I've been tinkering lately with the Muhlatimic Dragon idea. Now, I decided to post the latest fluff here. Sorry if I overdid it.
Muhlatimic Dragons
“The egg is greater. The egg is older. The seen is not enough. A million seen is not enough.”
You laugh at the sight in front of you. Another force daring to resist, shattered into dust by the Peacemaker. The Ultimate Warship. The Constructed Eternal. Everyone has witnessed its power. Everyone has seen the futility of resisting. Another Eternal’s domain has bowed to your will.
You smirk.
What’s left of it, anyway.
You are relishing in the feeling of power. Atrix’lundar’seotta’tprixun, the great Firmament Dragon, and hundreds of his brethren tried to stand against you. Their counterparts, usually hostile to them, joined out of fear of you. Everyone flocked into this universe, hoping to stop you. Everyone stood in that battle against the Peacemaker. Even the Eternal’s brothers came and stood against you. And now? Their powers broke against the Peacemaker’s shields. Their corpses float in front of you, shattered.
But then, some chill penetrates your brain. You feel… something. Despite all the shielding of this ship, both technological and magical, you feel it. You can even tell where its source is. You turn on a screen, looking at the area. Your eyes widen, fear coursing through you for the first time in ages.
At first, you think it is a huge star in front of you. But it is far larger than any star. And, as you look, you realize it is a curled up dragon of enormous proportions. Yet despite its size, you know it can see you. Not only the ship, but you. It doesn’t seem to move, yet wherever the Peacemaker moves, it is always in front of it. You see it has only one head, yet you can feel there are a thousand heads both in front and behind you, all watching. And in its glowing, yet not blinding eyes, you can see yourself, all your dreams fulfilled; ruling the entire existence. You see what great destiny you can have.
You look the other way, and you see a black shadow eclipsing the stars, just as large as the shining dragon. You have the same impression looking upon it, but much more sinister. And then, its black eyes fix upon you. You see yourself a slave. You see yourself tortured. You see your doom.
The shining dragon has vanished somewhere. But the black one is now around you. And, with horror, you realize it’s not a dragon. It is but a dragon’s claw. Or, perhaps, that bigger dragon is a claw of something bigger. Your horror overwhelms you as you realize that this can continue… and the dragon can unfold… until finally, it can grip an entire universe in its jaws, crack it, chew it into dust, and consume it without a trace.
***
They say that once, the sages of Greece were asked “What is stronger than all?” Similar tales exist on countless other worlds; always have, and always will. And it is always the same answer. Necessity. Fate. Inevitability… The answer is the same, but translations vary.
Whatever you take, however, this is but another name for the Akashic records. And for the records to be updated, no single point of view, all-encompassing as it is, can be enough. The Records do not depend solely on the Supreme Being. No; rather, they also have their own nerve endings. Not only that, those are also whips and cuffs, a police for unruly Eternals. The Uncreated. The Ultimates. The Muhlatim. Or, as those few aware of them dare to call them, the Muhlatimic Dragons. Only one kind is known, and that has two forms, Destiny and Doom.
The Dragons are as nerves among the countless cells of reality which are universes. They twist, they fly and snake between them, as large as any of them and larger. Even the smallest Muhlat is a match for many Eternals. The oldest ones are each capable of taking on hordes of countless Eternals with ease. The Supernals themselves are wary of their might.
It is rumored that battling a Muhlatimic Dragon is a final test before challenging the Supreme Being… and that when the ones challenged were beyond Great Wyrms, the Crown and Throne were often surrendered without a fight.
The Dragons’ life cycle is long. While drawing their power directly from the Records, they need a spark to create a new life, and a spark for it to grow. The mating normally occurs in the vicinity of the greatest cosmic cataclysms. Three matings are required. The first; a tiny, but necessary spark, occurs in the great shockwaves of the all devouring quasars, the ones which both destroy stars and stimulate their birth. The second is where a final battle happened deciding whether a Demiurge will fail or succeed in becoming an Eternal. The third is in a site where either a birth or death – depending on the dragon type – of many universes occurred. The moments have to be precisely chosen and are extremely rare. It is doubtful a single Uncreated exists for a trillion universes.
