#laerta

Laerta was born in the outskirts of the Mountains of Sundravar. A place known for being cold a harsh, where the mountains are perpetually covered in snow, but the Sundravar city knows nothing of winter. They were not born in the city, but instead on a cave hidden in the serpentine paths that access it.

They were born to an unknown mother and father and actually were taken by a traveling humans who took refuge in the caves while seeking to trade in the city. The humans took them, hoping to sell the dragonling to anyone interested in such a pet. However, once Laerta healed one of the humans who took them of an illness that was reportedly chronic and incurable, the human decided instead Laerta would be a very valuable asset.

Instead of being taken to Sundravar, the dragonling was taken down south, to a city were no dragons lived. Laerta was used and abused by the city who took them, being paraded as a miraculous attraction whose ‘divine tears’ heal the sick, and ‘holy horns’ bring back the dead.  

Laerta’s predicament brought them a lot of pain, as the more they healed and the more abuse was placed on them, the more darkness and corruption grew inside them, driving them ill. Laerta was fully convinced that was all there was to their life, for they did not know any other, but eventually, Laerta’s powers showed their dark side. Their suffering oozed out of them in the form of a dark energy and black tar they’d vomit as their pain started contaminating the land, and eventually, Laerta showed to hold the ability to bring about death. Undead started rising controlled by Laerta’s suffering and seeking to kill the people and free the dragonling. Those who came seeking Laerta’s healing instead met rot. Certain Laerta was causing the rot and illness on the city, the officials were adamant on killing them.

Hearing of what was happening down south, Sundravar royalty sent two dragon knights to the city at the time to help with the situation, only to find the chained Laerta whose rather paradoxal powers of life and death had been behind all that was happening on the region. The dragons took pitty upon Laerta, who was but a child at the time and took Laerta with them.

They were the ones who named Laerta and raised them, never telling Laerta the name of the city had held them captive for many years, out of fear they’d seek revenge, for no one holds a grudge like a dragons. The dragons took Laerta back to the city of Sundravar, where they believed the young dragon had been born, hoping to find their family and origins there, but they found no ties to Laerta there and no other dragon in the region had simmilar traits or appearance to that of Laerta.  

It was the first time Laerta knew anything similar to love or a family, as the two knights adopted them. Despite that, Laerta grew to always be a very reclusive and quiet dragon, awkward among even their own kind and distrustful of others. Despite their distrustful nature, Laerta was raised to be compassionate and loyal, and was often incapable of denying someone aid or healing when they knew they could. 

Their powers were not an easy thing to learn or control, as the more Laerta’s healing developed so did the opposite abilities and any attempt at repressing them would leave Laerta sickly. It seemed Laerta skills bordered on two extremes, between the skills of healing and regeneration of a healer, and decay, death and spiritual manipulation of a necromancer. Laerta’s powers gave them plenty of abilities, from being able to heal physical wounds, to curing deep illnesses, it went as far as being able to restore lost limbs. On the hindsight, they also grew in powers of corruption and rot, rot away limbs and kill upon touch, and were able to animate the dead and even capture and control spirits. The dragons believed Laerta’s powers were not so much healing, but some form of spiritual manipulation where healing and rotting came as a manifestation of these powers. 

Laerta’s power of life however has a counterbalance, as every illness, wound or affliction Laerta heals appears to be absorbed by them, and turns into a negative energy that sickens their very spirit. This energy has to be used, so far Laerta only knows how by infusing it into others, or expelling it into the very environment, in the form of a black tar that kills what it touches, or by reanimating corpses or soul trapping.

One time Laerta desired to see how far their power went, and when the pet of one of the elfs in town died, Laerta was able to fully resurrect and restore the cat to her former self. The elf however was scared by Laerta and ran off leaving Laerta with the cat who they adopted and named Lady, keeping her as their dearest friend ever since. Lady’s life should have forfeited centuries ago, but it appears Laerta has ‘soul trapped’ her to her body and uses their powers to keep the cat healthy decades past.

Laerta eventually left the Mountains of Sundravar, hoping to find answers of who their birth family was and what is the source of their paradoxal powers. While traveling, Laerta’s compassion often took the best of them, and they would use their powers of healing to aid all those that sought them or that they found on their travels, gaining the tittle of a wandering Healer. Everywhere they went, Laerta would learn from the local healers and hidden necromancers more secrets about their powers.

They eventually found their way to the outskirts of Irauygate, where they met Indryr, a fellow dragon. Curious about the dragon, whose persistence eventually broke down their barriers, Laerta sees Indryr as a friend they often visit whenever near Irauygate. 

Laerta is a very loyal person, and despite being a loner and distrustful of most people, their compassionate nature is their greatest strength and greatest fault. They have a soft spot for children and elderly, being an orphan themselves. Due to being badly socialized, Laerta is brutally honest to the point of rudeness and they are not one to lie, having little interest in court conspiracies and petty schemes, but also being rather naive to them.