Avishraa Reloaded

• Age:
• Formal Name: Sriatha Azhratha-Argentha Shahrivratha Rudusen'riitha avi'Cordovanatha tel'Kijanetha
• Common Name: Shahrivrath
• Familiar Name: Shahrivra, sometimes simply Shah
• Mana type: Sapphire

Having done away with his physiological weaknesses, Shahrivrath is quite fit and capable of combat, though due to his personality rarely engages in making it apparent without dire prompt (or what he would consider dire, at any rate, which frankly often isn't). As such, his displays of strength are exclusively reactive or born of practical concerns.

His most unusual trait by far is that he's a colour-hybrid: His scales are to near-equal parts silver and blue, albeit not simply blending - their interaction is a complex, winding, labyrinthine pattern, like fractal lines. Since the membranes of his wings possess no traces of silver, he would describe himself as a blue dragon with silver patterns, but the distinction is rather arbitrary.

His eyes are teal, washed-out counter-part of his otherwise rather bright scale colouration. The hybrid colours can go either way in observers - he's been described as beautiful roughly as often as he's prompted revulsion, though naturally he identifies with former rather than latter. Fortunately, he's never tried to ascribe any mythological meaning to his colouration and patterns, simply viewing them as-is… but he's certainly extremely recognisable.

Shahrivrath lives the excesses of Srian personality.

He has more than his fair handful of obsessive-compulsive urges, though they fortunately rarely surface in biological environments; it would be quite easy to derail his thoughts and actions by tipping over a jar of seeds, for example, or nudging books out of order, or stealing a piece from a puzzle.

He's a complete racial purist, chiefly because he believes the Hzataalar race to be some kind of enlightened variant of the Avishraan species, with all other offshoots of the species dangerous for the universe as a whole.

Naturally, he expects the whole Kaean-Srian Hzataalar paradise to slot into some kind of structure on its own once its achieved.

Shahrivrath is wholly convinced he's generous and benevolent. He'd probably only take statements of otherwise from other Hzataalar Sria - and as it were, none of those exist. Convenient.

He quite possibly may be (biologically!) incapable of fear (if not of caution, concern, and even discomfort bordering dread in situations threatening the foundations of his precious worldview); it's part of what's driven him to be who he is today. See the history section for details.

Shahrivrath believes that non-Chosen Avishraans, while animals, are not dangerous out of their relative impotence, and 'generously' permits them to live unless there are other reasons to cull them, such as those getting in his way or looking like they would without a doubt try to get in his way (e.g. family members of murdered Chosen). He deals with these without announcement or fuss, killing them swiftly and, if he can arrange it, painlessly.

Shahrivrath's take on the Davir Sria is that they are dangerous, as they are Chosen and have the skill of magic, but he feels a strong affinity toward them, having once been Srian himself. As such, he fervently believes it's his duty as an enlightened being to cure them of their warped bodies. In part out of a brutally practical bent and in part out of what he is sure is his inherent benevolence, he only offers the transition and does not force it on anyone. Since someone who rejects the offer proves that they would rather remain a menace to the universe, he kills them; again, if he can arrange it, quickly and painlessly.

His first real protégé, Demarath to Shahrivrath is a completely cherished pet. He has no rational bias toward the Davir Srian's ability to see the transition through to the end, but he loves him like a son, almost to the point of eclipsing his love to his mate. It's a project, it's the chance of turning the Hzataalar Sria into a real clan and not a sole individual, the start of something grand. He couldn't be much more excited and hopeful if he tried.

Shahrivrath lives for his clan. It's a clan of one so far, but he envisions greatness for Hzataalar Sria, especially if they can work together with the Hzataalar Kaea as he does with Chandarmaneth. He believes immortality is possible in Srian-Kaean pairs and pushes the practise whenever he has opportunity to.

Shahrivrath feels neutral toward the Davir Kaea, though he reasons they're mere animals meant for the slaughter. There are plenty of Hzataalar Kaea, so he has no immediate urges to preserve them for any purposes other than to experiment with them (something he has been very, very happy to do with Davinath), but he does eschew killing them, believing the issue one that's fully up to the Hzataalar Kaea (except, again, Davinath).

