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Ceylon A'Merone: Dalonian Godfather of Transformation

The fantastical world of Dalon was a very different place before the birth of Ceylon, the gryphon that would later grow to be known as the Godfather of Transformation. In many ways, the hatching of this significant historical figure triggered not only the genesis of transformation magic as we know it, but also ignited the flame of change in the world itself, for this gryphon was the unifying force that brought upon the Age of the Gods, and the subsequent Rebirth of Dalon.

Born into a world of ongoing conflict and strife, Ceylon was the offspring of an Oairan princess and a Jysarian noble who were unfortunate enough to be on opposing sides of a particularly bloody war. Their love - between avian and feline - was forbidden and their offspring would have been seen as an insult to the kingdoms regardless of its health or well-being, yet upon hatching Ceylon was deemed a deformed abomination, born with four legs and no discernible gender. The reason for this was that an overwhelming amount of crossbreeds were stillborn, and if they survived their first days were plagued with a litany of physical and mental defects, and were therefore too weak to be useful and therefore were culled. Ceylon's form as a genderless quadruped was, to them, a show of the most hideous of defects and they had no interest in living through the pain of losing a hatchling.

The love of this gryphon's parents between each other was strong, but not strong enough to overcome such hideous mutations that they'd determined their hatchling had. Furthermore, they knew that if people discovered their gryphon offspring they would be killed along with their newborn chit (Gryphon term for newborn, a portmanteau of chick and kit). There was no way for them to successfully save Ceylon's life, so they decided to end the life of their chit as a form of mercy.

The time before the Rebirth of Dalon was plagued with ignorance, where the world was more interested in territory, dominance, and war than any advances in science or progresses in society. Back in that period of history, crossbreeds were seen as abominations worthy of shame and scorn. Inter-species mating was frowned upon and inter-species breeding was strictly forbidden in most nations Dalon-wide.

The lack of understanding about the truth of crossbreeds was a plague upon biological knowledge worldwide, but it was widespread so it was simply accepted as truth when it was assumed that anything even remotely abnormal was witnessed. As a result, Ceylon's parents weren't aware that they were actually blessed with the most glorious of offspring as opposed to the abomination they'd determined that Ceylon was. What wasn't known, at the time, was that in the rare case that a crossbreed was born without defects, they were granted the best of genes, inheriting the best aspects from both parents.

The many races of Dalon generally kept to themselves, and inter-breeding was not only frowned upon from a societal standpoint but a majority of resulting offspring were in fact born with physical or mental defects and rarely survived more than a year if they weren't stillborn. The low chance of success resulting from inter-species breeding made mating outside of one's own race a fool's errand, doomed to failure and heartbreak.

Ceylon was one of those rare births not plagued by insurmountable aberrations.

Not only was the Godfather of Transformation a miracle hatchling, but Ceylon's parents were the two races most thoroughly endowed with magic, which resulted in the gryphon being granted with the greatest magical abilities and physical skills the two races had to offer. Oairans - the avian race - were the greatest mages the world have ever known, with skill and grace far beyond that of any others as well as being blessed with the gift of flight and the keenest eyes of any race. On the other paw, Jysarians - the feline race - were nearly as good in regards to senses and magic, but had a more aggressive physical presence, using magics to enhance their fighting skills. The fluid that ran through Ceylon's body, known as ademane, ran as thick as a feline, and was an energized as an avian.

Sadly, Ceylon's parents never got to see their chit use any of these skills or abilities. After the egg was laid, it was kept a secret for months, then hidden upon hatching until they made the ultimate decision to end Ceylon's life. They considered a beheading for simplicity's sake, but couldn't bring themselves to do such a thing, so they tied a heavy rock to Ceylon's hind leg and threw their unfortunate young into a raging river that served as the border between their warring nations; that location was a symbolic gesture for them, who both opposed the war for reasons unique to each other.

Many tears were shed, and the two of them remained until they were sure that Ceylon couldn't possibly have survived the drowning. Had they stayed just a few minutes longer, they would have bared witness to their hatchling emerging from the opposing bank of the river, coughing and hacking up water after having chewed off the rope from the rock that anchored the gryphon down.

On that day, Ceylon's innate abilities manifested in an oddly specific way, siphoning down air in a series of bubbles that was unseen on the shores due to the turbulence of the river's surface, keeping Ceylon alive and barely able to breathe as air pockets formed on the gryphon's nostrils, beak chewing at that rope until they were free. As a gryphon offspring of a seafaring oairan, their feathers were hydrophobic, aiding in the retention of air pockets that kept Ceylon alive. Upon clawing to the opposing shore, that night, Ceylon's considerable healing powers took hold and repaired the damage to their lungs while also sealing the wound they'd inflicted on their own ankle when clawing and biting at the rope.

Lost and alone, Ceylon meandered in the forests of the nation. As a chit too young to hunt without aid from a parent, and too dangerous looking to get close to any farmsteads to steal some food from the troughs, they nearly starved to death. That was until the gryphon's innate abilities manifested once again while on what the hatchling considered a futile hunt, creating an arc of electricity from their form to shock a deer into a twitching mess. Stunned, the deer fell prey to a young gryphon, who filled their belly with enough meat to last a week. After that, Ceylon needed only to find a den to sleep off the meal.

Though this hunting method wasn't consistent and often led to Ceylon going hungry for days at a time, they gradually learned to control or influence their magical abilities, using electric and thermal energy to stun, freeze, or cook prey at will. This method sustained Ceylon for a full year and all four seasons, and in that time the gryphon grew to the size of a full grown feral wolf.

Ceylon's sudden growth in size led to being seen as a threat by all, people and animals. If Ceylon was caught in wolf territory, they were attacked and pursued until they left the territory; if they got too close to a city or village, they were chased away with pitch forks and torches. One time, Ceylon was chased off a cliff to plummet to the jagged rocks below, only to finally spread their wings and fly for the first time! Over a year old, and Ceylon finally learned to fly! This became handy in future hunting quests, another valuable tool in Ceylon's arsenal.

