Syrax hatched and grew up in the infamous Evermoors. It is a fell region of seemingly endless swamps and marshlands but for its wealth in precious metals and minerals otherwise shunned by the 'civilised' races of Caevalonia (elves, humans and dwarves). Such places of decay are the perfect home for a black dragon like him. A classic 'anarchic' dragon - denoted by his non-metallic colouring - in his early days he was more than happy to pass his days attacking the occasional isolated village and prowling the trading routes through his territory, plundering travellers and merchants in order to sate his appetite for gold. He made his home in the very heart of the Evermoors in the caves beneath a godsforsaken place called Ravenswood, site of a mysterious ancient black basalt ziggurat that dated back to the Age of Dust.

There was an influence of dark magic to the region and Syrax grew quicker and larger than other dragons might. As age brought him greater size and power, so spread his sphere of influence. He learned that if, through guile and intimidation, he employed sellswords, unsavoury individuals and clans of other disreputable races such as ratikin (ratmen), then they could collect even more gold for him in return for his 'protection'. This underground network exists to this day and stilll recognises Syrax as its head, something the dragon hasn't really chosen to divulge to his fellow Daemonslayers.

Motivated by greed, he sent out spies beyond his lands, but instead of bringing back news of treasures to add to his hoard, Syrax learned that his species was now almost extinct --- the civilised races had put aside their differences in order to destroy all dragons, whether they posed a threat or not. Although he'd had little contact with others of his kind beyond chasing them from his territory, dragons are a proud race and share a certain amount of kinship when it comes to attacks by outside influences. Syrax knew something had to be done but first, a nap... Dragons are given to slip into deep, restorative sleeps. These rejuvinate them and consolidate their power so that when they awake they are at their most potent. However these 'Great Sleep's can last months, years, decades, sometimes even centuries, millennia and beyond. In Syrax's case he slept almost a decade and when he awoke he found, in their quest for the natural wealth of the Evermoors, the human Empire that covered much of the continent of Caevalonia had spread even to his remote home. A new-built city had florished as he slept. He might have slept longer had he not been woken my miners who had dug too deep into the fell land. Already resolved to act on the fate of his kin, Bloodbane's rage at this intrusion was terrible. In one dreadful night he razed the city and brought a terrible death to its populace with his magic and acidfire breath. To this day this city is still known as Uth Nagor (the 'Forsaken City'). Still not satisfied he lay waste to every outpost of civilisation he encountered. Where he passed he brought the dank decay of his beloved marshlands and field, woodland and meadow quickly became unlivable.

Quickly this black death was given a name by the lesser races, 'Bloodbane'.

He left the Evermoors and went in search of any other dragons willing to help save their own kind. Word of his rage had already spread however and he was sought out by six other dragons who had already resolved to wreke bloody ruin upon those who would see dragons dead:

Nox - the green forest dragon (known to other races as 'Witchblight')
Fiero - the volcanic red dragon of the mountains (AKA 'Brimstone')
Orth - the blue storm dragon (AKA 'Vortex')
Ferath - the white ice dragon (AKA 'Frostbite')
Nar Yan Mai - the huge dragon of the seas (AKA 'The Maelstrom')
Titan - the grey dragon of the Misty Plains

Due to their chaotic nature - and the fact that they couldn't agree on anything - the Seven opted to use their powers against human kind to do as much harm as possible, with no particular aim in mind. Besides their breath weapons (from Syrax's acidfire to Orth's lightning), these dragons were ancient enough to have mastered control of their native environment. While Brimstone created explosive volcanoes and Witchblight caused forests to obliterate roadways and overrun towns, the others also used their abilities to do similar damage.

Syrax, being a black dragon, saw the possibility to further his own power. Using his magic to turn fertile land to useless bogs and marshes he crippled food supplies and then sent in his minions to loot any treasures they could find. The lesser races finally managed to retaliate: Brimstone was imprisoned within a cocoon of obsidian, Icehawk and Titan were destroyed, Witchblight gave in to her own greed and returned to her lair with all the treasures she had gathered and Vortex realised he would not fair as well alone and so returned to his land too. Nar Yan Mai, one of the most ancient of all dragons on Tymaera, still prowls the sea and to his ancient mind this was little more than a briefly enjoyable distraction in his long, long existence.

Only Bloodbane remained. The Old Empire was in tattered ruins and, inspired by greed and ambition, the dragon took the opportunity cousins had missed. Using his armies of spies,thieves, assassins and other such ne'erdowells, he simply stepped in and took control of the Empire, placing him as ruler of the entire continent. What resistance the broken regime offered, he cruelly crushed and those who survived quickly learned to obey. The Dragon Emperor ruled for almost two decades during which time he crushed the will of the people, taxed them exhorbitantly and ruined the Empire financially by diverting as much gold and precious artefacts as he could find directly to his secure lair beneath the Evermoors, the exact location of which was a close kept secret.

