Nymella

Backstory:

Backstory:

Nymella was a solitary dragoness. She didn’t really care too much about the fame or riches. She stayed out of villages and kept to herself, growing ever more powerful as she studied dark magic. After ages of experimentation in her mountain cave, she mastered the dark arts. Her solitary lifestyle became boring after a few years. She had nowhere to grow, and though she had a deep disdain for the flashy lifestyle of other dragons, she couldn’t resist her instincts.

Nymella moved out to the forest, from a humble cave to a dark, imposing castle. Mortals took notice. They were superstitious. Many feared her. They blamed her for various calamities. Famines, floods, plagues. Eventually, they sent people to confront her. Some to grovel and beg, some as sacrifices, and some with the intent to destroy her. Much to her delight, she found many of their valuables wonderful. They were also quite good cooks! She made sure the heroes they sent would return, injured and bruised, but alive. Alive enough to spread her tale. She began to terrorize the villages, growing to her fearsome, true, draconic form and demanding their gold, their crops, and their still wiggling livestock. Her magic would block out the sun even in daylight, wither their fields. Anything she could do to inspire fear and awe. Things would return to normal once she was satisfied. Those who refused her demands would find harvests coming up short… and people going missing. Sometimes they would be returned, but Nymella was developing a taste for the flesh of mortals.

The dragoness had run the nearby region dry. People lived in fear. Some said they remembered being devoured. Others wished they truly had. The people had nothing. She, having grown a bit heavier from her now opulent lifestyle, was even beginning to regret things she did. She had seen the way they treated the more monstrous races. She had heard the tales of dragon-slayers. She had read all about the horrid things mortals did to her kind. Yet still, her heart was moved. Nymella decided to leave. In a flash of black lightning, the sky became as night. Her castle crumbled. Much of her hoard was divided up amongst the villagers… and Nymella was nowhere to be found.

She moved to a nearby settlement, full of monsters of all types. They were on hard times too. It seems the dungeons they previously worked in had closed down. Succubi were running a monopoly on the things. Treasure and pleasure in one place? That’s something few could resist. Other monsters couldn’t compete! Adventurers had begun to slay the monsters in other dungeons… against guild regulations. Nymella was confused. She had lived on the outskirts of society since men had first forged steel. In ancient times, men and monsters fought bloody battles. Dragons often stayed out, rarely taking a side unless it benefited them, or they were dragged into the conflict. Sometime during her life, a guild began to run dungeons. An adventurer’s guild. They stocked monster’s lairs with treasure, gave them magical protection… all in exchange, the monsters ceased attacks in the wild. Society became more civilized almost overnight. Monsters and men began to live together. On the outskirts, monsters were still a terrifying sight, but those in more populated areas soon came to accept them. A little.

Dungeons were full of ‘danger’. People would go in, in search of riches. Should they fail, the price they paid the guild and some extra would go to the dungeon. If they succeeded, what they found would be theirs. Monsters slain would end up fine, and the adventurers would, after perhaps some time in captivity, or maybe after being devoured, wake up in the guild inn. The unregistered were generally brought to nearby towns. Dungeons staged mock kidnappings and robberies. Towns would engage in raids. It was a generally peaceful way to have monsters retain their culture while somewhat merging into civilization. The guild cracked down on those who broke these rules… until recently

A group of succubi found men would come to their dungeons much more often… women too. They began to hoard the money from their exploits, and the guild began to lose influence. Violence began to break out in other dungeons. Bloodshed between bandits and monsters. Distrust spread like wildfire.

Nymella never cared for Succubi. She never really cared for most mortals either… but recently one of those things changed. Succubi were arrogant. Vain. Liars. Most importantly, they looked like humans. Looking to make a name for herself, and perhaps even atone for some of her past wrongdoing, the chubby dragoness left to the forest. She started her own dungeon, back in her cave at the foot of the mountain. She carved it with black magic. She meticulously designed every bit of it Soon, she had built up enough monsters to fill it, most of whom were rejected in some way. A group of misfits. Freaks. Some part of the dragoness felt attached to them… but mostly she just wanted to make the dungeon stand out. Oh yeah, and she made sure to rob the Succubus’ place, and for some reason, men who entered that Succubus’s dungeon could never seem to get it up anymore. Oh well~