Status:

(14th May 2013) The worst feeling in the world is wanting to write but not being able to, because there are other 'more important' things that need to be done. Basically, I'm a slave to my university assignments and I can't escape. D: That being said, if anyone out there is worrying, I've not lost interest in any of my stories. The Way Back is undergoing some story readjustments, so it'll be a little bit before I get back to that. RD and Firelight are begging to be continued, and I'll get to them as soon as I'm able. Stay with me, guys. :P

New story info:

I'm working on another Spyro story at the moment, which I don't plan on uploading until it's entirely finished and edited. I want to keep as much a secret as possible, but I can tell you it's called 'The Way Back' and it's a light-hearted adventure story to balance out the dark war stories I've been writing lately. Hopefully when it's complete and uploaded, you'll all enjoy it. :) You can track my progress on it here.

The Way Back Progress:

Initial writing phase:

6/33 chapters complete

Editing phase:

0/33 chapters complete

Firelight: Chapter 11 is waiting to begin... Last Updated 26th of April 2013.

Residual Darkness: Chapter 34 has about 1000 words. Last Updated 12th of April 2013.

A Note and Thanks

Hi everyone and welcome to my profile. Whether you've read my stories or are planning to some time in the future, please take a moment to consider this note. When it comes to reviews and messages, I appreciate every single one with all my heart. That you would take some time out of your day just to give me feedback, whether it be praise or helpful criticism, is more than I could ever ask for. Your support has kept me going these two years (and counting) that I've been posting on this site. However, I am a very busy person due to university and just life in general, so I often do not have the time to reply to every review personally. Please know that, even if I don't reply, your review has been read and greatly appreciated. I read every single one, and that is a promise.

That being said, thanks so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed my stories, whether you've reviewed, favourited, or just read in silence and contributed to my growing number of hits. ;) You make writing worthwhile.

I wish you all the best and thanks for visiting my profile. :)

GoldenGriffiness and I have created a joint account for our co-authored fics under the name RiverGriffinX. Here's the link:

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2708897/RiverGriffinX

Hello! Glad you could join me. You'll find a few things on this here profile, including descriptions about my stories and characters, and a little info about myself. Be warned, there are spoilers in the character descriptions!

Me, Myself and I

My name is Renee. I'm 20 years old and currently in my third and final year of university. If you haven't guessed yet, I'm a girl. ;) I'm a very shy person and I don't have much confidence, but I manage. Because of this, I'm not very good at accepting criticism of any kind, but I'm learning to. So do excuse me if you offer a piece of constructive criticism and I end up arguing; I just have this overwhelming need to defend myself. I'm quite a nervous person, but I'm a lot more confident on the net than I am in real life - but you still won't find much confidence here! I've been told many times that I'm too humble, but I don't think it's a matter of humbleness, but rather a lack of self-confidence. While I do love praise (who doesn't?), I do get overwhelmed quite easily and end up wondering whether I really deserve it. However, being on this site for the last two years has improved my confidence a lot, so a really big thank you goes out to everyone who ever gave me words of encouragement and praise. You've made a difference in my life. :)

Drawing and writing are my creative outlets, and I love spending time doing both. One day I hope to move away from fanfiction and write original stories, but for now I'm just honing my skills and gaining as much confidence as I can. I also love animals, especially cats and snakes. I've got a soft spot for cartoons and anime, as well as manga and other comics. The books I read are mostly fantasy books, and I have always loved dragons. I have a fear of pretty much anything that can sting, especially wasps and bees. I've also got a fear of heights that isn't as bad as it used to be. When it comes to stories, I really enjoy bittersweet endings, though really tragic endings disappoint me somewhat. I enjoy happy endings if they're done well. In fanfiction, I like seeing OCs introduced into the story. I think it adds a whole new dimension, and I love seeing how people can develop their characters in existing canon.

My first inspiration to start writing was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I started with Redwall fanfiction (before I knew what fanfiction was) and then delved into original fiction for a while. I never managed to finish any story I started. It wasn't until I played the Legend of Spyro that I really started getting interested in fanfiction. However, before I found my feet in the Spyro fandom, I tried my hand at several different fandoms, including Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha and Fullmetal Alchemist. The stories I wrote were never finished and most were never posted online, due to a lack of confidence. Then I started Hollow Heart, and I realised I really enjoyed writing about dragons. Though Hollow Heart was discontinued, it led me to begin the first piece of fanfiction that I could say I was proud of: Tears of an Oracle.

The Spyro series has always been a love of mine. When I was little, I was utterly obsessed with the cocky purple dragon from the original series. However, after several console changes thanks to my brother, I mostly lost interest in video games. Eventually I returned to Spyro with Enter the Dragonfly and A Hero's Tail, though it took me a while to get used to the new style of AHT. When TLOS came out, I wasn't pleased. The Spyro I saw on the front cover was nothing like the Spyro I used to know and love. So I didn't buy it. It was probably over a year before I actually bought the game. Eternal Night was already out by that time, and I was older and wanted something new. To my surprise, I really enjoyed A New Beginning, and it sparked a love of gaming I hadn't had since the days of Super Smash Bros and Donkey Kong on the Nintendo 64. I quickly bought Eternal Night, finished that, and waited impatiently for the final game to come out. In the mean time, I satisfied my want of Spyro with the internet, which was how I stumbled upon fanfiction. I actually started Hollow Heart before Dawn of the Dragon came out, but it stayed hidden in my documents, gathering dust, until I completed the final game and returned to it with renewed gusto. And the rest, as they say, is history. Sorta.

