Kaodi
Legend
So, I was watching Priest today. At the end of the movie I began casually thinking about what other kinds of monsters you could call "vampires" in a movie. And naturally, being a D&D geek, I thought "dragons" .
Now obviously vampiric dragons have been done in D&D, and those type of vampires are probably not what I would be looking for in a movie about blood-sucking dragons. So I thought about making them slimmer and more feral. And then I took a turn and thought about putting a whole whack of ideas together into such a monster...
So here is what I am thinking: in Unlucky Fantasy World X, there exists a species of dragons that is large, nocturnal, breathes fire, and drinks blood. Since hitting an artery is a bit of a precision job and a normal dragon would likely take off the entire head by accident when biting, I thought it would be pertinent for the dragons tongue to actually act like something of a probiscis used for sucking up blood, with the forked ends being sharp and spear-like for jabbing, creating an effect similar to the trademark bite of a normal vampire. These dragons also have a bad tendency to burst into flames in sunlight, as the light makes their cell structure unstable causes their fire belly to burst as they are consumed by their own inferno.
The other catch, however, is that these are not so much "dragons" as "dragonweres" . They can in fact take on a humanoid form of equal mass similar in appearance to a stone giant. In this form, they can walk in the light, though it may still make some nervous or uncomfortable. Furthermore, no one knows that these giant are in fact the dragons. To the unknowning populace, the giants are actually rather helpful and a source of wisdom and even protection against some of the worlds other dangerous threats. To the dragonweres, this is something like husbandry. They feel about their flocks much like any farmer or rancher does. As well, among the dragonweres it is accepted that if you are captured in dragon form, and exposed to sunlight, you must die rather than transform and give away your identity.
In any case, the dragonweres also take need of the tradition of the fair virgin princess being sacrificed to the dragon. The blood of a grown virgin is a precious commodity which grants the dragonweres their long life. It is not in fact particularly important whether it comes from a young woman or a young man for it to work, but the Dragonwere Queen is a vain creature and slightly superstitious, preferring to drink only from the "best" and "most suitable" maidens the lesser creatures have to offer. She is, of course, by far the longest lived and yet most youthfully vigorous of any of the dragonweres, perhaps tracing her origin back to the mythical ages.
In any case, this idea is pretty rough around the edges, I will grant you. But would you find it interesting enough to use in a game, or to want to see it a movie? Can the combination of a vampire, a dragon, a werewolf (or more closely a jackalwere), a giant, and even some Evil Queen action thrown in, make for a monster that actually fits its parts without seeming too disjointed or grafted on?
Now obviously vampiric dragons have been done in D&D, and those type of vampires are probably not what I would be looking for in a movie about blood-sucking dragons. So I thought about making them slimmer and more feral. And then I took a turn and thought about putting a whole whack of ideas together into such a monster...
So here is what I am thinking: in Unlucky Fantasy World X, there exists a species of dragons that is large, nocturnal, breathes fire, and drinks blood. Since hitting an artery is a bit of a precision job and a normal dragon would likely take off the entire head by accident when biting, I thought it would be pertinent for the dragons tongue to actually act like something of a probiscis used for sucking up blood, with the forked ends being sharp and spear-like for jabbing, creating an effect similar to the trademark bite of a normal vampire. These dragons also have a bad tendency to burst into flames in sunlight, as the light makes their cell structure unstable causes their fire belly to burst as they are consumed by their own inferno.
The other catch, however, is that these are not so much "dragons" as "dragonweres" . They can in fact take on a humanoid form of equal mass similar in appearance to a stone giant. In this form, they can walk in the light, though it may still make some nervous or uncomfortable. Furthermore, no one knows that these giant are in fact the dragons. To the unknowning populace, the giants are actually rather helpful and a source of wisdom and even protection against some of the worlds other dangerous threats. To the dragonweres, this is something like husbandry. They feel about their flocks much like any farmer or rancher does. As well, among the dragonweres it is accepted that if you are captured in dragon form, and exposed to sunlight, you must die rather than transform and give away your identity.
In any case, the dragonweres also take need of the tradition of the fair virgin princess being sacrificed to the dragon. The blood of a grown virgin is a precious commodity which grants the dragonweres their long life. It is not in fact particularly important whether it comes from a young woman or a young man for it to work, but the Dragonwere Queen is a vain creature and slightly superstitious, preferring to drink only from the "best" and "most suitable" maidens the lesser creatures have to offer. She is, of course, by far the longest lived and yet most youthfully vigorous of any of the dragonweres, perhaps tracing her origin back to the mythical ages.
In any case, this idea is pretty rough around the edges, I will grant you. But would you find it interesting enough to use in a game, or to want to see it a movie? Can the combination of a vampire, a dragon, a werewolf (or more closely a jackalwere), a giant, and even some Evil Queen action thrown in, make for a monster that actually fits its parts without seeming too disjointed or grafted on?
