Abyssal Dragon

> "The dragon stepped through the fog.
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> It was unlike anything I had seen before. My eyes couldn’t get wide enough.
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> It was a dragon that walked on four legs, its body rotting, its white scales sloughing off at a disturbing rate. Its tail was a coil of tentacles. Clear mucus covered everything, dripping off the creature as though it had just been birthed from slime. The beast’s wings were a cobweb of transparent faces. They reminded me of a foggy window that someone had smooshed their face against. The mouths of the faces were open, their eyes nothing but circles.
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> The faces in the transparent wings moaned in agony, some whispering their fears between cries.
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> The dragon’s head was reptilian, but its horns were spiral in shape, much like a ram’s. It had six eyes, three on each side. Each one moved independently of the others—they blinked at random times, they stared in all directions—but they were all sickly white with a single black slit as a pupil.
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> This was a beast made of foul nightmares and terror.
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> This was an abyssal dragon."
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> - Academy Arcanist
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## Abyssal Dragon

**Description:** Abyssal dragons are creatures made from brackish waters, souls, and the oblivion found in the fifth abyss. The abyssal dragon walks on four legs, its body rotting, its white-gray scales sloughing off as though sickly. These dragons are covered in a clear mucus that saps the strength of all who touch them, and their wings are made from souls grafted to their body by their arcanists.

Abyssal dragons have reptilian heads and six eyes that move independently of one another. They rarely speak, but when they do, their voices are mixed with the soft moans of souls.

**Trial of Worth:** In order to bond with an abyssal dragon, an arcanist who is already bonded to another type of dragon must venture into the first layer of the abyssal hells and sacrifice their eldrin. If the sacrificed dragon was old enough, the abyssal dragon will bond. If the sacrifice wasn’t old enough, the abyssal dragon will consume the individual.

Bonding with an abyssal dragon confers the title of “Death Lord” and grants the arcanist domain over a part of the fourth abyss.

**Tier:** 4

**Reproduction:** Fable—every hundred years, an abyssal dragon is born from the oblivion in the fifth abyss. The dragon squirms its way to the first abyss, where it waits for its future arcanist.

**Evocation:** Raw Magic—abyssal dragons and their arcanists evoke a bluish-white beam of raw magic that destroys most anything it touches.

**Manipulation:** Souls—abyssal dragons and their arcanists can manipulate souls. This includes ripping them from a body, mending them when damaged, controlling them with enough power, and destroying them given enough time.

**Augmentation:** Souls—when abyssal dragons or their arcanists augment themselves, they empower their magic, granting them enhanced physical abilities. Additionally, with enough practice, abyssal dragon arcanists can “astral project” their soul (severing a part of their soul and allowing it wander out of their body in order to glimpse things from afar or use magic without endangering their body). When augmenting others, abyssal dragons and their arcanists prevent instant death effects, grant a person permission to enter the abyssal hells, and protect the person’s soul from being damaged.

**Imbuing:** Life and Death—abyssal dragon magic enhances items, giving them soul protecting attributes, or the ability to sense a nearby person’s impending death.

**Aura:** The Inevitable—when an abyssal dragon arcanist creates an aura, all color seemingly drains from the nearby area, leaving the world black and white. All living beings who are not immune to instant death effects, whether they’re mystical creatures or humans, will die if they stay within the inevitable aura for longer than sixty seconds.

**Innate Abilities:** Abyssal dragons and their arcanists are immune to instant death effects, poisons, venoms, and magic draining abilities. They can collect souls and graft them to their bodies, and may use said souls to empower themselves physically, instantly heal from fatal injuries, or enhance their magic (doing so consumes the soul, extinguishing it). Abyssal dragons and their arcanists can also sense the impending death of anyone near them, and know how old a person or object is simply by looking at it. They can also speak to souls who dwell within the abyssal hells, and may send them on to be reincarnated.

**True Form Type:** Virtue—abyssal dragon arcanists must know enlightenment for their eldrin to achieve their true form. This requires the arcanist to be at peace with the world, themselves, and their actions.

**True Form Appearance:** Once an abyssal dragon achieves its true form, its rotting scales become whole, and the souls that comprise its wings wrap around its whole body, creating a haze of bluish-white. The dragon’s six eyes glow white.

**True Form Power:** Incorporeal—the abyssal dragon, and its arcanist, gain the ability to become incorporeal, unable to be struck by any physical person or object, similar to a ghost. They can still be struck by magic, however.

**In-World Lore:** Abyssal dragons are considered things of legend. Anyone who bonds with one becomes a “Death Lord”—a ruler in the abyssal hells who help to usher souls to their proper place. Because they dwell in the abyssal hells, very few people have ever seen one, but that doesn’t stop sailors from spinning thousands of tall tales about how they once roamed the world. According to ancient legend, a Death Lord who has served over five hundred years in the abyssal hells is rewarded by being allowed rule in the realm of living.

**Real-World Inspiration:** Abyssal dragons are based on two things: (1) tales of undead, and the realms of the dead, such as Hades. And (2) the teachings of Buddhist philosophy about reincarnation. Abyssal dragons aren’t meant to be good or evil, but creatures that represent an inevitable stage of life that everyone must come to grips with before they become enlightened and end the cycle of life.