Despayr Despayr was a black dragon that was unusual in a number of ways . He was born covered in glowing purple runes , could not breathe acid and lacked the ability to cast spells like others of his kind . Relationships . Despayr was the spawn of Skurge , the great dragon of the Tun Marshes , and the clutchmate of Tyra . Through Skurge , both Despayr and Tyra were direct descendants of the mighty Thauglorimorgorus , the Black Doom , who once ruled the entire land of Cormyr . Despayr ' s father was unknown , but was reputed to be a black dragon living in the jungles of Chult . History . Marked from birth with strange runes by Shar , Despayr was quickly ostracized by both his mother Skurge and sister Tyra . The young dragon was forced to live a solitary existence until he received a shadowy vision teaching him to turn the curse of his birth into a powerful tool . Both Despayr and Tyra made their lairs in the Vast Swamp . When they began to raid outside its edges by 1367 DR , several adventuring companies made expeditions into the swamp with the aim of slaying the dragons and / or stealing their treasure hoard . However , most disappeared , few returned unharmed , and none were successful . Despayr took up the offer of the visions and began to follow Shar ' s will . With the visions as his guide , he eventually learned to breathe a cloud of shadowstuff consisting of many dark shards . Additionally , he learned of his potential to create a tear in the Weave . As he followed these visions , he gained in power and abilities . Soon his visions shared with him his sister ' s fate at the hands of the Dragonslayer tribe of Lizardfolk , a tribe he swiftly defeated and enslaved when he settled into Tyra ' s unguarded lair . Not long after this , Despayr was met by Esvele Greycastle , who , after easily rebuffing his attempts to destroy her , did not slay him , but revealed to him Shar ' s hand in the visions he had been following . Pulling a Shadow shard from Despayr ' s newly - gained hoard , Esvele schooled the dragon in the artifact ' s use and how to use the shard to transform creatures into shadowslain . With this new knowledge , Despayr accepted Esvele ' s plan to use him and the shadow shard to tear of hole in the weave . While bringing much of the Vast Swamp under his control , Despayr discovered the Lost Refuge containing the Dusk Lord ' s Passage and using the portal , relocated his lair to the Black Rift on the Plane of Shadow . Description . Despayr looked much like other black dragons of his age , bearing the distinctive curling horns and dark scales of its kin . However , Despayr was marked with numerous purple glowing runes all over his body . . These markings were supposedly a gift from Shar that marked even the interior surface of the egg he hatched from . Abilities . Despayr had a unique ability to expel a gout of shadowy shards instead of the usual acid of other black dragons . These shards would open dry wounds over a person ' s body and sap life from them . Additionaly as part of his marked birth , Despayr was unable to cast spells . Appendix . Discrepancies . In Dragons of Faerûn a dragon also by the name of Despayr is listed in the Roll Call of Dragons as an Old female black dragon living in the Vast Swamp . However considering is the more recent source it is considered an update to the former info . Despayr ' s first mention was in " Elminster ' s Ecologies : The Cormyrean Marshes " but there he is presented as a standard juvenile black dragon .