Unsurprisingly, Bloodbane drew a lot of attention. Some of it positive: the multiheaded dragoness Tiamat who guarded the Hatching Pits (her name is Lotan, 'Tiamat' being the honorific title of the guardian), chosen of Kalganos himself, sought him out as her consort. However he also drew less welcome attention. Syrax came to the notice of a Demon of the chaos realm of Limbo known as Shine wished to merge her dimension with the Prime Material Plane. Her sight was set upon the world of Tymaera. She knew Bloodbane was powerful enough to be a potent adversary and the damage to her forces would be great if she tried a direct attack. So instead she tricked him into joining her armies and transformed the dragon into a creature that would be under her control that she could use to further her own ends - and so Blackjack came into being. To make sure the dragon didn't know what had happened, part of Shine's spell locked away any memories of his past and then convinced him that he was a champion warrior of her demonic armies. Shine also gave him the ability to channel negative emotions into lethal, or at least highly corruptive, raw dark magic.

Blackjack remained in service to Shine for almost 700 years, rising to the rank of general and serving the Archdemon Saragoth, overlord of Shine's forces. However, once back on the Prime Material Plane not long after the assault began, after the razing of Celeburn, he was struck by the revelation that he was not one of these demons. He defected and made a run for it, taking his dire unicorn steed, Knightmare - another creature transmogrified by Shine's magic, with him. Despite missing his memories Blackjack still had the mental characteristics of a dragon - and even black dragons of bloodline Deryos possess at least something verging on a moral code and he realised that serving Shine was inherently wrong. He knew the two of them alone couldn't do anything to stop the DemonQueen now that she had begun to engulf their world, so they did the only thing they could - abandon the 'cause'. When Shine learned of Black's betrayal she had Saragoth send his dread knights after them, realising that if Blackjack were to regain his memories - and therefore his powers - then he could once again pose a serious problem.

It was whilst on the run that he met Shade, hunted himself by a mob of humans for in the climate of fear created by the demon incursions he had been seen as a threat to be destroyed. Their first meeting was more of a rescue - Shade had been betrayed as a werewolf to the superstitious mob by a rival, the shape-shifter Rhaka. He was injured and had been hunted to the point of collapse. Fortunately for him he happened to collapse where Blackjack had been making camp. Out hunting at the time, Blackjack returned with Knightmare to find the mob and stricken werewolf. With a typically terrifying display he drove away the humans he didn't kill.

At this time Blackjack still had no memories of who he really was. In fact, he was a mess - haunted by dreams so awful he used firewater to pass out when he needed to sleep, and ever looking over his shoulder for the Dread Knights, he was very much in a reckless, nothing-to-lose state. Shade happened to make a remark about his Kaborean accent and referred to him as being dragonkin so Blackjack decided to stick with him, at least for a time, to see what further information he could glean. His original plan had been to find a way off Tymaera to find a world that was safer, but as he began to realise that Tymaera was his homeworld (after being away so long in Shine's dimension and on the worlds she conquered) he became more reluctant to leave. When Shade made the crazy suggestion of trying to stop the demons Blackjack originally just laughed at him, but then he started to think seriously about it. He still didn't much care what happened to him for he felt like nothing without his identity, and finally suggested they go disrupt the final ritual that would allow Shine to crossover into the Prime Material Plane. It was a suicidal mission but it succeeded with the added bonus that when the spell was disrupted, Shine was absorbed into the Void, a nothingness that could never be escaped.

Meanwhile, the longer Blackjack remained away from Shine's influence, the weaker her spell over him became until eventually, during a this final battle, he was struck by a blast of magic that offset the spell, allowing him access or his memories...and his true form. Syrax the dragon lived once more. The curse is still not lifted completely and he can only remain as a dragon for a short while at a time.

During this time both dragon and the werewolf learned to depend on one another, and Syrax finally learned the value of friendship - something which is now even more important to him than all the gold and material treasures in the world. He's even started to develop something verging on a sense of conscience!

Shine's evil minions had scattered after their mistress's defeat and he and Shade took it upon themselves - swearing their lives in a blood oath - to go after them, destroying the demons and other nether-entities one by one. And so the Daemonslayers came to be.

