Pyrrhia-Pantala AU - Grandmaster Merlin

 

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\\  P E R S O N A L I T Y  //

POSITIVE: 

 Logical > Merlin is very good at deducing what to do in a situation, quickly going through all the facts in his head and calculating the best path to take based on what information is known. Furthermore, he is good at not only taking in empirical facts and applying them to the situation, but also understanding the emotional outcomes of what will happen and applying those into his analysis as well. 

 Hardworking > Merlin seems to have a constant stream of energy. He's always working on projects, talking with members of the Alliance, spying on his students, on trips overseas, observing scavengers, tinkering with some strange invention - he seems to never tire. Rumors say he sleeps less than 4 hours a day. 

 Diplomatic > Merlin is a talented peacekeeper and diplomat, having studied each tribe's culture extensively. He is decisive and able to keep others on their toes while negotiating, while also having compassion for those in need. 

NEUTRAL: 

 Commanding > Throughout his time at the University, Alliance, his role as the Ancient Master and then the Grandmaster, Merlin has been taught how to command others, be a good diplomat, and how to construct inspirational speeches. When in a crisis, he immediately leaps into 'command mode,' and begins directing others - whether they may like it or not. 

 Ambitious > One doesn't get to be Grandmaster of the Alliance by age 35 without being ambitious. Merlin has always non-stop pursued his duty to the Alliance. He has not climbed over others, but he certainly reached for promotions when they were available. Although he has calmed down somewhat over the past several years, his youthful intensity shines through when he is determined about something - or when he's angry at someone. 

 Adventerous > He loves traveling to different places and trying new foods. Even if something looks weird or disgusting, he'll always be interested in trying it. He also absolutely adores going to small towns and talking to the locals, listening to their stories, and learning about different tribal culture. Finally, Merlin has done extensive studies on scavengers and scavenger culture, so much so that he can speak basic words in their language and has learned their alphabet/much written language (see Powers). 

NEGATIVE: 

 Prankster/Troll > Merlin LOVES to joke around and prank others. He's a massive troll. This was a problem in his youth when he would joke around in inappropriate situations and prank others, sometimes getting some very important dragons angry! Merlin is better now at understanding when is the best time to play pranks, which means most of them happen to the Alliance and his students...unfortunately for them. 

 Overenthusiastic > When talking about his passions, Merlin can go on...and on and on. He can be a real nerd when talking to others about his or their research, and he can sometimes get lost in book and story plotlines, chattering about them eagerly to his friends who can only roll their eyes. 

 Hubris > Merlin would take the world on his shoulders if he could, and stand alone against armies to protect the University and the Alliance. As it is, despite that he can get a LOT done, he's bad at asking for help and knowing when he needs it. It brings internal shame to him when he does ask for help, despite the fact that it shouldn't. 

LIKES >> Forests, reading a good scroll by the fire, playing pranks on others, scavengers (especially Trickster, his pet), exploring different towns and cultures, his students, trying different foods and experiences, his friends, dragonets, the "" face

DISLIKES >> Belligerent/aggressive dragons, Queen Ibis's Trials, chocolate, being underground, wearing armor

SECRETS: 

 > Still in love with Cypress
 > He knows a potentially deadly secret about the Ruins in Isle Mezzo
 > Is currently translating a book written in the Pantalan Old Langauge. This, too, may hold a big secret...
 > Researching something strange about the Crystal Castle and the Alliance's Founders

FEARS: 

 > War between the SilkWings and the HiveWings
 > Queen Ibis (He's not exactly scared of her, but he's wary of what she could do) 
 > Something bad happening to the University or the Alliance
 > Fighting between the Orders (It's not likely, but something close to it has happened in the past) 
 > Anything bad happening to Cypress

WISHES/DREAMS: 

 > To have a family and dragonets of his own one day, once he knows the land can be peaceful
 > At this point, he's already fulfilled several dreams, including visiting every single tribe's territory and becoming the Ancient Master (and then Grandmaster). 

