Dragon riders

Dragon-riders are a new section of the Adelan Army (created within the last 10 years), created by King Akkiel after his most recent trip away from the castle. He returned with a group of dragon eggs that he and Adela's captain, Angel, recovered from the Thunderblacks. These later hatched into the first dragon-rider dragons. These young dragons went on to became symbolic of an alliance and partnership between the Thunderblack dragons and the people of Adela.

Dragon-rider trainees that fail (but survive) their Meeting usually go on to train to be knights. They are allowed to return each year until they give up, are killed, move on to another section of the military, or are simply too old to be eligible.

The main requirement for becoming a dragon-rider candidate is that eligible candidates must have some gift of beastspeaking, or telepathy, allowing them to form an inseparable bond and communicate with each other.

Meeting

A test of courage and humility.

Children ages nine to fourteen go to the Thunderblack Mountains with a group of Knight escorts where the young children plea their case for the dragons children to be their partner.

If the mother doesn’t like the candidate, they’re free to leave unharmed.

If the dragonling doesn’t like the candidate, things sometimes turn violent.

Sometimes another dragon moves to protect the candidate, sometimes not. In a worst case scenario, the candidate is killed, but as it is, being killed by a dragon at a Meeting holds no stigma and it is considered an honorable death.

About the Dragons

Dragons are a varied species, with many breeds both sentient and non-sentient. The Adelan dragon tribe are all sentient individuals who have chosen to join the kingdom and ally themselves with the Adelan people.