Racing the Starry Sky Blue Zhilinith

Dark prussian blue sweeps across the seemingly endless expanse that is this large hatchling's form, like the continuous reaches of space. An overlong body is lean over its entirety - sleek neck flows seamlessly into a chiseled torso, slipping just as perfectly into the long, whip-like tail. Slightly brighter midnight blue brushes along his wing joints, expanding outwards onto each sail, like a nebula tinting the sky. Like his back, his underside isn't the same pure hue - instead it's dappled with pale blue, almost silver, spots, like stars thrown across the night sky, without rhyme or reason. A heavy gathering of the stars are on the each side of each limber leg, all the way to the black talons. The spots fade out as they climb up his neck, all but gone over the long snout and around his nostrils. A handsomely formed head slopes upwards to head knobs that are dusted a lighter powder blue. Ridges are practically ebony, with just enough difference marking them as the darkest navy as they proceed down his back, like hills blocking out the stars that lay close to the horizon.


Egg Name and Description

Bleak as Night Egg
A black egg, that of the darkness of the night, nestles into the black sands. At first foreboding to look upon, such a bleak spot in the pale light of the cavern, it still draws the eye to it. Perhaps it is the hints of light on its surface, like twinkles of diamonds in a block of coal, or perhaps stars twinkling in the night sky. As your eyes move across the egg, the bright spots seem to sparkle with an inner light. Near the peak of the egg there seems to be a dense collection of stars as if something got tired of placing the stars and just dumped the last few in a pile. Yet there is one bright spot that almost feels like an omen of trouble, a red star sparkling ominously at the base of the egg. What trouble does it foretell?


Hatching Message

Bleak as Night Egg cannot withstand the chaos within, as the shell seems to pop outwards, shards falling around its previous spot. The night sky upon the egg is gone, but an equally dark spot remains.


Impression Message

Dark hues seep into your mind, sneaking up like a careful stalker, waiting for action until it's too late to escape. But, it can wait no more, and a bright silver bubble pops in the forefront of your mind, which is followed almost immediately by a cheerful peel of mental laughter, and then there's a youthful, and accented, voice. « I got you Zhayne! Zh'ae, I got you! You didn't know I was coming did you? » A few more bubbles pop here and there, almost carelessly before he continues. « I'll show you how I did it. Zhilinith can show you much. But first, may we eat? »


Personality

Zhilinith is some of what you asked for and some of other things too. But, in general, he's a prankster, he has his own sense of humor, and he thinks outside of the box, challenging the standard conventions. But, even as he gets into mischief, and faces the need to learn patience, he's not truly evil. Just trouble-prone.

From the very beginning he's going to be a handful, though, as Zh'ae is too, really the problem will come down to the poor weyrlingmaster. He enjoys playing minor tricks and pranks, nothing serious or overly damaging, mind you. Instead, he'll urge you to trade the oiling brushes for blocks of wood with no bristles, or perhaps to put a collection of pebbles in Heliath's couch, just to make her uncomfortable. However, any "damage" must be done when no one else is around, to ensure that the blame doesn't fall on him. Though, should it, he'll be quick to deny any involvement. « What? T'wasn't me. Though, come to mention it, I /did/ see Kartikeyath over by the couch. »

While he gets great enjoyment out of the pranks and tricks he plays on others, his humor is otherwise generally dry, and his tone can become sarcastic when asked what he feels is a stupid question. If, for example, you found him attempting to wallow in the sand to relieve an itch, and asked if he wants to be oiled, he'd likely snort. « No, of course not. I just writher in the sand like a tunnelsnake for /fun/. » But, when you do help, his sarcasm will ebb, and he'll go back to considering what havoc to attempt next.

He is a very impatient soul, and from the moment you walk off the sands you will be inundated with questions. While a pitiful « When are we going to eat? » and « Can we swim yet? » may be the most common ones, as training progresses, they'll evolve. « Aren't you done with your straps yet? » and « Why can't we do more than just /stretch/? » will come later. Even his actions will betray his impatience, as he can hardly sit still, ready to get moving, and try something new. As a result, it's entirely possible that you'll be held back at least some in training, because he went flying out of bounds, or overstressed his wings trying something unapproved.

