Cadmus
Cadmus (a.k.a. Cade)
A redheaded Nemeli with an Evestrian grandmother, Archon Nephele. He has the gifts of Mind Magic affinity of Spirit Magic, Water Magic affinity of Elemental Magic, and a lot of Planar Magic magic: Liem in the Spatial Magic affinity as well as both singular and area of effect Time Magic affinity. In addition to a sword, he uses a throwing spear named “Cor” (heart, Latin) through his mother Telephasa; it can be controlled at range and called back to him as the center of the shaft contains water and some of his grandfather’s blood. Cor had been commissioned to a Rena Mage Smith by his grandmother, Nephele, as a wedding gift to his grandfather, Layrd Hurly, who also had the Gift of Water affinity Elemental magic and was Layrd Commander of the Order of the Waves. Cade's father, Layrd Ronan, is Layrd Commander of the Order of the Stones and younger brother of Sovereign Farrel. He marries Brant and together they adopt their daughter Trinny. He is also the biological father of one of Dayza's two children- her daughter Brandy.
Cade and Prince Diarmuid (Dare) are cousins and best friends; they grew up together learning and training. When they were nine while enjoying a favorite past time, exploring the castle depths, they stumbled upon an opening down into the motte; up until this point, all living Nemeli had thought the motte was mostly solid. The boys got lost down there but discovered some dragon-related art and signs of what appeared to be their homes. There were legends of dragons in Nemel hundreds of years ago, but here was what looked like proof. This sparks a lifelong obsession for them. It also freaked out their parents as they were missing for almost 3 days; luckily Cade was able to pull water from the ground, and Dare grew food for them.
His grandmother had taken Brant on as her ward. They had a class or two together and Brant would spend school breaks with him and his family, but Cade was usually too busy and not one to pull a wallflower out of his shell. Cade's indifference to Brant changed however after a few years (yr 302) when he and Dare were cutting through a courtyard late for a riding class. Cade noticed a nemesis of theirs, Bricriu, and his lackeys, including Pryderi, going after Brant and was planning to intercede. However, when the older boys knocked Brant down, he summoned a Dullahan from the Shadow Plane and the trouble makers ran off. Cade and Dare continued on their way to class, but Cade thought of Brant differently from that day on.
Cade begins dating Teague, a librarians' apprentice, who helps them find scraps of information in the library. For some reason, most of the information about dragons has been purged from the libraries in Nemel; Teague tells them that it's the same at the Temple to Bernice in their city of Ballycay, but before the Isolation of Nemel copies of the histories would have been made for the Great Library in the Free City of Bernice. Following what they could learn, Cade and Dare take a trip to the stony hills northwest of Ballycay during a break under the auspices of camping, but really it is to find more evidence of dragons. They ended up finding the beginnings of what they were looking for and continued to visit as often as they could without rousing suspicion. On one trip to the caves Cade found a decorative box of large egg shells that he took home to keep safe. As they exhaust information in the library, Cade loses interest in Teague- not that Cade was using him for information; he never asked Teague for it. Teague realized how it captivated Cade and used the dragons to hold his attention.
Cade is on his first squire rotation (they split him and Dare up in hopes they'll get into less trouble- Adventures! Which, incidentally, was false, making this their only rotations apart) in 309 with the Knights of the Waves, when he is joined by Brant, Nephele, and Tele to slay a Kraken. Brant will be summoning one from the Elemental Water Plane for the very first time (the knights need the ink from the cephalopod variety of kraken in order to cure their Kraken Leather armor). He has a interesting moment in the ship's "baskets" with Brant and Brant's Undine friend Jorunn. He also has a run in with fellow squire, Pryderi, on the way out while practicing with Cor, and he lets out some of the turmoil that has been building inside of him to live up to family ideals. The kraken battle is intense, but the creature is brought down. Cade is on the front lines with other knights that can walk on the surface of the water (and Pryde on his ice disk) ; others are stationed behind his line in longboats. Some fight with magic, some with steel, and some with both. Cade primarily uses Core. In the midst of fighting, he is sprayed in the face with kraken ink and temporarily blinded by it. Unbeknownst to him, the creature is about to drop a massive tentacle on him, but Brant opens a portal between Cade and the tentacle and then closes it, severing the tentacle. Unfortunately, this alerts the kraken to Brant's location, and the creature's means of escape back to its own plane of existence. It launches itself up out of the sea toward where Brant is flying on Operit's back, but Cade in an adrenaline charged burst uses his Time affinity Planar magic to literally stop time for everyone involved in the battle. After loosening his grip to allow his fellow knights/squires to move again, Pryde uses his Ice affinity Elemental magic (water/air hybrid) to turn every cloud in the stormy sky into two giant spears of ice that he impales the creature with to finish it off, and reveal a brilliant, sunny sky. Cade passes out from over exertion and may have drown, but Jorunn saves him for Brant. Brant, once his own strength is regained, stays with Cade for the nearly two days he is unconscious (they don't get far as it takes time to break down the kraken and heal everyone). When Cade wakes up they finally kiss for the first time. But joy is cut short when pirates are spotted heading toward Warchod. They send two riders on Hippocamp, but they fear the riders won't arrive in time. Brant and Pryde, with a boost from Cade, unison cast Elemental Projection (using Pryde's Ice Projection, with a speed boost from Cade, to reach the ocean floor, Brant uses his Earth Projection to take the message from there all the way to Portalder) to notify Lord Llyr. Llyr arrives around the same time as the riders at Warchod and scares off the pirates.
