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Argus:
- He knows he's smart, and he's not afraid to let others know it, too. Traveling, reading, writing, it's all that comprises life of this scholar, oh, and fine dining. Argus has quite the appetite for 'brain food', lots of seafood and lots of cake. Any free time he has is occupied with him trying to find someone to explain one of his theories to. Tomas is the easiest find, a soft melody from his lute makes him stand out like a sore thumb. Unfortunately, he's too polite to tell Argus to stop rambling.
- A brilliant polymath, one of the finest in the Dragon Realms, he's written dozens of theses on the inner workings of just about every realm in the 'Dragon Kingdom', except the Beast Maker realm known as 'Misty Bog'. The last time he went there for field research, a Dragon-Eating Plant got close to swallowing him whole. Thankfully it choked to death on his 'robust' form, and the experience left Argus severely traumatized.
- Who holds a seminar in the middle of a watermelon grove? A very hungry Argus that's who. Spyro has no idea what's he's talking about but if he gets to eat at the end, it's all good with him. 'Spyro, pay attention, this will be on the test, you know.' Spyro half listens to most of what he says, especially if it doesn't include anything to do with fighting or monster slaying. There are only so many lessons about Elements that he can handle before he falls asleep mid bite on his watermelon.
- He seems like one to believe that Artisan Dragons are the most civilized out of the dragon families, this prejudice shows itself when Nestor has community gatherings to discuss occurrences in the realms. A lot of Artisans are in agreement to varying degrees but dare not say so out loud. Where this prejudice against the other dragon clans stems from his 'Artisan pride' as he calls it. 'They can hardly conduct themselves properly, even the Magic Crafters have lost some of their professionalism. It's embarrassing to see what's happened to the clans.'
- His best works are on the quantity of magical energy based on the presence of dragons within an area. In truth, he was the one that discovered that the inherent magic inside dragons imbues the surrounding lands with magic. An area uninhabited by dragons is lacking in magical energies, a phenomenon that has yet to be named by him. He's written over nine hundred pages on the subject yet feels like he's barely scratched the surface, there's no telling what lands without dragons look like, but he assumes they're in poor condition.
- The Magic Crafters are fond of his works, more than any other kind of dragon. Cedric can be seen with one of Argus' books in hand all of the time, additionally, he pesters the scholar on the release date of his books regularly. The author was undoubtedly overwhelmed with the number of Magic Crafters volunteering to be his 'Magic consultants' for his novels, but regardless of what he's written, he'll always be swamped with all kinds of offers from the neighboring Realms.
- Him and Alban have secret poetry contests, Alban claims it's to keep their writing skills sharps, but Argus suspects the scribe to be enjoying himself. Together they host annual poetry competitions, Argus has won the most competitions out of the Artisans. However, one year the winner was determined to be none other than Sparx the dragonfly. Argus didn't even know that the insect could read, let alone write.
Delbin:
- After a triple take, it's confirmed that he's indeed an Artisan. 'Yeah, I get weird looks from folks more you think. Some bad, some good, if they want to see my work, all they have to do is ask'. Talking with him reveals that this man is a lover not a fighter and can't even bring himself to hurt a fly. Don't know how to break it to him that folks aren't exactly looking at his art pieces when they're around him, well... some are, most aren't.
- A painter whose art style is stiff yet flowy. There's plenty of swirls that keep turning, and turning, and turning to form whatever image comes to his mind. He's a big fan of the impasto method of thickly layering paint on his canvas for better texturing. Running a hand over one of his paintings, each blade of grass, the petals on a flower, the venation of an insect's wings can all be physically made out by touch alone. The swirls themselves are deprived of the same texturing meaning he can actively select which portions of his paintings will 'pop'.
- The deep sleeping leaves him vulnerable to pranks from the little dragon, he's lost count of how many times he's awoken to find a rainbow of patterns across his skin. Several occasions he awoke to his horns, nails, and the inner membrane of his wings painted cotton candy pink. Needless to say, the other Artisans have a good laugh about it sometimes. The residents of the realm have accidentally tripped over him while he was dozing in the grass countless times before. Argus, being a repeat offender, usually finds himself tumbling on top of him while going over calculations in his head, but the painter won't budge, not even when six hundred pounds of scholar falls onto him.
