Seren Afon-Tan

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Lysisday, Liliyogh 23, 1134 LE

"If you wish to take my life, to condemn me, to prove your own righteousness, you must first name one resilience that does not come from suffering. Those incapable cannot reach my neck nor my heart, for I have been bathed in that death of deaths and emerged as a great blade forged in molten sunmetal."
—Seren Afon-Tan

Overview

Seren Afon-Tan [ˈsɛːr.ɛn ˌa.vɔn.ˈtaːn] is a sun dragon originally from the floating island Ailell. They were born into nobility as Elgan Afon-Tan in 1112, eldest child of the illustrious but faltering Afon-Tan house of Ailell, but they have since relinquished it and run away. Seren's life has been marked and marred by the judgments of others, raised with a compulsion to put on a display for everyone else and present an outwardly perfect image. The gap between this false image of themself and their true feelings has been the cause of most, if not all, of the conflict in their life.

Despite Ailell's immense prejudice towards anything besides infernal dragons, or perhaps because of it, Seren has taken on a great curiosity about the world and the peoples who inhabit and have inhabited it. Their restless nature and constant curiosity have carved the path for their travel across much of the inhabited world, every friend made another blow against their pure and enclosed Ailelli upbringing.

Seren is the holder of a few titles and epithets, none of them indicative of anything impressive. All of them relate to a simple personal journey or are something describing what they were born into. "Indigo Sun" is simply a descriptor of their unusual color, only significant because of the importance of sun dragons to Ailell's culture. "Fallen Star" is a moniker given by Rhafos the Disgraced, a play on their name and marking their flight from Ailell as something to be proud of. "Cursed-by-Vastness" is Seren's role within the World of Glass, something that very rarely has any sort of effect on their life.

Escape from Ailell

Seren's early life was defined by being the eldest "son" to the Afon-Tan family, a house slowly slipping down through the ranks of Ailell's Solar Houses and on the decline. Born Elgan Afon-Tan, they were constantly held up since childhood to be the heir, the successor, the extraordinary omen of the house's imminent revitalization, and were scrutinized constantly in every area of life. Who they chose to associate with, what they wore and ate, the schedule they had and the subjects they were made to study were all decided by their parents, the current heads of the Afon-Tan. At first, Seren was an eager child, ready to learn and uphold their family name, but this bright-eyed excitement slowly faded as the limitations of their position became clear.

Though they put on a facade of competency, they struggled immensely to keep up with the constant study of politics and economics, and to recall and correctly respond to the hundreds, thousands of social cues that high Ailelli society had to remember. Through their teenage years they were placed under tighter and tighter watch, being forced to cut ties with everyone outside the family and the woman they had to court for a higher status and to secure the bloodline. This relationship fell through and the higher-ranked family's daughter cast shame upon the Afon-Tan.

After a mild slip-up at their coming-of-age ceremony on the night of their eighteenth birthday, Seren could no longer take the pressure. Once home and not literally paralyzed from the pressure of an audience of thousands, they snapped, destroying everything that reminded them of nobility and then fleeing the island entirely. Jumping off its edge and fleeing to Keppel's surface was something none had done for fifty years, and a desperately dangerous action at that.

Settlement in Maytara

Seren's landing in and wanderings around the continent Remna lasted for about a year, before they decided to settle in the city-state Maytara. Still constantly on edge from their upbringing, they found the relief from the friends they made a cold comfort. Their heart still boiled over with residual rage at the years stolen from them, and every new experience was soured by the novelty of it. Their habit of putting on a fake smile to hide their animosity kept up during this time, and the attempt to ignore all the residual hatred of their own family made them passive towards insults that others would have immediately leapt at. They took up bardic magic, learning music from a monsoon dragon who taught them how to fashion an instrument with their own magic.

On Auvhlaus 32, 1131 LE, an eclipse put part of Maytara directly in the path of destruction. One of Seren's closest friends at this time, a crystal dragon architect by the name of Veltárinn Scainstiln, invited them to watch the eclipse together, an experience neither of them had witnessed before. In truth, this was a ploy to get Seren alone so Veltárinn could expound on the ways Seren was despised by their entire circle. This hatred had been building, at least on Veltárinn's end, for lythryds. Sensing the isolation returning and feeling overwhelmed and betrayed, they took to physically fighting the crystal dragon, resulting in a battle that left the both of them heavily injured and which destroyed much of the local area of the city. A final plot by Veltárinn, the use of a titan shard to fully kill Seren by transmuting them into crystal, settled the event in its failure as a complete setup.