Only one egg (unusually small, compared to the parents) is laid. The egg is planet sized (Mega-G), and orbits a star. On the outside, the egg cannot be distinguished from a regular planet, and is in fact fully capable of supporting life, but it hardens with depth. About 30 miles below surface, it is strong enough to smother even the greatest cosmic collisions and explosions. Few, however, have dug that deep, for the moment one descends even five miles below the surface, he is battered by continuum disruptions; stronger the more one descends. Even ignoring that, the parents do not tend to view such practice positively.
The deepest descent ever below an egg’s surface is estimated at 40 miles (it happened during a major schism among Eternals, when both parents had to leave for a short while), and out of the twenty Eternals attempting it, only one came out, severely battered and insane. Even that would have been an invaluable source of information, if not for the returning parents reducing him to a mortal on the spot, thus making any reports on the expedition extremely limited and unreliable. In fact, the reports were all but limited to constantly repeating the phrase at the top.
Despite all the defenses, the parents are overprotective of their babies, and may decide to destroy every other body in the stellar system just in case. They may spare, however, smaller inconveniences like local and visiting life forms and civilizations upon the egg (in fact, these are considered good for the baby’s mental health), although they will often direct them on a path matching the dragon’s own world view. Commonly, they decide to hold their technological level below the nuclear age. When the time comes for the egg to hatch (5 billion years in average), however, they literally sweep the system clean of every dust speck. The inhabitants (if the dragon is in a good enough mood) are warned and given the time and means to evacuate. In case of a dragon in a bad mood, even the most harmless races are eradicated (If you want to argue that this is paranoia, argue with the dragon – I have no intention to).
Upon hatching, the first cry of the baby is strong enough to destabilize the star. After a few days, the star is in a state fit for the baby to consume all its energy and matter. After the star, it consumes the eggshell. No further nourishment is needed.
When the wyrmling leaves the system, it looks about three times the size of a normal star. An ancient may stretch larger than a star system. Don’t let the small size deceive you, however. The body visible is merely an extension, a projection of the true Uncreated. It serves as a limb, a nerve… and, as you already noticed, it fulfills the function of a certain other part of the dragon’s anatomy. The true form exists in the indescribable spaces between the universes. The true size is unknown, because no sizes exist there that would mean anything for a mortal. However… frightened whispers among Eternals speak of dragons munching on hordes of revolting universes like a bag of small candy.
***
Horrified, you give orders. All over your starship, guns are charging up, ready to fire at the creature.
Countless thousands of guns discharge, each of them capable of blowing a planet into dust. They all strike true.
Yet there is no effect. Not a glow of a scale heating up. Not a puff of smoke.
You charge up the Great Gun. A weapon that shattered Eternals; a weapon never used at full power before, for lack of a target. But now, you see no choice. Its beam strikes true, with all of its power. It is everything that was expected.
Until it hits.
The dark dragon’s gaze shifts lazily, looking at the spot struck. Then it shifts back to you, its jaws opening. You expect a blast of its breath…
And then you realize the dragon is merely laughing at you.
***
Combat:
The Muhlatim will seldom enter a battle. Of course, given the size of Existence, there are many reports of such events, but no indication of any common strategy.
Abilities:
Akashic connection. Due to its connection to the Records, the dragon can erase all immunities the enemy has acquired against it.
Isotropic. Every direction is in front of the dragon, and every direction for the opponent is the dragon. Its beam attacks are affecting everyone. Its breath is a sphere around it. Naturally, it cannot be nor flanked nor sneaked upon. Nor it is subject to critical hits even from the most powerful of creatures. The opponents, however, are considered flanked and flatfooted (a rank check is required for immunities to apply). Note that this does not give the dragon any armor class penalty.
Aura. The aura of the Ultimate shows every person their destiny. In case of a Destiny Dragon, it shows each person their greatness should they follow the Dragon’s path, and makes them loyal servants. It also provides bonuses for the allies (should the dragon decide them useful for this battle). A Doom Dragon makes the enemies flee, cower, go mad, or even drop dead on the spot. In addition, any opponent must pass a check in order to continue enjoying the benefits of his own aura.
