I've murdered half the town, left you lovenotes on their headstones.

app for TDS

fantasycliche — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 03:28:21 GMT

P L A Y E R
☓ Name: Liz
☓ Personal journal: rizumcbutt
☓ Age: 22
☓ Other characters in The Devils See: n/a
☓ Email: silken aracna at gmail dot com
☓ AIM/MSN/Yahoo! Messenger: the p0rn nun

C H A R A C T E R
☓ Name: Khisanth
☓ Series: Dragonlance
☓ Reference: Here!
☓ Canon point: After waking up from being punched out by a knight, and directly after learning Led had abandoned her.
☓ Age: About 200 (only a year or so of this time was spent awake).

☓ Personality: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.

But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.

In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be. It should also be noted that when she changes, her entire mentality makes a subtle shift. If she takes the shape of a small, nervous animal, she'll find herself furtive and darting far more often. As an aggressive animal, she's more likely to attack, and will be fighting urges to do so. And so, as a human, she's more emotional. The change is a subtle one, but it builds. The longer she spends as a human, the less she acts like a dragon. She doesn't notice this change until she's a dragon again, and can look back on her own actions and decisions with a clearer mind. It took Khisanth just two days as a human to begin envisioning teaming up with Led to conquer the world with him— visions she looked back on with disgust and derision once she was a dragon again. And so while she's more likely to guard against the rapid swing of emotions she experiences as a human, they do start to build for her. It stands to reason that if she spent any more time as a human, she could be swept away entirely by the unfamiliar emotions she experiences.

Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer — pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.

So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.

☓ Abilities:
Khisanth has two main abilities and one magical bauble that I'll count as an ability. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it allows her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically — far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her own version of a human every time, she turns into her own version of a badger every time.

The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations. For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited to these.

-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions— including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa)
-Form invisible walls

And as for the bauble: It's called the maynus globe, and she has officially inherited it from the nymphids after seeing the last of them die. At her point in canon she has no idea that it's a living, imprisoned creature, and just thinks of it as a really useful something-or-other. She's never too sure how it works, but it seems to simply carry out any order you can think of. It will:

-Float around with a life of its own
-Put a creature to sleep
-Wake it up
-Carry heavy things
-Hide bodies inside of itself (and then dump them out later hideously lightning-charred)
-Record and play back silent scenes that it's witnessed
-Teleport the owner and things/people around them
-Blind people with bright light

Same as with dragon magic, it's pretty ambiguous, but those are all the things it's done in canon.

☓ Weaknesses:
☓ Strengths:

☓ Intranet post sample:
☓ Log post sample:

Opt-in permissions post!

fantasycliche — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:23:26 GMT

Okay so here's the deal. In Dragonlance, all dragons have this totally sweet totally godmode power, which really works better when the dragon in question is a level boss and not an actual PC. It's creatively named dragonfear, and is inherent to all dragons (actually that might be a lie-- I can't remember if good dragons have it or not BUT THEY MIGHT. But Khisanth has never met one and wouldn't know anyway, SO WHO CARES).

Anyway, as soon as the dragon appears, all living creatures are paralyzed by a temporary intense fear. This fear can be fought/overcome/eventually gotten used to if you happen to see the dragon a lot, and the stronger/braver a character is, the faster that happens. By default, this will only apply to NPCs. Which is my stupid little nerdy joke, because Dragonlance is based off of an RPG campaign, and main characters (PCs) in the books always seem to get over it way faster than the background characters (NPCs.) yep i'm clever. But if you really want your character temporarily paralyzed by fear (idk it could be fun to play with?? maybe???), then tell me here!

IC Contact for Siren's Pull

fantasycliche — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 05:04:15 GMT

"Speak. I may get back to you."

app for sirenspull!

fantasycliche — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:07:31 GMT

Player Information

Name: Liz
Age: 22
AIM SN: the p0rn nun
email: silkenaracna at gmail dot com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? yep!
Currrently Played Characters: Carrie/Robin/girlyboywonder
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Conditional: Official Reserve Link: Here!

Character Information

General
Canon Source: Dragonlance: The Black Wing
Canon Format: book
Character's Name: Khisanth, "Onyx"
Character's Age: ~200
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a

What form will your character's NV take? smartphone! The same thing she uses at capeandcowl, really.

Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Aside from being a generally competent fighter (only as a dragon! she's totally balls at fighting as a human), Khisanth has two main abilities. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it's taught her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically — far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her version of a human every time, she turns into her version of a badger every time.

The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations—though the "language of magic" comes naturally to dragons, and she understands all spoken spells (in her world). For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited or related to these.

-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain giant icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions— including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa)
-Form invisible walls

Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? n/a

Weapons: Just a dinky little dagger she keeps in her boot sometimes.

History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Dragons ruled, once. They filled the sky, lorded their power over lesser beings, and generally had exactly everything they ever could have wanted. It was an unfortunate time to be a human. It was either an evil dragon devouring your children or a good dragon doing battle with an evil dragon and crushing your barn. This went on for a tiresomely long time, until the tension between evil and good dragons escalated into a full-out war. Famous heroes were born, famous weapons were forged, and the patron goddess of the evil dragons struck a deal with the Forces of Good. In exchange for her life, she would be sealed into the Abyss, and all of her children sent into a deep sleep beneath the earth. It was foretold that they would wake again when she'd gathered her forces for another strike at that goody two-shoes Goodness, and so, predictably, this was what the black dragon Khisanth assumed was happening when she awoke. Imagine her dismay to discover it was two measly nymphids, waking her with some sob story about the last female of their species being captured and held captive by humans, instead of her Queen, calling her to battle.

Kadagan and Joad were two of the last three remaining nymphids on Krynn. The third one, Dela, Kadagan's fiance and Joad's daughter, had recently been captured by humans. After failing to get her back themselves, the two decided to enlist the help of a third party. As Kadagan put it to Khisanth, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." There was really no more logical a choice for an ally for two two-foot-tall fairy-like creatures than a 30-foot dragon, even if that dragon had recently (in her memory) been a hatchling, and woken suddenly to find herself full-grown and not sure what to do with her sudden strength and power. Khisanth initially refused to help them, but of course the nymphids had known she wouldn't lend assistance for free. They offered to teach her qhen, the mental discipline that would allow her to shapechange. Greed being the number one motivator of black dragons like Khisanth, she promptly agreed. "Anger will defeat thee in battle as well as in life," were lessons that were often taught to her, and grudgingly taken to heart. Joad took her once, after she'd mastered shapechanging, to a quiet grove filled with fireflies. The elderly nymphid fondly explained that these little creatures collected energy, expending it each night to light the darkness for others. It was a life well spent, he said. Khisanth didn't understand, but for the first time was content to wait for experience to catch up and provide comprehension.

It took a month or so for Khisanth to learn to fly, fight, and control herself with the use of qhen well enough to satisfy the nymphids. They still weren't entirely convinced that she was well trained enough to recapture Dela from the humans, especially after a greedy display of destruction in front of Kadagan of the massacre of a band of ogres, but it came to their attention that Dela was being relocated. The time for the rescue mission was now or never. Khisanth had made progress from when the two nymphids had found her, though. Where as she was once impulsive, brash, and entirely self-serving, she was now slightly less impulsive and brash, only mostly self-serving, and occasionally able to control her rage and greed through the calming techniques of qhen. And so, lessons in hand, Khisanth took the shape of a human and the name "Onyx", just outside the town that held the imprisoned nymphid. After a short while spent learning the strange rules and customs of her new shape (you must wear clothes, eat with utensils and not your face, and shaking your breasts at males will almost always get you what you want), Onyx was hired by a traveling merchant, Led, to be part of his mercenary guard. She impressed the man with her use of magic, as magic in the world was currently all but unheard of. She, in turn, was enchanted by his smooth manners and not-totally-unpleasant face. Eager to fully experience the human form, and utterly overwhelmed by the tangle of emotions that didn't usually effect her as a dragon, Onyx allowed herself to be seduced by him— both figuratively and literally.

