Sorraiath

Seana's Green Sorraiath
Dragonsfire's 51st PC Clutch
Ista Weyr
Kabrielle's gold Niliath and N'lon's brown Rhyolith
November 29, 2007
Clutchmates: R'skim and brown Seiketh, Corana and gold Naomith, Yandra and blue Allegrith, and Q'luin and bronze Zhoreth

Congratulations on your dragon, Seana. You're feisty, no-nonsense, and a perfect equal to Sorraiath. We enjoyed you immensely! I had a hell of a time working on your dragon, she kicks like whiskey and like a horse, but always remember this is a guide, not the Bible. If you don't follow it I won't smite thee. Enjoy her! You've earned it.

-N'lon, on behalf of Ista Weyr Search Co

There's a place in the whiskey
Where I don't give a damn
I just love everybody
And everybody loves who I am

-Gretchen Wilson "There's A Place In The Whiskey"

Egg Description:

Ain't Enough Good Burn In Tequila Egg
Dark colors, nondescript, seduce the shell of this egg, the one a little too long and slender to be totally innocent of identity. It stands well-mounted in the coarse black sand and if not centered well its top-heavy shape will lean to the side. There is an imprint to dazzle, Mustang red, left and south of center. Just there, too, is a small tattoo of deep color held just under the egg's midline. Whiskey gold intoxicates what's left with a little more edge and a little more pain.

Egg Inspiration:

The brand of music that inspired me to write this egg was country, more specifically the song "Whiskey Girl" sung by Toby Keith. I like the way the guitar growls to an independent sort of anthem. Country music is my favorite genre and the one I know best. It's lean, rugged, truthful and can be more than just a little rowdy. If you haven't had a good slug of whiskey recently (which I field tested while writing this just to make sure I had fresh inspiration), you'll appreciate that burn all the more. The video is great too, you can watch it here http://www.musicvideocodes.info/song_22350_Toby_Keith-Whiskey_Girl.html

Hatching Message:

Ain't Enough Good Burn In Tequila Egg quickly loses its center of gravity. It leans dangerously, next toppling over in the fashion of a true drunk. The base of black sand around it is a soft, but finite reminder that the only further movement will come from expulsion. There are no hairline fractures, just the shape of a very large head stabbing through the crown of the egg and followed by a cooperation of lean wings.

Dragon Description:

She's My Little Whiskey Girl Green Dragonet

Verdigris thunderheads siege a concave nasal bridge with wide nostrils and persist over high, downward plunging head knobs. Sagebrush clutches the sturdy virtue of this dainty dragon, completing color to a narrow, deep chest cavity. Agave green wristlets band each of her long sturdy legs and stripe the height up to each dense wither. Her wings are scallop-shaped, lighter, as leaves raw with frost. Hemlock greens patchwork pinto onto raftered hips and a high-held tail which tip cedes to saguaro. A vivid dorsal stripe is loyal only to the spine while her ribs and flanks bloom in goldenrod. Whiskey gives fluid gold to her throat and ultimately blazes her forehead like crackling summer lightning.

Impression Pose:

She's My Little Whiskey Girl Green Dragonet, being freshly born, continues to revel in this new world of space and absolute freedom of movement. She bucks, hind legs kicking out with her tail high-held as she tries to run the hunger out of her. Something is missing though: a rider, a companion, this void greater than the sum of her famine. Her large head straightens level, chin tilted and coy. She is there, just in front of Seana, front feet completely matched in stance. There's only one who could saddle her, but no one will ever break her.

Impression Message:

Wind roars, squeezed between plateaus to be dense in your ears. A sharp hiss is the harbinger of an angry clap of thunder that might not be angry at all, just larger than life. The sound of rain streams from a broken sky, welcomed by the land that only breeds dust and the stalwart. There are no sensations of wetness, but a deep union of similar minds that are lightning and thunder, hoof and turf, rider and dragon. « Run with me. You cannot refuse if I say please, right? »

Name Meaning:

I'm feelin' like Tonto,
Ridin' a pinto,
Tryin' to chase the Lone Ranger down
I'm a little unraveled,
But I'm still in the saddle,
Cryin' your name out to the clouds,
Hey yaw, Hey yaw!