Seren cursed Veltárinn in turn to have his legacy be one of failure and incompetence, and left the city permanently. They were banished from Maytara after the fact, with a warrant placed for their head. The only one of their friends who remained by their side was Thaorel, a desert dragon who was already ignoring separate calls for the young sun dragon's execution.

Settlement in the Wilds

Seren's flight from Maytara brought them to the wilds beyond it, whereupon they wandered and practiced their magic until meeting a peculiar Canid that specialized in medicine, another outcast from Maytara as luck would have it. They settled on a fast friendship due to a sense of similar experiences and mutual interest in learning different styles of magic. They currently live in these wilds with a few friends, loosely connected and kept safe by the various preparations and strengths most wildlings put on to thrive.

Appearance

Seren is an unusual hue for a sun dragon, a deep indigo darkened by the aftereffects of their battle at Maytara. While sun dragons have a higher aberrance of their hues, it is still relatively uncommon for them. Their feathers are patterned by geometric spiraling patterns of semi-crystallized feathers of sky jade, grown on them by a failed curse at that same battle. Still from the same event are the dracynstone plates across their body, Stones of Hubris from being in the path of a solar eclipse and spread evenly due to the influence of the magic that the beam overwhelmed and unraveled. These plates can be removed, but Seren keeps them because of their otherwise low natural armor and the negligible effect on their mobility.

Seren is quite short for a dragon, standing at barely over seven feet tall in their uncompressed form. When compressed, they stand at just under six feet tall, but this level of compression is not enough to give them good control over their form for the purposes of mimicry. Their posture is inconsistent; they seem to change how they stand and walk every few hours so as to combat the boredom of being stuck in a single stance or gait. There is often a clumsiness to Seren's movements, as though they never get used to being in any position or form. Seren's face tends to look rather haunted when relaxed. They actively combat this in public by forcing a more positive or exaggerated expression, but when alone or with friends they tend towards a thousand-yard stare sort of look.

They prefer to ware looser and smoother clothes, a habit picked up from their luxurious upbringing on Ailell. While the exact style they choose differs and gives them the impression of anything from a monk to a tavern dancer, they consistently choose based on texture and motion. They consistently wear pants or shorts with openings at the sides, and a top that can be slid off the shoulders easily, in order to allow their six wings to be extended out. Specialized draconic fashion, while not usually what they prefer in terms of appearance, is what they gravitate towards for function. Their jewelry is mostly stolen heirlooms from the Afon-Tan house, made of the family's signature sky-jade. The opal earring they wear is a memento originating from Aklor Baig, and their necklace was made and altered symbolically for them, as is done for all Solar Heirs of Ailell's nobility.

Personality

Interests

Seren struggles to process emotions without verbally or visually working them out, and they tend to think of these emotions more in terms of outcomes they want to cause or prevent. They have found that music, both composing and acquiring existing songs, is something that helps with this, and that has motivated them to pursue it as a core part of their life. Their interest in magic, something not as classically accessible to dragons, intertwines with this as they learn bardic Starstep.

Seren, despite residual distaste for the academic world, is deeply curious about the world and loves the process of learning. They particularly enjoy folklore and stories related to the natural world, and puzzling out why people came up with certain explanations for specific aspects of the world. Their musical/magical inspiration often comes from mythologies that have stuck with them.

Seren deeply enjoys nature itself and the process of exploring it. While such a hobby is ill-advised for most people, dragons tend to have a bit more ability to survive out in Keppel's monster-infested wilderness. They spent a lot of time traveling after landing on the surface in order to experience as much climatic variety as they could. Seren's favorite natural landscape is the southern savannahs.

