Lleó "the dragon" Aaligala Xoy

The Grand Master of the Barlandish Guild of Ratcatchers and Associated Trades, Lleó Aaligala Xoy is a larger-than life character: loud, boisterous, and constantly courting publicity (both for himself and the guild) with bold stunts and challenges. Like all hunters, Lleó is not above some self-aggrandisement in the interest of legend-building.

Lleó may have a greater claim to legend than many of his peers. Despite being an Ilcari tepetlactl with red and gold plumage, a particular skill for fire magic, a love of the mountains, and a talent for hunting gigafauna, his byname, “the dragon”, was earned before he was born.

As Lleó tells the story, in 5.868, his parents - hunters Dionís Aaliaga and Margareda Xoy - were employed to drive a broody male nivris away from the city of Roshin. Unable to distract or divert the beast, they were forced to put it down. Within the nivris’s warren, they found the nest that the adult was protecting and, among the clutch of nivris eggs, they found a tepetlactl egg.

Aaliaga and Xoy brought the egg back to civilisation Roshin in the hopes of reuniting it with its family, but nobody ever came forward to claim it and, presumed to have been orphaned before he was even born, Lleó was adopted by Aaliaga and Xoy.

Lleó claims that his time being incubated by a nivris imbued him with the essence of the beast, and credits his legendary strength, and his skills in fire magic and monster hunting, to this essence.

Whatever the truth of the story, it is a matter of public record that Aaliaga and Xoy - an ialy and a Cocotl tepetlactl - adopted an abandoned egg after failing to find a parent for the chick and raised it as their own.

Citing his own origins as inspiration, Lleó has implemented a scheme for finding home for unwanted children within the guild, lowered the age at which a child may become an apprentice to 10, and implemented guidance for the training of such young Ratcatchers.