-Big and Rich "Wild West Show"

I tried to distill what country music was about: wild spaces, close cooperation, and America, dammit. Because she is modeled in part after a horse, a symbol of the American West, I went looking at mustangs (the horse). Mustangth just didn't cut the mustard so I dug a little deeper and discovered they are descended, largely, from Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) stock. One such old breed is the Sorraia. They are smaller types, not tiny, but both elegant and rugged: your Sorraiath. I quickly fell in love because of its "old world" feel, standard beauty, and fluid pronunciation of syllables that run off your tongue like a herd of horses (save the grimace for metaphor, I got a million of 'em). SOR-ray-ath or sor-RAY-ath (the way I babble it), the name is yours to command. It even has good nicknames, like Sorra, Raia, Rai, that not everyone can boast about their life mates.

Physicality:

Seana was disheartened to leave her runnerbeast Highlander when she was Searched. Sorraiath will be the best of equine and so much more. Characteristics of a horse are endowed in both demeanor and structure as you will learn. She is, like the Sorraia of Iberia and her sire Rhyolith, not tiny, but small and compact. She is well muscled in the areas that count: haunches, shoulders, and neck. Long of leg and designed solidly, your bond is not as impaired on land as most dragons endure. She will be one of the few of her kind that have good lines and a rare gait on the ground that she accomplishes with inborn grace.

As a hatchling and young dragon Sorraiath will mature at a fairly steady rate. However! She will suffer from gangly legs and an overly large head, like Seiketh will, for at least the first six months. This ugly duckling stage will put her self-confidence to the test if she is teased for it by you or other dragons and people. After a while when her imperfections correlate with her perfections your green will turn heads for reasons other than outsized appendages.

Her wings are pretty standard, shorter, but with an extra roundness to their secondary and spar mainsails especially. The wide, blunt, scheme of her wings lessens drag. This concentration of mass makes Sorraiath's turns breakneck and acceleration rapid, but the speed cannot be sustained for very long. But her general endurance for a green her size will be phenomenal.

With the Sorraia breed comes a bit of Arabian as mustangs are products of many breeds. Arabians, know as "the Versatile," are built somewhat differently than Sorraias are, but I had the enjoyable task of mixing both remarkable breeds of horses. There are many stories concerning the mythology of the desert horse and one I liked best was, "Allah created the Arabian horse from the four winds; spirit from the North, strength from the South, speed from the East, and intelligence from the West." That's how I envision her as you'll see.

Wild plants of North America are her basis of coloration: sage, conifers, cactus, and rich yellow goldenrod. Of course she has gold sections on her body because she is the one and only Whiskey Girl after all. Coincidentally she has darker stripes wrapped around her legs, back, and withers indicative of the ancient Sorraia as well as the trait shared from the genetics of her father.

Finally, in addition to her equine aspects there are storm fronts across her hide that are part of her inspiration as a Thunder Horse.

Mind voice:

As with dragons Sorraiath's mind voice is a manipulation of your own. Hers is no exception, but there is a brightness of clarity in whatever she says that will work even when she's being totally unbelievable. Defense attorneys know this method well. Her word pronunciations are crisp, true, and she will love long words that to anyone else would be jawbreakers. She has the ability to pick up on and use contractions and curses when she speaks. Angry thunder will be at her beck and call with mental lightning zaps regular if she's just cranky. Sorraiath will use a myriad of imagery to get her point across when her vocabulary fails her, especially forms of weather: sunlight, twisters, sheering winds, fog, and rain. Scents also vary, but never will they be artificial. What she can't scorch with lightning, she'll burn with whiskey.

Personality:

Country music, like the Arabian, is versatile. That theme was hammered into Sorraiath. There are love ballads, tributes, rock songs, humorous songs, and above all: stories. From Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar" to "Arlington" by Trace Adkins, there are so many ways to be both entertainment and art form. Few music genres have as many crossovers (country mixed with rock, jazz, blues, classical, religious, pop, R&B, hip-hop, soul) and as many duets. This cooperation and diversity makes country music fit for almost anyone, although many don't know it. It can do all that and still shine your floors.

I believe if life gives you lemons make lemonade… then find someone that life gave vodka to and have a party.

