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ELDER DRAGONS
An elder dragon is a type of dragon that predates written history and even most oral histories. There are whispers of legends that tell that they have always existed, even before the creation of the world. Early history of the world suggests that dragons ruled all. Nothing could stand against them. Some few of them survive from that distant time, more powerful than any other dragons alive today. Most of the surviving elder dragons attempted godhood and entered the ranks of deities. These elder dragons do have some worshippers of lesser (non-dragon) species; but only one, as far as is known, has dragon worshippers and he requires that they be undead.
Perhaps, though, it is different for dragonkind. For dragons, maybe worshiping is a minor act of heart rather than a major act of spirit. In which case, maybe many dragons worship elder dragons in their own private way, much less obvious than for other species. Perhaps all that is necessary is to have an icon of that elder dragon deity among the other jewels of their hoard. Whatever the case, elder dragons are some of the most powerful creatures in the multiverse.
Each elder dragon is unique and focuses on an area of expertise, some type of knowledge, an element, or a force. Some sages speculate that many more elder dragons than are mentioned by Kerthan the Historian could well exist. They are an insular species as a whole (certain elder dragons are exceptions to this) and usually find out-of-the-way places to inhabit.
Some elder dragons are insubstantial in some way (ethereal, shadowy, gaseous, astral, dream, wind, etc.), but not all are. What is not known about elder dragons could fill the libraries of all the major cities of the whole world, and many are the “facts” supposedly known about them that simply are not true.
Most gods and goddesses treat elder dragons with respect, thereby giving them the status of a near-equal, even if they have no deific rank. While elder dragons could work for powerful deities in various duties, only one is known to do so. A pitifully small number of elder dragons have actually joined the ranks of the gods.
Elder dragons have all of the racial charactistics of true dragons whom they most resemble, but most have changed or added to their racial abilities and modified their appearance. Some stories tell of how elder dragons were once normal true dragons until something unique happened to them or they did something strange and unexpected. There is no way to substantiate any of these tales; or to infer that all elder dragons were once normal true dragons; as even their racial charactistics have changed over the eons that each elder dragon has been alive through active magical experimentation, divine morphing, and even through adaptation to a novel environment.
Most of this information is straight from the writings of Kerthan himself; said to have been translated by several bards directly from the Draco Procreatio, a mythical draconic history book (though the word "book" is somewhat of a misnomer). There is no actual proof such a book exists except through the eminiment sage’s writings. No other person in history has claimed to have seen even translations of it. And outright mentions of it are rare and often couched in fable. Kerthan seems to suggest that there may be as many as one hundred elder dragons. If they are all of this power level, though, such a gathering of elder dragons would make the gods themselves take notice and tremble.
According to Kerthan the Historian (and thus the Draco Procreatio), “The first draconic gods begat many hatchlings of all the true dragon species [both chromatic and metallic] in their first clutches. The hatchlings from all these clutches, being nearly immortal themselves, and of deific rank 0, wandered to the material plane where they became the progenitors of each of their species. These original progenitors all lived long lives, even for dragons; but each and every one eventually passed away, (it seems immortality was not always a requirement for godhood, or maybe they did not die of natural causes, no one can say for sure). Their first clutches spawned the few dragons who were to later become the elder dragons. Most of these elder dragons also passed away or moved into the shadows of legend; only a relative few rose to become gods or unique beings.”
As this information goes against all known draconic histories, most sages discount any of Kerthan’s musings as the writings of a madman and fool. Whatever the case; elder dragons do exist; and, it seems, this is their story. It must be remembered that both oral and written history are not always the way it actually happened, but rather some historian's view of what happened. We all know that bards are not above embellishing a story to enhance its effect on their audience.
Deific elder dragons mentioned in this series are considered new-comers to the god-scene, even though they have been around for millenia. Each elder dragon has found its own way to achieve immortality; so perhaps at first, they were only ordinary true dragons. Elder dragons that will speak to other species will not answer any questions about themselves. True dragons usually refuse to speak of the tales of elder dragons to lesser species (even half-dragons are considered lesser species in this case); letting whatever theories are developed about them remain unconfirmed.
It is evident from the writings of Kerthan, that the legendary Draco Procreatio would fill several shelves of books if ever fully assembled into a non-draconic language and supposedly it lists non-deific but still unique elder dragons, too. Kerthan gives no mention of who these other unique elder dragons might be. It seems that his translations came abruptly to an end when the wyrm, Volnegrot (angered no doubt that the translations from ancient draconic were sent magically first to Kerthan instead of himself) destroyed the eminent sage's residence as well as the whole surrounding town of Bridgeford. The ruins that were once Bridgeford is now only home to vagrants and ghouls.