After confirming that Dela was indeed the precious cargo Led was traveling with, Onyx knew she ought to free the nymphid right then. But that would mean killing Led, to whom she'd grown a little attached. Fortunately, an unexpected battle took the choice out of her hands. She was still looking for a way to recover Dela without having to betray Led when the mercenary group encountered a band of knights. When the knights demanded to see what Led was shipping and he refused, a fight broke out. In the course of it, the wagon housing Dela was broken open, and the nymphid was killed. Onyx and Led managed to win, but just as the battle was winding down, Onyx spotted a young knight dragging himself from the carnage. She ran after him, still high on killing and glad for the chance to finish off the group. Of course, casting spells at a group of knights from behind an able fighter is one thing, taking on a knight on your unarmed lonesome was another. The knight promptly punched her out and took off. When Onyx came to, it was to find herself with a broken nose and abandoned by Led. He and the rest of the group had assumed her dead and taken off without her. She was, as you might guess, a little peeved. It was then that she encountered Kadagan, who informed her calmly that Joad had died, he would shortly follow, and he was sorry she hadn't performed better. She insisted that she'd done all she could to rescue Dela, and Kadagan merely countered with a sad, "Did you?" ("Didst thee", really, but who's counting) before expiring himself. Three out of season fireflies floated off through the evening.

Once again in the shape of a dragon, Khisanth wasted no time in tracking Led's band down. She killed all of them but Led in one fell swoop, breathing acid down on them as they slept from the cover of darkness. One ogre managed to survive, whom Khisanth took great pleasure in slowly dismembering for Led's benefit. When she finally turned on him, she took just a little time to turn back into a human and mock him. She wanted him to understand why he was being killed, after all. His cowering fear was instantly replaced by charm to see that hot little number he'd tapped and ditched suddenly naked in front of him, and it almost looked like he might convince her to join with him as a dragon. Right up until she changed back and bit his face off, of course. Khisanth decided then that she'd been human for the last time, and would never again let herself be manipulated by a human or the ridiculous emotions that went with being one.

Suddenly freed of both lessons and obligations, Khisanth promptly settled down in what her instincts told her was the best place to make a lair: a dingy, bleak swamp. She lived happily enough, killing wildlife some days and turning into it other days, until she began to feel watched. The feelings built until one day a black dragon showed. It dive-bombed her lair, set a tree dissolving with acid, and took off again. Finding that to be a little rude, Khisanth promptly tracked him down to what she thought was his lair — only to find an elderly black dragon, blinking and perplexed at this intrusion. Pteros, as he introduced himself, was a victim of this mysterious dragon as well. Once it was established that neither bore the other animosity, Khisanth and Pteros got to talking. They agreed to coexist. Pteros would tell Khisanth stories of the glorious war that had gotten them all sent away, and teach her magic, while Khisanth would train Pteros and get his flabby old self back in shape. It was mutually beneficial, right up until the two dragons began to examine the bauble that the nymphids had left with Khisanth. Called the maynus, it seemed to be nothing more than wish-granting magic, and that was all Khisanth wanted out of it. But when Pteros gave it the poorly-worded command "take us home", it brought the two of them to a different plane. The plane of lightning, from which it, a sentient being, had originated. It offers to send them home in exchange for their having freed it, but all Khisanth could do was uncomprehendingly demand her maynus returned to her, and she cost them the chance to return when the maynus saw an old enemy and wandered off to do battle.

Unfortunately, the winner of the battle was none too friendly. A creature named Fraz approached the two dragons, claiming to be the strongest thing on the plane, and demanded that they do battle for it. They had little choice but to agree or be killed, so it turned them into feathery snakes and sent them after a giant. It cost Khisanth a wing and permanent damage, but she saw through Fraz's illusion before long. Fraz seemed ready to play more games with her, until a voice neither she nor Pteros could hear seemed to command it to send the two of them back. Fraz obliged, but mischievously transported them directly into the middle of Talon's lair. Khisanth quickly outlined a plan for the two of them to take him down, involving Pteros disappearing for a sneak attack from behind — only to discover Talon had company. Pteros never upheld his part of the plan and attacked, leaving Khisanth to fight Talon alone. The second, unnamed dragon went to attack Pteros, while Khisanth managed to kill Talon. Pteros managed to kill his dragon, but crashed to the ground shortly after. Finding him lethally wounded, and angry at having been betrayed by his cowardice, Khisanth finished him off.

Having previously discussed the slowly growing armies of the Dark Queen, Khisanth decided after his death to join one. The idea that dragons in the army took riders was absolutely unconceivable to her. However, the Highlord Maldeev allowed to join, despite refusing to carry a human, solely because of her impressive skills and ability. She outshone every other dragon in the wing, although she was kept at the lowest rank because of her refusal. Despite that, she becomes fast friends with the Highlord's dragon, Jahet. Two years are spent in the service Black Wing until Khisanth begins to suspect treachery from the second ranked dragon, Khoal. There had been an outpost of Solamnic knights nearby, the champion of Good with which the Queen's armies, by default, were in opposition. Khoal repeatedly reported that their numbers were paltry and hardly worth bothering with, right up until an entire regiment marched to launch a surprise attack on the Wing. Khisanth and Jahnet were trapped by unknown magic in their lairs and unable to see what the klaxons were sounding for, until Khisanth managed to free them with her magic. Changing into a human, she realized that Khoal and the other two dragons were all in on the treachery, betraying their comrades in exchange for choice pieces of Solamnic land. She managed to trick two of the traitor dragons into leaving the battlefield. Khoal, though, had to be fought and killed. Khisanth managed to do this, and then turned her attention on the invading knights.

She squared off against their leader, ready to pick him apart or melt him with acid — right up until she recognized him. Sir Tate, this opposing general, was unmistakably that young knight that had punched her out all those years ago. Before she got a chance to rip him apart for having wounded her pride so sorely so long ago, he was rescued and pulled away by his subordinates. The armies parted ways, and Khisanth began to understand why it was humans and not dragons that currently ruled the world. Enraged that three dragons had so easily been turned against their own kind, she sent a general demand to know why up gods-wards. Strangely enough, a god answered. It was the Dark Queen herself that pulled Khisanth into the Abyss for an audience, and explained that the betrayal had been in her plans all along. By thwarting the scheme and killing Khoal, Khisanth had disobeyed the god's wishes. She was sent back to the material plane with a warning and an order: don't screw up again, and take a human rider. The Queen added that Khisanth would find her rider in an unlikely place, and know him when she saw him.

It wasn't long before the Black Wing had mounted their counterattack. The knights were ready with solid defenses and griffins to fight against the dragons, though. Maldeev asked Khisanth to fly wing to him and Jahet; an unexpected honor. Khisanth accepted, and just as the three of them were closing on Tate and his griffin, Jahet unexpectedly seized up, died, and fell out of the air. Khisanth snatched Maldeev up before he could fall as well, then finally got her chance to end her feud with Tate. She didn't hesitate to send a claw through his brain, but then immediately wondered if it hadn't been a mistake. Glancing at Maldeev, who, by the death of Jahet, would become her rider, she wondered if she hadn't killed the wrong human. After the battle she returned for Jahet's corpse, only to find obvious signs of death by magic.

