Green Dragonborn
Green Dragonborn are a subspecies of Dragonborn, known for their green scales and usage of poison breath. Green Dragonborn descend from cunning and manipulative Green Dragons; masters of deception, social control, and domination. Their scales range from vibrant forest green to mottled emerald and mossy tones, often dulled or polished to blend with their social environment. Their slit-pupiled eyes are calculating and unblinking, always watching, always judging.
They inherit not just the poisonous breath of their draconic ancestors, but a near-instinctual sense for subtle power; how to influence, undermine, and erode a society from within. Even from a young age, they are keen observers of weakness, hierarchy, and control. Unfortunately, this leads many to become spies, courtiers, and conspirators; not because they must, but because they’re so very good at it. Yet not all Green Dragonborn embrace the path of manipulation. Some reject the parasitic instinct, forming a shadow society of self-policing guardians, hunting down their kin to prove the world wrong about them. This divide fuels their most painful truth: They are their own worst enemy.
Green Dragonborn soceities can be divided into two major factions: Jun'wo, and Jun'wen. Jun'wo preaches secrecy and hidden daggers, while Jun'wen preaches openness and honest combat. Both groups share the gift of verbal disarmament, and even Jun'wen Green Dragonborn are terrifying in debate; they just use their insight to heal, not to corrupt.
Green Dragonborn are feared, often ostracized, and rarely trusted, especially in high places. Rumors follow them like smoke: “They always know more than they let on,” “One of them ran the last king into exile,” or “They’ll poison your mind before your wine", but those who work to change that perception face immense inner and outer challenges.
Green Dragonborn often serve as political infiltrators, whether benevolent or malevolent, interrogators, spies, or courtiers, sought after by kings who want to understand lies, saboteurs of tyranny, some truly believing that the ends justify the means and conscience-driven agents; members of Jun'wen trying to be the moral check their race never had.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Jun'wo Green Dragonborn will train their young in espionage from an early age, training to be bureaucrats, lawyers, advisors, spies, courtiers, poisons experts, and criminal masterminds, by enrolling them in secret “mirror schools,” where lessons include social leverage, emotional disguise, and power hierarchy. Children learn the art of “toxin weaving”, mixing metaphorical poison (gossip, scandal, rumor) with the literal kind.
Jun'wen Green Dragonborn, however, focus on community building, intelligence work, social healing, and diplomacy, and their training usually involves resisting charm, interrogating intent, and diffusing paranoia.
Shared customary codes and values
Jun'wo soceities act as parasites on larger communities; living in covert clusters embedded within cities, governments, and noble houses. They rarely form overt “kingdoms” of their own, instead integrating themselves into existing civilizations and slowly subverting them for power. They build webs of influence, blackmail, marriage, and manipulation. Jun'wo societies focus on a few core tenets; mass control to ensure safety, fear keeps the weak in check, change must come from within and open conflict is for fools. Jun'wo leaders, known as Rootmasters or Spiral Lords, rule from the shadows. They rarely act directly, preferring suggestion, charm, and leverage to get what they want. They use their poisonous breath sparingly, typically in “accidents” or assassinations.
Jun'wen societies, however, attempt to diffuse these more parasitic tendencies. In opposition to the Jun'wo are Green Dragonborn who see the curse of perception around their kind, and fight to break the cycle. They build transparent, open communities, often in forests or on the outskirts of cities, offering aid, diplomacy, and moral philosophy. Much like Jun'wo, they also have their own core tenets, although these are more focused on collaboration; open and honest communication between themselves and others, truth can be used as a weapon, protect others from ourselves and evil is a choice that must be chosen, not determined by birth. Jun'wen Green Dragonborn train to understand manipulation not to wield it, but to disarm it. Many Jun'wen members serve as counter-spies, diplomats, or moral inquisitors, hunting down rogue Green Dragonborn who use their gifts to exploit others.
Common Etiquette rules
Jun'wen Green Dragonborn will often carry tokens made from cut greenstone, signifying honesty and transparency.
Art & Architecture
Jun'wo Green Dragonborn homes will often emulate other cultures, in order to maintain a veil of secrecy. Meanwhile, Jun'wen homes often express their creativity, and are open by design, featuring no locked doors or hidden spaces.
Historical figures
There are several historically relevant Green Dragonborn, including:
- Sevriss the Whisperspine. The leader of a Jun'wo society that brought down the city of Krel without war. Every noble family was either indebted, blackmailed, or replaced, until Sevriss revealed his web with a smirk and burned the royal archives in green flame.
- Meraya Leaftruth. A former Jun'wo enforcer turned Jun'wen inquisitor. She was known for dragging corrupt Dragonborn out of courts and executing them publicly, after forcing a full confession. Her emerald tattoos mark every Jun'wen noble she’s dismantled.
- Yharn 'Two Tongues' Velkris. A double agent who pretended to be an Jun'wen diplomat while secretly organizing a shadow coup… until he betrayed both sides and vanished. He is now a ghost story used to warn young Jun'wen scouts about the line between understanding evil and becoming it.
Encompassed species
Related Locations
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