Only one person's name not of draconic hatching is mentioned in Kerthan's writings as having ever laid eyes upon this legendary history of dragons by dragons (he mentions other translators but gives no names for them), a simple bard by the name of Erevann. It seems that this bard worked feverishly to translate the draconic histories in the lair of a great green wyrm. Many sages refuse to admit that such histories exist; purporting that Kerthan the historian and all his bardic translators are nothing more than charlatans and mountebanks–if the translators ever actually existed, that is.
Here is a surviving scrap of one of Erevann's letters to Kerthan:
Finally, after almost a month of entertaining Volnegrot, the ancient green wyrm, the immense dragon led me deep into the bowels of a nearby dormant volcano all the way to the great draconic library of Volnegrot, close to the lava streams themselves. I first beheld the thirty some-odd tablets stacked neatly upon obsidian shelves; both tablets and shelves sized for dragons, in a smotheringly hot, eeriely red-tinted cavern. Close examination revealed that the tablets were made of mithral deeply scratched with the draconic slashes of the pure dragon script, obviously written by a draconic claw. The script was seemingly etch-marks inlayed with some sparkling silvery metal I could not identify.
Volnegrot gestured a wing-tip at the shelves. "Cloudius the sage wrote these histories." So saying, he turned ponderously and left me to my studies and translations. I had never heard the name before, I hope I spelled it right when I made my notes later Writing here was simply out of the question, no paper would last long enough to get close enough to make the notes feasable; I would have to rely on memory and make notes later.
The heat from the lava streams came at me in waves like a hot wind that wouldn't let up. I could barely stand it; but having taken Volnegrot's suggestion, I had prepared with fire resistance so as not to be another crispy husk of a body lying next to the shelves. Former translaters or failed thieves? I could not be sure.
The elder wyrm had lead me to the Draco Procreatio. These tablets recount the beginnings of draconic history and tell of several wondrous dragons singular of their kind, as well as lost arcana, strange magic items, and special abilitiess developed by these dragons. There are many creatures that remain unknown to the world at large; strange beasts that would confound even the most learned sage. These tablets seem to mention a lot of them.
Sliding out the first in a long series of heavy mithral tablets, each roughly the size of a tower shield, I began to study the sparkling dragon-wroght script of pure draconic.
An elder dragon is a type of dragon that predates written history and even most oral histories. There are whispers of legends that tell that they have always existed, even before the creation of the world. Early history of the world suggests that dragons ruled all. Nothing could stand against them. Some few of them survive from that distant time, more powerful than any other dragons alive today. Most of the surviving elder dragons attempted godhood and entered the ranks of deities. These elder dragons do have some worshippers of lesser (non-dragon) species; but only one, as far as is known, has dragon worshippers and he requires that they be undead.
Perhaps, though, it is different for dragonkind. For dragons, maybe worshiping is a minor act of heart rather than a major act of spirit. In which case, maybe many dragons worship elder dragons in their own private way, much less obvious than for other species. Perhaps all that is necessary is to have an icon of that elder dragon deity among the other jewels of their hoard. Whatever the case, elder dragons are some of the most powerful creatures in the multiverse.
Each elder dragon is unique and focuses on an area of expertise, some type of knowledge, an element, or a force. Some sages speculate that many more elder dragons than are mentioned by Kerthan the Historian could well exist. They are an insular species as a whole (certain elder dragons are exceptions to this) and usually find out-of-the-way places to inhabit.
Some elder dragons are insubstantial in some way (ethereal, shadowy, gaseous, astral, dream, wind, etc.), but not all are. What is not known about elder dragons could fill the libraries of all the major cities of the whole world, and many are the “facts” supposedly known about them that simply are not true.
Most gods and goddesses treat elder dragons with respect, thereby giving them the status of a near-equal, even if they have no deific rank. While elder dragons could work for powerful deities in various duties, only one is known to do so. A pitifully small number of elder dragons have actually joined the ranks of the gods.
Elder dragons have all of the racial charactistics of true dragons whom they most resemble, but most have changed or added to their racial abilities and modified their appearance. Some stories tell of how elder dragons were once normal true dragons until something unique happened to them or they did something strange and unexpected. There is no way to substantiate any of these tales; or to infer that all elder dragons were once normal true dragons; as even their racial charactistics have changed over the eons that each elder dragon has been alive through active magical experimentation, divine morphing, and even through adaptation to a novel environment.
