His Majesty's Dragons

[General Havoc]

... wow. That's one I've never heard of.

[Dark Silver]

oddly enough, in my more nieve youth, we used that one often deciding the "It" person for Tag and Hide-and-go-seek.

That and "dig dig dog shit"


ahh..the innocence of youth..

[LadyTevar]

oddly enough, in my more nieve youth, we used that one often deciding the "It" person for Tag and Hide-and-go-seek.

That and "dig dig dog shit"


ahh..the innocence of youth..

It must be more common in us 'backwards' states, cause I heard it a lot.

[Avian Obscurities]

really? in the original version?

[Dark Silver]

Avian:
Yep, if I remember they were:


Innie Minnie Mine-e Mo
Catch a N****r by the toe
if he hollars let him go
Innie Minnie Mine-e Mo

Dig Dig Dog Shit
You are not it



It was all about being the last one standing.

[General Havoc]

We usually used:

"One two, fuck you, all out, but you."

And whoever got hit was it.

[Avian Obscurities]

The one we usually used was the modern version of eeny meenie:

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo
Catch a TIGER by the toe
If he hollers, let him go,

My mother told me to pick the very best so...<random rambling relating to the occassion>.

Last person to be pointed at was it, or whatever.

[General Havoc]

Delayed a bit by my having become deathly fucking ill (now all better), here is the promised background material:

Excerpt from A History of the World in Six Volumes, Volume VI, Chapter 20, "The New Post-War Order"

The recent history of Communism in Europe hinges around the events of the Russian Civil War of 1918-1923. Attempts had been made in the past to erect communist or quasi-communistic governments and societies in various parts of the continent prior to that period, usually on the ruins of some discredited existing state. The mass uprisings of 1848, the short-lived Paris Commune of 1870, and the aborted revolution of 1905 in Russia, had all placed Communism as a political theory on the map, briefly sending the status-quo into upheaval before subsiding under the counterattack of the authorities of whichever nation was being affected. These outbreaks of communist governance attained something of a romantic view in history. The images of the French men and dragons manning the barricades of Paris side-by-side against the Prussian invader would remain favorite subjects of leftist artists, poets, and street orators for decades to come. Yet Communism was still not understood to be its own movement, distinct from the long European tradition of periodic left-wing uprisings against authoritarian leadership dating back to the peasant revolts of the 13th century.

The Russian Civil War changed all that. While Russia was regarded uniformly as a backwater nation, only semi-European by modern standards, the impact of the Communist near-victory there was seismic in importance, particularly when taken in conjunction with the many communistic uprisings that wracked Central and Eastern Europe at the same time. The abortive Spartakist movement in Germany under Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, crushed by the veteran-infused Freikorps in their first real display of political power, the Communist Party of Hungary's uprising under the leadership of Bela Kun, destroyed in 1920 by the Romanian Army and Air Force, and of course the aftermath of the so-called "Polish-Soviet War" of 1919-1921, a war which could well have ended in a Communist victory in Poland and Central Europe had not the so-called "Red Army" been decisively thrashed at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, a blow which co-incided with the "Ninth Crusade" offensive of the Russian Loyalists, all sent shivers through the European representatives of the established order. But by far, it was the Russian Civil War, and the terrible excesses committed during the course of it, that gave Communism the reputation it still holds today.

With abortive communist revolutions in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Balkans, and the continuing bloodbath in Russia still weighing on the minds of the aristocracy and ruling classes, the formation of anti-communist movements soon began in earnest. By far, the most successful of these were the Fascist "Brown Shirts" of Italy, organized from nothing to a ruling party in the period of only two years by their founder, Benito Mussolini. Mussolini, a former radical socialist, founded the "Fasci Italiani di Combattimento" in 1919 as a paramilitary group dedicated to blending socialist ideals with a strong traditionalist political message that appealed well to Italy's elites. Rejecting the concept of "class-war", fascism instead supported nationalist sentiments such as a strong unity, regardless of class, in the hopes of raising Italy up to the levels of its great Roman past. This side of fascism endeared itself to the aristocracy and the bourgeois, as it promised to protect their existence, a matter of sudden importance following the virtual extermination of both social classes in Russia during the ongoing war. Italy's highly-stratified armed forces held a significantly higher proportion of aristocratic elements within their Air Corps, giving Mussolini broad support among Italian dragons, captains, and dragoncrews, helped of course by Mussolini's own personal service with the Italian Air Corps during the Great War. Armed with financial and political support from the conservative establishment, Mussolini's fascists rose to take power in a virtual bloodless coup in 1922, the famous "Flight on Rome".

