The Wyrmling and the Ancient are of the same breed; their scales of similar hue and their breath has a hint of that same elemental fury.
Yet, the scales that adorn them do not have the same density. A sword blow that maims or kills the youth is blunted or broken on a strike against one more matured. Therein lies the difference.
So many look to a Dragon and mistakenly believe that the danger of the beast is solely from the size and reach that such a beast has on a person. The immense speed and hardiness that allows a beast to shrug off or avoid any attack is never more than an afterthought. Just think of how rare the Halfling that can catch a blade with a hand or tear off the arm along with the shield before anything else can react. Yet these are basic feats that any dragon that has reached more than the smallest fraction of it's age can accomplish with ease.
In a similar fashion, the Caelfoc grow in their capacity and capability. Wyrmlings might fall to a gust of wind from the wrong direction, but once their DraKaise has grown to encompass their destiny a Caelfoc that has matured can stare down a Frost Wyrm with their team and cut it to pieces. The Caelfoc may always be few in number, but those that have survived to be called adults in the union are worth a hundred that fell as mere wyrmlings.
— Caelfoc; March against the Climate.
Many adjectives can describe an Adult Caelfoc, but the most apt might be the title of 'survivor'. It's said that only a single
Wyrmling per troop will survive the climb to adulthood. Yet many still undertake that journey with gusto, pushing their way out of the trenches and forging the many roads across
Renai. Groups of these adults continuously criss-cross the northern stretches of
Ithungsida.
After all, their key responsibility is to help assure the safety of those passages. To this end, adult caelfoc can be found traversing the seaside crags that dot
The Coast of Lights or spending weeks carving grips across a stretch of
The Interior. Or they might be up in the
Draconic Range clearing nests of young
Dragons that have yet to be brought into a council.
To Become a Adult Caelfoc
Becoming an Adult Caelfoc is much like reaching adulthood; it's fraught with danger and the mortality rate is high for those that aren't prepared.
When a group of
Young Caelfoc have mastered their routes, they are gradually given assignments for longer runs. While a youth will generally only make trips to areas surrounding a single city, the defining task that defines an adult is for them to be capable to make a run from one major city to the next. This often culminates in the group of Youths being sent to a far out city like
Apal and then directed to make their run to
Eske making these trips extremely dangerous and long.
Once the Caelfoc return from this extended run, the survivors are generally raised into adulthood.
To Be an Adult Caelfoc
Adults are the primary workforce of the Union. They are afforded prestige and funds in return for working long routes and longer hours.
Adults still operate in similar teams to the ones as those they had in Youth, but the stakes are higher. A run is life and death in all accounts, whether they only face the cruelty of
Firn or also have to deal with those creatures that dominate much of the depopulated wilds outside of the cities. If they are sent out to deal with specific threats, then they are often assigned to a pair of Ancients that guide them in managing the risk of removing said threat.
Otherwise, they maintain paths between the major cities, often going ahead of trade caravans to help ensure the safety and continuation of trade and services crossing the continent.
Nice article :D I like all of your Caefolc articles, it's an interesting society. I wonder what you mean with "but once their DraKaise has grown to encompass their destiny". I think you could add a tooltip to explain that.
Unfortunately, that conflicts with my style guide. Quotes are represented as in-world documents that expand on things in ways that an article generally won't. To this end, I don't place links or tooltips inside the quotes. However, Drakaise is a major thing with its own article and constant mentions throughout the world, so I don't see this article having an issue with it not being spelled out. Many thanks for your comments. <3
I think adding a link to the article somewhere in this page would be helpful then :D