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Circling your, circling your, circling your head,
Contemplating everything you ever said
Now I see the truth, I gotta doubt
A different motive in your eyes and now I'm out
See you later
I see your fantasy, You want to make it a reality paved in gold
See inside, Inside of our heads (yeah)
Well now that's over
I see your motives inside, decisions to hide

Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
Headstrong we're headstrong
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
And this is not where you belong
I can't give everything away
I won't give everything away

- Snippet from Headstrong by Trapt

Welcome to my page!
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Enjoy your stay.

This section is about my people, the people I rule over. My world is truly different from your world. Where I come from, the government is run in a monarchy style. The royal families rule over the whole country. Of course this is too great of a task for the royal family alone. They deligate power to the Lords and Ladies who rule over the commoners. But unlike the monarchies which exist in your world, our social classes are clearly divided and we are born into our stations based on what our bodies are capable of. Just because the parent is one class doesn't mean they will have children of the same class. It's quite common, actually, for a pair of royal draiks to have a child of a lower class. Rarely, lower class draiks can give birth to royal draiks. Our genetics do not work in the same way yours do.

But enough of that, I am not here now to explain to you how our genetics work, I'm here to tell you about my people and the differences between them. If you ever hope to understand a thing about me, ou must know these differences.

A royal draik will always be some shade of white, blue, or purple. They are born with long hair, claws that are thin or delicate, and their skin is soft and smooth. Generally, they are also physically weak. Exercise can help change this, but it can only do so much to combat genetics. A royal draik who works may gain some strength, but they can never hope to be the strongest draik around by any means. On the positive side, royal draiks have much larger brains than the other types of draiks. This means they have very few instincts to fight and a predisposition towards magic and learning.

Royal draiks are relatively helpless because of their physical weakness. If the lower class draiks decided to attack the royals, they would have no problem at all destroying them. However royals are very rare and very intelligent. In order for a country to thrive, it is best that they have a royal draik leading them and making important decisions. This creates a balance. The royal draiks lead their country in delicate matters of thought while the lower class supports them and ensures they stay alive and well. The two classes cannot exist without each other. If the lower class were to wipe out the upper class, their would easily be taken over by another country with royal draiks to lead it. Royal draiks are so intelligent, especially when it comes to strategic thinking, that the only draiks who can hope to defeat them in a long, drawn out battle are other royal draiks.

If a driak is born with royal genetics, they are automatically placed into the line of succession. The eldest draik in the succession is dubbed the Queen or King and they are the ones who rule over all other draiks in the country. When the eldest royal draik dies, the next eldes inherits the thrown and all royal properties. It is up to the King or Queen to decide how much power the other royal draiks have. Some allow all the other royal draiks to rule at their sides, some could care less for their opinions and give them small meaningless duties far from the throne.

If you haven't grasped it by now, our royalty is not confined to one royal family as your "royalty" in your world confine themselves. My particular country has been ruled by my family for over five hundred years. By some miracle, my family has managed to always give birth to royal draiks with the occational Lord or Lady and no other draiks have given birth to a single royal draik in the whole time we've been in power. This is a very rare thing. The line of succession skips back and forth through the offspring of many families of many social classes in most other countries.

The middle class consists of the Lords and Ladies. These draiks are born with medium lengths of hair. Some can have hair almost as long as a royal and some can have hair almost as short as a commoner. They can be shades of red, pink, or green. A middle class draik has leathery, tough skin, sharp nails, and a medium build. Like royal draiks, they can alter their strength by training and can be as strong as the weakest of the commoners. Or they can be as weak as the strongest royals. While not nearly as smart as a royal draik, they are able to reason and think very well and have few problems with instincts.

Middle class draiks fit a variety of important roles in socieyt. They are the perfect envoys between royal and low class draiks because they can see from the perspective of both. A good chunk of them, therefore, act as leaders. Villages are typically run by a head Lord or Lady. Each village, in turn, belongs to a group of villages called a fief. The village leaders report to the Lord or Lady who runs the fief their village is part of. The fief leader, in return, reports to either the Kind or Queen or the lesser royal driak appointed to the task of dealing with the middle class.

