Barrack was hatched to a nomadic clan of coppers. Their custom was to brood all of their eggs together during hatching season, for safety. All children were always seen as the offspring of the whole clan, never designating a direct father and mother. This saved a lot of suffering in such a harsh environment. Mothers never knew if it was their child that succumbed to the fever, only that another of the clan had fallen, mourned no more or no less than other members of the clan. So, when Barrack was born, there was no one to blame but him.
Early in life Barrack began to notice that he was treated very differently from the rest of his clan. The other children seemed to shy away from him. The adults would look at him nervously.
One day he shed a large black scale from his back.
That day he realized he actually LOOKED different. He was mostly black in a clan that was entirely metallic. Barrack began to believe there must be something wrong with him, and he no longer tried to associate with the rest of his clan.
Feeling compassion for the ostracized boy, an elderly female of the tribe soon gained his trust and began to teach him. Over the years she taught him about handling animals and how to earn their trust. She taught him about surviving off of the land using his natural instincts. She also eventually convinced the weapons master to grudgingly train Barrack in combat.
One morning his matron did not wake from her sleep.
Without her influence the weapon master refused to train him further. Having no relationship with anyone else in the clan, at the age of 12, Barrack packed his bags forever then left his tribe to discover life on his own.
He travelled the grasslands occasionally trading with goblins (mostly for ale) and before long he learned their language. After getting ripped off by them a couple of times, he also learned not to trust them.
One day Barrack sighted a creature he had never seen before lurking atop a short, rocky hill. Out of curiosity, he began to approach and before long the creature let out a loud cry swooping down off of it’s rocky perch.
It flew directly at Barrack.
In all of his imaginings he never dreamed that an animal so large could fly! He wondered if it was magic, staring in awe until the creature was directly upon him.
If he hadn’t moved he would have caught the creatures sharp beak with his teeth. Instead the meaty shoulder of the beast hit him in the side of the head knocking Barrack flat on his face.
Suddenly aware that he is in a fight for survival, he springs to his feet and unleashes his breath at the beast. The acid barely touches it’s feet and tail, but it is enough to cause it to falter in flight for a moment. This gives Barrack enough time to charge, leaping off of a boulder while hurling his javelin. It catches the beast in it’s right wing bringing it down and grounding it for good.
Having the creature on the ground allows the young dragonborn to finish it off quickly.
Proud of himself, revelling in survival of the fittest, Barrack roars. The most primal roar he ever gave. Barrack was a wild thing. A pure creature of the grasslands.
After the battlerage abates he decides to see what the creature was guarding. He scales the rocky embankment and upon cresting the summit he sees a crude nest of dried mud in a small depression.
It has a single egg in it.
To him it doesn’t look much different than the eggs of his tribe, that his own kin hatched from, that he hatched from himself. He is torn with grief knowing that the beast he just killed was only being defensive. Barrack had instigated a fight by letting his curiosity lead him to be reckless, and this innocent beast and now it’s offspring had to pay the penalty.
So, as Barrack’s matron offered him mercy, Barrack felt it was his duty to show this creature mercy. He decided to take the egg with him, and treat it as though it were one of his own brethren. This would be Barrack’s new tribe.
Reinvigorated once more Barrack felt filled with purpose, a feeling he had never experienced before.
Not knowing what this creature was, Barrack decided it was best to consult the knowledge of someone else, and knowing he can’t return to his tribe (and not wanting to trust the expertise of goblins) he realised his best chance was to find a town or a settlement.
[zombify_post]
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