-Ron White (who is not a country musician, but a southern comedian and funny as hell)

Humor is not a higher attribute of many dragons, but yours can have a "lightness" about her that is breezy and refreshing. « Doesn't Zhoreth looks as worn out as a wagon that's been on an uphill trip for three days? » Her jests are never canned or blatantly obvious and it's that subtlety that doesn't make it tiresome. It's a natural type of ease that makes Sorraiath impressive in a league all her own. « One could fit firestone in the bags under your eyes. Shard it, Seana! Just go to bed. » Of course these imaginative observations may wear thin with you, especially when sobriety is important.

You can be so stubborn
There's times I think you just like to fight
And I hope and pray
I live to see a day
When you say I might be right

-Garth Brooks "A Friend To Me"

Like the Arabian your green is a ball of kinetic spirit and great force of will. These horses are not for the passive or basic rider. You must learn to respect their spitfire temperament before you can work with it which is not always an easy transition. It won't be simple being her chosen rider, you'll have to correct without breaking which will be difficult considering you two are a lot alike. Getting Sorraiath to do something she balks at will make you see patience, tempt your self-control, and rattle your sanity. But no horse was ever so beautiful to watch or maintain than an Arabian. And when rider and mount have one goal from two minds there is little greater, no rival force, the world will ever see. It's really no wonder they were so prized in battles for their courage and resolve.

Deep in her heart

The thunder rolls

-Garth Brooks "The Thunder Rolls"

As the mustang there is an innate toughness to her. Hundreds of years made these feral horses fit only to survive what nature threw them. The weak never had a chance. Injuries, sprains, itchy hide, digestive problems (once she learns not to overeat), overexertion, these things are largely unheard of in Sorraith's repertoire. The same stubbornness that conflicts with others is routed to her relationship with the environment. Should she be failing in someway she'd never let on, will stay the course. The storm rolls on.

Crime what crime
We was all hopped up on new wine

-Gretchen Wilson "Chariot"

She is an intelligent creature, opportunistic, and completely willing to push the boundaries and leap over those opposing fences when they leave her little space to freely run. The green's natural course is to be innocent of any wrongdoing until you show her that she is not a windstorm to play havoc wherever its feet touch down. Consequences consist and you'll need to be firm on the reins. Sometimes the bit will bite.

Oh don't you know
When it rains
When it rains
I pour

-Gretchen Wilson "When It Rains"

There will be spells when thunderclouds congeal over Sorraiath's head. Call it cantankerous. « Get out of my /way/, Jaqueth! » She bites, she nips, she isn't afraid to physically assert herself and back up her talk. Usually she is all thunder and wind, but fury is like lightning that strikes more than once. Storm cells are the consequences of an unstable atmosphere and moisture. The results? "In an average thunderstorm, the energy released amounts to about 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours (3.6×1013 joule), which is equivalent to a 20-kiloton nuclear warhead. A large, severe thunderstorm might be 10 to 100 times more energetic." How's that in your head?

The beast in me

Is caged by frail and fragile bars

Restless by day

And by night rants and rages at the stars

God help the beast in me

-Johnny Cash "The Beast In Me"

Now, that amount of force is not always destructive. If she can focus that energy into something external, or you can convince her to, she'll be about unstoppable. But if not, if the storm is allowed to be unbridled and free reigned, then all I can say is, whoa. Or rather: woe!

Hey, we got enough on each other
To wage a full scale war
If we could ever remember
What we were fightin' for
-Garth Brooks "We Bury the Hatchet"

Sorraiath is not an easy dragon. That freedom she covets so much is dear to her and that connection will sometimes come between that bond of yours. The conflict is between her loyalty to you and that bad temper, the desire to rage. But seldom is the tempest sudden. It takes time to nurture and grow a bad attitude. And when her wind is all blown out she is the cutting sunlight of an Istan morning. Every once in a while she just needs some island to make landfall on, some tree to strike, a house to collapse. It's nothing personal.

Only forgiveness,
Will finally end this
There won't be a witness if we both fall
There's never a hero,
In a battle of egos
There's never a winner of the quick draw
Hey yaw, Hey yaw!