Cosmopolite. The dragon belongs to no universe. Trancscorporeality is ignored by it.
Covertness. The dragons can become incorporeal and undetectable at will. A rank check is required in order to counter it.
Adjutant: A dragon is capable of promoting and demoting any creatures in terms of DR, so long as both the starting and final status are sufficiently below its own. Demotions may require the target to be disabled first.
Suddenly, you notice something on the Dragon's belly. One of the scales is missing. You aim the Gun at the gap.
Finally, you get a result. A crater the size of a small star is carved into the dragon’s flesh.
Despite the elation and triumph, you can’t shake off your worry. Something is strangely familiar about that gap.
The dragon’s gaze grows harsh. You realize you drew its attention.
And, as it is looking at you, it doesn’t grow. Rather, it folds smaller and smaller. First as small as a star, then a planet, then an asteroid, then a human, then a fly… until finally, it is barely large enough for your sensors to detect. And it is still all around you.
And you realize that’s a way for the dragon to show how far you are beneath it.
And that now, it is going to breathe at you…
***
Breath
The Ultimate breath is like a prismatic spray, in that it has seven effects. Not much similarity otherwise:
1) Disintegration. Fortitude. Those who fail are ripped into subatomic particles on the spot. The enemy is treated as erased from reality forever. Success means a massive amount of permanent damage.
2) Mental disintegration. Will. The enemies’ souls are likewise shredded. Forever lost, but if the body is intact it is controllable by the dragon. Success means a penalty to mental abilities.
3) Shifting. Will. Failure means that the victim is shifted into another reality. Success means a hostile analogue (relative CL may depend on age category) from another reality can be brought forth (it is entitled to its own save on the other side)
4) Teleportation. Reflex. The victim is transported into a random place, most likely an extremely hostile one. This does not affect the victim, but rather its surroundings, so even in success, he is affected by the surroundings. The surroundings can be different; there are rumor about some of the oldest ones opening a rift to the horrifying depths between the realities, erasing their opponents forever.
5) Conversion. The dragon stops the enemy at the most subtle level. Its will to fight. The enemy is forever incapable of combat (with the possible exception of fighting on the Dragon’s side). In case of a Doom Dragon, the enemy may lose the will to live as well, and will likely commit suicide.
6) Divine restraint. Quintessence drain.
7) Blast: It is not always subtlety which works. Sometimes, brute force is best. A massive blast of energy affects the victim. The types of damage are selected by the dragon separately for each target. It is theoretically possible for a dragon to choose a less than optimal type of damage by mistake, but no such cases have been recorded.
A wyrmling can use any effect, but only one per breath. As it grows older, more and more can be used in a single breath.
***
Recovering from the blast, you look around. The Peacekeeper is gone. The weapons, the trillions of people aboard, the armor… all dust. Only far in the distance can you see an intact piece floating in space. Kilometers in size. Can it be?.. You focus your vision. Your heart soars with hope.
The Source. A mysterious artifact you found ages ago. Unknown. Infinite. Incomprehensible. The energy source for the Peacekeeper. The cornerstone of your power.
You gather the last of your strength, and fly toward it. Perhaps, by tapping its energy directly, you can defeat this monstrosity.
Only a few meters remain between you and The Source…
Suddenly, a dark shadow descends upon it.
You look at the dragon above you. And, as your gaze fixes upon the gap in its scales, you understand.
A voice thunders in your head:
- I believe – The creature states as The Source melts into its scales – That this is mine.
***
New material notes:
After a wyrmling leaves its place of birth, pieces of shell are sometimes found left behind. While no one knows exactly what the inner parts are initially composed of, after the baby leaves, they are found to contain two substances; neutronium and negatronium. The latter has similar properties to neutronium; however, it has negative mass, so weapons fashioned from it suffer damage penalty while armor gives increased DR and has a chance of either shattering an opponent’s weapon or knocking it out of their hand (force damage and knockbacks in case of natural weapons or grappling). Force effects, due to their low mass, are less affected, but even they are not fully immune. The repelling effect starts a significant distance from the weapon; entire armies can be flung back and mountain ranges shattered by a single missed swing.
