The Beacon

==Warning==
Some images on this page contain body horror, in the gallery at the bottom of the page and second image in the infobox.
== Appearance ==
The Beacon is a sparkling, pale dragon with a slender build- though given that description could fit a good chunk of their tribe, the thing that really makes them notable is instead their height and their incredibly bright wings.
The Beacon is almost certainly one of the oldest living ShimmerWings, and it shows. They tower over many of their fellow palace dragons, including the last two queens they've served. Even then, though, their warm off-white scales are just as smooth and shiny as ever. The larger scales along their face and such are a slightly darker shade, while their underbelly is a paler white than their main scales. 
Their wings are a very vibrant neon pink, with gleaming gold patterns like bursts of sunlight on their edges. This gold and pink color scheme is also found on their spikes, claws, and horns- with their left horn being gold, and their right being pink. Their horns are long, twisting up at the tips.
A splotchy pattern of black runs down their spine, with a line of alternating gold and black spots just beneath it. Their eyes are pink-gold, and they usually have a bored, detached expression. On the occasion that they wear accessories- usually just for particularly fancy parties- The Beacon prefers soft capes and jewelry that can quickly be slipped on or off, rather than thin, easily tangled silks and the like.
== Personality ==
The Beacon is an odd dragon.
They aren't what many would expect a mysterious advisor who's served at least three queens to be. They're no serious, stern dragon worried about their responsibilities and the pressures that come with their job, and they certainly don't seem to care about upholding that image at all. Instead, in many ways, they almost seem to be the exact opposite.
Despite the fact that their entire role is supposed to be that they're helpful and knowledgeable, they're often vague and give unclear answers to questions unless it's really important. It's led to a few times where they've been accused of just avoiding concise answers to hide that they don't know what they're talking about at all. But The Beacon really does know a lot- maybe too much, even, and they'll readily make that clear if they feel the need to.
Aside from that, The Beacon tends to act as though they're unconcerned with just about anything going on around them. If anything, they mostly just seem to care about themself, being very self-indulgent alongside everything else. Despite working from the center of the ShimmerWing tribe, they act more like someone watching a show from the sidelines, with an odd detached sense of slight amusement. They like to observe the outcomes of their unclear advice, with no fear over the possibility that if things went badly they would have a good chance of being the one punished for it. 
Fortunately- for both the tribe and themself- in the end, The Beacon's goal isn't to cause disaster. They're difficult, of course, but rarely outright malicious. And again, they really do know more than any other ShimmerWing has any reason to, securing their position beyond just the fact that they're supposed to be kept as The Beacon for the rest of their life. Additionally, despite the fact that they definitely aren't good at making it clear and rarely show it to begin with, The Beacon does care about the ShimmerWings as a whole.
== History ==
When it comes to the more personal details of their life, The Beacon is a private dragon. They haven't spoken much of what their life was like before taking the role of a royal advisor, and even when directly asked that's one of the many things they won't give clear answers about.
That isn't to say everything about their past is shrouded in uncertainty, though- it's common knowledge that they're the same Beacon to have served under the leadership of the late Queen Gloss and her grandmother, for example. They've been around for quite a while.
They were among the crowd that watched Gloss challenge her grandmother and win- they watched the old queen bleed out on the palace floor. The Beacon never seemed to care much. They didn't 
hesitate to do what was expected of them and simply continue to serve the new ruler. 
At first, they got along alright with Queen Gloss. They weren't ever really friends, but they worked well enough together aside from Gloss being frustrated with their indirect advice at times. Still, it was an easy time for The Beacon, and it seemed as though it would stay that way for a while- until something happened to cause a bigger rift between them and Gloss. Even now, no one but The Beacon knows exactly what it was.
In the following years, tension continued to grow between The Beacon and Gloss. The Beacon knew Gloss didn't trust them, and eventually her subjects knew it too. It was frustrating- they much preferred to be a quiet background figure, able to work the way they wanted to without being one of the subjects of the tribe's gossip. Already disliking Gloss for other reasons, The Beacon grew to resent her for drawing more attention to their previously private distaste for each other too. It really did make things harder for them.
They were one of the last dragons to see Gloss alive after she grew sick. Like the other ShimmerWings, they were supposed to be prevented from entering the room Gloss had been quarantined in- though they can't promise they didn't at least think about breaking that rule. No one saw them there, anyways. 
When Gloss died not too long afterwards, The Beacon couldn't help but feel relieved- that was one huge headache for them gone. They kept that to themself, though. For obvious reasons. They were quick to make the announcement to Gloss's heirs which one of them had been chosen to be the next queen. They were unsurprised by the few whispered rumours that they were involved in the queen's death, and annoyed- but they didn't expect any actual problems to arise from that. After all, the new queen didn't dislike The Beacon anywhere near as much as Gloss did, and that counted more than the gossip of average palace workers.
That being said...The Beacon can tell Pearlescent still has her doubts. Even aside from how weird it must feel to work with the same dragon her dead mother hated, she must have expected that becoming queen would grant her access to more information- that she would understand The Beacon and their vague advice better. But The Beacon hasn't been any more open with her than they were before she became queen, and they're not planning on changing that anytime soon. They don’t care if Pearlescent doesn’t like that- she’ll have to learn to live with it.
In the meantime, The Beacon can just sit back, relax, and watch what’s going on around them, just as they want to.
== Relationships ==
Queen Gloss- The late ShimmerWing queen and The Beacon worked well together in the beginning years of her rule. As time went on, however, something changed- and although Gloss did her best to hide it from the rest of the tribe, she grew increasingly distrustful of The Beacon. In the months leading up to her untimely death, Gloss's hostility towards her own advisor got to the point where she threatened to remove them from their position in the palace. Of course, she never got to follow through with that. 
Queen Pearlescent- 
== Trivia ==
== Gallery ==
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Category:Characters
Category:LGBT+
Category:Non-binary
Category:Tribeless
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Content (GlamorousSneaking)
Category:Occupation (Government)
Category:Status (Legend)
Category:Status (Nobility)