note, but certainly not of enough note to warrant being asked after. Ve took a second, waiting under Baker's patient gaze, to formulate at least one question into proper speech. "Why?" ve finally asked. The simplest question -- and hopefully the one that would get ven the most solid answers.

In the Room

Through Dula's entire speech, Leith watched her with wide, frightened eyes. Guards and an unexpected voyage had been bad enough -- ve had been unable to relax for even a moment from when the guards had first gathered around ven, purportedly to keep ven 'safe' through the trip to… this island? This wasn't where Baker had said ve would be going. Or why. Leith's hands hurt from so much clenching and unclenching, but, like Thesson had taught ven, that nervous tension would need to go somewhere.

Dragon eggs… It seemed so implausible. All of it -- or at least, what Leith processed from the barrage of information. From the threats to the claims that they would become magic, of all things… ve almost felt like mirroring the harsh, frantic laugh of the halfling lady. Though that would draw attention to ven, and already under the threat of death if ve didn't get… chosen by a dragon? that wasn't something ve wanted to risk. Nothing made sense anymore, and Leith wished that ve was back in ver little library study, copying those letters, or reading about dragons and ancient, awakening threats. Yes, learning about things that way sounded much better than whatever they were about to all try with the dragons.

This is an island. I could maybe swim away if it came to it? Though ve wasn't particularly fast, and the ocean around the island was both a far cry from the swamp where ve had grown up and terrifying in its own right. Ve took a few surreptitious deep breaths and tried to still the urge to run -- that would just get ven into trouble. No, the dragon eggs were real, and there, and strange and fascinating all at once. Compelling enough that Leith momentarily didn't feel lost and confused, and instead felt almost drawn to the eggs. Ve checked the paper in ver hand. Ve was sixth. With a deep breath, ve watched Gwynn's test -- what exactly was the priestess testing her on? -- and waited for the next person to step forward for their test.

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

Leith

Name: Leith

Race: Undine (Crocolite)

Text Color: 0054a6 (blue)

Special Skill: Linguistics, particularly ancient languages (inclusive of paleography and orthography) and ciphers
(I know this is leaning a little tricky application-wise, so areas where ve has related skills could include ink-work in general, sharp eye for details (paleography), and ciphers are already on the more useful side of applications anyways.)

Ambition: On a fundamental level, Leith wants to understand the world around ven. Ve initially chose to do that using words, but soaks up whatever knowledge ve can from wherever ve can find it.

Personality: Leith is fairly quiet and tends to be attentive to detail. Ve struggles with spoken language and takes more time to formulate spoken responses than is typical for someone who is as proficient in written and encoded language as ve is. Ve loves observing and generally spending time with people, particularly anyone that ve latches onto as "interesting" or having something they can teach ven. On the whole, Leith is generally easygoing and friendly, and assumes the best from people. Ve is openly expressive and demonstrative of emotions.

Childhood: Leith was born in the swamp and raised in a small, quiet extended family, somewhat secluded from even other Undine. Ver parents and other adults had several difficult interactions with humans in the area, and a disagreement with leaders in the nearby crocolite communities drove them to set up a place to raise their children away from as many potential "dangers" (real or imagined) as possible. Leith never knew which of the adults that raised ven were ver parents and which were aunts, uncles, or other relations, and which of the other children were siblings, and which were cousins. This wasn't ever important to ven. As one of the middling-youngest, Leith was never particularly outstanding to the adults, and though ve was happy and not neglected, ve also developed a very strong yearning for something More and to know more than ver family could teach ven.

Training: When Leith was entering adolescence, an unfamiliar trader came to ver family home with a strange book. This trader and the book both fascinated Leith, and ve almost unthinkingly followed the trader back to a library at the edge of the swamp. The librarians and scholars were initially cautious, but after a few clumsy attempts at communication between them and the strange undine child lingering persistently outside, they took Leith in and started to educate ven on what they could.
As Leith started to learn, ver proficiency with written language soon outpaced ver spoken ability, which didn't bother ven or the scholars very much. Over time, ve started to take up transcribing and translating texts from the oldest parts of the library, and was fascinated to learn about how things used to be. Ve took particular interest in stories, myths, and legends, as well as in ancient puzzles and ciphers.
Despite ver interest in people and in learning about others, Leith almost never interacted with library patrons after one frightened human lashed out at ven early in ver stay at the library. Leith was more scared than injured, and the human patron was also safe, but the scholars made an effort to keep ven from

Adulthood: Leith continued translating texts, and eventually one of ver translations became popular in scholarly circles, eventually circulating out of those circles and into the awareness of the general educated populace. Ve venself didn't become well-known, though ver name did start circulating in the circles of noble scholars. It wasn't until ve proposed an almost perfect solution to a previously cryptic ciphered text that ve became more well-known as someone of note and talent.
Leith took up a more practical approach to developing a broader skill set after ve was an adult, following guidebooks from the library and working to sharpen ver physical abilities as well as ver mind. So far, it's slower going than ve would like, but that hasn't stopped ven from trying.

