Master Wizard of the Wizard's Guild of Harmony
Edlyn Whiteoak was born in the capital city of Harmony in the kingdom of Heren-There. His father, Edward, was a master carpenter and his mother, Beth (maiden name Riversong), was a very talented healer. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Maude, when Edlyn was 4 years old, the family moved to what is now the village of Willowgard on the Mystic Sea coast. There, Edward worked as a shipwright and helped build the docks for trading ships to come from around the word. Beth cared for the children and helped in the community by becoming the local healer.
After decades of magical service, Edlyn found a place filled with such gentle power he promptly purchased the castle and surrounding lands. He named his new home 'Whiteoak' and settled in to spend his golden years and continue his studies and work in solitary service to those less fortunate.
At the age of 6 years, Edlyn was discovered to have magical gifts by a traveling wizard, Beaufort Beauregard. The master wizard happened by when Edlyn was charming termites away from the lumber the shipwrights were using and apprenticed Edlyn on the spot.
Master Beauregard took young Edlyn back to Harmony to study with the Wizard Guild. When Edlyn was 8 years old, word reached Harmony of a terrible storm with giant waves that had wiped out the settlement where his family lived. Edlyn's family were among those listed as lost to the storm.
The now orphaned young wizard made a vow to become the most powerful wizard in the world and to spend his life in service to those in need.
Edlyn studied herb lore, weather magic, charm-speak, sympathetic magic and earth magic to name a few. As he grew to be a man, Edlyn never forgot his lost family or his vow.
Over the years, Edlyn mastered every form of magic. He quickly surpassed even his teachers at the craft. He traveled to far away places, teaching and learning, helping those in need and always honored the memory of his lost family.
Sydney was the oldest son of Oliver and Clair Brightscales. He was hatched in the mountains far to the north in a place called 'Haven.' It was home to a large community of dragons of all sizes and colors. Each dragon had special talents. Some were wise beyond measure and helped keep reason and balance in the community. Others were fierce warriors who protected their homes and families from danger. There were marvelous story tellers who told tales of love, valor and adventure. Yes, each member of the dragon community had something special to offer...all except Sydney.
Besides having no talent, Sydney the Dragon had less ability to fly than the average turtle. Then the threat of death overwhelmed him and he turned and ran...and ran....and ran! He didn't stop until night came and it was too dark to see. Sydney stopped to catch his breath and listen for sounds of danger. He felt relief that there were no sounds of pursuit, then realized nothing sounded familiar either. He couldn't run anymore, the young dragon had to stop from sheer exhaustion and darkness. Sydney crawled through the bushes and found a place to hide. As he looked around in the darkness at the unfamiliar forest, he realized he was utterly hopelessly lost.
Oliver was the greatest musician in all of Haven. His songs were loved and sung by every dragon. Clair was a brilliant artist. Her works were believed to be miracles. Tristan, Sydney's younger brother, was already apprenticed to a master sculptor who praised Tristan's talents as genius. Even Kally, Sydney's baby sister, already showed talent in solving riddles. Yes, every dragon in the entire community had special talent...every dragon except Sydney.
If their son's lack of talent bothered Oliver and Clair, it never showed. They loved their oldest son unconditionally and never said or did anything to make him feel anything except loved.
Secretly though, Sydney felt he was not a very good dragon. He wished with all his heart that one morning his talent would wake up and he would find he had something special to give to his family and the community. But so far that morning had not happened.
Early one spring day, Clair packed a picnic and the family walked around the the far side of Lake Longtail to Softwing Beach for a day of swimming and family fun. As they began to unpack the lunches, Oliver spied a flash of light in the trees. Before he could shout a warning a band of dragon slayers erupted from their hiding places to attack the dragons. There was no time to think! Oliver grabbed Tristan as Clair scooped up Kally and they launched into the air. Sydney stood frozen in panic as Oliver screamed 'FLY! FLY AWAY!'. Sydney couldn't' fly!
Jasper was born in a litter of 6 kittens to Tom Stripetail and Martha Softpaws. He wasn't the biggest of his 3 brothers and 2 sisters, but he was the most clever...or so he believed.
For whatever reason, Jasper never gave a thought as to how this human seemed to understand. He also forgot all about the wayward hat as the human picked him up and cradled him in his arms. Jasper began to purr, and noticed a shiny stone pendant hanging around the human's neck on a leather cord. He gently placed a paw on the stone, and purred even louder. The stone seemed to purr back at him! He rubbed the stone with his furry cheek, then to say thank you to the human, he rubbed his cheek too. The human chuckled and gently petted his scruffy head. 'Oh, you like the pendant? It's a stone called 'Jasper'. and I think that would be a fine name for you too.' With that the human gently sat Jasper on a cushion inside the coach. Jasper curled up and promptly began to groom while he purred louder than he had in his whole life. He had forgotten about the wandering hat completely, and he had no idea where they were going, but he did know he finally had a human of his very own.
