DRAGONS

Since the first days of recorded history, mortal races have struggled to categorize the enormous, covetous, and fiercely intelligent dragons that rule the wild places of the known earth. Tales filter down from prehistory, when winged terrors breathing fire, ice and more exotic hazards besides could snuff a village in a day and night of slaughter, and such threats still haunt lonely settlements on the outskirts of civilization. The Suzerainty’s rise saw the organization of resources against these dangers, and the iaret hunted dragons found within their expanding domain, exterminating them or harassing them “beyond the horizon” that Geb had given them to rule. Later Suzerains treated with more elder and terrible dragons found outside their reach (and their ability to destroy) as if they were peers, but treaties and agreements with these ancient beasts rarely held.

It is said that such monsters swollen with age, knowledge, and riches still lurk in the deepest wilderness and it is only the young dragons that trouble civilized lands. A rootless and foolhardy dragon might take risks with isolated farmsteads, and even villages, but incursions into nation states draw focused response and even dragons must sleep some time.

Naturalists have attempted to study these creatures, but the study of beasts with the intelligence of a dragon can quickly turn the researcher into an experimental subject himself, or worse, a meal. Some of the eldest dragons contacted claim to recall the rise of the Suzerainty, or the star falling on Mor Dyfn. When questioned about philosophical or metaphysical matters, there have been oblique references to the gods, albeit in a somewhat different form. It is known that dragons have a culture, of sorts, but lead solitary lives. They mate rarely, drive their young from the nest early, and entertain unwanted visitors next to never.

Many dragons are prodigious spellcasters, and it is their language which comprises the root incantations by which arcana is performed. It is not known if the draconic language is part of an underlying ontological structure of existence which the dragons adopted, or if dragons somehow originated the language. Mortal legends agree that magical teaching was a gift of Ranute and theories of a draconic origin for the arcane arts do not account for this.

Given their intelligence, ability, and desire to enrich themselves, it is inevitable that draconic interaction with mortals and nations is not limited to youthful raiding. A dragon was once appointed governor of a province of the Suzerainty and became a power-broker in the Suzerain’s court before abdicating and disappearing from history. Dragons have been rulers of Keizai princedoms or objects of worship in the Wandering Isles, and some claim agreements with a dragon are the cause for success of certain pirate gangs. During the Gate War, there were attempts by the forces of the known earth to procure draconic assistance against the invaders, but no record of notable success. There are tales of varying levels of credibility and seriousness of dragons traveling among mortals in disguise. Persistent rumors point to hidden draconic patronage of at least one Baltine magnate, or that they are secretly a dragon themselves.

With so many uncertainties, the safest bet for the wary mortal is to avoid entanglement with dragons. Many are the tales of adventurers who bested a dragon by wits or force of arms and made their fortune, but one should remember that tales are told by the victors, rather than by the devoured.