But as for the original material, however… nearly forgotten myths exist about great artifacts made from fresh eggshell, stories which defy belief.
The best known (and the only one with any degree of actual support) describes how many years ago, a pantheon received a single tiny speck of fresh eggshell. The smith of the pantheon worked for years, trying to make use of it. In the end, when it was already decaying, he cast it into molten metal. The explosion which resulted killed the smith and all around. Out of the remains, seven great weapons rose.
All seven still exist. It is believed that Alabaster’s weapons are all from that batch (There are some doubts about the Steel Hydra and Godsend). The fate of the seventh is unknown. Some variations claim that additional artifacts were created (the total number is usually given as ten or twelve), but the Amidah possessing at least a few of them is generally agreed upon.
Some claim that the speck wasn’t eggshell, but a piece of a scale. Presumably, the properties of both materials are somewhat similar, but little study is available on the subject of either.
Adventure ideas:
1) An egg is about to hatch. A death cult is trying to provoke the parents into destroying the inhabitants without warning.
2) Alabaster intends to find the rest of the Speck Artifacts. He believes that with the full set, he can make a weapon much closer to a true Shell Artifact; one which will bring him a Dragon’s favor and allow him to become an Eternal. Some, however, worry it may bring the wrong kind of attention, especially since no one is sure whether the original material came from a Destiny or a Doom Dragon.
3) A power hungry Eternal tries to create the conditions for a Destiny and Doom dragon mating with each other. He believes that should the First and Second Matings of that type happen inside his universe, he will be able to use the paradox in order to create a new reality, with complete Akashic records, and himself as the irremovable Supreme Being. It doesn’t matter that the current reality has a good chance of being destroyed in the process…
4) A long time ago, a horde of Eternals tried to revolt against the Supreme Being. Instead of him dealing with them, a great Doom Wyrm was sent. After a short debate attempt, it simply consumed all their universes. More than a few rebellions were crushed that way by the Muhlatim, except for one small detail.
The Wyrm didn’t chew.
The Eternals were destroyed, yet somehow, the universes survived. An eternity later, these universes were… left in the dragon’s wake. Seemingly unchanged, yet devoid of all life. Now, eons later, life has evolved there. Sentient life. But these are no mere mortals who inhabit these universes. The shadowy ichor of Doom is flowing in their veins.
The Great Council of Equilibrium
The Supreme Being, as all know, is the holder, the interpreter of the Akasha. Opposite him stands the Omega, the Ultimate Opposite. Should they come to real blows, countless universes will collapse like soap bubbles, maybe reality itself. Yet it can never happen, for between them stands the third force. The Neutrality. The Ultimate Ring. The Great Council of Equilibrium.
The Council is the face of Akasha. It is composed of the representatives of Akasha. Fifty Destiny Dragons and Fifty Doom Dragons compose the core, each at least five age categories beyond Great Wyrm. They are the only ones who have a vote. Many other creatures, from the greatest of the Supernals to mortal commoners, were invited as witnesses or councilors, but not one outside the Muhlatimic Dragons was ever known to enter the Council itself. The council gathers vary rarely, and only in cases of threat to the greater fabric of reality itself.
It can gather if the strain between the Supreme Being and the Omega is threatening to rise to levels where no peaceful resolution is possible. The function of the Council in this case is to stop the situation from escalating into an actual combat. They never failed.
It can also gather if one of the Two Forces claims the other must be deposed, but no one else is currently present to challenge it. In this case, the Council can appoint someone else, usually one of the Retired.
It also gathers during the threat of Crossovers, when a major breach between realities threatens an invasion or, perhaps, mutual destruction. In this case, the Council was known to collaborate not only with the Two Forces, bit also, if possible, with its own analogues from the parallel realities.
The decisions of the Council are reached surprisingly fast - because never once was a Muhlat known to misunderstand another, either of its own kind, or the most alien. When a decision is reached, the Ultimate Ring is considered the face of Akasha, its decision the decision of Akasha, and all must bow before it. Few were ever known to disobey.
