Flashback [Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Flashback: Ialari visits a relative who is intent on teaching her about snakes; specifically her family's namesake.

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The Kingdom of Sultros is made up of five cities; Sultros, Vizerian, Coglias, Terras and Pitrius along with their own Citadels. In addition, the Kingdom encompasses hundreds of square miles of mountainous, nearly inhospitable land. Trading posts, border posts and a number of unique, exotic and often dangerous sites exist both above ground and below.

[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on November 29th, 2013, 10:10 am

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Summer 498


The Pythone Family of the Pitrius Clan was not an overly influential family within the clan. They weren’t involved in greater clan politics nor were they feared for their accumulated influence or how much “dirt” they had on others. Of course they once did maintain great respect and influence while also having a few memorable members that helped bring something to the family name. First there was Pythone Pitrius. It was Pythone who gave birth to the family centuries ago. Pythone was one of apprentices of the clan founder, Pitrius himself. Highly intelligent, Pythone was also a quiet man, devious and patient; patient even for an Isur. He was fond of setting plans into motion that wouldn't come to fruition for decades and by that time, any potential targets or opposition to those plans were caught completely unaware.

Pythone was also one of Pitrius' key assassins; striking from the shadows with a mastery of poisons unlike anyone else since. It is rumored that Pythone was responsible for the unexplained deaths of dozens of military, political and mercantile figures in the Pre-Valterrian Isurian Kingdom. Perhaps the greatest thing that Pythone is known for however is his supernatural affinity for snakes. He was never seen unaccompanied by at least one snake, usually several. He was able to communicate with them in a way few understood. His manipulations of djed almost always took a form related to snakes or poison and it is rumored that he had marks of gnosis from Siku, Alvina of snakes, that numbered greater than even those Pythone had from Izurdin. Some claim he was a full priest of Siku although such claims are impossible to prove after so much time has passed. Pythone's fate is as much of a mystery as the man was in life. It is said he was given a mission by his mentor, Pitrius; a mission of great importance that he never returned from.

While Pythone held great influence in his day, his successors didn’t have a taste for such things.

Pythone’s first granddaughter, Lavali was one of Pythone's favored apprentices. She was most known for her near flawless beauty even among Isur; a beauty that hid a rather cruel persona. Even at a young age, Lavali was adept at one of the more gruesome disciplines of Malediction. Eventually becoming a master Legate, Lavali was feared even by members of her own family. While magecraft was more scientific and refined, Lavali preferred the more personal nature of malediction. When combined with her use of Izentor, truly magnificent though gruesome creations came into being. It is rumored that Lavali, toward her later years, began sacrificing parts of her own body to the art in an attempt to attain some form of immortality. Whether she achieved this or not is unknown however it is said that she died at the unnatural age of 300 years old and that before her death, she ordered her corpse to be hidden away in a secret location that has yet to be unearthed in the many centuries since.

Lavali, while feared and respected, did not do much to maintain the family influence. After her death, the family fell into a bit of obscurity. Their influence had been built during the era of Pitrius. When Pythone vanished and with Lavali’s less than respectable status, there would be a few over the next few centuries who stood out yet for the most part, the Pythone family remained nothing special.

Following the Valterrian and the eventual foundation of the Silver Tower, the Pythone family saw a rise once more in their influence. This time however it wasn’t political influence or even fear that the Pythone family garnered, it was magical and religious influence. The first Pythone to become a Sentinel was Zyleron. Zyleron was an instructor at the Silver Tower and expert Reimancer and Auristic. It’s rumored that he also practiced the forbidden art of Leeching however such rumors were never spoken aloud. Father to Ialari Pythone and in line for the position of clan patriarch; although quite some distance down the line, Zyleron had accumulated a respectable amount of fear and respect from those under him and his influence within the Tower was expansive. Although not nearly as powerful as the Elder Sentinels, Zyleron carried himself in a way that displayed a strong presence. Formal, strict and often unforgiving, Zyleron dedicates himself to his family and his clan beyond all else. It is believed that Zyleron commands a select few marks of gnosis from gods other than Izurdin however such conjecture remains just that as none have been able to prove such accusations. While the Pythone name has always been synonymous with the breeding, care and keeping of snakes, it was Zyleron who returned this tradition to the forefront of the family structure. The family home as well as the homes of those who claim blood ties to the family, have all strengthened the tradition.