When it comes to drawing, I just decided one day, probably about 5 - 8 years ago, that I wanted to be a drawer. So I started drawing. It was slow at first and I wasn't very good, but then I started getting interested in gaming and anime. I spent a lot of time copying pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog characters from the screen, and Kingdom Hearts characters from the game booklet. Eventually I started drawing dragons, and it escalated from there. I do draw realistically sometimes, but only usually for school/uni assignments. I much prefer a cartoony, fantasy style. I've still got a long way to go before I consider myself a good drawer, though. If you want to check me out on Deviant Art, here's a link: http://the-river-styxx.deviantart.com/

What else can I say? I've enjoyed a lot of other books, games, movies and animes that have probably influenced me somehow, including Inuyasha, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Fruits Basket, and many animated Disney movies.

So yeah, that's me, myself and I. Regarding PMs, I don't always have time for one-on-one chats, so please don't feel bad if I don't reply. Important PMs take top priority, but otherwise I'll be too busy with other stuff to hold a chat through PMs. Sorry guys!

My Pet Peeves of Spyro Fanfiction

Hello fellow writers and readers, and welcome to a random new section I felt like creating here on my profile. After being disappointed in too many fics in the Spyro archive lately, I decided to put this together to give you an idea of what I don’t like and what I think should be avoided in Spyro fanfiction. And maybe…just maybe…others might share my opinion. Let’s go

1. Writing Out the End of DOTD

Yes, this is the top of the list because it’s the one I see most often, and the one that bugs me most. DOTD came out how many years ago? Four years? We know what happens at the end. Heck, the end of DOTD is what brought a lot of Spyro fans here to attempt fanfiction. What I don’t get is the tendency to write it out. Who wants to read something they’ve already seen (possibly several times) before?

This wouldn’t be nearly as much of a problem if it didn’t happen in almost every single post-DotD fic. I can’t count how many times I’ve clicked on a story and found the first line to be ‘You cannot defeat me, I am eternal!’ Sometimes in all caps.

Yeah, I get you’re trying to set the scene, but the games already set the scene for you. That’s why you’re writing fanfiction in the first place. Skip the end of DotD, and maybe your prologue/beginning will be more interesting…

2. Template Plots

What are template plots? They’re plots that follow a template—the same template that too many Spyro fics these days are following. The template goes as such: Post-DotD, Spyro and Cynder return to Warfang, Spyro and Cynder meet new dragons their age, everyone faces a new external threat, Spyro and Cynder triumph and fall in love along the way.

Yes, even my own story Tears of an Oracle follows this template, and so do many really good post-DotD fics out there. But here’s the catch…it’s been done to death. If you want to write a Spyro fic, why not try something new? Something never been done before? Or, if you really want to follow the template, throw in some crazy plot twist that no one will see coming! Don’t fall into the trap of writing a really ‘blah’ story that trudges along a linear path from start to end, and ends up looking like a carbon copy of everyone else’s fics with only name changes and a few different plot elements.

Bottom line: Be different! Be creative!

3. One-Dimensional OCs

This is one that can apply to any fic, within Spyro fanfiction or not, and even outside of fanfiction. But, for this purpose, let’s just look at Spyro fanfiction. The biggest trap I see new writers fall into is introducing too many new characters than they can handle. I’m also struggling with this very thing in Residual Darkness, and as such the story has almost spiralled out of control and is over 400 000 words—way longer than I thought it would be.

If you don’t want your story to end up so long, don’t force yourself to develop a whole cast of new characters alongside the canon characters. It takes a long time and a lot of words. You’ve already got Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, Hunter, and the Guardians to worry about giving character to, and that’s not easy in itself. One or two main OCs, and a few on the side as minor characters is probably more than enough.

What this all leads to, if you’re not careful, is one-dimensional characters. Boring characters. Characters with flat personalities or no personalities at all. If you have too many characters, you’re not going to have time to characterise and develop them all. Remember, you’re writing fanfiction—you want your main focus to be on the canon characters (e.g. Spyro, Cynder, Sparx). If you’re writing a story in which canon characters don’t appear (take Firelight for example) then feel free to create a new cast of OCs—as long as your cast isn’t too big to handle. But if you’re writing about Spyro and Cynder, don’t take the focus away from them.

And the most important thing of all: develop your characters! And that includes both original and canon characters, because it’s all too easy to give Spyro and Cynder flat personalities too if you’re not careful. Give them flaws, give them strengths, give them quirks and unique habits, and see how they react to different character traits and situations. Develop them over the course of the story. Let them change.

Do not objectify.

Every character, no matter how they might appear in the eyes of other characters, has their own thoughts, ideas and feelings. A jerk is not just a jerk. A shy is not just a shy. A floozy is not just a floozy. If you find yourself objectifying, write from their perspective for a while. Let yourself into their mind.

Don’t let your characters become cardboard cut-outs. Because man are they boring to read about.

4. Mary Sue and Gary Stu

Alright, so this is an obvious one, and it’s one that appears everywhere—both inside fanfiction and outside of it. The Spyro fandom has more of a problem with Gary Stus, or so I have noticed. That is, male characters that are far too ‘good’, ‘powerful’, ‘rare’, ‘loved’ or all of the above to simply be believable. Female characters like this, aka Mary Sues, are also in abundance in fanfiction but not so much in our archive, strangely enough.

