Professor Elaine Roe-Cashore

The Dragon wars, when King Izaleon led a coalition of magical creatures against the tyranny of the wizards, had been won over a millennia ago. Dragons, being free for a thousand years, had fallen into territorial disputes as their king slowly descended into madness. Gone were the great dragon bands, with wyrms of all colors using their unique skills and breath attacks to crush their foes. Dragon fought dragon now, with each color growing more suspicious of the rest, until all but open hostility was the norm. Cross breeds were despised; having two different breath attacks was seen as an abomination. There were even rumors that a powerful enough ‘mutt’ would be able to mix both attacks into a single devastating blow; an atrocity most dragons were unwilling to believe.

Into this world, a world two millennia in the past, Elaine was born. The circumstances of her birth were unfortunate, for she was a cross color, a mix of black and red. Considered an abomination Elaine’s own parents left her defenseless outside a dragon hunter camp, hoping for her death, but unwilling to do the deed themselves.

Through sheer strength of will, Elaine miraculously survived. Fearing for her life, she avoided both dragon and human alike, watching them from afar. Luckily, she was an astute observer and a keen learner, quickly mastering powerful spells, and showing a remarkable understanding of alternative magic. However, Elaine’s life was a difficult one, being hated not only by her own race, but her parents as well. She feared they would hunt her down if they found she yet lived. Eventually, due to her tremendous skills in alternative magic, she discovered her animagus form- human. This allowed her to hide among muggles reasonably well, which she did, rarely ever reverting to her dragon form. She lived this way for five centuries. Always on the run and never trusting anyone. Attempting to avoid the chaos created by the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Elaine made her way to the frontier, known as Britain.

There she met the first person to see through her human disguise, Merlin, the world’s most powerful wizard. Knowing dragons well, for he himself had a dragon companion named Kilgara, Merlin understood Elaine’s plight immediately, and decided to train her personally. Whether through their kindness or her loneliness, she eventually came to trust them.

Being the first dragon she ever knew, Elaine was naturally attracted to Kilgara. Through him she learned news of her family, and discovered she had a half sister, a black dragon named Riesha. Elaine and Kilgara drew closer as she grew stronger with training, eventually becoming so skilled she was recruited as a personal bodyguard for King Arthur himself. Kilgara, wanting to gain Elaine’s absolute trust, shared his deepest secret, a weak spot in his natural armor. The two were betrothed shortly after, soon to be married, but something Elaine never anticipated occurred- her sister appeared.

Reisha told Elaine that their father, upon hearing of a female red-black dragon serving Merlin and engaged to Kilgara, had discovered it was Elaine, and gone into a fit of rage. When Reisha defended Elaine, he had threatened to kill them both if he ever saw either one of them again. Frightened, Reisha ran to the only family she knew would accept her, Elaine. Having just learned to trust again, Elaine gladly accepted her sister’s friendship, immediately inviting her to be a part of this new loving family, an invitation Reisha humbly accepted. Kilgara, Elaine, and Reisha all trained together with Reisha eventually taking her place as a protector of Arthur as well. Happy to finally have the family of her dreams, Elaine shared everything with Reisha, in an attempt to make her feel loved and trusted. This odd group, three dragons and a wizard, did well together for a while, helping King Arthur topple his foes and protect his kingdom. However, it was not to last.

Reisha fell in love with Kilgara, but despite her advances he remained faithful to Elaine. Furious at his rejection and the idea of having a ‘mutt’ chosen over her, Reisha plotted her revenge, and she would quickly have it, for in her eagerness for family, Elaine had shared with Reisha Kilgara’s greatest secret.

It started as a pleasant day; Kilgara and Elaine decided to celebrate a recent victory with a picnic, just the two of them. But as they flew Kilgara unexpectedly spun out of control and plummeted to the ground, hitting the earth with bone crushing force. Terrified, Elaine quickly landed beside him, only to see a Dragon Hunter’s bolt protruding from the one weak spot in his armor, the same secret spot he had confided to her, and the same one she had naively shared with Reisha. Knowing Kilgara’s death was her fault, she watched as the light slowly faded from his eyes. He softly spoke of his love for her, and then he was gone.

Enflamed by rage, Elaine launched herself into the sky. Flying faster than she had ever flown she would soon find her prey. Elaine viciously slammed into Reisha, delivering a brutal series of attacks, but despite the ferocity of her assault Reisha recovered quickly, and the fight rapidly became even, with Reisha using her shadow breath but Elaine frenzied into a whirlwind of teeth and claws. Relentlessly they fought. Shadow and flame consumed the countryside, tooth and nail sunk into hide. However, Elaine was outmatched by her sibling, and after an intense struggle, Reisha corned her. Ready to deliver the final blow, Reisha made a grave error- she decided to taunt her sister before the end, telling Elaine that Kilgara could never have loved a ‘mutt’ like her. With this defilement of Kilgara’s memory Elaine’s visage changed. Mindless of her injuries, Elaine did what many dragons to this day believe to be impossible, mixing the breath attacks of both her heritages. Shadow and flame erupted toward Reisha, and she was utterly consumed in the incredible assault.

Elaine, devastated by what had transpired, made her way back to Merlin. Expecting Merlin to be furious at her foolish trust, she found only love in his eyes, and the two wept over the death of their friends. She shared Kilgara’s final words to Merlin, and left, ashamed of all she had done.

## Personal Life

Ancient runes is like a second language to Elaine.

Ancient magic makes her sneeze.

After centuries in human form, Elaine is quite capable of fighting as a human and without magic.

She doesn’t like snakes.

If Elaine transforms too quickly into a dragon she can easily lose control of her senses and become enraged.