- The dragon has an affinity for bugs, his favorite just happens to be dragonflies. A close second would have to be antlions, or any insectoid with wings really. He's earned his title as an unofficial entomologist, if asked anything about bugs, listeners will receive hundreds, no, thousands of facts. Definitely Sparx's favorite dragon in all the realms, he sometimes asks the dragonfly to pose for a painting, and he does it with no complaint. The little dragon better step it up, because the dragonfly is contemplating switching guardianship from him to the big red guy who constantly sings his praises.
- 'Clean clothes? These are clean... enough.' He's not drenched in wet paint like Gildas, but he's not without miscellaneous hints of color himself. Every item of clothing that he owns has paint stains on it. How does a red scarf suddenly get green spots then? There’s nothing that can be done about the situation, because he literally won't stop wearing a piece of clothing until its nothing but scraps of cloth in his hands. So, maybe he’ll go for a more subtle look with the white scarf with blue splotches instead.
- He provides a lot of the illustrations for the animals in the nonfiction books of Oswin's library. There are hundreds of sketches done by him in those books, he once delivered a mountain of them for Alban to put into multiple books. The poor scribe still hasn't finished binding them, and it's been years. A drawer in his study appropriately titled 'Delbin' houses his unlabeled sketches that Alban must now label and sort himself.
- His favorite commissions are from the Fairies, mainly because he's the only one who they seek out, much to the annoyance of fellow painter Nevin. The two have something of a friendly rival, always making jabs at one another, while giving helpful tips on various painting techniques. Nevin's still unsure of why the Fairies won't call upon him, it irks him to know that they prefer Delbin, someone who uses some of his techniques over him, but finds it within himself to laugh it off.
Nestor:
- The current leader of the Artisan Realms, Nestor is what every dragon should strive to be, diligent, honest, and adaptable. Although, he's mostly too serious for his own good and gets snappy if he thinks the Artisans under his leadership are behind in some manner, which leaves him constantly stressed if the wrinkles and frown lines didn't give him away. But his attitude is nearly always focused on the good and on moving forward in life, probably so he doesn't strangle someone or have a heart attack. Funnily enough, out of the dragon leaders, he's the second calmest one behind only Lateef.
- Leader of the Artisan dragons first, Nestor the carpenter second, he oversees the grievances within the Artisan Realms, and most seem to arrive from every place a certain little purple dragon sets foot into. He can be heard scolding him near daily at this point and the dragon can produce lectures that could span a whole week if he allowed himself. He hardly has time to fill in as many of the smaller carpentry jobs as he used to, as most of his 'free time' is dedicated to fixing larger problems outside of Artisans like smashed windows in Dream Weavers or rotten tile flooring in Beast Makers. Well, at least he can't say there's ever a dull moment during his travels.
- Hammers aren’t sharp objects, so he shouldn’t lose an eye, right? Spyro was actually the one to offer to help an extremely suspicious Nestor who was pretty sure that the boy was up to something stupid, and he wasn’t wrong in the slightest. He handed Spyro a hammer while he held the peg in place, and Spyro, wanting to show off his own creativity, placed the hammer in his mouth and started swinging. Every finger on Nestor's right hand were swollen for two weeks and Spyro was banned from ever using the hammer with his mouth.
- Most of the newer structures, around two hundred years or so, were definitely made his hands. He regularly works with Peacekeepers as their ‘high-spirited’ personalities can be quite... Destructive. 'Can you please tell Halvor to refrain from using my works to... I swear... ‘Send Gnorcs to meet their maker', I can't come here every week.' He knew they were strong but busting through three stone walls instead of the window to fight an adversary is a bit over the top.
