Dekay'virulis {Dee-k-ah-ee-vee-r-oo-lee-s}

Reapscale Dekay'virulis

"To call me old is insulting to the concept, mortal. I remember witnessing the fall of what you call the Sundering as but a grown youngling. My first memories as a hatchling are the last gasps of the Faei Empire, those you now call Faellen Kindred, for they held on that long even against the flooding of reality by the Void. I remember the breaking of the Grip of Nightmares, your so called Ascended as but mortals. I was old even as your heroes whom you would call saints, lived, grew old and died, forging your nations. I was coming into maturity, seeking to mate and leave my legacy with my kind before your Ascended were even a twinkle in their terrified parents' eyes, huddling hidden in corners of the world where they could carve out something resembling safety. You do not even understand the importance of those cities you play at making nations around, you do not understand the world around you, what once was, and what could be again. You and your kind are babies compared to that of my own. I have seen the rise and fall of your kingdoms, even you, elfkin. So fleeting, so often and violently do you rise and fall with each other. It has been three of your generations since the Sundering ended, since the Grip of Nightmares was released, elfkin. It has not even been one of mine. I have watched these things occur, though my own life is but an eye-blink to that of the world and that of the Primoria, or of the Mother of Creation. You are at best insignificant, at worst, annoying, such as you view gnats or mosquitos. So swiftly, convince me why I should give you more thought than breathing upon you all and adding your putrefying corpses to my larder, within the brine pool with the rest of the rotting plant and beast matter I have kept in good stock for myself."

Rising from the mire, muck, shaking loose of a mound of mud and rotting vegetation, a terrifying and imposing sight stands before you. A creature of impossibility, of legend, a titanic being, a creature thought long extinct. It exudes power and mana, the plant life around it rotting with every motion and sway of its body, the violet and amethyst scales pulsating with Lobhadh. The deeper violet tone of some of the scales, around the edges of its feet, legs, tail and the ridges along its skull also warn you this Tane, as impossible as that word is, is ancient. A terrifying concept, as it turns its head, its gash like eye, unblinking, staring at you. You feel the entropic energies all around you, yet somehow, by the dragon's will you just instinctually know, you are not yet suffering assault from this excess of decaying energies, though you likely should be, as all organic life around you is. The Tane growls, its voice strong like thunder, yet slow, drudging, like the muck and mud of a swamp. You glance to your adventuring companions, gulping nervously. Though you'd come seeking the stories of this creature, believing such things must be exaggerated, now seeing it.....you stand in awe, honestly believing you all are likely in over your heads now.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Dekay'virulis looks much as its kind would be imagined. Bulbous, with bulging parts of their anatomy, seemingly almost swollen joints or perhaps tumors, with visible bits of their anatomy showing signs of rot or decay, whilst others seem vibrant, healthy and whole. At current he has no wings, for he has had no need for them, though of course the bulges remain, ever ready should he will and change his mind in that regard. At current one of his eyes have gone blind, the socket having closed, the eye rotted to nothing, however a new eye socket is forming, a new eye can be seen beginning to grow. Similarly his front legs are showing the first signs of decay, even as small new front legs have begun to sprout behind the old, though they are yet small. Otherwise the age is obvious in the dulled ringing of the scales, where a deeper violet has taken over for the normal amethyst sheen, which only remains in the central mass of the scales of this Tane's hide.

Body Features

Dekay'virulis has a thick and healthy Magmis-Verin, crackling with Amethyst Energy, glowing brightly, vibrantly, and this is a warning that this Ancient Tane possesses a mighty elemental breath weapon, which is both accurate and an understatement of the situation. Beyond this its general bulk and body shape, as well as its crystalized scaling marks the hardiness and toughness of this beast, seeming nearly impervious to all but the mightiest of blows or most powerful of magicks.

Identifying Characteristics

As a Tane, the most immediately identifying feature is of course the Magmis-Verin, undeniably so, this marking, this vein of raw elemental manna such a telltale identifier, one of the only real accurate bits of lore that has survived even into modern mythos about dragons, as wild and inaccurate most parts of modern mythology in regards to Tanes actually is. Beyond this however, a mark of Dekay'virulis' corrupted essence exists physically, upon its foreclaws. No matter how many times the front limbs are regrown and replaced, the claws upon the left one are always rotten and decayed, necrotic as if diseased, though the corrupted flesh and claw do not seem to spread to other parts of the Tane's anatomy, ever.