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\\  H I S T O R Y  //

[Certain parts of Merlin's history is kept vague as it may become plot-relevant at a later date].

Baby Dragonet > Merlin was born to Solar Storm the SkyWing and Brimstone the HiveWing in the capital of SkyWing territory. Unluckily for him, Solar Storm was a noble in Queen Carmine (at the time)'s court, and she was already engaged to another dragon. Yes, poor Merlin was born out of wedlock. He and Brimstone were allowed to live, provided that they did not spread word that he was Solar Storm's son. Brimstone was a hardened criminal on the streets of the Sky Capital, a high ranking member and valuable to the mafia in the city due to his talents and the paralyzing poison in his claws. Until the age of 3, Merlin was raised with the Cat o' Nine Tails gang, where he had to quickly develop his toughness and smart to survive with the other gang-hardened dragonets. Any scroll-reading or joke-telling Merlin tried to do was quickly smacked down by the older dragonets, and he received taunts about being an "egg-head" as well as painful smacks to the nose. Especially since at that age, Merlin was rather runty compared to his peers. Brimstone was often busy, but he did the best he could to be a good father to Merlin - he took him on trips to the countryside when he could, to forests where the trees touched the skies, on hunting trips in the snowy mountains. 

But as luck would have it, when Merlin was around age 4, Queen Carmine was killed by her glorious, headstrong daughter, Queen Ibis in a challenge for the SkyWing throne. And unlike Queen Carmine, Queen Ibis was fierce about stomping out crime. All of the SkyWings in the court doing black market tradings and deals behind the law's back - they sent to the arenas. All the lowlife criminals and thieves, entire mafia beds and gang beds swarmed by guards no matter how much of a fighting force was put up - they were no match for a newly trained SkyWing army, reinforced with allies from the MudWing Kingdom and members of the Pyrrhia-Pantala Alliance. The Cat O' Nine Tails main base was swallowed up like the rest of them, and Brimstone and Merlin were thrown in prison for a few months. This cleansing of criminals and crime in the Sky Kingdom would come to be known as "The Purge of the Sky Kingdom" in the years to come.

Naturally, during their trial, Brimstone was sentenced to die in the SkyWing Arena. Merlin challenged Queen Ibis - "Set him free instead of me, put me in and I'll give you a fight to remember." Queen Ibis was amused by this idea - she did not intend to kill or unnecessarily harm the small dragonet of course, nor did she intend to free Brimstone, but she did want to see what Merlin would try. In the arena, pitted against a gladiator, Merlin used his small size and high agility to weave about, spreading his weak (but flammable) neurotoxin gas breath before igniting the entire thing in a huge explosion. His opponent was permanently blinded due to the explosion, and it wasn't long before they died in a subsequent arena battle. Queen Ibis, of course did not allow Brimstone to be set free, but did keep her word in a way allow him to go after ten years of hard labor, farming and helping re-build the Sky Kingdom, instead of being put into the Sky Trials.

In the crowd watching Merlin's battle was a member of the Order of the Shield, and later that night, the Shieldite found Merlin, requesting for him to come to the University. Queen Ibis already owed a debt to the Alliance due to the Alliance's help in Ibis's clearing out crime campaign. She was not keen at all on letting Merlin go, having already seen his tactical prowess at such a young age, but one must respect the Alliance. Merlin was allowed to attend Pyrrhia-Pantala University, and after saying good-bye to Brimstone, he and the Shieldite left for the island with his tiny bag of belongings. However, to this day, Queen Ibis still remember the "debt" she feels Merlin owes to her. 

