Dragonborn

Dragonborn in Wildemount

Wildemount was the cradle from which all dragonborn civilization grew. The city-state of Draconia rose in the Dreemoth Ravine along the southern edge of the continent, when foreign dragonkin fleeing the gods' wrath during the Calamity forged an alliance with native dragonborn already dwelling there. The colonizing dragonborn, who called themselves draconbloods, worked with the native dragonborn, called ravenites, to build a society that could withstand the wandering monsters of Xhorhas. However, Draconia swiftly descended into corruption and bigotry, and the draconblood ruling class betrayed and enslaved their ravenite kin.
Twenty years ago, Draconia was destroyed by the ire of the mighty Chroma Conclave, and the city-state's ruins were occupied by an ancient white dragon named Vorugal. The chaos of the attack upended draconblood civilization, and the ravenite slaves rose up and drove their former masters from the Dreemoth Ravine. Now masters of their own fate, the ravenite dragonborn have rebuilt their home within the ravine and have begun to spread out across the world.
Draconbloods possess long tails and a knack for social manipulation. They remember the days when they were once mighty conquerors.
Ravenites have no tails and a hearty physique. They remember the days when they were slaves to the draconblood, as well as the day when they overthrew their masters.

Dragonborn in the Dwendalian Empire

The Dwendalian Empire has seen a massive influx of dragonborn since the fall of Draconia. Most of the draconblood nobles who fled into the empire tried to use their grandiloquent names and titles to earn favors and prestige. But without the power of a nation-state behind them, many of those former slave owners were forced into lives of farming or hard labor. Some in the empire speak in awed whispers of the "former dragonborn princes" who now live as paupers, while others scoff at these haughty dragonborn's delusions of grandeur.
Many ravenites have journeyed to the Dwendalian Empire in the years since the death of Vorugal, but the first of those found a colder reception than was given their former masters. The empire had no desire to grant asylum to revolutionaries, and would have turned the ravenites away had the Cerberus Assembly not intervened. For reasons unknown, the Assembly created the shantytown of Talonstadt for displaced ravenites, allowing them to trade labor for lodging there.

Dragonborn on the Menagerie Coast

Many of the draconbloods fleeing their ruined city-state settled among the people of the Clovis Concord. Some had beach homes and private villas to flee to, and were able to establish businesses with the money they had stashed away there. Others were not so fortunate, and were forced to take menial jobs to make ends meet. Many residents of the Clovis Concord feel a twinge of sympathy for the draconblood exiles, but most commoners who have any knowledge of the ravenite uprising see this life of servitude as just punishment.
Many of the ravenites who travel to the warm sands of the coast are merchants or wealthy generals or politicians on vacation. As such, all ravenites on the Menagerie Coast are assumed to have wealth-even exiles or penniless adventurers. Any tailless dragonborn who wanders through the cities of the Clovis Concord must constantly fend off hucksters, peddlers, and thieves.

Dragonborn in Xhorhas

Countless draconbloods fled into the wastes of Xhorhas in search of asylum, and some even dared approach the intimidating walls of Rosohna. The dark elves of the Kryn Dynasty were eager to welcome these formerly isolated people into their ranks-though their reasons for doing so were less than altruistic. More dragonborn living within range of the Luxon's beacons deepens the well of experiences that drow engaged in anamnesis can draw from, bringing their people closer to true enlightenment. The dark elves have no interest in the rift between the draconbloods and the ravenites, and treat both peoples as equals.

Dragonborn in Tal'Dorei

The dragonblood of Exandria are a people of unknown origin, and countless myths surround their ancestral creation. One particularly pervasive tale states that draconblood were created by the Scaled Tyrant and the Platinum Dragon during the Calamity, serving as loyal soldiers who eventually earned their freedom. Regardless of how they came into being, though, the draconblood lived for many centuries in relative isolation in the southern wastes of Xhorhas, on the continent of Wildemount.
Today, draconblood live all over Exandria, though they remain a scarcer sight in Tal’Dorei than in Wildemount. Their spread across the world was hastened by the assault against the free peoples of Exandria by the Chroma Conclave. During that conflict, the ancient white dragon known as Vorugal the Frigid Doom destroyed the magical city-state of Draconia, the ancestral homeland of most draconblood.
The destruction of Draconia and the loss of many of its people was a tragedy. But to roughly half the draconblood of Exandria, it also marked the end of an oppressive regime. Draconblood of Exandria can either be born with a tail or without. In Draconia, those with tails were called draconians or draconblood, for they were seen as closer in form and power to true dragons. Those without tails were given the name of ravenites and enslaved. Their blood and toil built the mighty towers of Draconia, yet the ravenites enjoyed none of their city’s splendor. The ruin of Draconia thus marked the start of an era of freedom and self-determination for the ravenites.
In Tal’Dorei, it’s apparent that any differences between the ravenites and the draconians have nothing to do with bloodline or draconic power. Those differences are cultural, and rooted in a past whose conflicts still haven’t been resolved. The oppression that existed in Draconia remains largely unknown within Tal’Dorei to this day, and outside of major cities such as Emon, dragonblood can go for months, even years, without seeing another of their kind.

Draconians

The tail-bearing draconians who survived the destruction of Draconia have been scattered across the world. In the time that’s passed since the fall of the dragonblood city-state, a generation of draconbloods have grown up in Tal’Dorei’s towns and cities, disconnected from their parents’ privileged upbringing. Only a scant few draconians—typically ones able to teleport away from Vorugal’s attack—escaped with any sort of wealth. Most other refugees were lucky simply to escape with their lives.

Clinging to the Past

A social divide continues to grow between draconians who have wealth and those who don’t. Many of those with wealth greedily cling to the shadows of their former tyrannical glory, but other draconians seek instead to bury the past and create their own destiny, on their own merits.

Ravenites

Following the end of the Draconian order, the ravenites ventured into the world eager to make the most of their newfound freedom. In the generation since, many have formed a new homeland in Xhorhas known as Xarzith Kitril, content to reclaim the lands of their birth. Those ravenites who departed Wildemount have found a new home in the cities and the icy north of Tal’Dorei, where they enjoy the freedom and privileges of equality that this land provides.

Rebuilding from Scratch

Most ravenite children grew up poor, either in slum towns at the edges of cities like Emon and Westruun, or helping their parents laboriously carve out rural lives in the Dividing Plains or Cliffkeep Mountains.