A lot of Gary Stus in this archive are purple dragon copouts. Basically—they’re rarer than purple dragons, stronger than purple dragons, have more elements than purple dragons, and are just plain inherently ‘awesome’ for some reason. Come on, guys, isn’t one insanely powerful prophesised dragon enough? Why write Spyro fanfiction if you just want to replace him with your own beefed up character of super awesome?

Then there’s the other type of Gary Stu—the one that everyone loves. Unless your character is going around exuding love serum (which would make for an awesome and pretty bizarre plot, but the way) there’s no reason why all of the female characters would fall in love with him. The same goes in reverse (e.g. Mary Sue and her many lovers).

Of course, these are very extreme examples of Gary Stus/Mary Sues. They can appear in subtler ways, and those are the ones that are seen most often. Be wary. Does your character have more than one element for no particular, major plot-pointy reason? Does everyone inherently like / hate your character for no particular reason before they’ve even get to know them? Can your character go head to head with Spyro and Cynder without breaking a sweat, and there’s no real reason for this? Is your character in any other way strange and unbelievable for reasons you can’t really explain?

Why don’t we like these characters—these ‘Gary Stues and Mary Sues’? It’s because they’re boring. We want to read about characters struggling through hardships; dealing with their own flaws and weaknesses. We want to read about characters that we feel we can relate to. We want to be able to put ourselves in their position. Nobody can relate to a character who is just so awesome that no one can stand up to him and everyone falls in love with him. It’s just not believable.

5. Suddenly a Dragon, Oh My!

If you’re like me—that is, someone who checks almost every Spyro fic in the archive to see if you can find something worth reading—chances are you’ve seen this scenario before. Human teenager (often abused or unloved; typically representative of the author themselves) gets sucked into Spyro’s world and turns into a dragon. Do they panic about this new change? Sometimes, maybe a little. Most of the time, not really. And I find this so bizarre.

Would you really not panic if you woke up to find you were no longer human—that you walked on four legs, were covered with scales, had a tail and wings and sharp teeth? Would you really think ‘Oh, that’s cool, I’m a dragon’? I don’t care how much you wish you were a dragon, if something like that were to happen for real, chances are you’d freak out. Sure, maybe you’d get used to it after a while, but not after a few minutes and, chances are, not even after a few hours or days. And definitely not immediately.

If you’re going to turn your human character into a dragon, try to get them to act accordingly. At least make it believable for us, despite how unbelievable a human getting sucked into Spyro’s world and turning into a dragon already is…

Like the template plot, this plot device has also unfortunately been done to death. However, it’s hard to find one that’s actually well-written and well thought out. That’s not to say I haven’t found one or two in my time that actually have been good, but typically this plot has a bad reputation because of how many times it’s been done by amateurs. (And I do not mean ‘amateur’ in the offensive sense, but rather in the sense of a beginner writer. Everyone starts at the beginning in some point, myself included).

6. Love: Always and Forever. And Ever.

Alright, this is a bit of a controversial one, but something I wanted to draw attention to. Very rarely I’ve come across a story where characters fall in love more than once. In real life, it’s very common to have more than one partner (aka ‘love interest’) throughout your life. Few people stay with the first partner they had in their teenage years. But in fanfiction…this almost always happens.

I understand if you really love Spyro/Cynder or another canon/fanon pairing (e.g. Spyro/Ember, Flame/Ember, etc…) and you want their love to succeed and continue forever. That’s fine; this is fiction after all, it’s all up to your imagination. But my problem lies with OC pairings. For some reason, there is almost always only one love interest for each character. And often it’s love at first sight, which I find to be a largely unbelievable concept (some people believe in it; I’m not one of them).

Why not shake things up a bit with having a pairing go stale and break up? I never see that happen in this archive, and yet it happens all the time in real life. Why not have the hero NOT get the love interest for once? Why not refrain from pairing up the characters everyone thinks are going to be paired up? Love is not straight forward, so don’t make it so. And love does not always last forever.

7. Bad Grammar

Enough said. Get a proof reader!

8. The Legend of So and So

This one’s at the very end because it’s not all that important/bad/wrong/etc…

Too many stories in the Spyro fandom suffer from this title epidemic. Guys, just because the game series we love is called ‘The Legend of Spyro’ doesn’t mean you need to copy that title for all your fanfiction. Be creative. Come up with something catchier than ‘The Legend of My Awesome OC’. And there’s no need to write out ‘The Legend of Spyro: Awesome Title’ either. Just come up with your awesome title and leave ‘The Legend of Spyro’ out. Your story and its summary should be enough to tell us that it’s based on the TLOS series.

Of course, if you reeaaally want to keep the prefix in, go for your life. It’s not going to condemn you. :P

And that’s a wrap for now. Let it be known that this section is not meant to offend or make fun of anyone or their stories. Any reference to existing fanfiction is entirely coincidental.