They are generally also very good at fighting because they have a balance of brains and brawn. All military commanders are typically Lords or Ladies. In rare cases, some royal draiks also take up positions of power in the military, but the risk of losing a rare royal draik is usually far too high to allow them to lead the armies.

Finally, the middle class also contains most of the master artisans. The skills of the middle class supply most countries with all their fine jewlery, furnature, clothing, and gourmet food to name just a few of the more important crafts they practice. Lords and Ladies often form and head guilds of certain crafts. For example, all weavers in my country belong to the Weaver's Guild which is run by a soft spoken, yet shred Lady. Her leadership helps ensure all weavers are being treated fairly. Guilds hold a great deal of power in the economy. If a guild decides to refuse to buy from a certain business or decides to quit selling their products to certain individuals, the results can be devistating.

The lower class have many names. Commoners, sefs, lowers; these can all be names for the lowest class of draiks. These draiks are strong and bulky with huge, blunt claws, thick scales, and powerful muscles. They come in yellow and orange colors and they have spinal hair, but little to no hair on top of their heads. A low class draik can toil for hours in a field without breaking a sweat, a feat no royal draik could ever boast of regardless of training.

However, the downside to all this strength is a lack of space for a brain. Their brains are small and primitive. Which is not to say they are stupid, but they are highly driven by instincts rather then learning. They are easily as smart as any human. The problem is when it comes time for them to act, most of their actions are mapped out by instincts in their brain. No matter how many times you tell a lower class draik to cast a spell, when they see another draik running at them, they will lunge forward and physically attack. No matter how much they teach themselves to stay on the sidelines and cast, they will always be victims to their own instincts when the time comes.

As such, the lower class are the common laborers, foot soldiers, and craftsman. The life of a lower class draik is not glamerous or high profile, but they can survive like no other. If they find themselves disliking their lot in life, they can choose to leave their country. There is still a great deal of wilderness left in my world. Many who leave chose to form packs which live in the wild like animals. They simply hunt, sleep, and raise their young like any wild animal would. When we find such creatures, they have generally lost all traces of civilization, even their ability to speak.

Energy is hard to explain to those who do not use it. It is what keeps our souls alive. Food and water sustain our body, but energy sustains our souls and without our souls, our bodies are nothing but empty, lifeless shells.

There are two types of energy in our world. They are light energy and dark energy and are so called for their colors, not their moral values. When we move away from our parents and become young adults, draiks chose which energy to serve. Before we have chosen, we can see and hear both light and dark energy, though I can't explain them well. Light energy looks like explosions of colors surrounded with bright white smoke and is constantly making noise. You think you can hear it, but when you focus on it, it doesn't sound like anything at all. Dark energy is more like a combination of black smoke and ink that silently bubbles and boils. It is scary in the way that the dark at night is frightening, you don't know what could be lurking within it since you can't see a thing. After we chose an energy to align ourselves with, we can't see the opposing energy.

Children can not chose or see the energies until they are old enough to chose to serve one. As such, their parents must give them all the energy they need to survive. It takes quite a lot of energy to raise a child and parents are well respected for they must give up much of their energy and can do very little while they wait for the child to grow up. Most parents chose to infuse stones or gems with energy which the children wear and draw from. Otherwise the adult would have to be in constant touch with the child. My own mother supplied the energy for me in the form of a necklace with a blue gem.

Think of each draik as a fountain of sorts. From them, new energy is able to be created. When we say we are serving an alignment, we mean we dedicate ourselves to creating more of that particular type of energy. Sound, movement, and creating life increase the amount of light energy. Quiet, stillness, and death increase dark energy. As I said, we can see the energy in the world, and we can take from it our personal stores of energy. Not all draiks are able to hold the same amounts of energy in their body. It's as though we are born with a metaphorical cup and once it is full, we can carry no more. Still, we all desire to have our "cups" completely full. Though we are the ones who create the energy, the Light and Dark determine how much energy we are allowed to take and how quickly we can take it. Some draiks can only store a very small amount of energy, but they serve their alignments so well that they have a steady flow of energy into them. Others can hold massive amounts of energy, but serve their alignments so poorly that they are never completely filled with energy. If, say, a dark aligned draik decides to quit serving the dark completely, the light will not take them in and the dark will stop giving them energy. When their personal stores of energy are gone, they will die. Once we have chosen, the choice is permanent.

