Mirth

Mirth is a dog-tailed K’kaiy’o’tal, an extremely rare magic hybrid between a dragon and a blessed canine. He has soft blue eyes. The apparent “nostrils” on the tip of his muzzle are actually marks; his real nostrils are near his tear ducts. He has two pointy canine ears and an impressive fluffy dark purple mane around his neck. His face has a white mask marking with a single white stripe running down his back to the tip of his tail. At the tip of his snout is a peach-colored spot, and he has peach eyebrows. Some scale-like blue markings decorate the top of his muzzle and above his eyes; under his eyes are similar red scale-like markings. He has dark brown fur with dark purple sock-like leg markings and small red and blue stripes on his back and the end of his tail. His front legs have white patches with red scale markings. Despite the scale-like markings, Mirth is 100% luxuriously soft fur; he doesn’t have any real scales.

When Mirth breathes, he exhales a faint amount of red and blue smoke from his nostrils. The amount of smoke is an indicator of his mood and health. It also serves as a warning for when he’s upset.
If he is injured or weak, there will be lesser smoke or none at all.

Because of his half-dragon heritage, Mirth can transform into an eastern dragon. He maintains his fur colors and patterns but now has scaled legs and claws. Depending on how he feels, this form can have a long fluffy tail or a long thin tail with a tuft of fur at the end. He can fly with the use of magic in this form.

Mirth does not wear any accessories or clothing, but he always carries around his blessed blue orb, usually in his mouth or in his claws.

The blue orb originally belonged to his mother. After his mother's disappearance, the orb fell into Mirth's possession. It emits a soft, warm glow and wards against corruption.

Mirth inherited some magic powers from both his father and mother. He can breathe a powerful red and blue two-toned fire, a trait passed down from his dragon father. Unfortunately, he was born without the protective internal layer that dragons have, making his painful for him to breathe fire at all. He avoids using it and only keeps it as a final resort.
If used too often, the flames would cause severe internal damage or even kill him.

Instead, Mirth prefers to rely on the powers that he inherited from his mother’s side, which includes healing.

• Mirth can breathe two-toned dragon fire, capable of melting metal.

• Mirth can shapeshift into an eastern dragon.
• He uses this form for flight and travel.

• Mirth has minor healing powers and can create wards to keep corruption away.
• He's not good at healing, but he tries his best!
• The wards consist of claw marks and writing runes.

• Mirth can regenerate using the blessed blue orb.
• He is unable to regenerate without it.

Mirth is a very distant and quiet individual. He likes being alone with plenty of space and hates small, crowded areas. He’ll avoid conflict where possible and isn’t aggressive; he only attacks if provoked. If approached, he will slowly back away and warn the person with a puff of smoke. It’s the only warning they get. He doesn’t like hurting others when it’s not a full-on fight for his life, but he values his personal space and isn’t afraid to bite at any fingers or other small appendages if his warning is ignored.
He dislikes physical contact and will get upset if touched without his permission. This includes cuddling. No matter how tempting that fluffy mane may be, do not cuddle against him.

Though Mirth lives near a village, he doesn’t interact with the villagers and keeps his distance. He prefers to stay above in the mountains, watching the villagers wander about on their daily routines and listening to the children’s laughter as they play in the field. Their presence is enough to keep him from feeling alone.
He has grown to love the village and would protect the villagers with his life.

Mirth actually despises his dragon heritage and dislikes any mention of his father. He is insecure and views himself as “imperfect” due to his lack of proper dragon traits, such as scales and firebreath protection. He’ll avoid full dragons and will only tolerate half-dragons like himself.

Due to his father’s horrible reputation, he was unable to see himself as anything besides a “villain” like his father, but his positive reputation with the village has helped him think better. They see him as a good guardian, and he likes to see himself as one, too. He hasn’t officially accepted the title of “guardian” but definitely plays the role for them.

While not an easy task, it is possible to slowly befriend Mirth, or at least get on his good side. He doesn’t forget those who are nice to him and always returns favors. He’ll gladly acknowledge a new ally; he’s trying his best not to make new enemies, anyways. With his whole status as “guardian”, he’s got plenty of those invading his territory on a weekly basis.

Don’t expect him to have much to say or reply to notes, however, since his main way of communication is through body language and random scribblings in the dirt with his claw. He can speak both “common” and dragon languages. He simply chooses not to.

When traveling down from the mountains, Mirth always carries his blue orb as a form of protection. The orb itself is a blessed item and wards away dark energy. It has a lot of sentimental value. He will panic and become enraged if it is stolen or lost.
(Of course, most people wouldn’t want to steal something that’s been in his mouth half the time.)

Mirth loves fish, especially koi and goldfish. One of his favorite pasttimes is relaxing and watching fish swim around in the mountain lake. He sometimes feeds them with food scraps.
It is one of his dream goals to acquire a few koi or goldfish to care for, but they are extremely rare on his side of the world.

Mirth resides in the mountains near the old southwestern village, Shihara. He lives by a beautiful small lake and waterfall, surrounded by plants and small wildlife. A large system of caves make up most of his mountain home. It is where he sleeps and stores all of his belongings.

