Editing A Phantom Bestiary (section)

==Drakes==    
Long before men, before gods, before the Foimoire and even the Tuatha-Sidhe, The Dragon stalked across the face of the Phantom World.  Uncertain tales say He hatched from the belly of the world, or that She lay the world out of Her, as an egg.  Legends credit His breath with the growth of Scalgard's first plants and say that Her dreams, when eventually She lay down to sleep, dotted the world with animals.  Somewhere, perhaps sleeping in the heart of the world or moved on to hatch the next, The Dragon still lives.  But where or how none alive can say, for none were there, not even The Dragon's Spawn, the drakes.  

Though far-fallen from their mythic forebear, drakes are still creatures of power.  Massive in size, with armor like layered shields, teeth like spears and claws as sharp as swords, drakes are a plague on the nations of men.  Saving only Estria, they are found across the world; black-scaled in the moist fens of the Low Countries, lusterless red in the jagged mountains bordering Saesony, emerald green in the Ceumric forests and brown, wingless wyrms through much of Thrudvang.  Wherever they are, drakes are creatures of territorial greed, claiming caverns and forest glens as theirs, and jealously guarding whatever other treasure strength and fate might bring into their hands.


A character knows the following with a successful skill check:

* '''Streetwise DC 20''' - ''The Fire On Blackholme Peak'' - Far to the Saeson east the charmen return from the dark woods with tales of a lonely cave on a lonely mountain and the largest drake they've ever seen.  It has fire, it has wings, it has great claws and teeth; is it an ancient thing only recently wakened, or just closer in blood to The Dragon than most?  Many men discount the tales, but Blackholme Peak has been glowing nights of late, and a twelve-strong warband who camped near its foot have yet to return.  
* '''Arcana DC 25''' - ''A Heart Consumed By Scales of Lucre'' - Some love gold not for what it can bring them, but for its own sake.  They love the way the way it shines, the coolness against their skin, the way it smells...  They count it, again and again and again. And they try, always, to get more.  But gold is closer to The Dragon's soul than anything else in Scalgard, and too much love can change a man.  Bit by bit, the body is coated in flecks of gold. Piece by piece, the gold is absorbed into the flesh.  The body expands, and changes shape.  A mouth becomes a snout, hands become claws, and over time, over time, over time, where once there was a man there is only a Drake.  
* '''Arcana DC 30''' - ''The Plutarch's Face'' - In Estria, the Plutarch's bloodline has run strong for a hundred years and more, and ruled all that time.  In truth, it is but the blood of one man, alive for centuries.  No, not a man...  A Dragon!  The last heir of The Dragon, the Plutarch has hid himself well and indulged his native greed, happy to remain undiscovered.  A good thing, too, for the knowledge at his disposal must surely be vast and his power, if ever it had to be brought to bear, enough to strive with a god's.


Keywords: Dragon

Examples: Adult Black Dragon, Young Green Dragon