- To no one's surprise, he's the closest to the leader of the Peace Keepers, Titan, in fact, the two consider each other brothers. And while he is more than happy to help Titan, Nestor does prefer to be paid with gems rather than desert artifacts or weapons. 'What? Too uptight for a battle axe now? I thought you would've appreciated the craftsmanship and detail...On second thought, where's Spyro?’
- He may not look like the type, but Nestor loves parties, planning, attending, inviting, all of it. As long as his people are happy, Nestor is happy. Though, for some strange reason, he always gets introduced to someone new, people he’s certain were not counted in the annual Dragon Kingdom census. Druids? They’re welcome to join the festivities if the Wizards aren’t present. Fools and Gnorcs? Um… Well as long as someone keeps watch over them, and takes their weapons, they can have a slice of cake. Thieves? Wait a minute… What’s he got in his hands? That looks like Alvar vase! Stop that guy, he’s getting away!
- Goodness gracious, his house has the infamous 'Cabinet Wall', a wall that is literally covered in various cabinets from ceiling to floor. It started as a small challenge he set up for himself in the first few years of becoming leader of the Artisans, but he went absolutely overboard with it. He doesn’t even put stuff in them, but he refuses to sell any, so they’re just taking up space in his home. ‘Building helps me relieve stress. No, I’m not stressed all of the time, I’m perfectly fine, everything is ok.’
- He's got horrible pollen allergies, that's the reason why he loathes leaving his workshop in the spring. Anyone who cherishes their hearing steers clear of him, too, not because they’re scared of catching a cold, but because of the near deafening volume of Nestor's sneezes. 'It's a little hard to take orders from Nestor when my ears are ringing... Huh? Speak up!'
Tomas:
- A well-meaning dragon who can't keep a secret to save his life. Honestly, he'll speak about anything or anyone, he cannot help himself. He doesn't do it to be mean, but others are still careful with the topics they share. Dragons that wish to know something usually go to him and leave knowing more than they wanted. Conversations with him and Astor go on for ages, reminiscing about events centuries behind them. The best thing to do is cut him off when he rambles and to keep personal details to a minimum.
- A bard that does it all, storytelling, verse making, music composition, singing, and he does it beautifully. Heroic poetry from him is a must at social gatherings, because this dragon can recite the good deeds of the Dragon Kingdom's finest with so much emotion that it could bring a whole room to tears. His second most requested way of entertaining is through riddles, the Artisans already love to use their heads and it's wonderful to see them all come together to try to solve one of Tomas' riddles.
- Music lessons with Spyro typically end with one or more strings snapping. Oddly enough, Spyro seems excited to attend his lessons. Whether it's to coax Tomas into divulging personal info on the Artisans, or because he wants to make a racket without being grounded is unimportant. He learns something new regardless.
- It took him decades to perfect his singing voice, and he's not shy about showing them off. If anyone asks him, he'll claim to have been taught to sing by the Artisan lands themselves. Didn't know the Artisan lands taught him how to do impersonations, because he can do near flawless imitations of any animal when requested. When Spyro was much, much younger, he used to mimic animal calls to make him giggle. Nowadays, bringing it up embarrasses the now preteen to no end. He'll deny it in front of others, but he'll tease him by saying he can't do them anymore.
- He practices more instruments than just the lute. He's knowledgeable with the mandolin, lyre, cittern, and many stringed instruments that don't require a bow to play. Woodwinds would have to be his least practiced instrument, mainly due to the fact that he wants to sing while playing. It's probably best he doesn't venture into woodwinds; he'd be the type to sneeze into his flute instead of into his elbow.
- While brainstorming melodies, he may share them with the sheep. He judges the quality of his work based on whether or not the nearby herds flock to him. He swears that they sway a in time with the music, yet his colleagues remain skeptical of the claim.
- He's open to all kinds of music, there's not one genre in the world that he doesn't like. The size of his personal music collection should speak for itself, over one thousand vinyl records, most of which are operatic or classical. A new obsession of his is that of death metal since it's what the 'youths of today' are listening to. 'Delbin, you have to hear this! It's called 'Slaughter of the Rams' by the 'Bleeding Children'. The music is so energetic, I can't get enough! '