Argan

This is Shade’s entry for Revek’s Historical Ruler Character Contest. As a result this is still a work in progress and currently being developed.
King Argan was an adult male LeafWing who formerly ruled as king of the LeafWings after the assassination of Queen Plane. He reigned over his tribe for about thirty years before he was overthrown by his own subjects and sparked the long-forgotten LeafWing-BeetleWing war. Before this incident, he was and is still known for being the ruler to lead the LeafWings to Pantala approximately two hundred years after the Scorching, as well as being one of the first LeafWing royals in the line.
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==Description==
Argan had gray-green scales, with streaks of brighter green but which still gave off a dull vibe. Speckled with bright orange on his underbelly, wings, and tail plate, his secondary scale color was also a hue of bright, jewel-toned gold and orange, which was the color of the larger scales trailing down his body all the way to his tail and his wing membranes. These scales seemed oddly metallic, as if they were made of precious gems — and they easily could have, as Argan was depicted to be interested in fashion statements and gem-embedding options. His sail, which trailed down his back all the way to his tail, was a brighter, yellow color, which contrasted heavily with his primary dark green scale color.
Argan had a somewhat chubby appearance, with rounded cheeks and belly as a young dragonet, as well as bright, mischievous green eyes. But these details faded over the years as Argan became older and was pressed with stress from work and late nights. He became noticeably thinner from neglecting to eat during work periods. The sparkle in his emerald eyes disappeared and was replaced with droopy eyelids and dark circles underneath from tiredness.
When he seized control as king of the LeafWings later on, he practiced to improve his slouched, tiresome posture and attempted to pull his shoulders back, tip his chin up, and try to hold his body in a regal way, the posture of all royal dragons. What was most memorable about Argan’s appearance was his expression; even scrolls today describe Argan to have an anxious, frightened expression, something that many LeafWings disliked about Argan.
Argan was swathed in jewelry — earrings on each ear, armbands, wristbands, rings, and even gem embedments on his shoulders and the scales above his eyes, all made with the best materials in the kingdom. He claimed that royalty should look their best for their subjects, even if it means decorating oneself with silly ornaments all the time, not just when making an appearance to the public. Argan also wore a gold eyepiece, as his vision had been poor ever since he was a dragonet. A large golden crown also sat jauntily on his head, displaying his power and authority for all to see.
You might draw different conclusions about this royal dragon after examining him carefully, but don’t be hasty yet. King Argan was a type of dragon whom you can’t judge by appearance.
==Personality==
Argan’s personality was surprisingly hard to put into words. The two dragons who were best at it were his mother and wife, both of which who were considered to have biased judgements about him, but were most times correct interpreting his emotions and actions. Though much of Argan’s personality had smoothed, hardened, and changed all over these years — like a rock being hollowed out by raging winds and tides — the core, the part that still holds the rest of the rock structure up has never changed.
He has been described by many to be worried. He regretted all the rash decisions made as a dragonet and still remembered them to adulthood, as he believed that foolishness would be remembered forever. Argan believes that was why he was so nervous yet so thrilled to become king; foolishness couldn’t be tolerated at the throne. Argan wanted to be remembered for his wise decisions and clever choices, thinking these virtues were essential and more dragons would worship him.
Most problems about Argan was that he tended to be somewhat lazy — he would push all of his chores until the last minute as a dragonet, and at the last moment struggled to get things done orderly. But a dragon shouldn’t judge him by that — he tried his best, make improvements in his habits, but it just didn’t work out. This changed as Argan became older, more mature; he no longer regretted his choices, but instead he forced himself to believe all his choices were for the best, no matter how foolish or pointless they were. 
Perhaps not the best solution, but an effective one. Argan slowly but surely began to build up confidence in himself, which was important for an inexperienced leader. Whenever he saw imperfection or something out of order, he had to fix it in any way possible. Stubbornness could be seen easily within him; Argan insisted that all of his ideas were brilliant and believed that dragons only refused to accept his words simply because they couldn’t see the perfect sense he was making.
With this came a few faults and flaws — Argan now tended to skim over the small mistakes he had made, dismissing them so quickly one might have felt uneasy watching upon this. His daughter Hagenia was one of them. She tried to step in and solve the issues herself, but that shook Argan as badly as it had in his dragonethood.
