Cuivre

**Cuivre** is an European Metallic Dragon of the copper genus, named after her coloration, as “Cuivre” was just the translation for “Copper” in a foreign language. Originally from a far away kingdom, Cuivre now lives among her new clan - the Gilded Ones - as their own royal scientist, using her mind for better purposes rather than what they forced her to accomplish in her previous kingdom.

Incredibly knowledgeable by her previous kingdom’s standard, Cuivre’s intelligence and knowledge is actually only just above average, but that is sadly the only domain in which she excels. Hunting, fighting, crafting and defending herself are abilities she lacks severely, and she heavily relies on others to stay safe and healthy. In exchange, she provides her knowledge to her new clan and tries to improve the quality of life of its members.

## Description

Rather slender and lanky, Cuivre isn't the bulkiest dragoness there is, but she is far from being underweight either. Standing at a height of 32 meters tall at the withers, she is pretty average when it comes to size and weight, although a little closer to the thinner side. Her slim body is often compared to that of a snake, but a proud and powerful chest gives her a rather haughty bearing, ending on one side with a snake-like neck, and the other a shorter and stubbier tail with a large and dense copper flail. Her frame is supported by four thin and delicate limbs, each ending with four fingers at the front and three at the back. An opposable thumb rests lazily at the side of each of her front paws, allowing her to grasp things with increased dexterity.

At the end of that thin and curved neck rests a triangle shaped head, with a flat forehead and snout that ends with two little spikes in between her nostrils. A small copper sulfate crystal is incrusted on her forehead and two forward facing ram horns are protuding from her head. Her jaws are shaped in a permanent smile and her cheekbones are so developed they give people the impression her eyes are continually happy.

### Scales

Just like with teeth, Cuivre’s scales are made of a relatively soft keratin core, layered by a thick coat of pure copper that slowly oxidizes depending on the ambient humidity. To maintain this tough coat of metal, she has to regularly consume copper minerals specifically to integrate them to her scales. Once ingested, the mineral is then broken down into a fine fine powder, which will then be mixed with a preservative liquid and stored in little pockets all around where her scales grow. This capacity will be explained more in detail in the ability section of the sheet.

Hinted at by her name, Cuivre is an European Metallic Copper dragon, which means her colouration tends to lean on a light earthy brown, sometimes with redish hints. But this colour, and her snake-like scales, do not cover the entirety of her body, and her belly as well as her throat and the underside of her tail. Those areas are not protected by her usually thick copper scales, but are still covered by very tiny and thin ones. The more those scales are close to her underside, the more her colouring progressively switch to a teal/blue colouring, indicating the oxydation of the metal in her body. It can also be seen on the edges of her horns, and in great concentration on the boulder at the tip of her tail.

### Abilities

* Oxydized shedding:

Cuivre being a metal western dragon, she has great affinities with the copper element, and when in battle, she can secrete a coppery liquid from her skin, that will oxydize and harden as soon as it meets the air, and will make her skin tougher to get through, though it generally has the same heat and blunt trauma resistance as copper in general, and will turn her scales a blueish-greenish colour. But even if that makes her more resistant to physical attacks and most elements, she does become more conductive and can be a real electric hazard for others and herself if not dealt with properly.

* Tail Scourge:

The tip of her tail is where the highest copper concentration is located. This results in a thick wide and dense lump of pure copper that drags behind her and is incredibly heavy, making it a dangerous weapon for close combat... Or a very good tool for hammering nails, depending on how it is used.

### Wings

Two large but thin wings rest atop her shoulders, the membrane connecting from the last digit of her wing to her hip area. The size and shape of those wings allows for an easier glide when taking air currents, but lifting her body in the air can sometimes prove itself a little harder, as she generally has to run before taking off to take the wind. Copper plating cover the broad parts of her arms and forearms, ending where the wrist would be and four long fingers extend from her hand part, all connected by a thin membrane back to the hip. A single short thumb is the only digit that is not connected by a membrane, and usually serves for stabilisation when holding on to rocky walls and cliffs.