During the ceremony to bond the two of them, Khisanth asked Maldeev to participate in a ritual that Pteros had shown her. Bloodmingling was an old dragon tradition, wherein both parties would clearly see the thoughts and motivations of the other for an instant. Pteros had told her never to trust anyone she hadn't bloodmingled with. Maldeev agreed, and Khisanth discovered that it had been he that had arranged Jahet's murder. She knew immediately that he was hateful, afraid of anything more powerful than he, and basically a despicable person not at all to be trusted. And so she didn't. She worked carefully with him, right up until the day that he asked a new dragon, unexpectedly, to fly wing to him and Khisanth. Remembering this as the exact scene that had lead to Jahet's death, Khisanth snapped and clawed his face off. She was again pulled to the Abyss for an audience with the Queen, and again berated for screwing up her plans. But she would be given one more chance, and so she was sent into boredom and exile to guard a staff. The book, a prequel, ends with her about to encounter the heroes of the original book — an encounter that goes none too well for her.
Point in Canon: After Tate's surprise attack, before the Black Wing's return assault. This is just after she's realized Khoal, Neetra, and Dnestr's betrayals, killed them and their riders, and begun to train for the return attack. She's been spirited away to meet the Dark Queen in the Abyss, and seen the arrival of the draconian shocktroops to the Black Wing. The only thing she hasn't done is get to finally kill that stupid Tate guy. (Or see Jahet die, or become the Highlord's mount in her stead.)

Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: I'll be taking Khisanth from capeandcowl. She was, as one might expect, a little bewildered to suddenly end up in a modern setting. She just barely figured out how to work the communicator, and it took her a good long while to realize that she might need somewhere to sleep besides the benches in Central Park. This was where Booga came in, the mutant kangaroo with the amazing ability to put up with all of her bitchiness. He offered to let her sleep in his workshop/warehouse, supplied her with a large-size communicator (for when she was a dragon), and took her drinking. That made him pretty okay in her book. Enough so that when he said they were friends, she decided to agree (after a quick bloodmingle to make sure he wasn't about to betray her or anything. Which, coincidentally, let him know that she was a dragon).

Booga wasn't the only strong attachment she formed in the City, though. Zevran, the elf, was another. He was from a world similar to hers (although lacking in sentient dragons, which seemed a shame to Khisanth), and after a bumpy start, the two began to hesitantly get along. Zevran quickly discovered that Onyx and Khisanth were the same creature, and the conditions under which Khisanth agreed not to kill him to ensure silence were that he teach her to be more human. It was a pretty awful disguise at first, as she'd only spent two days as a human before her arrival in the City. These lessons were everything from "how not to smile like you're about to eat someone" to "figuring out how to work a DVD player and enjoy movies". It was an unlikely bond that slowly graduated from threat-of-death to actual friendship. Right until the goddess Aphrodite cursed Khisanth to fall in love with him for a while, that was. The process was slow enough to seem natural, and had both of them convinced she actually did love him — right up until the curse suddenly wore off. Embarrassed that she'd expressed such a human emotion, and ashamed that she had actually asked Zevran to fly with her (an honor she'd so far granted no one in her canon), Khisanth immediately cut off all ties with Zevran, and the only reason she didn't kill him outright was because he hadn't taken advantage of her false feelings and used them against her. She would be likely to kill him if forced to interact with him again.

But of course, although she herself had goaded Aphrodite into casting the spell, she took no personal responsibility for this event. How could she? It was entirely Aphrodite's fault, and so Khisanth immediately challenged her to a fight. This fight was interrupted by the City's other resident dragon, the great, green Ysera. Although green dragons are just as evil as blacks in Khisanth's world, Khisanth quickly learned that this wasn't quite the case with Ysera. The giant, older dragon demanded peace and cooperation from Khisanth, who was willing to give it only because she'd never seen a dragon so enormous before, and she's very willing to cooperate with a creature that could so easily kill her. These "peace lessons" haven't had a chance to develop into anything particularly meaningful or lasting yet for Khisanth, and she'll be all too happy to disregard them in the Port.

Another strong bond she formed was to James Bond. Although only Booga and Zevran know Khisanth's real name, James is one of the few (along with Aphrodite and Ysera) to know that she's a dragon. It was James that convinced Khisanth that not all humans are exactly like Led, who would sleep with her and then immediately abandon her. Sex, she's discovered, is just as pleasant a pastime as she'd originally thought— but doesn't have to end in betrayal and subsequently eating your lover. Although with James acting so similarly to how Khisanth remembered Led, it took an attempt on his life to come to that conclusion. She was so ready to see betrayal in all of his actions, that an unfortunately-timed attempted mugging had her immediately assuming he was behind it, and would have to be killed. It was lucky that James's in-City power is durability. By the time she realized that knocking him into a building hadn't actually killed him, she'd calmed down enough to decide that maybe it had been a coincidence after all. She then began to appreciate that even after her attempt to kill her, James was still willing to take her to expensive dinners and sleep with her. She grew to be fond enough of him to consider him an almost-friend, to the point that she would consider going out of her way to (unsuccessfully) cheer him up after he'd screwed up on his body guarding job and the CIty's Mayor had been killed.

Essentially, being in the City has taught Khisanth a lot about human nature. She's realized that to some people, sex carries meaning, and one-night-stands are less than desirable. (Thank you, Dick Grayson.) She's learned that you can't sleep with someone's ex without making them uncomfortable. (There's Harley and the Joker to thank for that lesson.) She's learned that some people are eager for friendship (Booga and Jade Harley), but not very many are deserving of it (sorry, Jade). And most amusingly, she's learned that while life in the City isn't quite as exciting as life in the middle of a war, you can get involved with forces that might usually be your enemy at home and invent your own excitement and intrigue. It doesn't matter very much who is fighting for what— she's a valuable asset to any side, and her temporary loyalty can be awarded to the most amusing for great personal profits.

And, of course, she's very good at working a DVD player by now.

Character Personality: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.

But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.

In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be. It should also be noted that when she changes, her entire mentality makes a subtle shift. If she takes the shape of a small, nervous animal, she'll find herself furtive and darting far more often. As an aggressive animal, she's more likely to attack, and will be fighting urges to do so. And so, as a human, she's more emotional. The change is a subtle one, but it builds. The longer she spends as a human, the less she acts like a dragon. She doesn't notice this change until she's a dragon again, and can look back on her own actions and decisions with a clearer mind. It took Khisanth just two days as a human to begin envisioning teaming up with Led to conquer the world with him— visions she looked back on with disgust and derision once she was a dragon again. And so while she's more likely to guard against the rapid swing of emotions she experiences as a human, they do start to build for her. It stands to reason that if she spent any more time as a human, she could be swept away entirely by the unfamiliar emotions she experiences.

Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer — pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.

So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.

Conditional: Personality development in previous game: I covered the bonds that Khisanth formed in her history, because of course it's other characters that define a character's experiences. Well, experiences go hand-in-hand with personality development. Booga's friendship, for example, has taught her that Kadagan and Joad, Pteros, and Jahet, don't have to be the only friends she ever makes. If she looks in the right places, she can find them just about anywhere. She's ever cautious of who she trusts, of course, but the option of friendship is open to her.

Her experiences with Zevran, on the other hand, have taught her to trust very carefully. She had known from the start that Zevran hadn't intended to be friends with her— he was only agreeing to teach her to save his own life. Over time she came to be fond of him, although when she suggested that they bloodmingle, his reluctance was a little insulting. It made it clear to her that while she was coming to see this bond as friendship, he was reluctant to get involved at any depth. It was immediately after this that the love spell began, and so she'd decided to chalk up her desire to be friends to the false feelings inspired by the spell and pretend that she'd never cared about him in the slightest. It was easy enough on the surface, but underneath that, losing a potential friend made her all the more grateful to have one in Booga. For as much of a powerful loner as she prefers to be, she does value her rare friendships. There's nothing quite like losing one to make her appreciate them, even if she won't admit it to herself.

James Bond has made her more willing to simply enjoy someone else's company. She's always been a huge fan of the pleasures of life (flying, killing, swimming, and, when human, sex), but he helped her to realize that it's not such a bad thing to include someone else in a mutual beneficial relationshop. It's a certain measure of trust, allowing someone close enough and relaxing enough around them to enjoy yourself. But with him, and other men she's done the same with in the City, it's worth it.

