VOR'AAL

Vor'aal was raised deep in the woods around Crescent Lake with her four other siblings and her parents. Shortly after their hatching, a number of unfortunate accidents befell her siblings and she quickly became the sole recipient of her parents attention as well as the sole inheritor to their fortune should they pass. She spent much of her youth learning the essentials of dragon-hood - the supremacy of dragon-kind and the inferiority of other beings, the best way to amass wealth and how to manipulate and intimidate other creatures into doing your bidding, among other important lessons. Her desire for influence and wealth, while endearing when small, was enough for her parents to drive her out of the territory when she came of age, worried that she would kill them and claim their territory and wealth for herself. While fond of the elven territory where she grew up, she flew across the continent and settled in the Hooded Expanse, claiming a sizeable patch of territory for herself. 

She spent her early adulthood amassing wealth, followers and honing her innate magical ability, watching as human empires rose and fell from afar and observing humanities insatiable appetite for conquest and power, not dissimilar to her own. Eventually she grew dissatisfied with watching from the sidelines she began to venture out of her lair and explore the cities and towns for herself, using her magic to create disguises and blend into the unwashed masses. While she found humans distasteful, she found great pleasure in creating distress and anarchy amongst their communities, particularly given their history of violence towards monster-kind and their abuse of the gifts given to them. She believed that the only place for humankind was a subservient one, if they were allowed in her presence at all. During one of these ventures, she made a name for herself as a mob-boss of sorts, using her lackeys to displace the current ruler and replace them with her own puppet - it was during this adventure that she first met Veruxam, and recognising her true form he invited her to join him at a gathering of like-minded monsters. She found Veruxam's arrogance and presumptuousness unflattering, but agreed to accompany at the prospect of information gained. At this meeting she met with many of the continents strongest creatures and many others that would grow into their abilities, much like herself. It was during this meeting that Vor'aal first laid eyes on a young Grirhyn, although they did not interact with each other during this time. The monsters there discussed the decline of humanity in the centuries following the deaths of The Great Four, said to be the beginning of the rift between man and monsters. While many of those gathered were worried at the prospect of a future war between races, or even a genocide, Vor'aal was excited at the notion of a conflict and endeavoured to see that she came out on top, no matter the odds. 

Vor'aal continued to attend these annual meetings and set about making allies with those gathered there, using whatever means at her disposal to create dependency between herself and her intended victims. Meanwhile, Veruxam continued to demand her attention and follow her exploits closely, seemingly impressed by how she manoeuvred her forces and leveraged her opponents into where she wanted them - while cunning and ambitious himself, he lacked her finesse and subtlety and instead fell prey to bouts of impulsive rage and extreme vanity. Vor'aal did not exempt him from her influence - through stroking of his already over-inflated ego and sense of grandeur she slowly became one of Veruxam's closest confidants, then later his mate - combining forces to lay waste and terrorise the denizens of Ward'en. 

As the centuries passed and a war between monsters and mankind drew ever closer, Vor'aal and Veruxam created an alliance of Chromatic Dragons, bringing together the most powerful and influential members of each category. Veruxam, naturally, designated himself to be the leader of the Alliance, but it was really Vor'aal who managed to successfully bring everyone together. Each dragon brought their own resources, minions and abilities to the alliance, and Veruxam appointed a now adult Grirhyn as his second-in-command. Despite usually viewing other dragons as resources to be utilised or barriers to be removed on the path to conquest, Vor'aal found herself becoming quite enamoured with the blue second - while Vor'aal was publicly mated to the egotistical red, the truth was she had little desire for him besides to use him for her own advancement in the world - in fact, she had shown little interest in coupling with anyone seriously in her entire long lifetime, until Grirhyn came along. The two found themselves falling in love and kept their relationship secret from the alliance, but especially from Veruxam, who like most red dragons was prone to fits of jealousy and did not like sharing. 

The conflict between humans and monsters continued to escalate, but some sought peace in the face of rising tensions. A delegation of representative monsters was invited by the human rulers of Dawnbreak (now the City of Dawn) to discuss peace terms and address issues on both sides in an attempt to deescalate the situation - neither side was sure where they would come out if a war were to break out, but the losses would be monumental on both sides. This was not conducive to Vor'aal's plans to conquer the territories and take her place as one true ruler of Ward'en, so she did what was necessary to advance her agenda, carefully manoeuvring her allies and enemies into positions in order to achieve the desired result. The delegation befell foul play and were all killed upon setting foot into the capital, the gruesome murders triggering the war in earnest and giving The Alliance the opportunity to recruit further allies to their cause, lending themselves and their forces to the conflict. The war lasted a number of years and claimed hundreds of thousands of both monster and human lives, including that of the Black Chromatic Dragon, but the monsters emerged victorious, driving humans from their cities and towns, and even the continent, reclaiming the territory for themselves. During this time, Grirhyn and Vor'aal continued their secret relationship, eventually having an egg together. The territories were divided up between the leaders of the monster forces, Vor'aal and Veruxam being awarded most of the western side of the continent and Grirhyn the entirety of the desert region that she currently called home. Vor'aal desired more than this meagre slice of territory but was happy to bide her time instead of alienating her new allies directly after a decisive victory. However, instead of enslavement or death, the losing side was given the option of reintegrating into the new society, much to Vor'aal's disgust. 

Flying in the direction of their newly claimed territory, Veruxam, Vor'aal and Grirhyn enjoyed some brief moments of peace to bask in their success before the two female dragons executed the plan they had been discussing for a number of years. Having outlived his usefulness, Veruxam was attacked by them both mid-flight and managed to deal terrible blows before being overcome by their combined strengths - they tore his throat out and watched him plummet to his death, crashing to the forest floor below and taking his last breaths. Newly relieved of his presence, but bearing horrible injuries - Grirhyn missing part of her tail and Vor'aal blinded and maimed - the two dragons headed to claim their new shared home, Clawtooth castle.