Kornarak

For the country, see Kornarak

The blue dragon ruler, Kornarak. His egg was first brought to the capital city, then known as Kumajaba, by ██████████. He was presented to King Abidemi Kone. King Abidemi considered the hatching and rearing of the wyrmling to be his life's accomplishment. The young dragon was passed on to his sons, and then his son's sons, as Kornarak grew bigger. He grew in size nearly as quickly as his ego grew. King Abidemi fed into the ego, teaching the wyrmling stories of great dragons. Foolishly, he thought that he could temper the dragon towards good. The dragon learned to speak within months, and King Abidemi spoiled the young dragon. He ate the best meat, and increased his horde every year with coins, jewelry, and other trinkets. The dragon was perhaps regarded as a pet at first, placed on the lap of his king, sprawled in the sunlight during meetings, taken out for walking and flying. The creature's ability with language of course elevated him above any normal pet, and he was never restrained or leashed. Still, like any small child he used this freedom for mischief. At first the young dragon kept to theft and arson. Anything shiny and unattended was at risk of appearing in the dragon's treasure horde, and small items were often found scorched, burns of lightening ripped through them. It was the disappearance of a palace aid that should have been the first sign of the true destruction to come. He was seen in the palace in the morning, but by the afternoon he was missing, and then never seen again. Rumor circulated about the dragon, but King Abidemi would hear nothing about it. He found the theft humorous, and would often attempt to barter with the dragon, buying back items. The damaged property was only addressed when the hall's floor cracked. To this day, the tiles to the throne have the imprint of the damage, a clear scorch where each branch of lightening can be traced across the floor. After that, the king designated an area outside of the city where sand was piled, and Kornarak could expend his weapon without harming the palace.

When King Abidemi died, Kornarak mourned his death as a son losing a father. The main difference of course being his young temper and the great destruction he could cause that had been taught nearly no restraint. The Glass Walk was remodeled in tribute of King Abidemi, but the houses that once stood there were given no regard when the dragon took out his grief within the city walls. Starting with his son's rule, Nirajan, the dragon was far more present. Still present in the halls of advisors, he spoke up and proved himself a capable advisor in his own right. King Nirajan had a poor handle on the dragon, and for days at a time, Kornarak would disappear. For the people, this was often a relief, as the dragon demanded more food with every day it seemed. Work was good for herders, and cattle were quickly becoming an important resource. Traditional cattle survived poorly in the harsh desert, but a few generations of breeding encouraged a hardier, but smaller and long-legged bovine that survived fine on the spiny plants and limited water of the desert. It was during the rule of Nirajan that Kornarak slowly became to be seen as a protector. On one outing, the young dragon swooped upon a bulette ravaging a herder. Kornarak dove on the creature, dredging it from the sands and dispatching it quickly with tooth, claw, and lightening. The praise he received from the herders was nothing compared to the rewards he received from King Nirajan, who perhaps thought that the dragon's temper had finally diminished. From then on, the times when Kornarak was gone were most often accompanied by stories of slain creatures, usually gnoll, beasts, or other monstrosities. When more pressing dangers were noticed, the people would call upon King Nirajan to send "his dragon" to dispatch it. Nirajan also took note of the dragon's fearsome presence, and took the advantage to expand their territory, officially claiming the grasslands around the Ar Malaha desert, and even the mountains above it.

King Shakir took up the throne when his father Nirajan passed. Kornarak withdrew for a time, but the lack of destruction seemed to indicate the mellowing of the dragon. Those who held to this hope were proven wrong when only a few years into Shakir's rule, he was assassinated. Kornarak snatched him one day in the throne room in his teeth, and flew out the doors. The King fell to his death somewhere far in the desert. When Kornarak returned a few days later, he proclaimed ownership of the country, and no one challenged him. King Shakir's family had fled the city when Kornarak and Shakir did not return.

While many feared that the rule of a dragon would be oppressive, the people found that not much changed. While Kornarak demanded a tribute, this tax wasn't that different from the Kone's rule. Cattle, coins and trinkets accumulated in Kumajaba, and eventually the dragon began to refer to the entire city simply as his horde. Horde exploded in ostentatious wealth. The surrounding countryside was strangely still occupied by mainly cattle farmers and small nomadic communities, that could care less which tyrant collected the taxes. But, this one did bring protection, and to many, this was an improvement over the stories told of past, dangerous generations. While the country maintained an army, the mere presence of the dragon and the hostile territory he protected discouraged most wars.