In an odd change of fortune, this ability actually helped Ceylon form a bond with the same massive wolf pack that had once chased them to the point of collapse. They had run the gryphon down for half a day, only to lose interest and walk back to their den when they had the opportunity to end Ceylon's life. Now that Ceylon could fly, they were no longer deemed a threat to the wolves; in fact, the wolf pack had many close ties with the owls of the night and falcons of the day, using them to hunt and share meat together. Ceylon's avian half ensured that they treated the gryphon as an ally. They were feral - unable to speak - but had quite a well developed society that Ceylon was able to integrate into quite easily since Ceylon was never taught to speak either. The young gryphon fledgling fit right in.

The gryphon became a valuable member of the wolf pack, as both a keen-eyed scout in the sky and a lethal hunter on the ground. The keen eyes of Ceylon's oairan mother race were on par with the most adept of raptors, and the sea-faring blood within made Ceylon impervious to rain or water while scouting; that combined with the lithe strength of the jysarian father race ensured Ceylon was an asset on the ground, in the sky, or in the water. As they say, a weapon for land, sea, or air.

In the time Ceylon spent with the wolves, absorbing their culture and societal hierarchy, the impression was deeply instilled that males were the dominant gender. Ceylon, being born without any gender to speak of, had to find a way to rectify this and work around it. This assertion as a drake urged Ceylon to focus his magic, twisting and deforming his own body and healing himself every step of the way until he was able to form a makeshift cock between his hind legs. It was crude, it didn't work for anything other than urination, and it looked ugly, but it was a cock.

The resulting mess of blood, wounds, cuts, gashes, and tears followed by strategic healing was all an attempt to assert himself as male, in an effort to achieve some sort of dominance or respect. The resulting member was crude and mangled, but it was somewhat effective in convincing some of the feral wolves that Ceylon was male, even if his gender was irrelevant due to them not being interested in mating with him. Over the seasons that passed, Ceylon kept at that makeshift penis, altering it and twisting it to look and perform better, even though it was never perfect.

This was the genesis of the transformation magic that would become Ceylon's legacy. Before this particular point in time, the concept of changing one's form via magic was unheard of and theorized by some but not considered something that was possible by most scholars. That's why Ceylon was given the moniker of "Dalonian Godfather of Transformation", for he was the one who created a whole new form of magic when still a fledgling on his own while literally being raised by wolves.

From this day forward, for many years, he would consider himself male, even if it was a ruse born of necessity. As time progressed, he did try being both male and female, gradually expanding his knowledge of body alteration and transformation at will while also experimenting with color changes and other body twisting deformities that he was able to manipulate and revert at will.

Another year passed with Ceylon sharing territory and - in cases of severe weather - dens with the wolves. While there, he grew ever closer to the pack until he literally outgrew them. In time, Ceylon's body was nearly double the size of the alpha wolf, and could no longer fit in the dens to play with the pups or court the adults. As a gryphon, Ceylon's biology was all over the place and he didn't really know what was appropriate, whether he was mature or not, and if his size indicated that he was an adult. All he really knew was his life with the wolf pack, and that's all he had to go by as a gauge for appropriate behaviour.

Though he was expected to sleep outside, even in the roughest weather when the snow fell or a torrent of rain was coming down on him, Ceylon remained loyal to his pack, even as the pups grew and formed packs of their own. He couldn't be sad about it, knowing that was the nature of things, but that left him with the elders from the pack, perhaps a dozen, while the alpha bitch was no longer able to breed and make more pups. The pack was going to die, in time, yet that was not need for sorrow.

All was well in Ceylon's feral life until a settlement of jysarians decided that the wolf pack's territory was infringing on the land they desired to expand their village. The remaining elder wolves were almost all slaughtered, and Ceylon was captured to be tamed by the son of the chief. This made him angry, of course, which resulted in him lashing out at the assailants and the jysar who slaughtered his family, but they had power great beyond Ceylon's own relatively small stature. The jysarian tribesman subdued him, collared him, and left him in a barn covered in mud and shit for months, occasionally testing him to see if he'd been broken and was ready to incorporate himself into their village. As a gryphon, Ceylon was a rare gem for anyone to have, and was said to be a gift from high on above; anyone who could tame and ride one was seen as a messenger of the skies, so the chief and his son was more than happy to break him.

Of course, Ceylon did not take to this attempt at domestication well. The gryphon lashed out with claws and beak, fought with bolts of lightning and balls of fire, and acted as belligerent as he could short of outright killing someone. In Ceylon's few years with the wolf pack and when interacting with the agens of the world (agens = blanket term for sentient, often bipedal people of any race), he had learned never to kill someone, for fear of being lashed out at with vengeance.

Though this gryphon could not talk, Ceylon was intelligent enough to know when to submit and when to fight. It took a muzzle, many beatings, and the binding of his wings to make Ceylon realize that maybe it was better to submit to the will of the chief's son and act like a pet rather than constantly reacting with violence. They had done terrible things to his adopted family and deserved whatever the gryphon planned for them, but that was no way to survive and it was clear that biding one's time was in Ceylon's best interest. This was the first real low point that Ceylon is able to remember; he was lucky to not remember his parents dumping him in a lake with a rock tied to his ankle, or he'd have done something terrible to them upon growing up.

Things went well for years after that. Ceylon was miserable, of course, but being fed and sheltered by the chief and princess was a decently nice life, relatively free of struggle or danger - though the chief's son was quite a delinquent. As Ceylon grew, he quickly became the size of a small horse and was used as a mount. In this time - in response to the beatings they got when they were not submissive or disobeyed an order - Ceylon's healing abilities started to manifest subconsciously. This regrew the wing tips that had been chopped off to keep the gryphon from flying, as well as enabled minor alterations to their body which furthered Ceylon's makeshift male parts, nearly perfecting them.

