GoCorral

Physical Description

Dragons are enormous, winged, elemental lizards. They are the largest and most threatening monsters in all of Cimmeria. The only greater power than dragons are gods and creatures touched by divinity. In addition to their great size, many dragons can breathe elemental energy to devastating effect. A calculating intelligence guides the greatest dragons. They are fearsome beasts without peer in the mortal world.

Dragons have many terrifying natural weapons and defenses. Sharp claws and teeth are the primary weapons of all dragons. Large dragons are able to use their powerful wings to beat down enemies or to start windstorms. The tail of dragons is also a dangerous tool, even having a poisoned tip in some dragon varieties. Draconic connection to elemental magic gives many of them the ability to cast spells. Along with their many offensive powers, dragons are also impregnable defensive towers. Their scales are immune to all but the most enhanced magical weapons. They are naturally resistant to spells of all kinds. The largest dragons are shrouded in a supernatural aura of fear that frightens many hardened warriors away from even approaching the monster.

Dragons possess particularly sharp senses in addition to their other advantages. They can see further in the dark than most other species. Their senses of smell, touch, and hearing are so precise that they can accurately locate creatures that are close to them, even if those creatures are invisible. Sneaking up on a dragon is almost impossible due to this natural ability. Their amazing processing of incoming signals also allows dragons to sense when someone is lying to them. The slight changes in sweat, pheromones, and tone are all things that dragons pick up on and intuit unconsciously to determine a speaker’s intent and truthfulness.

Culture

Dragon culture values one thing above all else, treasure. Dragons have a pathological need for treasure. Gold, silver, jewels, magic items, and works of art are best, but anything of value is worthy of a place in a dragon’s hoard. Long-lived dragons often own collections of an esoteric item. Poetry, official seals, or luxury garments from a particular seamstress. Whatever it is, dragons are known to forgo all other things in their greed.

Draconic social relationships are minimal. They spend much of their time in solitude, either hunting or overlooking their hoards. Dragons typically only interact with others of their species when they feel the urge to breed. Beyond that, they have little tolerance for another dictatorial apex predator sharing their space. Female dragons are often forced to care for their eggs until they hatch but rarely provide any assistance beyond incubation. Once hatched, a dragon is typically on its own until death.

History

The first dragons existed long before the Olympians came to Cimmeria. Before the Olympians themselves in fact. Dragons were borne from the union of Typhon and Echidna, the first monsters. The first dragons were winged, fire-breathing brutes, incapable of speech. These were the Lernaean Hydra, Ladon, the Dragon of Colchis, and Python of Delphi were a few of these ancient dragons. Their many children make up the many species of dragons in Cimmeria.

The dragons saw a chance for their kingdom to be established when the Olympians came to Cimmeria. The right moment had to come for their dominion to begin. Sadroston, the great hero of the Conclave and the Goblin War, was the main impediment. That single mortal contained the power to unite the Conclave races and defeat the dragons before their rule even began. After Sadroston’s death the dragons struck. Within a few years their rule over Cimmeria was absolute. As one might guess, the Draconic Hegemony was a period of tyranny and despair for Cimmerians.

The draconian rule of the Dragon Hegemons predictably prompted a revolution. After nearly a century of rule the Dragon War began. Led by the ten Heroes of the Dragon War, the people of Cimmeria fought back against their oppressors. The Dragon Hegemons themselves possessed a spark of divine from their ancestors and could not be killed. To defeat them, the wizard Tentineh invented the Orbs of Dragonkind. With these the Dragon Hegemons were magically bound and imprisoned. The people of Cimmeria were free from dragon tyrants.

