Dragon (weapon)

**Dragons** or **fire dragons** are a class of long-ranged weapons that launch projectiles at a high velocity through the confined burning of propellants with highly explosive force. They were named after the prehistoric species that was believed to breathe fire to cook its prey.

## History

- date of creation

- inventor Exodites

## Types

### Great Dragons

No longer majorly produced, **great dragons** were siege-breakers, brought to the field to end the day. Due to their massive bulk and firepower, the great dragons of antiquity gathered fearsome reputations and legends.

» superguns

### Dragons

**Dragons** are projectile based artillery, often mounted on stone walls, turrets, towers, fortresses, or ships.

#### Sea dragons

When used at sea for naval combat, draconic artillery is referred to as **sea dragons**. They are known for firing chained-fangs, where two dragonteeth are chained together and fired to damage or destroy enemy sails and rigging.

» cannons

### Wyverns

In front warfare, **wyverns** were draconic weapons propped on two legs that fire explosive projectiles at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing trajectories.

» mortars

### Drakes

The most recent adaptation of draconic arms, the **drake** or **fire drake** is a handheld version of the dragon, in both longneck and concealable shortsnout varieties. Longneck drakes have been the trending new technological advancement in the firearms industry. Contrary, the handheld shortsnout drakes are rare artisan items.

#### Shortsnout drakes

They are experimental and dangerous, as the recoil can be very strong on the untrained arm, and are seemingly only worn for decorative purposes unless carried by military personnel who can afford and access the technology.

» handguns

» shotguns?

### Spitfire dragons

A recent innovation of Lavmoran engineers, the **spitfire dragon** is a fearsome weapon designed to expel a continuous stream of rapid dragonfire using a cyclic, multi-barrel design which expedited the loading and reloading process with the cranking of a handle. Most spitfires are designed with *wings*, a defensive metal mantlet designed to protect the operator from return-fire.

» Gatling gun

## Breeds

* **Red dragons** – made out of adamantine. Red dragons are indicative of dwarven engineering.
* **White dragons** – made out of steel.
* **Green dragons** – made out of bronze.
* **Black dragons** – made out of iron.

## Terminology

### Broodmother

A draconic **broodmother** is the cast iron master mold for manufacturing dragon copies for mass production.

### Dragoon

A **dragoon** (less common, **dragonier**) is a type of combatant trained in the reloading and firing of draconic weaponry.

### Dragonnade

A **dragonnade** is a line of dragons and dragoons set in a defensive formation to fire a barrage.

### Dragonteeth

The ammunition used by dragons is called **dragonteeth** or **draketeeth**, commonly shortened to *tooth* or *teeth*. They are known for their incendiary qualities, with clothing or other flammable materials known to catch fire when fired upon.

Victims of dragonbites must have the "teeth pulled" from the wound for it to heal correctly.

### Dragonfire, drakefire, or dragonbreath

> "They were all roasted by dragonfire, every single one 'o them."
>
>

**Dragonbreath** is the fiery, destructive discharge of draconic weaponry. When being loaded, the metal-forged dragoonteeth were heavily infused with mana by magicians so that when they were dropped into the dragon's mouth, it would readily radiate and then absorb the enchantment carved on the inside of the barreling, superheating the metal of the projectile and causing it to launch with deadly, combustive force.

Drakefire is specifically dragonbreath from drakes.

### Dragonbusters

*"Spears of Tylan"*

**Dragonbusters** were tools for dragonslaying, a shaft with an explosive mortar at the end, shoved down the throat of the dragon (barrel of the cannon) to explode from the inside out. Many dragonslayers lost their arms in these fame-seeking ventures, "bitten off" by their foe.

### Dragon bites

> "You don't come back from a dragon bite."
>
>

A **dragon bite** is the name for a wound received from any kind of draconic weaponry, which is characteristic for its penetrating, burning effects. Ash and burn marks over hole-like scars are indicative of a dragon bite, and the force of the injury can be enough to permanently ruin someone. Some victims of dragon bites have been burned from the inside out due to the intense heat of the weapons' teeth, on rare occasion the wound sealing itself up in self-cauterization, bedding the tooth within to cause more damage.

## Society

### Dragon slaying

• looked great on a knight's resume

• "\_\_\_\_ Slayer of Krakanot"

• counting coup - dragonslaying

>> capture vs. destroy – seizing enemy dragons to make use of it, or symbolically destroying it for the notoriety and acclaim ("I am Ser Harald, Slayer of the Dragons of Allonsriche.") at the expense of the usefulness of repurposing a functional weapon. In campaigns, many a king had to balance the glory-seeking demands of his vassals with the artillery tactics of his sieges. A king could easily offend his knights or lords by denying them a "kill", since many would often join the royal's military campaign for the chance at destroying an enemy dragon.

## Famous dragons

Broodmothers:

* **Queen of Dragons** – the mold for the great dragon Shanlongar, utilized by the Liona Kingdom against the Austen Empire. It was destroyed by BRAVO TEAM.

Great Dragons:

* **Shanlongar, the King of Dragons** – an Ephideli Great Dragon created to lay waste to the Austen Empire. Called *Shanalongo* ("Autumn snake") by its creators, the Shanlongar was a massive adamantine-and-steel weapon of mass destruction. It breached the walls of [Constantinople] and then was loaded onto the Austain railways, where it proceeded to rampage across the countryside on a snaking trail of ruin and fire as it bombarded unprotected cities and villages from afar. The Shanlongar was finally destroyed by the efforts of the heroes remembered as BRAVO TEAM, who successfully routed and disabled the King of Dragons, followed by the successful destruction of its broodmother in Liona.

Dragons:

* **Sweizbart** – Sweizbart was a legendary dragon which was enchanted so that its dragonfire would spew teeth of molten metal, blazing red-hot through the air and burning anything it bit. When it was finally slain by Baron Leopold von Tieler, the Austener knight commemorated his triumph by having the dragon melted down and reforged into a magnificent suit of armor, which he believed would give him a resistance against fire, like dragonhide in myth. When the suit was complete, Leopold donned the Dragon's Hide in front of his battle host, and upon resting the helmet onto his shoulders, the Sweizbart's famous enchantment activated—cooking the brazen knight alive within his own armor. What von Tieler and his magicians failed to understand was, Sweizbart's enchantment was made to heat up objects within, not protect them from heat.
* **The Green Dragons of Ingstrom** – a dragonnade of green dragons mounted on the south rampart of the Castle Ingstrom which were reputed to stop any and every advance on the main gate to the fortress over centuries.

## Involvement

Keyara acquires a drake to defend herself when she arrives in Usharbanipal.

(?) Noretaid is bitten twice in her left leg by a dragon manned by the Serag, impairing her ability to walk.

## See also

* Dragon eggs (grenades) – spiked, iron capsules filled with explosive ingredients that disperse lethal shrapnel in all directions, invented to scatter enemy clusters and cause bloody havoc.
* Dragonblood – a flammable oil.