Later that year, Nephele learns that her older sister, Danae, has died. When she announces her intentions to attend the funeral, it causes all sorts of drama, but it is decided that the Sovereign Farrel will accompany and make the first state visit to Evestria - Ever. Tele, Brant, Cade, and Dare go as well.
Despite Sovereign Farrel's initial objections, she allows Cade and Dare to leave the island for a quest, like squires of old, to earn their knighthood- to look for dragons, of course. On the eve of their quest, Cade gifts Brant books on summoning that had belonged to his grandmother as a token of his love. The next day Brant sees them off and summons Operit and another Hippogriff that he ties to Cade's Planar magic. They fly to the last known landing of the dragon Rhythmus and Prince Cadence Dragon Brother; Rythmus was the first dragon to disappear. When they near their landing site they see an explosion of light and investigate. The source of light turns out to be Princess Azalee along with Lady Jeslyn and Dayza. Learning that Rythmus was a dead end, they sail from the lakeside town of Cadence- totally bummed- across the lake to the Temple to Astrid and then ride to the Free City of Donachie. Once in Donachie they take another boat across the sea toward the Free City of Bernice where they hope to find more leads in the great library; the Pelesians were heading to as well for similar reasons. Along the way the Azalee's visions of Ailbhe come to light. The boat also gets attacked by a native Kraken, but luckily it's pretty young, so they can handle it themselves.
After the library, Cade and Dare decide to travel with the Pelesians to the Temple to Magic [This is a maybe: on the way to another lead from the library]. Azalee speaks to her father, and head of the order, Ektor . He tells them that a dragon lives there, below the monastery, and they all meet Iain. Iain has no interest in helping them or leaving the cave; he's lived a sheltered life raised by the monks. [Part of the maybe: They head east to the western tip of the mountains above Lake Seula. A knight and a dragon have been trapped in there by their own magic for like 250 years after they fled from the cult. They find and free them] Azalee is able use her bond with Ailbhe to find her and the cult stronghold. Jeslyn, confused by a cultist, tries to kill Dare and Cade. Iain gets a hold of himself and shows up to help. Jeslyn frees herself and sacrifices her life for their success in freeing all of the magical beings the cult has trapped there.
Once Cade and Dare return to Nemel, bringing Azalee, Ailbhe, Dayza, Iain, and a butt ton of dragons home with them, Brant and Cade get married. Adjusting to the new Nemel is rough. It's hard on everyone, but especially Cade and Dare as this was their whole goal, so now reclamation is pretty much their job. They create a council to oversee the process: Cade, Dare, Azalee, Ailbhe, Iain, and some others (not Day; she's there, but not into this sort of thing). In 318 Cade and Brant agree to father a child for Dayza, via Spirit magic. Shortly after, she leaves so that she can have her pregnancy at home in Pelee, as is proper. Even though Cade and Brant knew this was always the plan, Cade is surprised at how saddened he is by it. Day does come to visit every year with Brandy (who turned out to be Cade's), and two years after Brant helps her conceive a second child.
There is an attack on Oighearloch in 320 by a rampaging group of Jotunn; because they need the cold, it took a long time for them to make it back north. When they finally get back to where they used to live before they were kidnapped by the cult and everything is different they go a little crazy. Cade and friends head up there; there's not diplomatic option- they are literally tearing the town apart. In the battle Cade finds and defends a young girl whose parents had just been killed. While Cade and Niallan (a dragon) are fighting the Jotunn, Niallan turns on Cade. That's when the little girl instinctively uses time magic to freeze time and save Cade. It stalls events long enough for another dragon, Oidhche, to get there and help Cade. They finish the fight together and save the child, who thereafter won't let Cade out of her sight. Brant hears what happened, and starts taking care of the little girl, whose name is Trinny. After making sure she has no family left alive, Brant and Cade adopt Trinny and raise her as their daughter.
They also end up with another child under their roof. Dayza, having experienced the difference in treatment men receive in Nemel vs Pelee, decides to send Admus there to receive his education.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born male, is male, likes males
Great at fighting, time magic, and adventure
Flawed by his hotheadedness
All he wants it to live up to his family legacy and have the back of his cousin the prince; obsessed with finding dragons
Relationships
History
Day and Cade are close friends. As Dayza has no interest in men romantically, but as a daughter of House Roandra feels duty bound to at least try to conceive daughters, her two dearest male friends, Cade and Brant, agree to assist her. Azalee uses magic to artificially inseminate.
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