Family:
Leith's primary caretakers were Andali and Kariun, who looked after most of the family's younger children. Both of them were later put into military service.
Mobin, Farbur, and Lyn were the three children that Leith was closest to. They collectively were slight troublemakers. Mobin and Lyn are still in the military, and Farbur left as soon as he could and works in a rural seaweed farm, courting someone he met in his time in the military.

Figures:
Raelyn (human) was the scholar who started working with ancient languages with Leith. She helped ven to finish and edit ver translations, and then to distribute them.
Thesson was the human 'trader' who Leith followed to the library. They worked regularly as a scholar of biology, particularly botany, and had been on a quest for a specific rare plant when they stumbled on Leith's family. They taught Leith basic plant identification.
Baker is a halfling scholar who ran the library as a whole and made the executive decision to allow Leith to live there. She was almost parental to Leith in some ways, but more distant as Leith grew older.

Themes: shadows, memory, truth

Tragedy: Due to (albeit unintentional) evasion of military service from many of the adults, Leith's peaceful family life fell apart after ve left for the libraries. Ve doesn't know where many of them ended up, and ve deeply regrets not being able to keep in contact at the very least (and not being there to 'try help' at the very most).

Flaws: Flighty, quick to withdraw from danger and easily startled. Due to ver inexperience with people past a small, select group, ve is easily manipulated or fooled, and doesn't think to question a lot of what other people tell ven.

Hobbies: Reading, poem-craft, geography (particularly the study of natural history in relation to geography), and more recently, agility/mobility type things (Leith aims to be able to do the strangest most gremlin-y things possible).

Appearance: While most undine are blue-grey, Leith takes more after the crocolite coloration, with brown and green hints to ver blue-ish skin. The patterns and variations of ver skin break up ver shape when ve is in swampy waters or in shadows, but in the light, the same variations look more like someone stirred ver colours together.
Leith is short for an undine, reaching 5'4" on a good day, but ve can reach the top shelf in the library (and that's all that matters). To someone looking at ven and expecting a scholar, ve looks fairly unimpressive and overall soft, though ve is deceptively strong and agile from ver more recent forays into becoming like the heroes of history that ve admires.





(I personally have some passing proficiency in Old and Middle English, but much more limited ability with ciphers, so if Leith works then I'd plan on leaning on my experience with translating, but no promises that I myself could do anything related to encryption or decryption of ciphers.)

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

@JewelSerket Word casting seems appropriate, and fun! Inscribing and activating words on scales seems most likely to work for ven, and combining words for different effects would be incredibly fun to play around with.

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

Leith

Name: Leith

Race: Undine (Crocolite)

Text Color: 0054a6 (blue)

Special Skill: Linguistics, particularly ancient languages (inclusive of paleography and orthography) and ciphers
(I know this is leaning a little tricky application-wise, so areas where ve has related skills could include ink-work in general, sharp eye for details (paleography), and ciphers are already on the more useful side of applications anyways.)

Ambition: On a fundamental level, Leith wants to understand the world around ven. Ve initially chose to do that using words, but soaks up whatever knowledge ve can from wherever ve can find it.

Personality: Leith is fairly quiet and tends to be attentive to detail. Ve struggles with spoken language and takes more time to formulate spoken responses than is typical for someone who is as proficient in written and encoded language as ve is. Ve loves observing and generally spending time with people, particularly anyone that ve latches onto as "interesting" or having something they can teach ven. On the whole, Leith is generally easygoing and friendly, and assumes the best from people. Ve is openly expressive and demonstrative of emotions.

Childhood: Leith was born in the swamp and raised in a small, quiet extended family, somewhat secluded from even other Undine. Ver parents and other adults had several difficult interactions with humans in the area, and a disagreement with leaders in the nearby crocolite communities drove them to set up a place to raise their children away from as many potential "dangers" (real or imagined) as possible. Leith never knew which of the adults that raised ven were ver parents and which were aunts, uncles, or other relations, and which of the other children were siblings, and which were cousins. This wasn't ever important to ven. As one of the middling-youngest, Leith was never particularly outstanding to the adults, and though ve was happy and not neglected, ve also developed a very strong yearning for something More and to know more than ver family could teach ven.