As time progressed, Ceylon found himself spending his nights and the days when the chief or the chief's son couldn't be bothered with him practicing transformation magic to get better acquainted with the horses he was stabled with. In time, he eventually branched out to imitate mare vulva and breasts as well; though crude at first, they were enough to convince a feral equine. At first it was in static appearance only, male and female genitals imitating the stallions and mares he shared a stable with. But in time he was able to shift his flesh in such a way that he could actually have an effect on his sensitivity, slowly gaining the precision and knowledge to create moving parts, a working sheath, and a winking clitoris.

Since equines court with scent, Ceylon also learned to imitate the musk of a stallion or the estrus pheromones of a mare, in an attempt to get their attention by imitating estrus or rut at will.

Ceylon's time in the stables certainly got them quite well acquainted with the other horses there. While Ceylon was used as a mount, he'd formed a sort of limited bond with the stallions and mares that were used in battle by the other members of the village, and since he was the size of a small but mostly grown adult horse, he was seen as part of the herd.

There was one mare in particular - thick of body but with the most graceful of peach mane and tail - that Ceylon started to woo, finding himself quite enamored with her in ways he'd never been with another, be it wolf or horse. Around this time, Ceylon's puberty triggered, wherein the estrus mare imitation and musk scents stopped being something he did for attention and started to be something he'd do for affection and intimacy. The urges that came with puberty manifested themselves in the most peculiar of ways.

One day, after spending the night in the stall with the mare he'd been courting, he woke up to find his member had completely disappeared, replaced by vulva under his tail, despite him not desiring that one bit; in fact he was hoping his male member would be functional so he could mount the mare! Shocked at first, she had another fit that destroyed some property and resulted in him being whipped, flogged, and punished by the chief's son. In spite of the years spent in this village, Ceylon never did learn the name of the chief, princess, or their son that so callously beat him.

After that event, Ceylon managed to calm down and reverse the process of losing his genitals, reverting to a male form. However, the stronger his hormones grew and the more time he spent with that mare, the more he desired to be female. Most of his life he'd been taught that males were the dominant one, yet females had so much more allure and were far more graceful. Perhaps it was simply the draw to something foreign, but in time Ceylon continued to present as female.

As an homage to the horses he'd grown to love, Ceylon's female form took after that of a mare, with thick plump lips and a meaty, winking clitoris. Another year passed, and Ceylon's gender transformation became commonplace for him, freely shifting between male and female in sync with the mare's estrus cycle. When the female horses went into heat, Ceylon used his magic to become female as well, taking advantage of the randy stallions that would happily mount him when the master wasn't around. In time he'd managed to perfectly emulate male or female genitals, replicating the look, feel, sensations, and subtle nuances of equines, canines, and felines to be modeled after the wolves that helped raise him, the stable horses that he lived with, and the jysar he'd been captured and imprisoned by.

As a result, he quickly became a sexually motivated creature that would shift between genders at will, mounting mares, being mounted by stallions, and present to the other horses in the stable without even a hint of shame or reservation. Now that he'd finally mastered both mare and stallion anatomy, he was taking advantage of every opportunity he had to enjoy what pleasures his body had to offer him, regardless of how much magic it took to make it happen.

Unfortunately, his female form also attracted the attention of the chief's son, who took a very intimate interest in the underside of Ceylon's tail. The resulting violations were wholly different from the beatings Ceylon had received in the past. Of course, Ceylon liked the attention in theory and it was nice to not be beaten, but the chief's son demanded intimacy with the threat of violence if he was denied, which meant that Ceylon was obligated to lift her tail to him. Most of the time the boy was kind and affectionate, but those few times Ceylon wasn't in the mood, he would flog her or beat her with a hot poker, which resulted in bloody marks and stab wounds.

Ceylon dealt with this for years as the young feline had his way with the gryphon, slipping out at night to mate with him, shove his fist in the equine passage that Ceylon had cultivated, and would lick, tease, and do everything he could to pleasure his mount and pet. One time, when the chief's son was feeling particularly devious, he put a couple of smooth rocks into boiling water to make them hot to the touch, and then attempted to shove one inside Ceylon's sex.

This was Ceylon's boiling point. After being raped so callously, the gryphon had enjoyed one last night with that glistening peach mane and tail before using his physical strength and magic to break out of the stable, end the life of that miserable little chief's son, and fly away. Due to Ceylon's immense magic, his wings had recovered fully, the feathers regrown for flight, and he was ready to start another chapter in his life, one without rape or acting submissive. The years he spent on the chief's ranch had given him plenty of time to hone his healing and transformation skills, so he was well equipped to join society or form his own clutch if he desired. The time spent in the village was plenty to give Ceylon the perspective he needed.

He hated to kill, but that chief's son deserved it, and the catharsis was both a relief and a burden.

However, in all the time and with all the skill Ceylon had poured into his makeshift genitals, one thing he could never properly emulate was the ability to breed. The flesh emulated the look and feel of a male or female with perfection, and Ceylon was granted the pleasure of either role, but he couldn't impregnate a female and couldn't lay eggs. This saddened him, but as his mind grew he came to realize that there were other ways to birth a legacy, so he pursued them.

Of course, at the time he didn't realize that the genesis of transformation magic borne of a very specific and targeted subset of healing magic was the legacy he'd already drawn for himself. Instead, he chose to travel to the major cities, opting instead to learn the ways of the people and expand his mind since he felt he still had a legacy to lay out before him.

Upon arrival in the capitol of Viokenic, he was immediately ambushed by the knights of Vioken, which he was able to fend off with ease; Ceylon was done being pushed around and was eager to prove his worth by refusing to be bullied by anyone, ever again. When the knights pulled back to test the gryphon, they found that Ceylon wasn't interested in harming them despite being quite skilled in combat and more than capable of hearing this. They reported this to their superiors, who then informed the king of the arrival of a gryphon, since such a mythical beast was so rare they were seen as near divine.

