Name: Taren

Age: 154

Race: Dragon

Gender: Male

Skills: Taren is a fearsome fighter, even though he prefers not to fight. His fire, like any dragon's, is hot enough to melt steel. His body is bulky, but streamlined. He's stronger than your average dragon, but don't underestimate his speed. He may look slow, but he's actually lightning quick, in the air or on the ground. He has excellent control over his magic when he's using it to heal someone, but he can't use it to fight. The only other thing he can consciously use his magic for is illusions. Teran is a master at creating illusions, but the bigger and more detailed the deception, the more energy it takes and the more focused he has to be.

Hair: None

Eyes: Copper and Bronze mix

Home Village: He hatched on a sand dune in the Hadarac Desert

Parents: Tandin the Gold, father (deceased); Athenai, mother (deceased)

Siblings: Jod, brother (deceased); Kurenai, sister (deceased)

Personality: Taren, for a dragon, is a kind gentle soul. He won't run from a fight, but he prefers to heal rather than maim. When someone or something he cares for is in danger, he won't hesitate to fight to protect them. He likes to think he inherited this personality trait from his mother, since he has nothing else of hers. Whenever Taren hunts, he only takes prey that is sick or old because he hates to see suffering. He would heal them all if he could, but he's not a fool and knows that he has to eat to survive. One time he broke the spine of a doe with a broken leg, but it didn't kill her. Just as he was about to finish the job, he noticed a fawn hiding in the bushes. Instead of eating the mother as he had planned, he healed all of her wounds and let her go. Aside from healing, Taren has one other love: teaching. His greatest joy is to hone young dragons into something their ancestors could be proud of. When Taren gets mad, it's pretty scary. Not because he goes into an uncontrollable rage, but because he gets quiet. You can always tell when he's nearing his boiling point because he gets very still and everything around him gets nervous. The animals and people near him when he's angry start to move around and show signs of anxiety. Even though his anger is quiet and cold, it's as powerful as a summer thunderstorm. When Taren is angry, his eyes get this look about them, as if he could freeze the object of his anger with one glance.

History: Taren hatched in the warm sunshine of the Hadarac Desert exactly fifty-three years before the fall of the Riders. The next few years of his life were quiet and serene, with nothing more going on than hunting and learning from his mother, Athenai. Athenai was a wild, un-bonded dragon who mated with Tarenor, a Rider's dragon. Their pairing resulted in three eggs, one of which was Taren. While Athenai had kept Taren's egg, the other two she gave to the Riders. Taren was already a fully grown dragon before his siblings came into contact with their Riders and hatched. Jod was the first to be bonded and then Kurenai. While his siblings were the dragons of Riders, Taren became a tutor to the children of the wild dragons. Twenty-odd years after his sister Kurenai hatched for her Rider, Galbatorix and the Forsworn struck. Taren's entire family was slaughtered in the last battle between the Riders and Galbatorix and his Forsworn. He had yearned for nothing more than to fight alongside them, but his mother and father made him swear in the Ancient Language to stay back. Grown he may have been, but Taren was the obedient son and complied. For his obedience he got to watch as one by one his family fell. The loss drove him mad for a time, but his oath kept him from striking out. Instead he retreated back to the Hadarac, where he spent his time learning about healing and strengthening his skills with illusions. Recently he emerged from seclusion in the Hadarac, thirsty to once more tutor young minds. This time he hopes to teach more healing, in the hopes that when the final battle against Galbatorix happens, he will be able to help rather than sit on the sidelines.

Before Galbatorix died, Taren was on the trail of a family member he never knew he had. While visiting Vroengard, he was visited in his dreams by his sister Kurenai, though she never spoke a word, she showed him images of a gleaming golden light in a crack of the volcanic wall surrounding the city. When he and his companions inspected the crack the next day, they discovered golden egg fragments. Using the decades-old scent from the egg, Autarkeia (a dragoness he met while visiting the isle) is tracking the hatchling so that Taren might finally meet this niece or nephew he never knew he had. (The niece is my character Anastasia.)

Weapons: His bronze colored fire, his strength, speed, and his skill with illusions.

Likes: Healing and teaching

Dislikes: Anyone that would hurt another in cold blood.

Weakness/Fear: His greatest weakness is that he prefers to be merciful, rather than go straight for the kill, which makes him a bit of a liability in a fight.

Animal Companion: None

Appearance: Taren has bronze colored scales, but his eyes are a mixture of copper and bronze. His body is 300ft in length, including his neck and tail, and he stands 65ft tall at the shoulder. His wingspan is massive, it's twice the length of his body. He has a small scar over his left eye that he got while sparring with his brother Jod. The spikes on his neck, back, and tail are all snowy white.

Dreams: To teach a new generation of dragons

Reasons for Dreams: He loves to teach.

Alignment: He fights for the dragons