## Personality

The first thing one can notice about Cuivre is how down-to-earth she is, very cartesian. She is logical and methodical in her way of thinking, and it helps a lot when you're a scientist who's discovering a brand new land with its own geology, fauna and flora. And because of that, she can become quite excited when discovering new things, and will always try to find a new use for whatever she may find. When meeting new people, she will put on a warm and welcoming face, but as soon as anyone shows the slightest hint of kindness, she will question it, stay on guard and be wary about the other's intentions. Because of past trauma, she has a hard time trusting strangers, often thinking they're trying to manipulate her with kindness and guilt-trip her the next minute, or make her do things she does not approve of.

Slowly but surely though, she is starting to warm up, not being as mistrusting about others as she first was, and giving people the benefit of the doubt before baring her teeth. When she's frightened or in a position where she doesn't want to be attacked, she will lay down and show her belly, often digging her snout in the ground as a way to tell she is not a threat and/or submissive. Since she only has the barest idea of how to defend herself, she will most likely try to submit her way out of a confrontation rather than using brute strength.

## Kin

Born from a brass mother and an iron father, Cuivre has inherited the copper genus from her mother and the lack of alloy from her father, making her a simple copper dragon. Because of her exile from her previous kingdom, Cuivre has no contact with her parents nor her siblings anymore, and as much as she misses them, she feels like she has done the right thing by leaving her previous home.

European Metallic Dragons are a Vodros subspecies that feed on metals and minerals to help grow their scales. More details on the European Metallic Dragons (or EMD for short) in their own wiki page, soon.

## Relationships

Cuivre currently resides at the Azulite cave, which is home to The Gilded Ones, a clan in which she is a member of. As the current scientist of the clan, she is friends with Queen Renenutet, the clan's blacksmith Hephaestus and his mate Phuram. She has a pretty good relationship with most of her clan mates, but these three are her closest friends at the moment.

At the moment of writting, she is paired with Pallor Mortis, an ablino Volcanic dragons from the Sanctuary of the Lost clan.

## History

Cuivre's story starts in a far away land, owned by a once broad and prosperous kingdom, now doomed to decay and ruin from their own actions. As stated in her "Kin" section, Cuivre was born from a Brass mother and an Iron father, which led her to inherit the copper genus from her mother and to be alloyless, like her father. She was given the name Cuivre as an uninspired attempt at naming, as she was the runt of the litter and also because "Cuivre" meant copper in a foreign language. And while her sibling had hatched as strong and tough, she was the only one who had to be helped out of her shell, proving from her first breaths of fresh air how weak she actually was. Still, this did not deter her parents from taking care of her, and she was raised alongside her siblings with more precautions than she would usually receive.

Her health was fragile as a young dragonet, often getting sick and needing help with various activities. This resulted in her never receiving any training whatsoever, neither for combat nor hunting. But as time went on and she progressed into her teen years, she started gaining in mass and muscles, stabilising her health and allowing her to stray further and further from the supervision of her parents, who saw her gain more independance and maturity. The lack of physical training she should have received in her childhood was instead replaced by intellectual training, and she soon became incredibly knowledgeable, especially in the scientific field. This led her to attend the highest schools the kingdom had to offer, pass competitions and tournaments until she reached her young adult years and was noticed by the King of Gold and Queen of Platinum of the kingdom for her scientific, biologic and chemical prowesses.

At the same time, a new discovery was found, something revolutionnary that would greatly increase the way of life of the kingdom's residents. Infinite possibilities were opening to the world of dragons and countless solutions to countless problems could be found with this new discovery. The genetic field had made a great leap forward and presented promising results, innumerable scientists were suddenly leaning on the subject, trying to advance said domain as far as they could, and Cuivre did not pass up such an opportunity to prove herself once more. So, gathering all the necessary materials, tools, and subjects she needed, she put herself to work and did not step out of her lab until the first results dropped. And when Cuivre showed up one day with a phosphorescent snake, a feathered bat and a web weaving mouse at the King's court, everyone tried to debunk her creations at firt, with no success. Cuivre had her whole research along with her creations, displaying everything she ever learnt and discovered as she progressed in her testing. Greatly impressed, the King called for his mate and the both of them discussed together before promoting the copper dragoness as a temporary Royal Scientist, to see if her thesis, discoveries and everythign affiliated with it were not complete quackery. But Cuivre did not care, she was where she wanted to be and couldn't be happier with her decision, unaware of what was waiting for her...

