FracturedLight

Looking up from underneath
Fractured moonlight on the sea
Reflections still look the same to me
As before I went under...

Gilded Crown

Apparel

This beautiful hand-crafted crown is the ultimate display of prestige. It is extremely valuable. (Kickstarter-Exclusive Item)

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She was hatched on the border of the Starwood Strand and the Wandering Contagion, into a clan of Guardians, beneath a great, ancient tree of the Starwood. Every Guardian that hatched beneath this Tree took it as their Charge and stayed to protect it. She grew up surrounded by Guardians that believed the Tree was the most important thing in the world, and for a long time she believed it too. She was the granddaughter of the Clan's matriarch, and her grandmother believed that she would one day take over as head of the Clan.

The only problem was that when she looked at the tree, she felt nothing. No pride, no protectiveness, no attraction at all. The Tree was a magnificent thing, very large and very old, and it glowed beautifully at night, but to her it was... just a tree.

And then there were the Songs. No-one else heard them, but they seemed to call to her, drawing her away from her mundane life, towards things she did not understand in a world she had yet to see.

One morning, she awoke to the noise of a thousand tiny wings fluttering overhead. They were not birds, but Fae dragons looking for a new home. At first the Guardians were friendly towards the Fae, thinking they could be useful allies in the fight against the Contagion; but one of the junior members of the Fae clan let slip that the great old tree in which their previous home had been constructed had collapsed with the weight of the colony, and with that the matriarch of the Clan of the Startree turned instantly against them. With a new home in sight the Fae would not give up their claim on the tree so easily, and an almighty battle followed.

The Guardians were strong and resilient, taking down Fae with a single sweep of their vast paws; but the Fae were far greater in number and steeped in the magic of the Starwood, and casualties on both sides mounted.

In the midst of slashing claws and flying bolts of mana, she fought tooth and claw to protect her grandmother's charge, dodging spells and defending her clanmates with a cold ferocity. She did not encounter him until he was half crushed to death under her paw.

She had kept the Songs she heard a secret since becoming aware that she was the only one in the clan to hear them, done her best to ignore them and behave like everyone else. But now, as she held down the tiny Fae and bent her head towards him, ready to grab his head in her jaws and snap his neck, she heard a monotone hum that became words. The words to the Song that was playing inside her own head.

Her world changed in an instant. This was her Charge - and she had almost killed him. She flipped him onto her back and took off, away from the battlefield. She soared over the Starwood for hours and landed close to the disputed bay that separated the Starwood from the Zephyr Steppes. There she furled her huge wings and set the crumpled, injured and terrified Fae down. She treated the wounds she had inflicted as best she could, and brought him water and insects. They hid for days until the Fae recovered, and as he began to trust her she questioned him about the Songs.

He too was the only one in his clan who could hear the music; he too had wondered if he was quietly going insane. Finding one another gave them both a hope they did not know they could feel. She swore to protect him for the rest of his life.

When they finally returned to the Tree, the battle was over. The Guardians had held the Tree and the Fae had retreated to the surrounding forest - but the cost of the battle had been terrible. Ichor soaked the ground and bodies lay where they had fallen, virtually inviting the oozing tendrils of Contagion to infect and infest and consume.

They tried to reason with the remaining Fae and Guardians, encouraging them to pull together and fight the spread of the Plaguebringer's influence before all was lost - but there was too much resentment between the two Clans for a truce, and so with nothing to stay for they left together, to search for others who heard the Songs and try to find the meaning behind their strange gift.

For a long time she seemed content with their lives, roaming and searching and recording, and taking decisions as a collective. But as the clan grew, so did her ambition. A group of the newer clan members declared her their Queen and gave her a crown, and since then she has behaved as one, consulting with a small group of advisers and holding herself above the group. Now she seeks a place for the clan to settle, and dreams of ruling a great city - the City of the Songs.