rktho
Troubadour
I'm writing a story about dragons who live in cities and villages. The problem is, these dragons come off as very human. I need to make their motivations and personalities more dragonlike.
(Note: my dragons are bipedal, much like humans, and have five fingers, but the physical resemblance ends there. They're about twice as large as humans without accounting for horns, wings and tail. So picture them around twelve feet tall on average.)
Here are my characters:
Zarakharn, my chief antagonist, is the emperor of Khriza. He is a wizard, but this is a secret. (Dragons in this age don't believe in magic.) The magic order to, called the Kenshi, which he belongs seeks to collect a set of powerful blades that will grant them omnipotence. As the only living member of this ancient cult, Zarakharn must achieve this by himself, with the assistance of his mentor, the spirit of the Kenshi's founder. Zarakharn is outnumbered but not outmatched by the Shazarians, another secret and once-powerful and respected wizard sect that seek to protect the blades of power from dragons like the Kenshi. Zarakharn anticipates the possibility that the Khrizan lifespan of two hundred years may not be a sufficiently long time to gain the power he lusts after, so he has created a life crystal, which keeps him at the age when he created it, meaning he is around a hundred and sixty years old, but with the body of a sixty year old dragon (Khrizans age about half as fast as humans, so think a thirty year old with twice the experience, or in Zarakharn's case, 3.3 times the experience.) When he learns that a professional thief has acquired one of the blades of power, Zarakharn summons him in order to purchase it from him. But it's a trap-- the thief was hired by the Shazarians, and given the blade to lure Zarakharn to him so the thief could steal the crystal. The thief loses the crystal, and fearing the Shazarians' retribution, seeks refuge with a crime lord he does business with, only to be betrayed to Zarakharn. Under interrogation, the thief reveals that he was hired by someone belonging to the elite police. Zarakharn kills him in a rage before he can learn more (not that there was, because the thief was kept mostly in the dark) as he realizes there is a Shazarian spy in the highest level of the police force. Having put out a reward for the crystal's return, he resolves not to wait around for someone to bring it to him and goes after it himself. Zarakharn's personality and motives are already fairly dragonlike. I don't need help with him.
Ginzaekh is an adolescent dragon of thirty-four who lives in a humble village. They moved there when his father was killed in a blacksmith accident and his family could no longer afford to live in a nicer area. Ginzaekh provides for his family by hunting, which he does with his two best friends, Ash and Gazi. Ginzaekh and his friends are the ones who find the crystal, and jump at the chance to lift Ginzaekh's family out of poverty. They must fly cautiously, however, because nearly everyone in the land is willing to kill for the crystal's reward. Ginzaekh is very protective of his friends, who see him as a leader. The three of them work so well together that they are almost a hive mind.
Ash is the lancer of Ginzaekh's trio-- though he doesn't think ahead very realistically, his sarcastic wit demonstrates that he has a very clear grasp of whatever is happening in the moment. He never passes up a good meal or the opportunity to come into more money, but his friends always come first.
Gazi is the third prong in Ginzaekh's two-pronged attack-- the surprise huntress that swoops in when the prey is just beginning to think it's evaded the dragons' grasp. Gazi never does anything if she doesn't know all the risks, but as long as she knows them, no risk is so high that she's afraid to take it. Which is why the fact that any stranger or even ally might stab them in the back for the crystal doesn't faze her, but telling Ginzaekh how she feels about him does.
Kharrin is the chief inquisitor. The Shazarian spy is under his command. Kharrin is resentful of Zarakharn's contempt for him, so when Zarakharn tells him there is a traitor in his midst, Kharrin is eager to discover the spy so he can win Zarakharn's respect. But on top of the spy, he has to search for the crystal (a task he can no longer entrust to his usual resources) and capture a recently resurfaced terrorist named Sar Argandi, so he entrusts the task of finding the spy to his most trusted operative, a tracker named Vazared, who is currently searching for Sar. Vazared insists on taking on both tasks at once, leaving Kharrin to devote his full attention to the crystal. Kharrin uses his backup network to discover information on the crystal's whereabouts. Kharrin is also very dragonlike already.
Vazared is Kharrin's head tracker. A family man, he has two sons (who are following in his footsteps) and a daughter. He's away from home a lot. He's also a Shazarian-- the one who hired the thief to steal the crystal, in fact. But normally, Kharrin's trust in him isn't misplaced-- the two are old friends and Vazared is genuinely loyal to him and the police. And Vazared really does want to bring Sar Argandi in-- because he's a rogue Shazarian who escaped the capture of his fellow Shazarians, and he's not afraid to use magic in public or kill anyone, making him a danger to all the other characters. Vazared wants Zarakharn dead, but doesn't want Sar to kill Kharrin or any other dragons. Also, Vazared refuses to select a scapegoat to cover up his treason, instead opting to stall for as long as possible until the crystal can be destroyed.
