Raptors and Memories

Lucien Challis@ me. For the Stylenoir contest. Don't expect a place, but it was a challenge, which is the whole point. The magazine's ethos is dark style, which is way out of my comfort zone. I hoped to convey that in Lucien's outfit, at least.

I need a scanner. It looks messier on the upload. Maybe the coloured version will be smoother, but I'm out of time.

They call him the Raptor King because he rides the man-eating raptors (bird, not dinosaur), hangs out in the raptor conservatory, annexed the planet in five years, executes hard justice, and hates the griffins' guts.
Raptors and Memories IThe memories is the collective knowledge of all those who had died, up and until the day you take the Test. The Test has a high fatality rate.
Few of the memory people become Riders, for that requires the ability to ride the man-eating raptors and live. Most of the apprentices fail or die. Not many memory people want to become Riders, anyway. It is a difficult, even brutal life, and only Riders can access Rider memories, for the knowledge they have is horrifying.
The Rider King had just paid his morning visit to his beloved birds of prey in the Raptor Conservatory, which is always directed by a Rider. Never mind he had just annexed the planet. After fifteen years on the throne, he still has the memories. You can only get and keep them if you're a virgin.
There is no royal family in the desert kingdom of Ummyaad. Only a memory person can be chosen monarch when the old one dies. Once chosen, he must keep the memories for another six years. Failure to do so can get him killed.
Anyway, Luc