The collapse of the Red Army and the destruction of the Communist movement in Russia following the end of the Russian Civil War brought to a close one of the most brutal chapters in European history, and prevailing thought at the time was that regimes such as Mussolini's would rapidly become anachronistic, dedicated as they were to anti-Communism in a world where Communism had apparently been expunged. Time proved that Mussolini's legacy was far more durable than expected, partly due to skillful manipulation of Nationalist sentiment within the Italian populace, partly to Mussolini and the Fascist Grand Council's capacity to isolate and destroy other centers of political authority, leading to a totalitarian dictatorship in place by 1928. By that point however, it was becoming clear that, despite everything, Communism was far from dead.

The end of the Russian Civil War had resulted in thousands and tens of thousands of Red Army refugees fleeing south and west into Europe to escape Tsarist retribution for their part in the bloody escapade. Included among these refugees were veterans both human and draconic of the fiercest fighting that Russia had to offer, as well as several of the Bolshevik's leading ideologues, and many of their party 'aparatchiks'. Some countries closed their borders to the Russian emigrees, but others turned a blind eye, permitting them to immigrate over time in small numbers. These former Red Army troops met up with local Communist party members and sympathizers in their newly adopted countries, and before too long, made their presences felt. The General Strikes of 1926 were considered the first indication that Communism had not been discredited by either its brutality or failure within the Russian War, and led to counter-movements and actions by both the Fascist Squadrini and by right wing nationalist groups in many other countries. Still, the outbreaks remained local until 1929 brought the great Crash, and the subsequent depression that drove entire nations into the arms of extremist groups. Voting shares and enrollment in various national Communist Party movements grew exponentially, as did those of their ultra-right wing adversaries, as fears of Communist threats to the established order were magnified, likely out of proportion of their true threat.

In 1929, the same year as the collapse, a minor protest in Yugoslavia, protesting King Alexander's abrogation of the Yugoslav Constitution, turned into a bloodbath when the Communist-infused crowds were attacked by squadrons of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force. Seventeen days of bloody rioting in the streets of Belgrade ensued, with more minor uprisings in Nis, Novi Sar, and Zagreb. Only the direct intervention of the Yugoslav army stemmed the chaos, and the country was left simmering with pent-up resentments. Fresh pograms against suspected Communist agents across Eastern Europe sent fears that a wave of Anarcho-Communistic dissidents would soon be sweeping Central and Western Europe, leading to violent street clashes in Germany, swelled in vigor by the deteriorating economic climate. Into the gap stepped Adolph Hitler and his National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP), soon to be named "Nazi", originally modeled overtly after the Italian Fascists. As the economic situation in Germany and the world at large nose-dived, Communist and Nazi factions and stormtroops clashed in ever more violent confrontations, sometimes escalating to pitched battles around meetings, protests, and strikes. Caught between escalating violence and fears of Communist uprisings, the conservative elements of Germany, as in Italy, sided with the group they calculated would be most amenable to their control. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January of 1933, abolishing the Weimar Republic and instituting the so-called "Third Reich".