Nat is Ginzaekh's uncle. He lives just a city over from Ginzaekh, where Ginzaekh used to live, but he didn't live there when Ginzaekh did. Nat has a love of exotic places and has spent a good portion of his parental life outside of Khriza. Nat comes off as eccentric, but that's due to the fact that he's a Shazarian, like his brother and father, who were murdered by Zarakharn (and not, as his nephew believes, killed in a blacksmith accident.) Nat lost his mother at a young age and his father became a wanted fugitive for avenging her death. He doesn't want his youngest son, Davard, to learn of the Shazarian-Kenshi conflict until he's old enough. His elder son Khazardi is a wizard-in-training, having recently been deemed ready to know the truth. Nat lives in the same town as Vazared's family and Khazardi is training with Vazared's sons to join the police force. No deception is too great for Nat if it means protecting his loved ones. When he tries to destroy the crystal, turning Ginzaekh against him, he proceeds to stalk Ginzaekh in disguise under the name Assirratan, protecting him from harm and waiting for the right moment to steal the crystal so it can be destroyed.
Davard is Nat's son who joins Ginzaekh's company on their quest. Unlike Nat, he is proven to be trustworthy. Dav is a very unusual dragon, a neuroatypical, socially awkward but creatively brilliant specimen. Due to the amount of travelling his family has done, Dav speaks two foreign languages and the ancient precursor to his own. Dav is motivated by adventure more than wealth. He is very close to Vazared and his family and has unrequited feelings for Vazared's daughter. He bonds quickly with Gazi, who seems to understand him in a way few others do. Dav knows his way around very well and his know-how is key in helping the group secure affordable lodgings and finding dragons they can trust.
Droka is one of Kharrin's non-police contacts. He's also a non-Khrizan, a Vrakardian, which means he's three feet shorter than everyone around him and built like a raptor, and on the receiving end of a lot of bigotry. He's the one who discovers Ginzaekh has the crystal. He's not willing to kill to get the job done, but he figures if he does his job right, he won't have to. Technically, Zarakharn's orders are to not interfere with anyone attempting to return the crystal, but Kharrin has other plans and he's willing to let Droka have the reward and then some if Droka takes the crystal from them and brings it to Kharrin, and Droka doesn't care about another species' emperor.
Sar Argandi is a Shazarian. He was born with the deformity of having stubs for wings, so he has become very powerful in magic to compensate. Zarakharn tried to have Sar's daughter imprisoned so he could use her as leverage, but Kharrin's men slipped up and killed her instead. In revenge, Sar killed every one of them except one who escaped. The Shazarians captured him and imprisoned him, and Sar vanished. When the thief did not return with the crystal, Sar broke out to seek revenge on the thief and on Kharrin and Zarakharn. The public simply sees Sar as a dangerous murderer, though his unconcealed displays of magical power show otherwise.
Those are my major players. Right now my story feels very human and I need to justify the dragonness of the characters.
(Note: my dragons are bipedal, much like humans, and have five fingers, but the physical resemblance ends there. They're about twice as large as humans without accounting for horns, wings and tail. So picture them around twelve feet tall on average.)
Here are my characters:
Zarakharn, my chief antagonist, is the emperor of Khriza. He is a wizard, but this is a secret. (Dragons in this age don't believe in magic.) The magic order to, called the Kenshi, which he belongs seeks to collect a set of powerful blades that will grant them omnipotence. As the only living member of this ancient cult, Zarakharn must achieve this by himself, with the assistance of his mentor, the spirit of the Kenshi's founder. Zarakharn is outnumbered but not outmatched by the Shazarians, another secret and once-powerful and respected wizard sect that seek to protect the blades of power from dragons like the Kenshi. Zarakharn anticipates the possibility that the Khrizan lifespan of two hundred years may not be a sufficiently long time to gain the power he lusts after, so he has created a life crystal, which keeps him at the age when he created it, meaning he is around a hundred and sixty years old, but with the body of a sixty year old dragon (Khrizans age about half as fast as humans, so think a thirty year old with twice the experience, or in Zarakharn's case, 3.3 times the experience.) When he learns that a professional thief has acquired one of the blades of power, Zarakharn summons him in order to purchase it from him. But it's a trap-- the thief was hired by the Shazarians, and given the blade to lure Zarakharn to him so the thief could steal the crystal. The thief loses the crystal, and fearing the Shazarians' retribution, seeks refuge with a crime lord he does business with, only to be betrayed to Zarakharn. Under interrogation, the thief reveals that he was hired by someone belonging to the elite police. Zarakharn kills him in a rage before he can learn more (not that there was, because the thief was kept mostly in the dark) as he realizes there is a Shazarian spy in the highest level of the police force. Having put out a reward for the crystal's return, he resolves not to wait around for someone to bring it to him and goes after it himself. Zarakharn's personality and motives are already fairly dragonlike. I don't need help with him.
Ginzaekh is an adolescent dragon of thirty-four who lives in a humble village. They moved there when his father was killed in a blacksmith accident and his family could no longer afford to live in a nicer area. Ginzaekh provides for his family by hunting, which he does with his two best friends, Ash and Gazi. Ginzaekh and his friends are the ones who find the crystal, and jump at the chance to lift Ginzaekh's family out of poverty. They must fly cautiously, however, because nearly everyone in the land is willing to kill for the crystal's reward. Ginzaekh is very protective of his friends, who see him as a leader. The three of them work so well together that they are almost a hive mind.
