>>5883442>>5883449>>5883459>>5883577>>5883666>>5883703>>5883896>>5884317Very well then, a competition involving a kind of "capture-the-flag" scenario will be adopted, an early form of sports for our people.
>...The appearance of the half-dragons at the dramatic unveiling of the Star Serpent has many people discussing the deeper implications of these hybrids and wondering just what goes on at that island. Whispers of degeneracy involving the dragons and profane rites, fear surrounding them due to perceived impure blood, and all manner of rumors and wild stories about the islanders proliferate throughout the communities.
It is clear that after the fiasco with the half-demon infiltrators, society may never be able to accept hybrids such as these. Not wishing to make anyone uncomfortable, they fly back to their island home to resume their duties as wardens, rejoining the small number of them left behind.
The Rex inquires of the naga about these curious hybrids, and the red serpent can offer some speculations he himself has been mulling over. Dragons are special creatures, unique in the kingdoms of animals and monsters, a classification unto themselves. All dragons have innate magic tied to their very being, and these dragons in particular are of an elemental origin. Types of beings from other planes and realms can interbreed with mortals, producing curious hybrids; celestials, like the demigod's father, or devils and demons like the dark seducer. Dragons, too, are like this.
When asked if such an origin predisposes a child to good or evil, the naga cannot answer; the subject of nature versus nurture is one that may never be answered, but he does not believe that a being's path is laid out at birth in such a way that it cannot be deviated from. Though people have their fears and prejudices, the wardens were ready to heed the call to assist the civilization when they were needed. He hopes that relationship will not be soured due to the reactions of the common folk.
>...At the shore of the ocean, a young woman tosses rocks into sea, watching idly as the waves crash upon the shore. She is startled when she hears footsteps approaching her; it is a citizen of Anguia, a young man. He sits near her. "You seem to be deep in thought," he remarks.
"I was just thinking about the waves down there," she points at the beach. "On my home, out there in the sea, the waves look the same when they wash up on shore." She throws another stone into the water.
"Shouldn't you have left with the others?"
"This will probably be the last time I see the mainland for the rest of my life," she says wistfully. "I wanted to look at it a little more, but it's not much different, I suppose. It's the people who are different. They don't make me feel welcome."
He nods, hugging his legs close to his chest. "I know a thing or two about that."