Ivani Pythone, Zyleron’s wife and a prominent magecrafter at the Silver Tower, was also one who helped restore some respect to the family. Ivani, unlike Zyleron, was kind, outgoing and a generous woman. Although vastly different from one another, Ivani and Zyleron were a devoted couple who enjoyed the company of the other to anyone else. Their conflicting demeanor balanced each other and formed a powerful union. Ivani is one of a handful throughout the Kingdom to bare a third gnosis mark from Izurdin. As such, her works of magecraft were some of the most potent throughout the kingdom. One of most patient and light-hearted of the Pitrius clan, Ivani is strict beyond measure when it comes to the worship of Izurdin and as an instructor at the Silver Tower, she instilled this dedication in all of her students.
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[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on November 29th, 2013, 10:12 am

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Enter now, Ialari Pythone. She was the middle child with two older brothers, Cydron and Vir, and a younger sister, Nysan. While her brothers studied at the Silver Tower, Ialari wasn’t all that enthused about magical pursuits. Quiet and something of a loner, she preferred to remain to herself rather than be terrible social. Her father, as traditional as he was, would have frowned on this if it hadn’t been for Ialari’s odd interest in the family namesake, the snake. With that interest came an enjoyment of poisons, toxins and venoms and all manner of disturbingly dangerous and unpleasant things. It was this interest that her father would build on to soon spark Ialari’s interest in studying at the Tower. As for Ialari’s mother, Ivani noted Ialari’s passion for Izurdin. While Ialari did not outwardly display the traits that most Pitrius Isur valued in their children, her parents saw many things that they valued in their family.

It was because of this that Zyleron asked his cousin, Tyranil, to support and build on Ialari’s interest in snakes. Zyleron figured that if he could nurture Ialari’s passion, then perhaps he could use it to convince her to come to the Tower. Ialari already knew a little about snakes from the Isurian Python that her parents owned, Salivar. Salivar however was a unique breed in that the family had engineered him and his ancestors through magic and gnosis; he was far from the typical specimen of snake. Tyranil wanted to give Ialari more in-depth, traditional knowledge on snakes, more specifically on constrictors in general with some focus on the Isurian Python.

Tyranil was rather burly for a Pitrius though nothing near the mass of a Coglias. He wore his hair in short black braids and in a way similar to their founding ancestor, he was never seen without a snake on or around him. While Zyleron was the family’s prominent wizard, Tyranil tended to the family symbol; he was the snakekeeper. Tyranil had willingly took on the task of caring for, breeding, feeding and training the various snakes that shared the Pythone family name with the rest of Ialari’s isur relatives. Indeed the serpent was considered an integral part of the Pythone family. Every Pythone home maintained habitations for the serpentine family members. Each home also claimed, out of all of their snakes, a single specimen as their family symbol of sorts. For Ialari, her father had Salivar. Salivar was bred from a long line of snakes that dated to the times before the Valterrian. During the fall of the Old Kingdom, the Pythone family escaped the destruction with many of their snakes. Over the centuries that followed, each branch of the Pythone family raised their signature snakes with some going so far as to experiment a bit in true Pitrius way. While Salivar was abnormally intelligent for a snake, Tyranil’s family claimed a sikuva named, Myre. Myre’s bloodline had been shaped over the centuries to display a mild chamelonlike ability. His scales were able to shift their color in a way subtle enough that he could blend in with his surroundings as soon as he stopped moving. While the abilities of these snakes were impressive, they were quite rare and usually only a handful of snakes owned by each family would possess similar qualities.

Ialari used to spend a respectable amount of time at Tyranil’s home while learning what she could of snakes. His house was not all that large but the property, outbuildings and additions built on to the home were somewhat extensive and all were built with snakes in mind. Some of the outbuildings were designed with a variety of minor magecrafted items meant to provide the perfect habitations for various species of snakes. There were glass enclosures of every possible size set on shelves or even taking up entire sections of a room. Stones enchanted with heat and light helped provide the right temperature for not only the snakes but also the many types of plants that adorned the habitations.
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Ialari Pythone
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[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on November 29th, 2013, 10:17 am

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On one particular day, Ialari arrived at Tyranil’s for one of her first lessons on snakes. After hearing that Tyranil was in one of the back buildings, Ialari headed in that direction while calling for Tyranil. He yelled back and told her where he was. When she opened the door, she was greeted by one of the oddest sights. Inside the building it looked more like a tropical jungle than a barn built in a deep subterranean cavern buried in a mountain. Small tropical trees hid any signs of the building walls while the stone floor gave way to thick grass and underbrush. It was humid and the sounds of a small waterfall coming from a large fountain several yards further inside filled the air.

Tyranil was sitting on what looked very much like a short, fallen tree trunk covered in tropical moss. Wrapped around his black, metallic arm was a large snake, possibly four feet in length. It was mostly black with gold blotches on his back and a gold underbelly. Tyranil looked up as Ialari walked in and motioned for her to close the door. She did though she couldn’t help but stare at the jungle she now found herself in.

“Welcome to the jungle, Ialari.” Tyranil said with a smile.