Upon hearing this, the king himself invited Ceylon into the palace to negotiate terms of them being allies, with Ceylon aiding them in battle. Viokenic people worshipped gryphons, and knew them to be magical beings with immense power, so since they were in the midst of a losing war and needed Ceylon's blessing, they were willing to do anything for it.

Problem was, Ceylon still wasn't able to speak proper words. He could squawk and screech, as well as pantomime actions with his talons, but communication wasn't exactly fluid. Rather than react with anger, the king and the prince showered Ceylon with love, admiration, and food to fill his belly, sustaining him for weeks until the neighboring nation attacked. At that point, Ceylon was glad to ride into war with the princess on his back, aiding the nation that had taken him in and treated him as a God! If only on the surface, this nation quickly became his home, since it was the only group other than the wolf pack that had done anything kind for him.

Years of neglect, abuse, and attempted murder will make anyone quick to accept even the slightest act of kindness as a life changing event.

Another legacy was born that day, when Ceylon's magic and physical prowess blended together to created a gnashing whirlwind of claws, talons, fire, ice, and various other magics to decimate the invading army. His magic healed all those who fell in battle, and made him appear nigh invincible! Hundreds died, with minimal casualties on the side of the Vioken forces, and Ceylon was rightly revered as the God he wished he was. The gryphon was showered with praise, worshipped by the people he protected, and given all the hens, mares, stallions, and drakes he wanted. His legacy was born as the gender-shifting gryphon, a graceful warrior, and protector of the people.

More years were spent here, with Ceylon revered in the palace and occasionally brought to the front lines to defend the nation against any and all invaders. However, he was also used to commit some horrible atrocities in the name of the King. He protested and tried to find a way to insist that violence was not the answer, but the king insisted on brute force and aggression. As far as the king was concerned, this was war, and bad things happened in war until one team emerged as victor; peace could be had when one side submitted.

Though it was a terrible lesson, it seemed to make sense to Ceylon, so he kept his position as the spearhead of the king's army.

Over the course of his time in Viokenic, he did gradually learn to communicate using some rudimentary words and sounds, but it was quite crude and unreliable. Eventually, he directly asked the king to stop the war, citing the fact that no nation dared attack them knowing a warlord gryphon was here. Regardless, the king insisted they needed to dominate an rule over the nations around them, using Ceylon as a weapon to take any who would oppose him. Like many other rulers, the king of Viokenic wanted to carve a path in the world, leaving a legacy behind as a conqueror, no a meek king who stayed at home and refused to take the world and make it his.

Ceylon pleaded with the king to not do this, but the king wouldn't listen, mounting another attack against the neighboring nation of Waverthe.

The gryphon was nowhere to be found in that battle. Ceylon packed up what few possessions he had and flew as far away as he could go ending up in Saff'Rald, tired and sore on the northern end of Klyneth near the great Saff'Raldian lake. Ceylon considered presenting himself as the once-great warlord that he was, but instead harkened back to his early days as a pet and as a member of a wolf pack, refusing to speak or show signs of the intelligence he actually had. The intention was to not have anyone rely on him for violence, but it backfired since most civilized agens feared feral beasts. As such he was treated as a dangerous animal by the people of Klyneth, hated and ostracized and chased out of town again, just like when he was young.

That was when he decided to use the skills he'd acquired over the past eight years to find a way to alter his form once again. As a quadruped beast, he was treated as an animal or a monster. If he was able to walk on two feet like the people of Klyneth, or any of the men or women that had ruled the many cities and nations he'd visited, maybe he could get the respect he deserved. Maybe he could be a member of society.

Maybe he could once again be someone worth remembering.

This urged him to do the most dangerous form of transformation magic he'd ever attempted. He broke and rearranged his bones, altering his hips and spine to walk upright; he twisted his upper arms and altered his wings to fold up neatly on his back, in order to walk like a biped. It worked, but like the gender alterations he'd made in the past, it wasn't perfect at first. His motions were clunky, his speech slurred and messy, and he was quite tall since he was unable to alter his size. As a result, he was treated as one with a mental defect until he was found by Keran O'Merone, a young jysarian scholar who was wise beyond his years.

Keran was a professor at the Klynethian Academy of Science and Magic, and he saw great potential in a quadruped beast who had managed to alter his form to walk like others. Keran was one of the few that had been researching the plausibility of magic that could change one's form, but never met one who had succeeded at it and felt that this just might be the breakthrough he was seeking. His theory was that transformation magic could be the key to immortality. Everlasting life.

A lesson in magic and science is needed here.

On Dalon, magic and biology are connected to one another, but diametrically opposed. Every individual on Dalon has the usual biology, with skin, fur, feathers, scales, organs, blood, a brain, a heart, and various fluids that keep the body ticking, but they also have a system that courses parallel to the veins called the 'ademane system'. Like blood, this system ferries a thick teal liquid around one's body that allows them to manipulate magic.

There are major glands in the neck, wrists, chest next to the lungs, hips, ankles, and often a long thin one running through the tail, but those locations differ by species and vary by individual. This allows a person to use those parts of the body to manipulate magic, by waving hands around or focusing energy in around their torso. Using magic consumes the energy stored in the ademane, only to be recharged when one eats - or in the case of cold blooded creatures, basks in the sun. Different races have different volumes of ademane in their bodies, and different minds have varying skill in properly utilizing it to its greatest potential or concentrating the energy output of the energy stored within.

The dragon race - known as the saurossins - have the largest reservoirs of ademane fluid in their bodies, most of which is connected to their lungs. They can ignite this fluid and breathe it to create a napalm-like fire, which is nigh impossible to extinguish. The Oairan race was granted with abnormally high volumes of ademane - which aids in flight since it's actually very light - as well as a natural tendency to utilize the energies within. Of all the races, the Oaira are the most adept at using what they have to use magic, followed by the Jysar, who have an equally high concentration of the fluid but not the same skill to control it.