None at all, successfully.
Muhlatimic Dragons
“The egg is greater. The egg is older. The seen is not enough. A million seen is not enough.”
You laugh at the sight in front of you. Another force daring to resist, shattered into dust by the Peacemaker. The Ultimate Warship. The Constructed Eternal. Everyone has witnessed its power. Everyone has seen the futility of resisting. Another Eternal’s domain has bowed to your will.
You smirk.
What’s left of it, anyway.
You are relishing in the feeling of power. Atrix’lundar’seotta’tprixun, the great Firmament Dragon, and hundreds of his brethren tried to stand against you. Their counterparts, usually hostile to them, joined out of fear of you. Everyone flocked into this universe, hoping to stop you. Everyone stood in that battle against the Peacemaker. Even the Eternal’s brothers came and stood against you. And now? Their powers broke against the Peacemaker’s shields. Their corpses float in front of you, shattered.
But then, some chill penetrates your brain. You feel… something. Despite all the shielding of this ship, both technological and magical, you feel it. You can even tell where its source is. You turn on a screen, looking at the area. Your eyes widen, fear coursing through you for the first time in ages.
At first, you think it is a huge star in front of you. But it is far larger than any star. And, as you look, you realize it is a curled up dragon of enormous proportions. Yet despite its size, you know it can see you. Not only the ship, but you. It doesn’t seem to move, yet wherever the Peacemaker moves, it is always in front of it. You see it has only one head, yet you can feel there are a thousand heads both in front and behind you, all watching. And in its glowing, yet not blinding eyes, you can see yourself, all your dreams fulfilled; ruling the entire existence. You see what great destiny you can have.
You look the other way, and you see a black shadow eclipsing the stars, just as large as the shining dragon. You have the same impression looking upon it, but much more sinister. And then, its black eyes fix upon you. You see yourself a slave. You see yourself tortured. You see your doom.
The shining dragon has vanished somewhere. But the black one is now around you. And, with horror, you realize it’s not a dragon. It is but a dragon’s claw. Or, perhaps, that bigger dragon is a claw of something bigger. Your horror overwhelms you as you realize that this can continue… and the dragon can unfold… until finally, it can grip an entire universe in its jaws, crack it, chew it into dust, and consume it without a trace.
***
They say that once, the sages of Greece were asked “What is stronger than all?” Similar tales exist on countless other worlds; always have, and always will. And it is always the same answer. Necessity. Fate. Inevitability… The answer is the same, but translations vary.
Whatever you take, however, this is but another name for the Akashic records. And for the records to be updated, no single point of view, all-encompassing as it is, can be enough. The Records do not depend solely on the Supreme Being. No; rather, they also have their own nerve endings. Not only that, those are also whips and cuffs, a police for unruly Eternals. The Uncreated. The Ultimates. The Muhlatim. Or, as those few aware of them dare to call them, the Muhlatimic Dragons. Only one kind is known, and that has two forms, Destiny and Doom.
The Dragons are as nerves among the countless cells of reality which are universes. They twist, they fly and snake between them, as large as any of them and larger. Even the smallest Muhlat is a match for many Eternals. The oldest ones are each capable of taking on hordes of countless Eternals with ease. The Supernals themselves are wary of their might.
It is rumored that battling a Muhlatimic Dragon is a final test before challenging the Supreme Being… and that when the ones challenged were beyond Great Wyrms, the Crown and Throne were often surrendered without a fight.
The Dragons’ life cycle is long. While drawing their power directly from the Records, they need a spark to create a new life, and a spark for it to grow. The mating normally occurs in the vicinity of the greatest cosmic cataclysms. Three matings are required. The first; a tiny, but necessary spark, occurs in the great shockwaves of the all devouring quasars, the ones which both destroy stars and stimulate their birth. The second is where a final battle happened deciding whether a Demiurge will fail or succeed in becoming an Eternal. The third is in a site where either a birth or death – depending on the dragon type – of many universes occurred. The moments have to be precisely chosen and are extremely rare. It is doubtful a single Uncreated exists for a trillion universes.
