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// Sevian, Forked Tongue 
// Story: Dramatis Personae of the Pony Wars 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
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Most would expect a Dragon to be fierce and aggressive; at first impression, Sevian is neither of those.  As a diplomat, he is reluctant to start a conflict; but will fight tooth and claw and spine to end one.  Most of the time, he is calm and often a calming presence.  Patient but unforgiving, he remembers all the slights ever made against him or the Dragons.

“It is said, do not taunt a resting Dragon.  Perhaps, please, you would like to learn why?  The results would be quite informative, yes, wouldn’t you agree?”





Among the Dragons, the number seven is considered sacred.  Another belief is that those born with dramatically forked tongues shouldn’t be trusted.  There is no known superstition regarding a clutch of seven eggs, with the seventh bearing the strange mutation of a double-forked tongue.  At least, there wasn’t until Sevian was hatched.  He grew up in a society that didn’t know how to feel about him; some feared him, some hated him, and some revered him.  All of them whispered when they thought he couldn’t hear them.
He learned to watch and listen, to take his time when others rushed to judge him.  This, even more than the superstition, marked him as strange.  Dragons revere strength and power, and as he grew, he began to understand that reverence in ways others did not.  It was not only the strength of his body but his mind that they feared.  Sevian discovered how to leverage whatever might give him an advantage, be it his physical stature or fear of his peculiarities.  Last hatched among his siblings, he was still the first to achieve any measure of power within Dragon society.
Sevian’s presence among the other Dragons was disruptive, an oddity, so the High Dragon assigned him ambassador to the Pony nations.  This gave Sevian whole new societies to learn from and also had the benefit of keeping him out of the way for long months at a time.  A Dragon among ponies is a physical powerhouse, significantly more robust and of greater strength than all but the most formidable equines.  Sevian had to be careful not to harm the smaller creatures by accident.  Already clever with his words, it was here he learned how to deceive without lying and to offer encouragement wile still making no promises.
While there, negotiating trade pacts and soothing tensions where he could, he also learned how other societies saw Dragons.  They always thought of Dragons as brutish and chaotic, as barely intelligent monsters.  Sevian never laughed at this, for it was a sometimes valid interpretation.  The young and the stupid with nothing to prove but their own ego might behave this way, but the elder ones knew better.  Strength of conviction and purity of action were more respected.  So the Dragons argue constantly, and outsiders might see this as stubbornness.
Even then, Dragons respect power when they see it in others.  When King halo was killed, and Solarflare crowned queen, Sevian went to the Sunbound Kingdom to congratulate her.  There he smelled the tension between the two nations; he suspected they would be at war with the Lumahina in short order.  Curious to see how the Ponies would wage this war, he stayed to watch.  Perhaps even to interfere.  The two nations might bleed each other dry and leave them both too weak to fight back if another power were to enter the fray.  The war might be a threat to Dragon stability or maybe an opportunity.