Poddlewise

Poddlewise Marine Scientist

Poddlewise is a Ridgeback of the Water element. He loves seafood but hates anything wet and to top it off he even resembles water. This must be someone’s idea of a cruel joke and that dragon will pay. The young drake disowned his family and birth clan as soon as he could speak and swam far, far away from the vile “god” that dwelt in the depths. He made his way through the network of rivers out towards the coast, where he found even more of the stuff, stretching as far as he could see and no doubt far beyond. He was found paddling in the shallows just off the Starfall Isles. And he wasn’t “splashing around”, okay? He was drowning. End of story. After his traumatic experience and daring rescue, Pod was brought back to the clan and taken care of. While recuperating, he told its members all about his goal to bring vengeance to the Tidelord once and for all, in the name of all the poor dragons like him. To do so, however, required him to have far more experience underwater, which he could acquire in the nearby seas. Among several raised eyebrows, he was allowed to stay and took up position as the resident expert on marine life. An average day for Pod consists mainly of diving under the surface of the crystal blue ocean and examining whatever creatures he finds. He needs to know how they breathe, eat, swim and communicate, as well as dealing with currents, tides and the very 3D structure of the environment. It is a depressing task, especially when he gets further down and enters the cold, dark region where many of the stranger beasts dwell. Their weird and wonderful adaptations seem to mainly exist to boggle his poor mind and lure him in just like another poor piece of prey. That’s not to say everything is nice and rosy further up, though. The sparkling sunlight filtering through shimmering azure water burns his eyes and the thousands of multicoloured fish dancing around him in dizzying displays leave him breathless. Because he’s underwater and was never designed for these conditions, of course. Every day he can swim a little smoother and dive a little deeper. He can hold his breath longer each time he tries and can even breathe the water itself a small amount! One day he won’t even need to surface at all. He will though, because water is horrible. When he reaches that level he will stay under just long enough to find the Tidelord and destroy him, and then he will leave the water forever and live out the rest of his life on dry land, hopefully staying out of the rain, which is also horrible and always seems to happen just when he is outside standing around or out for a walk. He is not at a decent standard yet, though, and so he must return to the world beneath and spend all of his waking hours there. Maybe he could sleep down there? He will try that someday. It seems like a necessary skill and he must soldier on through the hardship. Don’t you dare suggest he enjoys this. He’s made it quite clear to everyone just how much he hates anything to do with water, the sea, other wet things, the rain, the sun, fish, birds, other dragons, the obnoxiously pink landscape… The list goes on. A dragon who complains this much clearly does not like his job. Leave? Nah. He must suffer to further his cause. One day dragons all over Sornieth will hail his name as the one who freed them from their aqueous chains. Not just yet, however. For the time being he will drag himself to the shore at the crack of dawn every day and discover more of this alien world. He will stay there until well after dark, to acclimatise himself to the murk and nocturnal creatures. He will curse the creatures that seem acclimatised to him and come up close, swim alongside vile rays and sharks, get “friendly” with the inferior beastclans down there, all the while submerged in the hated - reviled - substance.

“What do you mean he’s gone?!?!”

Fen pushed her way out of the main hall to find Poddlewise towering over Cabbage and Boreas in the clearing. The ridgeback continued to rant at the cowering hatchlings, oblivious to their discomfort.

“He can’t be gone, I’m supposed to kill him. What, did he just decide that using his godly powers to inflict suffering on countless helpless children was getting old and boring? That he’d rather bugger off to who knows where just to spite his nemesis? He’s probably gone and moved to a volcano on the moon, hasn’t he, just to make sure that all my time spent swimming was for nothing. He’s laughing now, knowing that I didn’t have to go through all that, knowing that I know that now I won’t even get to use the skills I’ve endured so much to obtain.” He flapped his wings a few times in agitation.

“Pod, you’re scaring the children,” Fen began as she approached. “Step away and calm down.”

Poddlewise narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you know about this? Was anyone in this clan planning on actually ever telling me that the Tidelord was missing? Or did you just forget, even though even the hatchlings somehow know and are making games out of it?”

Fen winced. In truth, the rest of the clan had gone back and forth on whether to tell him, but as no one had wanted to be the dragon to do it the matter had remained unaddressed. She had personally been clinging to the belief that the missing deity would be back any day now and therefore there was no need to rush into hasty confrontations. She paused a moment to consider her next words, aware that her screaming tickbird would give away any lies.

“The Gods have hardly felt the need to inform us mortals of their every action over the millennia. Water flight still thrives: their children are born healthy, their mages still cast, and the essence of their territory remains intact. If there were anything truly wrong it would be felt in the very fabric of Sornieth, yet the world remains balanced.”

“Balanced?” Poddlewise looked incredulous. “The Twisting Crescendo stopped, remember that? That ain’t right. And Edgar and the others have been talking of escalating tensions in the Wasteland. And Emperors! I’ve done my best to avoid listening - you know how couriers are - but if one “impossibility” is true, who knows? Maybe not all their tales are wild flights of fancy dreamt up by too many hours out in the Weather.”

“The world is moving on as normal. Dragons throughout Sornieth are going about their lives as usual. Strange events have always surrounded the Gods; that is their nature. They know what they are doing and we must have faith in them.”

Poddlewise laughed in disbelief. “The Gods have never known what they’re doing. I’ve heard enough of your speeches to know that you’ll never accept that, but you’ve surely heard enough of mine to know my stance on the matter. Now if you don’t have anything useful to say, I’m going to ask the maren what they know. They should be more help than anyone here.”

“You’re on speaking terms with the maren?” Fen inquired sceptically. “Don’t you hate everything to do with the sea?”

“They are a useful source of information. I will need every resource at my disposal to kill a God. Which I still intend to do, as soon as I find his hiding place.” With that, Poddlewise launched into the air, before diving downwards and disappearing into the glistening water far below.