Yet the Communists still stubbornly refused to go away. Unable to seize power in Italy or Germany, and with rabidly anti-leftist parties in control in both countries, emigration from those areas to ones more fertile to Communist refugees and thinkers redoubled with every passing year. Nazi and Fascist excesses drove even moderate leftists from the affected countries underground, and contributed to covert support for Communist movements in other nations. Spain was one such country. The abdication of King Alfonso XIII and the establishment of a Republic in 1931 brought little stability to Spanish politics. In modeling their constitution on the French Third Republic, the Spanish went too far, allowing the fractured Leftist coalitions to dominate lawmaking and impose a rabidly anti-clerical regime that alienated much of the rural populace and army. The massive influx of Communist refugees from Russia and Europe only added to the turbulence of politics in Spain. After much violence and chaos, the elections of 1936 were won by a coalition of moderate and extreme Left "Popular Front" electors, who immediately turned on one another in bitter recriminations and fighting, resulting in a general shift of power towards the extreme left. Mobs stirred up by Communists sacked churches and burned large landholdings, spurring the Spanish aristocracy to foment a reactionary revolution with the support of the Spanish Army. On 17 July, 1936, General Francisco Franco, who had crushed a socialist uprising two years earlier, revolted against the Government's authority, with the assistance of much of the Spanish Army. Spain collapsed into a brutal civil war, which was expected, as with the others, to end in Rightist victory.

But conditions in Spain were not the same as those in Russia, Italy, or Germany. The 'Loyalist' armed forces of the Republican government were larger and better equipped than the Communists of Italy or Germany, and crucially, held the support of both the Spanish Navy, and a large portion of its Air Force. Additionally, the cause of Spanish "liberation" caught fire in the left wing intellectual circles of Western Europe and the Americas. Volunteers flocked from Britain, France, the United States, Mexico, and all across Europe to form "International Brigades" of both Dragons and Human soldiers, who were called upon to "fight against fascism". After the easy conversion of both Germany and Italy to right wing dictatorships, many young leftists saw Spain as a place to draw the line and stop the advance of totalitarian fascism in its tracks. Most crucial of all however were the legions of disaffected veterans from the Russian Civil War, who flocked to Spain in thousands and tens of thousands, helped along the way by other national governments generally glad to be rid of them. These men also brought vital knowledge as to the mistakes of the Russian Soviets in allowing their government to fracture along extremist lines, Anarchist against Communist against Socialist. The Communists from abroad were all stripes, Russian Bolsheviks, German Spartakists, Romanian Anarchists, and American "Red Dragons", and the sheer balance of power they represented forced the formation of a Communist "Coalition" of sorts, at first informal, later declared openly in January of 1938, which lent the Republican government a modicum of international legitimacy.

Yet even that might not have sufficed if the plans of Germany and Italy had come to fruition. The German war machine was by this point in mid-re-armament, and both Mussolini and Hitler, it is thought, planned to send contingents of troops to assist General Franco's army in subjugating the Republicans. That they did not was merely a question of timing. On January 2nd, 1937, Yugoslav communists, still smarting after the reverses they had sustained in the uprising of 1929, rose again in a revolt timed to co-incide with the outbreaks of fighting in Spain. They were quickly supressed in Belgrade, but this time the revolt took fire in the non-Serbian regions of Yugoslavia. A "People's Republic of Croatia" was proclaimed in Dubrovnik, and an "Anarchist Collective" in Sarajevo. The true nature of these quasi-leftist regimes soon revealed themselves as Yugoslavia disintegrated into brutal ethnic warfare, Serb against Croat, Bosnian against Serb, and so on, but the trappings, proclamations, and attempts to establish "Worker's Soviets" in many of the revolting areas led the conflict to be interpreted as a full-scale Communist uprising. Faced with a rising that close to home, Mussolini deployed his Fascist Squadrini to the aid of the Yugoslav Kingdom in supressing the Communists. Hitler followed suit, sending the first ever unit of Kampfritter heavyweight dragons, supported by lighter units, in a force named the "Condor Legion". The intervention of external forces only turned the conflict yet more bitter. Massacres and atrocities were common on both sides, resulting in further uprisings and resistance. The Condor Legion's daylight assault on the small town of Gorican, a place unprotected by defenses of any sort, inflamed world opinion. In the end however, though the Yugoslav Civil War lasted nearly 18 months, it too culminated in total victory for the Serbian loyalist forces, though only at the cost of ruining the country, and with the assistance of five other nations' interventions.

