Commander Thornmane

• Extremely fit, toned thighs and arms from climbing drake harness rigs and heavy draw archery.
• Has a minor old injury—a faint hitch in her left knee that she masks expertly.

• Gracefully curved horns that spiral back and out from her temples, dark at the base and fading to pale ivory tips.
• Elongated, slightly leaf-shaped ears with a few earrings.

• Her cloak, armor, and boots all feature embroidered rose and vine patterns, marking her personal heraldry.
• Carries a faint scent of woodsmoke and crushed herbs.

• Drake Empathy: Minor innate telepathic link to her drakes, allowing her to calm or spur them without vocal commands.
• Mark of the Emberhold: Tattoos along her left shoulder glow faintly when she channels protective magic over the palace.
• Pinpoint Archer: Preternatural skill at hitting moving targets, even from the back of a diving drake.

• Hunter-green layered cloak with embroidered roses.
• Corseted leather armor reinforced with scale segments for drake bites.
• High laced boots with hidden small knives.
• Keeps a rose-carved pendant given to her by a childhood friend.

• Recurve Emberbow: Crafted from blackened ash wood, strung with sinew soaked in drake blood. Fires arrows that can ignite on command.
• Horn-carved Drake Whistle: Used for summoning or commanding her bonded drake, Vyriss.

• Born to a minor hunting family on the fringes of Embergarde’s forests.
• Enlisted in palace guard scouts, rose rapidly due to her skill with bow and unique ability to soothe agitated drakes.
• Chosen as a drake cadet after a famous incident where she calmed a rampaging young emberdrake without armor or weapons.
• Promoted to Drakewarden after her predecessor fell to a palace coup attempt.

Formal palace military training, plus extensive field mentorship in drake handling, archery tournaments, and command strategy.

Has served nearly 80 years in palace employ, first as a scout, then as a junior drake rider, now as the Drakewarden.

• Personally tamed Vyriss, a notoriously difficult molten-scaled drake.
• Led a daring high-altitude maneuver that broke a siege by raining fire from above, saving the Emberhold’s central vault.

• Lost a promising young drake to a poorly judged mid-air chase that ended in a crash; still haunted by it.

Slightly obsessive about checking her drakes’ harnesses and scales—lingering guilt from that incident.

• Keenly perceptive
• Fast to strategize under pressure.
• Not deeply academic, but clever and tactically inventive.

• Firm belief in protecting the innocent and keeping drakes as partners, not mere beasts of war.
• Has clashed with more brutal palace marshals over training methods.

• Refuses to let anyone mutilate drakes for “obedience lessons”—views it as barbaric.

• To preserve the delicate partnership between the palace and its drakes, seeing them as sacred stewards of Embergarde’s power.

• Savvy:
• Drake care
• Mounted archery
• Aerial tactics.
• Inept:
• Court politics and flattery; tends to be blunt.

• Likes:
• Sunrise patrols
• Roasted forest mushrooms
• Quiet moments tending her drakes.
• Dislikes:
• Intrigue
• Cruelty
• Being pressured to wear restrictive ceremonial gowns.

• Brave, empathetic to animals and people alike, tirelessly protective.

Can be stubborn to the point of reckless independence. Holds grudges against those who harm her charges.

• Runs her thumb over the edge of her bowstring when nervous.
• Mutters little half-sung lullabies to her drakes.

Still alive and serving; however, young palace pages already tell stories of “The Rosehorn Warden and her blazing bow.”

• Close working relationship with High Warden Skirra Ashmantle (though they often argue over discipline).
• Trusted by several minor nobles who enjoy drake hunting expeditions.

Has distant kin still living as humble hunters; sends them part of her pay.

Confident and commanding with subordinates, slightly awkward in formal noble gatherings. Honest to a fault.

• Keeps her hands lightly on her hips when thinking.
• Often checks the sky as if expecting a sign.

Vyriss

• Type: Emberdrake
• Appearance: Obsidian scales threaded with glowing magma lines, copper eyes.
• Personality: Proud and fiercely protective, slow to trust others.
• Traits: Breathes superheated ash that burns and blinds.

Tharnel

• Type: Ashwing drake
• Appearance: Smoky gray with silver flecks and tattered-looking wing edges.
• Personality: Playful and mischievous, enjoys startling guards.
• Traits: Extremely agile, perfect for tight maneuvers around palace towers.

Cerynys

• Type: Flareback drake
• Appearance: Crimson with gold dorsal spines that flare brighter when excited.
• Personality: Eager and a bit reckless; often used for displays or morale sweeps.
• Traits: Can ignite her spines into a blazing torch to signal or intimidate.

Osthyr

• Type: Nightflame drake
• Appearance: Midnight blue to black with faint star-like speckles, violet glowing eyes.
• Personality: Calm and quiet, closely bonded to Kaelis, tends to avoid others.
• Traits: Breathes a cold, ghostly flame that leaves necrotic scorch marks.

Rellix

• Type: Young emberdrake hatchling
• Appearance: Russet scales with small inner glow at the chest.
• Personality: Curious, often chews on Kaelis’s gear.
• Traits: No special abilities yet, still learning to glide.