One of the pair of Dragon Hegemons escaped their imprisonment. Bavastatner and Renvesharhialisv, the blue dragon primarchs, were set free by the githyanki during their invasion of Cimmeria. A representative of the Lich-queen found the Blue Dragon Orb and destroyed it. In return, Bavastatner swore on the River Styx to assist the githyanki invasion. Bavastatner hated this obligation and schemed to free himself from the burden. He found a way with the secret aid of Tracy, who had also been released from stasis with the Blue Orb’s destruction. Bavastatner bound his soul to the River Styx, freeing himself from oaths upon it. The Lich-queen was furious that Bavastatner escaped his oath. The Draco-Gith War broke out and ultimately resulted in the expulsion of githyanki from Cimmeria.

Bavastatner ruled as the main dragon of Cimmeria for centuries after the Draco-Gith War. He cared little for the other dragon races and focused all his energy on building a place for blue dragons in the Shacklack Desert. He and Renvesharhialisv founded a kingdom for their children to live in. Bavastatner fostered strong familial connections for his descendants. He hoped that they could band together as one strong force if any hero attempted to defeat them once more. Unfortunately, his efforts ended in failure during the Second Alliance War.

Dragons of a certain kind saw a strong resurgence in political power in the Xorian empire under the rule of King Jevaninada II. Blendegad the Reaper turned Jevaninada II into a dragovinian, setting off a chain of events that led to the Second Alliance War. Jevaninada II spread the dragovinian vampire infection across Xorian occupied lands. Dragovinians happily accepted other dragons into their hierarchy as well and many younger dragons found homes within the Xorian Empire.

The rise of evil, vampiric, dragon people caused the Second Alliance to be formed and ultimately go to war with Xoria. During the Second Alliance War more Dragon Orbs were broken. Red and White were both destroyed, freeing their primarchs and the heroes, Danar and Gorwinua. The heroes fought along with the Second Alliance to defeat their ancient enemies. At the climax of the conflict Blendegad and Jevaninada II were slain. The druid, Eathirilu, used the druidic power of Pan to convert every dragovinian and vampire back into their mortal forms. Retribution against dragovinians and dragons for their oppression was swift and violent.

After the Second Alliance War dragons once again live in the wild areas of Cimmeria. Living too close to inhabited areas risks a band of heroes coming along and slaying a dragon. Only the most powerful dragons can resist the attacks of adventurers. They occasionally raid towns and villages to acquire food and treasure, but largely dragons live away from civilized people. They wish to rebuild the Dragon Hegemony, but none see a path that leads to that goal.

Subraces

Dragons have far more subraces than other races of Cimmeria. There are so many subraces of dragons that they are split into categories for discussion rather than discussed individually. The two most powerful types of dragons are chromatic and metallic. These two varieties ruled Cimmeria during the Dragon Hegemony. Planar dragons encapsulate other intelligent dragons outside of the chromatic and metallic. Animalistic refers to draconic variants that are unable to speak. Finally, dragons are able to interbreed with many other species creating numerous hybrids throughout Cimmeria.

Chromatic: Chromatic dragons have four legs, wings, and a tail. They are malevolently intelligent, but the scale of their schemes varies between the different colors. All chromatic dragons grow to enormous size which matches the proportions of their vile plans. The largest are red dragons which breathe fire. Next are blue dragons that breathe electricity. Green and black are slightly smaller than blue and both breathe acid. The smallest are white dragons that breathe ice.

The greatest of the red dragons, Invernix, led the chromatic and metallic dragons in forming the Dragon Hegemony. Invernix insisted that his cousins oppress the mortals. This hostile attitude did not require much encouragement. Chromatic dragons see mortals as toys for their amusement or food. Breaking a mortal is of no concern to a chromatic dragon as their are always more to take the place of their discarded play thing.

Metallic: Metallic dragons are physically very similar to chromatic dragons. Their main physical difference are long barbels on the sides of their faces that oscillate based on the emotions of the dragon. The greatest of the metallic dragons are gold, followed closely by silver. Bronze dragons are next in size. Bronze and copper dragons are the smallest of the metallics, but they are still massive in size.