Special abilities

As old as Dekay'virulis is, it should be unsurprising that this Tane has a great swath of unique and special abilities. They can control the undead, as well as the Rotwood themselves through the strength of their taint. They seem to exude a corrupting and exhausting presence to all organic life that gets to close, which will slowly break them down physically, causing accelerated rot and decay. They are immune to Entrophy Magick and can wield such magicks with a mastery that even Master Magisters of the Amethyst would find enviable. His primordial breath has two distinct forms it can take, which he can utilize on the fly, based solely on his own will. Dekay'virulis is a true titan, despite their corrupted essence, a living relic of a bygone era, an Ancient Tane, a beast and being of nearly immeasurable power, might and ability.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Show spoiler

GM ONLY: Dekay'virulis has an interesting personal history, tied to a unique trait to Amethyst Tanes that of course is simply not understood or known to any mortals in modern times, due to the loss of information and understanding about dragon-kind after the loss of knowledge and the Sundering which broke the world. So much understanding and knowledge of magick was lost, so much was altered by the taint of the Void that such understandings simply do not exist. So though today's societies have advanced in their understanding and technological ability quite impressively in many fields, there is much that used to be known, understood, gifted knowledge from dragonkind and the Faei that remain lost, forgotten, or simply incomprehensible today. One of those facets is the tie to the dead that Amethyst Tanes have, specifically to their own kind. Amethyst Tanes, much like Diamond Tanes, are intimately aware of all of their own kind on Valerick, though unlike Diamond Tanes they can't locate them, they are just aware of any living Tanes and their rough ages. However unlike Diamond Tanes, they also share bits of the memories and learned information of any Tane that dies whilst they are alive. Given Dekay'virulis' age, this means this ancient dragon has knowledge far beyond even his own wizened years, and memories that are not entirely his, on a timeline that does not completely line up with the reality of how events actually occured. This explains some of the unique aspects of his quote that don't quite line up at the beginning of this article.

Dekay'virulis is old. Or as they would put it, calling them old is an insult to the concept of. They were alive when the Sundering broke, they legitimately describe in detail the revitalizing of the world, on some level at least. When they were a hatchling, it is true the Ascended hadn't even been born yet, in many cases, their parents or even grandparents were likely not even alive or born yet. This Tane is nearing their second millennia of life within this mortal shell. In that time however, the truth of all Tanes has occurred with them as well, though it is far more subtle than it would be in others. Dekay'virulis is a fully corrupted Tane, though they wield not chaos magicks directly. They command the undead, the Rotwood is a forest of carnivorous otherworldly fungi, many of which are actually species found only in the Void, specifically in the realm of Ignavus, the Mire of the Lost. This bleed over is the gift to a Tane whom has definitely unwittingly fallen victim to the corruption and inviting caress of one of the Void Gods. So though Dekay'virulis does not wield this corruptive influence through tainted magick or powers directly, he is in fact a tainted and fallen Tane. This mark upon them means when they die, their essence shall be drawn into the Mire and a new truly terrifying power shall be born from it, to serve Ignavus. There is no real way to prevent this.

Dekay'virulis is unknowing of this fact however, blind to it, and is not particularly drawn to listen to any whom would try and tell them of it. They see no fault in their undead servants, seeing them as a gift of Entropy. After all, they do not keep these creatures long before consuming them, this is simply a way to make the putrefying corpses of prey items useful contributers to its domain until they have decayed and rotted enough to be a worthwhile meal. It is in fact this habit, creating these undead entities via the means of entropy magick, unconcerned with the knowledge of the Void's ever present taint within Valerick's manna and weave, that has lead directly to the great Tane's corruption, as in consuming these creatures, they inevitably take in this taint themself. So over the centuries and millennia this has led to the complete corruption of the Tane's mighty draconic essence.

Gender Identity

Currently male, like all Tanes, should Dekay'virulis spend time around another male Tane, and that was the only other Tane available, one or the other of them, based a whole set of various criteria and evolutionary requirements, would simply shift biology to female biology, an evolutionary ability obviously adapted to insure stable breeding populations. Tanes in general also do not really think of themselves in a gendered sense, their linguistics and the way they view the world entirely different in viewpoint, with gendered terms, names or the conceptualization of it via roles or social behaviors or expectations entirely non-existent. The name Dekay'virulis, for example, simply translates to Decaying Great Scale, more or less, in a literal translation, and is entirely without any gendered ties.

Sexuality

Amethyst Tanes are notorious amongst Tanes for having some of the lowest libido, and Dekay'virulis is certainly no exception, having only mated four times in their existence, having been the male three times and the female once. Of those times, only one of his spawn survived past the stage of youngling, though it was not a fellow Amethyst, and Dekay'virulis has not interacted much with the child of its blood, for though it was of his blood, due to the female he'd mated with having been a Sapphire Tane, the hatchlings were all Sapphires. This is a unique aspect to Tanes that the male may provide necessary genetic material, but it seems to be the female's genes that decide which sub-species the hatchlings shall be.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Dekay'virulis, due in large part to the corruptive influence of Ignavus upon their essence, sees the tainted and warped existence of the Rotwood as a crowning achievement. They do not understand, or see a negative to the fact that their continued existence is basically as a living World-Wound and in fact see this as an inherently good thing. So warped is their perspective that though they do not put forth much in the way of direct effort to accomplish such a vision, they honestly believe the world of Valerick would be a better place if it was simply consumed by decay, by entropy, by the Mire of the Lost, believing such an event would help 'cleanse' the world, help start a great rebirth. Of course it would accomplish no such thing, however in the mighty Tane's mind, and by its logic this would absolutely work, it would cleanse everything, for death, eternal rest, is a cleansing force.