Dragonet > At age 5, Merlin was sent to Pyrrhia-Pantala University and placed in the Diamond Talon. For the first time, he was able to meet dragons from all sorts of tribes, and he had friends - friends to talk with over lunch, friends to laugh with, friends to play pranks with. Furthermore, he could actually pursue his real interests in learning and lore, as opposed to constantly fighting and scheming all of the time. His time at the University was similar to that of many other dragons, full of adventures and shenanigans. At the University, he met Cypress, Sphinx, Hellebore, Spitfire, Archipelago, and others - then just students like himself, doing homework and enjoying their golden days. He got up to quite a lot of trouble while at the University, not limited to but including stealing the Book of Clearsight by having Cypress disguise herself as the HiveWing Princess, and successfully saving the Book from being destroyed by a gang of angry visiting IceWings. It's safe to say that Merlin knows quite a lot about the Isle Mezzo, having explored secret rooms, underground passages - you name it. In his fifth and final year at the academy, Merlin started dating Cypress. 

Young Adult > Directly after attending Pyrrhia-Pantala University, Merlin entered service into the Pyrrhia-Pantala Alliance, where he was sorted into the Order of the Ancients by the Orb of Unity. He was actually somewhat dismayed at this, having expected to be sorted into the Order of the Shield due to his forthcoming nature. He was sent specifically to Pantala to learn more about the ancient history of the Pantalan tribes, although during his time off he traveled around to visit and learn about each of the Pyrrhian tribes as well. Merlin and Cypress went on several missions together, but as they were both off the continent doing missions frequently, they weren't able to see each other as much as they wanted to, catching hidden moments here and there by sunset and moonlight. At age 12 however, their work got to be so much to handle that they couldn't see each other often, and Cypress became cold and unreceptive to Merlin for half a year. It puzzled him, as normally they shared everything with each other, and to this day he does not know why. Their relationship began to falter at that time, but they stayed together as Merlin was determined to try to make things work. 

Merlin was given even more responsibilities; he threw himself into his studies of the history of the tribes - especially important figures such as Clearsight, Darkstalker, Blue, Luna, Cricket and the Animus Siblings Turtle and Anemone, and wrote several textbooks and documents about Pantalan tribe history that are still used in classes today. Around this time, he and Cypress met up, finally acknowledging they didn't have enough time to spend on each other, especially after she was promoted to the Master of Whispers - they decided to simply be friends, and stick with each other through thick and thin. Merlin went on many more missions and focused on the good of the Alliances, quickly gaining the trust of those in the Order of Ancients until Merlin was made the Ancient Master at age 25. 

It was around age 28 when one of the HiveWing hives was attacked by an army of "rogue" SilkWings. Merlin was already in Pantala at the time; when news of the conflict came to the Hive he was staying in, he gathered all members of the Alliance that he could find and rushed to the battle. Only a couple of those dragons were from the Order of the Shield, meaning they had far less battle training than the highly trained SilkWing military. His ability to take command of the situation and outmaneuver the military-trained SilkWings with lesser-trained Alliance members and what few HiveWing reinforcements they had on hand gained Merlin recognition throughout the HiveWing and LeafWing kingdoms. These tactics came to be known as the Merlin Maneuvers. 

Adult > Merlin served the Alliance until age 31 or so when the previous Grandmaster, a SeaWing named Hydro, decided to retire. Hydro and the High Council elected Merlin as the next Grandmaster, and so Merlin stepped up to the rank, hoping to do his best to follow in Hydro's footsteps. So far Merlin has done an excellent job, his most notable success being subtle work within the Sea Kingdom by use of the Order of Whispers and the Order of the Shield, in order to stir up more support for Dreadnought to challenge the SeaWing throne. He toes the line between keeping the peace and not stepping into other tribe's affairs too much, and leaving their cultures to bud naturally. In his spare time he pranks and harasses the students at the University, as well as those in the Alliance. He's still extremely busy, but actually has more time to spend with students and others in the Alliance now than he did before, now that keeping everything in order and making sure things are running smoothly is part of of his job. 

