Meetings and Namings

A manwolf was busily telling a tale and the group didn't have the heart to stop him. He told a tale of a ManFox and the Manimals, the death of Rolf Rolferson the greatest Warrior this side of the Three Kingdoms, the coming of the WyrWitches and the destruction and rebirth of Allaria (now dubbed Draconis). When he finished his story, he emptied his beer mug and burped. Everyone in the room gazed up at him with a look that said, Boy that was a great story! "But that's not all," the manwolf spoke up again, having refilled his beer. "Now let me tell you a story about the one- legged whore from Gelda." But before he could begin, a bipedal dragon cut him off. "I think that's enough storytelling for tonight Carradene," the dragoness said, her eyes blazing slightly at the drunken old manwolf. He just shrugged and turned back to his beer.

"Now let us commence the ~Name Game~ ," the Dragoness then said, her voice clear and sharp.

"Hell Yeah!" a foxman suddenly shouted. A black woman smacked him in the back of the head.

"I wanna be called Freddy!" one of the other foxmen shouted. "An I wanna be called 'Bunneykins!" one of the foxwomen shouted.

"And I want to be sick," a second dragon muttered as he slouched onto the floor and began doodling with his tail. "Stop playing with yourself!" A demifox hissed at him and slapped at his hands. The dragon transformed to full human form, crossed his arms and began to pout. Satisfied that the grump would now keep quiet, the demifox went back to ignoring him and concentrated instead on what was about to happen. The ~Name Game~ !

The dragoness who seemed to be in charge produced an ornately carved wooden chest and placed it on a marble pedestal sculpted with fine figures of winged serpents and tongues of flame. She whispered something in a solemn voice and opened the chest. Her face was lit up in a bluish glow and she pulled a radiating sapphire orb from the box.

While the demifox and the rest of the former dragons and few current dragons were well aware of how the Name Game worked, none of the humans/former humans/demi-humans/etc had ever even heard of it before. But then why should they have, it was after all a secret initiation ceremony used only by Dragons. It celebrated the moment in which every young dragon became a full member of a Dragon Circle. But in this brave new world where the GreyShades were walking the earth and ravaging every virgin faeirie, gnomette, and poodle (when it came to humans, they simply ate them), the dragonness-in- charge had decided that only one of the oldest and most solemn of holy draconic rites could be used to usher in this new era and bind all those who had assembled together into a fighting force, strong and true.

The demifox (who we'll soon come to find out once had been a dragon) still found it hard to believe that the dragoness had chosen to invoke the Orb of Nominus. It was a rite of passage that all dragons aspired to and worked for. Those that had been so initiated were given respect and obedience regardless of age or kind or Circle. Such passage was not given lightly or earned easily. Could the humans that had gathered here appreciate the great honor that was being given to them?

A hushed silence filled the room, just in time for Fred to say, "What by Qrom is going on?!!?" The dragoness-in-charge was wearing a multi-colored scarf. She turned to Fred and his group and said: "Hello, Frederigo."

"This can't be happening, it just can't," said Astra repeatedly.

"Oh, but it can," said the dragoness. "My name is Regent. I am but the last of my kind--"

"Hey!" grumbled the sour dragon who wasn't slouching anymore but looked as pissed as before. "What am I, chopped liver?"

Regent ignored him. "As I was saying... our world has come to dire straits, and I fear for the worst. That is why I have assembled this motley crew and have called you to join us."

"I don't even know who in the greyspheres you are!" growled Fred.

"Ah, yes, that is correct. For this reason we have called you on this night. Please watch, listen, and be." With that she held the glowing orb reverently in her hands and explained that each of them would come to her and place their hands upon the orb. The orb would then search their hearts and minds and reveal to them that name which was truly theirs and could be given to no other. She then began to hum, a strange, unearthly dragon hum that seemed to open up in the minds of the listeners undreamt of worlds and unbroken vistas of possibility and promise.

And that's when the gun went off and inadvertently blew the Orb into a million tiny shards of sapphire bits and pieces.

"I told you to stop playing with that!" a two-legged shewolf screeched at a tailess wolfman. All the wolfman could do was sheepishly return the pistol to his shoulder holster and attempt to pretend that he hadn't just made an ass of himself.

The sour dragon put his head in his hands and began to cry.

Regent just stared, speechless. After a long moment, she seemed to pull herself together, looked out at everyone in the hall and said, "Well you guys can just make up any old stupid names you want! I'm going to my room!" And then she stomped out of the ballroom!!!

Fred couldn't believe what he had witnessed, neither could his friends...all except Exotica who found such strangeness not as strange as her compatriots. Soon enough though, a much needed introduction and calling out of names came to be, how could it not in such a bizarre situation?

On the human side there were Fred, Anina, Astra, Exotica, and two women - one called Willow - a simple-looking red-head, and Black Astra - the nubian tall and athletic. On the demi-fox side were Syn (who said he had once been a true dragon), Red (who said he was Fred D'Honaire from a different dimension), and Freddy and Bunnykins - whom they began calling Bunny almost immediately (yet two more creatures who claimed to be Fred and Astra from yet another dimension). There were the wolfpeople, Carradene - the intoxicated manwolf who had told the story to which Fred an his friends had come in upon, Para-Astra and Rigo (you guessed it, more alternate versions of Fred and Astra). There was also Velus who was human, from our dimension, but still cursed to be a dog. Last (and some would say least) was the other true dragon of the bunch, the sourpuss called Synz Mandrake.

1. who are these folk, where did they really come from, and what do they have to do with Fred et al and saving Allaria from the forces of evil???

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