Two more important interactions can be merged into one lesson. Having met Tavros Nitram, Khisanth, out of boredom, offered to protect one person from Gamzee to him. He chose Jade Harley, and Khisanth was so impressed that the cowardly and stuttering child didn't pick himself, that she decided to honor her offer. This, no matter how you look at it, is a Selfless Act of Good, and decidedly against her nature as an evil dragon. She'd preformed good deeds before, of course (rescuing Dela for the nymphids), but never for absolutely no personal gain beyond her own amusement. She looked at it as a game, although she became decidedly invested in said game when she learned that her summoning spell hadn't worked, and Gamzee had hurt Jade after all. Then her good deed was a matter of personal pride, and protection became less of a game and more of a self-imposed duty. This was the first instance of serving "good", and it never quite occurred to her that this should be against her nature. It was a good indication that she doesn't see the world as good and evil at all, but rather in terms of self-interest and self-gain.

The second interaction in this lesson was a deal made with Vic Sage. Mysterious newcomers to the imPort community had begun spying on the Network, and Khisanth offered to do some return spying for Vic. It reminded her of her work with the Black Wing, and she was eager for some excitement. It turned out not to quite be all it was cracked up to be, but working with Vic and other assorted heroes (the "knightly people", as she thinks of them) gave her a chance to see and work with people that she would usually consider her enemies. It was an interesting experience, and while she was completely willing to turn against them if a more profitable opportunity arose, the point remains that she was, for a while, on the "good side", and she didn't find it to be absolutely intolerable.

All of this is very much against the nature that she would have reveled in had she stayed in canon, and this lifestyle won't work forever. While it's currently building up in the City, there will come a time that she realizes she's gone too far from her dragon nature. This will, naturally, not be her fault. She'll blame it on having been a human too often and for too long, and she'll make attempts to reconnect with her true nature. I can't say what form that will take, but it's guaranteed to happen much more quickly in a setting where she can't "dragon out" and "recharge" nearly as often.

Character Plans: I'm interested to see how Khisanth will take being in such a confined area! In the previous game, she had the entire world to travel and explore, and could often leave the City when she felt too closed in or surrounded by humans. In the Port, there's just not far she can go. This will mean she can be a dragon far less, and that's going to have some kind of psychological toll on her. I look forward to playing with that!

Appearance/PB: As a dragon: She's a black dragon, meaning, well, she's entirely black. Also that she's somewhat aquatically inclined, and adapted to living in swampy areas. She's 35 feet long, with her head being about the size of a human, and bright orange eyes. Then there's the basics: four feet, thumbs on her front feet, tail, wings, horns… Pretty basic dragon.
As a human: She looks to be in her mid-twenties, with tanned skin, black hair, and gold eyes. She's described as being shapely and attractive (of course— thank you, fantasy), and tall, so I put her at about 5' 9". Her PB is Maria Ozawa.

Writing Samples

First Person Sample This again, hmm? You can spare me the introductory package. I've heard it once already. Let's see how much of it I still remember.

[ She clears her throat, cocks her head, and adopts a bored, imperious look. ] "You've been whisked from your home plane to this new world. You'll find yourself with new abilities, and no guarantees that anyone you know is here. Enjoy your new life, and try not to kill any of your fellow imports, as they'll only return to point you out as their murderer." [ The look drops away, and one eyebrow cocks. ] How was that, was I missing anything?

[ Any pretense of a good mood drops away suddenly, and she just looks irritated and bored. ]

Whipping about through worlds is beginning to get old. I hope this one has cheaper drinks than the last.

Third Person Sample
She hadn't stayed to listen to the greeter. No, she hadn't even learned that that had been his intention until later, after she'd perused the NV's network. Instead, when she'd first arrived, her main priority had been escape. It hadn't taken her long to orient herself enough to spring into the air, large wings beating frantically to lift herself away from the humans. Not that she considered them a threat, no, not these humans. She'd merely learned, over the months spent in the City, that humans were not quite as dispensable as she'd been used to. If you killed one, eventually someone would come looking. And if you killed al lot of them, a lot of someones came, and came armed.

She knew the rules. And it was only this knowledge that spared the baseball diamond her wrath, because Khisanth was not pleased. She'd just been coming to enjoy— or at least to tolerate— her life among humans in the City. To be jolted suddenly from this decent life, and thrust into a brand new one? Well, no one had ever accused life of being kind, she supposed.

Khisanth snorted in irritation, and her claws clutched at the concrete edge of the building below them. It had already decayed significantly as darkness fell. That had been an interesting process, she had to admit. The blaring sirens were none too pleasant, but she'd been somewhat taken by the rust and rot that grew over the area. Some areas, she'd found, smelled appalling. Some of them smelled like home. And the creatures? Well, some of them didn't taste half bad. (Some of them tasted beyond fully bad, though, and she'd learned quickly that it was better to kill from a distance.) Her wings half spread, and Khisanth eased her long body up from its recline. She was in a new place, and as near as she could tell there was nothing to be done about it but learn the ins and outs of it.

Fine. She would do that, then. She'd survived well enough in the City, she would survive just as well in the Port. She always did.

fantasycliche — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:19:12 GMT

NAME: Liz
JOURNAL: rizumcbutt
EMAIL: silkenaracna@gmail.com
AIM: the p0rn nun
WIKI NAME: lizbutt
CHARACTERS: n/a

CHARACTER NAME: Khisanth
FANDOM: Dragonlance
CANON: After waking up from being punched out by a knight, and directly after learning Led had abandoned her.
WHAT THEY LOST: The knowledge of why the chromatic dragons' queen/goddess put the whole lot of them to sleep! Takhisis essentially sold her children out, and vowed to put them into what's called the Sleep to save her own life. She was subsequently imprisoned in the Abyss, but spared. Khisanth eventually realizes that there's a fine line between being put to sleep and being left to die, as it's already been about 500 years, and some of those sleeping dragons will have died of old age. This is yet another little betrayal that she faces that hardens her and makes her more suspicious. Without this memory she'll be a little more susceptible to, you know, general fuckery.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.

But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.

In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be.

Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer — pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.

So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.

A full history can be found here, BUT IT'S AN AWFUL LOT.

ABILITIES: Aside from being a generally competent fighter (only as a dragon! she's totally balls at fighting as a human), Khisanth has two main abilities, and one magical bauble that I'll count as an ability. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it allows her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically — far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her version of a human every time, she turns into her version of a badger every time.

The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations. For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited or related to these.

-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions— including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa--though she hasn't actually learned this one from her canon point.)
-Form invisible walls

And as for the bauble: It's called the maynus globe, and she has officially inherited it from the nymphids after seeing the last of them die. At her point in canon she has no idea that it's a living, imprisoned creature, and just thinks of it as a really useful something-or-other. She's never too sure how it works, but it seems to simply carry out any order you can think of. It will:

-Float around with a life of its own
-Put a creature to sleep
-Wake it up
-Carry heavy things
-Hide bodies inside of itself (and then dump them out later hideously lightning-charred)
-Record and play back silent scenes that it's witnessed
-Teleport the owner and things/people around them
-Blind people with bright light

Same as with dragon magic, it's pretty ambiguous, but those are all the things it's done in canon.

OST Meme awwww right

fantasycliche — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:02:13 GMT

Download here.

▸ All Fired Up
Interpol
I can bind you with no ties and leash, and watch you fall. // You see I've got this soul, it's all fired up
It's all fired up // I teach you of death's desires // Reflected in lakes,
As I lead you in a fearful file to a precipice of fate. // And I welcome you // I welcome your sweethearts that bleed and break.
I'll take you on.
I'll take you all on.
I'll take you on when your will is gone.
I'll take you on.

▸ Strangers on a Train
Lovage
Oh, you're very charming, sir // Now here's to you.
I don't want to know your name // Or what you do.
I know, here's to strangers on a train,
strangers on a train.