Now promoted to one of the highest rank possible in the scientific domain, Cuivre was tasked with finding a way to genetically engineer new improved soldiers and workers. For that, she was given a few clutches of eggs from unknown sources and given a few weeks to find the genetic material needed to increase their muscle mass, scales and skin toughness, reflex time and body control. With great pressure, she still managed to complete the specifications just in time for her to give back the eggs to the new mothers and begin a new task. But after weeks, months, years of working, finding, searching, discovering, scribbling, recording, testing, injecting, manipulating, cutting, sewing, all under the constant and increasing pressure of the kingdom's regents and their court... The kingdom needed new soldiers who could fight and take a hit, new nobles who's body and face and mind would be peak perfection, new workers who could work longer and needed less rest, new and improved everything, that needed less and could provide more...

One day, as Cuivre was walking down the city's roads, she passed by the hatchery, and a blood curling scream echoed from within. Immediately, the copper dragoness rushed inside along with a few other dragons who were alerted by the tearful screamings of the new mother, and what she saw would stay forever carved in her mind, an eternal reminder of what she was actually inflicting upon those unborn innocents... The desperate and ragging mother was trying to fight her way through the nurses who tried to hold her down, soon joined by the arriving soldiers and guards who quickly pulled her out of the hatchery to be contained elsewhere. And, laying on the floor of the building was a tiny mass of undescribable shape. It was neither dragon nor any other creature Cuivre had seen. Among the bits and pieces of broken eggshells was the corpse of a mutilated unborn dragon, whose flesh was exposed, whose limbs were deformed beyond recognition, whose cyclopic eye was emptily staring nowhere in particular. The flank of the stillborn was not rising as it did not breathe, its skin was twisted, limbs growing and bending in such an uncanny way the copper dragoness had to look away not to faint. On the eggshell was a motif and colour she did recognize as one of the eggs she experimented on...

Now face to what she was actually inflicting upon those innocent beings, she swiftly flew all the way back to her laboratory and isolated herself for a good long while, pondering and processing what she had just witnessed. Days and nights passed as she saw the picture of this tiny disarticulated mass of flesh playing over and over in her mind, along with the screams and cries of that mother who wanted to hold her stillborn so desperately... To say the copper dragoness was shocked from that scene would be a huge understatement, but as a result, she convinced herself something had to be done about the situation. So, in silence, she hatched a plan...

Soon, Cuivre would go back to her lab, working tirelessly on new experiments and new types of genetic engineering, making sure the project she had in mind could not be seen by anyone else but her. And when she was certain her project was complete, she injected it in the countless newly laid eggs whose shell was still soft. A dominant gene that laid dormant, only activating once after reaching adulthood, that would autodestroy one's body and mind, condemning anyone and everyone who possessed this gene to a short life and slow death. And once that was accomplished, the copper dragoness packed the few things she owned and escapped the kingdom as soon as she could, leaving the fate of said kingdom in the hands of time and decay.

To this day, Cuivre is now considered a genetic terrorist and wanted all across the world, preferably alive, to be brought back to the kingdom and answer for her crimes, which is something she will never do willingly. As of today, the copper dragoness has taken refuge in Altuis, in the gilded clan, where she has decided to use her knowledge to benefit her clan mates, unaware that countless squads of guards and soldiers are patrolling every nooks and crannies, always further and further from the kingdom, and that if she's not careful... Well...

## Trivia

* Cuivre is actually incapable of defending herself and hunt. Thanks to Pallor, she has some basic notions but will always heavily rely on others to stay safe.
* Being a scientist and knowing her way around genes and biology, Cuivre's genital parts has been removed prior to her promotion as Royal Scientist, to be sure she will not stray away from her work. She is then incapable of producing a clutch and having offsprings.