#chroma lore

MOD: All dragons have a Core, which is their magical center. It has a different name for different species, but the Dunewyrms and the Chroma call it the same thing. Whereas the Coreless are usually only called that by the Chroma and the fourth dragon species, and it’s usually a derogatory term. Though I’m sure the Kuros also have little use for individuals in their species who are born without/with a weak element.

The Core is, according to the Chroma, the center of a dragon’s magick and essentially like a soul. It’s the very fiber of their being. Coreless dragons can still be affected by and affect magick, but not in the way dragons with a strong Core can. Cores aren’t actually the soul, but basically the ‘physical’ center of where their magickally replenishing breath magick originates from, somewhere in the chest. It’s basically another organ, but the Core itself is not a physical organ. The Core can, however, be damaged by outside (or inside) physical forces, as it relies on the individual’s body/health to keep it strong and controlled.

I had a story when I first tried my hand at TLoS story making where an Electricity Chroma had been struck by lightening, which caused his Core to become wildly unstable, and he needed to fasten an elemental focus on his tail (where he was struck) to keep the element balanced in his body. Otherwise he would randomly just start shooting out lightening bolts and generating crazy powerful arcs of electricity that could potentially harm others. In the same clan, another Electricity Chroma got the rough equivalent to magickal cancer, which would eventually make her Core implode on itself and kill her. These are just a few examples of how Cores can be harmful if individuals are in freak accidents/contract terminal illnesses that target their Cores. There will be more lore about the Cores as time goes on, but I hope this gives some idea into what they are!

Meanwhile, the Coreless are generally seen as weak as a whole by the Chroma and in some families, dirty little secrets. It’s an old practice generally frowned on now, but back when Titus was born, most families would cull Coreless hatchlings. Despite their weakness, they’re still Chroma, and if they can at least fight with claws and teeth and the rest of their bodies, they have to have some use as soldiers or arena fighters. The Coreless generally find it hard to fit into Chroma society, and a good handful of them either become lone wanderers, or move to the ever growing neutral territory Bjartr Tunga. In recent seasons, however, a territory has been claimed and is being repurposed for a home to study and train the Coreless or those with weak Cores, founded by Morpheus Starborn. The Coreless do indeed have patron gods, but I haven’t really cemented any details out about them yet.

MOD: I can’t remember if I’ve posted the Sky Kin Bros before but here they be!

In order:

Conmuro: The Burning One and the patron of all Fire Chroma. Though not the leader of the pantheon or the Sky-Kin, Conmuro often is the first to act. Conmuro is also thought to be the patron of Passion, Rebirth and Justice for the Chroma.

Murex: The Sturdy One and predecessor of all Earth Chroma. Murex is the most level-headed out of all of the Brothers, and is thought to be the patron of Compassion, Family and Fertility. One of little words but is deeply protective of his siblings and the Chroma people.

Stiriracus: Wisest One and the sire of all Ice Chroma. Stiriracus is often portrayed as distant, but also deeply cares for his Brothers and Sisters, and is very mindful of his words with them and with mortals alike. Often touted as the one to pray to in matters of Intelligence, Memory and Honor.

Fulmen: Wiser One, the Quick One and ancestor to all Electricity Chroma. Fulmen usually comes in as a close second to quick, and sometimes thoughtless actions with Conmuro, and in that regard the two are very much alike. The main difference is that Fulmen thinks a little bit faster than his Brothers and Sisters. Said to to be one to seek out for Wit, Rationale, and Decision.

BTW, for those interested: the Sky Kin are all two-headed, six limbed (two forelegs, two back legs, and a pair of wings) dragons! Conmuro and Murex share a body, and Stiriracus and Fulmen share a body. The Sky Kin Brothers were created when Ksindæl, eldest of the Sky Kin, ‘used the stars from his scales, wings, eyes and horns to create The Brothers.(source)’ In the earliest years when the Chroma were turning away from a more feudal, uncivilized way of life, two headed or fused twins were seen as holy.

Gaea: In the stories I’ve read about the Sky Kin, when a Chroma dies their soul keeps living. Though their physical body is dead, the soul within them will go through cycles until it becomes ‘perfect.’ The whole ‘perfect’ thing I think means the big things we gotta learn have been ingrained into our souls, so when that’s done, and our last body dies, the soul gets to rejoin the Sky Kin. No one knows what happens for sure, but we think that pure souls rejoin the magical energies that make up elements; it’s why we revere our passed so much. Eventually, their souls have, will, and always were part of the magic that we all need to survive.

MOD: After his encounter with a group of adolescent Chroma that left him with lasting PTSD throughout his life, Vulcan became more outspoken, more outgoing and certainly more charming. There were plenty who still labeled him as a freak or strange due to his Giantism and his rare element, black fire, but they started to become less and less in percent as he met more of the Chroma who called the Temple and their city home.

The thing about sociopaths and even psychopaths who grow up to become murderers is that they are VERY charming. They can convince anyone of anything. Vulcan was feared at first due to his retaliation during the attack in his youth, but later that raw physical strength was noticed and praised by soldiers and guards alike. Not long after his traumatic event Vulcan convinced his parents to let him enlist in the army, still barely in adolescence himself but the size of a fully grown male Chroma. He was involved in a few skirmishes against the Kuros and other enemies to the Chroma, during which he came very close to killing most if not all of them despite the orders from higher-ups that they were there to imprison or scare off their enemies.

As he grew up, Vulcan found he also had a penchant for acting. Outside of his time as a soldier and sometimes as a guard, he often acted the heroes and supporting characters in many plays, most notably the very popular play depicting the founding of the Chroma’s capitol city. Outside of this he was also very popular with the ladies, and it’s rumored that he was ‘nightflying’ with about a dozen partners a few years before he was of adult age.

It was also Vulcan who was the loudest supporter of ‘Malefor’ being revered by the Chroma as something of a demi-god, and it worked. He convinced his mother first, who took in the strange Chroma into their home, and Infernacus was next. Infernacus then convinced the Guardians, who convinced the Circle (the Elders and retired Guardians of generations past) that Malefor needed to be protected, and taught the secrets of their people at all costs. Vulcan and Malefor were often thought of as a ‘package deal,’ and while Malefor was being trained by all of the Guardians and the Circle, so too was Vulcan being trained by his father to become the next Fire Guardian.

It wasn’t until Malefor was found to be a power hungry traitor who saw the Chroma as tools to take over The Realms that he and Vulcan both fell from grace. Vulcan himself had convinced Malefor that cross-breeding between elements should be outlawed, and a mysterious virus had spread in one of the concentrations of Air and Water Chroma hybrid villages on the outskirts of the Chroma capitol. Nearly fifty Chroma were killed, and when Malefor was questioned regarding his desire to use the Chroma people to his own advantage, he ousted Vulcan, who in turn revealed Malefor’s plot. The two were banished together, as well as the Fear and Poison Chroma who still lived in the capitol, and later reconciled to an extent. Malefor and Vulcan from this point on were always plotting secretly to kill one another, and it wasn’t until The Fall that Malefor ‘got rid’ of Vulcan forever via Asiirha.