Dragons

Dragons, or properly True Dragons are the extremely powerful (primarily) reptilian beings that roam the world like their aquatic and skyborne sibling races, Krakens and Phoenixes. With their immense terrestrial powers, they preserve the caverns of the world and protect the world against terrible threats, like the demons of Shet'Eru. Deeply spiritual beings, the dragons are in tune with nature, whether it be the dead tundras of Qumu Dabrutu or the country-sized fields of grass in Merovech.

Closest to the animals and peoples of the world, the Dragons are highly intelligent in the ways of mortals and of animals, plants, and fungi; to the point where they will lay flat against the soil for months, years, and allow the roots and mycelium to grow on (or in) their stony flesh.

Their creations, made in their image, are the modern Draconic Species. These lesser beings are part of the Dragon taxon despite them not being True Dragons.

## History

Born near the end of the Year of Wrath, the True Dragons were made from the earth itself (and reptiles) by Dahar, god of craftswork and craftsmen. Made to fight a war, the Dragons quickly charged into battle against Shuliak and the other gods, like an earthquake, like a mountain they lept into the fray; destruction they brought, and through their magical nature they could become entire living fortresses. When the gods were shunted from the world, the Dragons were left without the direct guidance of their makers, leaving them to aimlessly wander. Years passed before they even bothered to band together, and even more had passed before they even attempted to communicate with their sibling races, Krakens and Phoenixes. When they did so, they found they both of the other races had also experienced this apathy, and with a burgeoning alliance forming, they finally resolved the Year of Wrath.

Content to carve out valleys and riverbeds and to craft mountains and hills, the Dragons wandered the world for thousands of years, creating hundreds of landmarks where they gathered in large numbers. Finally, and lastly before they entered their age-long slumber, they built the High Plains of Kwel, a utterly titanic mesa that stands out amongst the badlands and deserts of the near-lost continent. There, the greatest of their kind, the Queen-Mother of Gold, slumbers to this day; local legend says that the dragon will only awaken on the final battle, the end of the world, where the Year of Wrath will finally end and the gods will war until the world buckles and shatters under their constant war.

In the times of Merovech, the first of the dragons began to awaken, leaving Kwel buckling under the destruction and chaos wrought by their awakening. The rolling hills and mountains of Kwa-Qun-Grel were uprooted as their old makers awoke from their deathlike slumber. But unlike the destruction of demons, the destruction of dragons ended rather quickly; they were simply waking up, not beginning a crusade to burn down the world. Now, the dragons roam the world in the shapes of mortals, observing the inheritors of the world from within their own walls.

## Traits

### Appearance

The True Dragons were hand-crafted, each unique; but all were born of reptilian flesh, stone and soil, and the natural materials of the world, each with a heart of blazing wood hand-collected by Dahar. Each appeared as a large, reptilian creature, with a feline gait. Their scales were immense shards of metal, stone, gems; their eyes and breath alight with the fires of the volcanic interior of the world. Across their body, glittering wealth, giving them a radiant appearance. Their bodies were utterly swamped in the magics of the world; phytomancy, pyromancy, hydromancy, geomancy, all were part of their beings.

### Abilities

Their immense size is foremost among their powers, along with their strength; they could easily tear through even the strongest barriers, and nothing less than an equal being could even hurt them. Their rocky skin make bladed and thrusting weapons useless, even to the point where they would dull if struck against their scales. With their magic, they could create the very caves and mountains the world is made of, and do many things beyond what even some of the greatest of mortal magic-users can do today. No fire could harm them.