Need ideas: origin of half-dragon stirge?

[Driddle]

I'm trying to think of a way to explain how a stirge could possibly have ended up with the half-dragon template. Your ideas would be much appreciated.

Actually, I'd like to have two or more of the suckers to establish a viable gene pool. I envision a scenario that relies on the enhanced vigor of dragon blood and a much more active breeding rate for the cross-breeds that results in a massive swarm of ultra-stirges sweeping across the countryside.

But how and why would a dragon ever mix it up with such a lowly lifeform?

 

[Piratecat]

Domination?

Desperation?

A drunken bet?

A sicko transmuter?

. . . I've got nothing.

 

[Voadam]

Parasites that picked up dragon traits because when they supped from a Great Wyrm dragon like mosquitoes the powerful blood infused them with magical draconic essence.

And that damn dragon magic sticks through the bloodline now.

 

[Knight Otu]

As a random idea - These particular stirges nested near a dragon graveyard, and occasionally sucked blood from dying dragons. Over the time, the magical nature of the place, along with their diet, turned the stirges into more powerful versions with some draconic features - half-dragons.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

Voadam stole my idea...

I was going to add the notion that the actually sucked the blood from a dragon egg, managing to puncture the eggshell without breaking it (might have been when mommy was away or perhaps she was killed in some manner and the egg was left in a hidden cache seperate from the coins). The stirges started to suck away on it and gained the template.

Of course, this brings up the question of what happened with the egg? I'd imagine that it might still hatch, though you might end up with a sickly dragon. Might be interesting.

 

[Reynard]

In my campaigns, I often use mystical gene-splicing to explain a lot of more exotic half-dragon (and half-fiend) combinations. Perhaps a powerful wizard, or even the dragon "parent" itself, managed to "breed in" the bloodline via alchemical and magical processes, rather than through actual procreation.

Also, I like the idea of the dragon graveyard thing. That's just nifty.

 

[Voadam]

Voadam stole my idea...

And I got a good price for it on the black market too! Nothing like having a good fence. You really should keep those locked away tighter if you don't want just anybody to make off with them.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

And I got a good price for it on the black market too! Nothing like having a good fence. You really should keep those locked away tighter if you don't want just anybody to make off with them.

See, and he admits it! Administrator! Administrator!

lol...sorry, just couldn't help it. I got a good laugh off that one Voadam.

Back to the topic though, if you did go with the dragon trying to make the creatures, it would likely be limited to dragons that prize the stirge's flight and mobility over anything else - probably silver dragons.

 

[Richards]

I'm not sure if stirge reproduction has ever been addressed in your campaign world, but I'm going to assume that they're egg layers. Perhaps stirges are parasitic, injecting their eggs into the bodies of animals large enough not to notice/be bothered by them, so that once the eggs hatch, the infant stirges have a readily available food source. Stirges hatching from the bodies of manticores, hydras, tyrannosaurs, etc. tend to be normal, but a newborn stirge that has developed in its egg imbedded in the skin of a dragon is warped by the dragon's natural aura of magic, resulting in a stirge with the half-dragon template.

I dunno. Just a possibility.

Johnathan

 

[Driddle]

Excellent ideas; thanks, all.

Just the other night while I was waiting for my dog to vent his waste byproducts in the yard, I was beset upon by a swarm (well, two) mosquitoes. Obnoxious little buggers, they.

I've faced far worse, of course, on the traditional summer picnic outings at the lake and whatnot. So this is a giant step further and imagining the horror of a massive swarm of (acid-spitting?) giant mutant bloodsuckers sweeping over the land and fatally draining anything that moves.

Put your heroes up against THAT and see what solution they come up with. Not your standard monster encounter. Should be fun, one way or the other.