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[SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7381147" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I've been wondering why there's a half-gold dragon (Zindar) acting as harbormaster in Port Nyanzaru. It begs the question of Zindar's heritage: Which gold dragon sired him & what is that gold dragon doing now? To not follow up on Zindar's "gold dragon-ness" is like introducing a talking skull named Phil without ever following up on <em>why</em> Phil is a talking skull. It's the smoking gun rule of writing: introduce a gun and sometime in the narrative it's going to go off.</p><p></p><p>"What's a half gold dragon doing here??" This is the sort of question my players may very well ask. They already were curious about <em>which</em> royal bloodline merchant prince Zhanthi descends from! Had to ad lib that one! "Tuama" is now a Chultan royal family. Who knew.</p><p></p><p>I consulted this <a href="http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_dragons" target="_blank">list of dragons</a>... and <a href="https://markustay.deviantart.com/art/Forgotten-Realms-5th-Edition-721963342" target="_blank">Markus Tay's map of the 5e Forgotten Realms</a>... looking for gold dragons within 1,000 miles of Chult... Short story: There aren't any.</p><p></p><p>[sblock=long story]There are no known gold dragons in Chult – but there are green (dead), red, black, mist, emerald, topaz, and faerie dragons.</p><p></p><p>What about in Samarach, Thindol, Tashalar, Lapaliiya, the Tharsult Islands, or the Shining Sea? Nope, no known dragons at all.</p><p></p><p>Calimshan? Lots of dead dragons... a blue dracolich, bronze (dead), silver (dead), reds (dead), and blue (dead) dragons.</p><p></p><p>Tethyr? Blue (dead), red, sapphire, and a half-gold pseudodragon named <a href="http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Purlakhonthiis" target="_blank">Purlakhonthiss</a> who likely was meant to be a platinum pseudodragon, has lore inconsistencies, and no mention of a gold dragon sire.</p><p></p><p>What about Nimbral or Lantan or the Nelanther Isles? One bronze dragon on Nelanther.</p><p></p><p>Maybe Amn? Reds (alive & dead), blues (alive & dead), green, and bronze (dead).</p><p></p><p>Shaar? A green dracolich and a copper dragon.</p><p></p><p>And lastly Halruaa? No known dragons.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>So it seems Zindar's dragon parent is a <em>traveling</em> gold dragon with no known lair. On the table I've been consulting such dragons are listed as having "no fixed abode." And one is an ancient male gold dragon named Adamarondor (who has no history, being a simple mention in 2006 <em>Dragons of Faerun</em>). </p><p></p><p>That's assuming his sire is meant to be from existing D&D lore...</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Here's what I may do to deepen the story: Zindar's gold dragon sire was mortally cursed facing Acererak - the curse corrupting him/her to slowly become a dracolich. In an act of noble self-sacrifice, the gold dragon asked a dragon-hunting ancestor of the merchant prince Zhanthi to take his/her life. Zhanthi descends from none other than Ch'gakare (maybe he was known as "the dragonslayer"?). This makes sense if you look at her monopoly: gems and armor. Hmm. What creatures' scales make superb armor and like to lair in gem-filled caves? Dragons, maybe? </p><p></p><p>And the conflict between Acererak and this gold dragon makes even more sense if you consider the permanent magical effects Acererak imbued the Tomb of the Nine Gods with...particularly the misdirection of <em>Arcane Gate, Banishment, Dimension Door, Gate, Plane Shift, Teleport</em>, and <em>Word of Recall</em>...an effect is similar to <em>Halaster's teleport cage</em> (from d20 City of Splendors: Waterdeep p.155), which required 1,000 gp diamond dust for every 10-foot-cube/level that it warded. So vast amounts of diamond dust went into creating the Tomb of the Nine Gods, so much so that it depleted virtually all of Chult’s diamond mines! And if the gold dragon once laired near a diamond mine, and witnessed slaves being worked to the bone for evil magic... Naturally conflict would occur.</p><p></p><p>The young Zindar may have been raised alongside Zhanthi's family, but was lied to about what befell his sire, told that he/she died facing pirates. That would explain how Zindar ended up as harbormaster with a passion against pirates...and would explain why he and Zhanthi are working together to bring the pirates down.