Lucius

## Appearance

Lucius is a large, ten-foot tall copper half-dragon and easily the largest of his adventuring party. While he's diminutive in comparison to the full blooded dragons he grew up with, it doesn't stop him from gathering strange looks in settings unfamiliar to his kind. He does little to conceal his strangeness, for it's quite impossible. Without wings and quadrupedal posture, however, it's hard to divorce his presence for what it truly is: an oddity.

His silhouette is both long and top-heavy. For this reason he's appropriately burdened by its weight, although unclear whether this derives from physical genetics or brought in from years of leaning over books. Arms are only slightly disproportionate to the torso and digitigrade legs underneath, hanging slightly lower than one might expect, but subtle enough that it'd be difficult to discern from a passing glance. In a pinch, this allows Lucius to drop onto all fours and awkwardly scramble into places that might not accommodate his height or stealth effectively when he's not distracted (which is almost always). His tail is long, heavily scaled, and at times more expressive than the wizard's own face.

Upon the half-dragon's crown and cheeks are a pair of horns that emerge from them, serrated and unmarked from age or trauma. They're easily the most impressive feature of his particular situation, and for the most part he wears them with a sense of pride. The rest of his face less so with what of its wide muzzle and reptilian lips, as they lack the emotive facial range as most humanoids. While able to smile and frown, the more subtle conflict compensates with his bright emerald eyes - a habit that most unfamiliar individuals would have difficulty unraveling at first.

When Lucius continues to age, his bright copper scales will begin to show wear by developing a matte green-brown patina coloration in places. There exists some evidence of this happening already on his damaged scales around his neck where he was cut by a marilith's blade. The softer ivory scales of his neck and chest are also scarred, particularly where he was stabbed in the heart.

The half-dragon's taste of fashion is questionable at best, and left to his own devices will choose the most ridiculous outfit available. His normal attire are utilitarian crimson wizard robes, although he's been known to wear the uniform of a pirate captain (including hat) as well.

Lucius is not seen far without his sole weapon, the Staff of Celestial Devourers, at his side and his extremely worn spellbook.

## Personality

At his best, Lucius is loyal, generous, ambitious, and can serve as a level voice of reason among the party. At his worst he is vindictive, jealous, covetous, and insensitive. Due to his low charisma, he lacks a "filter", often times finding it difficult to be self-aware when interactions with other people quickly go south. Whether it's because of his social awkwardness and ability to wear every emotion on his sleeve, these traits are a constant source of grief for Lucius and the people he's grown close to. There's been more than one time when the wizard's crass bluntness or attempt to persuade someone (or, gods forbid, charm them) has risked their lives.

Adventuring, if nothing else, has made the half-dragon more confident. Until being defeated by Crow and left for dead in the Vastlands, Lucius was much quieter and hardly spoke unless spoken to. Only until having to struggle to survive out in the desert, forcing to work as a team, did he realize the camaraderie he yearned for was right in front of him. This expectedly had a mostly positive effect on his surrounding immediate relationships, much to his surprise.

Lucius loathes being ignored or wrong, easily falling into self-isolation if not constantly validated one way or another. As smart as he is, he doesn't seem to be aware of this.

At one point in time his fear of death was so absolute it drove Lucius to obsession, studying necromancy whenever he could hide it away from his loved ones. He would go to any lengths to outrun or cheat death and for a time, he did. His skewed sense of power made him bolder, thinking he could allow his friends to avoid an untimely demise by mastering the forbidden arcane arts. Death followed him anyway, though, much to his constant frustration.

Ironically enough, it was through dying that the wizard was finally able to break the cycle of his fear. That, and because he had no other choice.

## Backstory

Lucius was born to the ancient copper dragon Minerva and a human paladin by the name of Arthur, although he would not know of his father or his name until much later in life. His infancy and earliest memories were that of a grand, golden city, surrounded by snow and ice. Aside from the faintest recollections, however, these are few and far between. They are so distant, in fact, that the half-dragon questions if the place was real at all. He only knows that they didn't stay very long, for his mother fled his birthplace from a sickness called the Stone Plague.