Conflict

Seren's personality is a bit difficult to get a read on, as their constant struggle with presenting an amenable face to the world gives them wildly inconsistent traits and expressions depending on how well they are doing with that, and who they are around. Much of the core of this struggle comes from their immense unfulfilled drekaskuld, draconic debt they have built up, grudges that cannot be resolved without direct confrontation, which give a background radiation of irritation to much of their life. Seren often comes off as withdrawn and timid to strangers, as they don't often go out of their way to talk to people they aren't acquainted with. They keep to themself to avoid slipping up or appearing rude to others, though this requisite coldness is often taken as such regardless.

Drekaskuld, the innate instinctual "ledger" dragons keep within themselves that tell them how much everyone owes them for social slights, is a key player in much of Seren's life. Having such an immense "debt" held against their family for using them as a political tool for their entire childhood and adolescence, and one gone entirely without recompense, has been weighing on them for the past several years. It fuels a constant feeling of anger, imbalance, and wrongness that they cannot shake in any situation. Seren finds it blends into the negative emotions they experience and amplifies them, whilst positive experiences are dulled and soured by the juxtaposition with the unpaid debt the Afon-Tan house owes them. Unwilling and mostly unable to return to Ailell to settle this, they have chosen to live with these consequences for now while trying every method available to them to rid themself of the instinct.

Seren is extremely non-confrontational by choice, unable to neatly separate the annoyances of daily life from their enormous residual fury against Ailell and the Afon-Tan family. They believe themself unable to properly judge a response to an inconvenience or insult, and so decide to not allow themself any recourse or rebuttal at all. The few times they have gone against this self-imposed rule are moments of uncharacteristic violence, and they find it very difficult to stop speaking or fighting once they've given in. Beyond this, they seem very forgiving, unusually so for a dragon.

They feel an immense guilt for hurting others, even intentionally, equating causing negative feelings or reactions to social failure, something that has been a consistent source of trauma in their early life. While their first reaction in such a situation is to withdraw to avoid making things worse, they hold themself accountable for much longer than the other person usually remembers it, often trying to "make up for it" by spending time being preferential to the person the hurt. They aren't always good at recognizing when they've upset someone, though, and have come off as callous on numerous occasions because of this.

Abilities

Draconic Gifts

Seren, being a sun dragon, has several innate qualities that make them, in the eyes of many people, innately very powerful. Not the least of these abilities is compression shapeshifting, which allows them greater control over the appearance and layout of their physical form the smaller they compress their body. Seren is quite bad at mimicry, the practice of intentionally mirroring another race's appearance while compressed. This is because they are rather short by draconic standards, and thus have less control at the same size than another dragon would.

From their clan's infernal Discipline, they have immense resistance to heat and almost total nonflammability, as well as the ability to sustain themself by consuming fire as food. And from their clan's celestial Aspect, they have no need to breathe at all, as well as a passive gravitational weight reduction by about half of their mass. Beyond just the passive abilities, Seren is able to innately manipulate a sphere of fire however they please, as well as consume any flames they come across into it. They cannot manipulate flames beyond the sphere in any other way.

As a sun dragon, Seren's authority over flames is second only to a scarlet dragon's, and their magical stamina is nigh-impossible to naturally deplete. Their soul component is also at the draconic standard of fifty percent, meaning they have access to half the odhir capacity of their soul's mass.

Because of their celestial aspect, they have less trouble weightwise with compression-shapeshifting, but in return they cannot exert the same level of force on the world, only being able to move or punch with an effective mass of about 460 pounds. Even with this, their effective weight when compressed is only about 110 pounds, making them extremely flighty and able to make up for their low mass with acceleration.

Bardic Magic

Due to their existence as a dragon, Seren is unable to use the classical Sunstep magic most people think of when they hear the term "magic", at least beyond their clan's sorcery. This does not mean they have no options in magic, however. Bardic Starstep, a method of magic that uses primarily sound as a medium to persuade the world to act to the caster's whims, is a field that Seren has been studying for the past couple of years.

Bardic magic requires prowess in presentation, and music is the easiest path to achieve this. Seren's unique usage of their draconic sorcery to fashion an instrumental wheel out of their sun orb is what they have been using, mimicking an old technique by monsoon dragons. They have been particularly studying language, literature, and the nature of as much of nature as they can in order to understand what is most effective how. Still, when it comes down to actual need, Seren chooses to rely on intuition and often casts wordlessly, to a much lesser effect.

