Maliorax
Maliorax was a colossal Red Dragon that attacked the Elven City of Ilandorian in the year 168 BF. Thought to be one of the largest (and thus, oldest) Red Dragons ever to have been encountered, Maliorax savagely attacked the ancient Elven city for seven days and nights, before finally being killed by an unknown Elf defending the palatial stronghold known as the Castrum Immanis.
Maliorax is the name history has given the beast that attacked Ilandorian, but it is not known what the creature actually called itself. "Maliora" is Elvish for awful or the worst and it has become the moniker most commonly associated with the beast. It was determined by physical examination after the creature was slain that the beast was a male and was exceedingly old for a draconidae that was still capable of extended periods of flight.
The attack on Ilandorian by Maliorax took the lives of 467 Elves and destroyed roughly 20% of the city. Ample evidence for the attack still remains clearly visible to visitors even today, more than 400 years later.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
At the time of its death, Maliorax was measured to be 191' long from nose to tail, with a wingspan of 207' tip to tip. Its corpse weighed 30,800 pounds, and it maintained an internal temperature hot enough to boil water on its hide for more than 30 hours after its death. Its armored scales along its shoulders and back were more than a foot long and an inch thick.
Identifying Characteristics
Maliorax was noted to have significantly oversized talons on each of its feet that were strong enough to allow it to scale the nearly sheer sides of the butte upon which the Castrum Immanis was built. These talons left clear and still plainly visible scars on the living rocks under the castle that reach a depth of nearly an arm's length.
Special abilities
Maliorax was able to expel a stream of fire from its mouth that was hot enough to melt the surface of stone to glass and consume any organic material to ash in seconds. Observers of the attack on Ilandorian record several instances of horse and Elves being caught in this stream of fire and literally exploding due to the buildup of steam within their bodies before they could be entirely consumed by the fire. Its flaming breath would stick to surfaces of all types like a sticky liquid and burn until all it touched was reduced to ash and smoke.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Very little is actually known about the dragon prior to its attack in December of 168 BF. What is known is that the beast first approached the City of Ilandorian from the southwest, and it is thought that this might indicate that it originated in the western regions of the wild Arak Mountains. Due to the known size and weight of the beast (measured and confirmed without doubt after the beast was slain), a confident estimate of its age can be made and is generally agreed to be more than 270 years old.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Maliorax arrived at the walls of Ilandorian late in the afternoon of an early December day, and his attack on the Elven city lasted seven days and seven nights. No definitive reason for the attack has ever been established other than the instinctive tendency of Red Dragons to attack population centers for prey and treasure, both of which Ilandorian had in abundance in 168 BF.
Representation & Legacy
The most obvious evidence of Maliorax still extant is the massive skull that has been preserved as a memorial to the nearly 500 dead victims of the beast's attack. It is located at the city's entrance causeway to the Castrum Immanis and is impossible to miss as one approaches the castle gates.
A painting of the fight between Maliorax and the unknown hero that died slaying the beast.
The skull of Maliorax on display at the causeway entrance to the Castrum Immanis
Red Death, the Worst
