#primalists

Personal headcanon; feel free to accept, reject, incorporate, or debate!

Primalists are, as their name suggests, dragons that are closer to the magic of their elements than any of their kin. Multigaze and faceted eyes are mutations- primal eyes are the mark of a deity-touched dragon. In some places, it’s a blessing, in some places, a curse. That part is up to the clan and their own beliefs/superstitions. Most primalists are blind, or otherwise vision impaired.

What is not up to the clan is the fact that primal dragons have an absolute wealth of power from their element. They will always be the most powerful in the clan of that element. The real deciding factors for a primalist come at a young age. They must learn to control their powers, or they threaten the safety of everyone and everything around them. The second factor is when a primalists power takes hold. For some- they fall out of the egg with their eyes and their powers already taken form. For others- it is a development. A child born like any other hatchling from the nest, and their eyes slowly begin to shine, to spark, to bulge, to ooze. 

The development of primal eyes is often easier to train the dragon to control their powers, but is more traumatizing to the dragon. After all, they may have an entire childhood potentially up to their adolescence before they begin showing signs of primalism. So to begin to have your eyes change to reflect your true nature can be very, very traumatizing.

Hatchlings already born with primal eyes do not often have this same trauma, but they are too-powerful beings that have no control over that power. Their trauma is often caused by the wounds they made on others early on, or from abandonment. Sometimes a clan just can’t handle the power of a primalist, and they leave the child for someone else to find it. Naturally, this rarely works out for the hatchling.

The only things that can handle an untrained (or hostile) primalist is another primalist, or powerful ancients (like, level 25 six digit and up). Primalists are the strongest of their elements, but they are also the weakest against opposing elements. A molten wartoad could easily take out a nature primalist, or a team of really dedicated light dragons could take down a plague primalist. This is, however, considered... unseemly.

So the best way most clans have found to handle primalists- is to have some of their own. Rarely does a clan only have one primalist- since there are certain fears that being closer to their elements could potentially drive a primalist into a frenzy, and then the clan would be left with no recourse. Likewise, if a primalist is born to a clan, and their resident primalist is weak to that element- the clan would be left with no recourse.