Itoth, the Original Tyrant.

### Important Details

Itoth is now a long dead ancient red dragon. He is the first dragon to ever exist, and he was certainly one of the most powerful. His title is “The Original Tyrant”, because of his age and cruelty. Itoth was born a ruler, and the only reason he died was because of his old age, rather than anyone killing him. He lived for 3,000 years on his own, far longer than any other dragon to have ever existed. Itoth was a dragon of cruelty. He did whatever he wanted when he wanted because he wanted, and nobody had any right to stop him. When he was alive only the original races existed, humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and orcs. Along with the rest of the monsters who came from the other planes that were forming. The races were very primitive back then, and magic was merely but a rare event that had barely an impact on the world.

Itoth was actually the son of Tiamat, the first son, and her favorite son. She also created nineteen other dragons, two of each chromatic color for mating purposes. The other dragons set out across the world to find their homes, and Itoth made his lair in a volcano. Each of the children of these original dragons have since intermingled, mudling bloodlines and creating crossbreeds, which is how the dragon population grew from twenty to what it is today. The one exception to this is Iknyr’s bloodline.

Iknyr is the most notable member of its family and Iknyr’s blood is pure red dragon blood, unmuddled by any other color.

Itoth’s lair has since been looted and ravaged to pieces over time, but still many Kobolds and other dragons come to worship the original tyrant. It’s become a holy site for all of dragonkind, and if a red dragon survives to reach 100 they usually take a journey to Itoth’s lair to pay their respects and add their scale to a growing pile beneath a shrine of the dragon god. One of the few red dragons in all of history to have not done this is Iknyr. Upon Itoth’s death Xairden immortalized him and gave him godhood. She did this because she felt the dragons needed a different god to worship aside from Tiamat, and he made a significant enough impact on the world that if he was born a god his power would be significant. Itoth lives in the Elemental Plane of Fire as one of the rulers of the city of brass.

### The Code of Itoth

Most red dragons chose to follow a set of guidelines, a sort of universal moral compass, called the Code of Itoth, and although red dragons follow this code religiously, other dragon species follow it to various extents as well. The code was designed by Itoth to make sure all dragons that descended from him would act in his image. The code goes as follows:

1) A red dragon when given the opportunity shall conquer all the land they can in the name of Itoth. As their power and influence grows, Itoth grows as well.

2) If however possible, avoid losing territory to other creatures weaker than you, such as humanoids, other chromatic dragons, or other monsters.

3) All of the wealth you have acquired over your vast life is yours to keep, never give it away to anyone else, especially not somebody lower in status than you. This wealth will get you a higher standing within the plane of existence you go to after you die.

4) Never under any circumstance shall a metallic dragon be tolerated within your sight. Your first act you should do when seeing one is kill it on sight, and if possible burn the corpse to nothing but ash to prevent any chance of necromancers getting their hands on them or a cleric causing a miracle to bring them back.

5) Never act less powerful than you are, and never submit to a lower creature. This includes others of your kind. This goes for the opposite too, never step too far above your own rank, and never act more powerful than you are. If a fellow dragon believes you are not worthy of the praise you give yourself, you have the right to prove to them whether they are right or wrong in combat.

6) Showing mercy is an act of weakness and of impurity. If you have the chance to kill a foe, but you do not, that will immediately demote you in the hierarchy.

7) Running away during a fight is a sign of weakness and of cowardice. Do not run away from a fight during it, but if you are smart enough to back down and not accept before the fight that will not harm your rank in any noticeable way, but the other dragons are free to ridicule you for your cowardice all the same.

8) Anything, and everything that is within your ability to take for yourself, was always yours to begin with. If the world is unable to protect itself and what it thinks it owns from you, you already own all of it. Anything you can take is yours to take.

9) No matter how young or how weak you are, if you are a red dragon, you are always above all other dragon types below you.

10) Your children are a top priority. They are not a threat to you, because they are weaker than you, so you have no reason to attack or kill them. Killing a child is the worst crime to dragonkind, and all other nearby dragons should punish you by death. Protect the child until they reach 100 years of age, then they can reasonably be considered a threat, and if the child does not leave on their own by then, you have every right to kill them.