Only one egg (unusually small, compared to the parents) is laid. The egg is planet sized (Mega-G), and orbits a star. On the outside, the egg cannot be distinguished from a regular planet, and is in fact fully capable of supporting life, but it hardens with depth. About 30 miles below surface, it is strong enough to smother even the greatest cosmic collisions and explosions. Few, however, have dug that deep, for the moment one descends even five miles below the surface, he is battered by continuum disruptions; stronger the more one descends. Even ignoring that, the parents do not tend to view such practice positively.
The deepest descent ever below an egg’s surface is estimated at 40 miles (it happened during a major schism among Eternals, when both parents had to leave for a short while), and out of the twenty Eternals attempting it, only one came out, severely battered and insane. Even that would have been an invaluable source of information, if not for the returning parents reducing him to a mortal on the spot, thus making any reports on the expedition extremely limited and unreliable. In fact, the reports were all but limited to constantly repeating the phrase at the top.
Despite all the defenses, the parents are overprotective of their babies, and may decide to destroy every other body in the stellar system just in case. They may spare, however, smaller inconveniences like local and visiting life forms and civilizations upon the egg (in fact, these are considered good for the baby’s mental health), although they will often direct them on a path matching the dragon’s own world view. Commonly, they decide to hold their technological level below the nuclear age. When the time comes for the egg to hatch (5 billion years in average), however, they literally sweep the system clean of every dust speck. The inhabitants (if the dragon is in a good enough mood) are warned and given the time and means to evacuate. In case of a dragon in a bad mood, even the most harmless races are eradicated (If you want to argue that this is paranoia, argue with the dragon – I have no intention to).
Upon hatching, the first cry of the baby is strong enough to destabilize the star. After a few days, the star is in a state fit for the baby to consume all its energy and matter. After the star, it consumes the eggshell. No further nourishment is needed.
When the wyrmling leaves the system, it looks about three times the size of a normal star. An ancient may stretch larger than a star system. Don’t let the small size deceive you, however. The body visible is merely an extension, a projection of the true Uncreated. It serves as a limb, a nerve… and, as you already noticed, it fulfills the function of a certain other part of the dragon’s anatomy. The true form exists in the indescribable spaces between the universes. The true size is unknown, because no sizes exist there that would mean anything for a mortal. However… frightened whispers among Eternals speak of dragons munching on hordes of revolting universes like a bag of small candy.
***
Horrified, you give orders. All over your starship, guns are charging up, ready to fire at the creature.
Countless thousands of guns discharge, each of them capable of blowing a planet into dust. They all strike true.
Yet there is no effect. Not a glow of a scale heating up. Not a puff of smoke.
You charge up the Great Gun. A weapon that shattered Eternals; a weapon never used at full power before, for lack of a target. But now, you see no choice. Its beam strikes true, with all of its power. It is everything that was expected.
Until it hits.
The dark dragon’s gaze shifts lazily, looking at the spot struck. Then it shifts back to you, its jaws opening. You expect a blast of its breath…
And then you realize the dragon is merely laughing at you.
***
Combat:
The Muhlatim will seldom enter a battle. Of course, given the size of Existence, there are many reports of such events, but no indication of any common strategy.
Abilities:
Akashic connection. Due to its connection to the Records, the dragon can erase all immunities the enemy has acquired against it.
Isotropic. Every direction is in front of the dragon, and every direction for the opponent is the dragon. Its beam attacks are affecting everyone. Its breath is a sphere around it. Naturally, it cannot be nor flanked nor sneaked upon. Nor it is subject to critical hits even from the most powerful of creatures. The opponents, however, are considered flanked and flatfooted (a rank check is required for immunities to apply). Note that this does not give the dragon any armor class penalty.
Aura. The aura of the Ultimate shows every person their destiny. In case of a Destiny Dragon, it shows each person their greatness should they follow the Dragon’s path, and makes them loyal servants. It also provides bonuses for the allies (should the dragon decide them useful for this battle). A Doom Dragon makes the enemies flee, cower, go mad, or even drop dead on the spot. In addition, any opponent must pass a check in order to continue enjoying the benefits of his own aura.
