Skrill
The Stormborn King
Status
Wild dragon
Rider
None
Origin
Hatched from one of the oldest eggs ever kept upon Dragonstone. The egg itself had no recorded lineage and had remained cold for longer than any other in the vaults. Even the Dragonkeepers of the time could not say which Valyrian clutch it had come from.
Hatching
The egg hatched in 28 AC, during the later years of Aegon the Conqueror's reign.
It had been stored deep in the lower vaults of Dragonstone for decades, long after most of the other ancient eggs had either hatched or been given up as dead. When it finally cracked open, the birth was accompanied by a violent electrical storm that struck the island for two full days. Lightning repeatedly hammered the Dragonmont, and several of the younger dragons grew restless and aggressive. The hatchling that emerged was already larger and more active than most newborns, its scales dark purple-black and its eyes glowing with a cold violet light. From the moment it first took wing, the keepers noted that ordinary dragonfire did not come from its jaws.
Appearance
Skrill is a lean, predatory dragon of unusual build. Its scales are a deep, almost black-purple that shifts toward violet and indigo along the membranes of the wings and the ridges of the spine. A crest of long, sharp spines runs from the crown of its head down the length of its neck, often crackling with pale blue-white energy when the dragon is agitated or flying through storms. The eyes glow a cold lilac. The underbelly and the edges of the wing membranes lighten to a pale, almost silver-lavender.
When it opens its jaws, arcs of lightning dance between its teeth before it releases its breath. In flight the dragon leaves faint trails of static and ozone in its wake. At roughly thirty metres in length it is large, but its frame is narrower and more angular than the bulkier Targaryen war-dragons of the same size, giving it a distinctly different silhouette against the sky.
Temperament & Behaviour
Skrill is solitary, territorial, and largely indifferent to the affairs of men and their dragons. It shows no desire to be claimed or ridden and has violently rejected every attempt to approach it with a would-be rider.
It is most active during storms and prefers the open sea to land. While it will sometimes rest on isolated cliffs along the Stormlands coast or on remote islets in the Narrow Sea, it spends the greater part of its life in the air or skimming the waves. It is aggressive toward ships that venture too deep into waters it considers its own, particularly during heavy weather, and has been known to drive other dragons away from its hunting grounds with little provocation.
Unlike many wild dragons that simply avoid human settlements, Skrill seems to take a particular interest in the shipping lanes. Whether this is born of hunger, territorial instinct, or some older, stranger impulse remains unknown. Those who have observed it for long periods describe a creature that is neither mindless nor purely animal it is calculating, patient, and capable of deliberate cruelty when crossed.
The Breath
Skrill does not breathe fire in the conventional sense. Its weapon is living lightning.
When the dragon inhales, the air around its head and neck begins to crackle. Pale blue-white arcs of electricity leap between the long spines of its crest and dance along the edges of its jaws. The ozone scent becomes sharp enough to sting the eyes of anyone nearby. Then the breath is released.
What erupts from Skrill's mouth is not a continuous stream of flame, but a concentrated bolt of pure lightning, thick as a ship's mast and blindingly white at the core, edged in violet and electric blue. The bolt does not simply travel in a straight line; it forks and branches mid-air, seeking metal, water, and living flesh with unnatural hunger. Secondary arcs whip outward from the main discharge, crawling across the surface of the sea or racing up the masts and rigging of any ship caught in its path.
The sound is not the roar of dragonfire. It is a sustained, splitting crack that can be heard for miles, followed by a rolling boom that shakes the air. When the bolt strikes water, the surface explodes upward in a towering spray of steam and superheated mist. When it strikes a ship, the wood does not merely burn it shatters and blackens in an instant, iron fittings melt, and men are thrown clear or left as charred, smoking husks. Even dragons that have endured ordinary fire have been forced to veer away when those forking arcs begin to crawl across their wings and scales.
The breath carries a lingering charge. After Skrill has passed, the air remains heavy with static for several heartbeats. Hair stands on end. Metal objects spark if touched. In a true storm the effect is amplified; the dragon seems to draw power from the thunderclouds themselves, and its discharges grow longer, brighter, and more numerous.
Unlike the continuous, roaring jets of flame used by most Targaryen dragons, Skrill's lightning is delivered in devastating pulses. It can loose several bolts in quick succession, but each requires a brief moment to gather charge. Riders who have faced it learn quickly that the most dangerous moment is not when the bolt is already flying, but in the few seconds when the spines along its neck begin to glow and the air starts to sing.
Habitat & Range
Skrill is most commonly sighted in the skies and waters of the Stormlands, particularly near the coasts of House Baratheon, and ranging far across the Narrow Sea. It appears and vanishes with the weather, often materialising at the heart of gales that drive other creatures to shelter. Sailors, pirates out of the Stepstones and Free Cities, and traders who sail the shipping lanes between Westeros and Essos speak of it with far more certainty than the court in King's Landing.
Known History
Because the egg that produced Skrill had no clear lineage, and because the dragon's appearance and abilities differed so sharply from those of the more familiar Targaryen dragons, many among the court still dismiss reports of the Stormborn King as exaggeration or outright invention. To the people of the Stormlands and the sailors who work the Narrow Sea, however, the dragon is very real.
During the later years of Jaehaerys I's reign, Prince Baelon Targaryen and his brother were forced to drive Skrill away from the major western trading routes after the wild dragon began ranging too close to the shipping lanes. The encounter was fierce enough that the princes' own dragons could not simply ignore the interloper; they had to chase it off rather than destroy it. Similar confrontations with other riders including at least one clash involving the rider of a queen's dragon have been whispered about in the Stormlands and among the captains who sail those waters, though few of those stories ever reached the ears of the court in full detail.
Skrill remains unclaimed. It continues to haunt the storm coasts and the Narrow Sea more than seventy years after its hatching, a living reminder that not every dragon that emerged from Dragonstone's oldest eggs was ever fully understood or controlled by House Targaryen.