Other races such as Humans (primates), Cien (canines), Errov (equines, bovines, cervines, etc...hooved creatures), Murines (rodents), and Nolse (dolphin-sharks) have different volumes and natural ability to control their ademane and therefore magic, but none as strong as the Oaira or Jysar. In some cultures - such as with humans - magic is limited or in some cases outright forbidden.

The trade-off is that, without magic, agens tend to live longer. The more one uses magic, the shorter their life gets and the faster they age. The less they use magic, the longer they live. There's a reason why there is such a trope in stories that all mages and wizards are old, wise agens. Those magic users aren't any older than their warrior brethren, but have aged faster as a cost of using magic so prominently.

Keran's primary theory was that, if one could use magic to alter their body and reverse the aging process, then they could effectively live forever. When he first witnessed Ceylon transforming his body from that of a quadruped to biped with moderate success, he immediately invited the gryphon into his home, eager to learn more.

The two of them worked together for the next two years, teaching Ceylon to talk properly and fluently - far more successfully with the aid of a professor - how to interact with people, and how to act in society to not be chased out of town. Keran taught Ceylon manners, culture, art, and even how to properly manage and control the magic he possessed. However, Ceylon preferred to act like a noble and loyal pet in public. The gryphon remained an introvert who kept his intelligence to himself, outside of certain circles of blokes who knew about his sentience.

The trade-off for that was that Ceylon had to wear a harness around his torso to convince people he was under control and not a feral beast. This was unpleasant, but easier than having a quadruped gryphon walking around the city of Klyneth on his own.

Ceylon shared his past, his history, his memories of the wolves that helped raise him, and even the period of his life when he was a pet to the chief's son. That story in particular made Keran insist he not wear the harness, but Ceylon insisted it was fine. In fact, that rapey little brat was the one that gave Ceylon his name, after the fact that the gryphon seemed to really like Tea. Ceylon hated everything about his years in that village, but liked that, so he kept it.

Furthermore, Keran's last name was O'Merone, and so Ceylon insisted he take on his new master's last name. Keran had to explain that the 'O' in his last name was simply an initial, and Ceylon could have his own, which he chose as Ceylon A'Merone.

Both Ceylon and Keran worked together until the beginning of the next semester at the University, where a brilliant farm boy hippogryph by the name of Ilorek Rovairre expressed interest in the same theory of immortality that Keran had discovered. Like Ceylon, Ilorek was a half breed, but made of an errov father and an oairan mother, so he was blessed with the strength of a horse and the brain of a bird.

Since Keran was always looking for more people to help him in this quest, the two of them invited Ilorek to join in on the experiments, sharing what they knew so far about how transformation magic affected the body and impacted aging. Naturally, Ilorek was blown away when Ceylon showed off a flawless gender transformation from male to female, and couldn't help but start to flirt with the now-female gryphon.

Despite Ceylon's initial insistence that he was male, and simply faking being female, he quickly learned just how much nicer people were to him when he was female. They flirted with him, they crooned and cooed at him, they stared at him in a pleasant way, and they seemed to treat him with more respect. Once he gave in and enjoyed a mating session with Ilorek as a female, Ceylon then decided that being female was definitely more fun.

Of course, Ilorek's equine member certainly had something to do with that.

At the end of that year's semester of research and teaching, the three of them - Ceylon, Keran, and Ilorek - all decided to take a year off and go globetrotting, finding anyone who had experience with body altering magic of any kind.

On the first year, they found the help of three more. First, they ended up in the continent of Epicelia - where a war raged between the three nations of Tehgol, Untheria, and Arrenthen. Vaulix Arraidama was a healer in the Tehgolian army, who had defected and joined the opposing forces of Arrenthen by means of marrying the princess there, a hippogryph by the name of Talba Ebonoldty. The two of them together had the funds, knowledge, and willpower to further Keran and Ilorek's research into the field of transformation magic. Talba, as a princess with aspirations of a great legacy, was particularly interested in the concept of immortality and was happy to hemorrhage the crown's funds to ensure that this goal was achieved in her lifetime. Her mate Vaulix's unmatched healing skills proved to be a helpful asset alongside Ceylon's transformation, as well.

With that excursion over, they returned to Klyneth and were apprehended at a cafe by a plucky waitress by the name of Valencia Freyens - another half breed of oairan and cien that looked like a bat and had a particularly strong ability to read minds and communicate telepathically. Her particular set of skills actually allowed herself in as part of the group, citing a need to escape her boring life as a waitress.

At first she was using her ability to control the minds of Ilorek, Vaulix, and Keran, but when Ceylon exposed her - as she was immune to her charms - Valencia came clean, yet was still able to convince them that her abilities would be an asset to their quest for immortality. Ilorek took a shining to her the moment his hypnosis wore off, and the others were never quite sure if that was a side effect of her mind-manipulation or if it was legitimate, but he seemed happy around her and that's what mattered in the end. His intelligence didn't suffer, nor did his work ethic while doing research.

The next year after yet another semester passed, they went on another trip, this one lasting a full year as they scoured the globe from north to south, visiting every continent they were able to, getting involved in politics, war, social change, and the local culture wherever they went. Their immense combined power and knowledge was impeccable, making them a force to be reckoned with in any situation.

From here, they next discovered Yelena and Sanfrit A'Runa, two cien leaders and warriors who had discovered a way to intensify and amplify magical abilities by unifying their abilities and concentrating it on one spot. If two mages performed the exact same spell at the exact same time in the exact same place, the effects were amplified threefold, eight times the total strength. At first the group didn't want to get involved with the war that was being waged, until Ceylon discovered that the enemy of their nation of Yelfrit was none other than Viokenic, the same nation that had once revered Ceylon as a god, but were power hungry and violent beyond measure.

This urged Ceylon to get the others involved, quickly putting an end to that war, with the request that Yelena and Sanfrit fake their own deaths to help the group find the answers to immortality. As it turns out, they were happy to oblige and willingly joined their band of researchers, eager to put a life of war and strife behind them.

