Name: Lee Harding

Gender: Male, straight

Age/DOB: 35, ~1990s

Origin: Rookery Earth, Arizona

Family: Deceased, unknown children

Other: Lee is a handsome, hardy man, but he's still mourning the death of his wife and children, and has yet to open up about who they were or where any of this happened ** Note in RY1 shortly after the Ranch is established, Melissa manages to get him to agree to some amount of splicing, and the result is an ELL with added genes from Delia, a girl named Yanell, who is raised quite happily by both, and by RY 4 the three of them reside in one of the homes as a small family

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 165, long and muscular, good upper body strength

Hair: would be black, keeps it shaved entirely, though does like having a gotee

Eyes: dark brown, observant

Appearance: dark brown skin, often dusty and has a bunch of little scars from construction, acid burns, and the like; wears a combination of old army camo and farmhand gear, and will hardly ever be seen without stompy work boots and gloves

Genetic Abilities: none known, has a good rapport with Houndeyes and other animals, though no obvious Vortal poers over them

Icarus Processing: no, may benefit but will be highly averse to getting the process done, do not ask him again

Image Credits: Doll Divine Hipster Maker / Valve (below)

Skills or Profession: It's clear that Lee had been in the military for at least a short time before everything fell apart, his ability to bark orders, fulfil commands, and his choice of clothing and gear show that. However he is adept with construction tools, mining operations, and demolitions as well as small handguns and shotguns. He can both build and destroy, understanding how buildings as well as dirt or ground will behave if the right pressure is applied. He and Burrow are having such fun out there clearing out the old mine shafts! That pick-axe in his hand below can be used for mining or fighting, he's done both with it.

Here's Lee and Ugly ('prrt3yip')

Events or History: Of all the inhabitants of the Ranch, he is probably the most tight-lipped about his past. People know that Avril isn't from the States, people understand that everyone's lost family along the way. He's one of the few that are actually 'local-local' to the Rookery's world. But he prefers to just keep his past to the past, even though he clearly gets triggered by things now and then. Obviously, Lee prefers to think about the present and keep his eyes on the horizon. He's glad for the company that the Ranch offers, from the people and hounds to the dragons and even visitors. But at the end of the day, he'll cry himself to sleep for at least another couple years. He was local, the migrant workers and even one or two Vorts nearby remember him from before the Rookery was established.

** RY 1 brings a family to him whether he was prepared or not, and it does seem to have worked.

Dragon

Name: Burrow
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Large (bulky) 14' s / 55' l / 100' ws
Colors: all around olive-dusty brown-green, with more tan face, limbs, and sides of tail; grey armor on neck, face, and fronts of wing arms, lighter khaki tan on belly and dorsal armor plates, greener olive along back and tail; wingsails are a mottled mixture of rust brown, greeny-grey, dust, and speckles of khaki tan; back spines and claws a peachy tan; horns light brown, eyes dark brown
Features: Pure Mudwing, very broadly built and low to the ground, but can stand much higher when legs straighten; 4 extremely strong muscular wide legs with 5 and 4 heavy curved claws; two leathery wings with four visible fingers, elbow strut, and short wrist thumb all with heavy curved claws; body is scaled and armored, with thick padding on belly, neck, and down under tail, overlapping scales on neck, and plated armor along sides, neck, and back, down tail; head is boxy and flat with high nostrils, very wide mouth, external ears, and two short upturned back pointing horns; spine has long flat spikes along entire neck, back, and down tail become very large and conical for smashing; tail is broad and heavy
Powers: Winged Flight, ... yeah she does fly. It's scary as hell, too. Because she is huge overall, there's not a Combine Strider or even a gunship that would try actively fighting her - their programming makes them do it, but... honestly they'd rather run than engage her when she's in flight, because she will do the most amazing maneuvering and swat things out of the air before crashing down onto any ground troops. She doesn't injure herself doing any of that, somehow, though she is known to do barrel rolls in the air that end up rolling along the dusty ground nearby... And while Lee can and does ride her, she makes absolutely sure he's on the ground before she actually engages an enemy in flight. Clearly at her size she can carry an astounding amount of weight, but not do any tricks with it. However her wings are big and produce a lot of wind, and she prefers to get a good running start before trying to take off. Some have seen her run out of one of the mine shaft entrances and within a few meters take to the air, leaving a pile of rubble and dust behind her.
Verbal and Vortal Communication, Burrow is well mannered and speaks English, a decent amount of Vort, and Draconic with ease. Her voice is akin to a pleasant nursemaid, though if it gets a rumble to it, you'd best both listen up and cooperate - she means business when her voice goes full Dragon. She alone knows Lee's troubles and past, due to their intimate Vortal connection. And because she is, as below, not a gossip, he knows he can trust her with that knowledge. She knows where he is and what his mental state is, at basically any distance. Vorts claim they can see her brightly against the blackness of the Void, that's likely because of her healing power.
Mud Healing, she's chosen to forego the ability to breathe flame or do those fancy schmancy tricks, in order to concentrate on her healing power. While she herself draws power from the ground, it doesn't have to be 'mud', so much as 'earthy' - a pile of freshly dug dirt, scrub dust, particularly a mine's close quarters, those things give her strength, and she uses it to heal. Not just herself, but others benefit from this physical healing, and she can fix dragons with broken limbs or injured internal organs, just as easily as she helps out humans or even Vorts who have been injured on the Ranch. She likes to take someone under her wing, literally, enclosing them in her warm presence. Even though she's massive, she's extremely kind, and no one has felt anything less than safe with her around. Until she bellows and takes to the air: all bets are off.
Parentage: Unknown full Mudwings
Origin: Adopted from Furrygamer2003 on Deviantart, Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland
Other Info: Aside from that showoff Hellfire, Burrow is the biggest of the Ranch dragons and she knows it. Thankfully she's far more concerned with the well-being of the inhabitants, and not uppity about who claims they're 'better' than anyone else. In fact, of all the things she doesn't do, it's gossip. She keeps her nose to the grindstone, almost literally (she does help with some of Lee's construction projects), and keeps dragons healed up, and humans safe.