Characters / Tooth and Claw

• Bon Agornin - The patriarch of the Agornin clan, introduced upon his deathbed and restless at the prospect of dying without offering a confession and receiving absolution in the sight of the gods. Described with reverence as a creature no less than seventy feet in length, bearing both fiery breath and massive wings. He is adamant that his hoard be split among his children according to his own terms, and in his final moments seeks reassurance on that front. Bon eventually convinces his son, Penn, a parson, to grant him confession and absolution, considered a sin to the modern church. In the past, Bon spurred his growth to power by devouring his siblings, a supreme offense in dragon culture.
• Penn Agornin - The son of Bon, and a dragon who has entered the Church's clergy as a parson. Referred to as Blessed Penn in formal circumstances, he is married and has a clutch of children with his wife, Felin. As is the case with all parsons of the Church, Penn's wings are bound by red cords symbolic of his office, which also prohibit him from flight - an activity considered taboo for those in the priesthood. Penn also benefits from a parson's immunity to being devoured by other, larger dragons, though this aspect of his situation is less at the forefront of his mind than his devotion to the gods. Moved by emotion and familial ties, Penn offers his father, Bon, absolution at his death, and is weighed down by both the knowledge that he willingly offered confession to a dying dragon, and also of his father's admittance that he devoured his own siblings in his early years.
• Avan Agornin - Bon's second son, a dragon described as twenty feet in length and working to establish himself in Irieth, the capital. Irieth is in every way implied to be an extremely dangerous place to live for any dragon attempting to assert themselves, with hints that those who would not usually be regarded as too weak to survive in more rural districts often fall prey to aggressive dragons eager to consume others and grow in power and prestige. Though he feels responsible to his family, he denies that he can protect either of his sisters, Selendra and Haner, when they express a desire to accompany him back to Irieth following Bon's death.
• Selendra Agornin - One of Bon Agornin's daughters, she has lived the life of a sheltered maiden within her father's establishment, and knows very little of the dangers that can befall a female dragon in the outside world. Upon Bon's death, she is desperate for some way, any way, to stay by the side of her sister Haner, or at least in the company or protection of either of her brothers, Penn and Avan. Her situation is complicated and made desperate when the parson Frelt corners her in a cramped passage, attempting to provoke her body in awakening to him sexually, an act that, for a dragon, is tantamount to rape.
• Haner Agornin - Another of Bon's daughters, and fiercely protective of her sister, Selendra. She echoes much of Selendra's sentiments, and helps reinforce the idea that the pair of them must stay together, or at least remain in close contact, following Bon's death. Like her sister, Haner is a dragon maiden, and has virtually no understanding of the precariousness of her social situation without marriage or her father's protection.
• Berend Agornin - Eldest of Bon's children, long ago married off to Daverak, an Illustrious with a considerable number of demesnes under his sway. She returns to the Agornin family establishment at the news of her father's declining health and impending death, with both Daverak and her dragonets in tow. She attempts to appease both her duty to her husband, and her respect for her late father's wishes, by only only taking one bite from Bon's corpse, albeit a large one. Despite her attempt at diplomacy, it only further incenses her brother, Avan, to seeking legal reparation for theft of their inheritance - the strength contained within Bon's flesh.
• Blessed Parson Frelt - The prescribed Church parson of the district in which the Agornin establishment is situated. Frelt had feuded with Bon Agornin in the six years leading up to the latter's death, on account of Bon's rejection of Frelt's proposal to marry Berend. Frelt arranged that he would be the district parson in the event of the elder dragon's death, hoping to be present during Bon's dying moments for the simple sake of torturing the dragon one final time. Frelt is furious enough that Penn, Bon's son, is instead the presiding parson, denying him both the chance to torment Bon or devour the dragon's eyes, which is the traditional part of the body consumed by a Church officiant following death. It leads Frelt to supporting Daverak's greedy claim to the bulk of Bon's corpse, spurning Avan's revenge against the Illustrious and solidifying Penn's hatred of Frelt himself.
• Illustrious Daverak - An established dragon of considerable wealth, power, and means, though he is universally described as bored and lazy save in those situations where he feels inclined to assert himself for his own personal gain or satisfaction. His social standing is the primary reason Bon Agornin saw fit to marry his daughter Berend off to him, as Daverak's standing as an Illustrious ensured Berend would be well-protected and provided for. Daverak, by sheer luck, is the closest to the undercave when Penn calls up announcing Bon's death, and as the first into the cavern, is able to assert that he and his children will benefit most by eating the majority of Bon's body against Penn's protests. Frelt supports Daverak, and consequently, Bon's own offspring are left with far less to consume than intended, angering the remaining Agornins against both the Illustrious and the parson.