Another lengthy semester passed, but Keran was no longer teaching a class. He, Ceylon, Ilorek, Vaulix, Valencia, Yelena, Sanfrit, and even Talba, were hard at work in their research, digging through books, experimenting on rats, and messing around with Ceylon's body to see what different kind of magic would do to the gryphon. Since Ceylon's body had the most experience with being manipulated and altered, it was the most malleable and susceptible to being transformed.

Eventually, the eight of them all decided that the best place to continue their research was not in Klyneth at the Academy of Science and magic, but at a remote location in the tall mountains to the west. There, a valley was nestled at a high altitude, nigh unreachable by flight and incredibly difficult to reach by foot. Luckily, their command over the elements and a recent breakthrough in physical magic that allowed them to telekinetically move objects remotely allowed them to settle in the valley.

This valley was thus titled the Cradle of Dalon, due to its significance in birthing the gods that would one day rule over the land, sea, and air.

While in the mountains, though, the group was constantly plagued by misfortune and trickery. At first Keran thought one of them was pulling pranks on the other, but Valencia's mind reading abilities uncovered a ninth by the name of Satsierra Xyrei. He was a hybrid similar to Vaulix - a blend of Oairan and Saurossin - and seemed to want little more than to play jokes, mess with people, and extract entertainment from others. His ability to create illusion and alter perceptions was another that came in handy to their experiments, and they convinced him to join in their quest to unlock immortality, citing a 'thousand lifetimes of entertainment' if he helped them.

It also helped that his parent races were the most voluminous and most adept ademane users, so he was quite good with all branches of magic short of the transformation that was, to that point, exclusive to Ceylon.

With nine adept mages, researchers, tricksters, pets, and students all dedicating their life to the expansion of knowledge and with the answers seemingly just around the next breakthrough, they needed a vacation. Every time they thought they'd hit a revelation, it was proven to be naught, or at least a misdirection of sorts. Satsierra was occasionally the culprit, but Valencia taught the others how to be keen to his illusions, so that prank eventually halted. When they finally took a vacation, they all scattered to the corners of the globe.

Ceylon went to the great Lake Boulder on the opposite side of the Cradle of Dalon across the Great Saff'Raldian lake. Ilorek, Keran, and Valencia travelled to Koluma and Ijimu. Yelena and Sanfrit returned to Yelfrit in disguise due to them being perceived as deceased. Vaulix and Talba returned to Arrenthen as prince and princess, where they stayed for nearly a full year.

In his travels, Ceylon met a peculiar naga by the name of Leera Ssevarine. Her tribe of serpents - a subset of the saurossin race with a few too many feral tendencies - was the subject of scorn, hatred, and mythology in the northern region of Saff'Rald. The reason for the wide spread fear and hatred was that her tribe was one that had learned to psychologically feed off fear and through generations had come to rely on it, while attacking innocent agens of all races. They regularly would sneak into homes, steal children or the weak, and swallow them whole like a snake. If they didn't feed this hunger for fear and dominance, they would revert back to a feral state and simply attack anyone and anything until they fully and irrevocably lost their minds to the cravings.

The thing was, they had a digestive cycle, and during their off-season, their bellies were filled with a fluid that could be safely inhaled by the victim while they were writhing and struggling inside their digestive tract. The tribe's evolution had demanded they feed off the fear of their prey, keeping them psychologically healthy while the prey thrashed about inside, terrified of death before they were finally regurgitated outside of town and left to return to their families, usually unharmed. Usually. Sometimes the naga tribe would keep the prey in their bellies for sustenance as the cycle restarted and their bellies filled with typical digestive acid.

The mythology and history of this tribe was well known in the northern regions, yet Leera had opted to withdraw from her family and abandon the urges she had to harm others. Unfortunately, this psychological need to terrorize and scare victims was so deeply ingrained in their blood that she couldn't help herself, so she opted to live on her own by the lake, away from people she could hurt and away from the toxic environment of her tribe. Problem was, the longer she went without feeding her psychological need, the more feral and aggressive she would become, resulting in her once again sneaking into villages to steal prey away, but with little care or regard for their safety or health when she was done with them.

(For more reading on Leera and her past, please refer to her reference sheet. Link at the bottom of the description)

Ceylon met her while she was basking on his rock; luckily she'd recently enjoyed quite the meal and was not eager to fight him. The two shared stories and histories, coming to learn from each other while finding kinship together. Ceylon, in a great act of trust and admiration towards her willingness to make herself a better person, allowed her to consume him, holding him in her belly while he thrashed about and acted terrified.

Of course, as a flying creature, he was not faking the terror and distress he was exhibiting. Claustrophobia of a snake's belly holding him from all angles, keeping him from spreading his wings or escaping was the purest terror he ever felt, yet when the fluids overtook his lungs, Ceylon was quite serene inside Leera. His only concern was whether his new friend would release him when she was done with him. Luckily, she kept her word and spit him back up, leaving him to clean himself off in the lake while she acted bashful and shy.

The experience brought them both together closer than anyone else Ceylon had ever been with. The gryphon's sacrifice had temporarily satisfied Leera's need for fear and terror, and the two shared a similar history, so they quickly became inseparable. This unison between them, the solidarity they'd formed by satisfying her cravings, ensured that they would never and could never be apart. As an homage to her - much in the same way Ceylon offered up an homage to the horses and wolves he was raised by, Ceylon willingly performed yet another body-altering transformation that turned his tail into a snake-like maw, the gullet that was attached to it leading to the womb that he kept inside whether male or female. He adopted her breathable fluid in his uterus as an attempt to understand her plight and grow even closer to her, which he was able to do.

