And lo, his sins laid bare in the light of the twin moons, the mighty son's feathered wings twisted into horrid limbs and his skin grew scales as black as jet. On his arms and legs did he walk like a beast of the world, but mocked them with flight and made the skies his domain. Wherever his wrathful gaze did fall, he saw only malice, and where his breath caressed, like unto kindle he fanned the flames of discord and hate.
--The Chronicle of Fire, 3:1
According to Tellan folklore, a dragon is a mythological creature of serpentine nature with minor or major variations across legends from western to eastern cultures. These creatures can be traced through human stories as old as 1400 BCE, appearing first in ancient Mesopotamian art. Some archaic examples of the first great dragon myths include the mušḫuššu of Babylon (sixth century BCE), Apep of Egyptian mythology, Vrtra of the Rigveda, and the Lernaean Hydra in Greek mythology. The nords, of course, had several named dragons in their oral legends, such as Jörmungandr, Níðhöggr, and Fafnir.
The dragons of Adaran myth share many similarities to Earth's Indo-European dragon counterparts, described as giant reptilian, winged creatures with four legs, sharp claws, razor teeth, and the ability to breathe fire. They are associated with destruction, wrath, and chaos, but their true identity is as fallen astrals. With striking similarity to Judeo-Christian mythos, an astral "falls" (like an angel) when they are tainted by the
concept of sin. Meaning, they must understand the mortal machination of wrong-doing and feel regret. When an astral regrets going against their nature, they become consumed by the epitemy of the vice that counterbalances the virtue they stand for. In turn, they become dragons.
Odysseus has had two reported encounters with dragonkind: the first being with
Ahriman, the most famous (or infamous) of the dragons. He attacked a landing party that entered through a desynchronized bridge gate from Tellus in the Eastern Highlands. After kidnapping and carrying off two 1st Expedition civilians, he returned them safely and proved himself to be an (at best, unreliable) ally by thwarting a nephilim attack against Argos Base in 1 AA.
If Astralian lore is correct, this dragon was the thirteenth great astral and supposedly the most powerful among them. As an astral, he reigned over the concept of justice. What happened to cause his fall is unclear, but both the Auroran and Creator Astralian Churches profess that Ahriman fell because his love for humans was too great and he allowed himself to go against the Creator's plans. This, interestingly, is not like other notable falls. Since it was first, perhaps his fall is an exemption to the rule of understanding the concept of mortal sin. Further, the relationship that stories show between Ahriman and his children (humanity, exclusively) is often confusing, incongruent, or just plain contradictory. At one point, he loves humanity, and the next, he's causing them to hate and destroy each other. It's possible that Ahriman both loves and despises his own creation if he possess dual personalities--being both a former astral and now a dragon.
The second recorded encounter with a dragon was just recently, when a Starling VTOL (carrying four indigenous, one member of the Anthropology Team, one A-Sec NCO, and two crew members) was attacked en route to Argos Base from Callon, Tavarin. The hostile was described to be a white-scaled dragon. Two of the indigenous passengers aided in defending the aircraft using lesser
resonance factor abilities. The identity of this white dragon is as of yet unknown. The A-Sec recon drone network has not spotted it since the one attack.