Training: When Leith was entering adolescence, an unfamiliar trader came to ver family home with a strange book. This trader and the book both fascinated Leith, and ve almost unthinkingly followed the trader back to a library at the edge of the swamp. The librarians and scholars were initially cautious, but after a few clumsy attempts at communication between them and the strange undine child lingering persistently outside, they took Leith in and started to educate ven on what they could.
As Leith started to learn, ver proficiency with written language soon outpaced ver spoken ability, which didn't bother ven or the scholars very much. Over time, ve started to take up transcribing and translating texts from the oldest parts of the library, and was fascinated to learn about how things used to be. Ve took particular interest in stories, myths, and legends, as well as in ancient puzzles and ciphers.
Despite ver interest in people and in learning about others, Leith almost never interacted with library patrons after one frightened human lashed out at ven early in ver stay at the library. Leith was more scared than injured, and the human patron was also safe, but the scholars made an effort to keep ven from

Adulthood: Leith continued translating texts, and eventually one of ver translations became popular in scholarly circles, eventually circulating out of those circles and into the awareness of the general educated populace. Ve venself didn't become well-known, though ver name did start circulating in the circles of noble scholars. It wasn't until ve proposed an almost perfect solution to a previously cryptic ciphered text that ve became more well-known as someone of note and talent.
Leith took up a more practical approach to developing a broader skill set after ve was an adult, following guidebooks from the library and working to sharpen ver physical abilities as well as ver mind. So far, it's slower going than ve would like, but that hasn't stopped ven from trying.

Family:
Leith's primary caretakers were Andali and Kariun, who looked after most of the family's younger children. Both of them were later put into military service.
Mobin, Farbur, and Lyn were the three children that Leith was closest to. They collectively were slight troublemakers. Mobin and Lyn are still in the military, and Farbur left as soon as he could and works in a rural seaweed farm, courting someone he met in his time in the military.

Figures:
Raelyn (human) was the scholar who started working with ancient languages with Leith. She helped ven to finish and edit ver translations, and then to distribute them.
Thesson was the human 'trader' who Leith followed to the library. They worked regularly as a scholar of biology, particularly botany, and had been on a quest for a specific rare plant when they stumbled on Leith's family. They taught Leith basic plant identification.
Baker is a halfling scholar who ran the library as a whole and made the executive decision to allow Leith to live there. She was almost parental to Leith in some ways, but more distant as Leith grew older.

Themes: shadows, memory, truth

Tragedy: Due to (albeit unintentional) evasion of military service from many of the adults, Leith's peaceful family life fell apart after ve left for the libraries. Ve doesn't know where many of them ended up, and ve deeply regrets not being able to keep in contact at the very least (and not being there to 'try help' at the very most).

Flaws: Flighty, quick to withdraw from danger and easily startled. Due to ver inexperience with people past a small, select group, ve is easily manipulated or fooled, and doesn't think to question a lot of what other people tell ven.

Hobbies: Reading, poem-craft, geography (particularly the study of natural history in relation to geography), and more recently, agility/mobility type things (Leith aims to be able to do the strangest most gremlin-y things possible).

Appearance: While most undine are blue-grey, Leith takes more after the crocolite coloration, with brown and green hints to ver blue-ish skin. The patterns and variations of ver skin break up ver shape when ve is in swampy waters or in shadows, but in the light, the same variations look more like someone stirred ver colours together.
Leith is short for an undine, reaching 5'4" on a good day, but ve can reach the top shelf in the library (and that's all that matters). To someone looking at ven and expecting a scholar, ve looks fairly unimpressive and overall soft, though ve is deceptively strong and agile from ver more recent forays into becoming like the heroes of history that ve admires.
(I will make either a picrew version or a HeroForge of ven later, for now it is late.)

(I personally have some passing proficiency in Old and Middle English, but much more limited ability with ciphers, so if Leith works then I'd plan on leaning on my experience with translating, but no promises that I myself could do anything related to encryption or decryption of ciphers.)

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

Working on a person, may take a day or so to finish, hopefully can get it done today though!

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

Yup yup
Going to poke around a bit more after I get more of my writing done, see if I can get account more set up + look at RP more

From the Egg - A Dragon Training Rp

I'm being Watched