Vaden

Vaden is a pseudodragon, the companion of the mage Castor in the Mürekkep ve Çelik ("Ink and Steel") campaign. He hatched from an egg that the elf Esnarril Softart entrusted to Castor, and Castor named him after Emperor Vaden I, a hero of Victory Day.^{1 2}

Ruby and the egg

Vaden's sibling Ruby is Esnarril's own pseudodragon, a small red creature who shares curiosity and joy without words; Esnarril calls Ruby his best friend in the world. As part of Castor's estate contract, Esnarril agreed to entrust Ruby's unhatched sibling to Castor, saying he did not treat it as merchandise. Two such siblings cannot share one territory, he explained, for they carry the old territorial quarrels of their great ancestors; Ruby liked Castor and had chosen him, and if Castor could not care for the young one he might pass it to someone fitting.^{3 1 4 5}

Esnarril said the hatchling would most likely be red, though with magical dragons he could not be sure, and that it would never grow into a great dragon. He gave Castor a book on hatching and care. According to the book, the egg would weigh its keeper's character for some weeks and begin to warm only if it found a good friend; it was cold when Castor received it, and its shell was blue.^{4 6 7 8}

Castor carried the egg on the road to the Archon and showed it to his old teacher Herrenhal, who said that he too had once had a dragon but would say no more.^{9 10}

Hatching

In a quiet week at the Archon, Castor sat with the egg on a picnic blanket in the winter garden and told it about himself and his past. Good memories met with cheerful feelings; pain, such as his torture by the drow, came back as a child's impressions. As the week went on, the mind in the egg grew more aware, sharing feelings of waking and hunger, and Castor slept long and dreamed well.^{11 12 13 14 15}

When Castor began to call it Vaden, after the Victory Day emperor, the shell cracked. The little dragon beat its wings, tried to stand, climbed Castor's arm and fell asleep in the hood of his robe. From then on it hardly ever left his side.^{2 16 17}

Nature

Vaden understands what is said to him and is cleverer than most people, but he answers with feelings and sometimes images rather than words, through a telepathic bond with Castor. He likes sweet things, finds his own food and eats little; at the Archon he snapped up flies. He is not hardy, but he can fly off to safety, and although he can serve much like a familiar, he cannot vanish from this plane. Such a creature bonds once, with the one who hatched it.^{18 19 20 21 22 23}

Castor wanted a warding pendant to protect him; Yotun thought something might be found against missiles, but had nothing ready. Vaden was said to be the only one of his kind at the Archon; when he opens his mouth, a strange coloured vapour comes out.^{24 25 26}

With Castor

Vaden went with Castor to the secret shipyard in Neptune, where Castor told him to fly high and wait whenever danger came. When the hard choices of that mission were over, Vaden sent images of unhappiness, and Castor admitted he was unhappy too.^{27 28 29}

In White City he rode on Castor's shoulder or crept inside his robe. People took him for a dragon whelp, and in a fine shoe shop Castor had him pose as an ancient dragon. Over dinner, Leonard asked what he was; Vaden gave him his paw and sent him an image of the emperor beside himself. Castor introduced him at court as a clever pseudodragon that would not grow, was harmless and might outlive him, and at the emperor's ball Vaden circled above Castor as he danced.^{30 31 32 33 34 35}