</p><p></p><p>Heck, that "gold-plated armor" in Zhanthi's villa (which seems unusually un-Chultan!) could actually be gold dragon scale armor fashioned to honor the sacrifice of Zindar's sire...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7381147, member: 20323"] I've been wondering why there's a half-gold dragon (Zindar) acting as harbormaster in Port Nyanzaru. It begs the question of Zindar's heritage: Which gold dragon sired him & what is that gold dragon doing now? To not follow up on Zindar's "gold dragon-ness" is like introducing a talking skull named Phil without ever following up on [I]why[/I] Phil is a talking skull. It's the smoking gun rule of writing: introduce a gun and sometime in the narrative it's going to go off. "What's a half gold dragon doing here??" This is the sort of question my players may very well ask. They already were curious about [I]which[/I] royal bloodline merchant prince Zhanthi descends from! Had to ad lib that one! "Tuama" is now a Chultan royal family. Who knew. I consulted this [url=http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_dragons]list of dragons[/url]... and [url=https://markustay.deviantart.com/art/Forgotten-Realms-5th-Edition-721963342]Markus Tay's map of the 5e Forgotten Realms[/url]... looking for gold dragons within 1,000 miles of Chult... Short story: There aren't any. [sblock=long story]There are no known gold dragons in Chult – but there are green (dead), red, black, mist, emerald, topaz, and faerie dragons. What about in Samarach, Thindol, Tashalar, Lapaliiya, the Tharsult Islands, or the Shining Sea? Nope, no known dragons at all. Calimshan? Lots of dead dragons... a blue dracolich, bronze (dead), silver (dead), reds (dead), and blue (dead) dragons. Tethyr? Blue (dead), red, sapphire, and a half-gold pseudodragon named [url=http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Purlakhonthiis]Purlakhonthiss[/url] who likely was meant to be a platinum pseudodragon, has lore inconsistencies, and no mention of a gold dragon sire. What about Nimbral or Lantan or the Nelanther Isles? One bronze dragon on Nelanther. Maybe Amn? Reds (alive & dead), blues (alive & dead), green, and bronze (dead). Shaar? A green dracolich and a copper dragon. And lastly Halruaa? No known dragons.[/sblock] So it seems Zindar's dragon parent is a [I]traveling[/I] gold dragon with no known lair. On the table I've been consulting such dragons are listed as having "no fixed abode." And one is an ancient male gold dragon named Adamarondor (who has no history, being a simple mention in 2006 [I]Dragons of Faerun[/I]). That's assuming his sire is meant to be from existing D&D lore... EDIT: Here's what I may do to deepen the story: Zindar's gold dragon sire was mortally cursed facing Acererak - the curse corrupting him/her to slowly become a dracolich. In an act of noble self-sacrifice, the gold dragon asked a dragon-hunting ancestor of the merchant prince Zhanthi to take his/her life. Zhanthi descends from none other than Ch'gakare (maybe he was known as "the dragonslayer"?). This makes sense if you look at her monopoly: gems and armor. Hmm. What creatures' scales make superb armor and like to lair in gem-filled caves? Dragons, maybe? And the conflict between Acererak and this gold dragon makes even more sense if you consider the permanent magical effects Acererak imbued the Tomb of the Nine Gods with...particularly the misdirection of [I]Arcane Gate, Banishment, Dimension Door, Gate, Plane Shift, Teleport[/I], and [I]Word of Recall[/I]...an effect is similar to [I]Halaster's teleport cage[/I] (from d20 City of Splendors: Waterdeep p.155), which required 1,000 gp diamond dust for every 10-foot-cube/level that it warded. So vast amounts of diamond dust went into creating the Tomb of the Nine Gods, so much so that it depleted virtually all of Chult’s diamond mines! And if the gold dragon once laired near a diamond mine, and witnessed slaves being worked to the bone for evil magic... Naturally conflict would occur. The young Zindar may have been raised alongside Zhanthi's family, but was lied to about what befell his sire, told that he/she died facing pirates. That would explain how Zindar ended up as harbormaster with a passion against pirates...and would explain why he and Zhanthi are working together to bring the pirates down. Heck, that "gold-plated armor" in Zhanthi's villa (which seems unusually un-Chultan!) could actually be gold dragon scale armor fashioned to honor the sacrifice of Zindar's sire... [/QUOTE]
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