Daric

A SandWing named after an old currency.

## Appearance

A small SandWing with coppery scales, and a pale gold underbelly. His back sail and wing membrane is red. A black stripe runs from his chin to the end of his tail.

A RainWing acid attack melted off one of his feet, part of his tail (including the stinger) and a large section of their wing, which later became infected and the entire thing had to be amputated, rendering them flightless. They have a clawed metal prosthetic where their foot used to be.

There are a number of other scars from fights he's been in while living in the Scorpion Den.

## Abilities

Daric lacks the ability to fly or poison his enemies due to injuries sustained early in dragonethood. Since he doesn't fly his legs are pretty muscular, and he's able to put a lot of force behind his talons.

## Personality

Determined, bold, and terribly stubborn. He's not quick to anger, but if you wrong him (like melting off his foot and half of his wing and tail) he's not going to forgive you, ever. A large portion of his dragonethood was devoted to getting strong enough to kill the RainWing Titan - however, when he finally found him, muzzled and imprisoned on the NightWing Island. He decided that such a fate was more fitting than anything he could do, and left him there to rot.

He's self-conscious about the acid scars on his body and wraps linen around them to hide them from view.

## Relationships

###  Blackrock

Daric's mother; Blackrock deserted the army of Princess Burn to raise her son in the Scorpion Den, afraid that otherwise he might grow up an orphan. She took good care of her son despite her own malnutrition, but died due to contracting a plague that had swept through the Den when he was six years old.

### "Titan"

The RainWing whose acid attack took Daric's foot, wing, and part of his tail after the dragonet tried to steal food from him in the Scorpion Den. His real name is unknown, but he went by the tough-sounding alias of 'Titan' while living in the Den. Daric absolutely *hates* Titan, and dedicated a large potion of his life to finding and killing the RainWing. His attempt to challenge the RainWing fails, and the next time he tries to find him, Titan has left the Den, and does not return.

When they finally meet again, Titan has been captured and experimented on by the NightWings; Daric leaves him there, finding it to be a more apt revenge than killing him outright.

## History

Daric's mother, Blackrock, deserted Burn's army after her mate was killed, not wanting to leave their dragonet - still in the egg - parentless.  She fled to the Scorpion Den and did her best there to provide a somewhat stable life for the dragonet, Daric.  The Outclaws providing food was a great benefit for her, as that was one less thing for her to worry about.  She often went without, though, and her health went downhill very quickly.

Daric knew better than to try to steal from most of the merchants; they were violent and had proven that it wasn't a great risk to take.  When he was three years old, however, a new merchant arrived in the Den - a RainWing named Titan.  Remembering what he'd about RainWings, Daric thought he'd gotten a lucky break, and that he'd be able to steal the merchant's fresh fruit for him and his mother to have a nice meal.

That was the worst decision of his life.  The RainWing used his acid without any hesitation, splattering the black venom on Daric's foot, wing, and tail.  His foot and tail stinger were eaten off, and a large section of his wing was melted.  His mother heard his screams from the other side of town, and managed to carry him home without burning herself.  They could not afford a healer's services; while his foot and tail healed quickly, the wound on his wing became infected, and his mother managed to scrape together enough money to see a 'doctor'.  It was too late to do anything but amputate the entire wing; and any chance that Daric had to fly again was gone.

After a year of utter desolation, he entered the fighting pits for the first time.  Daric didn't do very well, but he managed to scrape together enough money from the fights to get a crude metal prosthetic made.  It worked decently as a weapon and he managed to actually win a couple fights.

At age five, he decided that he was ready to take his revenge against Titan.  He managed to find him in the merchant area and tried to challenge him to a proper, fair fight in the pits.  The RainWing laughed at him and said he had better things to do than fight a flightless dragonet.  Daric stalked home in shame, planning to ambush the RainWing early the next day, but the dragon never returned to the Scorpion Den.

His mother died of a plague that had swept through the Scorpion Den the next year, and shortly after the Outclaws forced the pits to ban dragonets from entering; he decided that he had nothing left to loose, used the last of his money to buy food and weapons, and left the desert, heading for the rainforest.

As soon as he arrived in the forest he was knocked-out by the RainWing's darts, and woke up in the village with a dozen curious dragonets surrounding him.  He demanded to know where Titan is - and when they can't remember who that is - what RainWings had worked in the desert, but they were pretty confused - 'what's a desert?'  It soon becomes clear to Daric that none of these RainWings - every bit what he's been told to expect of them - are like the one that attacked him.

The RainWings make it a game to share fruit with him.  It becomes a competition to find out what he's never eaten before, be absolutely shocked, then show him where to find it and what it tastes like.  After a few weeks of this the RainWings win him over, and he decides to stay in the Rainforest to 'learn their weaknesses'.

At age seven, he saves a RainWing dragonet from a NightWing trying to kidnap them.  He forces the dragon to show him the way to the Night Kingdom, then knocks them out and leaves them at the edge of the rainforest.  Daric sneaks through the tunnel and discovers the prisons where the RainWings are being held; and the RainWing that attacked him all those years ago.  Utterly exhausted after years of torture, he tries to beg Daric to end his life quickly.  He refuses, so the RainWing makes enough noise for the guards to come investigate.

He is chased out of the Night Kingdom and the rainforest by a dozen angry NightWings.  It is after this that the NightWings start killing any outsiders that get too close to the Rainforest; Daric doesn't want to get killed, so he returns to the Scorpion Den.  Shortly after the events of *The Hidden Kingdom* he decides that it's safe enough to return to the Rainforest and the friends he's made there.