"Good artists copy; great artists steal"
To that end, I am stealing a bit from Ten Foot Polemic, a bit from Throne of Salt, and a lot from Goblin Punch.
Dragons: Objectively Rad
So, to clear this up early: Dragons are so goddamn cool, there are no other opinions on the subject. I mean, there's a reason that the progenitor of all Role-Playing Games is composed of 50% Dragons, and 50% something else that I couldn't be bothered paying attention to because Dragons are so damn cool. They are Dinosaurs that can breathe fire!
They are also classic antagonists. They are big, strong, magical, eat people, but can also speak and be reasoned with.
WhenDinosaurs Dragons Ruled the Earth
So, to clear this up early: Dragons are so goddamn cool, there are no other opinions on the subject. I mean, there's a reason that the progenitor of all Role-Playing Games is composed of 50% Dragons, and 50% something else that I couldn't be bothered paying attention to because Dragons are so damn cool. They are Dinosaurs that can breathe fire!
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| Like this, only better |
They are also classic antagonists. They are big, strong, magical, eat people, but can also speak and be reasoned with.
When
Mammals were not the original dominant life forms on this planet. Before the Fey came, before the Outsiders, before the Stars changed; this land belonged to the Dragons and their kin.
The world spawned many forms of life, from the majestic Thunder-Lizards with their multiplicity and shapes and powers, to the enigmatic Naga who discovered the raw magics of the universe, raising their great Empires of many pillared cities. Greatest of all being the Dragon Kings, creatures of fire made flesh, the greatest if them were as gods themselves larger than mountains, the shadow of their outstretched wings would darken whole continents.
That was before the Orrery. At some point in the distant past, this planet was snatched from its place, and moved. Some scholars conjecture that it was some great impact, a collision of a comet drove the planet from its previous place in the heavens to its current, clearly more suitable position. Others hold that the increase in collisions with other celestial bodies was a result of the planet moving unnaturally through the void, and not a cause. Whatever the case, there were certainly several impacts of large objects falling from the heavens.
Whether it was the dust of such great cataclysmic collisions, or the cold voyage through the void, the planet began to freeze. Great glaciers drove across the land, huge continent sized blizzards blanketed the sky in snows, and civilisations crumbled. Enough can be discerned from the ruins of the Naga to chart the fall of their great civilisation, the decimation of a saurian ecosystem, and the disappearance of the Dragons.
Not Dead But Dreaming
The great impacts, and the cold between the stars was enough to drive the Dragons into permanent state of hibernation. Deep in the earth they dwell yet, close to the warm core of the world, remembering their days of rule upon the planet's surface. They are not quite aware of what they are, they are asleep after all, but they dream as all things do; sometimes they dream of being Dragons.
A Dragon King's dreams are not like the dreams of other creatures, they are powerful enough to live by themselves. This is where the treasure guarding Dragons of legend (and convenient antagonist role) come from. As they grow in age, wealth, power, and size, they remember more and more of what they once were. A Dragon dream that is mere decades old will be no larger than a jungle cat, and of roughly the same intelligence, one a thousand years old would approach the size of Smaug the Golden, and be able to hold intelligent conversations (albeit with an odd penchant for clever riddles). Legend has it that if a Dragon ever grows large enough it will remember what it is, and wake from its slumber to retake the planet.
Dragons hoard treasures, everyone knows that, but nobody really knows why, not even Dragons. If asked, most authorities (ecclesiastical or thaumaturgical) would probably explain that Dragons are avaricious by nature, but what exactly would a Dragon need with treasure? Deposit on a house? Venture capital for a new startup? Custom made Dragon size Top Hat and Monacle? (Not going to completely discount that last one actually). Asking Dragons themselves, they would probably just say that treasure is objectively awesome, but even the smallest Dragon has an instinct to hoard treasure. The dreams are trying to gather the relics of the Serpent Kings, the Naga, the lost civilisation. No Dragon has lived long enough to understand or remember yet, but they are stockpiling armaments and wonders, which explains their collections of magical artefacts they cannot use or do not need. Precious stones and metals are simultaneously easier and more difficult to explain, they desire the carcasses of Stars, their ancient enemies.
