Weirdlanders

theshimmeringisles:

Shala Darkroot
Name Meaning: Goddess of Grain and Compassion
Nicknames: Shals, Shay, Buck, The Plant Whisperer
Gender: Female
Age: 272
Species: Chroma Dragon
Element:
Main: Earth
Minor: Nature
Patron Gods:
Main: 

Ksindæl, Murex
Relations: 

• Arsene Firethroat (Girlfriend)
• Cipi Boldstone (Dam)
• Abacus Darkvine (Sire)
• Renis, Beryl and Pyropus Slatestone (Siblings)
• Kishi Firestone (Grand-Aunt)
• Gaea Firestone (Second-Cousin)

Abilities: Not one well built for combat or war, Shala is slim and compact for a mostly Earth Chroma female, taking after her sire’s half-Nature blood instead. Because of this, she is gifted in the ways of assisting plant growth, specifically herbs that heal and soothe. When backed into a corner, however, Shala reserves her strength for powerful earth-based telekinesis, able to lob chunks of earth and stone the size of a fully grown male-Chroma with great speed and a ton of damage. She also has some future-sight abilities, though these usually only occur when she’s sleeping on untouched ground.

Profession: Potion, herb and vegetable cultivator extraordinaire, Shala has a small farm within Warfang with a storefront that she sells her wares out of. Unbeknownst to many, Shala has also penned over a dozen poetry books, in particular one detailing the unrequited love between an Earth Golem and a Fire Spirit….

Personality: Shala tends to keep to herself, an introvert through and through. The only time she is seen in a crowd is during her treks into the heart of Warfang’s merchant district to buy supplies for her own shop, or to visit the library, the latter of which she seems to disappear into for almost half the day. Shala isn’t the type to take up much time talking, and would rather her actions speak for her. Despite zero interest in having children, Shala is wonderful with children, and during her harvesting months she has a dozen or so young and eager sets of paws to help collect herbs and vegetables. 

History: Shala’s first few years were hard ones, as her every night was filled with nightmares. Nightly she had to experience the terror of a purple-eyed monster pursuing her, telling her she’d betrayed her true family, that she should have been destroyed the moment she hatched. Her sire eventually convinced Cipi to let her sleep between them in their own nest, and from there her night terrors seemed to cease.

But the damage would last her for her entire life, and Shala would rarely sleep for longer than two hour intervals during the night, waking restless for an hour or so before another few hours of sleep. This would affect her growth in different ways, though her lack of bulk was the greatest concern. Up until her teenage years, during which she began growing decidedly masculine features.

Her dam, Cipi, pushed Shala into training to become a guard for the city. Not feeling any sense of direction herself, Shala did as her mother told her, but promptly failed the entrance exam. Taking up training her daughter herself, Cipi pushed her to take the exam once more. And again. And again. And again. It took twelve failures until Cipi gave up, and feeling the bitter string of her mother’s disappointment, Shala did the first thing she could think of to vent out her frustrations.

She picked up a quill and parchment, and she wrote. She hasn’t stopped writing since. During the Kurosian attack led by Malefor against Warfang, Shala found a wellspring of heart-wrenching inspiration, most notably when her sire Abacus gave his life protecting her, her dam, and her three siblings who had yet to hatch. It was during this attack that she also met the Fire Guardian’s daughter, Arsene, helping her and her brother Ignitus lead a group of Chroma into the catacombs under Warfang to escape the slaughter above. It wasn’t until the smoke had cleared that Shala was tasked with gathering herbs to help the thinly-spread healers that she realized her talent with plants, and that she had an incredibly huge crush on Arsene.

Trivia:

• Shala is a vegetarian. Part of the reason she had nightmares was because eating meat gave her intense stomach problems.
• Shala speaks to her plants, reading and even singing to them, and has a deep connection to plant life. Often others will seek her out when their own plants seem to be in poor health, relying on her to tell them how to save their plants or replace them for a modest fee.
• It isn’t until decades after the first Warfang attack that Shala accidentally reveals her feelings for Arsene via the aforementioned poetry book. Arsene recognizes that her friend since the attack on Warfang’s secretly written the story about the two of them, but it isn’t until Shala inadvertently recites one of her favorite lines about Arsene’s inner beauty and stubborn will that she’s sure of it. The pair date in secret, as same-gender relationships are still looked down on.
• Shala’s future sight is entirely dependent on where she is sleeping. If her body is touching earth (soil, mud, stone etc) that has not been used to build shelter, she can see brief flashes of what may be in the future. This power was much stronger during her earliest years since her sire raised her ‘The Natural Way’: by letting her sleep outdoors wherever she felt like. Usually she would end up sleeping under some bushes near their home, where she was directly in contact with the earth itself. This is generally how Nature dragons become finely attuned with their own nature-based powers.
• Quite by accident, Shala cross-bred some herbs and beans used in teas and potions into something entirely new. When she ate some of this new plant, she found that it gave her a brief jolt of energy, and decided to try and make a new potion. Since then it’s the only potion of her own making that she drinks daily, as it keeps her awake for most of the night. (MOD: Tfw you accidentally create dragon coffee.)
• Shala helped Arsene learn how to make her own cinnamon oil, and plant her garden. The two bond over these, and the loss of their fathers.