Dragons

Dragons

Dragons are ancient and mighty creatures born of divine ancestry, elemental power, and arcane mastery. Their legacy spans the foundation of creation, the rise and fall of civilizations, and the deepest scars etched upon the world of Ammondell. They are not merely beasts—they are echoes of the divine, custodians of power, and harbingers of destiny.

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Origins: The Children of Varaal and Tiamat

In the age before the Sundering, two divine beings—Varaal, the Scale Eternal, god of balance and elemental command, and Tiamat, the Mother of Endless Hunger, primordial queen of chaos and consumption—formed a cataclysmic union. From their union were born the True Dragons, the First Brood of Ammondell.

Varaal sought to shape protectors of elemental equilibrium. Tiamat, ever-hungry, aimed to create tyrants that would bend the world to her will. This divine dichotomy shaped the two great bloodlines:

• Metallic Dragons (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Brass): Manifesting Varaal’s vision, they represent wisdom, guardianship, and elemental harmony.
• Chromatic Dragons (Red, Blue, Green, Black, White): Born of Tiamat’s essence, they crave domination, treasure, and the unraveling of mortal order.

The union ended in betrayal when Tiamat attempted to consume Varaal’s divine essence. She was cast down and bound beneath the molten mantle of the world. Varaal, grievously wounded, vanished into the Celestial Veil, leaving his children to uphold balance—or descend into ruin.

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Biological Distinctions

True Dragons

• Form: Six-limbed creatures with four legs and two wings.
• Abilities: Capable of speech, innate spellcasting, breath weapons, shapeshifting, and rune-based magic.
• Life Cycle: Wyrmling to Ancient, growing in both size and power across millennia.
• Intelligence: Genius-level, often with vast hoards of knowledge and treasure.

Wyverns

• Form: Two hind legs and two wings.
• Abilities: Animalistic intellect, venomous tails, no spellcasting.
• Role: Often used as aerial beasts of war or guardians.

Drakes

• Form: Four-legged, wingless, and smaller than dragons.
• Abilities: Limited elemental breath; no magic; often used by Dragonborn as companions or steeds.
• Origin: Lesser offshoots or stabilized offsprings of early experiments by dragons and elemental spirits.

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Draconic Kin and Complex Relations

Dragonborn

The closest living kin to True Dragons, Dragonborn were shaped by Varaal and the First Brood as mortal envoys and scholars of the elemental balance. They inherited the capacity for breath weapons and rune magic, becoming technomagic pioneers who once rivaled elven archmages. Even now, they revere dragons—particularly metallic ones—as ancestral patrons.

Kobolds

Crafted by Tiamat’s hand from her discarded scales and breath, kobolds are cunning, survivalist, and innately loyal to chromatic dragons. Despite their size, they harbor deep ancestral memories and worship dragons as living gods. Some tribes believe that when Tiamat rises again, she will transform her faithful into dragons themselves.

Lizardfolk

Once considered dragonkin equal to the Dragonborn, the Lizardfolk were deeply attuned to the elemental will of Varaal. They held golden cities and elemental forges in the southern marshes and served as spiritual and military leaders during the early divine ages.

However, during the War of Undying Winter, when Hel’s undead armies swept across the world, the Lizardfolk betrayed Varaal. Desperate to survive and lured by Hel’s promises of preservation, they abandoned the Draconic Conclave and turned against the metallic dragons who had once uplifted them.

For their treachery, Varaal cursed them: stripping away their elemental gifts, dulling their bloodline, and diminishing their minds. Once noble and articulate, Lizardfolk were cast into a more primal state, driven by instinct over reason. Their betrayal remains a stain upon their lineage, and most dragons—particularly metallic ones—view them with sorrowful disdain or outright hostility. Attempts to reforge the ancient pact have failed, and few Lizardfolk even recall their former glory.

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Dragons in Historical Conflicts

The War of Undying Winter

Hel's icy dominion threatened all life when she unleashed legions of the dead across the mortal plane. White dragons—some corrupted by her will, others seeking opportunity—initially joined her. However, the Conclave of Flame, a coalition of metallic dragons and dragonborn, rose to halt her advance.

The turning point came at the Breaking of Frostvault, where the silver dragon Miraxis the Dawncryer shattered Hel’s citadel at the cost of her own life. Though the war ended in victory, it was at great cost—and the betrayal of the Lizardfolk marked a tragic fracture in dragonkind’s unity.

The War of Storm and Scale

This cataclysmic war pitted the Greatwyrms—ancient dragons embodying the fundamental forces—against the rising tide of elemental lords who sought dominion over the material world. The battle was fought not only with tooth and flame but through ancient Tempestrunes, complex magic encoded in draconic script that bent weather, gravity, and ley lines.

The war concluded with the Concord of the Elemental Wells, in which dragons withdrew from open planar warfare in exchange for sovereignty over specific material regions tied to the elemental forces.

Runic Magic and the Legacy of the Dragonborn

Runic Magic is the native tongue of dragonkind—scripted power derived from Varaal's divine alphabet. Dragons etched their power into stone, flame, and bone, creating complex arcana that defied traditional spellcasting. This practice was gifted to the Dragonborn, who refined it into technomagical disciplines: floating citadels, rune-etched armor, and leyline batteries.

While most arcane traditions rely on spoken word or somatic gestures, runic magic transcends the schools of magic, functioning more like programming the world’s essence.

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The War of Unraveling and the Corruption of Oaths

The War of Unraveling was the final breaking point for dragonkind. The Lich King, wielding a perverse mastery of oath and pact magic, tore through the spiritual bonds of knights, mages, and dragons alike. Using his unnatural Charisma and divine will, he corrupted chromatic dragons not through spells or disease—but through promises.

The Lich King offered them eternity, conquest, and supremacy, and many chose to bind themselves to his dominion. Through corrupted oaths, the Lich King shackled their very essence, turning pride into servitude. Those who resisted were slain or desecrated—transformed into dracoliches, skeletal engines of death.

Metallic dragons fought valiantly, but many were bound or driven into exile. The Runebinding Accord—the ancient magical contract uniting dragonkind—was shattered.

In the wake of The Lich King's fall, the world feared dragons anew. Survivors, both chromatic and metallic, were hunted, their hoards raided, their kind driven into the forgotten corners of the world.

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Modern Status and Legacy

Today, dragons are few, powerful, and divided:

• Metallic dragons hide in secret temples or roam the skies in disguise, seeking to undo the sins of the past.
• Chromatic dragons either lair in ruinous empires or lick their wounds, plotting resurgence under Tiamat’s gaze.
• Dragonborn strive to reclaim lost magic and shattered honor.
• Kobolds whisper in the dark, offering sacrifices to slumbering tyrants.
• Lizardfolk wander the swamps and jungles, remnants of glory they no longer understand.

Yet, the runes of Varaal still pulse in ancient vaults, and the breath of dragons yet stirs the mountains. When the world once again teeters on the brink—be it from Tiamat's return, the Lich King's rising, or the breaking of the final seal—the dragons may rise once more.

For they are not extinct.
They are eternal.