Failures & Embarrassments

Though Dekay'virulis does not know it yet, their percieved greatest achievement is actually their greatest failure and was the death knell for their draconic essence. With the birth of the Rotwood, all hope of returning to the Aether and the Planar Sea with the rest of its kind was lost, its immortal essence corrupted and twisted beyond recognition at that point.

Mental Trauma

Whilst not necessarily mental trauma in the way we would imagine it, Dekay'virulis has strong memories of many of their kind and cousins (so various Tanes) deaths. Intimate memory of them, including at the hands of self proclaimed heroes, Exemplari, mere mortals whom in his view are little better than murderers and thieves. Dekay'virulis is so deeply corrupted that they are unaware of their own twisted and twisting nature and therefore do not understand the context of some of these memories, where dragonkind helped sow the seeds of this tradition and belief amongst mortals, the concept of Exemplari. The concept was born of the manipulation of Tanes upon the current mortal races, a gift of knowledge, of the idea that deeds and words, the spreading of stories and a reputation, could garner power on Valerick. It was a way to encourage those whom might be capable of releasing the essense of Tanes whom become trapped upon this tainted realm back into the Aether before their very essence was twisted beyond recognition. However unfortunately, with the sheer length of time and exposure, Dekay'virulis' essence is simply to far gone, and their consciousness does not recognize these parts of the memories they possess from other Tanes for what they are, seeing them more as a cautionary warning to avoid mortal sapients, and to destroy any that dare enter his realm.

Intellectual Characteristics

Dekay'virulis is highly intelligent, disturbingly smart, simply due to his age and that unique shared memories and experiences with other Tanes. However in spite of this the corrupting influence of the Void upon their essence and being has in fact stunted a bit of this intellect and deeper mental understanding.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Dekay'virulis has some unique motivations for its continued existence tied to its home, believing the Rotwood and its tending and slow eventual spread to cover Valerick a key to basically resetting this world, cleansing it of its corruptions and taints, so that his kindred can have a safe haven here once more. However by the nature of Ignavus' corruptive influence and grip upon him, though this is a deep seated and immutable belief, Dekay'virulis has no real motivation to push any sort of pace to this vision, believing that tending the Rotwood is enough, that it shall expand and cover the world in due time, and that their role is merely as caretaker. The truth of this view of course is actually tied to the very nature of Ignavus.

Likes & Dislikes

Like most any Amethyst Tane, Dekay'virulis' hoarding nature and the sorts of things that make up its treasure hoard are tied to some part of its nature. In this case however, unlike their Ruby cousins, Amethyst Tanes favor objects for their hoard for a simpler reason than passion or high emotions, preferring objects and treasures that won't decay, made from non bio-organic material, goods that won't spoil, expire or rot, for such thing are then simply food. Things made of metal, precious stones, that sort of thing. Jewelery, Enchanted objects, as magick objects do have a resilience that can go beyond their natural materials. Statues, a common crossover with Rubies, though specifically made of stone-work, glass or metal, things that will not, in a reasonable timescale, rot or decay, though they may change state or degrade in other ways.

Hygiene

Amethyst Tanes are naturally surprisingly hygenic, which may at first sound very strange. However due to their natural continual cycle of decay and rebirth within their own tissues and skeletal structure, and their consistent sort of aura of decay, organic matter that might cause hygenic issues, such as parasites, illness, microbes, simply do not survive to get onto or close to an Amethyst Tane. Amethyst Tanes cannot contract illnesses naturally, for example, and any such affliction must be of a magical nature both in its existence and in how it was delivered, and would need to be wildly potent.

Dekay'virulis Reference Sheet

Alignment

NE

Current Location

The Rotwood

Species

Amethyst Tane

Age

1889 years

Pronouns

He/His, They/Them

Eyes

gash like in shape, grey with light violet banding and an orange pupil

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Deep amethyst scaling, showing dulling at some of the edges to a softer violet, a mark of age

Height

5 meters (16'5") tall, 13.8 meters (45'3") long

Weight

2890 kgs (6371 lbs)

Known Languages

Arcanis, Draconic, Celetric (Celestial), Rengab, Gnomish, Valarian