If you’ve got any pet peeves about Spyro fanfiction, why not tell me in a PM? Maybe I’ll add it here. :)

My Stories

Hollow Heart: My first Spyro story. I discovered the first chapter hidden amongst my documents and decided to post it, but forgot what I had been planning for it. Lack of ideas and inspiration lead to it being discontinued. There is a slim chance, once I'm finished with the sequel to TOAO, that I may continue Hollow Heart. For now it's going to remain dormant. Discontinued

Tears of an Oracle: The first piece of fanfiction I ever finished. As such, it's my pride and joy. It follows the story of Spyro and Cynder after Dawn of the Dragon, how they brought dragons back to Warfang and dealt with the threat of a mysterious oracle dragon named Alta. A big thank you to everyone who stuck with me while I was writing this story. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And thanks to all the people who are still reading and enjoying it. I never thought it would get this popular. I am now working on the sequel to this story. Complete

Sleepless Spirits: My first ever one shot, written for Halloween. It was pretty rushed to get it up in time for Halloween, so it isn't the best. A small story in which Spyro is called to a graveyard by restless spirits who have awoken from their eternal slumber. Complete

Residual Darkness: The sequel to ToaO, a story that I've been planning since I discontinued Hollow Heart. Several of the OCs were set to appear in Hollow Heart, but have been revamped for this story. I plan to make it bigger and better than ToaO. It follows the story of Spyro and Hunter as they fight against an old threat from a long lost tribe that threatens to take control of Avalar. Meanwhile, Spyro is having trouble with his inner darkness. Updates are slow due to uni, but I try not to keep you waiting for more than two months. Thanks everyone who's been sticking with me. In Progress -- 60 - 70% complete

Spirit Gems: A series of oneshots/drabbles I decided to start up. Not really sure if anyone will be interested, but I figured I may as well post them just in case. I'm open to ideas and prompts for this, too. In Progress

Firelight: My newest story and a project that has been in the works for quite a few months now. Inspired by One Piece, this story is my attempt to write fanfiction that is entirely OC-based instead of relying on canon characters--a bit of a stepping stone between fanfiction and original fiction for me. It follows the story of Charla, a dragoness whose egg was saved from the temple on the night of the raid, and her search for vengeance on the ape king Gaul. She travels all over the Dragon Realms, picking up a ragtag group of dragons along the way. In Progress -- 10% - 15% complete

My Characters

(Warning: Spoilers)

Tears of an Oracle

Alta - The main antagonist and mad oracle

Gender: Male

Element: None

Age: 14

Appearance: Alta has dull grey scales, with ivory belly scales and wings. He has two sets of horns. The top, larger set, curve upwards to points, and the lower, smaller set curve downwards. His tailblade is an elongated diamond shape, filed to a deadly point. Two curved spikes protrude from the tip of his tail, just below the blade. A row of jagged ivory spikes runs from his forehead down his neck to his shoulders, and another along his rump. Alta’s horns and tailblade are both white. His eyes are bright, pale blue.

Family: Alta was raised among a tribe of Oracle dragons. His mother and father are both deceased, killed by Malefor’s apes when he was much younger. As a hatchling, Alta was more attached to his mother than his father; however, the dragon he was closest to was his older brother, Lumis. Lumis practically raised Alta, and Alta always looked up to and envied his older brother. When the apes killed his parents, Alta believed Lumis to be dead too, and afterwards he slowly went insane, forgetting that he ever really cared about his family. Only in his final moments did Alta realise just how much he missed them.

Friends: As a hatchling, Alta had few friends. He was very shy and always clung to his brother. As a result, he never really bonded with the other dragons in his clan. Eventually his entire clan was destroyed by the apes, and Alta was left alone and friendless.

Personality: Alta’s personality was drastically different after he had his Vision to how it was before. As a young hatchling he was shy, inquisitive and eager to learn. He eventually grew braver and cockier, but always envied his older brother and wanted to be like him. He was a very stubborn young dragon after he got over his shyness, and never gave in without a fight. Nothing made him happier than playing with his brothers. He often found his parents to be rather stifling and boring.

After Alta suffered the vision of the end of the dragon race, his demeanour changed drastically. He became disturbed and unstable, often suffering violent nightmares and fits of aggression. At times he would break down in tears and attack things without reason. Often he was on the verge of panic. His older brother was the only one who could calm him somewhat. Eventually, after the death of his entire clan and family, Alta came to accept his vision and longed for it to be fulfilled. He became calm and emotionless, and took to painting on the walls to relieve any locked up emotions. Some of his old traits returned: his stubbornness, curiosity, and even his sense of humour. He became very cold in his solitude.

Only after he realised his vision would never be fulfilled did Alta return to his disturbed and unstable state, eventually ending his own life.

Thasos - The next Fire Guardian

Gender: Male

Element: Fire

Age: 89

Appearance: In his prime, Thasos had vibrant orange scales like fire. As he got older, however, his scales dulled quite a bit. They’re now more of an earthy orange. His belly scales and wings are earthy brown. Thasos has five horns. The largest set juts backwards from behind his eyes then cuts sharply down along his neck before jutting upwards at a sharp angle. The smaller set curve upwards and outwards behind his jaw. His fifth horn shoots upward from the top of his head, between the other set, and then juts straight backwards to a point. His horns are all deep brown. Several red frills line the bottom of his jaw and below his horns. Another runs down his neck to his shoulder blades. Sharp brown spikes protrude from his shoulders, angling upwards at an angle towards his wings. There is a faded red frill on the end of his tail. Thasos’s eyes are warm brown.

Family: Thasos only knew his parents for the first ten years of his life, as was the custom at the time. His father was a fire dragon, while his mother was an earth dragon. They were kind parents who cared a lot for their son, and it pained them to bid him farewell when he left to attend the Academy at the Dragon Temple. Thasos spent the next ten years of his life at the Academy where the teachers and students became like his family. By the time he left, he was a fully grown adult dragon. Thasos never saw his parents again, except from a distance, but he still remembers them fondly. Thasos does have a sister, but he never knew her. She hatched five years after Thasos left for the Academy.