What was a disaster for Yugoslavia however, was a boon for the Communists of Spain. With Germany and Italy too busy in Yugoslavia to provide support, the Leftists in Spain slowly fought the Nationalist revolt to a standstill, driving them back and gradually seizing control of the country. The fall of Seville in early 1939 was held to be the final act, though sparks were still being put out until the end of that year. By then, Hitler's threat to the rest of Europe had become paramount, and none of the remaining nations of West had the wherewithal or the inclination to intervene against Communist Spain, particularly when the Communists' support might soon be needed against those very elements that reactionary Europe had turned to to defend themselves against the threat of Communism.

Such are the ironies of history.

[Avian Obscurities]

delayed a bit because of family business-ness, but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! :D

[Utanka]

Captain's Name: Captain Alexi Yukilov
Captain's Age: 39
Captain's Description (physical and personality): A fermenting Fascist hater, Alexi is vehimently opposed to the rise of the Nazi regeime. He was raised by nobles in Russia even though he himself was orphaned at a young age. He stands about 5' 9" with a weight of 158 pounds. His flowing black hair and deep hazel eyes are offset by his beard which covers many scars from his childhood helping rear young dragons for the Tsar.

Dragon's Name: Яд (translates from Russian to Poison)
Dragon's Age: 20
Dragon's Breed: Ironwing
Dragon's Description: A larger middleweight, Яд is a beautiful example of a young Ironwing. He weighs in a 22 tons and has a gigantic wingspan, lifting him aloft. If only his personality matched his beauty. He is gruff, like a typical Russian peasent. Quite used to getting his way he is forceful and solemn. Dont cross him otherwise you might just get yelled at, or worse.

Background: Both Alexi and Яд are obsessively anti-fascist, seeing fascism as a possiability for a new uprising in mother Russia. Thus they left the Russian air corps and defected to England to stop the German and Italian Fascists in their tracks as best they could before anything could happen to mother Russia.

[General Havoc]

Utanka:

Point 1: Unless you're referring to someone being pickled in a barrel of schnapps, there is no such thing as a "Fermenting" fascist-hater. I think you meant "Fervent" or possibly "Fomenting".

Point 2: I need all Cyrillic names translated into Latin Alphabets please, as I do not speak Russian.

Point 3: I absolutely require more background and information than that, particularly since you have selected a character and dragon from Russia. I need some confidence that you have read the material I provided, and have taken pains to integrate yourself into the setting.

Point 4: I require all players to restrict themselves to dragon breeds I have posted information about. In 1940, there are two different breeds of Ironwing, the Greater and the Lesser. Your character sounds more like the Lesser Ironwing to me, but if you want to play one, you must request that I give you a listing of Ironwing Breeds from Russia, and I shall do so. The "Ironwing" as it exists on the Temeraire Wiki dates from 1804 and no longer exists in the style it did.

[Utanka]

Point 1: Taken and will be edited in the next version of the character

Point 2: The name means poison, I dont know what it translates to in Latin at the moment and I will fix it next post.

Point 3: Understood, this is more of a place holder for my character concept.

Point 4: Lesser it is

[rhoenix]

Point 2: The name means poison, I dont know what it translates to in Latin at the moment and I will fix it next post.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/poison

[Cynical Cat]

Point 2: The name means poison, I dont know what it translates to in Latin at the moment and I will fix it next post.

He didn't say it had to be Latin, he said it had to be in the Latin alphabet, not the Cyrillic Alphabet. Not the Latin Language. Example: Spaceba, Russian for "thank you."

[Utanka]

Captain's Name: Captain Alexi Yukilov
Captain's Age: 39
Captain's Description (physical and personality): A feverent Fascist hater, Alexi is vehimently opposed to the rise of the Nazi regeime. He was raised by nobles in Russia even though he himself was orphaned at a young age. He stands about 5' 9" with a weight of 158 pounds. His flowing black hair and deep hazel eyes are offset by his beard which covers many scars from his childhood helping rear young dragons for the Tsar.