-Big and Rich "Wild West Show"

If anything, Sorraiath will forget after a time what desires burn and the white dove of peace will coo an armistice between she and you. If N'lon was a rider wanting no dragon then Raia is the dragon who resists a rider. But deep down she loves you or else she would have rejected you, everyone, and died there on the sands. You complete her even if you often share the same thunderbolt.

There's a few final quirks to your dragon that will baffle. Sorraiath does things in "evens." It's her little slice of OCD. She'll hold her feet so that neither leads, make sure an even number of wing flaps see her to her ledge, wear an even number of strap tethers and insist no dragon color will catch her more than the other. « Three blues caught me those last times, it's time for three browns. » And she will ensure this balance to her world. Or else. While water is a necessity to drink, for submersion it also better be a necessity. Like her totem she will prefer to roll in the dust, legs kicking, but isn't adverse to a stationary wash in the lake or ocean once in a while.

Eating:

Sorraiath is good eater, but she will not start out that way. Early in her life she will overeat if given the opportunity. Horses are designed to consume large quantities of low-grade food. Meat, however, is a much richer food source (think second-cut hay). Such easy digestibles she will eat like a pasture-starved equine. When she's young she will gorge if you aren't there to stop her and will be prone to thick tail and regurgitation. Lucky you. Once she understands there's no famine on the horizon her eating pattern will level out to what is standard of her color and size.

Flights:

Well I get so hot every time I kiss her
Spin me around like an Amarillo twister
So I take her for a ride in my El Camino
You know I like my ladies hot - like Jalapeno

-Big and Rich "Jalapeno"

Being one of the first females in her clutch to sexually mature, Sorraiath will be an exquisite trial for everyone to behold. Her cycle itself will be very unpredictable. She may rise once a month for three months then have a dry spell of six months or more. But while all that is unfolding her most telling clue won't be the color of her hide, but keyed in her personality. The clouds will gather several days in advance, as much as a sevenday, thickening and charging with energy and ire. Subconsciously, or maybe consciously, she responds to adverse weather and will often Rise during a thunderstorm, gale, or snow squall should she be out of Ista. Sorraiath is intuitive to changing atmospheric qualities that may trigger her body to prepare its own tempest simultaneously.

I wanna wrap the moon around us

And lay beside you skin on skin

-Faith Hill & Tim McGraw "I Need You"

She is not one to play favorites outside of her flights. Whomever can catch her is worthy of her and that is how it will be - unless it relates to her outlook of "evenness" in which case if a bronze is needed she will facilitate a bronze's success. Your life mate is as fast as forked lightning during a flight's beginnings, but just because she slows doesn't mean she isn't capable of a good time or long duration. Betweening to other locations, night flights, the sky is the limit for the clever Sorraiath. Whichever male wins will enjoy a day after of affection before the green is back to business. Few touch lightning and live to tell about it.

I wanna sleep under a different piece of sky
I wanna live a little bit before I die
I wanna be so close to heaven I see angels…

-Sugarland "Fly Away"

Sorraiath is the wind on four legs and wings. Her freedom, that empty wind and enormous sky, she gave up in part to be with you. Always remember she made that sacrifice when you two are warring and glaring lightning bolts at each other. The tenacious, the versatile, the intractable, the thunderous, the wild: Sorraiath.

Go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
I'm laid out on the floor, but I've been here before,
I may stumble, yeah I might fall,
Only human aren't we all?
I might lose my way, but hear me when I say,

I will stand back up,
You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid, and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

I've been beaten up and bruised,
I've been kicked right off my shoes,
Been down on my knees more times than you'd believe,
When the darkness tries to get me,
There's a light that just won't let me,
It might take my pride, and my tears may fill my eyes,
But I'll stand back up,

I've weathered all these storms,
But I just turn them into wind, so I can fly,
What don't kill you makes you stronger,
When I take my last breath,
That's when I'll just give up,

So, go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
You might win this round but you can't keep me down,

'Cause I'll stand back up,
And you'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up

-Sugarland "Stand Back Up"

Dragon: Sorraiath
Color: Green
Name: N'lon
Egg: Ain't Enough Good Burn In Tequila Egg
Egg Desc: N'lon
Dragonet: She's My Little Whiskey Girl Green Dragonet
Dragon Desc: N'lon
Messages: N'lon
Inspiration: N'lon
Puppeteer: N'lon

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