Pejonala

Biographical information

Birthplace Nagai Born Died Age Unknown Home Southern Nagai Sexuality Pronouns

Physical description

Race Naga Sub-Race Gender Male Height 6'6" / m Mass [Whatever]lbs / kg Hair color Eye color Red Skin color Black scales

Political information

Affiliation(s) Zacinjena Zmija Naga Tribe Occupation Prosvijecen Clan(s) Caste Domain Masters Apprentices Alias(es)

Out-of-character information

Writer TimberWolfBrother Created on May 8, 2019 Avatar Avatar by Anastasia Ovchinnikova, wiki pic by Lucas Graciano

Pejonala is noticeably more lithe than most naga, weighing [Whatever] lbs (kg) and tends to hold himself around 6'6" (m) in height, though when close to slithering fully on the ground his total length is closer to 16' (m).

He is covered in black scales and is grayer on softer parts of his body and around his joints, with barely any muscle or fat to his form. As all naga from the Zacinjena Zmija tribe, he sports a hood like that of a cobra, though it takes more effort to fold down than to keep it extended, and as such he keeps it flared unless he desired otherwise. His eyes are a solid red and appear almost beady on his relatively larger snake-like head.

In addition to his black scales, Pejonala is what is known as an Prosvijecen, a naga born with bioluminescent markings on his scales. These markings do not show well in the daylight, seeming almost like slightly different shades than his normal scales, but in the dark and when he casts magic they glow with an ever-changing light.

Pejonala sports fabrics decorated with bones and colored bright colors to contrast against his dark scales, preferring the color yellow. In addition to this, he sports a golden brace on his right arm interwoven with leather dyed red and embedded with pearls, a marker of his place as an Prosvijecen among his tribe that he refuses to part with and will fervently protect or go to great lengths to retrieve. To him, it is irreplaceable.

Pejonala, as far as naga go, can tend to be trusting to a fault of others and as such will tend to explain away oddities or simply disbelieve certain things regarding those he trusts. He is especially overly trusting of other naga, his position withing the Zacinjena Zmija as an Prosvijecen having seen him set in a position of privilege and inherent respect among his peers that left him blind to the deceptions and scheming of others.

While he may be just about inept when it comes to deception, he is not without a strategic and sometimes pragmatic viewpoint. Life can be fleeting no matter how long one lives or how many battles they win, so the most must be made out of whatever time is available, including taking the most expedient path to the desired results. For naga, there is rarely a long game to play, and this holds true for Pejonala. His preferred strategies are quick, brutal, shocking, and yet wise enough to always have an escape strategy to live to fight another day.

Non-naga he view more as meat and components for spellcasting, bits of reagents waiting to be made useful lying beneath the skin, personality, and individuality. Connections with them tend to be always with the caveat that if the situations are to turn or if they are to die, they can always prove useful to him in other ways, especially if he can get at their bodies quickly enough.

Pejonala is always willing to learn, but this can tend to prove sometimes detrimental when combined with his gullibility. The older races of those who are not naga have already indirectly taught them plenty, especially how to adapt to new things, and he believes there is much more that can be learned even directly from these people.

Unlike mana naga, however, he also tends to consider the past, particularly in times without much else to do. He considers it largely wiser to reflect on what was and to learn how to better tackle the future, keeping his vision ever-forward, but never forgetting where he has been, what he did, or why he did it. He feels no remorse or guilt for his participation in raids against the mainland, and in fact feels pride in being a contributing factor for his raiding comrades, but nor does he feel inherent ill will towards those who are not naga, instead a certain pity that they are not also naga.

Pejonala's primary specialization is not in the physical abilities that the warriors, hunters, raiders, and such of the naga might normally possess, but rather in the practice and application of various types of magic and practices. He is weaker and slower than most naga, but stronger in will and concentration than his contemporaries. While almost useless in direct confrontation, he finds his place best at a distance and with room and time to work with, preferably with an ally between him and any threats.

As most other naga, Pejonala possesses complex scent glands able to leave messages for other naga, as well as an excellent sense of smell. He also possesses a natural venom and folding fangs, though the potency and specifics can change depending on the victim, it tends to cause soreness and a fever. He is also considerably more sluggish with colder temperatures.

The primary magics with which he is highly proficient are blood, water, air, weather, predictive, and light-based magics, as well as magics including ritualistic sacrifices. He is also skilled with a sort of tirbal alchemy, though much of his knowledge is limited to what he learned on Nagai.

