The Wasteland dragons of the Ardelphia Wastes
[150 years ago, the area around Ardelphia in north-west Darokin was reasonably fertile, with fields and farming near the city tailing off into scrubby hills which gave way to mountains. An ideal setting for copper dragons, and a family of copper dragons had indeed made their home in the hills around.
Then came the disaster of Ardelphia, as described in The Wastes of Ardelphia. This transformed the city and the area around into a wasteland, and changed the copper dragons into corrupted forms of themselves, their once-burnished scales dimmed to the color of rust and soil, their crests and horns have gone grey and withered. Copper dragons no longer, they are now The Wastelands dragons of the Ardelphia Wastes Wasteland dragons (from Paizo's Tome of Beasts), rulers over the shattered lands below..
The embittered dragons have had plenty of reason to dig into what happened and why, in the hopes of finding a way to reverse it. They have determined it was a magical explosion which rent the fabric of the world apart and created a rift to a negative plane, letting in a blast of the corrupting powers, and they blame wizards for dabbling in things they didn't understand and couldn't control. Consequently they blame spellcasters and hate them with a passion, going out of their way to harrass and kill them wherever they encounter them.
When not looking for spellcasters to take their ire out on, they roam the wastes looking for edible creatures to feed on - a difficult task given the level of corruption. They subsist on the twisted descendants of giant lizards, scorpions, bullywugs, bugbears, goblins ankhegs and axe beaks which roam the lands, and when desperate they have also been known to raid the city ruins for zombies, ghouls and ghasts. They also kill any manes and dretches they find, although even in their corrupted form they find the flesh of these demonic creatures inedible. They also feast off the raiding parties of orcs, goblins and hobgoblins when they pass through, but even these have become few and far between now. Any occasional wanderers in search of treasure are also considered fair game, even if they don't have spell-casters among their number, although some who have escaped with their lives have spoken of bargains and demands of clearing the stain from the land in return for safe passage.
Scientific Name
Draco corruptus
Origin/Ancestry
Previously copper dragons magically corrupted
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