Seren has a bad habit of allowing micro-possessions, where a small influence of their bardic spell flows into their mind and influences their actions. This comes from a combination of their preference towards intuitive casting and their generally fragile emotional balance. Most bards work diligently to avoid their spell influencing their own will at all, but Seren takes some sort of pleasure in being a conduit for magic instead of just the source. Their first teacher, Daidagh of the Wheel, was among those to cast out Seren after the Maytara incident. They have been unable to find a second tutor because of this habit, and have dedicated themself to being self-taught instead.

Academic Knowledge

Seren is, begrudgingly, very well read about natural aspects of the world. Theories on magic, astronomy, geology and geography, and a limited knowledge of mathematics and physics are all well embedded within their mind. They were brought up with the expectation that they would take over for the Afon-Tan family as its sixteenth head, and a part of that noble role is knowing a great deal about the world's workings, both naturally and socially.

When it comes to speech and persuasion, Seren has extensive training in how to speak for various effects. Their understanding of connotations behind words and tonal shifts and turns of phrase is noteworthy, to the point that they often outpace their thoughts with automatic responses. While this can make them amenable to strangers, it causes them great distress to lose control of their own words to their training.

World of Glass

Seren is one of several individuals affected by the World of Glass phenomenon, a strangely exemplary and self-consistent soulwhisper shared across many people. This grants them false memories of relationships with people they have never met, and the ability to recognize when another person is also afflicted with World of Glass. Though this may not give them any actual skills or capabilities, it has been invaluable for building a social network since their exiles.

Combat Style

While Seren very much dislikes conflict, let alone battle, they have a refined style eminent of a dragon, maximizing use of their body in close-range springing attacks and keeping mobility. They incorporate their draconic Sunstep into fighting heavily, making use of their sun sphere as another center of force, a reinforcement to their own physical attacks, or an environmental hazard that spreads flames to their whims. They were trained classically by some of the foremost martial artists on Ailell, but they have fallen out of practice in recent years.

Relationships

File:Afon-Tan Crest.png

♥♡♡♡♡ Afon-Tan Family

Relationship: Greatest Foes

Meeting Date: 1112 LE

Meeting Location: Ailell

Met Through: Born to them

Description:

The Afon-Tan family that Seren was born to and raised in is their greatest source of grief and anger. While they once held a great amount of love for the family, vying to become as competent as they could before they needed to take over, the inability to live up to the nationally significant expectations of them soured this relationship, poisoned more and more as restrictions were placed on their life and livelihood to forge them into a smarter and more appealing house leader. The questions of why their duties were so important were only met with self-important non-answers, and in a time they needed a reason to continue more than anything, they were met with only the trite argument that they should already be committed.

Seren's resentment for their family was mostly directed towards their parents, but was only emboldened by their younger siblings supporting the Afon-Tan creed and plan to ascend through the ranks of the Solar Houses. This came to a head when Seren was coerced into courting the second daughter of the Golau-Mor house, Ceoferdd Golau-Mor. This failed attempt cast immense shame upon the family and Seren specifically, who was blamed for allowing the relationship to fall through.

Seren holds great contempt for the Afon-Tan house as a whole, but reserves true hatred for their parents alone, who only ever created and used them as a tool to elevate their own status. The drekaskuld, the debt most dragons require to pay back perceived slights, that Seren holds towards the heads of the Afon-Tan is so immense that it transcends tangible value and enters the territory of drekablóðskuld, which can only be paid for in blood. This pervasive fury weighs down on them in everyday life and is the main thing that haunts them.

File:Emile Farmgirl.png

♥♥♡♡♡ Emile Svastsdóttir

Relationship: Mutual Contempt

Meeting Date: 1130 LE

Meeting Location: Maytara

Met Through: Random Encounter

Description:

Emile was Seren's first friend from Maytara, a human farmhand who convinced them to live in the city. She was once an uplifting presence in their life, but continually drew away from them as they became more comfortable expressing themself. Emile was the one who pushed back on Seren's comfort within their own gender, their efforts to communicate emotion more clearly, and their abandonment of mimicry in favor of their current form.

Emile caused Seren much distress that they were only subconsciously aware of, mirroring the Afon-Tan ethos of expectation without any of the same power. She has a habit of being "brutally honest", a thinly-veiled excuse to complain from Seren's perspective. This allegedly comes from Emile's desires to see the world and the people in it improve, but Seren finds this behavior overbearing and incorrigible.

