Irda Ranger
First Post
INTRODUCTION: Dragonborn are a new race for D&D that needs its own space. I think most people are going to just retcon some "city Elves" as Eladrin, but Dragonborn really need a new thinking about where they're going to fit and what their cities and towns will look like. I expect the PHB will have some thoughts on that, but why not get started now?
PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT: Let's make a "drop in" city or Dragonborns for our homebrew campaign worlds (or even FR or Eberron if we choose). I've started with some ideas below, but PLEASE POST SOME MORE STUFF BELOW. Stuff I like for my own campaign I may incorporate into this main post, but you can't get it wrong. If, when we've run out of ideas here, we have a 5 page thread with dozens of ideas DM's can pick and choose from, that would be awesome. For truth, there are no wrong answers.
NOTE: Certain assumptions have been made of dragonborn physiology based on their preferred terrain being “deserts.” Units of temperature measurement have been translated into Fahrenheit.
CITY DESCRIPTION:
The city of Drak’Thul is a beautiful expanse of white sandstone and granite walls, topped with colorful tiled roofs of every color imaginable. From a distance it looks like a pointillist tapestry painted onto the side Mount Zar. It has a population in the tens of thousands, but few humans or elves have ever seen it. Its highest towers overlook the vast expanses of the Dren Desert, with shimmering sand and the occasional rocky outcropping the only terrain for hundreds of miles in any direction. Only the dragonborn can live within its walls with any comfort.
The oldest structure in Drak’Thul is the Temple of Bahamut at the top of the Mount. Its stone columns are three arm-spans (approx. 18 feet or 6 meters) wide and support a massive stone roof over an unfinished expanse of mountain where Bahamut himself is said to have walked. There are no written records of how old the Temple is, but one dwarven pilgrim who made the journey estimated its age at 10,000 years[1]. The same dwarf could not find a building in the city older than 3,000 years however, suggesting that the temple was built by dragonborn nomads (or some other race else entirely) long before the dragonborn settled here permanently.
At noon the average temperature is around 130 degrees, year round. During the night the warmth vanishes quickly from the air it plunges to 50 degrees or below. The Dragonborn natives find both temperatures quite comfortable[2], but no other race can survive long in direct sunlight between the hours of 10 AM and 5 PM.
The buildings and homes of the dragonborn are fairly standard for that race. They are made of stone, with colorful ceramic tiles on the roofs and many interior surfaces. Their exteriors (other than the tiled roofs) are a unadorned sandstone. The above-ground floors have screened windows and straight hallways that encourage the air of the outside to flow through the home. The below-ground floors (of which every home has at least one level, and some have two, three or even four below-ground levels) assume the cool temperature of the earth no matter the time of day or year. Any eggs or younglings in their first year of life will be found here, as they must be kept cool in order to survive. Any visitor to Drak’Thul not a dragonborn will also be found here during the day if he wants to live.
There are a few fountains fed by deep wells, but they are spaced fairly far apart. There is no aqueduct system as found in some human or dwarven cities, as dragonborn do not drink enough water for there to be a need[3]. Walking to the nearest well once a week to fill the jug that tops off the family cistern is all that is required, and little burden.
Drak’Thul has a low stone wall only two males (approx. 12 feet or 4 meters) tall surrounding its lowest level on the foot of the Mount. It has never been tested in war, as any army of men or orcs would die of thirst or heatstroke weeks before coming within site of it, but was built solely to keep out the wandering beasts of the desert. It has served admirably in that capacity.
Drak’Thul’s primary industry and trade are in colored glass and ceramics. The clays of Mount Zar come in many colors, and can be creatively combined to yield yet more. There is also a desert growing plant that grows only on Mount Zar and a few other nearby slopes whose deep purple leaves are secret ingredient to the bluefire and amethyst crystal so prized the world ‘round. On any given day many dwellings will have pots out glazing under a reflecting dish[4]. They primarily import tea, wine and liquors whose agricultural precursors (tea leaves, grapes and wheat) cannot be grown anywhere nearby.
The food supply is almost entirely based on the meat[5] of desert-adapted goats and camels. Dragonborn herders works the slopes of the Mount and nearby oasis’s. The city is ostensibly rules by the Council of Six[6], but the priest of the Temple of Bahamut are both autonomous and command a great deal of respect from the populace. Also, the Zhul Consortium[7] pretty much ignores the Council and does as it pleases. Since Drak’Thul doesn’t even face any military threats, the Council’s role has been reduced over the centuries to a largely ceremonial one.
EDITORS NOTES: Further details will be forthcoming later in the development cycle as we better understand what NPC classes are available and how exactly magic (warlocks, clerics, wizards, etc.) works. Also, changes to the architecture may be necessary if it turns out some Dragonborn can fly.
[1] {discussion of lifespans removed}
[2] Dragonborn can switch between warm-blooded and cold-blooded states as circumstances require (Some Sages compare this with the human adaptation to dealing with heat (i.e., sweating) and agree than shedding all of one’s moisture is not a good strategy in the desert). Their body temperature when warm-blooded is 94 degrees, but they can tolerate a far higher variation in internal body temperature than humans can.
[3] Dragonborn have evolved to need very little water. They emit neither water waste from their body nor water vapor when they breathe. One cup (that’s 250 ml for you metric types) every other day is all that’s required, and they can easily go a week without drinking at all without any more discomfort than a human can go for 12 hours. A dragonborn “in the wild” gets enough moisture to satisfy his needs from the blood in raw meat.
[4] A clever contraption which reflects and concentrates the noonday sun to five times its normal power. Any steak left under a reflecting dish would be cooked to “well” in only minutes.
[5] Dragonborn can eat plant-based foods, but they don't need to.