Cosmopolite. The dragon belongs to no universe. Trancscorporeality is ignored by it.
Covertness. The dragons can become incorporeal and undetectable at will. A rank check is required in order to counter it.
Adjutant: A dragon is capable of promoting and demoting any creatures in terms of DR, so long as both the starting and final status are sufficiently below its own. Demotions may require the target to be disabled first.
Suddenly, you notice something on the Dragon's belly. One of the scales is missing. You aim the Gun at the gap.
Finally, you get a result. A crater the size of a small star is carved into the dragon’s flesh.
Despite the elation and triumph, you can’t shake off your worry. Something is strangely familiar about that gap.
The dragon’s gaze grows harsh. You realize you drew its attention.
And, as it is looking at you, it doesn’t grow. Rather, it folds smaller and smaller. First as small as a star, then a planet, then an asteroid, then a human, then a fly… until finally, it is barely large enough for your sensors to detect. And it is still all around you.
And you realize that’s a way for the dragon to show how far you are beneath it.
And that now, it is going to breathe at you…
***
Breath
The Ultimate breath is like a prismatic spray, in that it has seven effects. Not much similarity otherwise:
1) Disintegration. Fortitude. Those who fail are ripped into subatomic particles on the spot. The enemy is treated as erased from reality forever. Success means a massive amount of permanent damage.
2) Mental disintegration. Will. The enemies’ souls are likewise shredded. Forever lost, but if the body is intact it is controllable by the dragon. Success means a penalty to mental abilities.
3) Shifting. Will. Failure means that the victim is shifted into another reality. Success means a hostile analogue (relative CL may depend on age category) from another reality can be brought forth (it is entitled to its own save on the other side)
4) Teleportation. Reflex. The victim is transported into a random place, most likely an extremely hostile one. This does not affect the victim, but rather its surroundings, so even in success, he is affected by the surroundings. The surroundings can be different; there are rumor about some of the oldest ones opening a rift to the horrifying depths between the realities, erasing their opponents forever.
5) Conversion. The dragon stops the enemy at the most subtle level. Its will to fight. The enemy is forever incapable of combat (with the possible exception of fighting on the Dragon’s side). In case of a Doom Dragon, the enemy may lose the will to live as well, and will likely commit suicide.
6) Divine restraint. Quintessence drain.
7) Blast: It is not always subtlety which works. Sometimes, brute force is best. A massive blast of energy affects the victim. The types of damage are selected by the dragon separately for each target. It is theoretically possible for a dragon to choose a less than optimal type of damage by mistake, but no such cases have been recorded.
A wyrmling can use any effect, but only one per breath. As it grows older, more and more can be used in a single breath.
***
Recovering from the blast, you look around. The Peacekeeper is gone. The weapons, the trillions of people aboard, the armor… all dust. Only far in the distance can you see an intact piece floating in space. Kilometers in size. Can it be?.. You focus your vision. Your heart soars with hope.
The Source. A mysterious artifact you found ages ago. Unknown. Infinite. Incomprehensible. The energy source for the Peacekeeper. The cornerstone of your power.
You gather the last of your strength, and fly toward it. Perhaps, by tapping its energy directly, you can defeat this monstrosity.
Only a few meters remain between you and The Source…
Suddenly, a dark shadow descends upon it.
You look at the dragon above you. And, as your gaze fixes upon the gap in its scales, you understand.
A voice thunders in your head:
- I believe – The creature states as The Source melts into its scales – That this is mine.
***
New material notes:
After a wyrmling leaves its place of birth, pieces of shell are sometimes found left behind. While no one knows exactly what the inner parts are initially composed of, after the baby leaves, they are found to contain two substances; neutronium and negatronium. The latter has similar properties to neutronium; however, it has negative mass, so weapons fashioned from it suffer damage penalty while armor gives increased DR and has a chance of either shattering an opponent’s weapon or knocking it out of their hand (force damage and knockbacks in case of natural weapons or grappling). Force effects, due to their low mass, are less affected, but even they are not fully immune. The repelling effect starts a significant distance from the weapon; entire armies can be flung back and mountain ranges shattered by a single missed swing.
