(See also Mere Dragon)

Dragons are one of the oldest races on Ghea in several senses. They first arrived on Ghea tens of thousands of years ago, when the race that would one day be known as "the First Gods" was still living in caves. These first dragons were a group of explorers from an alien dimension; unfortunately, they found out too late that the magical vibrations of Ghea's universe were radically different from their own. In their native universe, the dragons had been telepathic and telekinetic, but on Ghea their telekinesis simply didn't work. They were unable to operate the controls for their dimensional-travel machine with only claws to work with, and were stranded on an unfamiliar world.

Stripped of most of their technological capability, the dragons retreated as humanity expanded, hiding in remote mountain and desert fastnesses. Slow to breed, their numbers did not increase with any speed. As the eldest of them died due to accident or conflict with humans, the true story of their origins was forgotten. Ghea's native humans eventually rose to civilization and control of both magic and technology. Very little is known about how the dragons survived this period of Ghean history. However, the very incompatibility with Ghean magic which had been the source of their downfall was also a boon: if they could not use Ghean magic, neither could it affect them.

With the collapse of the First Gods' civilization, the dragons came into their own. They were well able to survive the catastrophe and during this period many dragons established themselves as rulers of vast territories. The rise of the Folstrom (see Folstrom) and their discovery of the spells which could penetrate the dragons' magical immunity was the greatest tragedy in draconic history. Thousands of dragons were enslaved by the Folstrom, and thousands were killed in their wars or lost in Chaos Gates before the counterspells were discovered. Most of the oldest and most powerful dragons were among the dead and missing, and so a large part of the history of the dragon race was lost with them. Modern dragons have only a limited knowledge of their past.

Since the Folstrom defeat, the dragons have once again lain low, allowing humans to kill each other off in their periodic wars. Dragons are not affected by Chaos madness, and so can live in blighted areas like the Twisted Lands without problems.

Ghean dragons run from twenty to fifty feet in length, with a wingspan of approximately twice their length. They breathe fire and hoard treasure in the usual way of dragons. They have a tough, supple hide which is highly valued for its beauty and durability. Young dragons are green. As they grow older they acquire a more golden sheen, and fully mature beasts (age 100 or greater) are completely gold. Dragons who live to be 500 or more develop silver patterns, and some individuals turn completely silver. The average life-span of a dragon is unknown; though they are susceptible to disease and injury, they do not seem to age much. They may be near-immortal if not killed. Dragons reach physical maturity at the age of 100 or so, but they often do not mate for centuries; when they do, it is generally for life. They are warm-blooded and, depending upon the availability of food, may bear either live young or eggs. Only one or two dragonets are born at a time; the second of a litter is usually killed unless food is extremely plentiful--dragons require a very large hunting range. (This is done to ensure that at least one dragonet will survive healthy; the parents are very protective of the remaining hatchling. The female will not conceive again until the dragonet is at least 50 years of age.)

Dragons are extremely clever and dangerous in a fight, using their flaming breath, teeth, claws, tail, and a multitude of dirty tricks. An average dragon can breathe a jet of flame from fifty to a hundred feet long; the fire is magically generated and does not "run out." (Though injury, shock, etc. might well force a stop.) Few living Alastarians have spoken to one, but it is rumored that they can speak human languages if they choose (they are telepathic; their mouths are not at all suited for forming speech). The legendary draconic persuasiveness is a reflection of their mental talents; an adult dragon is capable of influencing or (in the case of gullible or weak-willed persons, or most animals) controlling the thoughts of up to a dozen people. (The more people they try to influence at once, the weaker the control will be.) It is possible to overcome a dragon's influence--indeed, there are many legends of heroes or villains bending a dragon's will to their own and forcing it into serving them, as the Folstrom did.

Dragons may be found alone or with a mate; larger gatherings are rare and usually portend trouble for someone. They prefer mountainous terrain for their lairs and seldom venture onto the plains because they have difficulty in taking off from level ground. Dragons are exceedingly light for their size, and far more fragile than they want people to believe, having hollow bones and other weight-saving adaptations that allow them to fly.

Dragons seem to enjoy the craftsmanship of mortals. Young dragons may be indiscriminate in what they steal, but older ones often have exquisite taste and may be induced to trade lesser items for one of greater artistic worth. Not all dragons hoard what humans would consider "treasure"--Zyllix, the dragon of Aradi, was discovered after his death to have a collection made up entirely of lamps. (Some of them were valuable, of course, but by no means all of them.) Dragons attach great social importance to hoards, and the condition, variety, scarcity or difficulty of preservation of a hoard may count more than actual cash value.

