Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Set" data-source="post: 3431445" data-attributes="member: 41584">The Realms is dragon-heavy, particularly with these 'Rage of Dragons' / dragonflight type events, or when the novels come into play and random chicks with spellfire are blowing them out of the sky like dandelion seeds.  Oerth seems to be dragon-light, and none of the dragons in the setting (save Dragotha, the undead wyrm) appear to be big named movers and shakers.  Oerth, lacking as much 3e development, still treats them as big dumb flying lizards.As my thought-experiment mash-up uses the FR maps, I'd simply use the Realms-style dragons from the 2e Draconomicon for ideas on where to find them, but cut down the numbers significantly.  To meld the 'powerful dragons' of the Realms with the 'less common dragons' of the Oerth, I'd make each of the dragon types rarer, and a *serious* power-player, not just, 'yeah, there's a half-dozen of 'em living in that swamp.'For example, a sorceress known as Verde rules the decadant remains of the elven peoples of Cormanthor.  Known for their great beauty and wicked ways, from their forest home, they sing soft songs of tribute to their mistress, the Forest Dragon.  Their queen appears as a comely elf, draped in sheer silks sparkling with tiny flecks of emerald, and adorned in slender twisting decorations of glittering gold.  From the center of her forest realm, she sings softly and weakens the minds of her subjects, who have grown beautiful and graceful from a life of dance and decadence under her rule, but their minds have grown soft as well.  It is said that centuries have passed since Verde has assumed her true form, that of a green-scaled winged serpent, large as houses, but able to writhe and twist through the smallest gaps in the forest canopy without disturbing a single leaf, such is her subtlety.  Her soft songs grow in power such that a deceptively soft dulcet chirrup can hurl a grown man through the air, while her full-throated banshee’s wail can shatter great trees into splintered ruin and cause armored men to fall to the ground, appearing undamaged on the surface, but with every bone and organ sundered within!  (In this version, a Green Dragon would have a sonic breath weapon, while the other four chromatics remain standard.)  The depraved elves of the Singing Woods are known to keep Kobolds as body-slaves, and no elf is ever seen with at least one such personal attendant bustling about, serving drinks or holding fans or parasols to provide comfort for their lord or lady.  Some have noted that these Kobold ‘slaves’ are often more useful sources of information, and better contacts for ‘getting something done’ than their elven ‘masters,’ who seem more concerned with their esoteric games of wordplay, social maneuvering and artistic expression than actual trifles such as governance, commerce or innovation.  Verde does not ‘play with her food,’ and there are no known Half-Dragons in her lands, although many of her ‘people’ practice the arts of the Bard, as music is considered the highest form of art (and politicking and betrayal, the most fun).  The elves of the Forest Realm are known to dally with humans, sowing discord with their passing, delighting in the chaos they spread in the lives of the 'lesser races' and petulantly protesting that the mortals should *thank* them for livening up their brief and dull little lives...Since I have no idea where to put volcanoes in the Realms, I've arbitrarily decided that the mountain cluster in The North (west of Anauroch, southeast of Silver Marches, northeast of the High Moor) is the site of Faerun's Hellfurnaces.  With the Empire of Iuz / Hellgate Keep expanding down throughout the Western Heartlands, the northernmost area is ruled by Old Smoke, the Firedrake, a Great Wyrm Red also known by other titles like Pyre, the Blood Dragon, the Mountain-King and the Fire-Bringer.This ‘firedrake’ is an enormous red dragon, ensconced in a magnificent brooding mountain fortress (originally said to have been crafted by dwarves, and serving them as a city, before he killed them all) and served by fire giants, hobgoblins and kobolds, with their leaders sharing the blood of their draconic sire, and bearing similar powers.  A surprisingly personable and charming obsidian-fleshed Efreeti lord, with a dozen metal-fleshed Azer battle-smiths, serves him as advisor and ally, and his well-equipped and fanatical armies are respected by all neighboring lands.  The lands of Pyre are sharply divided by a militaristic caste system, with Kobold miners, laborers and smiths serving as the ‘support level,’ Hobgoblin soldiers as the ‘warrior caste’ and the Fire Giants as the ‘officers.’  Despite this caste system, all are equal under Pyre, and Hobgoblins found to be harassing Kobolds will be disciplined, usually by being handed over to the offended Kobolds for ‘retribution’ (which can be humiliating, but not fatal, such as being forced to serve the Kobolds and work alongside them for a weeks time).  Fire Giant ‘officers’ work hard to make sure that they don’t do anything to deserve such punishment, and the last time a Fire Giant officer earned such punishment, he choose suicide rather than dishonor.  The only exceptions are the Efreeti Lord, who tends to treat the Fire Giants with condescension, the Kobolds with affection, and the Hobgoblins with ill-concealed contempt.  The Azer smiths prefer the Kobolds, and deal perfunctorily with the Hobgoblins and Fire Giants.  In any event, members of any race with dragon-blood are higher status than those without, leading to unlikely sights such as a Half-Dragon Kobold ordering around Fire Giants.  Half-Dragons are the highest social ranking, followed by dragon-touched or dragon-wrought members, followed by ‘everyone else.’  Sorcerer and Warlock are favored means by which some attempt to break out of their rankings, by trying to awaken their draconic bloodline gifts.  Adepts in service to Old Smoke are removed entirely from the ranking system, answering only to Old Smoke, regardless of race or dragon-blooded status (and, because of this, most Adepts tend to not be dragon-blooded).Using dragons like Pyre and Verde (and I've got similar notions for Blue, White and Black dragons), instead of disposable dragons with 10-syllable names as forgettable as they are, would make for more interesting potential encounters.  Each could have it's own 'adventure path,' with the adventurers starting off fending off the hobgoblin raiding parties of Old Smoke, or foiling a plot by the assassins of the Forest Queen, and progressing through the arc until they are anywhere near powerful enough to pose an actual threat a creature that is not only a dragon, but the ruler of their own domain.Obviously, to suit the nature of the dragons, I've made the Red a very Lawful beastie, and the Green a Chaotic sensualist, but I've always felt that alignments listed in the Monster Manual shouldn't be a straightjacket...  If even Angels can fall into evil, then there's no reason at all that a dragon can't have whatever alignment it feels like having, it's not like a Red Dragon is a creature of chaos or evil, as it lacks such type descriptors and has no association with aligned-planes like the Abyss.</blockquote>

Verification