Dragon Prince (Race)

**Dragon princes** are the sons of Dragon Kings. The Dragon Kings create and forge these beings by themselves with magic using corpses of human children under 2 years old. Only male children are used and subsequently, only male dragon princes are ever forged. They will use corpses of children left in their geographic domains, which are often far away from civilisation.

Dragon Kings will usually rule a geographic landmark like a river, mountain, sea, or wind path, among others. These ‘kings’ are self-proclaimed rulers of a specific territory, and don't have any dominion over a social civilisation / any beings like a human king does. They just 'rule' over a certain geographic feature because they are one of the more powerful creatures in the area. [ If they had a statblock, they would be the mighty Greatwyrms, the apotheosis of dragonkind, but they can be killed. ]

Multiple dragon princes are made at once and sent out into the world to cultivate their abilities. The princes will possess an instinct to grow up to succeed the kings. Their goal is to achieve apotheosis by fighting their siblings for a claim to the king’s Dragon Pearl – an artefact that will enable them to metamorphose into true dragons and inherit the title of king. There is usually only one pearl to a few, or many dragon princes; this depends on how strong a king would like his successor to be.

The princes who fail either end up growing into mindless, vengeful, flightless great wyrms or commit suicide to avoid this fate. The kings do not interfere in the fight as they want to naturally select the strongest heir possible.

## Xiaojiangese Local Dragon Kings

Your ancestry determines your breath weapon. Pick options as usual in your sheet, but your damage element type determines your ancestry – of which there are only five in Kara-Tur:

 ***The South Stream King***
A bitter Dragon King whose river domain is used for waste treatment and disposal. He used to be a pearlescent white – the most beautiful among the local kings – but had been dyed an oily black from pollution. He is vengeful and destructive.
 ***The Middle Fire King***
A retired Dragon King whose soul powers the city of Xiaojiang. He has many apotheosis clerics in his employment and uses them as proxies to his goals, as he no longer has a physical body. He is ambitious and strives to become a true god.
 ***The East River King***
He dwells in the riverbed of the Clear Water River to the east of Xiaojiang. He has control over the water levels of the river, aquatic life, and floods. He is charismatic and a natural leader.
 ***The West Snow King***
Although still millennia old, he is a relatively recent invasive king making the Blue Mountain peaks snow. He is a reclusive trickster.
 ***The North Flood King***
He dwells in the sky above the north of Xiaojiang, and brings rain to flood the Blue Valley rice fields. He is a pacifist who loves order and calm.

## Appearance

Dragon princes have hair growing from the top of their head and down their necks and backs, stopping at their tailbones. They never cut their hair, growing it out their entire lives to prepare for their metamorphosis into an immortal. Should their hair ever be cut off from one side to the other, they cannot undergo metamorphosis and will become mortal.

Dragon princes will have horns, skin, and hair that is generally in whites, greens and blues as Dragon Kings often rule bodies of water or rain. Diversity can come from different features they are inspired by while forged: whites for waterfall princes, deep blue-greens or black for riverbed princes, multicoloured hues for carp princes, or prismatic hues for rainbow princes.

## Age

Dragon princes age and reach maturity at the same rate as humans. A dragon prince will retain a human-like appearance with only vestigial draconic body parts up until he is 100 years old, from then which he will enter a stage of metamorphosis for 900 years before emerging as a dragon king. They are mortal before metamorphosis, and immortal afterwards.

During the metamorphosis process, they grow to resemble a full dragon more and more, until they no longer appear human at all. After their 100th birthday, they spend the rest of their mortal lives in meditation, usually within the geographical area they claim dominion over afterwards.