Clan Riptide (sh33pskin's Lair)

## Clan Riptide

A glittering city towers above a ruinous shipwreck in the heart of the Sea.

## History

Clan Riptide was founded very recently, after its leaders disbanded their old clan and moved to the Sea.

In the beginning, the dragons of the clan lived underwater in the Sea Star Ruins. Over time, they decided they wanted to move up, and they built a floating city, which they anchored to the ruins and surrounded with a giant protective bubble. All but one of the clan's original dragons moved into the city.

## Geography

### Wave City

Wave City is a massive, almost entirely foundationless city; it relies on stabilizing magic and anchors to keep it safely standing. As a result, it acts the same way any city built on land would. For protection's sake, the city is guarded by a large bubble (maintained by Varanasi).

The city is composed of a few different sections, roughly divided: the Old Quarter, the Basalt Patch, the Marble Streets, and Everything Else, which includes the Twisting Forest. (All names are colloquial, excluding the Old Quarter.)

The Marble Streets and Basalt Patch are the only areas where actual roads can be found. Otherwise, the spaces within the city are full of water, and must be flown over or swam through.

#### The Old Quarter

The Old Quarter, located roughly in the center of the city, is a small section of dwellings built mostly out of wood and basic stones found below the city. The Old Quarter is among the least glamorous, as well as least populated, parts of the city, although it does offer historical charm - it was the first part of the city ever built, and was where the founders lived during construction.

#### The Basalt Patch

Populated mostly by dragons who enjoy dark areas (such as Bogsneaks), the Basalt Patch makes up a sizable part of the (south)eastern portion of the city. Every building in the Patch is, of course, made of basalt (harvested from the vast oceanic deposits below the city). Dragons who live in the Patch are known for acting like the dragons of the ruins, and the Patch functions mostly as its own neighborhood, least connected to the rest of the city.

#### The Marble Streets

Filling most of the city's western half are the Marble Streets, a beautiful section of buildings made of a very sturdy variety of marble. The Marble Streets are the main tourist attraction, thanks to their colors and glow, although a large portion of the actual clan lives in this area as well. They contain many of the city's most important buildings, particularly the Abyssal Academy.

#### Everything Else (and the Twisting Forest)

"Everything else" refers to the space in the north and south not occupied by the Old Quarter, the Patch, or the Streets. Designed as living spaces for anyone who can't live somewhere else, these areas are a mishmash of cultures and architecture. They're mostly occupied by Spirals and Fae, thanks to the Twisting Forest, which is a section of artificial trees created to simulate a forest. The trees have sap for the Fae to work with, and are large enough for Spirals to set up small communities.

### The Sea Star Ruins

The Ruins are composed of three parts: the actual ruins, the shipwreck, and the boneyard. All inhabitants are either Waterborn or Guardian Dragons. Most inhabitants tend to be self-sufficient, skeptical, and suspicious of outsiders, to the point of hostility. Because it's hard to hear underwater, they usually use sign language or (for very short sentences) bubble-speech to communicate.

#### The Ruins

Stretching from the shelf of the Leviathan Trench to the shipwreck (actually a somewhat short distance), the ruins are exactly what they sound like. Certain dragons are piecing together the history of the area, and the current prevailing theory is that they're the remains of an ancient aquatic empire. It's also believed that the shipwreck was involved with the destruction of the empire, although the extent of the involvement is unknown.

#### The Sea Star (Shipwreck)

Next to the ruins, located directly below Wave City, is a gigantic shipwreck. The name of the ship itself was recently recovered: the Sea Star. The ship, in its time, has partially decomposed and become overgrown with underwater plant life, but that hasn't stopped most of the Ruins' dragons from taking up space inside it. The history of the ship is being slowly recovered.

#### The Boneyard

Next to the Sea Star is the Boneyard, which, like the ruins, is self-explanatory. It's believed that the many skeletons littering the Boneyard are the remains of the crew of the Sea Star and the dragons of the old empire. Although most dragons prefer living in the ship, some have taken up residence inside the skeletons and burgeoning corals of the boneyard. (A few also live in the ruins themselves.)

## City vs. Ruins

### Attitudes

One of the most visible differences between the two groups is their temperaments.

City dragons are usually very optimistic, friendly, and easygoing. They never sweat the small (or big) stuff and love meeting each other. They enjoy the city's thriving night life, and they're also pretty open about their lives. Although they can be individualistic, they love making friends and tend to form groups easily.

Ruins dragons, in contrast, are extremely secretive and solitary. They mostly prefer being alone, refuse to share personal information with most dragons they know, and dislike socializing. (Carlin is a notable exception to this.) Overall, the group social aspect of the ruins is almost nonexistent.

Despite the leaders' efforts to promote unity, both sides of the clan generally dislike each other; city dragons view ruins dragons as cold and hostile, and ruins dragons consider city dragons annoying and believe them to be stuck-up.

### Languages

Common Draconic is spoken in the city, although plenty of smaller groups of dragons (such as Coatl) will speak in other languages when together.

In the ruins, local (Water Flight) sign language is used almost 100% of the time. In air bubbles (such as the rooms of the Sea Star), vocal speech and sign language can be used together or separately.

### Flight Influences

The city was founded by Arcane dragons, and maintains strong ties to the Flight. Its eclectic architecture is especially reflective of this. The city's own dragons come from all over the world, making it a deeply multicultural city.

The ruins are occupied solely by Water dragons and Guardians; this section of the clan is loyal only to the Tidelord as a result.

