[Medium Sized Model - 25mm Base]
[Presupported with LYS files in 32mm & 75mm Scale]
Raised not among the Darkscales, Kijaa was brought up by a cloistered sect of vicious killers whose influence stretches far beyond the swamps of the isle. Yet she has fled here to escape them, finding a place among her new kindred. Though she holds no true loyalty to Sovram or his cause, it gives her protection and veils her from the eyes of her kin who hunt her. She offers her services to Sovram, in hopes that should he succeed, it might further deter her hunters from finding her here.
Amidst the plains of S’va Akai, the land of the Umbra Dragons, resides a secretive order whose reach stretches far beyond the continent of Zandoriel. An order of dogmatic assassins raised from birth to become the executors of their mother’s will, killing machines who serve kings and queens, lords and ladies and the wealthiest merchants from across Minera. This is the order of the Silent Dragon, consisting entirely of Black Dragonkin who hatched from their egg at the stroke of midnight, an omen among their people for their ill-fated future. Kijaa was one, taken from her cracked egg and presented to the Matron of Silence, a torturous childhood laying before her.
Training was gruelling, exhausting, cruel. Dozens perished in training, or in punishment. A day spent without blood drawn was a rarity, and by the time training was complete, there were none whose body did not bear deep scars beneath their cloth. Though through the darkness, there came fleeting moments of light, for each initiate was assigned a bond-brother or sister from their day of induction. Kijaa was paired with her brother, Azraak, standing a head taller than her, and having an innately sweet, caring nature to Kijaa, one unbecoming of an assassin. Yet in the sparring arena and during training, this melted away, to unveil the ruthless killer he was born to be. He became Kijaa’s protector, brother, and best friend in a place where warmth and bonds were discouraged, save for those with their bond-brother.
Though the Order had carefully constructed this dynamic over centuries, and always used it as a final test of will for initiates before they were anointed as bloodied assassins. This knowledge was kept from them all their lives, yet at the ritual of their graduation, the pairs would be placed together, brought in by their tutors for one final test. Kill the other, and the survivor will ascend. Refuse, and both will die. The faint beating in Kijaa’s heart became erratic at this revelation. She refused to harm her brother, yet Azraak insisted she did, lest they both perish, and he would not harm her either. With their tutor beginning to draw his own dagger, Azraak slit his throat before his sister, collapsing onto the ground where the gargles of his blood became the last sounds Kijaa ever heard from him. Though their tutor was not impressed by this result, it still qualified Kijaa to become admitted to the order.
Already as she left the room where her dead brother lay, she found herself in the auditorium from whence they had been divided to slay their kin. Some pairs emerged together, and it became apparent that should a pair choose to challenge their tutor, and slay them, they would be permitted to both ascend. Yet even still, there were many who did not emerge, either paying the price to perish together, or failing to defeat their tutor. For years, this guilt weighed on Kijaa, and no amount of blood spilt in her contracts seemed to ease the pain, to the contrary it seemed to deepen the scars in her soul.
By fate’s chance, a contract she had been assigned in Brol’lokai held a target who shared a name with her brother. Though she thought herself fine to enact it, having killed dozens of targets in that time, she found herself stunned at the site of her target. Though he was bluescaled and looked nothing like her Azraak, she could not bring herself to take his life as well. Thus she fled, commandeering a sailboat and chasing legends of an isle of Darkscales shrouded in fog in the Dividing Sea. The seas guided her on this hopeless endeavour, and she landed upon the Isle several days later, beaten by the Sun, parched and starving. The local Darkscales nursed her back to health, and their de facto leader, Horzin, ultimately gave permission for the girl to remain, after she was judged by Sovram himself. By Sovram’s decree, he would shield and protect her from the Silent Dragon, so long as she offered her services to him in dismantling the leadership of the Silverscales. After observing their brutal training regimes and seeing a mirror of her own upbringing, she became resolved to put an end to it, lest other hatchlings be bound to suffer the same fate as her.