▸ The Horror of our Love
Ludo
I'm a killer, cold and wrathful // Silent sleeper, I've been inside your bedroom.
I've murdered half the town // Left you love notes on their headstones
I'll fill the graveyards until I have you.

▸ Love Me Dead
Ludo
Love me cancerously // Like a salt-sore soaked in the sea.
'High-maintenance' means // You're a gluttonous queen // Narcissistic and mean.
Kill me romantically
Fill my soul with vomit // Then ask me for a piece of gum.
Bitter and dumb // You're my sugarplum.
You're awful, I love you!

▸ Liar
Emilie Autumn
I want to mix our blood and put it in the ground // So you can never leave.
I want to win your trust, your faith, your heart // You'll never be deceived
Liar, liar
Are you suffering?
I want your suffering
I want your beautiful suffering
I want to see your pain
Are you suffering?

▸ Everybody Knows
Leonard Cohen
Everybody knows that you love me baby // Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful // Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet // But there were so many people you just had to meet // Without your clothes
And everybody knows

▸ Night of the Dancing Flame
Roisin Murphy
On that starry night
Lost my sense of time
I don’t know how I
Got my fingers burned

▸ Archie & Veronica
Lovage
Flowers on your grave
I never loved you
Flowers on your grave
I never touched you
I paid my respects
Too little too late
Flowers on your grave

▸ Misery Loves Company
Emilie Autumn
Do I need you?
Yes and no
Do I want you?
Maybe so
You're getting warm // You're getting warm // You're getting warmer oh
Did you plan this all along
Did you care if it was wrong
Who's getting warmer now
That I'm gone

▸ Let the Poison Spill from Your Throat
The Faint
There's no climbing up that list // You just move down it one by one.
You hate this and love that it shows // You're insecure, but that's no excuse
Just tell them they lie // You tell them the truth // The things you won't take are coming in groups
The people abused the trust you had
And now you don't want it back.

▸ Spitting Venom
Modest Mouse
You were spitting venom at most everyone you know
If the damned gave you a road map then you'd know just where to go
What a rotten thing to say such an awful thing to say
I didn't mean to bite you, sorry
I always did what I always did what I always had to sling
So let it drop

▸ The Execution of All Things
Rilo Kiley
Then we’ll murder what matters to you and move on to your neighbors and kids.
Crush all hopes of happiness with disease ‘cause of what you did.
And lastly, you’re all alone with nothing left but sleep.
But sleep never comes to you, it’s just the guilt and forever wakefulness of the weak.
It’s just you and me…

▸ The Waydown
Modest Mouse
You move your mouth and you start to talk // You close your eyes and then lose the thought
What's mine is mine and what's yours you probably got
And we all fall
On the way down they saw a lot they don't remember // And if you asked them how, they'd say gravity's how they got there

▸ Pacifico
Ugly Casanova
they said they'd give me everything,
here's the part that made me laugh.
they didn't give me anything
and then they took half of that.
Sharpen your teeth or lay flat.
they said that it'd go good for me,
rain diamonds and all that.
i stood out in the downpour
getting hit by broken glass.
sharpen your teeth or lay flat.

▸ Palladio
Karl Jenkins
instrumental.

and they were only words and i never meant them
i never loved you, even in my weakness
you were fuel for the fire, cannon fodder

App for pradeda

fantasycliche — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:42:08 GMT

Your Name: Liz
Contact: aim: the p0rn nun
LiveJournal: rizumcbutt
Timezone: PST
Do you have other characters in this game? no!

Character
Name: Khisanth / Onyx
Fandom: DragonLance
Age: around 200 years, possibly?
Physical description: As a dragon: She's a black dragon, meaning, well, she's entirely black. Also that she's somewhat aquatically inclined, and adapted to living in swampy areas. She's 35 feet long, with her head being about the size of a human, and bright orange eyes. Then there's the basics: four feet, thumbs on her front feet, tail, wings, horns… Pretty basic dragon.
As a human: She looks to be in her mid-twenties, with tanned skin, black hair, and gold eyes. She's described as being shapely and attractive (of course— thank you, fantasy), and tall. I put her at about 5' 9".
Background: Here!
Point in Story: After waking up from being punched out by a knight, and directly after learning Led had abandoned her.
Personality: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.

But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.

In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be.

Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer — pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.

So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.

Powers/Abilities:
Aside from being a generally competent fighter (only as a dragon! she's totally balls at fighting as a human), Khisanth has two main abilities, and one magical bauble that I'll count as an ability. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it allows her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically — far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her version of a human every time, she turns into her version of a badger every time.

The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations. For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited or related to these.

-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions— including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa--though she hasn't actually learned this one from her canon point.)

And as for the bauble: It's called the maynus globe, and she has officially inherited it from the nymphids after seeing the last of them die. At her point in canon she has no idea that it's a living, imprisoned creature, and just thinks of it as a really useful something-or-other. She's never too sure how it works, but it seems to simply carry out any order you can think of. It will:

-Put a creature to sleep
-Wake it up
-Carry heavy things
-Hide bodies inside of itself (and then dump them out later hideously lightning-charred)
-Record and play back silent scenes
-Teleport the owner and things/people around them
-Blind people with bright light

Same as with dragon magic, it's pretty ambiguous, but those are all the things it's done in canon.

Items you're bringing with you: One outfit of ill-fitting mens' clothes, her sword-and-skull-and-maynus necklace, and a dagger in her boot.

Samples
First Person POV (Network Post):
[ Someone has clearly gotten frustrated at being unable to answer the voices coming from this strange box, and resorted to button-smashing. As a result there's a rapid-fire orgy of text-video-voice-off entirely-on again setting changing going on here, and when she gets tired of it it seems to be permanently stuck on video. Cue a massive frown into the screen!! But she's currently human, at least, so there's no terrifying teeth involved. ]

Can anyone hear me yet? I swear, this contraption was conceived solely to vex me. It follows no sort of logic and none of my spells will effect it. Whatever cleric had this constructed ought to be thrown to the Abyss.

[ A pause, a visible attempt to push away all that irritation. It mostly works. ]

If anyone can hear me, then I'd like to know if anyone's found a way home yet. There's a man at home I have business with. It's rude of me to keep him waiting, and I hate to think that someone might get the chance to kill him before I do.

Third Person POV (Log Post): [Recycled from capeandcowl!]
It was disgusting. The reek of humanity filled her nostrils, even from so far above it. It was outrageous enough to have found herself in her human shape, that shape which she'd come to detest and vowed never again to return to — but to find herself also surrounded by the pathetic creatures? Utterly surrounded, boxed in on every side, Khisanth mentally amended. She'd never seen so many humans in one place. Even Lamesh Keep, with all its soldiers, couldn't compare to the sheer masses of humanity here.

She'd already cast a darkness spell around herself as she hovered, great wings beating the air, although she doubted it was necessary. The humans kept enough lanterns burning in the darkened streets to make them seem as if lighted by daylight, and she doubted any humans looking up could see past their glare. She was safe here, lurking in the night sky, until she could put together a plan.

There were too many of them to kill. It would be ridiculous to try. Humans, weak and pathetic as they were, had a way of banding together to make themselves formidable. Annoying habit, that. She—

She paused. What was that noise?

The great head on its long neck swiveled around, orange eyes squinting through the darkness. There was a shape, wide and white, approaching her. Approaching fast. Was it a white dragon? She'd never seen one before, but she had trouble believing one could move quite so quickly, and all without flapping its wings.

It was too smooth. It was too inorganic. It was headed straight for her.

There was a desperate flutter of wings as Khisanth twisted out of the way of the thing's path, and it barreled straight past her. She had a fleeting glance at its wide, strangely cylindrical flank, enough time to read the words printed in that detestable human script: US Airways. She had no idea what it meant. She had even less idea what it was. She stared after the odd creature for a few minutes longer, too disbelieving to even be offended. Then, with a growl low in the back of her throat, she threw herself through the air after it.

