Thornback's Clan

A particularly zig-zagging bunny leads you far away, to the water pass separating the Earth and Nature territory. You might have been better off hunting easier -and bigger- prey but at this point, its a matter of your own pride and self-respect.

A mere bunny should not be a trouble for you, but this one is leaping like a man on a mission, restless and unaffected by the heaps of dust it kicks directly into your face, somehow always managing to either hit your eyes or nostrils. Dammed thing.

Just when you think you might finally be finished and go home, it leaps directly into a hillside covered by a layer of parched moss- and passes through.
You have already been wishing for the mercy of a cover from the ruthless sun, and now you're curious. Your mission is clear, (Your survival thinking blinded by the scorching soil in places where soil shouldn't be) and you follow.

The moss lets you pass without tearing, returning to its shape after you find your entire body cramped into a passage. It's tight, another layer of moss- this time, fully alive and squishy- clinging to every part of your body as you walk forward.

Were you not a dragon, you wouldn't see a millimeter in front of you- but you are, and you are definitely catching this bunny. You came soo far after all.
The only noises you hear are a pitter-patter of big, cushioned feet and... humming? Little like rolling water, but.. different. Underground streams do not hum.

As the humming gets closer, you suddenly find yourself unable to pick up any other sound. With one last, deliberate step you find the passage suddenly widening and all at once your scales start screaming with alarm.

Before it finally kicks in, you pick up that the air is cleared then you expect from an underground but it's tinted with the unmistakable smell of decay.

With a shriek you are not proud of, you take a brisk leap forward. Vines attempt to tangle your feet to a spot, but your sharp scales and claws rip right through.

As if a mask was torn from your eyes, you find your body enveloped in lines of red and blue light.
You are surrounded by bars but can't find yourself frightened. Something tells you they aren't here to hold you.
Behind them, you see a wide, empty room. The walls are filled with long tubes and coursing with water- where you cant find tubes, you find carved-in compartments, filled with strange blue jello and leafy vegetation.

Once again, your brain catches up with you a second too late. You realize two things at once.

The passage behind you is collapsed. If you were a bit slower or found yourself stuck, it would have broken your back at the very least- or it would have just trapped you whole, suffocated you if not outright flattening you. But that's the last of your concerns now.

Before you, opening the gates to the cage you are not-quite-trapped-in, is a clay-colored Mirror dragon- the crow feet on her face don't betray her clear amusement, legs tinged with old work cuts that won't hurt anymore and that fluffy monster resting between her head fins, eyes full of mirth.

"Well, you definitely aren't a Sphinx."

STRUCTURE
If you were to look at the system of underground chasms and tunnels with x-ray vision, you would find it to resemble a pinecone- Getting wider and more complicated the further down you progress, not to mention the dead ends and, many forgotten booby-trapped tunnels. Oh my.

The restored halls are braced by pillars of gray granite, with an enormous system of tubes hiding the walls- many of them covered by colorful glass mosaics, depicting everything from deities, natural disasters, and particularly realistic depictions of toxic snails.
It's a custom to make a section of choice for every dragon who chooses to stay long-term in the Covert.

WARREN
Being the last echo of the previous clan and Rotlunged's heirloom, the warren is an integral part of the Covert.

They wary wildly in appearance, with even a few jackalopes mixed in. They communicate through a series of intricate clicks and even more complicated fanning with their long ears.
Truly, unless you were getting your legs outrun or your butt region currently kicked by one, you could only recognize them from normal bunnies in the dark- With their face reflecting at you 4 glinting lights.

Stories that Rotlunged heard tell that they were the first ones to dig the entire tunnel system, but with its expansion, they attracted an eye of a hunter.
 They would come to pick them up one by one- One day, a mother was forced to watch her sire and children be taken away. Driven to self-destructive sorrow, the lonesome widow set out on tracking and killing a dragon- But what she found was a clan of too young, too thin Mirrors, slaving away for Banescale dragons, who had trouble hunting the small fauna of Shattered Plains.

 Recognizing an opportunity- and to some extend, hope-, she waited for the leader to part with the rest for a moment. When the leader went to refresh at the oasis, the bunny dropped down from its branches, settling between the dragon's head fins and placing its dagger-like claws under their eyes. 

Everything was very still as they talked, both knowing that one wrong move could have fetal consequences- but one of them had nothing more to lose, both the bravery and fate on her side.

They striked a deal. The Warren would help with disposing of the Ridgebacks and would provide Mirrors with hunting grounds and shelter- but In return, Mirror dragons proposed protection and teaching the Warren arts of dragon combat to the best of their abilities. 

