Dragon

Gargantuan-scaled beasts of legend, dragons are treacherous monsters that conquer the land, steal valuables, and kill armies that stand in their way. Dragons blur the line between construct and organic being, originally created to be the puppets of the divine they gained sentience and went on to rule Great Eethill- for a time.

Biology and Powers

What should be unsurprising to most is the size of dragons, hatchlings born either half or the full height of an adult human. They grow to be the size of castles and in incredibly rare cases, the size of an entire city. Their colored scales have the texture and durability of metal but are made from various elements, materials, creatures, and whatever the creator could find.
Draconic souls are much more powerful than that of a mortal, their mana production so great that it could satisfy the average dragon’s need for nourishment (resulting in most dragons not needing to eat or drink). Mana production of this size is taxing to the dragon’s energy, forcing it to hibernate once every few years (the length of this hibernation varies). Even after meeting the nutritional needs of the beast, the dragon still has mana left to spare, storing the extra power in a small chamber in its throat. The dragon can use the extra mana to turn it into a blast of elemental force that exits the dragon’s mouth.
Being constructs, dragons don’t reproduce like most other creatures would. When a dragon wishes to procreate, it begins to use items from its hoard and collect materials from around its lair to create a large nest. The dragon then constructs an egg in the center of the nest, which can be made from a variety of materials, leaving it hollow except for one of its scales. For the next three years, the dragon will breathe its extra mana from its throat chamber into the egg (without turning it elemental) until the hatchling is ready to be born.

Creation

Dragons were created by Tiamat as vessels for gods, but when trying to control one, she went mad and unintentionally created a wave of divine magic that gave life to all the other vessels. Under the effects of madness and with an entire army of powerful creatures unknown to the world to support her, she began a campaign to take Great Eethill.

History

Dragon's Rule

Toward the beginning of the Awakened Generation, Tiamat followed by her army of chromatic dragons entered the Mortal Realm and ate the King of Vuruesis. From that point forward they claimed Vuruesis and their influence swiftly swept across the continent. Content with their current rule, Tiamat's rule temporarily stopped at the borders of the continent as she planned to go forward. It was this era in which the Cult of the Living Constructs began, the development of draconics in other creatures, and the rise of heroes to eventually stop the tyrant such as Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table.

Return to Great Eethill / The Great Dragon Migration

During the events of Campaign 1: Fate's Warriors, the vaults the dragons were sealed in opened, freeing the imprisoned dragons who took Great Eethill decades before. To the surprise of most, instead of attempting to return to power and reclaim their territories and treasure hoards, most disappeared to the northwest. Others flew to different continents and some stayed in Great Eethill.

Hunter’s Notes

Dragons are incredibly dangerous regardless of what stage of life it's at. They are durable, deadly, and greatly intelligent. Dragons understand concepts such as currency, worth, trade, magic, strategy, and deception, so if a hunter plans on taking down a dragon they must do so with a great sum of planning and caution.
Dragons do have their fair share of weaknesses, as most creatures do, their scales may seem indestructible but nothing can be further from the truth. With enough force from specialized equipment, a scale can be smashed or pulled off the dragon, leaving its soft muscle exposed to attacks. Removing or destroying scales may not be necessary either, as any who has experienced combat against armored opponents know, you don’t strike the plate mail but stab at the spaces in between. The easiest way of going about the scales however, is covering your weapons in dragon’s bane oil will turn the scales into an element when contacted with, easily removing the beast’s armor.
It may also be necessary to note a gargantuan misconception when it comes to a dragon’s hoard. As stated before dragons understand the concept of wealth, and many assume they steal treasure and create these hoards because dragons are greedy creatures who care nothing but their value. This is false, dragons create their hoards out of strategic paranoia. Dragons are smart, they understand that, just because a creature is smaller than them, doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of killing it. They know the best shot mortals have at harming them is through the use of enchanted weaponry, items, and spells, which is why dragons take them, and they steal currency to make sure they cannot purchase the materials needed to create more of these items. Even the locations where dragons lair is based on this paranoia, stationing themselves in locations that would starve nearby settlements of their resources.
With this in mind, you should conduct the following plan if you’re going after a dragon. First, locate its lair, identify the type, size, and age of the dragon, and map out its lair. It is important not to face the dragon during this stage, the less the dragon knows of its possible death the better.
If you’re lucky you can catch the beast during its hibernation. If that’s the case, it should be easy to take a weapon from the dragon’s hoard and sneak up on the beast. If it's small enough then striking it through the eye should be more than enough damage to slay it, otherwise it would be best if the mana chamber was targeted. It wouldn’t defeat the dragon and would provoke a fight but at the very least you wouldn’t have to face its terrifying breath and have the weapons from its hoard.
A final warning, because of their more unnatural origins, dragons don't die incredibly well. To be more specific, unlike when a mortal dies, the dragon's mana doesn't slowly burn itself out of the body. Instead, it all releases at once in an elemental explosion. This can be prevented by absorbing its mana before it explodes but is in itself deadly, the chances of being able to safely contain that amount of mana at once is slim.

Genetic Descendants

• Dragonborn

Scientific Name

Draconic / Construct

Metal Dragons

Dragons that were created with primarily inorganic material become more metallic, resulting in some dragons appearing to be made out of certain metals. There are little difference between metal and chromatic dragons except that metallic dragons tend to be more neutral towards creatures and don't typically attack mortals unless provoked.