He began to harden, his confident outer self gone, only to be replaced with grim determination. Now, Argan often snapped at others, most especially the royal family and his dragonets. These moments were so unpredictable, so sudden that Argan’s dragonets didn’t know what to do and left him alone. Later, they regretted this decision, most of all Hagenia; it had been a huge mistake. The hard shell of anger, pride, and stubbornness was concluded to be the cause of his downfall and eventual death.
Nevertheless Argan did possess admirable traits. He was described to be extremely kind and caring, always careful and cautious when it came to the dragons he loved, or the dragons who looked up to him. Despite when times were though and he was burdened with stress and overdo, Argan would find just the right, encouraging words or advice. Present-day historians actually speculate that Argan was in fact a wise king after all, though he did act immaturely at times. 
==History==
===195 ~ 209 AS - Dragonethood===
Argan hatched in around 195 years after the Scorching, when the way of dragon tribes and the rule of queens were still quite new. Growing up, he tended to notice imperfections in life. The small mistakes that the LeafWing queen — and all the other queens of Pyrrhia — of his time ignored. His parents realized this also and were amused at their little dragonet acting as a proud someone who could solve all of this with a snap of the talons. Little did they know what was about to become of their son’s future.
Argan was sent to a school with the best educational system at that time; his parents were quite high in the rankings of the tribe and were nobility. Argan did well in school, and pleased his parents just fine. He had gained some fame and respect in school; that was what gave him the strength to keep working as a model student.
When he came of age, Argan was sent to train as a soldier for the slowly growing military of the LeafWings. The queen at the time, Queen Brayera, was delighted to have new dragons in the army and pushed them harder to patrol the borders of the kingdom every night without any stopping, resting, or eating. However Argan handled this brutal conditions well, while others did not fare as well. Argan’s childhood friend and former crush, Cedar, who also joined the army, was sensitive to these changes and passed away in his sleep, which deeply shook Argan.
===210 ~ 212 AS - The Leafspeakers’ Rebellion and the First War===
This was the point where Argan began to realize he had to find a way to fix all these problems that resulted in fury, horrible situations, and, of course, grief and death. He began to take interest in the LeafWing royals, specifically Princess Plane, Queen Brayera’s only daughter and eventual successor. He began to skip training periods to meet her in secret, flirting with her and complimenting her effortlessly — and successfully. 
Queen Brayera was soon aware of these meetings and the relationship between her daughter and the soldier-in-training who happened to be from a well-respected family. At Plane’s well-rehearsed request, Brayera somewhat grudgingly allowed permission to marry Argan. After several days Argan finally grasped what he had wanted — power and respect. When Brayera died of a poisonous snake bite, Plane was crowned queen and Argan was finally King of the LeafWings.
What he hadn’t expected was that all rulers had agreed to give power over their tribes only and entirely to the queen, not the king. His wife Plane — now Queen Plane — turned out to be greedy when presented with power and forbidded Argan from “interfering with ruling the kingdom.” She made sure all the important decisions, all the official business was taken care by herself, leaving Argan as nothing but the husband of the LeafWing queen.
Two long years after Plane had ascended to the throne, the couple received news from scouts — there had been frequent activity near the border between the SkyWings and the SandWings, including fiery bursts of explosions, roaring and screaming, and dragons clashing in midair to take the other down. It didn’t sound good; Argan and Plane immediately paid a visit to the SandWing queen — Queen Mirabilis — and questioned her. She replied that the SandWings and SkyWings were going to war.
Queen Plane and King Argan spread the news. Soon most of Pyrrhia were taking sides; the IceWings, RainWings, and SeaWings were with the SkyWings; the MudWings and the NightWings were backing the SandWings; and the LeafWings and BeetleWings were neutral, not part of the fight. Plane and Rosalia, queen of the BeetleWings, tried their best to keep out of the war, but it was more difficult than they expected. Soon Queen Claret of the SkyWings approached the two queens with a proposal; their leafspeakers and flamesilks should join their army to fight. In exchange, the SkyWings would give the LeafWings and BeetleWings protection from the other tribes. Argan refused the offer and tried to persuade Plane to do the same, but the young queen had other ideas as usual. She and Queen Rosalia discussed this matter for some while and after two days, they came to a conclusion; they would agree to Claret’s terms.
