I spend a lot of time talking about the lands just north of my home, otherwise known as the Land of Might, so I suppose now's a good time to talk about its sister nation to the south of it, the Land of Wills. These land are mirrors of each others in many ways; Might is full of completely ordinary or low-magic individuals, it's a technical revolution in process with steam power and people are starting to realize the potentials of magitech. Wills by contrast is a kingdom more rooted in traditionalism, villages spread all throughout with pockets of cities. Almost all have functional levels of magic and don't see technological advancement for reason that well-developed spells fulfill most practical niches technology can (maybe if they get introduced to technological entertainment like video games...). Given that, in spite of being a dragon, I'm rather cozied up to the quality of life technologies of Might, my attention for the most part tends to focus on there, wiiiiith a few exceptions.

Wills' former king is a fair and just man who brought an end to an era of bloody tribalism and vicious wars all throughout the territory, his castle showing itself as a beacon of order that can be seen from miles in any direction. In name of fostering peace once seeing that I wasn't "that" kind of dragon and protecting the villages near my home from bandits, he invited me to the castle and officially granted me the title of Lord of the far northwest reaches of Wills, up to the mountain that separates Might and Wills' territory (in other words, he made me the legal owner of the territory I was already living in, so nobody on the law's side would be problematic), something I never really cared for since I don't have a mind for politicking. As an aside, he also granted Vitaen lordship of his own territory in the south, for much the same reason but with more supernatural threats, but less tolerance for his nature and a warning that if he becomes a problem, he'll be dealt with like one.

Which all leads me to his granddaughter, the princess Linara. I first met her when she had just officially become an adult, and she was, apparently, quite struck by me. I swear I don't do the whole princess-kidnapping thing, but apparently she had always had fantasies of being stolen away by a dragon to be rescued by a noble knight, and it burst her bubble a bit growing up when she learned the local dragon was too benevolent to do that. And then, as I was leaving the castle town, I was approached by a cloaked figure who asked me to take them with me, and it was immediately clear by scent that it was the princess. When I asked her how she even got out of the palace, she wordlessly pointed towards a rope dangling from a window in the distance. Appreciating her boldness aside, I wasn't going to make an enemy of the king, so I immediately went back and told him what happened with her holding onto my tail as if it could stop me from walking.

Amused but unsurprised, he told me she had always been like this, fair and noble-hearted, but also capricious and prone to her own whims, especially when it came to the tales of chivalry and nobility she had been raised on in the kingdom. She was the type of princess to use a candlestick to sail a bannister into the city to walk the streets as a normal person, even. He apologized for the inconvenience and sent her off, and for the longest time, that was the last of my interaction with her, until several years later when she had grown up a fair deal more and I met her again at a meeting of Lords.

She had learned much of how to rule and how to behave as a ruler in preparation for the day she takes the throne as her father was aging and readying to pass the torch, and that's when she, with a playful smile, suggested that we act on her fantasies once more. When I was about to correct her again, she raised a finger and explained further that she wanted to start assembling an elite guard, the best of the kingdom's fighters to be her personal queensguard and her enforcers, and what better way to test them than by pitting them against the local dragon? It took a fair deal of convincing on her part, but I eventually withered under her eagerness and agreed, we'd play it like the stories in a friendly, non-lethal way, creating a War Game where I would come steal her away, and noble knights would come to rescue her.

The first time we decided to launch these games, I took her back to my den where my technological levels shocked her, surprised that I lived like one of Might's residents, much less like a normal anthro. After the temporary insult brushed off me, I decided to introduce her to some of my tech and that same capricious, yet curious girl I met years ago resurfaced, and I spent hours explaining what I knew of what I had to her, as well as explaining my alchemical hobbies and how they worked.

When time came for the first few knights to arrive, we met them at the base of my mountain in a clearing and set about it. I admit, there may have been a bit of stress relief in playing up the part of the evil, princess-kidnapping, village-razing monster, that ultimately ended when she called a stop to it after I got one of them underfoot in what would have been a lethal crush in live combat. Unconvinced, she sent them away and mentioned for the next to come. Over the next few days, these continued until one knight stepped forward that put me through my paces, and ultimately got his sword to my neck in a way that would have been lethal. Content with that, she thanked me and asked for us to do this again later, before going away with the first of her new Queensguard.

This ended up becoming our relationship, me playing the part of the scary monster, her playing the distressed damsel, and noble want-to-be heroes trying to rescue her until one succeeds. At times, she's spent months living with me and ended up becoming a genuine friend, during which she confessed to a few things; most notable is that despite seeking defenders, she herself is freakishly powerful with light-aspected magic, to the point if she went afield she would probably make her defenders look completely unnecessary. The second is that despite her friendly and fun nature, she has all the expectations of the throne weighing on her, getting to get away from it all and hang out with me and just talk about less political, mundane things is quickly becoming as much a part she enjoys of this process as playing into the chivalrous spirit.

She's enjoyed all of this so much she expressed a desire that even when she's filled her royal guard, she'd want me to keep at this to give them an excuse to keep in shape, even during times of peace, something that after spending so much time with her as a friend, rather than a glittering sparkling princess, I happily agreed to. Being the "villain" is fun when you're just playing at it, so I appreciate her letting me cut loose like that.

_{And I swear, nothing untowards has happened in all the time she's hung around a giant lizard with proclivities like mine, nope, nothing untowards at all.}

~ Veluren Thanazel - The Sights and People of Vakkert Sedd. One day I'll stop impulse buying adopts.

So here we have a new character that has a much more decisively medieval fantasy flavor! Vel's world is split between many different types of settings, for pure magical to slightly techy to anywhere between. For the most part due to writing what I like and my comfort levels with technology, a lot focuses on Might, if any nations are focused on at all. Linara is my first character that leans extremely hard towards Wills for the sake of exploring the more adventure-friendly, almost DnD-like fantasy and magic civilization on the other side of Vel's home.

The idea I'll be going for with her is fair, noble, but playful and down-to-earth for a princess, happy to make friends with the well-intentioned and not seeing herself as objectively superior to anyone else, but also not tolerant of explicit evils and corruptive influences.

I picked this girl up from Sweets on a whim because I enjoyed her design! So expect to see a bit more of her over time.

Linara and Veluren (not shown) belong to me.

Art by  Sweets.