Friends: Thasos made many friends during his time at the Academy. However, he was closest to Ignitus, who become like his brother. They were also fierce rivals, vying for the position of fire guardian, though Thasos eventually lost the position to Ignitus. After Ignitus left with the fire guardian of the time to finish his apprenticeship, the two friends never saw each other again. By the time Spyro found Thasos in the hidden forest near the swamp, Ignitus was already dead. Thasos took up the position of Fire Guardian, unsure whether he could live up to his old friend’s memory. He’s now firm friends with the other guardians, as well as Seriphos.

Personality: Thasos is calm, intelligent and kind. He hardly ever raises his voice (except to Flame) and tries to see the good in everybody. Thasos isn’t sure whether he makes a good Fire Guardian, but he always tries his utmost in honour of Ignitus. He’s rather peaceful, and doesn’t enjoy fighting. Thasos can be very proud, especially of young dragons if he’s had a hand in raising them. He considers Flame and Ember like they were his own hatchlings. Thasos wishes Flame to succeed him as Fire Guardian.

Seriphos - Captain of the Guard

Gender: Male

Element: Earth

Age: 33

Appearance: Seriphos has bright green scales, with white belly scales and pale green wings. He has two sets of ivory horns, both of which are very thick. The larger, top set juts backwards smoothly and curls under at the tips. The slightly slimmer and shorter bottom set juts straight backwards from behind his jaw. A pale green frill adorns the spot between upper and lower horn on both sides of his head. His ivory tailblade is thick and spade-shaped. His eyes are hazel. A pale green frill runs down the back of his neck.

Family: Like other dragons his age, Seriphos only knew his parents for the first ten years of his life. His father and mother were both earth dragons, though his mother was an albino and was often subject to discrimination from other dragons. His father was stern and, as a result, Seriphos became very rebellious. The dragon temple Academy was shut down after his seventh and final year, due to a rise in ape attacks, meaning he never got to complete the optional three years of advanced training. After that, he was taken in by the earth guardian’s apprentice, Terrador, as his final test before becoming guardian himself. Later, Seriphos was given to the earth dragoness Selador to continue his training, while Terrador took on guardianship. Selador became like an older sister to him. Seriphos never saw his parents again. They were killed by an ape attack around the time the academy was shut down. He never had any siblings.

Friends: Seriphos got along well with other young dragons during his rebellious years at the academy. After he left, however, his mentor Terrador was the only dragon he saw on a regular basis. During his time under Selador’s mentorship, he befriended two rambunctious dragons, Naxos and Delos. They were a lot more immature and loved to pick on the more serious earth dragon, who was now past his rebellious stage. Seriphos found he got along better with Thasos than any of the younger dragons.

Personality: Despite being a rebellious, trouble-making teen, Seriphos eventually matured into a dragon much like his stern father had been. He’s a dragon with a natural sense of honour, always very serious and hardly ever light-hearted. He’s brave and would do anything to protect those weaker than him. He doesn’t think much of immature troublemakers like Naxos and Delos, and can be a bit of a stiff. He’s very much like Terrador, only a little less gruff and very quick, in both body and mind. Seriphos doesn’t trust others easily. Often he’ll lose his temper and his composure during battle. He can be very proper and polite, or very stern and cold given the circumstances. It’s rare to see a true smile from him.

Residual Darkness

Saffron - The sassy electricity dragoness

Gender: Female

Element: Electricity

Age: 16

Appearance: Saffron has sunny yellow scales, and pale yellow wings. Her underbelly is also pale yellow. She has two sets of straight horns that sweep backwards at a slight angle and kick up at the tips. Two stubby white horns protrude from behind her jaw. On the end of her tail is a blade formed of two crescent-moon shapes, back to back, to form a curved sort of ‘X’. A row of small jagged spines runs from the top of her head to the base of her neck, and along her rump. Both her tailblade and spines are golden-brown. Her eyes are purple.

Family: Saffron’s mother and father are both deceased. Her father stayed at Warfang during the war and died there. Her mother left the underground caverns one day to explore the outside world, and never returned. Saffron has never forgiven her. Both her parents were electricity dragons. Saffron’s only living family member is her brother Zannak, who is just over a year older than her. The two siblings argue a lot, and Saffron gets frustrated with her brother, but they care about each other very much. After all, they’re all they have left of a family.

Friends: Saffron’s best friend is the wind dragoness Zephira, who is about a year younger than her. She’s also on good terms with Ember and Cynder. When it comes to Zannak’s friends, Saffron finds Ciro bearable, but has disliked Kazan for as long as she’s known him. The two are almost constantly at odds with each other, but their relationship seems to be improving slightly…

Personality: Saffron is confident, bold and rather sassy at times. She has a bad habit of overestimating herself, and enjoying antagonising her brother and his friends. She has a certain degree of stubbornness that often leads to arguments between her and Kazan. Saffron is very protective of her friends, especially Zephira, as she considers herself stronger than the little wind dragoness. Despite how frustrating Zannak is, she loves him with all her heart and would be lost without him. Saffron is a natural leader, and is a lot more sensible and mature than her brother. She can be very passionate and never gives up on something she believes in. She respects Roku for his sensible demeanour.