As he ages, his pranks will continue, though his mind will grow up at least a certain amount. Once in a while, instead of an impatient inquiry, you may receive a more serious question. « Why is Leslyn getting the extra training? Shouldn't we all get the same? ». He'll also eagerly volunteer you for a wingleader position, or as an assistant weyrlingmaster, citing the number of metallics leading, and the need for you to prove you can do it just as well. He's never truly satisfied with being just like everyone else, and will constantly attempt to change his, and thus your, position in life.

When it comes to females and mating flights, it will be a headache more often than not. Zhilinith is incredibly loyal, whether they deserve his loyalty or not most times. When it comes to a flight, Zhilinith will be eager to chase, and even more eager to catch. Should he fail, he'll sulk some, before hoping to curl up with some other female, proddy or not. However, should he actually catch, he'll be caught on the poor green, like white on rice. He'll hope to spend more time with her, encourage you to spend more time with her rider, to get to know them better. And, if they are extremely unlucky, he'll write poetry. Bad poetry. His obsession will continue until something puts a stop to it - he wins another flight, or some other male proves that the female isn't really Zhil's. But, even then, he'll mourn the loss for a while before truly moving on.

Again, this is merely a suggestion on how to play him, he's yours, and yours to do with as you like. I hope you enjoy your Coyote-Spike!


Mindvoice

Zhilinith favors the darker colours: violets and navy, darker forest green, and even the occasional maroon when his mood turns that way. Yet, his intentions are anything but dark, and when amusement at some trick crosses his mind, streaks of gold and silver will dart through, lightening the mindscape, before disappearing once more. Like excitement, anger will change the hues of his mind to brighter ones, immediately betraying his frustration to you, and hopefully giving enough time to defuse it before it finds its way out in some sort of prank. His voice is like a young boy's, though it will deepen with age, though it will always maintain a rather British hint to it, sometimes causing as much issue with other dragons as Zh'ae's own accent causes issue with other people. It is, however, his advantage as well. After all, who would ever believe something with that cute accent could have ever been responsible for helping herd the animals into the ground caverns?


Inspiration

Zhayne - or should I say Zh'ae? Congratulations! We're excited that we get to keep you here at Ista, and we hope that you enjoy Zhilinith!

This cycle's egg theme was 'Myths and Legends' - and Bleak as Night Egg was based upon a Navajo legend. This is what Lisle, its creator, has to say about it: This egg is based on the Coyote god of Navajo mythology. When the world was created, the Holy People gathered around Black God to place the stars in the sky. Coyote grew annoyed at the slowness of this process. In his anger, he chose to place a red star, called Ma'iio, in the south. Ma'iio means 'the one who roams'. This star symbolizes Coyote and appears for only a short time during the year. To the Navajo, it is a symbol of trouble. Coyote continued to be displeased with the Holy People's progress and threw the bag of stars over his head, forming the Milky Way. The Coyote is a trickster and will resort to the most devious of tricks to get what he wants.

As the hatchling theme is, at least to a certain extent, the corresponding gods and goddesses of the myths, your Zhilinith is based on the trickster Coyote, but also as you requested, on Spike.

Zhilinith's name comes from the Navajo word 'Lizhini' which means black. While Zhilinith doesn't have a black soul, his physical and mental colors tend in that direction, and it seemed appropriate given the night-time egg inspiration. I've been pronouncing it Zeh-Leh-Neth, but you're free to say it however you'd like!

But, as always, what's here is merely a suggestion - feel free to use or ignore whichever portions you'd like, or change him around completely.

Congratulations again!

L'ton


Credits

Name Racing the Starry Sky Blue Zhilinith
Dam Gold Teloriith
Sire Bronze Dhonzayth
Created By L'ton
Impressee Zh'ae (Zhayne)
Hatched 2 February 2007
Ista Weyr
PernWorld MUSH

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