[6] Which consists of the six heads of the families with the largest herds; an anachronism left over from the days when dragonborn were nomadic desert dwellers.
[7] A consortium of the ten wealthiest merchant families.
PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT: Let's make a "drop in" city or Dragonborns for our homebrew campaign worlds (or even FR or Eberron if we choose). I've started with some ideas below, but PLEASE POST SOME MORE STUFF BELOW. Stuff I like for my own campaign I may incorporate into this main post, but you can't get it wrong. If, when we've run out of ideas here, we have a 5 page thread with dozens of ideas DM's can pick and choose from, that would be awesome. For truth, there are no wrong answers.
NOTE: Certain assumptions have been made of dragonborn physiology based on their preferred terrain being “deserts.” Units of temperature measurement have been translated into Fahrenheit.
CITY DESCRIPTION:
The city of Drak’Thul is a beautiful expanse of white sandstone and granite walls, topped with colorful tiled roofs of every color imaginable. From a distance it looks like a pointillist tapestry painted onto the side Mount Zar. It has a population in the tens of thousands, but few humans or elves have ever seen it. Its highest towers overlook the vast expanses of the Dren Desert, with shimmering sand and the occasional rocky outcropping the only terrain for hundreds of miles in any direction. Only the dragonborn can live within its walls with any comfort.
The oldest structure in Drak’Thul is the Temple of Bahamut at the top of the Mount. Its stone columns are three arm-spans (approx. 18 feet or 6 meters) wide and support a massive stone roof over an unfinished expanse of mountain where Bahamut himself is said to have walked. There are no written records of how old the Temple is, but one dwarven pilgrim who made the journey estimated its age at 10,000 years[1]. The same dwarf could not find a building in the city older than 3,000 years however, suggesting that the temple was built by dragonborn nomads (or some other race else entirely) long before the dragonborn settled here permanently.
At noon the average temperature is around 130 degrees, year round. During the night the warmth vanishes quickly from the air it plunges to 50 degrees or below. The Dragonborn natives find both temperatures quite comfortable[2], but no other race can survive long in direct sunlight between the hours of 10 AM and 5 PM.
The buildings and homes of the dragonborn are fairly standard for that race. They are made of stone, with colorful ceramic tiles on the roofs and many interior surfaces. Their exteriors (other than the tiled roofs) are a unadorned sandstone. The above-ground floors have screened windows and straight hallways that encourage the air of the outside to flow through the home. The below-ground floors (of which every home has at least one level, and some have two, three or even four below-ground levels) assume the cool temperature of the earth no matter the time of day or year. Any eggs or younglings in their first year of life will be found here, as they must be kept cool in order to survive. Any visitor to Drak’Thul not a dragonborn will also be found here during the day if he wants to live.
There are a few fountains fed by deep wells, but they are spaced fairly far apart. There is no aqueduct system as found in some human or dwarven cities, as dragonborn do not drink enough water for there to be a need[3]. Walking to the nearest well once a week to fill the jug that tops off the family cistern is all that is required, and little burden.
Drak’Thul has a low stone wall only two males (approx. 12 feet or 4 meters) tall surrounding its lowest level on the foot of the Mount. It has never been tested in war, as any army of men or orcs would die of thirst or heatstroke weeks before coming within site of it, but was built solely to keep out the wandering beasts of the desert. It has served admirably in that capacity.
Drak’Thul’s primary industry and trade are in colored glass and ceramics. The clays of Mount Zar come in many colors, and can be creatively combined to yield yet more. There is also a desert growing plant that grows only on Mount Zar and a few other nearby slopes whose deep purple leaves are secret ingredient to the bluefire and amethyst crystal so prized the world ‘round. On any given day many dwellings will have pots out glazing under a reflecting dish[4]. They primarily import tea, wine and liquors whose agricultural precursors (tea leaves, grapes and wheat) cannot be grown anywhere nearby.
The food supply is almost entirely based on the meat[5] of desert-adapted goats and camels. Dragonborn herders works the slopes of the Mount and nearby oasis’s. The city is ostensibly rules by the Council of Six[6], but the priest of the Temple of Bahamut are both autonomous and command a great deal of respect from the populace. Also, the Zhul Consortium[7] pretty much ignores the Council and does as it pleases. Since Drak’Thul doesn’t even face any military threats, the Council’s role has been reduced over the centuries to a largely ceremonial one.
EDITORS NOTES: Further details will be forthcoming later in the development cycle as we better understand what NPC classes are available and how exactly magic (warlocks, clerics, wizards, etc.) works. Also, changes to the architecture may be necessary if it turns out some Dragonborn can fly.
[1] {discussion of lifespans removed}
[2] Dragonborn can switch between warm-blooded and cold-blooded states as circumstances require (Some Sages compare this with the human adaptation to dealing with heat (i.e., sweating) and agree than shedding all of one’s moisture is not a good strategy in the desert). Their body temperature when warm-blooded is 94 degrees, but they can tolerate a far higher variation in internal body temperature than humans can.
[3] Dragonborn have evolved to need very little water. They emit neither water waste from their body nor water vapor when they breathe. One cup (that’s 250 ml for you metric types) every other day is all that’s required, and they can easily go a week without drinking at all without any more discomfort than a human can go for 12 hours. A dragonborn “in the wild” gets enough moisture to satisfy his needs from the blood in raw meat.
[4] A clever contraption which reflects and concentrates the noonday sun to five times its normal power. Any steak left under a reflecting dish would be cooked to “well” in only minutes.
[5] Dragonborn can eat plant-based foods, but they don't need to.
[6] Which consists of the six heads of the families with the largest herds; an anachronism left over from the days when dragonborn were nomadic desert dwellers.
[7] A consortium of the ten wealthiest merchant families.
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