Once a month, the villagers in Shihara will gather together and place various small gifts at the mountain shrine for Mirth, as a part of their village tradition. He travels down at night to retrieve the gifts to avoid contact.
His favorite gifts are the ones with dried meat and the custom marbles made by the village glass worker.

Thanks to the villagers, Mirth has an ever-growing collection of shiny trinkets and tiny Origami dogs. He keeps all the non-edible gifts neatly displayed in one of the caves. All of the coins are arranged in stacks, all the Origami dogs are lined up together, and all the marbles are placed in a special pouch.

When Mirth saw the villagers build a community garden, he started his own personal zen garden with rock arrangements and a handmade pond. While it’s not likely, he hopes he can acquire some koi or goldfish for the pond someday.

There was once a powerful eastern dragon who found a kind spirit who took the form of a large canine. He was a cruel and hated tyrant who ruled a village with an iron claw and flames. She was a pure soul who had been wandering lost on the world surface with no memory of her past. Despite their differences, they fell madly in love with eachother and, years later, had several children. These dragon children were named the "K'kaiy'o'tal" by the villagers.

A few years after they were born, their mother vanished without a trace, leaving the K'kaiy'o'tal to fend on their own at an early age. The dragon was not a kind father to his children, and he always attempted to eat or even outright kill them. The villagers were fearful of the K'kaiy'o'tal and were hostile towards them, often greeting them with thrown rocks or vocal threats.

While fleeing from their father, the K'kaiy'o'tal scattered some distance over the lands, surviving on their own with what skills they could muster, and each K'kaiy'o'tal eventually learned of their powers and how to use their newfound abilities. All of the K'kaiy'o'tal inherited their father's firebreath in various beautiful colors but not all of them inherited the important traits of a dragon, which made some powers a negative asset to them. The K'kaiy'o'tal grew aware and less fearful of their world, and they started walking down their own paths. The dog-tailed K'kaiy'o'tal were more like their kind mother, taking up the role of guiding others, and the serpent-tailed K'kaiy'o'tal were more like their evil father, taking up the role of misguiding others.

One day, the villagers were finally pushed to their limits and refused to continue living in fear. They joined forces with the K'kaiy'o'tal and gathered up a small army to challenge the dragon. A long and bloody war broke out between the people and their fire-breathing tyrant. The war ended with the dragon's cries as he collapsed, defeated by mere mortals, and there was a burning anger clearly visible in his eyes as he realized that his own children turned against him. The villagers sealed the dragon's soul into a jar, which was then chained and thrown into the river.

After the victory, the villagers and K'kaiy'o'tal threw a festival, celebrating the village's freedom from the dragon's evil reign. However, their rejoicing did not last long.

A few years later, the villagers began to grow fearful of the K'kaiy'o'tal's powers and feared that they would grow to be just like their father. Without warning, they started hunting down the K'kaiy'o'tal as if they were evil demons, to eliminate any "remaining threats." This broke the chain of trust between the villagers and the K'kaiy'o'tal, and both sides became enemies.

Unfortunately, the K'kaiy'o'tal were outnumbered by the villagers and were chased out. Some were captured and never seen again by their siblings.

To this day, nobody knows what happened to the remaining K'kaiy'o'tal. Some villagers say the remaining K'kaiy'o'tal still wander the outskirts of the village, but very few have claimed to have ever seen them.

To many, they are simply an old tale and that real K'kaiy'o'tal are long gone.

Years after the events, a lonely Mirth returned to the old village, where the new generation had put the past behind them. He missed the presence of the villagers and had grown tired of wandering the wilderness. Not wanting to scare anyone, he settled up in the nearby mountains and carved out a secluded home near a small lake and waterfall. He’d protect this new home and territory of his from monsters, and, indirectly, he ended up protecting the town from monsters.

Eventually, the villagers noticed the decrease in monster attacks and began to investigate the mountains. The first villager to stumble upon Mirth’s home was kind and figured out that Mirth was responsible for warding away all the monsters. When they returned home, they informed the village that they were now under a guardian’s protection and that the guardian was not to be disturbed. They would return again and again over the next several months, offering small gifts of food and trinkets to Mirth by leaving it on a rock by the lake.

When the villager grew too weak to climb the mountain path, they erected a small shrine with a bell at the foot of the mountain. They would leave their monthly gifts at the shrine for Mirth to pick up. The gifts would be left overnight, and they would be gone by morning.
At one point, Mirth willingly appeared to the Human and allowed them to touch his fur, which was considered a blessing.

Though nobody else ever saw their guardian in person, the rest of the village began to follow, creating a tradition of monthly gifts to their guardian in exchange for his blessing and protection. Even the children participated and made small colorful Origami dogs.
Overtime, the villagers would learn of Mirth’s favorites: dried meats and shiny trinkets. It became normal for one high quality gift to consist of a wrapped packet of meat and a pouch of coin.

Having grown attached to the village and the villagers, Mirth decided to remain in the mountains and make it his permanent home, in order to watch over them. The home that his family was once driven from was now his home again.