Dragons are malevolent, everyone knows that. They eat cattle, they eat people, they sometimes eat adventurers too daring for their own good. However Dragons do not seem to eat as much as their size would seem to suggest. They do not need to, they are dreams after all. They do often eat (who doesn't sometimes enjoy the finest food in dreams after all?), but the more intelligent they get, the easier they neglect to do so. Partly as their more complex minds have developed more interesting pastimes, and partly because their are growing dimly aware of what they truly are.
The world spawned many forms of life, from the majestic Thunder-Lizards with their multiplicity and shapes and powers, to the enigmatic Naga who discovered the raw magics of the universe, raising their great Empires of many pillared cities. Greatest of all being the Dragon Kings, creatures of fire made flesh, the greatest if them were as gods themselves larger than mountains, the shadow of their outstretched wings would darken whole continents.
That was before the Orrery. At some point in the distant past, this planet was snatched from its place, and moved. Some scholars conjecture that it was some great impact, a collision of a comet drove the planet from its previous place in the heavens to its current, clearly more suitable position. Others hold that the increase in collisions with other celestial bodies was a result of the planet moving unnaturally through the void, and not a cause. Whatever the case, there were certainly several impacts of large objects falling from the heavens.
Whether it was the dust of such great cataclysmic collisions, or the cold voyage through the void, the planet began to freeze. Great glaciers drove across the land, huge continent sized blizzards blanketed the sky in snows, and civilisations crumbled. Enough can be discerned from the ruins of the Naga to chart the fall of their great civilisation, the decimation of a saurian ecosystem, and the disappearance of the Dragons.
Not Dead But Dreaming
The great impacts, and the cold between the stars was enough to drive the Dragons into permanent state of hibernation. Deep in the earth they dwell yet, close to the warm core of the world, remembering their days of rule upon the planet's surface. They are not quite aware of what they are, they are asleep after all, but they dream as all things do; sometimes they dream of being Dragons.
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| Dragon Slayers And Proud Of It, by Larry Elmore |
Dragons hoard treasures, everyone knows that, but nobody really knows why, not even Dragons. If asked, most authorities (ecclesiastical or thaumaturgical) would probably explain that Dragons are avaricious by nature, but what exactly would a Dragon need with treasure? Deposit on a house? Venture capital for a new startup? Custom made Dragon size Top Hat and Monacle? (Not going to completely discount that last one actually). Asking Dragons themselves, they would probably just say that treasure is objectively awesome, but even the smallest Dragon has an instinct to hoard treasure. The dreams are trying to gather the relics of the Serpent Kings, the Naga, the lost civilisation. No Dragon has lived long enough to understand or remember yet, but they are stockpiling armaments and wonders, which explains their collections of magical artefacts they cannot use or do not need. Precious stones and metals are simultaneously easier and more difficult to explain, they desire the carcasses of Stars, their ancient enemies.
Dragons are malevolent, everyone knows that. They eat cattle, they eat people, they sometimes eat adventurers too daring for their own good. However Dragons do not seem to eat as much as their size would seem to suggest. They do not need to, they are dreams after all. They do often eat (who doesn't sometimes enjoy the finest food in dreams after all?), but the more intelligent they get, the easier they neglect to do so. Partly as their more complex minds have developed more interesting pastimes, and partly because their are growing dimly aware of what they truly are.
On Kobolds and Dragon Cults
The Naga are gone, their Empires destroyed. The Dragons lie dormant and sleeping. The Thunder Lizards hunted to the brink of extinction.
But the Kobolds remain, the Kobolds remember. The Kodolds remember when this planet was theirs, before these hairy interlopers chased their kin from their homes, despoiled the tombs of the mighty princes, slaughtered venerable ancient sages to seize their baubles. They do not forget, and they do not forgive. They hide in their mines, plotting how to steal their world back from the apes that have usurped them.
The Kobolds, kept in servitude and hunted for sport by the Naga, have no lost love for their larger civilised kin. They were all too happy to rejoice in the fall of their Empires, the bringing low of the haughty Serpents. They feel no loss over the fallen greatness of the workers of magic, they feel robbed of their turn in the sun.
