Sydnee Stanton

Sydnee Stanton was the 31st Pendragon of Slayer Dragons and carried the sword while the Society of Assassins emerged as a major player in the events of the verse.

Early Life

Although Sydnee was born in A.Y. 2211 in one of the many city states that dot the Agras Plain, her roots can be traced back to the dracken people, and through them, the Bear Clan. Some dispute exists over whether or not she is of "true" Dracken-lineage, though most historians agree that by her time anyone living below Lake Bara probably had at least a little Dracken blood.

Her childhood was somewhat marred by the increase of the Society of Assassins, then known to conduct operations in the region. Sydnee's home state was one of the rumored locations of High Tower and believed in the area where the Wizard Breakers originated, who founded the Society.

At age 18, Sydnee was very aware of the Venta Event that exposed the Society's broader potential. Sydnee enlisted in the First File that same year.

Military Service

Sydnee's time in the First File would be short-lived. Though by all accounts a capable recruit, she completed only basic training before being re-assigned directly to Stormwind Keep in Arindell where she was soon placed on extended leave to take the Trials and become a Slayer Dragon.

Slayer Dragon

Sydnee completed her Trials in short order, displaying high dependability and tenacity. A favorite of the then-carrying Pendragon Anthony Trac, she was anointed in A.Y. 2231. Her completion of the Trials in such a short time was made possible by special dispensation from Anthony, who believed her military service fulfilled many of the basic requirments. Like Emily and the much later Hunter Jusenkyou, her completion of the Trials would not be recognized as an official record.

As a Slayer Dragon, Sydnee tended to avoid battle whenever possible, and was often perceived as weak. Much of her time was spent shadowing the aging Anthony Trac, who recognized that in the coming years, a different kind of Pendragon would be required.

Pendragon

The sword was passed to Sydnee in A.Y. 2242. Anthony had taken ill the year before, and Sydnee carried out most of his duties by proxy. This helped give her reign legitimacy, as she took up the sword when many were questioning Anthony Trac's leadership and the place of the Slayer Dragons in the modern Alliance.

Sydnee immediately set about strengthening her political position through the powerful Gudersnipe Foundation. At the time, the Alliance and Foundation were still working out the exact terms of administration over Joint Space, and it seemed an open conflict was inevitable.

A strong and authoritative leader, Sydnee always spoke as though the Alliance was much stronger than it really was. Her attitude towards the Foundation was one of equality, as though things were much the same as on the Day of Dawn's Reflection when Eieber's army met the old Gudersnipe Army on the battlefield.

At a time when militarily the Alliance was in decline, having only a small force of heavily out-dated ships, and the Foundation had just completed a major fleet overhaul and expansion, Sydnee's position was not strong. Many felt she was attempting to goad the Foundation into an all-out war, but her political style was actually quite brilliant.

The question between the Alliance and Foundation was never of who should lead, but of whether or not the Alliance could produce a strong and authoritative leader. By making her stance one of strength, Sydnee convinced the Foundation that the Alliance would endure.

High Points

At the height of tensions, Sydnee was able to convince the Foundation to remove one of its most dreaded weapons from active service: the Boing-Boing missile.

Later Life and Death

Sydnee's time carrying the sword would set the stage for Robert Desaradie, one of the greatest Pendragons of all time. Unlike her predecessor, Sydnee did not grow weak near the end of her life, and still carried the sword with dignity and honor. She spent little time grooming her replacement, a man whom she had known his entire life. Desaradie, anointed just 7 years before Sydnee's death, was a clear front-runner and an obvious choice.

Sydnee died peacefully knowing the sword would be in good hands, having never drawn it herself.

Legacy

Her role in establishing a firm relationship with the Foundation would have a lasting impact even into the Sixth Age. Many historians would theorize that it was her time as Pendragon that laid the ground work for solidifying relations between the Alliance and Foundation, that, by the Sixth Age, even had them running joint millitary operations.

In turn, those joint operations forced the Kamians to attack both powers at the start of the Kamian Succession Wars. Had the Alliance and Foundation not entered the conflict together, it is likely one of them would not have survived.