Zephira - The shy wind dragoness

Gender: Female

Element: Wind

Age: 15

Appearance: Zephira has snowy white scales. Her wings and underbelly are pale blue. She has two sets of horns that curve back and down slightly, the top pair being the larger. A small jagged crest runs along the back of her neck. Her tailblade is an elongated arrow-head. Zephira’s horns, crest and tailblade are all blue. Her eyes are violet.

Family: Zephira’s parents are both deceased. Like Saffron’s father, her father stayed behind at Warfang and subsequently died there during the war. With the loss of her husband, Zephira’s mother slowly wasted away and died, not even caring enough to keep herself alive for her children. With her mother’s death, Zephira and her older brother Ciro were taken in by Saffron’s mother before she disappeared. Zephira is very close to her brother, who is two years older than her. He is, at the moment, her entire world and she relies almost entirely on him. Both of her parents were ice dragons.

Friends: Saffron is Zephira’s best friend, and the two are almost like sisters. Zephira looks up to Saffron, but often finds herself a little jealous of her confidence and skill. Despite her shyness, Zephira gets along well with her brother and his friends, as well as Spyro and his friends. There are times when she finds herself feeling a little left out, however. She has a certain admiration for Roku, but feels a little intimidated by him.

Personality: Zephira is a very shy, reserved and quiet dragoness. She tends to daydream a lot, and doesn’t speak much. Zephira is very nervous and unsure of herself, but finds strength in her friends. She depends on Ciro a lot, but is slowly coming out of her shell and finding her own strengths. Zephira will only open up to those she feels closest to, those being Saffron, Ciro, and the old Mother Seak, who she greatly looks up to. She doesn’t believe she’s very strong. Behind her shy demeanour lies a certain determination to prove herself and become someone her friends can rely on.

Kazan - The hotheaded fire dragon

Gender: Male

Element: Fire

Age: 16

Appearance: Kazan has dark crimson scales, dotted with orangey flame-like markings along his back and rump. His underbelly and wings are brilliant orange. Kazan has a single set of rich brown horns that jut backwards before curving sharply under. His flame-like crest stretches from his forehead all the way down to his rump, and is bright orange, as is his tailblade, which is shaped like a tongue of flame. Kazan’s eyes are gold.

Family: Kazan never mentions his parents, however, unlike his friends, his mother is still alive. A very aloof and distant dragoness, Kazan’s mother stopped paying him attention long before they left the underground caverns. The wayward Kazan was left to his own devices, and he instead found friendship with Ciro and Zannak. Kazan’s mother lives separate from him at Warfang, and he never goes to see her. His father died in the war, and Kazan has no siblings. His mother is a fire dragoness. His father was an earth dragon.

Friends: Kazan’s two closest friends are the mischief making duo Ciro and Zannak. Though not as rowdy and mischievous as they are, Kazan gets along well with the two of them. As they’ve grown into adolescents, however, the more serious Kazan has found himself growing apart from them. He feels closer to Zannak than to any other dragon, despite the electricity dragon’s playful demeanour. Kazan feels like he can relate to Spyro, and considers him a friend, but he has a fierce and violent rivalry with Flame that can often get out of hand. He doesn’t pay much attention to the quiet Zephira, but Kazan is secretly enamoured with Saffron, who he once despised as a hatchling. Kazan is aggravated easily by Roku, who matches his stubbornness with calm intellect.

Personality: Kazan is hot-headed and rash, but not as overconfident as Flame. He bitterly resents Flame for being stronger than him, and is easily discouraged by his own lack of strength. However, Kazan is strong-willed and determined to prove that he’s stronger than everyone thinks he is. He yearns to one day become Fire Guardian, in the hopes that it will draw Saffron’s attention while, at the same time, proving he is stronger than Flame. After discovering that he is affected by a rare fire dragon disorder, which causes flames to be attracted to his body, Kazan has become even more determined to prove his strength. His confidence in his abilities is slowly rising.

Zannak - The mischievous electric dragon

Gender: Male

Element: Electricity

Age: 17

Appearance: Zannak has brilliant yellow-gold scales, and a black underbelly and wings. He has a single pair of black horns that sweep backwards and kick up just like his sister, although extra spikes line the underside of his horns. Two black spikes jut backwards from either side of his jaw. He has a black forked tailblade, and four turquoise spikes on the end of his tail just below his tailblade. A webbed crest runs from his forehead to the base of his neck and along his rump. The webs are turquoise, and the spikes are black. His eyes are turquoise,

Family: Saffron, his little sister, is Zannak’s only living family member. His parents are both dead (see Saffron’s family for details). Zannak, though he doesn’t show it, depends on his younger sister as much as she does on him. He’s quite protective of her, despite how much he teases her.

Friends: Zannak’s closest friend is without a doubt Ciro. Together they are a rogue, mischievous, mischief-causing duo. Zannak is also close friends with Kazan, but the fire dragon’s more serious demeanour has caused a rift to slowly grow between them. Nevertheless, they’re still close friends. Zannak also enjoys hanging around Spyro and Flame, as well as aggravating his sister and the shy Zephira. To be frank, he finds Roku quite boring and doesn’t both with him much.

