Skyler Shadeclaw

Quite a quiet character, Skyler is often content to just listen to others and stay on the sidelines. This is often due to her tendency to be quite blunt and to the point. She has even been surprisingly insensitive with her words. It makes her seem cold from an outsider's perspective, when in fact she is the opposite. Skyler is kind, always wearing her heart on her sleeve (metaphorically speaking, of course--dragons don't have sleeves), despite her generally quiet nature. She's always willing to hear someone out, and makes an effort to listen to other's interests and remember them. She can be a bit brutally honest, but she usually means well.

Above all else, Skyler is driven by her curiosity. She absorbs information like a sponge; most days she can be found haunting the halls of a library, or holed away with an interesting tome in her claws. She will become so absorbed into a conversation, or a good book, or some other focus, that her awareness of the world falls away. A lot of what she knows tends to be pointless--trivial facts about the wildlife, the population of a nearby city, the names of the last five generations of the Lifrian royals, things like that. But sometimes they do come in handy.

Skyler's emotions run hot, and quite easily burst at the slightest provocation. On especially bad days, when exhaustion and patience has run thin, there is little Skyler can do to keep them in check. And when certain lines are crossed, her fiery temper is terrifying. But in the aftermath, she is bogged down by guilt and self-loathing over her outbursts.

A. Draconic Physiology: Due to her nature as a dragon, Skyler has several perks. Her scales are tough against most primitive weaponry, and while she leans on speed more over strength, her body is naturally much sturdier and has more stamina than most creatures. Most poisons tend to be reliably ineffective against her, at least in their usual lethal doses (there is absolutely a limit). She has natural weaponry in the form of her talons, teeth, and horns, and her powerful wings give her easy access to nearly anywhere in the sky. She also has dark vision, and a strong sense of smell.

B. Elemental Powers: As a Xenoxian dragon, Skyler has the ability to use a set number of elements according to her elemental bloodline. She herself has access to three of them.

1. Lightning: Her most utilized of her elements, it takes the form of an eerie, pale lavender lightning. She can conduct it across her scales and pool it into her claws and teeth to deliver shocking attacks. However, she most often fires it off as a breath attack: a column of crackling electricity or a thinner, more accurate bolt that tends to have farther range. She can also discharge electricity from her body in order to propel herself forward in the air--however doing so usually leaves her a bit frazzled looking and/or singed depending on the strength and intensity of the burst.

2. Dark: A smoke-like, almost cold energy featuring hints of midnight blues and purples. The breath attack is chilling and choking, blocking out light and smothering to its target. She can also manipulate shadows to an extent, such as using them to obscure herself/others or reveal hidden objects. Her affinity to the dark element grants her better dark vision than most dragons, and she can identify colors in darkness, though they tend to look dull in tone to her eyes.

3. Life: A green energy that, depending on its use, looks to be either warm and flowing or deathly and biting. Respectively, these energies are used to magically revitalize or drain living beings. Skyler can breathe the former out as a non-lethal blast of energy, though due to its nature its not particularly powerful and only really good for knocking targets back. She can use it to see mana, a sort of aura vision that allows her to detect magical aura in living and nonliving things. Active use of this ability can let her identify and read precise changes in magic around her. She struggles with the healing aspect of her element, mostly able to close up surface-level wounds and soothe aches with a healing touch or misty breath. But her strongest skill lies in using this element's deathly power to drain energy and induce rot in organic material with physical contact or a crackling, necrotic breath attack.

C. Fighting Prowess: Knows the basics of combat, however has rarely put it into practice. A bit awkward in close combat and has less physical ability, but can still pack a mean punch. She's quite quick on her feet. Prefers hit-and-run tactics and firing off long-range attacks, as she can't take as many hits as most others can. Extremely agile in the air: it is her best domain for fighting, and her high maneuverability in flight makes her a bit of a menace in aerial combat.

D. Natural Instincts: She's done a fair bit of exploring on her travels, and knows several tips and tricks to living out in the wilds. Namely how to light a fire, setting up camp, hunting and knowing what plants are safe to eat. She's quite attuned to the natural world around her, and this connection rarely leads her astray (when she's paying attention to it, of course). She's also quite good at directions and remembering where she's been, on account of her experience ferrying deliveries and letters across the continent.

E. Quite the Bookworm: Skyler reads. A lot. History and magic are favored topics, but often she'll delve deep into obscure and peculiar subjects if she's bored enough and has a readily available library in reach. Her bizarre, extensive store of knowledge has come in handy plenty of times in her travels.

A. Draconic Mortality: Though tougher by nature, dragons like Skyler all have their weaknesses. The areas around joints and under her jaw are less armored for mobility. Weapons designed for piercing can target the chinks in her scales. Her wings are the most vulnerable; they are susceptible to rips and tears, and enough damage will render her unable to fly. At the end of her tail is a sensitive spot all dragons of her kind share, and striking it with enough force is an easy way to stun or knock her off balance.

B. Tainted Affliction: At a young age, Skyler was afflicted with the Taint, a chronic magical virus. On the surface, it mostly causes negative effects to her daily life: she tends to sleep restlessly because of it, it makes her more irritable, and she emotionally spirals quite easily. She's less efficient with mana than she could be, and takes longer for it to recover. The more adverse effects of it appear mostly under extreme stress. In the event Skyler's life is threatened and she is dealing with severe mental stress, a shadowy presence takes over. It is generally hostile towards others, with a cold personality that cares little for those around it. It wields terrifying mastery over darkness, able to melt into shadows and travel through them, all of which it uses to protect itself and carry its host's body away from danger. While possessed, Skyler is extremely vulnerable to light elements and powers similar to it.

When the presence leaves, Skyler is left exhausted, unable to use her elemental abilities entirely for up to an hour at the most. She remembers bits and pieces of what happened while she was under control, but it mostly feels like a dream.

C. Elemental Weakness: Skyler is very vulnerable to fire-based elements, which sap her of her strength and quickly burn through her defenses. Extremely hot temperatures also affect her more so due to this same weakness. She has no abilities to counteract fire, and in a fight against those fire-aligned, she can only succeed if she manages to stay out of reach of the flames. Her dark-affinity also leads her to be much more sensitive to bright light--she often has to wear tinted goggles during the daylight hours and if she isn't careful, she could easily blind herself for a few seconds when she uses her lightning abilities.

D. Sharp Temperament: One wouldn't think it, but Skyler is surprisingly emotional and quick to anger--the presence of deception and lies seem to be something that really sets her off. Her temper is explosive, lightning crackles across her mane and her face will contort into an angry snarl. She can be quite terrifying in the right light. Her snappy temper picks up at even slight quips--though she is often quick to apologize and withdraw if her anger was sorely misplaced.

E. Claustrophobia: Tight, enclosed spaces are uncomfortable at best and debilitating at worst. If Skyler doesn't have any room to stretch her wings, she becomes restless and nervous. Even crowded areas, where it is difficult to move around, trigger this anxiety.