Naturally, this not only horrified Argan, but the leafspeakers of the tribe. They immediately joined together and formed a rebellion, determined to overthrow the two queens. Queen Rosalia was protected and defended by the BeetleWings, including their flamesilks; they believed more violence was not the answer, whereas the leafspeakers wanted to get rid of the problem as quickly as possible. The rebels attempted and eventually succeeded in assassinating Plane, but the rebels’ leader, Cypress, decided to leave King Argan alive, as he did not support the idea of selling them to the SkyWings.
Since Argan and Plane’s single daughter was barely a month old, the tribe agreed to let Argan rule the tribe until the princess, Hagenia, was old enough to be crowned queen. This time, Argan was determined to not let anyone stand in his way. He was delighted that he could make all the wise decisions himself, and not while being under the influence of his wife.
The first problem Argan faced as his first day as king was that one of the rebels had gone and destroyed the SkyWings’ palace with her leafspeak, bringing it down with large roots and vines and killing some SkyWings in the process — including Queen Claret. Of course, the SkyWings were furious about this and demanded the LeafWings to amend for it. The new queen, Claret’s niece, was especially angry about the incident and ordered the tribe to leave the entire continent. When the word spread, every warring tribe was with the new SkyWing queen and wanted the LeafWings to leave Pyrrhia.
===213 ~ 216 AS - The Founding of Pantala and the Breath of Evil===
Argan realized that staying any further would do no good, and after many nights of deep thinking and struggling, he announced grimly to the tribe that they would leave Pyrrhia in search of a better place to live. Surprisingly, Queen Rosalia also declared that the BeelteWings were also going to escape trouble on Pyrrhia and join the LeafWings. She later confessed she felt partially responsible for the entire situation and that the LeafWings would appreciate some help and companionship from the BeetleWings during the journey. Rosalia also said that her tribe no longer felt welcome in the presence of the other seven tribes, which was why she decided to leave.
Argan was uneasy about her sudden announcement and immediately changed into his anxious, mistrustful former self, questioning if he was doing the right thing; all of a sudden leading two tribes to another continent that probably didn’t exist sounded like an absurd idea. However, Queen Rosalia convinced Argan to have faith in himself and his tribe. Gradually, with Rosalia’s help, he calmed down and trained himself to believe that his decisions were for every dragon’s good.
When Argan and Rosalia had gathered their tribe to prepare for takeoff, Argan’s scouts flew right up to him, gasping heavily as if they had been flying for days nonstop — which was very likely — and collapsed at his feet, saying that they had discovered a whole new land just west of the Leaf Kingdom. Immediately the two tribes attempted and managed to fly up and hover in midair for a moment as they waited for others, with older BeetleWings carrying wingless dragonets and the two tribes helping each other to stay in the air. Already some — the little dragonets in particular — were at the verge of passing out, but Argan and Rosalia calmly took the lead and shouted words of encouragement to their subjects.
After two days of exhausted flying, the battered group found an island — a small island, but a place to stop and rest for the rest of the day. The weary dragons nearly collapsed onto the the beach, and wandered around until they found a lake with drinkable water. Argan, tired himself, thought about the journey as he drank some of the cool water; it hadn’t been bad, not until now anyway; but Argan, of course, was a pessimist and proceeded to think of how far they had to go, and how little progress they had made so far.
This thought apparently gave him a furious strength, and the group continued to fly on on his orders, sometimes nonstop for days, only resting when they found islands to spend the night on. This sequence was repeated for a little over two weeks, with some brutal storms and tidal waves slowing them down, but the LeafWings and the BeetleWings eventually found a large piece of land that looked too enormous to be just an island like the ones they encountered before.
Hopes rising, Argan and a small group of LeafWings — his most trusted soldiers — circled the land for a bit and came back to rejoin the group — bearing happy news that this was indeed large enough to be called a continent; their new home. Joyful, tearful, and ready to drop at the last moment, the two tribes landed in a forest, with some collapsing as they made contact with firm, wonderful solid ground.