Do not assume that those who serve dark are evil and those who serve light are good. Sound can be created by causing another to scream out in pain. Stillness can be got by soothing someone who is panicking. The energy a person choses to serve does not determine who they are as an individual and it does not alter their individual beliefs. By the time a draik is old enough to chose an aligment, they are already old enough to have formed their own moral code. Their alignment does not change their morals. I stress this because I am one who chose to serve the darkness with acts of "evil." Yes, I kill. I silence. I end and destroy. I do not think this makes me evil, though many say it does. Not all are like me though. Do not fear all followers of the darkness. Fear only those like me.

It is worth mentioning that sometimes the alignment a draik choses may grant them certain powers or special characteristic. Most unique colorations, body type variations, magical abilities, and so on are the result of either the light or the dark granting a gift to their follower. This is most common in those who follow the darkness. Common theory states this is because there is less people serving the dark and therefore more ablities to go around in a smaller population. I doubt the truth in this, but there you have it all the same.

Now that you understand my people and our energy, perhaps now you can understand the magi. I am a mage, though I suppose now that means little to you. Again, I'll explain.

Magi are draiks who are able to manipulate energy to create what can only be known as magic. Draiks are not born as magi, but are granted the ability to manipulate energy by their alignment. When a draik is giving the ability to manipulate energy, they are able to manipulate the energy which supports their soul. Their bodies change as a result. This is typically done instinctively as a result of gaining the ability to manipulate energy. They take on a half draik, half human form or even a fully human form. Once the mage gains more control, they are able to switch between these forms at will. This serves very little pupose, but it is a main distinguishing feature of a mage since all magi, regardless of what type of magi they are, can do this basic manipulation. Which brings us to the three types of magi: Offensive, Defensive, and Charger.

Offensive magi change energy into other forms of matter and then are able to manipulate the newly created matter to do what they want. They are the ones you hear stories of most since their magic is flashy and obvious. If you hear of a mage summoning a giant water spout, a ball of fire, a sandstorm, or lightning, they are an offensive magi. Offensive magi are not as powerful as the stories make them sound. We are limited, we can only turn energy into naturally occuring elements. This includes earth, air, fire, and water. We can also only use the energy within our own bodies and must constantly be aware of how much energy we can spare and still have enough to survive. Young or inexperianced magi may attempt to use more energy than they can spare and often die as a result.

Aside from the risk of consuming all of your energy, offensive magi face a number of other dangers. If a mage creates something and then loses their concentration before they can give it a command, they're likely to be consumed. In battle magi are especially prone to loses concentration and can unlease the elements upon their own forces as well as those of their enemy. There is also the possibility a mage may fail to specify exactly what they want from their energy. I can not begin to tell you all the people who have simply demanded, "fire" instead of, "a ball of fire small enough to be held in the hand." Sometimes they are engulfed in a raging forest fire. Sometimes they summon only a few pitiful embers and their enemy laughs and cuts them down.

Because of this, most magi will chant spells. These are not like the spells you are familiar with. They are not arcane rituals whose words and gestures are important for a favorable outcome. We use the word spell to mean two things. First, there is many chants we recite to maintain focus. Hearing your own voice repeat the same words over and over helps drown out what is happening around you. Second, we use the word spell to describe the result of our manipulations. For example, a fireball created from energy and shot at the enemy would be considered a spell. The words the draik was saying as they created that fireball would also be considered a spell.

Defensive magi are the opposite of offensive magi. They can convert manipulated elements back into energy. This energy they can then send out into the world. For example, if an offensive mage created a ball of ice and sent it flying, the defensive magi could intercept it and force it back into pure energy.

Like offensive magi, they must be completely focused on their task or they could fail to convert all of their target back into energy. They must also use their own personal stores of energy to make the change happen. It requires less energy to simply change something back to how it once was so there is less of a danger of dying from lack of energy, but it still happens.