Despite their solitary natures on the physical level, dragons are social mentally, and carry on long-distance mental conversations, debates, arguments, gossip, and for all humans know, plays and art critiques. Dragon society might be compared to a huge telepathic computer network, where the individual users rarely meet in person but nonetheless know each other quite well. Dragons often seem to crave conversation with someone physically present; this may account for their propensity towards trying to trick intruders into their lairs into riddle-games, contests, and whathaveyou before eating them.

Dragons have no formal government, but they definitely have a hierarchy of command. An older dragon is able to impose his or her will upon younger relatives and descendants through a combination of mental ability and tradition. Dragon society is therefore a web of interconnected family groups, led by the oldest and most powerful members of the family. A family's status is dependent upon the number of dragons in it, the extent and condition of the members' hoards, the amount of physical territory its members hold, and the cunning and persuasiveness of the leaders. There are about a dozen important dragon families of fifteen to twenty members each, and several dozen smaller families of three to fourteen members each, plus a number of solitary, clanless dragons. Older dragons in a family will usually arrange matings for their offspring in order to form alliances with another powerful family. A mated pair may, after the terms of their mating contract are fulfilled, choose to start their own family line--if they can secure their own territory. This may be difficult, as most of the prime dragon real estate is already inhabited by other dragons. Territory may be bought, sold and traded between families, but it may also be fought over.

There are few dragons in Alastari proper. Alastari is the physical site of the greatest tragedy in draconic history (their enslavement and slaughter by the Folstrom) and dragons tend to avoid it even yet; they have a long memory and most definitely hold grudges.

The largest population of nearby dragons is in the Twisted Lands, which is inhabited by two dragon families of moderate means who have allied. The next nearest dragon community is in the Drakenfell Mountains on the Rirorni/Ratan border, which is inhabited by several small families of only a few members each. Gryzash and Araminth came from this area; their parents, Feriale and Yrioth, still live there. Feriale is a comparatively young dragon, beautiful and ambitious, who wishes to make their small family more important and who is not pleased that both of her drakelings have chosen to involve themselves in human affairs. Yrioth is an ancient and powerful dragon, one of the few older dragons to survive the Folstrom. His plans and ambitions are far more long-term and inscrutable than his mate's, and he has been known to have dealings with Sheila Greywand.

Dragons may be successfully killed in a number of ways--however, dragons themselves have spread much misinformation about their vulnerabilities or the lack thereof. Given their scarcity in modern Alastari, much of what people think they know about them is likely to be mere fantasy. Above all, a dragon is intelligent and devious--many a dragon-hunter has been foiled or killed without even catching a glimpse of the beast he pursued. Dragons are naturally resistant to most magic and poisons, and can fry most short-range weapons before they can be brought into play. They are most vulnerable to long-range weapons like catapults. Note that a dragon's resistance to magic can be a liability as well as an asset; combat spells won't affect them, but neither would a healing spell.

The only spells that work reliably on dragons are those based on the old Folstrom control spells. These spells are virtually unknown in Alastari (the humanoid races of Alastari were also enslaved by the Folstrom, and when the Folstrom Empire fell, all trace of their works was destroyed by the vengeful rebels). The knowledge does survive in the far southern kingdoms, where dragons are more common, but of course, the dragons themselves have kept the counterspells as their most closely guarded secret.

There are several known dragons in Alastari, the most famous being the Dragon of Tobir, which, according to legend, last showed itself a hundred years or so ago and carried off the Lord of the city's eldest son. This dragon's name is not known to the public (she was Zarmiris). Zarmiris was killed in 502 when the manager\priest Barthanes Gallandrian persuaded her to help him attack the city of Zukal; she was slain in an attack on the Zukalite Mage's Guild. Jytaren Yshli, the master of the Guild, sold her carcass piecemeal to pay for repairs to the Guild and the city (authentic dragon parts cost a fortune). Her skeleton was sold entire to the necromancer Lerk of Valamantis, who made it into a zombie of sorts. The dragon-zombie was later destroyed. The dragon whose bones were found on Aradi is also unidentified (he was Zylleix).