Dragon's Name: Яд (translates from Russian to Poison and to Latin as Toxicum)
Dragon's Age: 30
Dragon's Breed: Lesser Ironwing
Dragon's Description: A larger middleweight, Яд is a beautiful example of a young Ironwing. He weighs in a 22 tons and has a gigantic wingspan, lifting him aloft. If only his personality matched his beauty. He is gruff, like a typical Russian peasent. Quite used to getting his way he is forceful and solemn. Dont cross him otherwise you might just get yelled at, or worse.

Background: Both Alexi and Яд are obsessively anti-fascist, seeing fascism as a possiability for a new uprising in mother Russia. Thus they left the Russian air corps and defected to England to stop the German and Italian Fascists in their tracks as best they could before anything could happen to mother Russia. Before the great communist revolution, the duo was raised by a noble family of dragon breeders. They had been breeding dragons for the Tsar since before the Napoleanic era. The family raised Alexi as one of their own children, seeing as the young orphan was bonded to one of their prized Lesser Ironwings. They fought against the Communist scum during their revolution attempt and were responsible for a few key victories that brought them great name and honor. Promoted to Air Major at a scant thirty years of age, they gave up a promising career in the Russian Air service to fix a problem they saw arising.

[Utanka]

Ah, pronunciaition is more akin to Vi-Att

[General Havoc]

ROTFL, thank you Utanka, but I meant simply Latin characters, not Latin the language. I do speak Latin, and can translate names for myself there should the need arise.

[Avian Obscurities]

AHHHHH!! Sonofabitch, I wasnt getting email updates on IC so im behind by a page XP sorry sorry sorry....

[General Havoc]

Any questions as to all that junk can be asked here.

[General Havoc]

The others can wonder, Cyncat, but I have to ask. Where did Frostfell learn Russian?

[Jason_Firewalker]

Havoc asked for a writing sample so here is one:

Three months ago he had just finished learning to drive a tank. That was three months ago. In those three months, Andrew had gone from being a tank driver with three older brothers and a father, to little more then an orphan. He had also gained a dragon out of the mix. He was unsure how to feel about all this but the war was on and he was needed.

"Andrew, its almost time to go and get to our new squadron, I think the others here are making a party for you." Tempero looked down on his contemplative captain.

"Yes of course." Andrew responded.

Almost immediately Godric came over. "How are ya buddy?"

"I've been better. Still reeling and having my head spin from all of whats going on."

The little Greyling responded "Maybe Tempy can make things better?"

"I try to." Said the much larger dragon.

"Well, lets go say goodbye to the others." Andrew slipped back into the conversation.

As the party began, Andrew felt more and more depressed. He had grown accustomed to these people and their ways, and was loathe to leave them. After socializing politely there was a "HUZZAH!" for his promotion out of the training squadron and Andrew was gone.

Taking to wing on the back of Tempero with his crew and equipment all aboard Andrew solemnly looked back upon the covert and began his flight to his new home. Patting Tempero on the back of the neck he started singing to himself "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness, Cheered by no celestial ray, Sun of Righteousness, arising, Bring the bright, the glorious day. Let the morning Of Thy blessed Gospel dawn."

[LadyTevar]

Russian Cossack, meet Appalachian Hillbilly.

Who blinks first.

[General Havoc]

Excerpted from Jane's Fighting Dragons of the World, 1938 Edition:

Selected Dragons of European Russia:

Lightweights:

Zaporozhnian Cossack: The dragon now called a "Cossack" is in actuality one of the oldest domesticated dragonbreeds in all of Europe, inheritors of a tradition of draconic war making going back nearly three thousand years. Brown and red, striped and banded like a poisonous snake, Cossack dragons have lived in their homelands around the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea for untold millenia. Originally domesticated and tamed by the various Scythian, Sarmatian, and other peoples who inhabited the area, these dragons were originally named "Amazons", after the semi-mythical warrior-women reputed to inhabit the lands beyond the North Wind. The dragons obtained this name due to their unique selective method for captaincy. Without fail, every Cossack dragon will only select a captain of the opposite sex. All male Cossack dragons are therefore bound to women captains (and vice versa). It was this practice, in an age where women warriors (to say nothing of dragon captains) was utterly unheard of, that led to them being identified as the bearers of Amazons, and some scholars say that the ancient dragons may well have originated the myth in the first place, as there is tangential evidence to connect these dragons to events as early as the Siege of Troy.