King Argan instantly proposed a patrol of dragons to scout around to make sure they were safe, but his opinion was shouted down; they were weary, they were tired, they needed rest. Befuddled, Argan backed down and was later criticized by Rosalia, who insisted that he must look strong and confident in front of his subjects and listen to only her opinions. Determined once more to show that he could manage ruling the LeafWings himself, Argan had a restless sleep on his first night on Pantala — then an unnamed continent.
The next day was chaos. Chaos, panic, screaming … another day for Argan to get humiliated.
It all started, all the heartbreak and suffering, when every dragon sleeping felt a slow, suffocating grip on their bodies, as the earth tingled with motion. As if they were being choked by thousands of tiny ants, their mandibles clicking noisily.
The dragons awoke from this horrible nightmare only to discover hundreds of thousands of fire ants clinging to the chinks in their scales, and with a single shriek all of them swiftly ran for the ocean. Even before the dragons tried, it became apparent that it was impossible to run, much less fly. More ants crawled out of the earth. Dragons collapsed as the weight and bites of the insects overwhelmed them. Those who made it to the ocean dived for the water to wash out the ants to sea — but they held on grimly.
Desperately, and just as panicky as the rest of the others, Argan could only close his eyes and await death, either by drowning from the rising tide or by the sharp, stinging bites of the ants, seemingly unaffected by the raging waves. Just as when the BeetleWings and the LeafWings were about to give up, the ants lost their grip on them and drowned before any of the dragons did. The battered group dragged themselves out of the sea, with Argan hanging back in the middle of the group instead of leading, seeking protection when he should be providing some for his subjects.
No more than ten steps they had walked a loud, deafening buzz made them look up.
Bees descended upon them in a dark mass, blotting out the warm sunlight that sliced through the tree leaves. Some were unfortunate enough to collapse and writhe with agony, result of the bees’ stinging in the vulnerable parts of their body. Argan, who never felt so helpless in his life, looked left and right, still paralyzed with shock, seeking aid … for those who were still alive. It was a simultaneous thought, an instinct, that saved them all, not a forceful command from either ruler. The BeetleWing flamesilks, all at once, held out their wrists and precisely burned every single bee from the sky with their burning silk. Soon there was a not a single buzz to be heard.
Unbeknownst to anyone, this action affected Argan greatly, and it would continue to do so as the flamesilks wiped out armies of scorpions, crows, and snakes, more and more animals — not just insects — which invaded their campsites and attacked more dragons, deadly and accurate. No dragon even suggested about fleeing this continent; they were outcasts who could never retreat or turn back to Pyrrhia.
Some years after enduring surprise invasions and grief resting heavily on their shoulders, resilient survivors of the strange animals’ assaults — some of the best explorers and travelers in the two tribes — made a spine-chilling discovery; whenever the creatures raided their camps and killed off their fellow companions, there were large tangles of a singular, distinctive plant that grew and spread in a way not unlike wildfire; the explorers reported that this particular plant grew anywhere and everywhere. The frigid areas of the north; the temperate climate of the south; thick oak forests and large grassy plains. The team of voyagers returned to their king and queen with the plant they had described in their travels across the land. The leader of the group, a BeetleWing flamesilk known as Pantala, held in his cupped talons a odd-looking dark red stem, with large, jagged leaves and a dark red seed hidden inside flowers growing in between.
Here began a conflict of opinions. Rosalia, Argan, and Pantala argued about what to do with this malicious plant, possibly the origin of all the onslaught of insects, mammals, reptiles … every menace that spread death and loss. Rosalia and Pantala instantaneously came to an agreement that the plant should be cleared away from the entire continent; Argan, stubborn and independent as he was, fiercely rebutted that this new finding could change everything; it could be used for their will.
An enormous uproar was caused by his words, and angry letters from furious dragons were sent to Argan every day. Argan didn’t submit to the civilians’ will, however. Determined to make every dragon see the logic in his statement, Argan dared anyone who disagreed with him to come and talk to him face-to-face — the LeafWing king. This time the LeafWings and the BeetleWings jeered that Argan was acting irrationally and sneered at the irony of this. Realizing he had gone too far, Argan hastily conceded that Rosalia and Pantala were correct and apologized to his subjects — or at least, he tried to.