Gryzash the Golden, ruler of Sibikhas, is a dragon who has taken on human form--so far, this is unknown to anyone except Gryzash, and presumably, a few other dragons. This shapechanging ability is not common to all dragons. It is the result of a Folstrom-derived spell Gryzash obtained from a Ratani wizard several hundred years ago. The spell is specifically tailored for Gryzash; if another dragon attempts to use it, it will work for awhile and then cease due to the dragon's innate magic resistance. How long it takes for the spell to break down depends on how closely the dragon is related to Gryzash. His sister was able to use it for approximately seventy-five years before it began to stop working; a less closely related dragon might only be able to use it successfully for ten or twenty years--not long for a creature so long-lived. In human terms Gryzash is an extremely old and cunning being, and it is not likely that he has shared his secret with very many others.

Gryzash's younger sister, Araminth Goldeneye, was for several years the spy reporter in the Free Blades arena. She was attempting to escape the mating alliance her parents had planned by stealing Gryzash's shapechanging spell and hiding in human form. Though she kept her true nature secret for some time, it was eventually discovered by the arena warriors when the spell began to break down. Araminth and the Free Blades Lord Protectors were instrumental in ending the Rirorni War, undertaking a mission deep into the heart of the Rirorni Empire and assassinating the Rirorni Leader Zefrax Khan. Araminth's current whereabouts are not known. Unbeknownst to her, Sheila Greywand had made a deal with her parents to return her to their custody in exchange for the help of the dragons in the Rirorni war, and she was taken off the Isle of the Eye by her father and has not been seen since.

Another solitary dragon lives to the north of Alastari. Tyrexisloc was one of the dragons who was enslaved by the Folstrom as a mount during the period of the Folstrom Empire, several thousand years ago. The Folstrom were engaged in exploring the Gates and often sent their dragons in first to make sure that a particular Gate was safe. When the sorcerers of Alfhame finally came up with a counterspell which would break the Folstrom's control of the dragons, a number of the freed dragons simply stayed in the Gates they'd been sent into. Tyrexisloc was one of these. When Tyrex returned to Ghea, he had a large number of creatures under his command. When Tyrex exited the Gate on the other side he gained a following among the beings living in the world there. Although he began his conquest of these creatures through his mental abilities, his servants now believe in his cause and serve him willingly--he only has to use his powers on the occasional trouble-maker or rebel. Once back on Ghea, Tyrex used his army to conquer the dwarven kingdom of Ikhazdur.

It is not known whether Tyrex is still in contact with the world on the other side of his Gate or not. It could be that he rules the whole planet there, but it's equally possible that he left that world and returned to Alastari because he was defeated there. Or he may simply have returned to Alastari for revenge. No one knows for certain.

Most human beings would assume that someone who has conquered a whole race is after power. However, dragons don't think that way. A dragon would only consider himself powerful if he ruled over other dragons--mere humanoids don't count. Tyrex has other motivations: First, revenge. Dragons hold grudges FOREVER. Tyrex wants revenge against the Folstrom. The Folstrom have been extinct on Ghea for thousands of years, but Tyrex has only been back in Ghea for a few hundred years, and isolated under the mountain. Tyrex may be looking for information about them. If he can't get the Folstrom, he'll get the next best thing, whoever happens to be living where the Folstrom used to be. Or he may be looking for clues to where the Folstrom who escaped Ghea went. The second reason is simple practicality. It's very useful to have a couple thousand devoted slaves who will protect you. Third, hoarding instinct. While many dragons hoard gold or precious gems, a good number of them hoard other items. Tyrex considers the chaos creatures and the dwarves his "hoard." This means that while he may not value his subjects as people, he does value them as objects. He could get annoyed and eat one for lunch and think nothing of it, but if anyone else messed with them, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

Since dragons are very long-lived if not outright immortal, and see time differently than humans do, they are not subject to the "chaos madness" which can strike a human who's been in a Gate too long. However, spending several thousand years in a Gate is bound to make anyone a little strange. Any normal dragon who met Tyrex would probably find him a little weird. It is not known whether or not Tyrex has gotten in contact with any other dragons since returning to Ghea.

Until recently a dragon called Rhazigg lived in an abandoned gold mine near Arvat; he was slain by a group of Free Blades Lord Protectors when he tried to capture and kill them. Very little is known of Rhazigg's history before this event.

Encyclopedia Alastaria

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