In their modern form, Zaporozhnian Cossacks are acrobatic, agile lightweights with incredibly fast metabolisms giving them enormous bursts of power and energy with which they seem to dance through the air. They are aerobats without peer, flipping and twisting through the skies like hummingbirds crossed with golden eagles. Though they take their name from the most major of the Cossack confederacies of the Ukraine, they are employed widely by all of the various Cossack nations, as well as the Imperial Russian Air Force, who employs them as honor guards and scouts. Their captains are exquisitely accomplished draconriders, disdain the use of harness, bridle, or saddle of any sort, and tend to share their dragons' temperaments. The dragons themselves are inveterate braggarts, impatient, hyperactive, and fond of 'tests' to prove themselves superior to all comers. They are not however particularly anti-social, and provided they are accorded all due privilege and adoration, make for matchless allies in the thick of combat, for the skill and bravery of the Cossacks (to say nothing of the Amazons) is rightly the stuff of legend.


Middleweights:

St. Nevski's Own: Legend has it that the great Russian hero Alexander Nevski bred the first of these dragons and from its back, led his army into battle against the Teutonic Knights. Whether or not this is true is largely unimportant, for these implacable dragons have associated themselves with the Russian people ever since the 16th century, and are known worldwide as a byword for determined inexorability. Of average size and weight, colored white and blue like a permafrost snowbank, it is the endurance and utter resolution of the St. Nevski that has earned it a place among the Imperial Russian Air Force as a dragon of the line. St. Nevskis, like many Russian dragons, are almost preternaturally tough and durable, but have the added bonus of being literally immune to pain. While their bodies and brains are capable of distinguishing pain and injury via signals from their nervous system, they are, apparently at will, capable of suppressing all reflexive actions tied to such signals. They therefore can (and have) literally tear their own limbs off in a pinch if it provides them some sort of advantage, without being rendered catatonic from the agony that such an event would normally cause. While they are not immune to physical damage, and can of course be killed like any other dragon, the effect is that blows and slashes inflicted upon them appear (to the untrained eye) to have no effect at all, as the dragons barely react to such things, striking back with utter disregard for their own wellbeing. To say that this effect is un-nerving is something of an understatement, and many are the flights of foreign dragons who have turned tail and run from the "invulnerable" St. Nevski's.

Dour, conservative, and almost monastic in temperament, St. Nevski's are almost quintessentially "Russian" dragons. Some mistake their unfailing endurance of suffering and hardship as fatalistic or even insane, but once one gets past their shells of suspicion (admittedly a difficult task), they are almost violently fierce friends, instantly willing to go to ridiculous extremes to assist a comrade. Unlike many of their counterparts, St. Nevski's by and large are not boistrous or boasting, and willingly relegate themselves to the background, where they are the most comfortable, yet even the Crimson Angels themselves know better than to discount the unfathomable staying power and relentless perseverance of these timeless defenders of the Russian land.

Special Weapons:

Greater Ironwing: The Ironwing family of dragons is comprised almost exclusively of the so-called "Lesser Ironwing", a midweight-sized evergreen-colored dragon native to the Ural Mountains, whose most salient attribute is the exceptionally toxic (and septic) bite that they can inflict on any enemy, capable of striking dead almost any dragon within minutes. Dangerous as these dragons are, they pale in comparison to the terrible power of their larger and much rarer cousins. The Greater Ironwing, like the Chinese Celestial, is not a separate breed of its own, but a sub-breed, the product of a random mutation. Approximately one out of every eighty to ninety Lesser Ironwing eggs produces a Greater Ironwing dragon instead, making them among the rarest dragons in the world.

