Character Spotlight -- Jadriel

Background: Jadriel is a powerful dragon from the plane of Tarterus who from birth was trained by the best tutors available in the ways of both dragon and mankind. A crossbreed of the blue and black dragon subspecies, he retains the cunning and adaptable intelligence, as well as all the skills and powers of both his parents' genes. The potential in Jadriel that resulted from this was somehow seen by the dragon queen, Tiamat, who ensured his rapid rise in the ranks of the dragon armies for an unknown overall purpose. Soon distinguishing himself as the armies' best young general, Jadriel was then sent to Earth on a special mission in 1993. The goals of this mission he does not know or understand as of yet. However, his current activities have been to grow as powerful as possible in the New York
underworld as the leader of a dangerousstreet gang, and thus gather power to himself through inciting fear.
 

Description: In his true dragon form, Jadriel is a large sleek- bodied lizardlike creature nearly a hundred feet long from the  tip of his snout to the base of his tail, with another seventy or  so feet for the tail itself. His body features four five-fingered limbs tipped with razor-sharp claws, wings with a span of at  least eighty feet, and a head on the end of a long neck with  cruel yet stern and charismatic features. Spiked ridges go  down his tail and spine, while a single horn protudes from  Jadriel's nose, a diamond-shaped rudder tips his tail, and his  entire body is covered with scales of the darkest indigo blue.  Jadriel can also shapechange into other forms, the one he uses  most being that of a human, through which he has disguised himself as gang leader Daniel Jade. In this form he is about  6'2" tall with pale white skin and built like a martial arts expert.  His face is cunning and stern, surrounded by indigo blue hair  cut short. His eyes are the same color, though they are usually  hidden by sunglasses. Generally he dresses in a white turtleneck,  jeans, and black leather jacket with a pearl-handled pistol  holstered inside. Few can tell he is a dragon in this form, though he does retain the shadow of one. Jadriel can probably assume  other forms as well, but as of yet has not been seen doing so. In  any case, only in his dragon form can he use his power of flight  and small command of magic. In that form he can also breathe  either a bolt of lightning, a jet of acid, or a combination of the  two effects. In any form, he retains natural X-ray vision and great  strength.

Personality: Ever since his youth, Jadriel has been dominated by two things- ego and ambition. The fact that he has generally always been given the stations and rewards he desires has done much to increase the power of these forces inside him, and Jadriel now believes that he is the ultimate warrior, destined to one day ensure that his race regains the dominion it once held over the planet Earth and its species. Naturally he also aspires to gain a high place in that dominion. In his early years, Jadriel was seen as both a prodigy and an inferior crossling by other dragons, through his skill and intelligence managing to overcome the latter image and gain great respect among his peers. He then rose through the ranks of his people's armies, growing more and more physically powerful and influential as time went on. He also learned much knowledge, but took to it like the typical student of today- remembering only what he needed to know and discarding the rest as it became clear it was not necessary to fulfill his ambitions. Many teachers have taught Jadriel the ways of strategy and tactics in his life, both great dragon generals as well as human ones such as Rommel, Napoleon, and Sun Tzu. He has also read and been influenced by the writings of such philosphers as Hitler, Nietzche, and Mao as well as sports coaches whose tactics he adapted to military use. Impulsive and hot-tempered from his youth through to his adulthood, Jadriel has never been one to take the slow road to power. Always he has known that his place in the world is at the top, holding power over all lesser beings through respect and fear. Other people are no more than tools or foes to him, either of which he is willing to use to satisfy his ambitions to reach his chosen place in life.
     On Earth, his personality has developed little, and the dragon has taken action in accordance with that. For the first three years of his life here he was enrolled at the elite Baird Academy in New England, where he learned the ways in which our world works and once again graduated at the top of his class.He then went into business school at New York's Empire University but quickly became bored and disillusioned with the time it was going to take him to earn a degree and then rise to power in the business world. He also began dating a young mutant girl named Cynthia Marshall, a Goth and member of the local Gangsta Disciples. Through her influence on him, Jadriel quickly became convinced that the real route to the kind of power he wanted on Earth was by establishing himself a position of power in the city criminal underworld and gathering respect through fear. This image was strengthened in his mind when he revealed his true nature to Crow and she began worshipping him. Jadriel also quickly gained the position of leader among the Gangsta Disciples through his fighting skills, intelligence, and the large amount of gold which he had brought to Earth along with him. The latter also enabled him to create a network of corruption among the city's government and police force as well as retain the services of powerful lawyers who keep him out of jail for his crimes. Content in his growing power, Jadriel has become convinced that there is no enemy he can not outwit and defeat.
     In practice, though his plans have been supremely cunning and his allies ranging in power from New York's chief crimelords to the renegade fay trickster Loki, Jadriel has continually failed against one opponent- the Manhattan Gargoyle Clan. Their repeated defeats of his minions has driven the dragon to try more and more daring plans against them, using everything from cybernetically and genetically upgraded gang members to explosives to heavy arms in a series of traps designed to eliminate his enemies. So far none of his plans have been successful, and Jadriel is growing more and more angry about this as time goes on. Sooner or later his impulsive nature and the demands of his ego are going to force the dragon to do something incredibly rash.

