Vander

Vander was born high in the Evercrest mountains to a clan group of aspara who had claimed the spot generations ago and haven't moved since. Since her hatching, she has been solemn, serious, and a little sad, as thoughs some part of her soul remembered something awful and couldn't escape the heavy weight of it. Asparas are usually quite social, and although she does draws energy and support from others, she is too shy and nervous to seek others of her own accord. Some of her kin travelled to small homonic settlements and occassionally to the Alluumnian supercities, Vander never had the urge to seek out the living. Part of her reluctance to join this activity is undoubtedly her small, weak body. Her wings were and still are too heavy for decent flying, in comparison to her slender frame. She doesn't like flying, and was never good at it, so she preferred to remain at home and vicariously experience the riches of the world through the songs of her brethren.

As an aspara, she was born with the ability to traverse between the physical and immaterial realms, and she spent much of her young life looking for solace and companionship among the recently departed. She found the act of soothing fractured or scared souls to be cathartic, a balm for a heart that had always been aching. It may be that the dead days her clan participated in– that is, the days when hundreds of aspara gathered to mourn the dead, informed her maudlin, melancholy nature.

Vander only left her ancestral home when a rider from the nearby Evercrest came looking for partners. Although she had seen some come and go, she had never seen a member of this class before: the divines, the spiritualists of Evercrest, those who venture into the realms of the dead to help the needy. The mission appealed to her, and she accepted the offer of an enyi bond and a position at the academy. Since then, she has lost and gained two more partners, while still searching for her fated soulmate, her andzkin. She can't travel very far or very fast, but she hopes they will still come to her, some day.

Vander doesn't go to the spirit realm for very long or very often anymore; serious and cautious, Vander would like to avoid having her soul torn out.

Vander is an inexplicably unhappy little dragon. She may very well be clinically depressed. Whatever the case, she tends to look at situations as half-empty, already decided things. She believes in fate and she believes that no one has any choice in their lives. Just as her rider has been predestined, so too is everything else.

While Vander is unlikely to cause any problems, she's also unlikely to speak up when a real issue comes to light. She'll let things get to their worst before she feels it's necessary to say a word.

She is very intuitive, but she is also easily hurt. Vander has a way of knowing when someone needs her to be there for them. She tends to know what they need. However, she is a fragile soul. Dealing with other's damage often leaves her hurting.

While her belief in predestination can cause some frustration, her spirituality is an important part of her personality. She is very in tune with her own spirit and that of her rider. She connects well to others as well, both dragon and non. Despite a lack of assertiveness, Vander can be an excellent spiritual leader. She has no problem guiding others through their spirituality.

Vander is a slight, sleek dragon who is all graceful turns and flowing lines. Even at her tallest, Vander is only about five and a half feet tall and she is a little over twice as long. Her wings are small as well, only twenty feet in wingspan, but they are still not proportional to her stunted body. The combination of heavy, large wings and small, weak body make flying difficult for her. Vander is capable of only short flights, given her heavy wings and small body. Vander is easily tired out and doesn't enjoy being completely wiped out. She usually just glides a small way from tall structures. Vander would much rather prefer traveling on her feet, or not traveling at all. Vander is covered in shimmery silver-gray scales that shine green in the right light. Being so small and slight, Vander sometimes looks more like the spirits she contacts than a real, living creature. The scales that cover her wings and protrude from the tip of her long, whip-like tail greatly resemble feathers, long and thin. On her wings, Vander has two sets of flight scales. The first set of flight scales, the ones that make up the body of the wing and cover the top of them, are the same color as her body. However, the smaller, slimmer secondary scales below them are a lighter, more silver color. Like all asparas, Vander is able to control each individual wings, either slimming them for more aerodynamic form or extending them to act as windbreakers. The secondary scales at the tip of her wings can be shifted individually to better maneuver in the air. Her eyes are completely black, though a slitted feline pupil. The tapetum lucidum, the reflective layer behind the retina, reflects light to improve vision in the night time. Like a cat's, it causes Vander's eyes to glow in dim light.