For all their rarity though, Greater Ironwings are also among the most terrifying beasts alive. Nearly the size of a full line heavyweight, colored slate grey like a granite slab, Greater Ironwings can not only inflict their toxic venoms by bite, but can also spit the venom out in streams of noxious contact-poison, less deadly perhaps than that of a Tasmanian Venomspitter, but perfectly capable of reducing entire squadrons to convulsing hulks, particularly given their ability (and willingness) to spray the venom into a thick fog around themselves at need. Ironwing captains and crews often wear full body protection, including gas masks and black felt or rubber suits, giving themselves a fearsome appearance when coupled with the green-eyed monster they fight from. The rarity of the Greater Ironwing precludes them from inclusion in the regular Russian Air Force, and they are often employed as Special Forces, or at the core of particularly elite units. Their crews are handpicked men and their captains are chosen from the most loyal, professional and dedicated Russian officer candidates. To captain a Greater Ironwing is considered a greater honor than to command an entire Military District. Being the focus of such attention is likely the reason that Greater Ironwings have an unshakable militaristic ethos, their natural personalities subsumed in their role as the sharpest point of Russia's military spear. Nothing on Earth lightly antagonizes a Greater Ironwing, and to defeat one in single combat is beyond all but a handful of the most elite dragons to ever live.


Heavyweights

Crimson Angel: The famed Crimson Angel is the symbol of Imperial Russia, the emblem of the House of Romanov, anf the very centerpiece of the Russian Empire. A breed many centuries in the creation, the Crimson Angels were originally derived from Central Asian stock, primarily the Mongolian Skyflayer, the Tashkent-Samarkandi, and (rumor has it) the Wendigo. Deriving their name from both their blood-red coloration and their reputation as the avenging angels of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Crimson Angels are perhaps the most powerful dragons in the world in a political sense, due to their unique position within the Tsarist Regime.

Line Heavyweights in size, and possessed of a keen and piercing intellect, Crimson Angel dragons are, even by draconic standards, fanatically loyal to their captains, living and dying by their sides without thought or hesitation. It was this absolute dedication that recommended the Crimson Angels to the position they hold today. Each child of the Romanov dynasty is, at birth, paired with an egg of the Crimson Angel dragons, which is allowed to hatch and grow to adulthood alongside the prince or princess of the blood. Said dragon is thereby bound inexoribly to the royal child in question until the end of their lives, no matter what, serving as bodyguard, confidant, friend, and ally all at once. Trained to a razor's edge by the other dragons of the imperial household, "Sindreons" (a formerly greek term for such dragons) are the last line of personal and political defence for their charges, and will fight and die by their leave and command no matter the odds or circumstance, a fact they have proven time and again over the centuries.

Prosaically, Crimson Angel dragons are fairly average line heavyweights in a physical sense. They are not particularly fast, but their training permits them to overcome this deficiency with skill and poise, relying on semi-passive counterattack to break their enemies, receiving and converting their enemies attacks into reciprocal blows. Highly durable, with thick hides, redundant organs, and heavy bone structures, they are heavier and denser than they look, and can absorb terrible punishment without comprimising their effectiveness, simply shrugging off blows that would strike a light heavyweight dead on the spot. As befits a truely imperial dragon, Crimson Angels are cunning and clever beasts, well-suited to decrypting intrigue and political plots, as well as capable of providing expert advice to their charges on any number of subjects. For this reason, Crimson Angels whose captains have expired due to old age or illness* are enshrined within "The Sindreon" (the repeated name is often a source of confusion), an advisory council of aged Crimson Angel dragons entrusted with the authority to advise the Tsar himself (and since 1921, the Duma). The Sindreon has no official power, but their opinions carry immense weight, representing as they do the accumulated wisdom of the rulers of Russia going back nearly three centuries.

*For a number of reasons, no Crimson Angel to date has ever survived the violent death of his or her captain.

[Cynical Cat]

Better get your cameras folks, because no one will believe you without evidence.

[rhoenix]

Better get your cameras folks, because no one will believe you without evidence.

Good thing for Frostfell that Polaroids haven't been invented yet.