Education and Abilities: As mentioned above, Jadriel was trained by the best tutors available to his race and graduated from the dragons' military academy at the top of his class. He did the same at the Baird Academy on Earth, and was progressing well toward a college business adminsitration degree until he dropped out to become a gang leader. In that capacity, he is highly intelligent and cunning, using his skills and knowledge to gain power for himself as much as he can. As a dragon, he enjoys natural X-ray vision and a small command of magic, though exactly what the latter ability allows him to do (beyond speak any language and fortify his body against all forms of disease, poison, and elemental attack) as well as the extent of his powers has not yet been revealed.
     The general powers Jadriel enjoys while in dragon form are detailed above under his physical description. In both dragon and human forms he is much physically stronger and faster than an ordinary being his size and adept in a hodgepodge of martial arts styles as well as familiar with a wide range of weapons from knife to gun. His computer ability is unknown, though he probably knows his way around computers very well as he has become adept with using to his advantage most of the technology available in this world. Jadriel's main strength however is not in his own ability but that of his allies, who range from a network of corrupt bureaucrats to an army of street thugs, many of whom retain some mutant ability or have been upgraded with genetics and cybernetics a la the Pack. He also is a trusted lieutenant of New York's most powerful criminal overlord and mastermind, a position he aspires to but has not yet seen fit to take. Being unaging now that he has reached his final growth stage, he has plenty of time to grow in power before taking it and satisfy his ambitions of the moment. Jadriel also has access to about the same amount of wealth as David Xanatos, though his natural tendency to hoard much of it for himself has so far prevented him from using it to really increase his power. In fact, he has not even converted most of his treasure into a form usable in everyday transactions on Earth. He also owns a few magical items, including a bag of limitless capacity and accessibility that he uses to store his treasure and keeps close to his body at all times.