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\\  R E L A T I O N S H I P S  //

PARENTS > 
     >> Solar Storm (mother) - SkyWing (reddish-orange with amber and gold markings) 
     >> Brimstone (father) - HiveWing (dark red and black with gold markings) 

Solar Storm is dead, given she was part of (and eagerly participated in) a very corrupt noble family who frequently struck deals with gangs; she was sentenced to the Sky Trials. Brimstone, having completed his 10 years labor sentence, lives a simple life now as a farmer in a village at the edge of the SkyWing kingdom. Merlin visits him occasionally. 

SIBLINGS > 
Dionysus (half-brother) > ???

MATE (if applicable) >  None, he's a bachelor (He probably wouldn't be interested in anyone though, see Secrets)

DRAGONETS (if applicable) > None

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(Describe any others your OC is connected with here, including friends, enemies, etc.) 

 > Master of Whispers [Cypress] - A close friend of Merlin's since they met at the University. Cypress and Merlin were partners in crime, the pranksters of the town during their first few years in school. Over time, they began to develop strong romantic feelings for each other, and they began dating in their last year at the University. They dated for almost 7 years before Cypress was promoted to the Master of Whispers, and soon after that Merlin was promoted to the Ancient Master. The relationship became slightly strained due to all of the responsibilities both held, and together they decided to let it go and focus on running the University and the Alliance. When Merlin was promoted to Grandmaster, the gulf between them widened now that they had to keep a professional relationship along with being friends...but that said, Cypress still remains Merlin's closest confidante. Usually he keeps his toughest problems bottled up, but when he needs to talk to someone about personal things, he talks to her. He still very much cares about her, and has feelings for her, as much as he tries to keep their friendship above it, they sometimes slip through. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND (& something more)]

 > Master of Illumination, Sphinx - A friend/enemy of Merlin's. They were rivals all throughout being in the University together, and naturally they joined "rivaling" Orders (Sphinx eventually rising to Master of Illumination, whereas Merlin became the Ancient Master). They still fight and banter...a good deal...but he highly respects her opinion in the end, no matter what jokes he might tell at her expense. They're good friends, despite what they might say about each other. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND]

 > Master Nimbus, Vesper - A childhood friend of Merlin's who he greatly trusts. Her tastes in alcohol are impeccable, and she was part of the Diamond Talon with him, taking part in many pranks and adventures. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND]

 > Ancient Master - Tidebreaker - Merlin's closest friend from the Order of Ancients, he knows the Order is in good talons with Tidebreaker and his amazing brownie recipe. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND]

 > Master of the Shield- Spitfire - Another childhood friend and his main sparring partner. He admires and looks up to Spitfire, and always has, seeing her as the bravest person he knows. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND]

 > King Archipelago - An old friend of Merlin's from University days and serving in the Order of the Ancients, they still keep in touch via letters now the Archipelago left the Alliance three years ago in order to officially become King of the SeaWings. [CHILDHOOD FRIEND]

 >  Doodlebug - One of Merlin's previous apprentices. He cares about his previous student very much and writes to him when he can, as he and Doodlebug are both often on missions. He's was disappointed when Doodle was sorted in the Order of Whispers, but trusts that Cypress is taking good care of him. 

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\\  E X T R A  //

Voice: Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Scent: Pine needles and smoked hickory and oak
Playlist: Kratos's Theme - Tales of Symphonia, Leonardo's Invention & Flight Over Venice (Assassin's Creed II), Homestuck - Three in the Morning, Portal 2 - Robots FTW, Tales of Symponia - Last Battle Decision (TOD2 Remix), Somewhere Only We Know (Keane), King - Lauren Aquilina  
Pet: Has a pet scavenger named Trickster (Tricky for short - about 25 year-old blonde male - his real name is Arthur). The scavenger can speak very basic Dragon.
Bans: Hybrid and Master

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\\  C O M M U N I C A T I O N  //

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Application for  
Made by @/Biohazardia
Background image drawn by Pandamonic (do not tag) for use of Pyrrhia-Pantala only.