Ialari struggled to pull her focus back to Tyranil and asked in a somewhat nervous tone, “How…how is this possible?” She made a sweeping motion with her arm as she gestured to their surroundings.

Tyranil grinning happily as he too looked around at the strange environment. “Call it a gift from your mother and the Tower. There are a few cleverly placed items of magecraft in here that promote the growth of the plants and maintain the light and heat. It even gives the semblance of night and day. Of course there’s a bit of izentor imparted here and there to help personalize it more but the end result is the perfect habitat for the snake I want to teach you about today."

For Ialari, for the past few years had been little more than schooling, classes and study. Even when she wasn’t in some school or at one of the forges, she always found herself being taught something. Thus was the nature of living in Pitrius City. The Pitrius isur prided themselves in their knowledge and education. To them, knowledge was power and the more they had the better they were than the rest of the clans. Ialari didn’t quite share this thought as she tended to see the merits of each clan. Regardless, she couldn’t escape the ever present tutelage.

Tyranil lifted the arm with the snake on it slightly and said, “This, this here is a python. It’s also called a ball python mainly because of the fact that when it feels scared or threatened; it curls up into a ball of sorts.” Tyranil ran the fingers of his flesh hand over the smooth body of the python as he spoke.

“My friend here, his name is Juxl, is right around four feet long and is almost 11 years old. As far as pythons go, this kind is very small. Their non-aggressive and don’t move quickly at all.” Tyranil’s arm looked to be constricted rather tightly by Juxl yet even the snake’s powerful grip was nothing to the divine arm.

Ialari walked closer to Tyranil and Juxl and sat on the same fallen tree. “How long do they live?” She asked as she studied the snake’s gold and black pattern.

“As far as the typical snake goes, they live a rather long time. Normally they can live for 20-30 years while I’ve had a couple that have lived for over 40 years.” Tyranil pointed to the color pattern that Juxl displayed and said, “One of the more unique aspects of the ball python is the sheer variety of colors. It makes for some amazing combinations though I’ve yet to figure out how to single out certain colors and breed just for them. These guys don’t lend themselves to predictability in that regard. They are pretty easy to breed though.”

Ialari thought a moment and asked, “So this is a ball python. I thought the only snakes around here were ones like Salivar.”
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[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on November 29th, 2013, 10:21 am

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Tyranil nodded and said, “Salivar is an Isurian Python. They are suited better to the underground life. As for the ball python, they are normally found in the jungles far south of the Kingdom. I keep a few here to breed but I got them from traders down at the Southern Post. I’ve went to great lengths to make it easier for them to adapt to captivity but it’s taken a few years. When you try to keep an adult python in captivity after it has grown up in the wild, it takes a while to acclimate. They don’t adjust well and are rather picky in their feeding habits.” Tyranil rubbed the underside of Juxl’s chin.

“They usually eat rodents in the wild but the funny thing is that when you try to raise them in captivity and feed them rodents that have been bred in captivity, the damn things won’t eat ‘em. So, I’ve resorted to live rat traps in the upper tunnels. It’s worked alright thus far but I tell you, it takes a lot of those hairy buggers to feed all these snakes.” Tyranil motioned with his head to a point just past Ialari on the ground. She turned her head to see a rather large rat take off into the brush after having been noticed.

“It took me a few years to even get the girls around here to reproduce. Their definitely not one of the easier ones to transition to captivity.” Tyranil held his arm out straight and Juxl slowly stretched out over the length of it.

Ialari considered the whole idea of wild versus captivity then asked, “So, which is easier to work with? You say it’s hard for the wild ones to adapt but how about those that grow up in a place like this?”

Tyranil gave a nod of approval to Ialari’s question and said, “Those born and bred are so much better to work with; the best even. I’ve seen them do exceptionally well keeping them as a pet as well as breeding them. They have no difficulty eating captive bred rodents and reproduce rather well.” He lowered his arm to the fallen tree and allowed Juxl to crawl from the arm into a large hole leading inside the hollowed out log. “Follow me, I’ll show you where I start the whole acclimation process.”

Tyranil led Ialari from the habitat to another somewhat smaller building a few yards away. He opened the large wood door and let Ialari enter before following her and closing the door behind Inside the smaller building there were a handful of tables setup filled with a number of different sized glass cases; all of them opaque. On the walls were shelves with various bowls, boxes and tools all used in the breeding and raising of snakes. Tyranil led Ialari over to some of the cases while explaining the setup.

“Understandably, there isn’t much call for snakes down here. There are a few throughout the Kingdom though that like to take them as pets. As such, I breed a small number of the ball pythons. Some go for those who want them as pets; the others go for me experimental breeding programs. I have a few wild ones and a larger number of captive bred ones in here. See, whenever you have a new ball python, be it wild or captive bred, you need to have the right environment for it to acclimate to and start feeding.” Tyranil slid one of the cases gently from one of the racks.