Appearances:
“Inheritance” -- Jadriel’s first appearance, in which he was only identified as Daniel Jade, one of the lieutenants and gang leaders serving under the New York crimelord Kingpin. His true nature and powers were not yet revealed.
“Captives" & "The Blackout” -- First appeared on stage, in both human and dragon form. First he was seen hanging out with his gang members and Loki in a pub, then on the streets with them harrassing innocent citizens during New York's power outage. He was temporarily thwarted in the latter enterprise by the silver dragon Nikki Holliday, who had assumed her true form to protect humans in need on a night when she could. Jadriel of course changed into his true form and went after Nikki as soon as he got the chance, defeating Nikki in a climactic aerial battle above Hudson Bay which she barely escaped alive.
“Vengeance” -- minor appearance; Jadriel is seen as a gang lieutenant working under the crimelord who took the Kingpin's place in New York's underworld- Richard Fisk, aka the Rose. His great ambition also begins to be revealed at this time, as well as his willingness to compete with the other gang leaders to get what he wants.
“The Hostage" and "Dragon's Game” -- Jadriel's first major appearance, in which his past is detailed as he reflects on it while plotting to take over Harlem with a protection racket and crime wave that the gargoyles thwart. Jadriel's serious enmity with the Manhattan Clan begins as a result.
“Innocence” -- minor appearance, Jadriel is once again seen as the leader of the New York Gangsta Disciples, this time controlling a hostage situation via his cell phone. Once again his minions' actions are thwarted by the gargoyles and his enmity against them grows. Jadriel then becomes convinced he has to find a way to beat the Manhattan Clan once and for all.
“Goblins” -- Jadriel appears in this story in his capacity as a Rose underling who is using his wealth to upgrade his gang members with cybernetic and genetic enhancements. He plans to use them as super-soldiers against the gargoyles and to do such hires Hunter Michael Canmore to train the thugs he upgrades and then is absent from New York for a while as he takes his gang on the road to nearby large cities such as Boston and Philadelphia to further become used to their new abilities.
“Inner Demons” -- Jadriel and his super-thugs return to New York from their training excursions in this story. Once back in town, Jadriel helps the Rose and corrupt Nation of Islam leader Morton Langley to organize a series of Afro-American race riots in Harlem which are fueled by crime waves the white, Asian, and Hispanic members carry out in the area that are thwarted by the Afro-American members. Soon Jadriel decides to use his new-found influence among the people of Harlem to inspire them into being part of his army in another trap for the Manhattan Gargoyles. His ability to do so is helped when the people's rage is increased thanks to Goliath accidentally killing one of Jadriel's upgraded gang members, who happened to also be Afro-American and the constant influence of Langley's racist orators. The resulting wave of criminal riots is defeated by both the gargoyles and their human allies as well as a speech by Diane Maza over the local ABC network that inspires the rage-filled Harlem residents to put away their weapons and calm down. Jadriel is of course incensed by this additonal failure of his ambition but retreats into the shadows to create another plot.
 

Upcoming Plans:
“Elysium” -- Jadriel becomes involved in indirectly helping thwart the distribution of a dangerous new drug on the streets of Manhattan when one of his gang members buys some from a rival group, becomes addicted to it, and quickly goes over the edge.
“Night of the Symbiotes” -- Jadriel finally decides to strike at the Manhattan Clan by attacking their home of Castle Wyvern. However, his plan for doing so has to be put on hold when the Rose's resident arcane scientist summons a powerful demon who takes over the city with an army of both alien and robotic allies. To defeat this demon and regain his power in New York, Jadriel and his super-thugs will have to temporarily ally with their hated enemies in the Manhattan Clan.
"Blind Date" -- When it is revealed to him that the silver dragon Nikki Holliday is still alive and attacking his gang members, Jadriel assumes his true form in a fit of anger and challenges her once again. In so doing, he not only comes up against Nikki and New York's resident gargoyles but also the United States military, thus revealing the existence of his kind to the world.

Author’s Notes: Jadriel was originally concieved as just an evil dragon hiding among humanity, but from there he grew into a recurring villain in my fanfic series simply because he was so much fun to write. Having a bad guy forever convinced of his own self-worth and willing to go to any lengths to prove the truth of his opinion of himself to the world didn't sound like it would spawn many stories at first, but the truth that he could inspire as many appearances as he has became clear once I decided he would be infinitely adaptable in his evil as well as egotistical and I considered his responses to being repeatedly defeated by the Manhattan Gargoyle Clan. His impulsiveness and ambition also helped develop him significantly, as did the influence of villains such as Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy 7, Zog and Jade from Breath of Fire, and other similarly egotistical, selfish, and ambitious villains from various animes I've seen since thinking Jadriel up. Other influences on his character have been Ender Wiggin from Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game (Jadriel is very much modeled on Ender, both in development and personality, though his great abilities have inspired him to become the egotistical and perpetually ambitious person he is rather than a mature and able general whose kindness and knowledge continually inspired his troops). I am currently still developing his character and looking forward to more stories involving Jadriel, especially since through him I can write a fun villain as well as an interesting and adaptable one. The upcoming appearances listed above give some small detail of my current plans for teh dragon, what may happen after that is infinitely possible. :)
- Doug.