Is there a more classic fantasy creature than dragons? Many different real world cultures have legends or myths and many different fantasy settings have takes on dragons. They are also the only monster in the name of the biggest fantasy rpg. They can invoke fear, wonder or majesty depending on their handling in the setting or scene.
Dragons started being developed in Gal Hadre early on, very quickly it was determined that the first dragons rebelled against the gods. At some point, these first dragons became the first and most powerful creations of the gods, the neverborn. Later, arcane magic became strongly related to dragons, with each of the now eight nevernborn being intimately linked to a different of the 8 paths of dragon magic. Thus you will see the result of this iterative development that I hope has put an interesting and slightly different spin on a classic fantasy creature.
The neverborn are ancient beyond reckoning, perhaps the tund have records dating back to near that era held within the most ancient archives of the shard cities. Thousands of years ago, the neverborn, having tired of simply being the greatest servants of the gods, they, their descendants and servants rebelled against the gods. The War of the Neverborn raged across a multitude of planes and despite its horror and apocalyptic destruction really ended in a stalemate. The gods had driven the neverborn from heaven, perhaps even slain some of them, though no real records exist and neither the gods nor the neverborn would speak of such a thing. What other paths of draconic magic might have once existed are long lost to all the planes.
Since then the nevernborn have endlessly plotted to corrupt and subvert creation to their own ends. Over centuries, their bitterness and anger have only deepened. Now however, they move far more subtly than they did during the War of the Neverborn. They work through the younger generations of dragons and their many servants, those both openly sworn to their service and those hidden in secret dragon cults.
The later generations are known by their distance from the neverborn, starting with their children, the firstborn dragons. Nearly as dangerous as their parents, the firstborn are almost definitely immortal, there has certainly not been one that has died of old age. Now almost never seen outside of the plane of darkness and evil, when they do they are a terror to all mortals. Killing one is nearly impossible, and would make it’s slayer a legend.
Then there are ancient secondborn, the oldest of their generation, that will certainly die within a few thousand years. It is known that the oldest thirdborn have died of old age, but even among the relatively active younger generations of dragon their lifespans are measured in the thousands of years.
When the people of Gal Hadre think of dragons, they think of the fourth and fifthborn. Large, dangerous and at least somewhat frequently seen. They are possible, if difficult to kill and darkly beautiful. They are also old enough to have amassed enough items of value in their lair to potentially make the risk worth taking.
The youngest dragons are sixthborn, ranging from a handful of decades to several hundreds of years old. Most are still exploring their many abilities and are eager to prove their worth to the neverborn’s cause. They are by far the most active dragons, and also the weakest and most likely to be slain by mortals. Soon they will begin giving birth to seventhborn dragons and move up the hierarchy.
All dragons are deeply tied to one of the eight paths of dragon magic, but it seems like a toss-up which of their parents' paths they inherit. Their talents grow as they age and elder dragons' arcane powers are even more potent than their physical ones. Most dragons are fiercely cunning and they tend to develop their own unique spells. It is thought that all draconic magic somehow draws on the power of the neverborn, an ethical question that challenges many of the great thinkers of the world.
Dragon’s evil plans can be long and convoluted and they hold slights like no other. More than one family line has been destroyed by a dragon’s revenge against the descendants of one who has foiled their plans before. Unfortunately for dragons, they rarely coordinate their schemes, and not infrequently accidentally interfere with each other. Dragons are extremely competitive and are constantly vying for the favour and attention of their elders. It is entirely possible that dragons have killed more of their own kind than all other species put together.
Draconic blood is deeply powerful and even limited exposure forever changes any mortal exposed to it. But each type of draconic blood has a different effect. Death dragon blood creates vampires, life dragon blood creates creatures that gain strength with exposure to the sun. Air/wind dragon blood increases the agility of a creature, but also turns them into dark oracles that glimpse possible futures. Others grant abilities of similar power but twisted to the specific of their own paths. Few mortals survive attempts to consume more than one type of dragon blood, the rare survivors are hideously mutated and horrifically powerful. Regardless of the blood type, all dragonblooded can use the path of dragon blood they were exposed to.
Occasionally, dragons shake all stealth and surge forth in numbers mortals cannot stop. While there are inevitably draconic casualties, they cause mass chaos and smash civilizations back to the stone age. Interestingly the gods have not actively responded to these dragonstorms, ultimately seeing them as the tantrums of petty children that ultimately don’t compromise creation. The Tund suggest that there have been 3 dragonstorms to date, each of which has largely reset the technology level of the material realm.
Hopefully you enjoyed learning a bit about the neverborn and other dragons of Gal Hadre. What other types of creatures in Gal Hadre are you interested in learning about?
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