The next day, Mirror dragons led the Banescales to a new proper camping site.
The Ridgebacks would take their last, sleeping breath at Nightfall before the earth below them broke open, tunnels caving in and debris weighing their body down, plunging them deeper into the abyss. The Mirrors and Warren had a contract ever since.

Over the years, both species prospered. The Mirrors never quite adapted to living in the underground, so the bunnies helped them with navigation-and soon enough, hunts.
But perhaps as a punishment for turning onto their Beastclan kin, they progressively lost their ability to speak. But rather than a curse, it deepened their kinship with the silent Mirrors, giving birth to an alliance that would last centuries, all the way to the current age.

Today, The Warren is still navigating the new generation of dragons living in their ancestral home.
Over the years of Rotlunged care, their numbers expanded rapidly and now they help with everything from seeking out potential new clanmates to tricking local pests to follow them into Covert's untested tunnels.

LEADERSHIP
Although Rotlunged and her husbands are indeed looked at with special sentiment, there is no one official leader.
Instead, the going of the clan is worked on by several factions, each tasked with different duties and represented by a diverse array of chairmen, called Archcores.
They hold no bigger power and are essentially glorified editors, who combine all the faction's enthusiastic thoughts, plans and suggestions and make them coherent, then pass them along. 
As was said, the dragons of the Thornback Covert can be hectic. Archcores are the ones who attempt to hold the image of stability.

The Pacekeepers: The ones responsible for the workings of the hydroponic system and Coverts plants, the Pacekeepers are split to two divisions- The Floral division, represented by venom dragoness Rustwater, who handle all the inner workings of greenhouses, from controlling the watering system to plant cultivation itself.

Then there is Decay division, represented by (none yetú, who are responsible for plants health, prevention of outbreaks and creating Coverts infamous fertilizer.
Both divisions work closely together and anti-Decay sentiments are not tolerated. Some special dragons belong interchangeably to both. 

The Dualwalkers: A faction of hunters and fighters, represented by Rotlunged herself and war veteran Lottie.
They work closely with the Warren and guard both trips to the surface and Covert itself.

Lately, there was a certain spike of rescue attempts that warranted..  more force than Warren was able to provide.
Couple this with the fact that more than once, vengeful ex-clanmates came and attempted to retrieve their lost members.
Tensions are rising as Covert grows, and for this Dualwalkers started prioritizing more serious training of infiltration and long-distance combat, with the intent to fright.
 
An outright assassination training was employed before, but only Lottie's child was able to finish it before the program was shut down, due to fear of how Earthshaker or Covert's members would react.
This topic is to this day heavily debated among Dualwalkers, and is a tightly kept secret- Meanwhile, the lone assassin operates

The Lifecarvers:The ones responsible for the general liveability of Thornbacks Covert.
This faction employs miners, interior and exterior designers, builders and many more.
It often overlaps with The Foundation and the two work more closely than any other.
These days, most of their work is expanding the collection of available dens and returning the dangerous tunnels to their former beauty- and sharkless bliss of safety. 

The Foundation: The heart of the Thornbacks Coverts is made up of a diverse array of talents, ranging from cooks, carpenters, tailors, and entertainers.
They do indeed work very closely with the Lifecarvers, but all the other factions rely on them at some point or another. 
Finding a representative for such an assorted group is difficult, but the young Esperanza keeps communication between all of them smooth as can be.

Without them, Thornbacks Covert would just be a collection of sterile tunnels and unsightly might-as-well-be scrap metal. (The local mechanists value function over aesthetic and oh my, does it show sometimes.)

HYDROPHONIC
Growing plants underground is no easy task. For that, some,,, accommodations had to be made.
 With the help of Covert's lightning and arcane scientists, fire metalworkers and insight of nature dragons, a system we humans would call hydroponics was developed.
Many plants grow outside of the soil, instead growing in substance-infused jello (tilting corrosive Dragonshome soil is already a backbreaking task- can you imagine doing that underground?) - there, their would-be-underground development can be fully observed and if needed, the Covers smallest snakes can easily slide in to nip off troublesome roots.

The giant watering system runs across the whole covert, each tube eventually to specific greenhouses, where they split off into numerous tubes that lead water directly to the plants roots- Pacekeepers can command as they wish, giving full control of the plant's water intake.
Its cleaner work than hands-on farming, but one mistake in the calculations could lead the entire greenhouse's harvest to ruin.

But waters not all that runs in Thornbacks Covert's pipes- this is where plague dragons experienced in decay come in.
They create the liquid mulch that plants are supplied with. The same process is used in our world with plants and biological waste- But with underground planting, the difficulty is higher and a better, albeit more brutish, deck is needed.

Because of this, the already few Nature-allighned dragons of this clan arent quick to flock to this position, and only the most resilient ones fully join the ranks of Pacekeepers.