Ialari looked again at all the cases set up throughout the small room. “Why all the different sized cases.” She asked.

Tyranil placed his hand on the top of the darkened case and said, “I raise my pythons and in fact many of my snakes in these different sized cases. As you can see, none of them are very big. The babies are usually housed in six quart cases. The larger juveniles and young-adults are kept in 12-20 quart cases. I use this darkened glass so only the softest of light gets through.”

“Why is that?” Ialari asked.

Tyranil reached for a small handle on the top of the case. Sliding it open ever so slightly, he peered inside. With a soft nod to himself, he closed it and said to Ialari, “The conditions created by the darkened cases serve the ball python rather well. You see, in the wild, they spend most of their time in hollow logs, small animal burrows and rock crevices. They don’t handle the big open spaces well and get rather stressed. So I find the best way to help establish a young ball python is to keep it as calm and comfortable as possible. Once it starts eating normally, I then slowly move it to whatever new home I have in store for it.”

Tyranil slid the case to Ialari. “Slide open the viewing window, just a little, and look inside.”
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
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[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on November 29th, 2013, 10:25 am

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Ialari reached for small handle and pulled the window open a couple of inches. She leaned down and looked inside. Her isurian eyes cut through the darkness of the box and saw a very small snake laying in soft moss just outside of a small hollowed out stone. There was a small bowl of water inside as well. She then closed the window and looked back up at Tyranil. “How long does it stay in here? How do you keep it warm?”

“The small hollowed out stone has a tiny, magecrafted piece of steel embedded on the side. It works to maintain the temperature at a comfortable level for the snake and operates off of a simple temperature trigger so that the side of the case that the stone sits will stay warm while the other side of the case can remain cool.” Tyranil replied. “It’s not difficult to get the snakes acclimated with this kind of system. The idea is to keep the case dark so the snake can’t see out. This allows it to feel more secure. With the babies, a simple hiding stone works. As they get larger, I usually transfer them into a larger case. With the larger cases, the more hiding places the better. With that I usually just have two hiding stones, one magecrafted for heat, the other left mundane.” Tyranil gestured to some of the larger cases in the room.

Tyranil continued to answer Ialari’s questions while allowing Ialari to meander about the room looking at the different cases and the tools and supplies. At one point, Ialari took out a small journal from her belt pouch and with a small charcoal stick, began taking notes on what she was hearing and even sketching some of the things she saw. “The babies will start feeding within the first week or two. If they or even older ones get stressed from handling or unfamiliar environments, they may stop eating. They should start eating again though as long as they are healthy within about three weeks. You pretty much have to monitor their growth and progression. When they look like they could potentially become crowded, move them into a bigger place. With that large snake habitat you saw, it’s quite similar. I tend to release them into a hollow log or rock crevice and let them move out from there as they will.”

Tyranil moved over to a table where sat a handful of open cases and various accessories including some hiding stones, small crates of moss and a variety of leaves, small tree limbs and other materials for setting up a small habitat.

“You can use a variety of different cages, cages and such but I usually use these.” Tyranil pointed to the cases. “They are smoked glass so they easily filter out most of the light that would get in. After the babies hatch and shed their first time, I move them into these larger twenty gallon cases. The larger ones get cases twice that size but as they get older, I move them to a little clearer glass cases so I can monitor their behavior. Being underground, we have an advantage in that it’s dark enough that we can still see the snakes just fine but they don’t get spooked by too much light.” Tyranil lifted up the top of one of the empty cases and showed Ialari how it fit down onto the case. There were four holes, one on each side of the case with four matching holes on each side of the lid’s lip. Four thin, short, metal rods tapered on one end slid into the holes thus securing it to the box.

“I take it they can get out otherwise?” Ialari asked as she watched Tyranil secure the lid.

Tyranil nodded. “Yes. Not as much with the babies but as they grow they get stronger and can slide up the side of the case and push against the lid.” He then picked up one of the hiding stones to show her.

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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
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Medals: 7
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[Pitrius City] Scaled Studies Part 1

Postby Ialari Pythone on January 21st, 2018, 11:06 pm

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Thread Grade


Animal Husbandry: Snakes 5
Observation 5

Lore: Use of Magecraft in the construction of snake habitats
Lore: Defensive behavior of the ball python
Lore: Appearance; color, shape, size and patterns of the ball python
Lore: Ease of breeding ball pythons
Lore: Feeding habits of the adult ball python
Lore: Ball python behavior; captivity versus wild
Lore: Ball python habitat features
Lore: Feeding habits of young/baby ball pythons
Lore: Raising a ball python in captivity
Lore: Materials needed and items used in raising a ball python in captivity
Image
Remade In My Dominion!

Character Sheet

Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


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