Metallic dragons have two types of breath weapons each, an elemental onslaught and a non-lethal poisonous gas. Gold dragons breathe fire and weakening gas. Silver dragons breathe ice and paralyzing gas. Bronze dragons breathe lightning and fear-inducing gas. Brass dragons breathe fire and sleeping gas. Copper dragons breathe acid and a muscle-relaxant gas that slows enemies’ movement. Metallic dragons elect their breath weapon based on whether they wish to destroy or incapacitate their targets.

Metallic dragons saw their role as that of benevolent dictators during the Dragon Hegemony. In their mind mortals were too stupid and shortsighted to make decisions for themselves. They needed the guidance of immortal leaders like the metallic dragons. Well-meaning restrictions on people’s lives aggravated the Cimmerians. Additionally metallic dragons introduced harsh taxes as they still had an bottomless hunger for more treasure. Thus while metallic dragons had good intentions in their rule over Cimmeria, they were almost universally hated by their subjects.

Planar: While other four-legged, winged, elemental breathing dragons exist, they live outside of Cimmeria. These dragons are from other planes of existence. Styx dragons guard the Underworld alongside Cerberus. Shadow dragons live in the Shadow Plane. Numerous dragons live in the elemental planes of air, earth, fire, and water. Other dragons of every imaginable kind exist in other cultures and planes outside of the Olympians’ influence.

Animalistic: Some dragons are only as intelligent as the average dog. These dragons are smaller than metallic, chromatic, and planar varieties, usually only growing as big as a horse. They also lack some of the physical characteristics of the larger varieties. Wyverns have no forelegs. Some wyverns have no breath weapon, but they do have a poisonous scorpion tail. Drakes have no wings. Many drakes lack a breath weapon. Hydras also have no wings, but their well-known ability to regenerate their heads frightens many of the bravest heroes.

Many animalistic dragons are partially domesticated. Drakes are commonly used as guard dogs by aristocrats. The most accomplished knights dream of a wyvern mount. Kobolds are also known to keep hydras as a tamed hazard. The kobolds feed the hydra and if their tribe is attacked they unleash the hydra on their foes. Returning the hydra to its enclosure after defending the tribe is a difficult prospect. Sometimes hydras go on a rampage and eat as many kobolds as they save.

Hybrid: Dragons have the capacity to interbreed with nearly any other creature. Half-bears, half-humans, half-giants, half-faeries, and half-demons, all are possible draconic crosses. The most famous cross was dragovinians. They were divine, vampire, dragon humanoids which ruled Xoria and threatened Cimmeria for thirty years. Bavastatner created many half-breeds within his Shacklack Desert kingdom to improve his subjects survivability in the desert. Another famous dragon cross is chimera monsters, a mix of all sorts of animals with lions, snakes, goats, and dragons featuring most prominently. Many other sorts of hybrids can be found in hidden corners across Cimmeria.

Location

Dragons are spread throughout Cimmeria and the world beyond. The different varieties of dragons can be found in different habitats based on their elemental type. Fire and ice dragons prefer mountains. Acid dragons prefer swamps and forests. Lightning dragons prefer the desert. Non-elemental dragons prefer plains and hills. Wherever they live, dragons are typically away from civilized society. Their existential threat to villages and towns inevitably leads to violent conflict.

Some dragons can be found in civilized areas due to long traditions of good conduct between mortals and the dragons in those areas. The Dragon of Colchis is a good example, having lived in the city since before the Olympians came to Cimmeria. The bronze dragons of Sheerzen watch over the city from without as their mortal hybrid cousins rule the city from within. The silver dragon, Kinderax, serves the royal family of Aractrash and is ready to find a mate and bring more friendly silver dragons into the kingdom. Many ancient dragons can be found at Mars’ Oasis, enchanted by the magic of the Orbs of Dragonkind. Those ancient dragons defend the vault of powerful artifacts kept by King Mero III. All these dragons exist alongside people who have no worries about the monsters in their midst.