They can not bolster their own stores of energy with the raw energy they extract from converted elements and they can not give it to other draiks. All they can do is release it into the world. This counts as serving their energy. So if a defensive magi wishes to properly serve their alignment, they can only convert back something that was created using energy of their alignemnt. Going back to the ball of ice as an example, if that ball of ice were created by a dark aligned magi and a light aligned defensive magi wished to turn it back into energy, it would turn into the dark energy it was originally created by. Therefore, the light magi would have increased the amount of dark energy in the world and the Light would not be pleased with this and punish them by giving them less energy. To restate that, dark defensive magi undo the work of dark offensive magi and light defensive magi undo the work of light offensive magi. To do otherwise could have severe repercussions.

A charger mage is calle a mage only for lack of a better word. Aside from Light and Dark themselves, chargers are the only draiks who can give energy to another draik. No one sings great ballads of chargers who saved the day, though the reality is that most chargers do save the day. When offensive or defensive magi use all the energy they can afford to use, a charger can give their energy to the other mage, allowing them to continue their work.

Their abilities follow the same rules I've been telling you about. Their energy comes from their own personal stores and, again, if they give away all their energy they die. This happens by accident only rarely since they have an almost frightening control over their own energies. I say this only happens by accident because it happens often on purpose. The only time a charger becomes famous is when they martyr themselves for a couse, which happens every now and then. They tend to be a very altruisitc bunch. Over 90% of them are already training to become healers when they come into their power. Those who weren't already planning on becoming healers when they recieved their abilities typically become healers in time.

Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean they are more likely to serve the light. In fact, over 70% of them serve Dark. They calm and soothe the chaos that a mage runnig low on energy experiances. By healing, they are able to allow patients in pain to sleep quietly and they are willing to grant death as an end to extreme suffering.

It is standard military practice to have each offensive or defensive magi supported by a minimum of two chargers. Since they can only give away their own energy, they can only give energy to draiks of the same alignment. It would be useless to give a dark aligned draik light energy, they would neither be able to see it or make use of it. Because of this, dark magi tend to be supported by more chargers than light magi simply because there are more dark chargers than light.

Name: Mercetto
Very few call me by my full given name
Nickname: Mercy
An ironic nickname, many will claim
Species: Royal Draik
Just look at me? I could be no less than royalty
Alignment: Dark
And I am proud of it

I'd hate to spoil the story of my life for you, but I feel as though you should know a bit more about me before you proceed. Many will tell you that I am evil. This isn't the case. Evil implies that I am morally wrong or I commit acts that are morally wrong. By my own morals, I do nothing wrong. I do not violate my own opinions of what is right and what is wrong. Just as many that say I am evil will tell you that I violate their own moral codes. I don't care about their standards.

I am not without compassion. Or without mercy if you'd like to use my own nickname. I have sympathy for those in tough positions and the victims of the world. There is nothing that frustrates me more than someone abusing another for any reason. Don't mistake this to mean that I will put aside myself to help another. You would be mistaken if you thought that. However, if it is within my power at no huge cost, I will help when I can.

As for those who tormet the weak... I enjoy dealing with them and will go to great lengths to do so.

As you may have gathered, I am a dark aligned offensive mage. In my humand and half draik forms, I wear robes the color of the night sky to indicate this. Not all magi chose to wear robes and not all dark magi wear robes the color of night, but I am not all magi. I am myself. As far as magi go, my powers seem relatively weak, but I can hold a great deal of energy before I am worn out, more than any other draik Iknow. I can not form any element I would like out of energy, I can only form fire, and I cannot throw the fire away from my body, it fizzles out.

Darkness has given me many gifts to balance my lack of magical strength. First of all, the Dark has changed me. As you can see, I have white hair and, white eyes, and patterns of blue on my skin. Not all draiks have such appearances. The other gifts I was given you cannot immediatly detect. My fire, unlike normal fire, is blue and has stars in it. Though I can not send it away from my body, if I touch metal, the metal will conduct the fire as though it were electricity. Most satisfying, if my fire touches living flesh it does not burn. Instead, my fire deadens the flesh it touches, inflicting it with a disease. Once it has found living flesh to consume, my fire can not not be put out by the earth, only water will quence it. Unless the dead flesh is removed, the disease will continue to spread, deadening all the cells it comes into contact with.

