Indira
The Hoardless Dragon
Indira (pronounced in-DEE-rah), also known as the Hoardless Dragon, is one of the Anaetherials. She was a red dragon who eventually turned into a gold dragon, the first of the metallic dragons, and mother of all metallics. She transcended mortality due to her extreme selflessness and acts of charity towards all those in need.
Table of Contents
Dogma
Our time in the land of the living is a short one. Our attachment to the material blinds us to such a fact. There are things simply too valuable to price, for no matter how much gold one might have, they cannot be paid for. Instead, lend your prosperity to others, so that they might do the same to everyone. Cast away greed and envy, for having what others do not will not grant you happiness. That, you will find in the smiles of those around you, may they never be hungry, thirsty or sick. Let not a piece of shining metal have more value than the blinding shine of life, for coins come and go quickly by the dozen, but a life is fleeting and unique. Cast aside those who would fill their pockets for an empty existence, spending their own life instead of their fortune. Reject those who would sit on piles of gold while others wither away, hungry and forgotten. Every coin in your vaults is a weight on your soul, but in the hands of those in need, it will become hope.
History
Origins
Indira was born a red dragon in the early centuries of the Age of Heroes. She terrorized nearby settlements, demanding tribute in the form of gold and jewels, as most coloured dragons do. She was not, however, just another coloured dragon building her hoard. She sat highest amongst all dragons of the north, raining fire and terror from her cave in what is now the southern reaches of the Thousand Peaks, facing the Greywater Sea. The hoard of valuables in her possession rivaled, in value, the entire flow of gold of the rest of world at that time. Her constant ravaging of the nearby lands left their inhabitants beyond impoverished, made the soil nearly infertile, and deterred visitors, traders or sane adventurers from coming into her domain. Indira's tyranny extended even to members of her own species, of which she was the physically largest around, bullying them and taking their hoards as well. This earned her the reputation as the most vile and greedy dragon in existence at the time.
Dragon population tends to be low, relative to the lesser races. Even more so during the first millennium of the Age of Heroes. Indira's constant attacks against members of her own race left her with no willing partners. Not that she cared, for, eventually, she managed to produce a clutch of eggs.
[...] As far as the origin of her first clutch, few records exist about Indira's partner. If I had to make assumptions about his circumstances regardless, I'd probably look to the mating rituals of the black widow, who proceeds to devour her mate after copulation.
Road to Divinity
However, later accounts by Indira's devout tell of a partner, both willing and worthy, who not only sired her clutch, but also stayed with her until his untimely demise not long after, falling to a rare disease in his blood that he had, tragically, also passed on to their clutch.
Three hatchlings emerged from Indira's clutch, sickly and weak, barely managing to break out of their eggs. She knew immediately they were soon going to follow their father's fate. After loosing her one and only mate, the loss of her children was something she couldn't bear even the thought of. Unable to travel far, for fear of leaving her offspring unattended and vulnerable for extended periods of time, she sought for help in the nearby regions. Nevertheless, she was met with only the poverty and disarray she herself had brought upon the land.
Most of the survivors of her greed would not stay long enough to listen to Indira's words, running in fear, thinking it was another raid on their village. Desperate, she started bringing offerings of gold and jewels from her own hoard, in hopes of getting the interest of those who were more greedy than scared. But no matter how much gold she promised them, they all painted the same grim picture. Villages of the region were only inhabited by a handful of people; the elderly and those too impoverished to travel elsewhere. There were no physics, no herbalists, no mystics that could assist her. Defeated, she returned to her cave.
Days blurred past as Indira watched her children wither away, in much the same way her mate had. It was then that a villager from one of the nearby towns showed up at her cave entrance. She was in rags and tatters, clutching a barely breathing babe to her breast. It was a rare occurrence for anyone to approach her cave directly. Those who did, tended to be reckless adventurers and hunters who would soon meet their demise. But not this woman. She had heard about Indira's strange and surprisingly peaceful approaches to the villages. She had little to loose, then, if she asked for a meager coin. "So you can get medicine for your child?", the dragon asked. "No", replied the woman. "So she can get a last meal".
Indira saw in the woman's eyes the same defeat that she herself knew. She didn't reply. Looking down, eyes only for her children now, she swept her tail and pushed her some coins from her hoard. The woman waited in silence for a while, before taking the handout and promptly leaving. Then, there was silence.
A few months later, during a particularly stormy night, when the hatchlings were nearing their end, she saw them. Three adventurers, soaked, stood on the entrance to her cave. Even though she expected the worse, somehow, she was too grief stricken and tired to attack them. She simply put herself between the visitors and her children, wings spread, and waited. Then their mystic came forward, gesturing peacefully, and offering to look at her children's ailment. Without hesitation, she led them to her nest.
It was an arduous recovery, but the hatchings healed. Grateful beyond words, Indira offered them as much of her hoard as they could carry. They refused, to her astonishment. "We have already received payment for our service", the mystic told her. Confused, she inquired for an explanation. "The nearby village of Talon's Reach. They sought us out, traveled far and wide looking for someone who could and would help save a clutch of dragonlings". Her children safe, she departed soon after them, aiming for this village.
