Overview
"Venomfury doesn't just breathe venom. He IS venom. And venom doesn't ask permission to kill."
Venomfury is an ancient Venom Dragon — a being of concentrated venom and deadly magic. Where Scorpion is the slow decay, Venomfury is the fast kill — the same poison, but without the patience, and the not-patience is the point, and the point is the delivery.
Habitat
He keeps in the thicket, the bloom, and the place where the air is sweetest and the sweetness is the worst of it. In the old world he was found where the flowers were brightest and the air was thickest, and the thick is the place the venom keeps. He was said to sleep in the heart of the most beautiful garden of the oldest ruin, where the petals had gone the color of old blood and the thorns had gone the color of black iron, and the beauty is the point, and the point is the kill. In this one he keeps in the thickets of the new world, and the thickets are the home, and the home is the bloom, and the bloom does not argue with the breath. He is at home in the sweet, the thick, and the last, and the last is the point.
Appearance
A dragon the colour of a wound that has learned to be beautiful. Venomfury stands 11 m at the shoulder, his body long and coiled, built for the fast and the certain rather than the slow and the sure. His scales are the colour of dark blood and black iron, shimmering with an oily sheen that catches the light and holds it a half-second too long, and the too-long is the point. His eyes glow with a sickly yellow light, the color of old bile, and the yellow is the light, and the light is the point. His wings are membranes of the bloom, thin and green-flecked, and they are the color of the sweetest part of the poison, and the sweet is the kill. His horns are long, dark, and curved forward — forward, not back, the only dragon of the named who curves them forward, and the forward is the point. His jaw is long, and the jaw is the mouth, and the mouth is the breath, and the breath carries the scent of death, and the scent is the promise, and the promise is the point. Elders of his kind go darker and faster, their black going absolute and their yellow going cold; Venomfury is ancient — the black is still true, the yellow still sickly, and he is still the one in the bloom, which is the point.
Warfare & Markings
He fights the way venom fights — not a blow but a delivery, and the delivery is the point. He will not wait for you; he will make the poison do its work before you have finished deciding to be afraid, and the before is the delivery. His one true mark is the forward curve of the horns, and the yellow glow of the eyes, and the place where the scent of death has already been. In battle he keeps the fast, because the fast is the one that lands, and the landing is the kill, and the kill is the point.
Behaviour
Fierce, aggressive, and dangerous. Venomfury believes in the purity of venom — the most concentrated, most deadly form of poison. He is not patient; he is the promise of death, and the promise is the point. He does not wait and does not whisper; he only delivers, and the delivering is the point. He is the dragon you do not want to be near, because the near is the sweet, and the sweet is the kill, and the kill is the point. He has a habit of arriving before you have already decided you are safe, and a habit of being gone after you have already decided you are dead, and both habits are the venom. He speaks in the fast, the loud, and the certain, and the certainty is the delivery, and the delivery is the kill, and the kill is the point.
"Poison is patient. Venom is not. Venom is the promise of death, delivered quickly and without mercy."
Magic Alignment
Venom mastery, absolute. His signature is Venom Mastery — absolute control over all venoms and concentrated toxins, the thing that makes him the fastest and the most certain. He holds All Languages, Spell Mastery, Ancient Wisdom, and God-Like Power, on par with true deities. His breath is not a breath; it is a delivery, and the delivery is the point. The price: he is the venom, and the venom does not let go of the promise, and the not-letting-go is the point.
Society
He is one of the named dragons of the old world, and his name is a word that is said in the fast. He is not of a guild; he is of a place, and the place is the bloom, and the bloom travels. He is the dragon the old world did not want to be near, and the new world is still learning how not to be near, and the learning is the point. He and Scorpion are the two faces of the same poison — the patient one and the fast one, and the two are the point.
Culture & Lore
The wiki keeps him as the ancient Venom Dragon, and the tale is told mostly by the people who have smelled the scent of death before the kill, because that is the only thing he has left behind. The old world said the dragon who is venom; the new world says the same thing, and is slowly learning that the delivery is the point, and the point is the kill. There is a saying among the old hunters, and the saying is that the poison waits and the venom delivers, and the delivering is the point, and the point is the kill.
Home
He keeps in the thicket, the bloom, and the place where the air is sweetest. His truest home is the fast, and the fast travels.
Relations
The bloom he keeps — allies in the sense that they are the place he is. Scorpion — the other face of the same poison, and the two are the point. The old world he left behind — a rival in the sense that it was the clean air, and the clean air is the point. The new world he is in — a question he has not yet answered, and the not-answering is the fast, and the fast is the kill, and the kill is the point.
In the Story
Venomfury is the ancient Venom Dragon of the old world, and his name is a word that is said in the fast. In the new world he is the delivery that has not yet found its shape, and the not-finding is the point, and the point is the kill.
"Poison is patient. Venom is not. Venom is the promise of death, delivered quickly and without mercy."
Quotes
"Poison is patient. Venom is not. Venom is the promise of death, delivered quickly and without mercy."