Re: Character sheets
Supplemental Information on Professor Ramielle's Background:
Author's note: I did not feel like it would be fair to play a dragon character without (a) some sort of personality deficiency and (b) a hell of an explanation. I wrote this "yarn" and submitted it to Chibi along with my initial character proposal, and she approved of the idea. It was initially my intention to hold off on her initial "reveal" until the direst of circumstances, and to have her remain emotionless except in the most extreme of circumstances. A revelation by the DM (the word that sounds like "otter" was "daughter," as she surmised the use of children to power the portals, a dark fate similar to one she almost endured) followed by the manifestation of evil dragons which reminded her all too painfully of her deceased father evoked both a protective instinct of the children as well as rage at corrupted dragonkind.
This is all information to which the students have recently become privy, and this background should not reveal much new information to the reader -- it is simply a "fleshing out" of events that have already been made known to them.
Professor Ramielle (the name she has given herself for now) is a patricide and infanticide, or at least was complicit in the deeds. She was the youngest of the pure-blooded brood of a pair of vicious silver dragons in a far-off land that even she does not care to recall. Her father was a particularly brutal monster, and though she does not remember the specifics, she has vague memories of her mother's murder at her father's claws.
Her father terrorized a number of local cities. He loved carrying off the grown daughters of the nobility, forcing them not only to cater to his perverted wishes but also to assist in the raising of his heir. He had many pure-blooded children, but intended to only have ONE heir. The rest would be culled over time.
The odds were against her survival from the start. She was slightly smaller than her siblings, as her younger age was a constant. She was also slightly gentler – she was the only family member who did not abuse the poor human mother-surrogates/nannies/tutors. Perhaps this was due to the fact that she had several brother and no sisters, or maybe it was a thirst for knowledge. Either way, it paid off in the end, as one of these human women was also a wizard, and taught her a number of illusions and a few transmutation spells.
Nevertheless, she had to develop a certain level of ruthlessness and guile to survive... and survive she did. By the year before she came of age, she was the only child and heir proper. Of course, she was still bound to her father, who was an ancient, powerful and all too menacing silver dragon. This was a situation that would not end well, for anyone.
The father realized, too late, that he had not properly created the means by which his line would survive. After all, his daughter needed a suitable mate for procreation, and finding a dragon of his own quality would likely prove impossible. Perhaps this was this reasoning, or perhaps it was lust, but when she came of age the young dragon's father forced himself upon her, and breeded her.
She could feel the strength of the dragon as the egg was forming inside her. She kept the egg warm, even as she knew what she had to do. When the egg hatched (several human years later) she could easily tell that her inbred son had incredible strength and intelligence: unlimited potential.
Her father saw things differently. When he saw what a sickly, deformed child emerged from the egg, he denied its lineage and devoured it, killing it instantly. Of course, he was unaware of the illusion that his daughter had placed upon the child, thereby sealing its fate.
She fled. She fled far, far from home, knowing that he would find her in time. She found refuge at a small school of magic, enrolling under a false name. She studied transmutation, illusion, enchantment... her grades were not extraordinary but definitely above average. She graduated, then enrolled at another magical school under another name. She earned exceptional marks, graduating from the other school... then came to a new school under a new name. This pattern continued for decades, then centuries, until she had quite an impressive set of magical skills at her disposal. She was actually a student at the University seven times, learning from the best sages and arch-mages of each generation. No one had any reason to suspect she was any different from any other student, until she met another dragon. She had never encountered another of her kind, besides her family. She learned that not all dragons are vicious by nature, that dragons were as capable of good and kindness as any. She also learned much about the capabilities of her race.
What transpired between the two dragons is a secret they alone share. The specifics of the other dragon and their relationship are not relevant to this history. The important thing is that she learned the rules, the laws, the customs of her people, a people whom she had never until then known. She learned that her father, based on his actions, was considered an outcast, a criminal... a murderer. She was not allowed to kill him (due to their "family ties," but she had to return home, and put an end to her unfinished business.
