Layn
Another entry in
Of Chromatic Dragons, Green: Few dragons are as utterly reviled among humanoids as green dragons, known also as forest dragons.
Although green dragons might not be as powerful or as destructive as some of their kin, they are innately and instinctively deceptive.
They lie as easily as people speak, and they are good at it. They love intrigue and prefer to achieve their goals through
guile and double-dealing over any other means. Any brute can hunt, but it takes skill and intelligence to trick one’s prey
into offering itself for dinner. Adding this attitude to a green’s belligerent nature—to a green dragon, a weak creature
is either prey or pawn, and nearly all creatures are weak—makes the creature a loathsome, conniving beast.
Some greens terrorize their neighbors into obedience. Others play and experiment with local political and mercantile interests.
A green dragon might use bribes and intimidation to gain the cooperation of a few select members of a community and then see how
much authority it can obtain by proxy before other humanoids discover its minions. Greens might not have lofty goals for this sort
of manipulation; they enjoy the process and the practice for its own sake.
Green dragons might negotiate peaceful coexistence with their neighbors, as long as territories and resources do not overlap.
Anyone entering into such an arrangement, however, should do so with great care. Green dragons take devilish delight in finding
loopholes in such agreements.
Green dragons prefer sentient prey over any other kind.
Layn Sarelystrix, de facto ruler of the northern reaches of the Tearveil Forest. One of the few remaining half-dragons
on the face of Seramarea, and the last lingering remnant of the true dragons.
Since ascending to power, Revari began to seek the extermination of all varieties of dragon that lived in Seramarea. Rumor told that
she feared their power, or that she simply was removing potential competition. Layn, however, was certain that she just liked the thrill
of hunting creatures powerful enough to pose even some small risk to the powerful sorceress. The reds were first, arrogant enough to
think they could oppose her by their own power. Scores of blues, blacks, and whites followed, annihilated ruthlessly, often fed to the
titanic roc that the sorceress called her 'mount'.
The greens, cunning, clever, deceptive, lasted the longest, but even they fell, one by one. Layn remembers watching the last few of her
ancestors hunted down or betrayed to the queen bitch of a sorceress. Burning hatred filled her, perhaps fueled by fear that she, as a
half-dragon, would be next on the list.
Things weren't that simple, though. She found life continued, after the purges of dragonkind were over. And their deaths left a power
vaccuum, especially further from Mirrorshade, Revari's capital. The Tearveil Forest was a dangerous place that had few bastions of
civilization, the memory-erasing rains that felt causing everyone but those hardened to the strangeness of the land to stay way.
Originally, Layn had sought it as a hiding place. But, over time, she'd slowly accumulated power and prestige, whether through
threats, deception, or sheer strength. And, in the course of a half-dozen years, she found herself looked to as the nominal leader of the
scattered communities in the north of the Tearveil.
Layn is in the prime of her life. Standing nearly a full nine feet tall at her full height, she cuts a very imposing figure to those
unused to half-dragons. It'd be hard to mistake her as anything else, though. Patches of rich, emerald scales coat her body in exotic
looking patches. A long, stretch of them starts at her long, pointed ears (hints of the elven heritage mixed with dragon), curls under
her hypnotically green eyes, and down along the sides of her throat, then across her shoulders. Thicker, but smooth green flesh continues
downward, along her arms, until they
reach her hands, which are completely covered in the heartier green flesh, fingers tipped with claws rather than fingernails.
Wings, covered in green scales and made of matching, leathery flesh, jut from her shoulder blades, typically lying flat against her back.
Layn's firm, perky bust and her toned, well-muscled midriff are free of scales, instead showing soft, warm, lightly tanned skin.
But those vast stretches of green, sleek tint to her body continue along her back and sides, down her hips. A long, powerful tail,
nearly touching the ground and armored with scales, hangs from above her firm, but plentiful rump. Finally, her legs are covered along the
outside of her thighs and calves, down to clawed, usually bare feet.
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