Role in Its Society:
Tisk is Irdryth’s cold key and corridor ghost. Ice mephits like him skitter the Hunger Dome’s vents, flash-freezing locks, fogging sightlines, and baiting intruders beneath icicle “cornices” they’ve been thinning for days. They are the tyrant’s rumor mill and alarm system: whispering through grates, frosting footprints for drake patrols to follow, and icing tribute chests so only the dragon’s heat can open them cleanly. Ogres call them “glass gnats.” Berserkers call them “the first pinch of winter”—the sting before the bite.
Appearance Description:
A sharp-edged imp of translucent ice, all jagged cheekbones and icicle horns. Frost vapor curls from needle teeth when he grins. His wings are pane-thin and veined like cracked glass; claws end in black rime. A chainlink from the jarl’s old manacles is fused into his chest like a brooch, and a length of twine dangles stolen keys. In dim blue light he is more silhouette than substance, a knife-edged shadow inside a breath of cold.
Backstory:
Tisk hatched in a melt-pool under Irdryth’s throne and learned obedience from the shape of her shadow. He once froze a giant’s bootlaces together mid-stride—sending the kennelmaster into a spectacular sprawl that Skarth finished. Since then Tisk has been the Vent-Warden, mapping every crack, thinning targeted icicles, and “teaching” mortal locks to keep dragon time.