### Holidays and Religion

The biggest festival in the city is the Wavecrest Saturnalia, a weeklong celebration of the Water Flight involving parties, games, and a million different events stretching over all seven days. The other citywide holiday is the Starfall Celebration, which isn't quite as big as the Saturnalia, but is still an important part of the city's culture. Religion & expression are unrestricted in the city (mostly due to its size).

The ruins, of course, only celebrate the Saturnalia; Guardians from other Flights may participate in festivities for their own holidays, and will be supported by other clan members, but all of those celebrations are unofficial. Strict following of the Tidelord is almost necessary; mild patronage of other deities is okay.

### Life and Death

\*Note: if you are scared of death or don't like reading about post-death medical procedures, skip this part.

In the city, new hatchlings are mostly celebrated by their families and their families' friends. Deaths are usually more noticeable, but only the deaths of important dragons are given citywide attention. If the deceased had a request for their treatment post-death, it is carried out; if not, their bones are harvested and taken to the Boneyard, and the rest of their body is carefully disposed of in the sea.

In the ruins, the body of the deceased is taken to the Boneyard and buried. A small, private ceremony is held to try to ensure a happy passage for the deceased.

### Romance

Wave City has no strict rules on romance; dragons just fall in love with each other, get their hearts broken, et cetera. It happens. Marriage does exist; many weddings in the city are grandiose and gorgeous, but others are private. What happens varies from ceremony to ceremony; it can be as simple as being pronounced bonded for life, or as elaborate as hours-long parties and ceremonies with loving vows and declarations.

The dragons of the ruins tend to be secretive, and usually won't show that they're in love until they're confident the dragon they like will feel the same. Most dragons in the ruins are content with simply loving each other and not getting married, but their weddings tend to be simple and attended only by friends and family.

### Combat & Exaltation

Wave City maintains a small pocket of trained fighters to help when conflicts arise with the local Maren, as well as in case any other dragons make themselves enemies in the future. The fighters are trained at the Abyssal Academy by Thrasher, with magical assistance by Varanasi and Xerxes. Exaltation is viewed as an honor and is slightly less common than other occurrences in the city; as such, it's more prone to larger celebrations, such as send-off parties.

The ruins dragons are mostly peaceful; some Maren take issue with them occupying the area, but most leave them alone. Other clans have done nothing to provoke the ruins dragons yet, but in case any conflicts arise, Carlin and Levi have both trained in self-defense. Exaltation is considered a massive honor, and involves at least one (if not more) rituals and a large gathering to celebrate the exalted (similar to the city's send-off parties).

## Clan Members

It should be noted that because city dragons love being social, but there are too many of them to connect effectively, they've formed a variety of clubs. Permanent residents are generally expected to join (or even start!) one.

### Wave City

Varanasi (Leader)

Xerxes (Leader)

Thrasher (Leader)

Euros (Warrior)

Silvas (Warrior)

Helios (Flight Club)

Soleno (science team? either that or a rogue boy)

Mistra (ambassador, Flight Club)

Sargasso (ambassador)

Valentina (runs the couple's resort)

Laska (also runs the couple's resort)

Bronce (science trio)

Tempesta (sci trio)

Perc (sci trio, solo artist - non-musical)

Typhoon (writer for the oracle, prefers writing about technology & weather but will take basically any story)

Sunshimmer (PR director/lawyer for the oracle)

Tinta (editor-in-chief of the Riptide Oracle)

Myriad (travel writer (sorta) for the oracle)

Deluge (hydrologist OR oceanographer)

Rubi (fruit guy of some kind...idk, he's in the culinary business)

Alluvia (some kind of earthy career)

Blaze (Abyssal Academy Headmistress)

Glace (necromancer...shh!)

### Sea Star Ruins

Levi (Leader)

Carlin (leader/PR)

Snowfall (?)

Umbra (seer/oracle/whatever you wanna call it?)

Melancholy (?)

Elation (seaweed garden & overall plant manager)

## Relationships With Other Clans

In general, Clan Riptide is friendly and enjoys making alliances. When dealing with enemies, they prefer to do just enough damage to show their strength, and they avoid murder.

One of the best ways to become allies is through gift-giving or even just friendly contact. One of the best ways to become enemies is to just straight-up attack the clan.

## Trivia/Miscellaneous

* The Abyssal Academy is the clan's school, headed by [unnamed pearlcatcher]. It's mainly used to give hatchlings general education and give older dragons optional other classes, including Integration, which aims to help them settle into the clan as quickly and easily as possible. [talk about its relationship with the ruins]
* The clan has no official position on or relationship with the Shade. (The Arcane leaders prefer not to talk about it.)
* Relationships with the local Maren Beastclan are mostly negative; they don't appreciate having dragons come in and randomly put a giant city-in-a-bubble on the water.
* The clan operates on a festival-based calendar, as described here. The actual hatch signs aren't taken too seriously by most of the clan, although Xerxes and almost all of the Waterborn dragons have expressed interest in it.
* Because of its geography, the clan has few exports to offer, and its economy runs almost entirely on **tourism.**
* There are no citywide birthday celebrations in Wave City, because the leaders dislike the attention. There are only birthday celebrations in the ruins among close friends. (OOC: I couldn't find anywhere else to put this and I didn't want to make another subheading lol)
* The city is especially friendly toward Ice dragons and clans, thanks to the influence Saturn and Frostbyte (both Iceborn dragons) had on Varanasi and Xerxes.
* Varanasi, Xerxes, and Thrasher periodically meet with Levi (usually around the new and full moons) to discuss their parts of the clan and how to continue to promote unity.
* [insert motto here]
* Starsea Lore Thread