It took Blackjack a while to get used to having Raven around after F'lair was 'possessed', but since they are (or were) black dragons, they find that they can work together (if Shade allows it). And now he has Meccha to contend with. He's now more or less used to there being a third Daemonslayer, and even to having an extra person living around his lair..

Blackjack is untrustworthy. Loyal only to himself and those closest to him - and such people are few and far between - he himself does not trust anyone easily unless they have proven themselves to him. But even then he's not always straight with them. As a rule he comes across as self-serving, insensitive and generally unpleasant. He does tend to be more congenial toward people he actually likes (see below) but otherwise he can be intimidating and abrupt.
     Although he generally seems to be 'on the same level' as those around him of different species (like his fellow Daemonslayers) he still inwardly considers himself to be superior. He is, after all, a black dragon - even if his outward appearance is a bit debatable - and as such displays the typical traits of his colour: an intelligent, scheming but unpredictable nature that frequently allows him to twist a situation to his advantage. Honour means little to him and he'll rarely fight fairly, often using every trick in the book if it will result in victory but, provided he considers someone as an ally, there are few people that can be trusted so well to help turn the tables in a fight. 
     He takes an instant dislike to anyone trying to exert authority over him and if someone crosses him he will seek revenge sooner or later... Although he could never be as jealous as a green dragon, he tends to secretly loathe anyone more powerful than himself. Blackjack will refuse to be beaten in an argument. He'll also never admit to being wrong/lost/whatever.
There is another aspect to his personality though. Although he doesn't know it, his father was a silver dragon. He's troubled by the 'good' aspects this brings to his character (and finds the growing sense of conscience he's suffering deeply annoying) but not knowing his heritage he doesn't understand why.

It is sometimes possible - if you know how to read him - to have a guess at what Blackjack is thinking / feeling by the way he acts or behaves:When feeling worried, upset or insecure, Sy' has a habit of folding his wings in more tightly than usual.
If he's very angry, but keeping it hidden, then his eyes narrow only slightly and he'll clench his jaw muscles.
If he wishes to display anger, or appear threatening then both eyes may glow a brilliant orange red and he'll half-extend his wings, making himself appear even larger than he is.
If he's annoyed then his tail twitches ever so slightly.Probably due to his own backstabbing nature, if he is with a group of people other than those he considers his closest friends/allies, then he will always remain slightly behind everyone else, so that he can keep an eye on everyone.
When meeting strangers he will talk a lot - giving the impression that he is all mouth, no thought - when in truth he is finding out all he can about them without revealing anything about himself, and also giving a false impression of himself..
He'll rarely talk or gloat during a serious fight unless he knows for certain that he will win (he doesn't like ending up looking like an idiot. Particularly not a dead one).

An outsider would get the impression Blackjack is impossible to get along with: he's sarcastic, cynical, vicious can be vindictive and occasionally spiteful. But those who know him well - especially his fellow Daemonslayers, Shade and Soul and some of his old allies from the 'Bloodbane' heyday (which he now knows as friends) have seen another side to the dragon's personality: Syrax has a wicked (if sometimes rather twisted) sense of humour and, like all dragons, a keen sense of irony. He has also been known to stoop to the occasional practical joke and has a good sense of fun. If he is in the right mood, he can be a good listener and on occasion even sympathetic. He has quite a sense of curiosity and can be very inquisitive, even if he is not outwardly showing signs of interest.
     But even his closest friends do not know the whole of his life story (all they know is what is written here, e.g. they do not know of the role he played in the creation of the twisted being known as 'The Harpy Queen'), and Blackjack intends to keep things that way...
The emotion of remorse is supposed to be unknown to dragons, but somewhere deep inside Black' does feel a certain amount of guilt and regret for the his actions earlier in his life. Perhaps this is why he now fights against evil - a way of seeking redemption for his own sake.     
     Unless he wishes to reveal otherwise, Blackjack keeps his thoughts and emotions masked so people can rarely tell what he is thinking.

Shade: F'lair is the one person who (somehow!) managed to show Syrax the true value of friendship and now the two have one of the strongest bonds you're ever likely to come across between two friends. They are very good at getting themselves into trouble, but normally find a way back out again and always look out for one another. Oddly enough, if they fight it is usually over something pathetic and sometimes just for the sake of it. Because their personalities are so different, they will have the odd 'difference of opinion' over tactics, and have even come to blows in the past. But much of the time things are 'normal' between them and they get along fine. Occasionally Blackjack is reminded that he's not meant to be 'evil' anymore by Shade if he gets a bit carried away.
Recently, Blackjack has been slightly concerned over Shade's slight mental instability (although he would never show this outwardly), especially now that his friend also acts as home to the spirit of the dracoliche Raven.