As the kitten grew, Tom and Martha taught them to hunt, to hide, and when to run away. Jasper was by far the fastest of all the young ones. He loved stalking birds and mice. Jasper also loved pounding on anything that wiggled. In fact, he was so busy being a kitten, he never seemed to have time for proper grooming, which gave him a rather messy, spiky appearance, much to the dismay of his mother.
When the kittens had learned all their parents had to teach them, they began venturing out into the village in search of places to make their own homes. One by one the kittens found humans to protect from rodents and leaves that blew about in the wind, and moved into their new homes. All except Jasper. No one seemed to want the fastest very best hunter, they all wanted the soft fluffy well-groomed kittens.
Jasper began to grow despondent. All his brothers and sisters were gone. His parents were already planning another family and Jasper had no one to play, hunt or wrestle with. He neglected his fur even more, and began sulking in alleys and running with wild stray cats and kittens that no one wanted. Time passed and Jasper forgot ever being part of a family.
Then one day, when he was in the alley behind an in hoping to find something to eat, a hat scooted past. Curiosity won out over hunger, and he quickly ran after the mysterious mobile hat. Jasper chased the hat down the alley, around the corner and straight into a pile of luggage sitting on the ground beside a coach where the hat disappeared into a large curved top trunk. Standing beside the trunk was an elderly human wearing a blue robes decorated with stars and moons and a tall pointed hat to match.
The human looked down at the ragged young cat and smiled. He asked jasper if he was lost, to which Jasper shook his head 'no'. The human looked at jasper with a very curious expression the kept asking questions until he was sure Jasper was a stray.
In the days and weeks that followed, Emo gradually relaxed and began to explore his surroundings. He soon learned he had nested with a powerful wizard who with all his wisdom, could not pronounce Emo's gremlin name properly. Eventually the wizard gave up and simply called him 'Emo' or 'my friend'. That suited Emo just fine.
Better known as
Emo was hatched in a cave beside the Mystic Sea. His nest was made of sand and stones and he shared it with 113 other eggs as gremlins have very large families.
His parents were (AH!(CLICK)-GURGLE-GURGLE-*SIGH* TICK!) and (SNORT!-^COUGH^-WHEEZE-GARGLE-GRRRR-GASP!AWWWW). Since gremlin language is impossible to write because they have no alphabet, gremlin is only spoken with sounds. No one really knows very much about gremlins as they are very gentle and shy by nature. Emo (the name eventually given him by Edlyn Whiteoak) was no exception. They go to great lengths to NOT be seen, generally hiding under just about anything. They can squeeze into places less than ¼ of their normal size thanks to a special kind of gremlin magic.
Emo, as all gremlins, had a tendency to 'borrow' whatever was left unattended. To a gremlin, it's not stealing as the item or object 'borrowed' is always returned in the same or better shape than when it went missing. They will leave home soon after they hatch, saying (making blowing sounds which mean) good-bye to their parents and sometimes travel great distances before finding a comfortable place to make a new nest.
In the travel department, Emo really went to extremes. After several unsuccessful attempts at nesting in a bakery, a dairy farm, a spice merchants, and a disaster at the gnome's machine factory, Emo found a lovely travel trunk filled with hats, socks, and robes. He was thrilled! He LOVED socks!
Emo crept inside the trunk while it sat in the shadow of a coach, and counted himself the luckiest gremlin in the world. Almost immediately, the trunk was lifted onto the coach and began traveling down a bumpy road. None of that mattered to Emo, he was in his glory as he promptly began nesting amidst the abundance of lovely garments. After several hours the coach stopped and the trunk was lifted down and carried 'somewhere'. Soon after, Emo heard a voice close by humming a merry tune as the trunk lid began to open. Emo panicked. He quickly burrowed to the bottom covering himself with as many layers as possible. One by one the hats, socks, and robes were taken out. Emo was freaking out. He was about to be SEEN!!! Just as the last hat was about to leave the trunk, the humming stopped. Emo clutched his hiding hat tightly, but nothing happened. Slowly Emo lifted the brim and peeked out. What he saw nearly scared him silly. Right in front of his short nose was a pair of bright blue human eyes!
Emo did what any gremlin would do...he totally freaked out. He jerked the hat back down and began to shiver in fear. What happened next changed his life forever. The voice began speaking in quiet gentle tones, carefully so not to frighten him more, the robes, socks, and hats were placed back in the trunk and the lid closed leaving just a crack for fresh air.