Illsyndran Daekar

These are some of my writings about the Illsyndra, my former home, and the daekar who live there still (I hope). They are quite a few years old now and my writing really isn't that great, should I ever get around to re-writing them I'll try to remember to come here and update the posts.

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What/Where is Illsyndra?

Illsyndra is a dragon-made haven in the astral realms. As the birth of Illsyndra took place a long time before the current generations were born, I can only pass on our legend of it's creation.

It is said that the original dragons of Illsyndra lived on a planet called Terra. They became aware of a coming darkness and decided to leave Terra and seek out somewhere safe. Through the formation of a stone gateway, the soon-to-be Illsyndrans travelled to the astral realms and there they created Illsyndra by manipulation the astral energies they found there.

They formed their own version of Terra, trying to provide a suitable environment for each of the dragons who made the journey. Illsyndra has beaches and seas, forests and caves, deserts, mountains and volcanoes. It is very much like a version of Earth but without any human influence.

If you are wondering why I do not post a map for getting to Illsyndra, it is not that easy. Because it is located in the astral realms it is very difficult to give landmarks, the astral realms change from time to time and unless you know exactly where you are going, it is easy to get lost.

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Illsyndran Daekar

Daekar is the Illsyndran word for dragon, it is what we call ourselves when we need to.

Illsyndran daekar have, what could be called, a Western dragon body shape. We have two front and two back legs and are able to walk on either all four or two depending on mood or situation. We have one pair of wings growing from just below our shoulderblades which are our main means of transportation.

Illsyndrans have four 'fingers' on each hand and foot with a fifth retractable 'thumb'. Our talons are extremely strong and rarely chip or break. They are also very sharp. Our bodies are covered with the scales that are our main form of protection from physical attack. Our tails are also very strong, having a bone structure that is very much like human ribs running through it. It ends in a point and is 'un-decorated' unlike some other dragon species.

You can tell male and female Illsyndrans apart by looking at their heads. The males have two horns on their skulls which grow out by their ears and the females have a mane of hair that grows from the top of the head down between a pair or neck ridges.

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Illsyndran: Food

Illsyndran daekar have a diet of fish, meat and plants.

For fish we wait for the tide to go out then gather the large fish that get caught in the rock pools along the beach. Smaller fish are left to carry on growing. We only take what will be eaten that day, we rarely store food to eat later.

The fish are sliced open along the belly and stuffed with our equivalent of herbs. They are then wrapped with large leaves and placed by a fire-pit to let the herbs flavour the fish.

For meat we have herds of large creatures we call bane, the closest earth equivalent would be cows but bane have a thick coat of fur and four thick horns on their heads. They are rather dopy creatures and have no fear of daekar even though we regularly hunt them for food. Killing them is a quick and painless, two talons are sharply inserted at the base of the neck which instantly kills them.

Their hide and horns are removed and kept, while the meat is carved off using our talons into good sized chunks. The meat is eaten raw or headed with herbs like the fish.

The thick bane hides are used as blankets or floor coverings, we may have scales but most of us enjoy a more comfortable surface to lie on than bare rock. The horns are often carved into decorative shapes, sometimes depicting recent events.

Plant life grows in abundance on Ilsyndra, like on earth we have plants that can be classed as herbs, vegetables and fruits. Also like on earth the different plants have different seasons of growth, so some herbs are dried for use when they are not in season. My personal favourite was the sweet and chewy seaweed-like leaves that grew underwater.

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I'm surprised I managed to find these notes, they were on two loose pieces of papers in one of my magazine holders.

Celebrations of the Year

1st Day ~ Celebration of the Gate
In celebration of the journey from Terra to Illsyndra. Original date is unknown so it is celebrated at the start of the t'kaya.

50th Day ~ Light of J'kiri
Celebration of the rainbow dragon and her sacrifice for Illsyndra.

85th Day ~ Celebration of the Seas

115th Day ~ Celebration of the Land

175th Day ~ Celebration of the Skies

210-215th Day ~ Calling of the Clan
The time when all the clan gets together. Also the period when new clan members are accepted and new council members are chosen.

245th Day ~ Rememberance of the Elders
When we remember our family and friends who have passed beyond to be reborn.

285-295th Day ~ Festival of Lights
When the native glow bugs emerge from their cocoons and light up the night sky.

320th Day ~ Ootar Celebration
Celebrating the arrival of the Ootar to Illsyndra.

345th Day ~ Daekar'Ootar Birth
Celebrating the formation of the Daekar'Ootar Clan.

360th Day ~ End of the Cycle

Names translated to the nearest English that makes sense.

There are roughly 20 hours and 35 minutes of Earth time per Illsyndran day (although there is a good chance it was worked out wrongly). There are 360 Illsyndran days to one t'kaya or year.