If she was going to be in this strange new world for any length of time, she certainly wasn't about to let its denizens disrespect her like that.

CR for capeandcowl!!

fantasycliche — Sun, 15 May 2011 19:37:17 GMT

APHRODITE (dropped)
	OH HOW SHE HATES HER. Seriously. Seriously. This is the chick that ruined everything between her and Zevran, and on top of that has the audacity to claim to be a god! She seems to have disappeared, and that's good. Khisanth would definitely have to kill her otherwise. Low threat; enemy.
love_and_lace
BART ALLEN/IMPULSE (dropped)
	Ugh, who is this kid and how does she keep running into him. He's not properly afraid of her. Annoying like a fly, and about as inconsequential. Once cast a 'slow the fuck down' spell on him and that was pretty darn amusing. No threat; snack food.
outspeeds
BOOGA
	She's never met someone as ridiculously nice as Booga is. It's impossible not to like him. That he often compliments her pretty much assured some fondness, and that even in the face of her bitchiness he just kept being nice cemented it. She's blood mingled with him, and he's about the only person here she's comfortable calling a friend. Which she appreciates more than she'd be willing to say, if she even realized the extent of it herself. He knows she's a dragon, and so she would even stand up for his fragile little kangaroo self with her big beefy dragon self if he ever got in trouble. Too bad about that time she tortured him, but that wasn't her fault. No threat; friend.
boogaroos
CHARLIE GAGE-RADCLIFF/MISFIT
	Okay, so she's pretty annoying. Really annoying. Bratty, arrogant, and apparently all she can do is teleport. How lame! She wouldn't mind killing her if it weren't for that imPorts-come-back rule, which is a pretty decent deterrent, because she's not quite worth that much hassle. No threat; snack food.
foreverbouncing
CLARK KENT/SUPERMAN
	What a goody two-shoes. :\| Seriously, how does someone like this even exist. Ugh, he's worse than Dick. No threat; neutral/disliked.
truthjusticeetc
DAKEN
	Interesting, mostly because he pretty much refused to tell her anything about himself, and maybe someone to watch! Or maybe not. She hasn't decided yet. Potential threat; neutral.
lolverine
DICK GRAYSON/BATMAN
	Well, she used to like him. She used to like him quite a lot. But then he turned her down for sex, and that was pretty lame, so she decided to stop talking to him altogether. But then she accidentally killed him, and, uh, oops. She's not sure why saying "you were in a cape and cowl I didn't know it was you it's totally not my fault" isn't enough to rectify this situation, and it's kind of annoying that he seems determined to make her pay for her habit of eating people! She'd liked this guy, why is he such a douche now? :( Low threat; enemy.
batmantled
EDWARD NYGMA/RIDDLER
	Another person who is interesting and warrants keeping an eye on! She's pretty sure he could be useful and used to further her own goals, and he seems to have the right attitude toward approaching someone powerful. Of course she'll have to watch him like a hawk to ensure that the inevitable betrayal isn't damaging, but she's used to that. High potential threat; enemy/ally.
enigmaestro
GAMZEE MAKARA
	Ugh, this guy is so annoying. At first he seemed like a pushover, sort of in the way Booga is but less pleasing, but then he changed and now he's just stupid. No respect for him, and the only reason she'd talk to him is out of morbid curiosity. She'd kill him if she got the chance, but she's not going out of her way for it. She's a tiny bit more wary of him since he began hinting that he has something else going for him (speed?), but she still refuses to take him seriously. Minimal threat; enemy.
hasgonehonkers
HELLBOY
	Terribly amusing. The righteous sort always is. He's easy to rile, and seems powerful… but she's pretty sure she could easily kill him as a dragon, so she's not particularly worried about that part. Mostly she plans to keep right on trolling (and also to never let him realize she was the tiny dragon he fed dog biscuits to :\|). Minimal threat; enemy.
inhisrighthand
HARLEY QUINN (dropped)
	She likes Harley! Harley reminds her a lot of the only friend back home that has never A) betrayed her or B) died (yet, just you wait for a canon update). She's useful, nonjudgmental, some breed of nice, and she gets the feeling Harley isn't likely to betray her. And it offends her on some level that the Joker doesn't give Harley the attention she ought to have, but she's caught between doing something about it and being utterly apathetic. Swinging heavily toward apathetic. But at least the thought is there! No threat; friendly/ally.
ridi_arlecchino
ILLIDAN STORMRAGE (dropped)
	This guy is interesting. Part elf, part… apparently creature of the Abyss? She didn't know you could have something like that. But anyway, she respects him for his power, even if she finds him a little silly and easy to manipulate. Certainly easy to manipulate into powering her apartment for a while. Also she totally boned him, and never before has the world seen sex between such enormous egos. But anyway, that, and then being his general when he summoned fake!Chthulu to the City made him sort of a hesitant sort-of ally to her, even if she ended up running out on him and leaving him to die. Whatever, it happens. He didn't seem too offended and she didn't see need to apologize, so it was cool. High potential threat, ally.
pandablade
JACK HARKNESS
	Zevran's… something or other. Right up until the love spell incident this would have meant that he was interesting and possibly worth stalking, but now he's right up there in the 'to be avoided' category with Zevran. She doesn't care so much about him, that's just how badly she wants to avoid Zevran. Oh yeah and she accidentally killed him once, but it was okay. He got better. No threat; unfriendly.
comesback
JADE HARLEY
	Who the crap is this over affectionate girl that hugged her. Khisanth has sort of assigned herself as Jade's guardian dragon out of sheer boredom, but she sort of wonders if this assignment means putting up with more than she's willing to. But she'll continue to extend the offer of a rescue-in-the-face-of-Gamzee until she's bored of it, which hasn't happened yet. In fact, since learning that her spell failed and Jade got attacked away, protecting her has become sort of a matter of pride. No threat; neutral.
respaces
JAMES BOND
	Although he reminds her so much of Led, she's coming to like him. Even when she flipped shit and tried to kill him based on a misunderstanding, he still didn't fight back and treated her well afterward. That's the kind of loyalty she can appreciate. He refused to blood mingle with her, which was pretty lame, but managed to convince her that they were friends in spite of that. So, hey, why not. Besides, he takes her out to nice places and there's good sex afterward, it would be a shame to screw that up. Minimal threat (if treated with caution); friend.
doubleoohbaby
JOHN CONSTANTINE (dropped)
	Definitely someone she's keeping tabs on. He's not only slightly charming and decidedly attractive, but actually got the better of her once fksghskjng dammit stupid illusions. If she decides to trust him, at least a little bit, she'll show him the (almost) full extent of what she can do, the better to prove a useful cog in whatever plan he dreams up for escaping this universe. It just remains to be seen whether she can trust him that much. Potential threat; friendly/potential ally.
afriendtosell
JOHN EGBERT
	What a… weirdly excitable kid. She didn't like him much when she ran into him as Onyx, and just sort of casually threatened his life when a spell had an unintended effect and threw her off-guard for a few seconds. He wasn't so bad when she ran into him as Khisanth, though. No threat; neutral.
dupable
THE JOKER
	He seems like an interesting guy so far! She hasn't been impressed by anything just yet, but she gets the feeling he has potential. Also he's apparently Harley's ex-boyfriend, so that's… interesting. She likes Harley more than she likes the Joker, so she probably won't decide to sleep with him, for Harley's sake. Probably. No threat; friendly/potential ally.
he_is_wild
LUST
	She totally digs Lust. She fully recognizes her as dangerous and must-be-watched, but she likes what she sees and thinks possibly she might make a good ally. You know, in the same way a lit stick of dynamite is a good ally. And now that she doesn't care about Zevran anymore, there won't be any territorial disputes between them! How wonderful. High threat; friendly/potential ally.
insineration
THE MAJOR
	Now here's a guy that properly appreciates warfare! She definitely likes this guy, and he's just so charmingly polite and cheerful on top of it. What a bro. :') If she paid any attention to, you know, anything, she might wonder why the majority of the City hates him. No threat; friendly.
loves_war
ROSE LALONDE
	An interesting little human. It's impressive that she's so young and already has magic so well under control. She didn't like her for their first conversation because she seemed so passive, but meeting her in person changed that. You're allowed to be passive when you can fly without wings. Reminds her a little bit of the nyphids, which means Rose will probably be able to drive her crazy without being in danger of being eaten. Since Rose has gone home and come back again, Khisanth is less interested in her. She's no longer willing to play along, and she can't see her as useful for anything. Minimal threat; neutral.
disillusionists
SELINA KYLE/CATWOMAN
	She's not terribly impressed by her so far. "Catwoman", really? She doubts she has any useful information or talents to offer, and isn't nice or complimentary enough to attract her attention. And now that she's hating on Zevran, she's even less likely to like her. No threat; neutral.
meowminx
SEVERUS SNAPE
	She can always appreciate a calm, put-together dude like Snape. He's polite and well-mannered, and best of all, properly respectful of a dragon. Aaannnddd sucking up probably for a reason and not to be trusted, yes, but hey! That's the way of things, you're stupid not to expect it. So she'll just enjoy his company in the meantime. Minimal threal; friendly.
bestunrevealed
TAVROS NITRAM
	Kind of a ridiculous pushover who is fun to troll. But, when out of boredom she offered to protect one person from Gamzee, he picked Jade instead of himself. So that's an interesting dimension! This makes him a little more interesting than simple amusement, and she intends to keep an eye on him. Since he left and came back, he's actually asked her not to kill Gamzee. Which is totally weird, so she doesn't plan on listening to that. No threat; neutral.
peanutblooder
VIC SAGE/THE QUESTION
	At first he was just a semi-interesting ally, but he's recently elevated himself to teacher status. And even if he's not teaching her any really really useful spells like the nyphids did, he's still assumed appreciated and friendly status as ~dispenser of knowledge~, and she's even come to genuinely like him. She enjoys learning from him, enough to put up with the little indignities she has to suffer to do it (sweatpants, really?) and can even recognize the value of learning to better control her emotions. She's more relaxed around him than anyone else. No threat; friendly.
nottheanswers
YSERA
	Holy fuck, this is pretty much the largest dragon she's ever seen in her life. She didn't even know they got this big! But she… seems willing to not kill Khisanth, so that's good? Khisanth would pretty much to do anything to keep it that way, too. Hell, she'll get along with anyone you want her to get along with, lady. Just don't eat her. D: This is the only person in the City that she outright fears, and no matter how nice/patient/peaceful she seems, there's no way in hell she'd ever trust her because of it. DANGER WILL ROBINSON; enemy.
ofthedream
ZEVRAN ARAINAI
	She was beginning to really like Zevran. Even if the humility and servitude thing was just an act, it was a pleasing one. She was even coming to respect him and think of him as a friend, and it was disappointing that he didn't seem to regard her as a friend back. Which of course made her huff and pretend like she'd never considered him friend-material in the first place. Until Aphrodite introduced a lovespell into the mix! Under its influence Khisanth admitted to loving Zevran, gave him a fancy car as a gift, slept with him, and asked him to be her rider. The first was pretty bad, the last was unforgivable. She now wants to completely forget he exists, and the only thing stopping her from killing him is that he didn't take advantage of her trust while she was under the spell. It depresses her if she lets herself think about it (she doesn't) that someone that she hates could have been a friend, but there's nothing she can do about it. Good thing she doesn't think about it. Minimal threat; enemy.
niceassassin

