The Dragon of War
Adalric Drago was a famed and beloved lieutenant of Khan. His reputation was spread across the lands, his loyalty and his integrity without equal. Ferocious in war, and gentle at home, he was a rare man in a hard world. Loving to both his wife and his daughter, he valued the strength of the treasured females in his life no less than that of his most formidable warrior.
His wife was the daughter of a military man herself, trained in the arts of fighting from a young age, something that was rare for the females of Khan, many of whom tended to be valued no higher than slaves or servants, unless they had some particularly special skill. Their daughter, Lea, was trained from birth in the arts of tactics and fighting, treated no differently from how the son of a revered lieutenant would have been. This would pay off well for her later in her life.
Every time her father left for battle and for honor, Lea dreaded. Knowing that one day would be his final leave. Adalric Drago was never a man who was going to grow to old age and die peacefully in his sleep. For him, the greatest and most honorable death was one in the name of duty, and the name of honor. And that was how he died, or so it was thought.
In the bloody midst of one particularly gruesome battle, the Great Dragon was struck down, his head cleaved almost cleanly from his shoulders. Nobody saw who it was that had struck the killing blow, but his men congressed around him, forming up in an attempt to secure him while still fighting off their foes. That day was one of the most bloody in the history of Khan’s troops, as the men who had been under the command of Adalric Drago slaughtered their foes on the battlefield, leaving not a man alive as vengeance took its hold.
Rise of the Dragon’s Daughter
Lea Drago was the ripe old age of fifteen when her father was slain in battle. With no betrothal due to lack of one that would provide some military or political advantage, she took it upon herself to rise to the occasion and fill in her fathers unreasonably large shoes.
The men were in need of a new commander, and Lea had the name and the surprising capabilities to be able to do so. Schooled in the arts of war since before she was capable of walking or of coherent speech, the young girl burdened herself with a glorious goal.
She spent the next year under the tutelage of Sergius Tianos, the former right hand man of her father. This year was spent advancing Lea’s education in the art of tactics and other related warfare subjects, including furthering her already advanced combat abilities. It took her but a year to get to a place where she had the knowledge to lead, and to lead well.
But leading men into war was not just knowledge and tactics, it was so much more than that. There was a factor that could not be taught, the ability to inspire confidence and loyalty in those under your watch. It was a quality that Lea had, but one that was stifled by the fact that she was a mere teenager.
With Sergius at her side, she started building up her position and reputation by recruiting the men who had been most loyal to her father, proving herself with Serg’s support, as well as her uncanny battle prowess and the ability to wield any weapon put in her hand. She was not a statuesque woman, but there was a macabre grace with which she fought, dual wielding and moving with unerring precision and speed, catlike grace her deadly signature.
Via battles won, enemies driven off, and loyalty inspired, Lea Drago, the Daughter of the Dragon, became a Dragon herself - or at least began her journey down that road. Her name stuck on the lips of Khan’s enemies and as the body count of the small force under her command rose with phenomenal speed, she attained the position of Lieutenant to the revered Ambrosius, filling the position that her father had previously held.
There could not have been a more questioned appointment made. Because despite her unimpeachable record, Lea Drago was still merely twenty years old, and guilty of the greatest crime of all - being born female.
The men who fought under her knew just what she was capable of, knew that she was worthy, but many did not. It was a decision that was questioned even as she progressed, even as the record of her and her men remained unmarred. Nobody would dare speak a word to Ambrosius’s face, for to question him would be to seek death. But there was blatant disrespect and blatant sexism leveled at her on a consistent basis.
Lea Drago has taken the tradition of allowing those who would question her abilities and worthiness based on any merits (age, size, sex etc) to a combat dual. She has not lost yet, but instead has utterly humiliated any who had the gall to do so.
Secrets of the Night
There were whispers that surrounded Lea Drago and some of her uncanny wins on the field of battle. Rumors spread by opponents and by men in her own camps who viewed her as less than them. Rumors that she was something more than strictly human, that the blood of the supernatural flowed through her veins.
She paid them no heed, not deeming to comment on them. But there was truth to these rumors, truth that was long forgotten. The name of Drago was not one of coincidence, it was a family name that had been given centuries ago, given in a time when the supernatural was the norm and when it flowed rampant through Khan.
Those with the Drago name were the bearer of a legacy that had waited until Lea’s generation to rear its head for the first time in generations. A legacy of shapeshifting. In the times of old, those of the Drago lineage would take the form of a dragon and fly through the skies, laying waste to foes of Khan and demolishing entire battlefields with spurts of burning flame.
It was a legacy that had been born again in the blood of Lea Drago, a legacy that she occasionally utilized via shapeshifting into various animals. Nothing so overt as the dragons of old lore whose name she bore, instead she favored large cats, her most common form being that of a black panther.
Powers
Shapeshifting Abilities
Lea has the inherent ability to shift shape into any animal whether it be legendary, mythical, extinct or roaming the world today. Her preferred form is that of a black jaguar or a dragon, although the latter is only on the rarest of occasions.
Partial Shifting
Over the years, Lea has mastered a specific nuance of her gifts, one which allows her to only shift partially. This includes shifting just her eyes, allowing her a vastly widened range of vision and night vision, shifting claws and allowing herself an additional advantage in close quarters combat, or shifting her nose and olfactory senses in order to pick up a specific scent. The partial shifting is not limited to these specific areas, although those are the ones that she most commonly partially shifts.
Enhanced Senses
In animal form, all senses are vastly improved in accordance to the strength of senses in the animal she has shifted into. Out of animal form, a lighter version of that carries on. Depending on how much time she spends in a specific form at one time, certain traits can permanently carry over.
All of Lea Drago’s senses are heightened, further aided by one of the enchanted tattoos that adorn her body, providing the clarity and peace of mind to utilize this ability in times of strife and conflict, two factions of life that she immerses herself in. All five senses are covered under this, each elevated to unbelievable heights.
Enhanced Balance, Agility and Reflexes
Lea is host to a font of preternatural catlike grace. This includes enhanced balance and agility, allowing her to trek across canopy branches with no concern and allowing her to properly balance on any object or area, no matter how narrow or unstable it may be. Her enhanced agility blends with her enhanced reflexes, allowing her to move quickly for long durations of time, and in the heat of the moment, allowing her to avoid blows that could otherwise be a mortal hit.
Enhanced Flexibility - Another in her host of capabilities, Lea’s enhanced flexibility allows her to contort her body in ways that are nothing approaching humanly capable.
Night Vision
This is particularly potent while Lea is in the shape of an animal in which it occurs naturally, but between partially shifting and her own imprinted abilities, her night vision is exemplary. She is able to navigate dim or well lit locales as if the sun were at its highest point in the sky. The depth of total darkness is more difficult for her without partially shifting, but even if she is still in her purely human form, she is able to navigate such places as if they were dimly lit at the least. If she engages in a partial shift of her eyes, Lea is able to move through the inkiest black of the night as if it were nothing to her. This paired with enhanced visions makes her one of the deadliest threats on a battlefield, and leads to her common tactic of scouting ahead or ambushing by herself and laying waste to enemies all by her lonesome.
Predator Intuition, Hunting Intuition, Enhanced Tracking
This is a blending of Lea’s own sharp military tactics and the wild nature of the beast that roamed inside her, forming together to create an irrefutable apex predator, the likes of which this world had never seen. She is able to intuit what moves an opponent (human or otherwise) will make and her instinct for hunting is unparalleled. Once Lea Drago sets her sights on you, there’s no end for you until your death, which more times than not, comes quickly.
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