Ash is the lancer of Ginzaekh's trio-- though he doesn't think ahead very realistically, his sarcastic wit demonstrates that he has a very clear grasp of whatever is happening in the moment. He never passes up a good meal or the opportunity to come into more money, but his friends always come first.
Gazi is the third prong in Ginzaekh's two-pronged attack-- the surprise huntress that swoops in when the prey is just beginning to think it's evaded the dragons' grasp. Gazi never does anything if she doesn't know all the risks, but as long as she knows them, no risk is so high that she's afraid to take it. Which is why the fact that any stranger or even ally might stab them in the back for the crystal doesn't faze her, but telling Ginzaekh how she feels about him does.
Kharrin is the chief inquisitor. The Shazarian spy is under his command. Kharrin is resentful of Zarakharn's contempt for him, so when Zarakharn tells him there is a traitor in his midst, Kharrin is eager to discover the spy so he can win Zarakharn's respect. But on top of the spy, he has to search for the crystal (a task he can no longer entrust to his usual resources) and capture a recently resurfaced terrorist named Sar Argandi, so he entrusts the task of finding the spy to his most trusted operative, a tracker named Vazared, who is currently searching for Sar. Vazared insists on taking on both tasks at once, leaving Kharrin to devote his full attention to the crystal. Kharrin uses his backup network to discover information on the crystal's whereabouts. Kharrin is also very dragonlike already.
Vazared is Kharrin's head tracker. A family man, he has two sons (who are following in his footsteps) and a daughter. He's away from home a lot. He's also a Shazarian-- the one who hired the thief to steal the crystal, in fact. But normally, Kharrin's trust in him isn't misplaced-- the two are old friends and Vazared is genuinely loyal to him and the police. And Vazared really does want to bring Sar Argandi in-- because he's a rogue Shazarian who escaped the capture of his fellow Shazarians, and he's not afraid to use magic in public or kill anyone, making him a danger to all the other characters. Vazared wants Zarakharn dead, but doesn't want Sar to kill Kharrin or any other dragons. Also, Vazared refuses to select a scapegoat to cover up his treason, instead opting to stall for as long as possible until the crystal can be destroyed.
Nat is Ginzaekh's uncle. He lives just a city over from Ginzaekh, where Ginzaekh used to live, but he didn't live there when Ginzaekh did. Nat has a love of exotic places and has spent a good portion of his parental life outside of Khriza. Nat comes off as eccentric, but that's due to the fact that he's a Shazarian, like his brother and father, who were murdered by Zarakharn (and not, as his nephew believes, killed in a blacksmith accident.) Nat lost his mother at a young age and his father became a wanted fugitive for avenging her death. He doesn't want his youngest son, Davard, to learn of the Shazarian-Kenshi conflict until he's old enough. His elder son Khazardi is a wizard-in-training, having recently been deemed ready to know the truth. Nat lives in the same town as Vazared's family and Khazardi is training with Vazared's sons to join the police force. No deception is too great for Nat if it means protecting his loved ones. When he tries to destroy the crystal, turning Ginzaekh against him, he proceeds to stalk Ginzaekh in disguise under the name Assirratan, protecting him from harm and waiting for the right moment to steal the crystal so it can be destroyed.
Davard is Nat's son who joins Ginzaekh's company on their quest. Unlike Nat, he is proven to be trustworthy. Dav is a very unusual dragon, a neuroatypical, socially awkward but creatively brilliant specimen. Due to the amount of travelling his family has done, Dav speaks two foreign languages and the ancient precursor to his own. Dav is motivated by adventure more than wealth. He is very close to Vazared and his family and has unrequited feelings for Vazared's daughter. He bonds quickly with Gazi, who seems to understand him in a way few others do. Dav knows his way around very well and his know-how is key in helping the group secure affordable lodgings and finding dragons they can trust.
Droka is one of Kharrin's non-police contacts. He's also a non-Khrizan, a Vrakardian, which means he's three feet shorter than everyone around him and built like a raptor, and on the receiving end of a lot of bigotry. He's the one who discovers Ginzaekh has the crystal. He's not willing to kill to get the job done, but he figures if he does his job right, he won't have to. Technically, Zarakharn's orders are to not interfere with anyone attempting to return the crystal, but Kharrin has other plans and he's willing to let Droka have the reward and then some if Droka takes the crystal from them and brings it to Kharrin, and Droka doesn't care about another species' emperor.
Sar Argandi is a Shazarian. He was born with the deformity of having stubs for wings, so he has become very powerful in magic to compensate. Zarakharn tried to have Sar's daughter imprisoned so he could use her as leverage, but Kharrin's men slipped up and killed her instead. In revenge, Sar killed every one of them except one who escaped. The Shazarians captured him and imprisoned him, and Sar vanished. When the thief did not return with the crystal, Sar broke out to seek revenge on the thief and on Kharrin and Zarakharn. The public simply sees Sar as a dangerous murderer, though his unconcealed displays of magical power show otherwise.
Those are my major players. Right now my story feels very human and I need to justify the dragonness of the characters.