Now the two tribes were busy with helping the officials clear all the vines from the surface of the earth. It was unexpectedly easier than they’d assumed; after fashioning knives and scythes from stones and some of the supplies they brought with them, they cleared away the tangled vines growing all over the continent. There was no sign of the plants growing back, and better, no more reports of the strange attacks as before.
When the dragons searched the land once again to see any leftover traces of the plant, they found nothing. Good — their troubles were all over. The “breath of evil”, as Pantala suggested for the name of the sinister plant, was gone, wiped from the continent … hopefully for good. Rosalia, enormously relieved that this situation was over, proposed to name the continent ‘Pantala’ after the valiant explorer who discovered the breath of evil. The LeafWings and the BeetleWings assented and the new continent was christened Pantala, and the name would live on even to today, though there was a slight hint of disapproval from Argan — but naturally, no one listened to him.
===217 ~ 218 AS - The Right of BeetleWing Flamesilks===
It was one year after this incident that Argan concluded that he should aim to gain appreciation from his subjects. Determined as ever, he declared, seven years after he was crowned king, that the BeetleWing flamesilks would no longer live with being shunned from the rest of the dragons; they would have the right to be respected within their tribe, sell their flamesilk and lead a blissful life.
The BeetleWing flamesilks were overjoyed; they had been living frowned upon by their tribe’s society. Needless to say, there was a number of BeetleWings who persisted, saying that the flamesilks were dangerous and posed a threat, but nearly all of them appreciated Argan’s gesture and came to respect him as a proper royal. Rosalia was one of them and the two naturally became closer as timed wore on.
Argan’s proposal to restore the flamesilks’ right was met and viewed with anger from the LeafWings, one of the loudest opposing voices Argan’s own daughter, Hagenia. Barely seven years old, she stated to the public that her father was abetting the BeetleWings over the choice the support his own tribe. Outraged at such nonsense, Argan shut her down and the conflict was resolved — but as most dragons say, the battle had been won but the war wasn’t over.
===219 ~ 224 AS - Argan and Rosalia’s Relationship===
As Argan’s and Hagenia’s relationship grew worse as years went on, Argan’s and Rosalia’s bond became stronger. Times when Rosalia met the LeafWing king in secret became frequent, and the two were engaged. The two agreed that their relationship couldn’t be revealed to their tribe; it would cause chaos within their subjects.
Two years after Argan declared the right of flamesilks, Rosalia and Argan eloped, marrying in secret. Rosalia also laid three eggs which contained three male BeetleWing-LeafWing hybrid dragonets, who could never inherit the throne of any side of their heritage. Argan was delighted and the couple continued to raise their dragonets in secret, though it was indeed difficult.
The BeetleWing queen and the LeafWing king’s steady relationship became rather rough when one of Argan’s most trusted group of elite soldiers tracked Argan all the way to the secret place where he regularly came to meet Rosalia and take care of his dragonets. The soldier fled and immediately reported what he had seen to Princess Hagenia. Hagenia was shocked, but even more delighted at this news; it gave her an excuse to oppose her worthless father.
Argan abruptly found out what had happened and executed the soldier who had followed him; but the damage had been done. The whole kingdom was whispering behind his back after Hagenia spread the soldier’s words around. Bombarded by outraged voices within his tribe, Argan made the tough decision to stop seeing Rosalia and his dragonets. Rosalia was furious. She abandoned her own dragonets to starve in the woods without a parent to look after them and cursed herself for having faith in Argan.
In less than five years Argan and Rosalia’s relationship was over, but the consequences would remain.
===225 ~ 229 AS - LeafWing Civil War===
Work in progress. May not be able to finish before deadline.
===230 ~ 236 AS - LeafWing-BeetleWing War===
Work in progress. May not be able to finish before deadline.
==Relationships==
===Plane===
Plane was Argan’s first wife, but their relationship wasn’t very positive. Argan was irritated at the fact that Plane kept trying to “block” him from the throne’s spot and made sure that the decisions were all in her talons. Plane, on the other talon, was continuously suspicious of Argan and how he might steal her place at the throne. But the two dragons still had to be protective of each other, since a warring queen and king could have torn their kingdom apart. Later, when Plane was assassinated, Argan didn’t particularly feel any strong emotions of grief and time to time he would stop to make sure he was making wiser choices than his wife, which further showed their contempt and dislike for the other.