Davinath is, in a nutshell, dirt to Shahrivrath. He's attacked Chandarmaneth, which firmly paints him in the brush of an enemy, and he's Davir Kaean. Of course, Shahrivrath is far too proud to outright declare someone he lets alive openly as so low, and so he tends to give a spiel of generosity and 'empathy toward animals' and whatnot, but ultimately, the only reason he enjoys Davinath's presence is so he can, quite frankly, torture him. It's rather insidious, in that he simply disregards his psychological health (and minimises his care for his physiological health) while experimenting on him to figure out things about the Avishraan species, Chosen, and Kaeans, so superficially, it looks like that's his primary motivation. If Davinath hadn't attacked Chandarmaneth and they'd chanced upon him somewhere else, that would, indeed, be what would drive Shahrivrath to keep him, but the attack of Shahrivrath's mate is not going to go unpunished for many, many more years. He hates him - and he takes a deep enjoyment out of his suffering.

Shahrivrath is wholly egalitarian as far as the Kaean/Srian dynamic goes and has nothing but respect for the Hzataalar Kaea, even though he's fully aware that it's not necessarily reciprocated. He believes the path they've paved spells good things for the Avishraan race as a whole, and he feels in their debt for having helped him transition to a Hzataalar Sria (even if that was an individual, and not the group as a whole). He's occasionally perplexed how scattered and decentralised they are, which irks him, but in absence of a Hzataalar Kaea (that is not Chandarmaneth), he always manages to convince himself they're the closest non-Srian thing to perfection.

Shahrivrath, of course, loves his mate. She can be stubborn and argumentative, which he has to acknowledge and plan for, but if he can have any say in it, then he'll have none of that from her. This is especially true at current, since she's temporarily magically crippled, leaving him absolutely unmistakably superior.

                          ^ rational +
                          |
                   Hzataalar Kaea x x Hzataalar Sria
                          |
                          |         x Chandarmaneth
                          |
                x Davinath|         x Demarath
  emotional - <-----------x-----------> emotional +
                Avishraans|
                          |     x Davir Sria
                          |
                          x Davir Kaea
                          |
                          |
                          v rational -

Shahrivrath's skills tend to be 'creation' of matter - usually the changing of atmospheric particles to something more ordered, sometimes outright crystalline. He takes deepest enjoyment out of creating biotechnology, lacing many of them with traces of mana that let them circumvent usual biotechnological hurdles with magical properties. The items imbued with mana are short-term items, since they easily deplete their reserves (not having an organ to generate and collect mana, themselves); longer term items, such as his traps, are mana-free.

Shahrivrath's upbringing by Cordovanath and Kijaneth is largely rather uneventful. Neither of his parents were Chosen.

The only really interesting detail of Shahrivrath's very early life is that his desire for order let him at first reject mind-links, disliking the disorder they introduced in his skull by imbuing with uncontrolled emotions from others. As such, he respectfully severed from his family and lived - uncharacteristic for a Srian - psychically isolated for many years. He did seek out the company of others, however, and moved to Udunshraa early in his life to be with his brethren. He eventually warmed to the idea of mind-links, but never actually instated any, too engrossed in actual work to form bonds he wanted to deepen.

When the Culling happened, Shahrivrath was one of the few Srians that were, simply put, unaffected by Hzataalar Kaean tactics. He felt a deep horror at what happening, of course, but also understood the significance of the event nearly instantly and pondered the terrifying nature of creatures capable of such an act. He marvelled at their precision at a distance (oh, he does love precision). He understood, however, that their paths would never be able to cross, or he would be killed without exception.

He never brought it over himself to leave Avishraa, however, and maintained Udunshraa as its only keeper for a long time after the Culling, forging a deep friendship with the Citadel, insomuch as the only barely sapient hunk of biotechnology could be said to be capable of friendship.

Shahrivrath's obsession with the creatures that had decimated his kind refused to wane, however. He understood that they were Kaean, but felt the whole event of the Culling had elements of Srian thinking that excited him and made him wonder if the Hzataalar Kaea, in all their horror, had become more Srian, and what that meant. For the longest time, he was wholly convinced it simply meant a mixing of the ideologies would be completely fatal, and developed a resentment for the Davir Kaea as the only source of potential corruption of his pure Srian mind.