Emile's condemnation of Seren shortly before the Eclipse-Sacking of Maytara in 1131 was gentle, but cut them more deeply than most. The nature of it mirrored another story that she had introduced Seren to, something likely intentional to get across how monstrous she believed them to be with plausible deniability of not directly stating it. That manipulative cowardice is something Seren finds pathetic, though they have used it themself on occasion.

♥♥♡♡♡ Rhafos the Disgraced

Relationship: Acquaintance and Ally

Meeting Date: 1132 LE

Meeting Location: Remnan Wilds

Met Through: Recruitment Offer

Description:

Seren would rather not associate with Rhafos, but considers him a tenuous ally for their overlapping goals and common origin. As they are both escapists from Ailell and abhor its culture and values, they do have enough common ground to tolerate each other. Seren dislikes Rhafos' cutting rhetoric and his penchant for violence as a solution, but has great respect for his confidence in his own philosophy.

Rhafos has hopes that Seren will join the Alizarin Association of Adventurers on their quest to counteract a potential danger to the world from Ailell, something Seren themself is opposed to because of the violent methods involved. They have agreed to give modern information about the city-state and its people, however, since Rhafos' own is half a century out of date.

File:Shais'sey.png

♥♥♥♡♡ Shais'sey Vyxeley

Relationship: Friend

Meeting Date: 1130 LE

Meeting Location: Rural Galakar

Met Through: World of Glass

Description:

Shais'sey and Seren are connected via the World of Glass, and though they rarely travel to see one another, they find mutual solace in their connection through it. Shais'sey herself is something of an outcast within Galakar, having no trade skill to profit from and a disdain for the concept of militaries in general. Though she lives as a free spirit, she suffers much isolation for it. Seren finds a common ground with this isolating feeling, and has invited Shais'sey to entirely leave Galakar at her leisure to stay in their domicile. She has not taken up this offer.

Seren and Shais'sey have some difficulties due to the nature of their roles in the World of Glass. Cursed-by-Vastness and Summer Breeze, their respective roles that they are forced to intuit, were lovers according to the story. Though Shais'sey's connection to the World of Glass is too weak to really grasp this, navigating their friendship can at times feel like a post-divorce reflection, which creates awkwardness and tension. They have no attraction to one another, but the Glass makes it difficult for both of them to separate their real thoughts from the idea it imposes.

Shais'sey is an inspiration to Seren in how brash and outgoing her personality is. They envy her confidence to continue living the way she does even through the ostracization and her ability to snap back at anyone who dares criticize her. Shais'sey in turn is envious of Seren's gentleness and ability to resolve tension before conflict occurs. Through their talks, they seem to have rubbed off on one another.

File:Shovonei.png

♥♥♥♡♡ Shovonei Iskulvetr

Relationship: Distant Friend

Meeting Date: 1130 LE

Meeting Location: Rural Galakar

Met Through: World of Glass

Description:

Shovonei is the one who coined the name of the World of Glass, and immediately recognized both Seren and Shais'sey as Glasslings on one of his outings. He is a distant ally to the both of them, offering what he can out of solidarity for what he believes is a terrible curse. Though he is stubborn and abrasive, Shovonei does care for his fellow Glasslings. Seren appreciates Shovonei's wisdom and practicality, and they have sparred with him many times to keep their knowledge of self-defense relevant.

Seren, despite seeing the good in Shovonei's heart, cannot fully feel comfortable around him. Shovonei holds rather oppressive views around gender and sexuality, something not terribly uncommon within border-town communities. This is in conflict with Seren's own values and very existence, and they feel a need to distance conversations from topics that inform their own identity in order to not squander what good Shovonei's aid does. This has taken the form of a slow drifting away from Shovonei entirely, something the old man would never admit is his own fault.

