She Who Strikes First, Now residing near the Southern Core of Lyria

She who Strikes First
Now residing in the Waters
near the Southern Core of Lyria

First Strike installed herself close to the hot walls that surrounded the volcanic core of Devil's Island. First Strike found that name to be wrong. Onsen Heaven would have been a far more fitting designation. But she knew better than to bring that up for a vote. She was new after all. And quite happy to keep to herself and make a home. Once she was installed and had a sense of who her neighbours might be she would revisit her intial thoughts.
Speaking of neighbours. Her cosy abode could need a few more defenses and some signs that clearly stated: "Beware!" or "Keep Out!". Laying low might be the wiser decision but that wasn't in First Strike's nature. She was pretty pro-active for her species. She'd rather meet her neighbours early on to see what she was dealing with. Would they be friendly or would they be nasty?
Not much later, the first visitor arrived. First Strike got her hopes up as the quite dead but not yet gone skeletal merdragon entered her domain. The Drowned Dragon however immediately wilted when she got close to First Strike's area of heat and swam away as quickly as she could. No threat but no friend.
First Strike settled in the silt and waited.
The next dragon to visit her domain was larger and very much alive. The grey, sleek Chaos Dragon entered, noticed the change in temperature and did not react adversely. He noticed First Strike but barely even acknowledged her. Quietly making his way outside, First Strike gathered that Chaos Dragons did not make good conversational partners. But he had not seemed like he wanted to fight her either.
Not much later, another dragon made an appearance. The bright blue Lorelai seemed so unusual in the dreary waters that First Strike could not help but look. The seadragon seemed to love this and swam closer. Ever closer. Alluringly so. First Strike struck and managed to scare the Lorelai back to the surface. She huffed. It was not mating season. She did not need unwanted advances from strangers. No thank you.
But if these were her neighbours, things were good. And maybe when mating season arrived, she'd go play with that Lorelai....

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STATS
Name: She Who Strikes First (First Strike)
Gender: Female
Colour: Orange with Black Titanium Shell
Personality: Aggressive, defensive, loyal. Unlike many of her kind, First Strike has learned that the best defense is a good offense. She will defend herself against anything that even hints at being a threat. To that end, she will also defend anyone she considers a resident of her territory with the same ferocity. Once she forms a connection with someone (be they friend, mate or otherwise), she is deeply loyal and will go out of her way to help them.

SPECIES INFORMATION
Species: Lavindwurm
Origin: Tris'Hath, region around Lanutha.
General Information: Strange things have been happening in the waters of Tris’Hath since the end of the hydra war some ten years back. Great and terrible beasts that were once kept in check by the scylla have resurfaced, fighting now for the position of apex predator. The Warren’s own Scylla (not to be confused with the hydra-blooded beasts that were wiped out during the war), has been doing everything in her power to establish a safe biome in the waters of Lanutha. In the process, she has discovered a new monstrosity, but possibly one in need of aid rather than population control.
The lavindwurms are deep dwelling dragon-adjacent creatures that have, up until this point, remained out of sight. A few have reached out, asking for aid in finding hydrothermal vent fields on other worlds that might possibly be interested in a new resident. In exchange for a new home, they are willing to bind themselves to whatever agency wants to take them in and work with other sea dragons to protect their new range.
Habitat: Lavindwurms are extremophiles. They must live close to underwater hydrothermal vents. Any environment short of blisteringly hot, and they will quickly start to deteriorate. They can live in milder climates for a time, but quickly go into hypothermic shock if their surrounding temperature drops below 40 degrees Celsius. They have been known to live in temperatures up to 400 degrees Celsius without issue.
Size: Lavindwurms range from 20 to 40 feet in length. Their fry begin life as no more than five centimeters in length.
Biology: Lavindwurms are extremely docile and patient creatures. They subsist off the small crustaceans and gastropods that also inhabit their super-heated regions, and so spend most of their day simply eating. When threatened, they react quickly and decisively to remove the threat. Due to the very limited range of their food and habitat source, they are also extremely territorial toward other large predators. Fish, whales, and even sharks can often swim right up to one without issue, as the lavindwurm will only attack what it sees as a potential competitor for its space. For this reason, some fish that are better adapted to the heat of the hydrothermal vents have learned to seek the lavindwurm for protection when their own predators are near.
Intelligence: Lavindwurms are extremely intelligent, but rarely speak. While they do possess telepathy, they often prefer to not engage in conversation, as they find it distracts them from eating. They use this telepathy typically to communicate with each other and establish mating preferences, territory borders, and to warn of incoming threats.
Population: Originally, the lavindwurms were a prime prey source for the scylla of Tris’Hath. Since the eradication of the scylla, their populations have boomed. They typically have some 200 to 500 fry in a single clutch, of which one or two will reach maturity. Now, four or five are attaining adulthood and going off to find hydrothermal vents of their own. This has created an overpopulation problem in the Karask’kai vent field off the coast of Lanutha.
Bonding: Lavindwurms have absolutely no interest in bonding. They don’t mind company though.
Naming: Lavindwurms do not have names so much as they do identifiers. He Of The Thrice Stricken Shell is an example of how they might refer to each other. For the sake of dealing with the impatience of those surface dwellers (and in this sense, surface refers to anything above crushing depth), some have agreed to take on monikers. So He Of The Thrice Stricken Shell would become Three Strike.
Abilities:
     *Telepathy over a long range; useful for talking to others of their kind and working out important details like who is going to travel where to mate.
     *Heat immunity; they can take a bath in lava and treat it like a hot spring.
     *Temperature manipulation; they can control the ambient temperature of the water around them to maintain optimal levels.
    *                                         Great for keeping them toasty warm. Not so great for species that can’t live in 400-degree water.
     *Echolocation; allowing them to “see” at a great distance.
     *Hot water jet; they can shoot a stream of boiling water from their mouths to cook their targets.
     *Impenetrable; their metal shells create a nearly unbreakable barrier into which the lavindwurm can retreat when under attack.
     *                      This metal also composes the sclerites of their “foot”.

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Keltic Spirit Glade - Lantessama Isle