As Lucius grew into an increasingly stubborn, demanding child, his teachings were frequently conducted by the likes of Allohine and Sirius. It quickly became apparent that the boy had an innate talent with magic, capable of interpreting arcane concepts beyond his age. With any vast intelligence, however, it was difficult keeping him occupied. It wasn't long before the half-dragon gained the reputation of being spoiled and obstinate, often going to great lengths to avoid his lessons on the count of being "bored" with them. During times like these, Lucius was small enough at the time to hide away in the library's reference section or in a cellar.

Into adolescence, however, and the teenager would be encouraged to further his education elsewhere. While less outwardly persistent than he was as a child by hiding away,  Lucius was quite adamant of attending the bardic colleges in Tamvrien. He had gained a sense of deep respect for his mother and, as such, wanted to follow in her footsteps like none other. His sense of pride was unshakable.

At least, of course, until he failed miserably.

Broken-hearted and miserable, Lucius wanted nothing more than to end his pursuits of becoming anything at all. If he couldn't be a bard, then nothing else mattered. He was eventually convinced to pursue the wizard college in Elchezar, albeit grudgingly, and was sent off with his complete tuition paid. If nothing else, his desperation could manifest into something productive that could pass the time.

Surrounded by others and forced to socialize on a regular basis was not a situation he'd hoped for. When his grades started to suffer and he became apathetic, Lucius began to entertain the idea of dropping out. It was only until he met the tabaxi Shadow Under Birds that he started to enjoy school more and, as such, improved his chances of graduation. To this day, Lucius credits his classmate as the only reason he didn't become a complete failure.

By the time Shadow left Elchezar, Lucius receded back into his solitary existence but had been successful long enough to at least become a wizard. Instead of making anything out of the freedom of his talents, however, the young man returned back to Tamvrien where he studied alone.

This predictable life continued until he met Olivia, the bard to a larger party that he in particular bonded with well. When Olivia went off to the Northmarch and at the recommendation of his mother, Lucius agreed to travel with the rest of them.

## Relationships

Lucius perceives his adventuring party as a whole like the family he's never had. Like in some families, Lucius sometimes has difficulty showing how much he actually loves them. His personality has put him at odds with his allies more times than he's willing to admit, after all. Sometimes he even wishes nothing more than to be away from them (at least for a little while), but finds it increasingly more difficult to imagine a life without them.

[oh god i've done so much i'll do this later]

## Trivia

* best lizard wizard ~~2017 2018 2019~~  2020
* Lucius' spellbook is a relatively large, worn, leather-bound tome that has seen more bad days than good ones. He has yet to revise it since initially being gifted it by his mother. It was later stolen and written in by Crow. It has a page torn out of it, ~~replaced with Animate Dead~~, and two copper dragon scales hidden in the back binding. ~~The card of 'Judgement' is also placed in the back pages.~~
* Lucius ~~mostly~~ abandoned his pursuits of necromancy after Vahlka's death fighting Osyna (episode 103), promising before her resurrection to do better.
* Lucius, *ON PENALTY OF RAVEN QUEEN PERMADEATH*, does not have any more ties to necromancy as of (latest episode). All his necromancy spells, save Blight, were replaced by cleric spells (Spiritual Weapon, Lesser Restoration, Mass Healing Word).
* Has never known his official birthday and doesn't keep track of his age, so defaults to "50-ish" when describing himself. When he was younger, Minerva would throw him parties at vastly inconsistent dates.
* Has a crush on Shadows Under Birds, a tabaxi from his school years.
* Somehow gained a Deck of Many Things from Bahamut's hoard ~~which will not be abused less the DM will come murder me~~.

## Relevant Quotes

* "EAT THE SLIME." - Lucius, to Vahlka, who did just that.
* "You guys forgot about me, didn't you?" - Lucius
* "Why does Lucius, the largest hero of legend, not simply eat the other four?" - Dex, who I'm Kinkshaming as we speak.