Outside of cities, the blue dragons of the Shacklack Desert have built their own draconic civilization over the centuries of Bavastatner’s rule. Descendants of Bavastatner have a place to gather, share information, and plan actions at Bavastatner’s Cave in the Dominarie Mountains. The blue dragons have many hybrid cousins that assist them as labor for the true-blooded dragons. With Bavastatner’s death his oldest children have taken up leadership of the clan. They have begun welcoming other dragon types to their community, hoping to build a true nation of dragons, for dragons, and by dragons.

Relations with Other Races

Dragons have adversarial relationships with many of the other races of Cimmeria. The Dragon Hegemony poisoned any chance of dragons being welcomed into society. Dragon’s lust for treasure further sours good feeling across the country. Dragons are likely to backstab any alliance they make if it means a payoff of gold and jewels. The best relationships dragons have are based around payment for services with either treasure for more intelligent subraces or food for the less intelligent.

Dragons did build some good relationships with other races during the Dragon Hegemony. Goblins and giantkin were used as foot soldiers to assist in subduing the other races of Cimmeria. That servile connection has continued into the modern age with many dragons using goblins, giants, and trolls as their servants and laborers in small kingdoms. The goblins and giantkin wait on the dragon’s every need. If the slightest error occurs, the dragon is likely to eat one of their subjects in recompense for the mistake.

Kobolds have a strong relationship with dragons due to their origination from dragon teeth. During the Heroic Age, dragon’s teeth could be sown in the ground to grow into fearsome warriors called spartoi. The magic surrounding dragon’s teeth continued into the Iron Age, but with a weaker core. Dragon’s teeth still sprout into warriors, but now they are small dog-lizard people instead of golden warriors rippling with muscles. These kobolds are supremely devoted to their creators to the point of cult-like worship. Kobolds will die for their creator. Most dragons are indifferent to the kobolds that surround their lairs. Some are frustrated and chase them away while others encourage the cult and use kobolds as minions in a similar fashion to goblins and giantkin.

Githyanki are the exception to dragons’ pessimistic view on relationships with other races. Every other race is a lesser being that must bow to dragons or made to bow before them through force and intimidation. Githyanki are a true ally to dragons, blue dragons specifically. Perhaps a weaker ally, but an ally nonetheless. The pact with Bavastatner gave githyanki access to some blue dragon eggs. They have raised these dragons as mounts and have formed powerful bonds with their cooperators. Githyanki extended this mount and rider relationship to some species of planar dragons as well. The dragons receive a home, companionship, and treasure in exchange for helping githyanki spread their empire across the multiverse. While the attempt failed in Cimmeria, there are other regions and other worlds where githyanki will strike next. And their draconic allies will be at their side for the next conflict.

Common Deities

Dragons do not commonly worship the gods. Above the tit for tat exchange that many mortals perform to receive the blessings of the gods, dragons would rather gather worshipers for themselves. Those dragons that do devote worship to the gods typically choose their monstrous ancestors, Typhon and Echidna. The only other god commonly worshiped by dragons is Zeus. As dragons are the kings of the mortal world they pay homage to the King of Olympus.

Place in Adventuring

Dragons are a challenge at the apex of an adventurer’s career. The ultimate monster with power and ferocity beyond any other. A single dragon can threaten an entire kingdom. Only the bravest and most accomplished adventurers dare take on a fully grown dragon. Even with all the skills, magical items, and preparations in the world, many adventurers still perish when fighting the greatest beast.

Lesser variants of dragons sometimes serve mortals. Wyverns as flying mounts for knights. Drakes as enhanced guard dogs for the wealthy. The greater chromatic, metallic, and planar dragons occasionally ally with mortals as well. Wyrmlings can be tricked or influenced into serving as guard dogs. More mature dragons can be mounts for mortals, but they must be made willing through payment or other means. Either way, these arrangements are fragile and prone to snap at any moment.