Days start and end with sunrise and are counted in groups of 5.

The t'kaya (year) begins when the land starts getting warming, what would be considered the start of spring for the western hemisphere of earth.

The community has a 'time keeper' who keeps track of the days and the festivals. It is a very respected position.

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Scale Colours

An Illsyndran daekar’s colour is determined by their parents colouring. A female daeja’s (hatchling dragon) scale colour comes from her mother, and her wing sail colour comes from her father. Male daeja, however, take both scale and wing sail colour from one parent, usually the father.

The only real significance a daekar’s colour has is an indication of where its parents grew up. The families of the snowy mountains tend to be white in colour, those of the forest are usually deep greens. Its camouflage more than anything else, and there is no status or personality traits associated with the different colourings.

In the past it was forbidden for a daekar to mate with a daekar of a different colouring. Back then some thought it was important to keep the colours ‘pure’ and any ‘mis-coloured’ female hatchlings were banished along with their parents. Thankfully that is no longer the case and are no restrictions on mating, although there have been recent incidents of bullying amongst the younger dragons with regard to mixed colourings.

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Shedding Scales

Illsyndran daekar shed their scales once a year. At the beginning of the warm season our old, dull scales start to fall off in clumps to reveal the new, shiny ones underneath. To aid in the shedding process we enjoy soaking in the hot springs and thankfully there is a plant that grows in abundance who’s leaves provide relief from the itching a shed can cause.

It takes around 5 days for a daekar to completely shed all its old scales, and there are large parties and gift-giving while its taking place. We see it as a kind of re-birth and celebrate it as such. I guess it would be our equivalent of birthdays, only we celebrate them together over a few weeks rather than spread out across the year.

Over the course of the year our scales become dull and thicken, so by the time winter comes we have extra insulation against the cold.

Due to an Illsyndran daekar’s scales being used to store magickal energy they are quite prized by some other species such as the Elari. We keep any nice, whole scales to trade with them and bury the rest. To us they are just dead scales and no harm has ever come from us parting with them. The Elari tend to turn them into jewellery and I’ve seen some very beautiful pieces that they have made.

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Illsyndran 'Magick'

Ok this is my essay about Illsyndran energy manipulation. I originally wrote it for my forum to answer a member's question but I though I would share it here as well. After all I did agree to help teach about the magick of the dragons.

Although we never called it magick I guess it would fit under that heading here.

We believe that all living things generate energy, from the smallest weed to the tallest tree, the tiniest insect to the largest dragon. We don't know HOW this energy is generated or why, we just know it is. Looking at it since arriving here I wonder if its a by-product of the oxygen/carbon dioxide process.

We learn at an early age how to see energy, the best attempt at describing it would be like a coloured fog around its source. I know Flare asked about colours before so I better explain the different colours on Illsyndra, plants usually give off a brown-green coloured energy, usually matching its leaves or roots, but sometimes the energy matches the colour of its flowers (if it has any). An animal's energy (dragons included) is usually the chosen colour of the creator. Mine is usually a glittery green-blue which matches my scales, why? because I like it that colour!

After learning how to see the energy, we learn how to feel it, again the closest I can get to describing it is that its like running your hand through water without getting wet. We learn both of these techniques through practice and concentration.

Once we've learnt both of these we then practice drawing energy into ourselves. This is done by placing our hands over the energy and willing it into ourselves. We draw it up through our hands, up our arms and into our scales where we can store it for a while until needed. We usually take energy from plants as they seem to be able to generate excess energy the easiest, and we only take what we need, we'd never drain all the energy from any living thing.

The energy we store in our scales will eventually disperse, which is why we try to only take what we need. At a rough guess I would say it lasts about 3-4 weeks before fading.

The first use for this energy we learn is shielding. Although Illsyndran dragons have pretty tough scales we do have weak spots and even though I often describe Illsyndra as a dragon-made haven, we still have our fair share of unpleasant visitors.

Unlike most human-made shields which are 'bubble' shaped, Illsyndran shields are body-shaped. We gather the energy together, usually in our chest, then project it around our bodies, about 2-3cm away from ourselves. Most of us, myself included, picture it as tight interlocking scales, although others have their own techniques. This might sound quite simple but it can take a while to master a decent sheild which won't vanish as soon as you move! I think it must have taken me about 6 months to finally perfect my technique but with lots of practice it is possible to automatically create and constantly power a sheild without really thinking about it.

I will add that since being here I have had to resort to using the 'bubble' as I just cannot get the energy to work in the same way as it does back home.

The second main use for the energy is healing. Although our bodies naturally heal quickly (as long as there is a soul present) applying energy to a wound can help speed up the process even more. Sometimes an injury will use up a lot of the bodies' own energy so adding a 'foreign' energy can ensure the body doesn't lose too much of its own. To apply the energy we just send it back down our arms, into our hands then just apply it to the wound, visualising it closing up and healing.