tl;dr history

fantasycliche — Sun, 01 May 2011 00:55:37 GMT

Dragons ruled, once. They filled the sky, lorded their power over lesser beings, and generally had exactly everything they ever could have wanted. It was an unfortunate time to be a human. It was either an evil dragon devouring your children or a good dragon doing battle with an evil dragon and crushing your barn. This went on for a tiresomely long time, until the tension between evil and good dragons escalated into a full-out war. Famous heroes were born, famous weapons were forged, and the patron goddess of the evil dragons struck a deal with the Forces of Good. In exchange for her life, she would be sealed into the Abyss, and all of her children sent into a deep sleep beneath the earth. It was foretold that they would wake again when she'd gathered her forces for another strike at that goody two-shoes Goodness, and so, predictably, this was what the black dragon Khisanth assumed was happening when she awoke. Imagine her dismay to discover it was two measly nymphids, waking her with some sob story about the last female of their species being captured and held captive by humans, instead of her Queen, calling her to battle.

Kadagan and Joad were two of the last three remaining nymphids on Krynn. The third one, Dela, Kadagan's fiance and Joad's daughter, had recently been captured by humans. After failing to get her back themselves, the two decided to enlist the help of a third party. As Kadagan put it to Khisanth, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." There was really no more logical a choice for an ally for two two-foot-tall fairy-like creatures than a 30-foot dragon, even if that dragon had recently (in her memory) been a hatchling, and woken suddenly to find herself full-grown and not sure what to do with her sudden strength and power. Khisanth initially refused to help them, but of course the nymphids had known she wouldn't lend assistance for free. They offered to teach her qhen, the mental discipline that would allow her to shapechange. Greed being the number one motivator of black dragons like Khisanth, she promptly agreed. "Anger will defeat thee in battle as well as in life," were lessons that were often taught to her, and grudgingly taken to heart. Joad took her once, after she'd mastered shapechanging, to a quiet grove filled with fireflies. The elderly nymphid fondly explained that these little creatures collected energy, expending it each night to light the darkness for others. It was a life well spent, he said. Khisanth didn't understand, but for the first time was content to wait for experience to catch up and provide comprehension rather than demand immediate answers.

It took a month or so for Khisanth to learn to fly, fight, and control herself with the use of qhen well enough to satisfy the nymphids. They still weren't entirely convinced that she was well trained enough to recapture Dela from the humans, especially after a greedy display of destruction in front of Kadagan of the massacre of a band of ogres, but it came to their attention that Dela was being relocated. The time for the rescue mission was now or never. Khisanth had made progress from when the two nymphids had found her, though. Where as she was once impulsive, brash, and entirely self-serving, she was now slightly less impulsive and brash, only mostly self-serving, and occasionally able to control her rage and greed through the calming techniques of qhen. And so, lessons in hand, Khisanth took the shape of a human and the name "Onyx", just outside the town that held the imprisoned nymphid. After a short while spent learning the strange rules and customs of her new shape (you must wear clothes, eat with utensils and not your face, and shaking your breasts at males will almost always get you what you want), Onyx was hired by a traveling merchant, Led, to be part of his mercenary guard. She impressed the man with her use of magic, as magic in the world was currently all but unheard of. She, in turn, was enchanted by his smooth manners and not-totally-unpleasant face. Eager to fully experience the human form, and utterly overwhelmed by the tangle of emotions that didn't usually effect her as a dragon, Onyx allowed herself to be seduced by him— both figuratively and literally.

After confirming that Dela was indeed the precious cargo Led was traveling with, Onyx knew she ought to free the nymphid right then. But that would mean killing Led, to whom she'd grown a little attached. Fortunately, an unexpected battle took the choice out of her hands. She was still looking for a way to recover Dela without having to betray Led when the mercenary group encountered a band of knights. When the knights demanded to see what Led was shipping and he refused, a fight broke out. In the course of it, the wagon housing Dela was broken open, and the nymphid was killed. Onyx and Led managed to win, but just as the battle was winding down, Oynx spotted a young knight dragging himself from the carnage. She ran after him, still high on killing and glad for the chance to finish off the group. Of course, casting spells at a group of knights from behind an able fighter is one thing, taking on a knight on your unarmed lonesome was another. The knight promptly punched her out and took off. When Onyx came to, it was to find herself with a broken nose and abandoned by Led. He and the rest of the group had assumed her dead and taken off without her. She was, as you might guess, a little peeved. It was then that she encountered Kadagan, who informed her calmly that Joad had died, he would shortly follow, and he was sorry she hadn't performed better. She insisted that she'd done all she could to rescue Dela, and Kadagan merely countered with a sad, "Did you?" ("Didst thee", really, but who's counting) before expiring himself. Three out of season fireflies floated off through the evening.