Most of this information is straight from the writings of Kerthan himself; said to have been translated by several bards directly from the Draco Procreatio, a mythical draconic history book (though the word "book" is somewhat of a misnomer). There is no actual proof such a book exists except through the eminiment sage’s writings. No other person in history has claimed to have seen even translations of it. And outright mentions of it are rare and often couched in fable. Kerthan seems to suggest that there may be as many as one hundred elder dragons. If they are all of this power level, though, such a gathering of elder dragons would make the gods themselves take notice and tremble.
According to Kerthan the Historian (and thus the Draco Procreatio), “The first draconic gods begat many hatchlings of all the true dragon species [both chromatic and metallic] in their first clutches. The hatchlings from all these clutches, being nearly immortal themselves, and of deific rank 0, wandered to the material plane where they became the progenitors of each of their species. These original progenitors all lived long lives, even for dragons; but each and every one eventually passed away, (it seems immortality was not always a requirement for godhood, or maybe they did not die of natural causes, no one can say for sure). Their first clutches spawned the few dragons who were to later become the elder dragons. Most of these elder dragons also passed away or moved into the shadows of legend; only a relative few rose to become gods or unique beings.”
As this information goes against all known draconic histories, most sages discount any of Kerthan’s musings as the writings of a madman and fool. Whatever the case; elder dragons do exist; and, it seems, this is their story. It must be remembered that both oral and written history are not always the way it actually happened, but rather some historian's view of what happened. We all know that bards are not above embellishing a story to enhance its effect on their audience.
Deific elder dragons mentioned in this series are considered new-comers to the god-scene, even though they have been around for millenia. Each elder dragon has found its own way to achieve immortality; so perhaps at first, they were only ordinary true dragons. Elder dragons that will speak to other species will not answer any questions about themselves. True dragons usually refuse to speak of the tales of elder dragons to lesser species (even half-dragons are considered lesser species in this case); letting whatever theories are developed about them remain unconfirmed.
It is evident from the writings of Kerthan, that the legendary Draco Procreatio would fill several shelves of books if ever fully assembled into a non-draconic language and supposedly it lists non-deific but still unique elder dragons, too. Kerthan gives no mention of who these other unique elder dragons might be. It seems that his translations came abruptly to an end when the wyrm, Volnegrot (angered no doubt that the translations from ancient draconic were sent magically first to Kerthan instead of himself) destroyed the eminent sage's residence as well as the whole surrounding town of Bridgeford. The ruins that were once Bridgeford is now only home to vagrants and ghouls.
Only one person's name not of draconic hatching is mentioned in Kerthan's writings as having ever laid eyes upon this legendary history of dragons by dragons (he mentions other translators but gives no names for them), a simple bard by the name of Erevann. It seems that this bard worked feverishly to translate the draconic histories in the lair of a great green wyrm. Many sages refuse to admit that such histories exist; purporting that Kerthan the historian and all his bardic translators are nothing more than charlatans and mountebanks–if the translators ever actually existed, that is.
Here is a surviving scrap of one of Erevann's letters to Kerthan:
Finally, after almost a month of entertaining Volnegrot, the ancient green wyrm, the immense dragon led me deep into the bowels of a nearby dormant volcano all the way to the great draconic library of Volnegrot, close to the lava streams themselves. I first beheld the thirty some-odd tablets stacked neatly upon obsidian shelves; both tablets and shelves sized for dragons, in a smotheringly hot, eeriely red-tinted cavern. Close examination revealed that the tablets were made of mithral deeply scratched with the draconic slashes of the pure dragon script, obviously written by a draconic claw. The script was seemingly etch-marks inlayed with some sparkling silvery metal I could not identify.
Volnegrot gestured a wing-tip at the shelves. "Cloudius the sage wrote these histories." So saying, he turned ponderously and left me to my studies and translations. I had never heard the name before, I hope I spelled it right when I made my notes later Writing here was simply out of the question, no paper would last long enough to get close enough to make the notes feasable; I would have to rely on memory and make notes later.
The heat from the lava streams came at me in waves like a hot wind that wouldn't let up. I could barely stand it; but having taken Volnegrot's suggestion, I had prepared with fire resistance so as not to be another crispy husk of a body lying next to the shelves. Former translaters or failed thieves? I could not be sure.
The elder wyrm had lead me to the Draco Procreatio. These tablets recount the beginnings of draconic history and tell of several wondrous dragons singular of their kind, as well as lost arcana, strange magic items, and special abilitiess developed by these dragons. There are many creatures that remain unknown to the world at large; strange beasts that would confound even the most learned sage. These tablets seem to mention a lot of them.
Sliding out the first in a long series of heavy mithral tablets, each roughly the size of a tower shield, I began to study the sparkling dragon-wroght script of pure draconic.
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