As a side effect, he was also granted the insatiable need to feel something inside him, much the same way Leera did. He was able to control these urges, since they weren't bred into him but adopted, yet this mutual understanding ensured that Ceylon and Leera were inseparable. At this point in Ceylon's life, he was no longer a gryphon, but a chimera with elements of oairan (avian), jysarian (feline), errovian (equine), and saurossin (reptilian). Despite this, Ceylon continues to refer to himself as a male gryphon, despite the fluidity of gender and technical status as a chimera.

When Ceylon finally returned to the cradle to resume his studies, Leera came with him. At first the others were upset, but Keran and Ilorek also invited two more seafaring creatures by the names of Luero Venosa and Olfrin Stormfin (Which he went at extreme lengths to clarify that Stormfin was not his real last name, but he refused to change it.) Luero was a serpentine sea saurossin with two pairs of venomous fangs, and Olfrin was a nolse, sharing traits with sharks and dolphins both.

From there, the dozen agens spent the rest of their days up there in the Cradle of Dalon, tirelessly researching, experimenting, reading, writing, and sharing with each other. Collectively, they each pitched in their own skills, knowledge, and abilities to one another to maximize their combined talents. Together, they cross-trained each other to ensure all twelve of them had the same skill set, with each specializing in a certain ability. Ceylon was the master of transformation, for example, with each other one focusing on a different school of magic or science that would aid in their quest for immortality.

After twenty years of steady research, tireless experimentation, and one particularly dangerous outburst of concentrated magic, the secret was finally unlocked. The truth was revealed, and Ceylon was able to revert his form back to that of a hatchling. Soon thereafter, all twelve of the group were able to revert their age, utilizing the combined efforts and skills of every last one of them to amplify and concentrate their energies on the right areas at the right time in the right order to take control of their life and destiny.

They were now effectively immortal, in a state of cyclical flux and able to maintain youth while not losing any of the skills or knowledge they had gained. Given the nature of Magic and Biology and how they counteracted each other, they grew progressively more powerful as time went on. Normally, such ademane abuse would age them and end their lives early, but since they could use said magic to halt their aging process, they were in store for a dozen lifetimes of gradually increasing power without any of the cost.

They titled their group the Dalonian Gods, initially as a joke since they weren't dieties, but simply immortals with vast magical strength. They were, in their eyes, gods of their domain with nigh limitless power and a presumably infinite lifetime to acquire more. The Cradle of Dalon also gained a subtitle as Valley of the Gods, and that mountain plateau became their home base.

At first, they simply chose to keep their presence secret, hiding in the shadows and simply observing the world from afar with the knowledge that the goings-on of the agens of Dalon had little effect on them. They were above the rest of the world, sans limits and sans rulers.

Thus began the first era, known as the Rebirth of Dalon. In this time, the Dalonian Gods - or Dalonian Dieties, depending on what race and region they were in - focused on making the world a better place. They went from nation to nation, doing what they could in an effort to halt wars and calm the turmoil that had enveloped the land. Their goal was to ensure the agens of the world lived in unity and harmony, where few were plagued by hunger, or famine, or war of any kind. This era was known as the rebirth of Dalon because the Gods managed to, though peaceful means, rebuild the world in their image. As such, they restarted the calendar at year 0, and called it the time After the Rebirth.

Before the Gods was known as BG, and After the Rebirth was known as AR.

Though their efforts were quite successful at first, many nations quickly reverted back to their old state of war and conflict. After nearly a century, this era of rebirth came to an end when the Gods collectively decided that the only way to ensure that the world would remain at peace was under an iron claw. The Gods, angry with the people of the world at their insatiable lust for war, death, and power, enacted 200 years of judgment, violently and aggressively forcing the people of Dalon to bend to their will in an effort to keep the peace. As Deities that had, up to now, lived over 200 years, they were smarter and wiser than anyone else.

This time - the second Era after the rebirth - was known as the Judgment of the Gods. Aptly so, since it was punctuated by fire from the skies, seasons of famine, and swift death. As they'd say on earth, some real old-testament shit.

However, none of the gods particularly enjoyed this form of oppressive rule they had over the lands. They preferred freedom, autonomy, and happiness in lieu of treating people like children. A unanimous decision was made to end this judgment, resulting in them completely erasing themselves from the world. The Gods spent the next hundred and fifty years scouring the globe to destroy or alter any evidence of their existence from the face of Dalon. They wanted themselves to fade into mythology, but from that came a half dozen different religions.

Though they had the skill to control or guide these faiths, during this era - known as the Silent Time - they had a very strict hands-off belief. They didn't interfere, they didn't control, they didn't judge, they just lived peacefully among the people of the world, returning to the lands they called home before they ascended to the status of God. Ceylon and Keran went back to teaching at the Klynethian Academy of Magic and Science, Ilorek returned to his life as a farmhand with Valencia by his side, Leera remained in the jungles around Klyneth, Luero and Olfrin returned to the seas, Yelena and Sanfrit returned to Yelfrit, Talba and Vaulix returned to rule Arrenthen, and Satsierra remained in the Cradle of Dalon to observe from afar.

Upon the dawning of this third era known as The Silent Time, the twelve Gods all reconverged at the Cradle of Dalon, where they carved out their own living in the mountains, while using their considerable magic powers to make the Valley of the Gods virtually unreachable. There, when not faking lives out in the rest of the world, they had their own homes where the pairs of partners would live together.

Ceylon and Leera carved out a lodge-style home in the side of the tallest mountain in all of Dalon, where they lived and wrote and played together. Ilorek and Valencia resided in a multi-story home built in a massive, hundred meter tall cellitoke tree. Vaulix and Talba created a makeshift replica of the castle they once ruled in Arrenthen next to the great lake in the valley. Yelena and Sanfrit shared the northern woods amidst a series of tropical waterfalls that cascaded over a series of cliffs from the upper half to the lower half of the valley. Olfrin and Luero both lived in the eastern lake on the opposite side of the mountain that Ceylon and Leera resided in. Satsierra had a nest at the very peak of that mountain, and Keran erected an ornate, beautiful cabin in the heights next to the lake that Olfrin and Luero lived in.