We also use that technique for mending physical objects.

So that is our magick. I guess the energy usage could be classed as being spells but we would just consider them workings.

I have written a bit on human-based dragon magick which is on my site but I left that path a while ago to try to re-discover my natural magick.

As for what is the astral plane, I tend to refer to it/them as the astral realms (as there is more than one), although if I say 'astral realm' I speak of the one nearest home not the one that intersepts earth.

The way I see it, and how I've been taught, is that there are different 'levels' of the astral. Starting at Earth, the first realm intersepts the physical which is why when you astral project you sometimes start off in your bedroom. The physical and astral are very close in this part of the realms and it can sometimes be hard to seperate the two. I believe a lot of the dragons which act as companions and guardians live in this realm which is why they are sometimes seen in the physical, I know Kitana and Kira do which I why I didn't meet them until I came here.

I think a lot of people never get any further than this realm and for most there is no need to travel into the other realms.

Then you have the 'veil', known to Illsyndrans as eshvan, which is a wall of energy which vibrates at a certain frequency. I think that is why some of us see/feel/know of it and others don't. Unless you can sense that energy frequency you wouldn't know it was there. Its not a physical object but some creatures cannot pass through it.

On the other side of eshvan is some of the other realms, including the one where Illsyndra is located. I've not really visited any of the other realms but I've popped through some of them in the past.

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Shapeshifting

Illsyndran daekar are not natural shapeshifters. My sister and I were both taught how to shift by the elari along with other female daekar. Male daekar were not welcome amongst the elari due to their lack of hair, and so never learn how to shapeshift. Males were not even acknowledged when then elari visited Illsyndra.

I can remember some of what we learn. It was one-on-one training and started with the tutor giving us a little model daekar made out of a clay-like material. We then had to mould this model into something that resembled an elari’s bodyshape. (Think tall, slender biped with long hair growing from head to mid-back.) We then would draw energy into ourselves and mould our own body into the desired form.

Although it was possible to learn how to disguise our wings its not something I learnt to do. I also never mastered making my skin smooth like the elari’s so my biped form was scaled and winged.

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Death Rites

When a daekar has died, its body is lifted onto a large metal grid held over a fire pit. We believe when we die our souls go to J’Kiri to await rebirth, by burning the body we ensure the soul is released without trouble or complications. The burnings always happen in the morning so the soul will have the daylight to find its way, and are attended by whoever wishes to be there.

After the burning the family and close friends of the departed take a little of the ashes for their memory shrines or to cast into the wind or sea. Then, in the evening, those who wish gather together to share stories of the departed and celebrate their life.

The memory shrines mentioned can be found in most daekar family homes. They are a simple thick board of softwood, which is soft enough for a claw to be pushed into it to form an indentation. The ashes are poured into that hole which is then sealed with resin. If a daekar is having a hard time, or is about to do something very important, they will often go to the memory shrine and ask their ancestors for their blessings. We hold a lot of respect for our departed kin.

That makes for quite a fascinating read. I have a couple of questions for it now.

- Who are the Elari? What do they look like?

- You talk about having to use the "bubble" type of shield since you got here. Can you actually do that? What happens when you do?

- How does a "retractable thumb" work?

Also, fish is meat.

solarion wrote:

That makes for quite a fascinating read. I have a couple of questions for it now.

- Who are the Elari? What do they look like?

The closest I can think of is like an elf. They have the long, pointed ears and long hair that are usually associated with elves, but their hair grows from head to midway down their backs. They are very tall compared to daekar, and wear a lot of flowing clothing, back-less to show off their hair, and adornments including pieces made from daekar scales. They are a very proud race, and claim to be one of the oldest races in existence, they are also very blunt and honest.

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- You talk about having to use the "bubble" type of shield since you got here. Can you actually do that? What happens when you do?

My shielding has evolved quite a bit from when I wrote that, its now closer to the body-shaped scales, but not completely there yet. I guess I really do need to re-write some of these at some point.

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- How does a "retractable thumb" work?

I really need to draw how the bones of a daekar's paw sit, but I'll try to describe it. The thumb bones slip in and fold at the knuckles to sit next to the first finger inside the paw. The skin on our paws is quite stretchy so all you see when its inside is the harder skin on the tip of the thumb, and a few little folds of skin. I think we've evolved that way because we spend a lot of time running or walking on all fours but we still hold things sometimes.

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Also, fish is meat.

Maybe I should have used the term red meat instead. I tend to think in terms of meat, fish, and poultry. Its a bit of a bad habit, sorry.

Fascianting, I have always - pardon my word - envied those who could remember things in such detail.
Very intersting species.