Family is everything
When Fire is your blood,
The ones you set to take your place,
Will they withstand the flood?
-Voices of the Burn - Festius
Red Dragon
Splinter - Draykh-Nahka
Set - Promo
Class - Legendary Dragon
Size - Although he is the largest of the Red Dragon bloodline, Festius is a medium-sized Dragon. He looks small compared to Korjack, the Black Dragon, but dwarfs the slithering Dragon from across the seas known as Shin-Lo. He stands about four times the height of a man, with a bulk of roughly 450 chickens.
Lifespan - Festius is the oldest living from the bloodline of the Red Dragon, even though he is a relatively young Dragon at only 200 years. Festius has nine children, and only four of them were eggborn. Of those four, only three were scaled, and only one was a full Dragon. Her name is Ceika Royo; Festius calls her the “last hope of the red.” Unless something is done soon to curb the effects of the mysterious Burn that has been crushing the people of the Splinterlands, Festius too may be snuffed out before his time.
Habitat - Festius lives in a very large cave just outside Centrum to the east with his three scaled children. The two hybrid sons are named Theo and Ploro, and while they love their father, their role is more that of servants than sons. Most attention is given to the daughter, Ceika, whose scales shine with a redness deeper even than her father’s.
Weapon - Like most Dragons, Festius enjoys collecting items and weapons of value. He is the owner of an incredibly impressive set of horns, in two senses. The first are the impressive horns coming from his head, which can be used in battle if Festius is feeling too lazy to breathe fire. The second is his literal collection of horns. Some are musical horns, some are enchanted horns, some are horns that were removed from enemies after a battle. There is one horn in particular with unspeakable priceless value, called the Horn of Huron, that is said to be part of the Red Dragon’s collection. He does not know it, but according to Khymian scholars, this legendary horn has the ability to call Angels.
Diet - Livestock is brought to the mouth of the cave at scheduled times each day. Animals are not brought into the cave because the Red Dragons do not like their living space “invaded by Human stench.” Instead they are tied to a pole in front and retrieved by Theo or Ploro once the Gloridax attendant has left. The Red Dragon and his entire bloodline are officially entitled to a lifetime stipend of food simply for being alive.
Allies - Familial ties are especially important to the Red Dragon. He keeps his family close, except for his third son, Piriax, who is a mere eggborn Human. Festius would permit Piriax to be around, but he knows that cave living could not possibly be enough for the young man. In uptown Centrum, Piriax is able to live a high society life with all comforts and conveniences. Festius plays nice with the Gloridax politics, but he knows these days things are run by the skindragons, and that he always has to be careful.
Enemies - The Red Dragon is rather ambivalent to other lower races, so his enemies are only Dragons. Like all the Dragons, Festius has had multiple run-ins with the trickster known as Shin-Lo and he does not like him at all. The Red Dragon also despises the Gold Dragon, who is the last of his pompous rival bloodline. There is a prophecy foretelling of the hatching of a new Gold Dragon. If Festius finds the egg, he will undoubtedly destroy it for glory.
Pastimes - When he is not battling at Mount Mox with the most impressive fireballs of any contender in the arena, Festius is above all a family Dragon. Even though the cursed Burn has been sucking his energy and taking his life, his children bring him great joy every day, especially Ceika, his greatest hope and pride. The family spends a great deal of time laughing and playing games by candlelight until the early hours of the morning.
The True Story of Splinterlands
Once upon a time your game purchase meant something. You could go to the store and purchase a game, after which you would simply own that game. You could play as often as you'd like, because it was your game. As the game companies were one by one swallowed up by larger and larger game companies, a terrible thing happened to the gaming world. While the games themselves were always making improvements, the players were always throwing more and more of their hard-earned money into a corporate black hole from which they reaped no rewards.
How did the corporations convince the players to pay this money? Loot. They showered the players with in-game riches designed to create a sense of accomplishment, but with no real value. Not only are these in-game "assets" entirely subject to the whims of corporate overlords who rarely (if ever) have the player's interests at heart, but they never really belong to the player at all. They belong exclusively to the game for which they were created. If a player wants to quit playing the game, they must also abandon their in-game treasures.
Blockchains are giving power and ownership back to the players, and it's about time. In this incredible and rapidly expanding world of technology it seems like such an outdated argument to be making, but the players (not the company) should own their gaming rewards. Blockchain, non-fungible tokens and games like Splinterlands are now making that possible.
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