When on the ground, their transformation magic - which they all shared now - allowed them to imitate entire lives from infancy to senility, faking death and rebirth through a process known as unbirthing, which allowed them to convince their adopted parents that they were actually their own offspring. During this era, the world slowly descended back to the state it was in prior to the Rebirth of Dalon, some nations warred, inequality was rampant, and scientific progress halted almost completely.

Finally, the fourth era came to be, known as The Great Game. In this time, the Gods worked together behind the scene, using their positions of power and political influence to control the world, guide it in the direction they wanted, while taking a mostly claws-off approach. Rather than directly influence and control the flow of time, they simply poked their fingers in the stream to lightly guide it and direct history towards what they wanted while also manipulating the world just enough to ensure no others achieved the same immortality they had acquired. If others came to learn how to live forever and gain nigh limitless power, it would cause an imbalance.

This era has lasted centuries, somewhere between 500 and 600 years total, and was the best time to live until the Gods came to realize that they were actively halting progress of science and magic every time they interfered to keep the agens of the world from discovering their secret to immortality. By the end, the Dalonian gods were truly playing a game, moving pieces and warring against each other to keep the world from catching up to them. When one nation was on the verge of a revolution, one of the other gods would manipulate the surrounding nations to go to war, thus keeping the land in a state of flux.

Eventually, they realized that, like the time of Judgment, they were oppressing the people, but in an indirect way. Again, they decided to see if they could let the world free of their grasp, which was met with 300 years of prosperity and growth. This era had come to be known as the Prosperity of the Land. This is when the world of Dalon caught up to modern day Earth, where the internet was born, electronic devices are widespread, and automobiles are commonplace. The birth of this era matched the industrial revolution.

In this Era, Ceylon opted to remain biped as often as he could, founding the company known as NoThEn Labs, a pharmaceutical company with tendrils in engineering, technology, chemistry, biology, physics, and modern many aspects of modern culture. The goal there was to continue to influence the world and make it a better place while still maintaining a modern visage. Many of the gods have settled into similar lifestyles on their own, but for the sake of this story, Ceylon is the one we will concentrate on in the future.

However, that is as far as Ceylon's history has progressed! The future is still an unknown property, and we'll see where the Fantastical world of Dalon takes him!

For reference, here's how long each of the eras lasted:

The First Era - The Rebirth of Dalon (~100 years)

The Second Era - The Judgment of the Gods (~250 years)

The Third Era - The Silent Time (~150 years)

The Fourth Era - The Great Game (~500 years)

The Fifth Era - The Prosperity of the Land (~300 years)

The Sixth Era - The Ascension of the Gods (** years)

I modeled Ceylon's personality and general history a bit after myself. Of course, there are a lot of leaps of faith and impossible scenarios in Dalon that can't possibly happen on Earth, but the character's motivations, desires, maturity level, and flaws are very much the same.

Like me, Ceylon spent much of his childhood around animals, and often saw the four legged critters as closer family than his actual family. He has always tended to be a bit of an introvert, preferring to remain reserved and quiet as opposed to being loud and social, unless he is with close friends or people he feels comfortable around. Above all else, however, he strives for knowledge, clarity, and personal advancement, even at the expense of tact, or social standing. That is very, very much like me - to a fault, even.

Throughout most of the character's history, Ceylon has remained stoic, quiet, calm, collected, and usually peaceful, with occasional bouts of anger, rage, violence, and aggression. He has a very long fuse, but he's also a very large bomb when properly triggered, hence his decimation of the opposing forces when being worshipped as a God while in Viokenic. His strength is mostly restrained, but when unleashed it can be deadly, which is mostly just a metaphor for my own personal rage issues rather than any threat of violence in the real world. Like me, mostly introverted and quiet while wanting to be left alone, unless properly prompted by friends or the world around him to be more playful, cheerful, or angry.

Ceylon tends to get along well with other misfits - like Leera - who have been ostracized for who or what they are, and will always extend a hand to help those he feels are deserving. Though he's always looking to help those less fortunate than himself, he also expects some sort of acknowledgment of his good deeds. Kindness without thanks is wasted energy, to Ceylon, most of the time.

Mostly, when we see him in stories and porn, he's acting a part or fulfilling a role, with only slivers of himself in the performance. When at home, alone with Leera, he's more like himself: Cuddly, affectionate, but also creative and always on a quest for knowledge. This mentality as a lives-long actor has resulted in Ceylon being an incredibly kinky, experimental gryphon who's willing to try just about anything in the right circumstances. Vore, unbirth, violence, blood play, venom play, coiling, bondage (with the right partner), and virtually everything in between is fair game; usually he's doing it for his partner as opposed to himself. That same generous and altruistic nature that encourages his kindness also applies to kinky fetishes, knowing full well he has the magic and will to make anyone's fantasies come true.

In his mind, as a Godfather of Dalon, it's his duty to help those who can't help themselves to make their dreams come true, even if that dream is just to be unbirthed in a warm gryphon womb.

That's why, in art, you'll see me doing a bunch of stuff I'm not actually comfortable with. There's art of me in bondage, for example, which is one thing I absolutely have no interest in, in real life.

There is one thing about Ceylon that I feel the need to clarify. Ceylon as a character tends to consider himself male, but that's only because I myself am male. I refer to him as male because it's easier, even though the character is gender-fluid and actually spends more time as a female. I chose this because it's easier, and it would feel wrong using female pronouns. The truth is, I'm 50/50 on the male-female spectrum, and simply chose to use the pronouns I was raised with, for simplicity's sake, nothing more.

You are free to refer to Ceylon as male or female at any time and I will not judge, harass, or question it, just don't ever use shi or hir, because I personally detest those terms almost as much as 'cis'. Personal thing, I don't expect people to adhere to my rules for gender pronouning.

But with that said, I hope you all enjoy this little tale of progression, explaining how Ceylon became what he is, why he is as he is, and how he came to be a "God" in my world.