It may seem like a cruel and horrible "gift" but it

I had to repress a shudder as I walked across the crowded mess hall and tightened my grip on the letter in my claws. Without turning, I knew the eye of every boy in the room was on me. Conversation had quieted to whispers and the noise of silverware on plates had halted altogether. The skin on the back of me neck and wing blades crawled under the attention. Despite the feeling, I tried to look sure of myself as I strode to the front of the room. There, on a raised dais, the commander sat nursing a large tankard of juice. Surrounding him were other draiks of the middle class. They all stared at me with gazes full of emotions I couldn't read.

Pushing my shoulders back and flaring my wings slightly, I raised my head, determined not to falter. I had stared down Lords and Ladies many times back at home in the castle. They would glare at me when I went down the hallways in ribbons and lace and mutter about me while I dined with my mother and her lady folk. When I finally reached the end of the room and planted the letter into the Lord Commander Witworth's hands, I couldn't quite stop my hands from shaking.

I take it you're Prince Mercetto. It wasn't a question. I stood silent as my mother had to do unless asked a direction question. The draik didn't even look at the letter, simply tossed it with a casual flick to the other side of the table. Hmmph, Look at me, boy, he commanded, reaching across the table to grab my arm and pull me closer. There was no choice for me but to stare back at him as he inspected me. Like every other draik in the room, he was in his half form. His skin was leathery, wrinkled in some places, and bleached by old age on his cheeks and forehead. Though he looked to be only 400 years old, it was obvious that was not the case. His eyes were a deep emerald green, their pupil dilated to a thin slit like those of a cat. It was impossible to read any emotion in them, I hoped my own eyes didn't betray everything I was thinking.

I've heard nothing good about you, boy. The only reason you're here is because your Father wanted to make a man of you, but you've no place here and you know it. You belong in a nice room sewing with the other ladies. Behind me I heard snickering from those nearest the dais. It spread as the joke was whispered to neighbors who had been out of earshot. Keep out from underfoot and try to learn something. If you make me look bad, royal genes or not, I will flay your hide. You've missed dinner and I wont have my cooks prepare a special meal for you. If you're smart, you'll learn to be on time. If you are late to your classes or to your training you will find yourself early to your own death, I promise you that. Now get out of here and let us finish our meals. You'll find Quartermaster Zaugot down the hall to your right. Speak with him and he'll take you to your room. Just like that, I was dismissed.

Anger sizzled in my veins as I looked at the man for a fraction of a second more. My fists were clenched, but useless at my sides. My mother warned me of this behavior. Here I wasn't in the palace and no one had a reason to be my friend. After all, I was the seventh son in a long line of healthy boys all ready to inherit the throne. I had no political weight and no useful abilities. Turning, I made my way back down past the rows of tables and out the door at the end of the dining hall. The heavy oaken door shut behind me with a bang.

So yer the new Prince. Follow me. I blinked in confusion at this new voice. In front of me was a burly yellow draik. What little hair he had on his head was white with age.

I'm sorry, but I've orders to see Quartermaster Zaugot.

Tha's me. I knew ye'd be comin' out 'bout now. I watched ya go in, he explained with a grin on his grizzled muzzle. I gulped, nervous, when I caught glimpse of just how much longer and sharper his teeth were than mine. Now come on, Zaugot ordered, I'll show ye to yer room. It ain't what yer used to in the castle, I kin promise ya that. He set off down the hall in long strides, I had to hurry to keep up with him. In a rush he explained what rooms and chambers were used for as we passed them. I filed it all away, silently thanking both Light and Dark for my memory. It seemed as though the walls were moving in with the speed of our passage, the place was loaming dark and ominous above me and I felt ever so small and alone.

Eventually I found myself standing before a worn wooden door. Well this is it, Zaugot grunted, pushing the door open. Inside was a room no bigger then my closet in the palace had been. The walls and floors were a grey stone without rugs or wall hangings for warmth. A cot on a rickety frame was in one corner. Opposite it was a chest with a large lock containing all my belongings which I had been allowed to bring. There wasn't many.

Grimly, I took two steps in the room, trying not to convey my emotions. Thank you for showing me around, Quartermaster.

Oh dun be thankin' me, the older draik told me with a rasping chuckle, Yur gunna hate 'dis place much as any one else. More so I reckon. Nay, yer gunna be runnin' in fear a'fore they's done wit ye. With another rasping laugh, he turned and stomped off down the hall. Clearly, the conversation was over and I was left with that ominous prediction hanging over my head.

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