The Kobolds, often used as slaves in mines by the Naga, were already adept at tunnelling through earth and stone. They tunnelled deep to escape the cold of the surface, following their Great Kings. Deep, near the planet's core where it was still warm, the last city of the Kobolds was built. There was not enough room or resources to feed them all, and millions died in the dark or the cold, of starvation, deprivation, and civil war. In truth there was never a great connection or loyalty between Kobolds and Dragons before, but generations of living in complete dependence on their energy has built up a religious reverence in the smaller reptiles.
By the time the surface was once more warm enough to be inhabited, the mammals had come. The Kobolds do not know from whence the races of men sprang, only that they are large, and powerful, and cruel. The warm-bloods chased them from the fields and forests, hunted them for food and sport, plundered the palaces of the mighty (tyrants or not, Kobolds still see themselves as the heirs to tyhe Naga and their treasures). So the Kobolds stayed in their mines, and plotted their slow revenge.
The Kobolds know of the nature of Dragons, they know of their dreams and worship them. The Dragons encourage this worship, at least their larger dreams do. Through their dreams they pass on to their wishes to their Kobold servants. The Kobolds hold a great hatred for warm-bloods, the usurpers of their lands, the Dragons know in their firey hearts that the Stars themselves were responsible for the movement of the world, and by extension the collective woes of the draconic people.
In return for this worship, the Dragons impart a measure of their power onto their Kobold priests. There in much power in a Dragon, but only so much to be roused from a sleeping mind. The more devoted, and better serving, the more awakened the Dragon, the larger and more powerful their Kobold servants. Thus, the great plan of the Kobolds is to work to grow the Dragon dreams, to follow the plans of their dormant Gods, to Wake the Dragons.
(To steal from one of my favourite books) "What has fallen may rise again"
But the Kobolds remain, the Kobolds remember. The Kodolds remember when this planet was theirs, before these hairy interlopers chased their kin from their homes, despoiled the tombs of the mighty princes, slaughtered venerable ancient sages to seize their baubles. They do not forget, and they do not forgive. They hide in their mines, plotting how to steal their world back from the apes that have usurped them.
The Kobolds, kept in servitude and hunted for sport by the Naga, have no lost love for their larger civilised kin. They were all too happy to rejoice in the fall of their Empires, the bringing low of the haughty Serpents. They feel no loss over the fallen greatness of the workers of magic, they feel robbed of their turn in the sun.
The Kobolds, often used as slaves in mines by the Naga, were already adept at tunnelling through earth and stone. They tunnelled deep to escape the cold of the surface, following their Great Kings. Deep, near the planet's core where it was still warm, the last city of the Kobolds was built. There was not enough room or resources to feed them all, and millions died in the dark or the cold, of starvation, deprivation, and civil war. In truth there was never a great connection or loyalty between Kobolds and Dragons before, but generations of living in complete dependence on their energy has built up a religious reverence in the smaller reptiles.
By the time the surface was once more warm enough to be inhabited, the mammals had come. The Kobolds do not know from whence the races of men sprang, only that they are large, and powerful, and cruel. The warm-bloods chased them from the fields and forests, hunted them for food and sport, plundered the palaces of the mighty (tyrants or not, Kobolds still see themselves as the heirs to tyhe Naga and their treasures). So the Kobolds stayed in their mines, and plotted their slow revenge.
The Kobolds know of the nature of Dragons, they know of their dreams and worship them. The Dragons encourage this worship, at least their larger dreams do. Through their dreams they pass on to their wishes to their Kobold servants. The Kobolds hold a great hatred for warm-bloods, the usurpers of their lands, the Dragons know in their firey hearts that the Stars themselves were responsible for the movement of the world, and by extension the collective woes of the draconic people.
In return for this worship, the Dragons impart a measure of their power onto their Kobold priests. There in much power in a Dragon, but only so much to be roused from a sleeping mind. The more devoted, and better serving, the more awakened the Dragon, the larger and more powerful their Kobold servants. Thus, the great plan of the Kobolds is to work to grow the Dragon dreams, to follow the plans of their dormant Gods, to Wake the Dragons.
(To steal from one of my favourite books) "What has fallen may rise again"