Talon's Reach remained the charred ruin Indira had left last time she had raided it, but it was now brimming with life in ways she hadn't seen in years in all the region. Children playing on the streets, people working on rebuilding, and what struck her as most odd, no one was running away. She was instead approached by a woman, carrying a rosy-cheeked baby. She asked her how her clutch was doing. Indira was surprised to discover that the gold she had given that night was not only enough to feed that child, but enough to afford medicine for the entire village, and then some more. "You saved your village,", the dragon pointed out, confusion evident in her voice, "but you sill live in the charred ruins I made of your homesteads.". The woman simply replied "That is just wood and stone. We know we can rebuild that. We'd rather no mother lose her children".
Transcendence
Having witnessed the acts of kindness of those lesser than her, despite how vicious and destructive she had been, Indira understood. It was the consequence of her greed that had almost killed her children, that had left this land devoid of hope and life, that had ended so many mothers and children. No more. She took the gold she had hoarded for centuries, the gold that did nothing sitting in her cave, but that did so much in the hands of others, and gave it back to all of them. The villages were rebuilt, bigger and richer than they ad even been before.
Decades passed, and Indira still hardly noticed any change in the size of her hoard. She the began traveling beyond the reaches of her wrath, and helped with the growth and prosperity of all those in need. Talon's Reach became a warm spot in her heart, where her children grew and played with the locals, helping them prosper, and keeping the farm animals in line. She reached out, and helped the villages of the realms now known as Varhöm, Hynia, the Vehrun Empire and the Briador Forests for the following century.
She kept giving away from her useless treasure to those in need until the day she died. Ancient, and in her last shedding, her dull and washed-out red scales gave way to a a pristine gold coat, something never seen before in a dragon. She passed away resting in Talon's Reach, surrounded by her dozens of children children, and the long descendants of the families she had helped rebuild. To all those other villages, those where she briefly passed and gave them blessings in the form of small fortunes, she was something akin to the divine, a bringer of hope and prosperity, and although the people of Talon's Reach knew her full well in person, they too shared that feeling. To all of them Indira had become more than a beast, more than a dragon, more than any mortal could ever hope to achieve. Upon her death, none who knew of her wept. Instead, they prayed. Prayed that she could get a rest worthy of someone who had given them all.
Upon crossing to the other side, while in the flow of souls of the Cycle of Life And Death, Indira was approached by Lunaris, guardian of the souls of the dead. Letting her soul pass on could very well unsettle the balance of the world, for the massive effect she had on the land of the living. Instead, she invited her to a realm entirely of her own, outside of the edges of The Void. She was granted reign over the Golden Vale and thus, left the land of the mortals, and became a divine of her own.
Indira the Selfless, first Golden Dragon. You have achieved in one life what many aspire to do in a dozen. You have touched the hearts of tens of thousands. They mourn your loss, and pray for you. Thousands of voices clamor your name, begging only for one thing: a resting place worthy of holding a heart as big and golden as yours. Come, the span of your golden wings has become much too large for the world of the living and the dead.
Relationships
Indira had more children than just her first clutch, and they would all, in time, shed to become metallic dragons themselves. For this, she is considered mother of all metallic dragons, and stands in firm opposition of the greed of the chromatic dragons.
The Beast
As the patron god of the chromatic dragons, and a selfish and cruel beast by nature, Indira despises this first child.
Ulos Goldfoot
Because this deity lives by a code of enforcing contracts, and frequently makes deals with those in greatest need in exchange for unfair and absurd requests, regardless of how poor or lost they may be, Indira loathes this Anaetherial. If it were possible to end him and the greed he breeds, she would do so without hesitation.
Ackriss
The Witchmother is a personally appalling and confusing creature for Indira, appearing as a neglecting mother who would simply breed, not caring for her offspring. What in life is worth anything more than the life of those you bring to the world?
Valen
Although Indira believes there is more to be done for others in life than in death, there is no denying in her heart that the sacrifice The Martyr made when fighting The Legion is one of the greatest acts of love to ever be done in the history of Namyria, and for this, she greatly respects him, and accepts him as an equal in the lines of the Anaetherials.
Appearance
Visages of Indira range from the smallest sights, like a golden vertical silt eye peering back in the reflection off a golden coin or chalice, to visions of a massive golden dragon in an empty and endless expanse.
Divine Intervention
Indira keeps mostly to herself, untethered from the material, to honor the request of all those who wished for her to have a peaceful rest. She does, however, respond to mortals who perform great acts of selflessness. Not easily, mind you, for any who perform selflessly to request her favour, aren't truly selfless in their motivation. Rather, she will offer rewards to those who do good without really expecting anything in return. It is common belief that desperate mothers struggling with sick children and ask for her aid, if worthy, will soon find unexpected help for the child.
Church
See article: Church of the Hoardless DragonDivine Domains
Selflessness, fortune, motherhood and metallic dragons
Divine Symbols & Sigils
The most traditional symbol used to depict Indira is a golden dragon claw above a falling golden coin. The coin is sometimes omitted for simplicity.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Indira wishes for a world without greed and envy, where no starving mothers or sickly children have to suffer. For this, she asks of her devout to perform acts of charity as often as they can, seeking to improve the lives of others with coin they will not use themselves.
Divine Classification
Anaetherial Ascended
Species
Realm
Church/Cult
Life
13000 B.X.
12000 B.X.
1000 years old
Children
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