Blood magic is typically the most readily available for him to practice with two primary sources and results for the magic. The first is from stored blood, typically preserved in one liter gourds with either the container being enchanted or the blood within being mixed with an alchemical mixture. This typically holds a diluted effect, but is also simpler, more reliable, and safer to use for the caster. The other is with fresh blood from a living or recently-dead being, proving more potent, but also requiring either the caster's own blood, or that from another being, with the power of the being in question whether magical or physical determining the potency of the magic cast. While this practiced blood magic can be used with runic designs, but is typically best suited to affecting changes in living creatures or blood, such as strengthening them, making them more resistant, changing temperatures, or other effects. Unfortunately, the affected creature tends to develop negative reactions to the naga's practice of magic, compounding with each effect active within the subject and the potency of the spell, such as massive amounts of strength leading to bursting muscles, quickened reflexes to torn limbs, multiple effects to bleeding from orifices or sores, shaking, and more. The more effects or the greater the potency, the higher the risk that goes with the reward.

Water magic tends to prove far simpler, particularly as a component for weather magic. The simplest application here being through direct contact with water, though greater bodies of water require greater focus, the results can be useful in a variety of ways. The simplest would be for propulsion through water, requiring to focus only on water immediately surrounding the caster, but the practice extends further including affecting near-shore waves, creating spouts to launch fish to land, weaponizing various amounts of water for blunt impacts, and finally to aiding in change to weather formations. Greater bodies of water and distances required tend to take more mental focus, with distractions ruining the attempts and frustrations or adding to the difficulty of greater feats with water, though it can all be eased through group efforts.

Air magic proves a curious sort with regards to the practices of the naga. With a great sense of smell mostly coming from the tongue, even plenty of naga believe that their sense of smell may be the result of a touch of air magic in use, bringing the scent to them and enhancing potency. As for practices beyond the self, air magic can prove somewhat similar to water magic in its need for focus and ease through group effort, but also requires practiced breath control and lung capacity. Smaller effects can include things such as gentle changes in the breeze, but more potent effects include aiding in guiding projectiles to their targets, creating bursts of wind to unsteady legged enemies or knock birds from the air, and even picking up debris to varying sizes based on potency for either obfuscation or assault. Some naga have been rumored to even take the breaths from others through sheer focus, though the concentration required would make its application in battle impractical at best.

Weather magic proves a trickier but also more impressive feat, creating pockets of change through dedication to the task to spare the naga either the worst of stormy weather or granting them clear skies. Individual naga mages within the Zacinjena Zmija tribe tend to best create small pockets in cloudy skies or similarly small bundles of clouds against a bright blue day through a careful application of water and air magic, but as with air and water, its effects are far greater in groups sharing the burden. Many naga will claim that the power of magic over weather can affect more lasting changes to the days, but the while it may prove easy enough for a group to force rain from clouds that refuse to burst, enough word has spread among them about the dangers of trying to force greater changes than work with nature's plans.

Predictive magic might actually prove not only the simplest but also the most unreliable of magical practices. With a roll of bones selectively taken from carefully chosen subjects, the practicing naga may be able to interpret the results within their limited mixture of meanings and messages, but some like Pejonala find throwing those selective bones into the fire yields far more accurate results. Rather than reusing the same tired old bones, some practice taking fresh bones and letting them burn only to read and interpret the cracks, breaks, scorches, and how the flames dance around the bones and how this reflects secrets, things that have happened, things yet to come, destinies, paths, and other such meanings without the limitation of a roll, but without the reusability.

Being an Prosvijecen among the Zacinjena Zmija tribe holds not only a special meaning, but also a particular practice of magic, that surrounding the creation and manipulation of light and darkness. While the effects can typically be considered minor compared to other magical practices, their utility is almost undeniable. With a shard of translucent crystal or glass they might project an image over distances, brighten the light, or even bend it to illuminate areas it otherwise would not reach. With a bit of ash they can infuse a source to sting and irritate the eyes of those who look upon it. With a bit of bone and vitreous humor from an eye they can change a light's color and create temporary shadows and images. With pitch they can darken a source of light or shroud an area in shadows. To their own eyes, though it comes with fatigue and strain of them, they can even apply these effects only to themselves to see over great distances, through the lightless dark, and around corners. Some can even harness light into truly damaging forces, the potency of the light source increasing the power, though those who have used the sun for such things have often been burned with their enemies and the effect cut as short as their lives.

He is also versed in some more specific ritualistic magical practices that might take minutes, hours, or sometimes even days to properly execute.