Her father had two hobbies. One of them was alchemy. The other was a diversion he enjoyed once a century. There were several cities, just a few hundred miles away from his lair. Once a century, he would brew a powerful concoction which would transform him into the likeness and form of any child he was in contact with. He would take human form, sneak into the city and transform into a child, then murder and dispose of the original. He would live out the rest of the child's life, slowly destroying the family from within using his alchemical tricks and supernatural abilities. Upon that year's Coming of Age celebration for the children, he would burst out of the child's body, a full-grown dragon. He would eat several townspeople before stealing a few of the town's beautiful women for pleasure, then fly back to his lair chuckling. Of course, anyone investigating the youth's home would find the family brutally murdered. After a hundred years or so, the deed would be widely regarded as a myth, and he would do it again.
The ancient dragon attempted to perform this sick and cruel deed one last time. He grew up as a young man, crushing the life out of the family from within. His three brothers committed suicide during his teens. As he left his household for the Coming of Age celebration, the mother and father were bleeding out on their bed together. Everything went as it normally did, right up until the last moment...
A wizard visited this Coming of Age celebration, wearing a brown robe and a gray cloak. She appeared to be a crooked old thing, with a smile that was almost devoid of teeth and breath like rotten cabbages. A wisp of silver hair emerged from the hood. Of course, a visiting elder mage was still a mage, and she was accorded the respect both due her age and her societal status. Indeed, the wizard was accorded one of the high seats from which to view the proceedings.
Seventy-four young men and women stood upon the stage. Cheering city-folk clamored around the circular stage, and the revelries were set to begin. Then one of the laughing young men on the stage started to grow. He was a tall lad already, six feet tall, and it was assumed there was some sort of magical tomfoolery as he began to bulge against his tunic and breeches.
His silver hair began to take a new shape, forming a mohawk on the top of his head, and being replaced by scales on the side. His head began to take on a reptilian shape. Very soon he towered above the crowd at twelve feet high, a silver-scaled monstrosity, still growing and shifting as his clothing began to shred. The elder wizard stood.
Then the monster's laughter began to stop. Twenty feet tall, towering over the crowd, his body changing into something bestial... but the chuckling was now a scream. Something was amiss.
It was the clothing. Strands of his clothing that simply refused to give. It was indeed something incredible to behold... pieces of cloth that would not rip, would not tear for the beast's expansion. The monster clawed at the scraps in futility, unable to comprehend what was happening. The screaming intensified, then was cut off as the dragon-shaped abomination was denied air. Black blood began to ooze onto the stage.
Within minutes, the dragon was dead. Indeed, he was cut into slivers of meat and scale by scraps of cloth. The elder wizard, standing up straight now, jumped down from her chair onto the dirt of the city square. Guards moved to help her, only to find themselves paralyzed by what happened next. The old woman disrobed. Her wrinkled, aging body stood out, pale against the evening and the dusty ground. Then she, too, began to change her form. Within moments, a massive silver dragon looked down upon the ruined carcass of her father. She lifted his bloody head, looking into his dying eyes, letting him understand exactly how he had been killed.
Dragons are incredibly tough, and there exists no cloth or metal that could halt their transformation in such a way. Indeed, dragon scale and bone were sought after by some armorers for their incredible resilience. The young dragon had learned how to transmute materials into dragon bone.
She did not change much of the tunic or breeches, just a thread here and a strand there, strategically placed to ensure that anything attempting to burst through the clothing would be sliced by a razor sharp thread. She did this the moment she recognized the young man for what he was – her evil, vicious, abusive, murdering rapist of a father.
But it was not enough to kill him. She dined on his flesh that night. No one made any attempt to stop her – the town was completely devoid of would-be heroes on that particular evening. She saw her father killed, and then she consumed him. She took his bones back to his lair, now HER lair. Someday she might find an interested weaponsmith, or perhaps an armorer. Perhaps.
In this way, it can accurately be said that she was the only member of her family who survived her childhood. While she took an active hand in helping the process along to its natural end, all of the killing had actually been performed by her father – even his own death. Still, there would be some who might judge her as a patricide and infanticide... if there was anyone alive who knew her history.
And that's the whole sordid story, most of which you already know. I saw no point in holding back the more colorful history, and I hope you enjoyed what you read. Though if you really enjoyed it, you're also probably just a little bit sick. 