Personality: Zannak is a cheeky, mischievous, fun-loving dragon, who seems as though he never wants to grow up. He loves pulling pranks, playing games, annoying his sister, and simply having fun. There’s nothing he likes more than joining Ciro in mischief-making and dragging Kazan along for the ride. Despite his playful demeanour, Zannak knows when to get serious. If anyone lays a claw on his sister, he loses it, and has been known to act rashly on her behalf. That being said, he does enjoy egging Saffron on when she gets into fights with Kazan. There isn’t much that troubles Zannak, as long as his friends are around to have fun with.

Ciro - The suave ice dragon

Gender: Male

Element: Ice

Age: 17

Appearance: Ciro has bright blue scales, a few shades darker than the periwinkle blue sky. His wings and underbelly are stark white. Ciro has a set of silver horns that stick almost straight upright, with the hint of a curve backwards, before flicking up at the tip. The underside of these horns is serrated. A third horn curve backwards from his forehead and is also silver. His tailblade is shaped like an elongated crab’s claw, and there are several spikes on his tail at the base of it. A jagged icy crest runs down the back of his neck and another along his rump. His tailblade is silver like his horns, while his crest is white. Ciro’s eyes are bright green.

Family: Ciro’s only living family member is his little sister, Zephira. His parents are both deceased (see Zephira’s family for details). Ciro is very, very protective of his shy little sister. He wishes he could hide her from all the bad things in the world and keep her safe for all eternity. He might not always show it, but Zephira is very precious to him.

Friends: Ciro and Zannak are the best of friends. They get along swimmingly with their trouble-making ways. Ciro is also good friends with Kazan, but a rift has grown between them as they’ve grown older. Ciro also enjoys the company of Spyro, and likes taunting Flame. He’s quite fond of Saffron, as he can see how much she cares for his little sister. Ciro tends to enjoy being around dragonesses, so he’s quite friendly with Cynder and Ember, too, more so than Kazan and Zannak.

Personality: A trouble-maker just like Zannak, Ciro loves to have fun. However, despite his mischievous ways, he’ll always take time out to chat up the ladies (especially Nalu, the earth dragoness he has a soft spot for). Zannak likes to tease him for this, but Ciro has a natural charisma that the playful electricity dragon lacks. He can be calm and collected when he wants to be, but seems to enjoy acting like a hatchling with Zannak. Usually it’s only the dragonesses who see his ‘cool’ side – no pun intended. In battle he’s just as calm, swift and slick as he is with the ladies.

Roku - The level-headed earth dragon

Gender: Male

Element: Earth

Age: 17

Appearance: Roku has sleek black scales, and a silver underbelly and wings. He has two sets of horns, the lower set being much smaller than the top set. They are very thick at the base, and curve backwards along his head before curving sharply upwards. At the end of his tail is a club, shaped like a very squat cone, of white bone. His horns are also white. A row of blunt white spikes runs from his forehead to the base of his neck, and another along his rump and tail. Roku’s eyes are brilliant green.

Family: Roku has lived all his life in the underground city of Ethra, home to only earth and wind dragons. His two wind dragon parents left Ethra with the rest of the adults to help in the war when Roku was only five. None of the adults ever returned, leaving behind a city of parent-less hatchlings. Roku has a young brother called Domino, an eleven-year-old dragon with splotched black and white scales. He is very fond of his little brother, who looks up to him and admires him. Roku also considers Selador, the only adult left in the city, as his teacher and mentor. He considers her like an older sister, as the title mother doesn’t seem to fit her.

Friends: In Ethra, Roku was the oldest in the city, other than Selador. As such, he didn’t mingle much with the other dragons and was often in solitude. The only dragon he really interacted with, other than his teacher Selador, was his little brother. After leaving Ethra, Roku made friends with Spyro and the gang. He gets along well with Spyro, Flame and their dragonesses, but is a bit too sensible for the ‘troublesome trio’s’ liking. He’s often trying to talk sense into Kazan, who never wants to listen. Roku is on good terms with Saffron, who seems to like his sensible ways, and pays a lot of attention to Zephira, who he finds very intriguing. Ciro seems to mistrust him a little because of this.

Personality: Roku is a sensible and soft-spoken dragon with a smart head on his shoulders. He’s a bit of an enigma, and has kept to himself for most of his life, so he enjoys his solitude. However, he also enjoys being with his new friends and always has good words of advice. Roku can be very serious and can act quickly during times of crises, when others might freeze up. He understands well the emotions of others, and is very in touch with the earth and everything on it. Behind Roku’s calm demeanour lies a powerful beast with all the power of the earth at its claws, just waiting to be unleashed. For that reason, it would be best not to anger him – though that in itself is not an easy feat to manage.

Skulk and Skelos: Twin panther brothers who rule over the entire panther clan. They can be pretty shrewd and ruthless, but Skulk is a little crueler than his brother. Both are slim, but well built, and have unusual deep blue eyes. They're also direct descendents from Feral himself. They're intelligent and skilled in battle, and their ambition is to one day retake Avalar in the name of the panther clan, for they believe it is their right to rule over the Valley like their ancestors before them. Skulk and Skelos have an Elite Guard formed of six 'Assassins' who they trust more than any other.