♥♥♥♥♡ Thaorel

Relationship: Close Friend and Ally

Meeting Date: 1130 LE

Meeting Location: Starshattered Desert

Met Through: Trespassing

Description:

Thaorel is Seren's longest-standing friend and ally not part of the World of Glass, a desert dragon from the Sekrisekkeb territory of the Starshattered Desert. Seren looks up to him for advice and a second opinion more than most other people, believing that "he has his shit together more than most former sheltered kids". The two met when Seren trespassed into the Starshattered Desert, unaware of the laws surrounding entry. Thaorel had been appointed Sentinel of his region at the time, and opted for mercy out of his own distaste for the exclusionism the Starshattered Coalition enforces. Thaorel was exiled from the Starshattered Desert for this infringement, permitted only to return with Seren's severed head as payment. He has since been following Seren as a fellow exile.

Seren admired Thaorel's worldliness and straightforward personality. While Seren carefully considers every word, angle of head tilt, and expression to worry about their meanings and implications, Thaorel acts in deliberate ways so as to not intentionally hide anything behind implication. The two of them have a strong shared belief that their urges and emotions are indicative of simpler bodily needs, and that these are ultimately neutral. They share words about these easily, and in their travels have often cared for each other in whatever ways they can. Thaorel and Seren share a casual sexual relationship, a holdover from their time spent traveling together where they agreed it would be pragmatic for their needs.

Seren's friendship with Thaorel is a double-edged sword of trust and fear. They take the fact that Thaorel has not attempted to get his life back by murdering them as an implicit sign that he is trustworthy and loyal, but at the same time is constantly aware of an ever-present idea that tarnishing that trust will lead to Thaorel making an attempt on their life. No matter how much Thaorel tries to dissuade this fear, Seren cannot truly shake it, even after he remained the only ally Seren had after their falling out with Veltárinn.

File:Veltárinn.png

♥♡♡♡♡ Veltárinn Scainstiln

Relationship: Nemesis

Meeting Date: 1131 LE

Meeting Location: Maytara

Met Through: Museum Tour

Description:

Seren holds Veltárinn in deep contempt, believing him a pitiable and jealous coward, but they feel the drekaskuld between them was cleared during their fight on the day of the eclipse. Veltárinn was the one to spread rumors mixed with almost-truths about Seren to the people of Maytara to turn them against them, done for reasons he has never explained. Veltárinn's attempt on Seren's life left them physically altered, tarnished by esoteric scarring in the form of crystallized feathers and scattered dracynstone outgrowths. Seren keeps them for the slight benefits they provide, but more importantly as a reminder of that treachery which taught them how to move on without forgiving.

Seren once believed Veltárinn to be one of their best friends, two artists in differing fields that had ambitions of legacy and self-expression. Though nothing they felt towards Veltárinn came close to matching the hatred they feel towards Ailell and the Afon-Tan, the true betrayal of Seren's trust was a uniquely hurtful experience that almost seemed tailored to their personal struggles. Seren took the bond they had and spat on it in turn after the fight, cursing him to his face with a hope that everything of his would crumble or be remembered only for its flaws and mediocrity. Though the curse was only words and had no real power, Seren hopes it left some impact in return for the betrayal.

Just before their departure from Maytara, Seren threatened Veltárinn's life should he ever show his face to them again, a threat they intend to stand by.

File:Ylluvion.png

♥♥♥♥♡ Ylluvion Redsand

Relationship: Close Friend and Confidant

Meeting Date: 1130 LE

Meeting Location: Dullach

Met Through: World of Glass

Description:

Ylluvion is one of Seren's close friends, an aurora dragon from Dullach who works as a glassblower. The two of them share a connection through the World of Glass, and through this they have become fast friends. They bond mostly over philosophy, a topic that the two of them have long histories with. Both of them feel disconnected from their ancestries, though Ylluvion has a completely opposite feeling about that separation to Seren. Ylluvion feels guilty of not fully inheriting his parents' values and histories, whilst Seren believes it is Ylluvion's divergence from his past that makes him a complete individual.

Seren is fascinated by the history of Ylluvion's family, as the glassblower's third-generation intersolar immigration informs much of his cultural values. Lantern, the planet that Glassrun orbits, is barely even known to exist within modern astronomy, and Seren takes great interest in knowledge of the heavens. Ylluvion is glad to have anyone at all interested in where his family came from, as it helps him feel like he is preserving a piece of history that may well be lost in a generation.

Biography

For a more immediate and personal telling of their story from their perspective, please see Indigo Sun.