Maiden Klict
The Maiden Klict is believed to be the ancestor-god of all foxen people and the reason for the foxen women’s ability to turn into dragons during life-or-death situations. She is a significant figure in foxen culture, the Har’py religion, and the kingdom of Canis La’Can. She represents freedom for women, protection for children, and love for men.
A wolven princess who was banished from her family due to her refusal to marry another noble, Maiden Klict was said to be a dragon-shifter who sought the peace and quiet of solitude in the swamps surrounding Heck’ne’s borders.
She was eventually found by Gagoo’galornga, a Har’py nurlak man who had been sent by the Heck’ne’s mala’kala to end a drought. The Har’py people, lied to by their leader, believed the drought had been brought about by the dragon in the swamp; that she was stealing away their water for herself. However, Gagoo’galornga did not know that Klict was the dragon he had been sent to slay and, after an extended period of time together as Gagoo’galornga searched for the dragon, the pair soon fell in love.
Eventually, Maiden Klict admitted her shape-shifting abilities to her lover, and was killed mid-transformation. Gagoo’galornga cut the dragon-shifted parts from her body and returned to the Heck’ne with them to present to his mala’kala, in hopes of ending the drought, and the pieces of the princess that were left behind were filled with the magic of the three full moons and rose from their grave to become foxen men.
When the drought did not end, Gagoo’galornga adorned a cloak made from his lover’s dragon skin and retreated to live alone in the furthest reaches of his homeland, only returning when the Heck’ne was attacked by the foxen men who had risen from his lover’s corpse and demanded the life of the Heck’ne’s mala’kala. He did not know where these men had come from, nor that the reason they sought to kill the Heck’ne’s ruler, until ten years later during the triple moon when, sick of the fighting, he offered his own life to the foxens in exchange for peace.
Instead of accepting his offer, the foxen men told him of their origin and their purpose; born from his lover, they were furious that Gagoo’galornga had been tricked by the mala’kala into harming an innocent, and wanted justice from the Heck’ne’s ruler. Hearing their words, Gagoo’galornga offered the foxen men his loyalty and returned the dragon-skin cloak to them. They tore it apart into individual scales, each of which rose up into a dragon-shifting foxen woman and joined the battle. It was only when Gagoo’galornga lost his life taking down the Heck’ne’s mala’kala that the rain began to fall again.
Because of the brutal nature of Maiden Klict’s death and Gagoo’galornga’s defeat of the Heck’ne leader, the story shifted over the many years it was told to paint Gagoo’galornga as a villain who had killed Maiden Klict out of selfishness rather than love for his homeland. It was only in the early 10,000’s that more information came to light. Maiden Klict blessed a half-foxen woman, now known as Immortal Queen Distro, and told her the truth of the tale. Queen Distro insists that Klict has no resentment towards Gagoo’galornga, and that the pair are happily together in the afterlife.
This caused a major cultural shift in the beliefs surrounding the Maiden and her lover in both Heck’ne and the Foxen Empire; one that seems to have pleased the Maiden, as more and more foxen women became able to dragon shift as the belief of Gagoo’galornga’s innocence spread.
Maiden Klict is a symbol of love and freedom amongst the foxen people, worshipped as a minor deity alongside any other religions they may practice and treated with great respect. Many foxens try and base their lifestyles on what they believe would please the Maiden; including practising forgiveness in her name.