Dam: Hassaleah's Sentinel of the Sands Gold Mhiyath
Sire: P'aolo's Take the Journey Bronze Ersieth
Egg Name: Carved Stone and City Lights Egg
Egg Desc: Two worlds collide on an egg's smooth surface: the ancient and the modern split like yin and yang so that the contrast is plain but the borderlines are anything but straight. The lower curve of the shell is solid rock, rugged tan and matte gray tarnish over a faintly golden shimmer. A surprisingly intense hue of rose spreads across one patch, etched with patterns reminiscent of the decorations found on the oldest Holds. Around the middle of the egg, the rough texture smoothes out, becoming confined in pillars of gleaming brightness, glimpses of twilight shadow defining the towers. The pillars are studded with brilliant jewels of light, each of the thousands of tiny points as fire-bright as a bare electric bulb... and as garish, against the darkening night.
Mind Name: Resplendence of Faith
Mind Desc: Bright, shining and true--there is no doubt, no shadow left within, not even the least tiny opening for such to creep in. Nor is it cocky or cruelly proud, simply full of the surety that it knows what is needed and that all else will be provided somehow. This narrow focus eliminates all color but brilliant white-hot flame, but also gives an unwavering purpose.
Hatching Message: At last, a gleaming talon tears through the thin membrane that barely holds the cracked shell of the Carved Stone and City Lights Egg together. Then another emerges beside it, and the two together slice an opening large enough for a muzzle to emerge. The Shining Force of Justice Gold Hatchling is soon free of the confines of her shell, and busies herself for a moment clearing away the debris.
Hatchling Name: Shining Force of Justice Gold
Hatchling Desc: The sun's own rays blaze in shading at once commanding and impossibly delicate across the hide of this solidly-built queen. A veil of white gold wraps around her, draping in swirls of blinding pale against flaxen shoulders, caught up then over the slender spars to form immense and translucent sails. In the shadow beneath them, true auric hue is found, sirocco wind blowing fine sand down chest and over the vast expanse of belly's curve. On the leeward side the color pales again, lightening as it travels down the thick tail 'til the tip is bare sandstone, stark and smooth. Each limb appears thus carved, lean sinew chiseled from ancient stone with no cushion of softness in which to retreat, and they hold her in ever-watchful pose, eyes large and luminous ever seeing and talons sharp and merciless ever waiting.
Impression Message: From nowhere, you can hear the roll of thunder, and are momentarily blinded by a flash of lightning that refuses to fade. << I have found you, >> the lightning thinks, each word roaring like message drums of old so loud that you can almost feel the vibrations. << You can hide nothing from me now! >> And indeed you cannot, for the queen in front of you locks her eyes with yours and all of your secrets are made plain, every crush and petty jealousy you have ever felt, but also every moment of rejoicing and pleasure lived again in an instant. The light fades away but she does not, her thoughts still as close as your own and her hunger pangs twisting your stomach. << I am Rhadamanth, >> she tells you, << and you are worthy. >>
Even before she understands that world, she will make her opinions of it known, in the same brilliant and thunderous voice she uses to speak to you. << He's already had his fair share of the meat! >> Never mind that she isn't in fact hungry and there's plenty to go around; she expects absolute equity in the distribution of resources, especially food. Some of that may be self-preservation, for Rhadamanth will eat like a dignitary--slow, small bites, chewing thoughtfully while her clutchmates wolf down whatever they can get.
But that attitude, alas, is not limited to food. She has ideas of proper behavior that most Weyrling dragons would find absolutely foreign. Pushing, shoving, roughhousing... they're all absolutely out of the question, and she will have harsh words for the others who engage in such foolishness. Should an oil tub be upended in the course of her siblings' play, she will make no bones about telling everyone just who did it. Tattling? << I merely expect others to take responsibility for their own actions. >>
That will, of course, include you. Although you've never been one to slack, the level of devotion Rhadamanth expects to duty will sometimes push even your limits. She expects perfection of you--that you will be the first one up, the first one to volunteer, the first one to answer a question. It will be your responsibility to remind her of her own ideals: even duty must be tempered by balance.
As she grows older, she will begin to recognize that for herself. Once she reaches maturity, your lack of personal life will start to trouble her. Not enough to play match-maker, of course; such a thing would be beneath her. But enough, certainly, for her to issue a stern reminder now and then. << You are a weyrwoman but not only that. You must live an ordinary woman's life as well. >> After all, she reasons, before you lead you must know the people you are leading, and she will live by the same standard.
Of course, during her mating flights that polite sociability will fade entirely. Unable to temper her own harshness and unable to bear the flaws of those around her, she retreats--from other dragons, even from you, which at first may conceal her intentions until the flight itself is imminent. Those who encroach upon her personal space at such times risk her wrath, although for you she will never be more than sullen. After all, her quarrel is not with you but with those unworthy males who wish to sully her with their presence. She will accept the attentions of the winner only reluctantly--this is her duty for the Weyr, not her pleasure.
Most of the time, however, Rhadamanth is a very polite and reasonable dragon, so long as no one questions her judgment. She can be appealed to only by reasoned debate, making a change of mind no easy thing even for you to accomplish. No appeal to sentimentality will ever shake her, and she has little respect for those so weak as to base decisions on maudlin tales. Her only absolute faith is in truth, that it will always shine through, that right will always prevail and wrong will always be vanquished. In this you are her helpmate, and she trusts and relies upon you to tell her the truth, to guide her to what is right, to walk with her along the thin line which is the balance.
Two wise kings, separated by generations--Rhadamanth's personality is based a little on your favored Rhadamanthus, but also on the man who ruled Jordan from 1953 to 1999, from the age of 18 until his death in 1999. King Hussein was responsible for significant increases in the education and welfare of his country, and did much to foster peace and well-being in a region which is known for neither.
Ruling is a difficult business, as kings and queens from the beginning of time have learned. Rhadamanth, in her time, will no doubt find the same, but will hopefully be as just as her namesake.
The Carved Stone and City Lights Egg was inspired by the ancient city of Amman and its surrounding area. Both egg and hatchling were written by Hassaleah.