Ultimately, once he'd made a somewhat unusual encounter with Iisharsria and undergone his Second Manifestation, he decided he had to hunt the Hzataalar Kaea down and capture one to speak to it, resolve the loose ends, and understand what they'd done to themselves.

Shahrivrath caught Chandarmaneth on one of her Avishraan prowls. With their magic roughly even, he had her physical strength to worry about, but caught her with one of his biotechnological traps and bled her free of mana to speak to her without constantly having to battle her in the meanwhile. Physically tangled and magically dry, she felt a sense of nausea overwhelm her hatred and became reasonably talkative. He told her he intended to keep her captive as long as he had questions, and encouraged her to simply answer them, that he meant her no harm despite what she and her kin had done to Udunshraa's inhabitants. He learnt about the Hzataalar outlook on the weak-bodied Chosen and decided the assessment was at least partly correct - they were a potential danger - but that their methods were flawed. He partly convinced Chandarmaneth that conversion was the better solution, then left her be (the trap would dissolve itself soon enough) and travelled alone, intending to 'convert' other Hzataalar Kaeans.

Amongst his travels, he eventually came across Tanith's family and spent time with them, glad to know other Davir Sria, and finding the physical vicinity to his brethren alone was a calming balm to his soul. He befriended Tanith and his family and for many years simply shelved his Kaean project, feeling that the urge of routine far outweighed his urge to do something against further Hzataalar cullings, especially as time went on and he became increasingly certain the Davir Sria were simply no longer being hunted.

Then… that particular card house collapsed. He was caught by a group of Hzataalar Kaea that had changed their views on Srians since the Culling, as well, and kept Srians alive to herd them together and deal with them as a collective, perhaps to abuse the mindweb that would no doubt arise for purposes undisclosed. The prospect came to sound increasingly grim as time went on, and Shahrivrath eventually helped Tanith escape. He was left behind in the same escape attempt, however, and narrowly escaped grave punishment by the circumstances: Roughly half his captors wanted to chase after Tanith and put him out of his misery and half wanted to let the runt escape but Shahrivrath punished, and the very disagreement stole enough time to let initial rage simmer. Punishment was still had, but it wasn't lethal.

Before an ultimately worse fate could befall him, Chandarmaneth chanced upon the group and their captive and laid claim to the Srian, explaining what he'd dared do to her (managing to juggle it just well enough to make herself not look weak) - and that they should try to convert him. The immediate reaction to that plan was revulsion in the other Kaeans, of course, but Chandarmaneth ultimately won them over by explaining that they were, in group, far too powerful for any one Hzataalar to destroy or even harm all or most of them, and it was worth an experiment at the very least.

Needless to say, it worked. Chandarmaneth wasn't really enamoured with the result at first, disappointed the Srian didn't just die as her worldview dictated he ought to, but as her brethren declared her a baby-sitter of the resulting monstrosity (albeit in other words), she begrudgingly accepted that it had been her idea and watched him with suspicion (and a little bit of fear). Eventually coming to realise that he truly meant Kaeans no harm (at which point she could also have allowed herself to simply leave him to himself, and was briefly tempted to do just that), they had many more conversations, and she came to - at least rationally - accept his egalitarian, balance-oriented world view, and agreed to help him hunt for and convert other Srians before her brethren hunted them to complete extinction.

Somewhen in the middle of that, they 'fell in love' (which is to say, bluntly, Chandarmaneth wanted a mate and he was the only guy around, and at that ideological point presumably the only guy she could stomach having sex with (if only barely)), and since then consider themselves lifemates. It's every bit as fickle as it sounds, though for all its schizophrenic nature, not fragile in the least, since both parties are wholly aware they're not traditionally in love with each other.

They've both discarded their prior family names in favour of adopting 'Rudusen'riith' as the same, 'Road To Enlightenment' (from rudu = road, sen' = to and rii = wisdom). They both think it's rather pretentious and will joke about it in their time alone together, but feel it certainly suits them much better than their traditional family names.