The Elite Guard (Assassins): A group of six panthers hand-picked by Skulk and Skelos to be their 'right-hand men'. They are faster, stronger, crueler and deadlier than any other panther.
- Silt: The 'leader' of the Assassins, and Skulk and Skelos's most trusted ally. He has orange eyes and an average build. His favoured weapon is a thin sword. Silt is very calm and collected. He's intelligent and shrewd, and can be merciless when prompted.
- Agra: The oldest member of the Assassins. His fur is turning grey, mostly around his muzzle, and he has yellow eyes. Agra was a much crueler, sadistic panther back in his younger days. These days he's more laid back, but he can kill without mercy or remorse. He's often the voice of reason amongst the Assassins.
- Steel: A tall, wiry panther with cold grey eyes and a cruel personality. He has a silver tongue and a certain charm about him, but is as deadly as a viper. Steel is very fast, perhaps the fastest panther of them all. He enjoys killing almost as much as Nyx does.
- Nyx: The only female of the lot, and quite possibly the cruelest of all. She has yellow eyes and a slim, lithe figure that makes her almost as fast as Steel. Nothing pleases her more than hearing her victims plead for mercy.
- Erebos: A very tall panther with strange deep purple eyes. He's quite a bit more light-hearted than the rest, but knows his duty and is as loyal to the panther clan as any. He can be often found teasing his younger brother, Orpheus. He's more commonly known by the nickname Rebus.
- Orpheus: The youngest and newest edition to the Elite Guard. He's only about eighteen, and is much less experienced that the others. But he is loyal, fast, and deadly with his sword-staff. Orpheus is nervous and not entirely sure of his own abilities. A part of him doesn't believe he deserves to be an Elite.

Minor Characters:

Seak - An old white dragoness, older than any other in Warfang. Her element used to be wind before she became too old to use it. She is completely blind. She's part of the Council of Avalar

Ryokku - An old red dragon with a blind eye. He's not as old as Seak, but he was once a mentor to the young Ignitus and Thasos. He is part of the Council of Avalar.

Elder Moro, Master Feldun, Mistress Terrunda - Members of the Council of Avalar. They are all adults, while Terrunda is the youngest. Moro uses electricity, Feldun uses ice, and Terrunda uses earth.

Quin - A friendly mole, Quin is the head chef. He's rarely seen without his too large chef hat, and he knows Spyro quite well.

Nalu - A young earth dragoness that Ciro has a crush on. She's a little timid and doesn't speak much. Her scales are bright forest green. Her underbelly and wing membrane are golden. Her eyes are apricot-coloured.

Chasm - A confident young earth dragon with a thing for Cynder. He's Terrador's best student when it comes to elemental attacks, but he's not very bright. Chasm is very possessive and is jealous of Spyro. His scales are dark green. His underbelly is brown, while his wing membranes are the tan colour of parchment. He has hazel eyes.

Cougar - A stocky, golden-furred feline with ocean blue eyes and a cheerful temperament. He's a skilled warrior and is Prowlus's personal guard. He's not very formal and seems to enjoy aggravating his chief. He carries a huge Javelin, which he is deadly with in battle.

Forage - A blue-furred cheetah, and Prowlus's main adviser. Forage is a nervous sort who prefers to keep his chief as happy as possible; therefore, he hates going against him. He always wears a necklace of feathers that was passed down through his family for generations. He has a falcon friend by the name of Gloria.

Talon - The chief of the feline tribe a thousand years before Spyro, during the time of Malefor's reign of terror. He was a brave cheetah who loved his tribe more than anything else, and is one of Prowlus's ancestors. He had golden fur, much like Hunter's, and deep blue eyes.

Coral - The mate of Talon, Coral was a dusky brown female cat with sharp grey eyes. She had a kind heart and loved Talon deeply.

Ashen - A panther and Talon's closest friend, Ashen was also Captain before his untimely death at the hands of the apes. It is said that no other cat was more loyal to the chief than he.

Swift - The cheetah captain after Ashen's death. Swift was a blue-furred cheetah with green eyes. He was both brave and loyal to Talon and his tribe.

Feral - A cruel, sadistic panther who wished to be the chief of the cheetah tribe a thousand years ago. He strove to assassinate Talon to achieve this goal and garnered the support of all the panthers. However, his plan ultimately failed, and he and his panthers fled the Valley of Avalar, never to be seen again. Feral had midnight-black fur and sickly yellow eyes. Ashen was his brother.

Coal - Feral's right-hand panther. Coal was a timid creature who followed rather than led. He was loyal to Feral out of fear and respect, and met his end at the hands of the cheetahs.

Barren - An ancient panther who lived a thousand years ago. He was crippled and wise, and said to have suffered from the 'Sight' - a strange gift that allowed him to see things that had not yet happened and things that were meant to happen. He sided with neither Talon nor Feral during their feud, but insisted that neither would be able to win whilst the divides between cheetah and panther still remained. He was eventually killed by Feral, and with his last breath foretold the return of Malefor and the apes.

Naxos, Delos and Chios - Three dragons in their adult years who act more like teenagers. Naxos and Delos are bitter rivals, but are also close friends. It is believed they both like Chios, but she can't seem to decide who she likes more. Naxos is an electricity dragon. His scales are yellow, while his underbelly and wing membranes are electric blue, as are his eyes. Delos is a fire dragon. His scales are red, while his underbelly and wing membranes are black. His eyes are gold. Chios is an earth dragoness. Her scales are green, while her underbelly and wing membranes are much paler green. Her eyes are brown.

Domino - Roku's little brother. He's about twelve years old, and has odd splotched black and white scales. He has piercing green eyes, just like his brother. Domino almost worships his older brother. He's a very excitable young dragon, quite the opposite of Roku.

More to come!!