Once again in the shape of a dragon, Khisanth preferred to feel anger at her failure and Kadagan's forgiving accusation rather than guilt, and so she wasted no time in tracking Led's band down. She killed all of them but Led in one fell swoop, breathing acid down on them as they slept from the cover of darkness. One ogre managed to survive, whom Khisanth took great pleasure in slowly dismembering for Led's benefit. When she finally turned on him, she took just a little time to turn back into a human and mock him. She wanted him to understand why he was being killed, after all. His cowering fear was instantly replaced by charm to see that hot little number he'd tapped and ditched suddenly naked in front of him, and it almost looked like he might convince her to join with him as a dragon. Right up until she changed back and bit his face off, of course. Khisanth decided then that she'd been human for the last time, and would never again let herself be manipulated by a human or the ridiculous emotions that went with being one.

Suddenly freed of both lessons and obligations, Khisanth promptly settled down in what her instincts told her was the best place to make a lair: a dingy, bleak swamp. She lived happily enough, killing wildlife some days and turning into it other days, until she began to feel watched. The feelings built until one day a black dragon showed. It dive-bombed her lair, set her tree dissolving with acid, and took off again. Finding that to be a little rude, Khisanth promptly tracked him down to what she thought was his lair — only to find an elderly black dragon, blinking and perplexed at this intrusion. Pteros, as he introduced himself, was a victim of this mysterious dragon as well. Once it was established that neither bore the other animosity, Khisanth and Pteros got to talking. They agreed to coexist. Pteros would tell Khisanth stories of the glorious war that had gotten them all sent away, and teach her magic, while Khisanth would train Pteros and get his flabby old self back in shape. It was mutually beneficial, right up until the two dragons began to examine the bauble that the nymphids had left with Khisanth. Called the maynus, it seemed to be nothing more than wish-granting magic, and that was all Khisanth wanted out of it. But when Pteros gave it the poorly-worded command "take us home", it brought the two of them to a different plane. The plane of lightning, from which it, a sentient being, had originated. It offers to send them home in exchange for their having freed it, but all Khisanth could do was uncomprehendingly demand her maynus returned to her, and she cost them the chance to return when the maynus saw an old enemy and wandered off to do battle.

Unfortunately, the winner of the battle was none too friendly. A creature named Fraz approached the two dragons, claiming to be the strongest thing on the plane, and demanded that they do battle for it. They had little choice but to agree or be killed, so it turned them into feathery snakes and sent them after a giant. It cost Khisanth a wing and permanent damage, but she saw through Fraz's illusion before long. She turned herself back into a dragon again, whole and uninjured, and Fraz seemed ready to play more games with her -- until a voice neither she nor Pteros could hear seemed to command it to send the two of them back. Fraz obliged, but mischievously transported them directly into the middle of Talon's lair. Recovering quickly, Khisanth outlined a plan for the two of them to take Talon down, involving Pteros disappearing for a sneak attack from behind — only to discover Talon had company. Pteros never upheld his part of the plan to attack, leaving Khisanth to fight Talon alone. The second, unnamed dragon went to attack Pteros, while Khisanth fought and killed Talon. Pteros managed to kill his dragon, but crashed to the ground shortly after. Finding him lethally wounded, and angry at having been betrayed by his cowardice, Khisanth would have left him to die slowly. But pity took precedence, and she finished him off.

Having previously discussed the slowly growing armies of the Dark Queen with Pteros, Khisanth decided after his death to join one. The idea that dragons in the army took riders was absolutely inconceivable to her, and she vowed never to take a rider. However, the Highlord Maldeev allowed to join, despite refusing to carry a human, solely because of her impressive skills and ability. She outshone every other dragon in the wing, although she was kept at the lowest rank because of her refusal. Despite that, she became fast friends with the Highlord's dragon, Jahet. Two years were spent in the service Black Wing until Khisanth began to suspect treachery from the second ranked dragon, Khoal. There had been an outpost of Solamnic knights nearby, the champions of Good with which the Queen's armies, by default, were in opposition. Khoal repeatedly reported that their numbers were paltry and hardly worth bothering with, right up until an entire regiment marched to launch a surprise attack on the Wing. Khisanth and Jahnet were trapped by unknown magic in their lairs and unable to see what the klaxons were sounding for, until Khisanth managed to free them with her own magic. Begrudgingly changing into a human to go undercover, she realized that Khoal and the other two dragons were all in on the treachery, betraying their comrades in exchange for choice pieces of Solamnic land from the knights. She managed to trick two of the traitor dragons into leaving the battlefield. Khoal, though, called her on her human shape and had to be fought and killed. Khisanth managed to do this, and then turned her attention on the invading knights.

She squared off against their leader, ready to pick him apart or melt him with acid — right up until she recognized him. Sir Tate, this opposing general, was unmistakably that young knight that had punched her out all those years ago. Before she got a chance to rip him apart for having wounded her pride so sorely so long ago, he was rescued and pulled away by his subordinates. The armies parted ways, and Khisanth began to understand why it was humans and not dragons that currently ruled the world. Enraged that three dragons had so easily been turned against their own kind, she sent a general demand to know why up gods-wards. Strangely enough, a god answered. It was the Dark Queen herself that pulled Khisanth into the Abyss for an audience, and explained that the betrayal had been in her plans all along. By thwarting the scheme and killing Khoal, Khisanth had disobeyed the god's wishes. She was sent back to the material plane with a warning and an order: don't screw up again, and take a human rider. The Queen added that Khisanth would find her rider in an unlikely place, and know him when she saw him.

It wasn't long before the Black Wing had mounted their counterattack. The knights were ready with solid defenses and griffins to fight against the dragons, though. Maldeev asked Khisanth to fly wing to him and Jahet; an unexpected honor. Khisanth accepted, and just as the three of them were closing on Tate and his griffin, Jahet unexpectedly seized up, died, and fell out of the air. Khisanth snatched Maldeev up before he could fall as well, then finally got her chance to end her feud with Tate. She didn't hesitate to send a claw through his brain, but then immediately wondered if it hadn't been a mistake. She'd felt a strange draw to him since first meeting him, and the Dark Queen had told her she'd find her rider somewhere she wasn't expecting him... Glancing at Maldeev, who, by the death of Jahet, would become her rider, she wondered if she hadn't killed the wrong human. After the battle she returned for Jahet's corpse, only to find obvious signs of death by magic. It had to have been treachery, though she wasn't sure who could have done it.

During the ceremony to bond the two of them, Khisanth asked Maldeev to participate in a ritual that Pteros had shown her. Bloodmingling was an old dragon tradition, wherein both parties would clearly see the thoughts and motivations of the other for an instant. Pteros had told her never to trust anyone she hadn't bloodmingled with. Maldeev agreed, and Khisanth discovered that it had been he that had arranged Jahet's murder. She knew immediately that he was hateful, afraid of anything more powerful than he, and basically a despicable person not at all to be trusted. And so she didn't. She worked carefully with him, right up until the day that he asked a new dragon, unexpectedly, to fly wing to him and Khisanth. Remembering this as the exact scene that had lead to Jahet's death, Khisanth snapped and clawed his face off. She was again pulled to the Abyss for an audience with the Queen, and again berated for screwing up her plans. But she would be given one more chance, and so she was sent into boredom and exile to guard a staff. The book, a prequel, ends with her about to encounter the heroes of the original book — an encounter that goes none too well for her.