===Rosalia===
Queen Rosalia was the queen of the BeetleWings, and Argan had been good friends with her, as she constantly gave advice for him when the tribe’s responsibility fell into his talons. The two became close over time and even though Argan’s popularity dropped when the LeafWings found out their king was seeing a BeetleWing, the two didn’t mind and soon eloped, with Rosalia giving birth to three BeetleWing-LeafWing hybrid sons who could never inherit the throne. However Argan began to question his relationship with Rosalia and eventually stopped meeting her completely two years after they married. Their relationship was over, and Rosalia cursed herself for letting herself fall for Argan. When the LeafWing-BeetleWing war started twelve years later their marriage, Rosalia found Argan in his palace and murdered him herself.
===Hagenia===
Argan and Plane’s only daughter was ambitious and determined to have the commoners’ support of her. Argan once stated that Hagenia was a coy little fox who twisted every dragon’s words around to her will, and Hagenia, in turn, coldly said to every LeafWing she met about how her father was a dry, brittle shrub that broke off its branches one by one whenever it quivered in fright and abetted their enemies. It couldn’t be clearer that Argan’s relationship with the young princess was negative. After the king’s relationship with Queen Rosalia was revealed, Hagenia seized her chance and proposed to the public to overthrow her father so she could be their new ruler — a proper queen. Argan was furious and blinded with anger; he ordered for her to be banished from the kingdom, which shattered the tension at once and a civil war was brewing within the kingdom.
===Lime===
Lime was Argan’s mother and she was very supportive of her son’s actions. Argan in return loved her greatly and the two developed a strong bond. Lime was happy for Argan’s achieved goals and promised him that she would stand beside him — always. After Lime’s untimely death from food poisoning Argan was quiet and solemn for many days.
===Unnamed LeafWing-BeetleWing sons===
The exact relationship between Argan and his dragonets with Rosalia is unknown, but it was mostly neutral. Argan was happy at first, but soon became discouraged that he would have the responsibility of taking care of them in secret. Argan abandoned them just like Rosalia did later and the three dragonets starved to death without anyone to look after them.
==Quotes==
“They still haven’t discovered a way to purify water so it’s drinkable. They haven’t figured out a suitable system of trade. And they’re still short of soldiers for the army. What is the queen doing, lounging on her throne and waiting for things to sort themselves out?” — Argan, to his parents as a young dragonet
”You’re being awfully suspicious these days. What’s up with all the meetings and whispers between you and Rosalia? […] Just be sensible and keep a cool head. I don’t know what you’re planning for the war but remember I’m keeping an eye on you.” — to Plane, about her secret meetings with Queen Rosalia
”Can’t you two see the sense in this? […] If we could just decipher a way to use these weird vines for our hearts’ desire, we could find out a way to stay safe and keep out unwanted foes from our new camps! How about that, hmm? […] What are you shaking your heads for?” — to Rosalia and Pantala, about the breath of evil
”You’re a coy little fox who twists words around to your will. No one will ever respect you when you become queen, mark my words, princess.” — to Hagenia
==Trivia==
*I have been intrigued for a long time about the fact that BeetleWings and LeafWings once lived in Pyrrhia but moved to Pantala to “escape trouble.” This was how King Argan was created — as the ruler who lead his tribe to another continent.
*King Argan was a historical figure of two faces; he was viewed as a glorified, selfless leader to be worshipped by the BeetleWings; and a failed, selfish king by the LeafWings today. Before the BeetleWing tribe split into HiveWings and SilkWings, numerous books had been published by authors contrasting and arguing over Argan’s depiction in both tribes. 
***The BeetleWings praised the fact that Argan was supportive of flamesilk rights, while the LeafWings were disgusted that he wanted a portion of the breath of evil for himself, after all the suffering it caused.
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Category:Males
Category:LeafWings
Category:Status (Royalty)
Category:Status (Celebrity)
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Content (ShadedMoons)
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Category:Deceased