Soul : These two can apparently never get along. The only time they put aside their differences is when they are 'on business' (i.e. hunting and slaying demons). For almost all of the rest of the time they argue or have constant slanging matches. Normally the bickering is started by Meccha and then things just escalate. The truth is that they actually enjoy the fights and, deep down, they are (probably) good friends. The dragon enjoys teasing her and getting on her nerves just for the sake of it, or playing mind games and making her paranoid for no good reason. When Meccha and F'lair are together he makes a habit of ruining any possibility of romance, usually with a well placed comment, or a wholly inappropriate song (often the chorus of 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails). But secretly he is glad Shade has found someone to love as it seems to have given the werewolf a new lease of life.
Syrax now keeps a close eye on Meccha (without letting her know) after her recent exhibitions of murderous tendancies towards Shade and others which seems to be a form of insanity, even though she still loves the werewolf. But if he is angry at her, or being deliberately nasty he may make pointed references about pyromaniacs.

Tiamat : His life-mate. Dragons bond for life. The bond is not exclusive and the only definition dragons have of unfaithfulness is if one takes up another partner on a regular basis. However, in the case of Blackjack and Tiamat's relationship, Tiamat is an incredibly jealous individual and Syrax has a bad habit of using the open relationship style of the dragon bond to its full. He's not overly fussy about species since other dracosvulfs are hard to come by (though he's never been known to make the first move ) and Tiamat takes that as a personal insult. The relationship is already badly strained by the curse Syrax is under and things are steadily deteriorating between the two. It's affecting Blackjack more than he'd like to admit because he does actually love Tia' (again, not that he'd admit it even to his friends and tries to be casual about it).

Any Form:
Heat vision - he has two sets of eyelids, and if he opens the transparent inner pair, this will expose special infra-red receptive cells that allow him to 'see' regions of different temperatures (an ability all dragons have evolved to aid flight). Opening his inner eyelids also allow the glow of Blackjack's balefire (the supernatural glow seen in the eyes of creatures possessing magical essence.
Fighting - skilled at unarmed combat (both cursed and dracoforms provide many natural weapons at his disposal anyway!), throwing knives, axes (a particular favourite), crossbow, and most other weapons. Imaginative in his methods, and fights dirty, which is always an advantage.
Plate Armour - his back is covered in black, interlocking armour plates formed of a very hard bone-like substance that can deflect most weapons.
Agility - he is surprisingly agile. Also his reaction times are a bit shorter than humans (possesses different, faster forms of synaptic arcs).
Animagus- Like many other dragons, he has a (limited) ability to communicate with animals. He's not very good at it but one species he is good with is rats. He gets on well with them (they're his favourite animal) and this probably explains how well he gets on with rattikin in general.

Cursed Form:
Dark Magic - a power given him by Shine, to absorb negative emotions and transform them into pure dark magic. When in use this looks like black lightning that sucks in all surrounding light, tinged with a green and purple aura. Blackjack uses this very rarely as such power is highly corruptive to him.
Appearance - In a fight Blackjack likes to rely on his fiendish appearance to disconcert enemies and openly enjoys causing fear and massive destruction.

Dracoform:
Dragon Fire - like many black dragons, Syrax can breathe acidfire. This appears like liquid fire, except greens and yellows in colour. It is very hot and extremely corrosive, able to eat through most metals and more reactive types of stone (eg. limestone)
Magic - dragons have innate magical abilities in elemental magic, specialising in the element their colour pertains to. In Syrax's case, he is particularly good with earth magic. However, he has also studied so-called 'high magic' and has a wide range of spells at his disposal. His particular talent (almost a hobby, really) is curses.
Size Regulation - being over 600ft long is not always convenient. With some effort, Bloodbane can decrease his size a little, and finds it easiest to maintain humanoid size as this is what he has become accustommed to and so requires the least effort to maintain.

Any form:
Greed - he's a dragon. More to the point, he's a black dragon. One of Blackjack's major flaws is his greed. If there's something valuable that isn't nailed down, then it's quite likely to 'disappear' if he's about. Sometimes he can get himself into trouble because if there's treasure involved then he'll 'take first, check for traps later'.
Arrogance - Dragons are powerful creatures and sometimes Blackjack will underestimate opponents of different species (especially in cursed form), which can land him in trouble.

Cursed Form:
Appearance – while good for intimidation, it’s sometimes hard to go unnoticed. Blackjack gets round this when he has to by using the ring of change, casting an illusion and making him appear as he would if he were human.

Dracoform:
Still not strong enough to maintain his true form for long periods of time. Also left exhausted by the transformation.