But as for the original material, however… nearly forgotten myths exist about great artifacts made from fresh eggshell, stories which defy belief.
The best known (and the only one with any degree of actual support) describes how many years ago, a pantheon received a single tiny speck of fresh eggshell. The smith of the pantheon worked for years, trying to make use of it. In the end, when it was already decaying, he cast it into molten metal. The explosion which resulted killed the smith and all around. Out of the remains, seven great weapons rose.
All seven still exist. It is believed that Alabaster’s weapons are all from that batch (There are some doubts about the Steel Hydra and Godsend). The fate of the seventh is unknown. Some variations claim that additional artifacts were created (the total number is usually given as ten or twelve), but the Amidah possessing at least a few of them is generally agreed upon.
Some claim that the speck wasn’t eggshell, but a piece of a scale. Presumably, the properties of both materials are somewhat similar, but little study is available on the subject of either.
Adventure ideas:
1) An egg is about to hatch. A death cult is trying to provoke the parents into destroying the inhabitants without warning.
2) Alabaster intends to find the rest of the Speck Artifacts. He believes that with the full set, he can make a weapon much closer to a true Shell Artifact; one which will bring him a Dragon’s favor and allow him to become an Eternal. Some, however, worry it may bring the wrong kind of attention, especially since no one is sure whether the original material came from a Destiny or a Doom Dragon.
3) A power hungry Eternal tries to create the conditions for a Destiny and Doom dragon mating with each other. He believes that should the First and Second Matings of that type happen inside his universe, he will be able to use the paradox in order to create a new reality, with complete Akashic records, and himself as the irremovable Supreme Being. It doesn’t matter that the current reality has a good chance of being destroyed in the process…
4) A long time ago, a horde of Eternals tried to revolt against the Supreme Being. Instead of him dealing with them, a great Doom Wyrm was sent. After a short debate attempt, it simply consumed all their universes. More than a few rebellions were crushed that way by the Muhlatim, except for one small detail.
The Wyrm didn’t chew.
The Eternals were destroyed, yet somehow, the universes survived. An eternity later, these universes were… left in the dragon’s wake. Seemingly unchanged, yet devoid of all life. Now, eons later, life has evolved there. Sentient life. But these are no mere mortals who inhabit these universes. The shadowy ichor of Doom is flowing in their veins.
The Great Council of Equilibrium
The Supreme Being, as all know, is the holder, the interpreter of the Akasha. Opposite him stands the Omega, the Ultimate Opposite. Should they come to real blows, countless universes will collapse like soap bubbles, maybe reality itself. Yet it can never happen, for between them stands the third force. The Neutrality. The Ultimate Ring. The Great Council of Equilibrium.
The Council is the face of Akasha. It is composed of the representatives of Akasha. Fifty Destiny Dragons and Fifty Doom Dragons compose the core, each at least five age categories beyond Great Wyrm. They are the only ones who have a vote. Many other creatures, from the greatest of the Supernals to mortal commoners, were invited as witnesses or councilors, but not one outside the Muhlatimic Dragons was ever known to enter the Council itself. The council gathers vary rarely, and only in cases of threat to the greater fabric of reality itself.
It can gather if the strain between the Supreme Being and the Omega is threatening to rise to levels where no peaceful resolution is possible. The function of the Council in this case is to stop the situation from escalating into an actual combat. They never failed.
It can also gather if one of the Two Forces claims the other must be deposed, but no one else is currently present to challenge it. In this case, the Council can appoint someone else, usually one of the Retired.
It also gathers during the threat of Crossovers, when a major breach between realities threatens an invasion or, perhaps, mutual destruction. In this case, the Council was known to collaborate not only with the Two Forces, bit also, if possible, with its own analogues from the parallel realities.
The decisions of the Council are reached surprisingly fast - because never once was a Muhlat known to misunderstand another, either of its own kind, or the most alien. When a decision is reached, the Ultimate Ring is considered the face of Akasha, its decision the decision of Akasha, and all must bow before it. Few were ever known to disobey.
None at all, successfully.
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