Age of Dragons: Ashen Dragons

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Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> The Twelve Breeds -> Ashen Dragons


Evolve or Die

It is paradoxical that the Ashen Dragons, who are the firstborn of chaos, are amongst the greatest empire builders in the realm. But then, one has only to look at the structure of the Ashen Kingdom to understand that their strength comes from adaptabilty, change and the mutable qualities of chaos.

The Ashen have always believed that stagnation results from stasis, and that to grow in power one must adapt and embrace the new. Of all breeds, they are the most experimental with their sorceries, most inventive with their technologies, and most willing to try new ways of doing things. Those who speak of the "old ways being the best ways" are met with contempt by the Ashen, who believe that adaptability is everything.

Character Creation: Game Rules

Sphere Ratings

  • Soma 5
  • Sophis 4
  • Pneuma 3


Birthrights

Adaptability - An Ashen Dragon can change Lifepaths more easily than most - they take 5 years transition time to change to a new Lifepath (instead of 10), and only 3 years transition time to revert to a previously travelled Lifepath.

Mutable Form - Any magics or effects that magically alter a dragon's form (whether beneficial or not) work twice as fast on Ashen Dragons as they do on other breeds.

Breed Weakness

Corruption of the Mutable - The Ashen Breed's willingness to try anything has led to sorcerous experiments on the mystical and somatic fabric of hatchlings and eggs through the generations. One in three Ashen Dragons will be born as a hideously warped and essentially mindless chaos-spawn, and one in three Ashen Dragons will devolve into insanity as the grow old, losing 1 Sophis every twenty years after .

In game terms, player character Ashen Dragons are presumed not to be mindless spawn. As to senile insanity, make a random check for the player when he hits 800 years of age. If you determine that he is going to go insane, he will start to do so after 6D10 years, and will lose 1 Sophis at that time, then lose 1 Sophis every 3D10 years afterwards.

Physical Appearance

Storm Dragons are blue scaled, and are divided in appearance according to the ocean depth they dwell at. Those that spend most time by shore or in sky tend to have light blue scales, whereas those who spend most of their time in the deep have dark blue scales, with "horizon breakers" somewhere inbetween. Unlike Forest Dragons, however, this appearance is not fixed by heredity, but rather shifts gradually according to where the Storm Dragon spends most time. A dark-hued "seeker in darkness" who spends a century on dry land will lighten in hue till he is indistinguishable from a "horizon breaker", and a century later in the same environment will appear as light as a true "cloud swimmer". In contrast, Storm Dragon eyes that vary in diametric opposition with their skin hue - a dark scaled dragon will have light blue eyes, and vice versa. Storm Dragons also vary anatomically from the other breeds in many other ways: all have gills on the side of their neck, allowing them their amphibious lives, and many also have fish-like fins and long dolphin-like faces. Male Storm Dragons do not have horns as such, but rather just a series of keratinous ridges in a crown around their temple.

Society and Culture

While the other breeds recognise that Storm Dragons of different ocean depths have different scale hue and titles, they do not often realise that each of the three demarcations (Seeker in Darkness, Horizon Breaker and Cloud Swimmer) represents an entirely different segment of Storm Dragon society.

The Seekers in Darkness make up at least ninety percent of the Storm Dragon population, and consider themselves Storm Dragon society proper. They are militaristic, as suits a people at constant war, and driven by their duty to protect the Mother's Gift from the Outer Gods and their Kraken servants. Their deep ocean cities are built on a scale far larger than dry land settlements, but also tend to be far more thinly populated, with perhaps a thousand merfolk living alongside a dozen dragons in each city, when the same space above ground would house thirty thousand humans. The mortal and draconic inhabitants of this city alike are used to living under siege from the darkness beyond. Because noise travels so far underwater, and because stealth is part of an existence of warfare, most Seekers speak only rarely and quietly, earning the underwater realm the nickname of "The Domain of the Silent Cities."

Horizon Breakers account for about two percent of the population, but they are considered to be the Storm Dragons' point of communication to the other breeds. Other breeds might find it hard to believe that these tactiturn, quiet souls are considered to be the wildest and most vociferous members of society. They trade with the other breeds as necessary (particularly the Chimericals, who they have a long friendship with), usually seeking to acquire arcane knowledge and arms in exchange for the treasures and secrets of the sea.

Cloud Swimmers, on the other hand, are not considered to be part of Storm Dragon society at all. Rather they are those who shirk the guardian duty that has been given to them. It is not in the nature of Storm Dragons to berate though, so for the most part the Cloud Swimmers are politely ignored and not spoken of, with the silent expectation that one day they will grow up and return to their duties. At that time nothing more will be said of that time, save perhaps obliquely as "your short sabbatical" or "my momentary lapse".

Lifepaths and the Storm Dragons

As a militaristic society, the Seekers-in-Darkness have a large number of Warmasters, though the nature of their war necessitates that they often work solo or in small groups for extended periods rather than in the battle-flights of other breeds. The primary military organisation is the Guardian Knights - a brotherhood of draconic knights driven by their code of duty of protection, and renowned for their bravery.

A small number of Animist Adepts support the Guardians, though their emphasis on the military role often has them dubbed Guardian Summoners. Likewise, Guardian Magi concentrate on the combat magic aspects of the Scholar-Sage Lifepath. Its not uncommon for both Summoners and Magi to train as a Knight first.

The Horizon-Breakers tend to be Ambassador-Courtiers (dubbed the Voices of the Storm) or infiltrating Physical Adepts (dubbed Eyes of the Storm) who use Polymorphing to spy invisibly on the rest of Dragonkind.

With Cloud-Swimmers, societal roles tend to be abandoned in favour of whatever takes a dragon's individual fancy. With their inclination towards sophistry, many pursue the more academic aspects of the Scholar-Sage Lifepath.

Outlook

City-Swimmer, a Horizon-Breaker and Eye of the Storm, shares his observations:

  • Pure Dragons - "Their devotion to the Mother is admirable, though truly they should learn to act on their faith rather than just talk about it."
  • Argent Dragons - "Brave soldiers - a shame they cannot join us in the Kraken wars."
  • Solar Dragons - "They don't understand that we have greater concerns than a mere Dragonwar on the Mother's Gift. We have a deeper duty that cannot be abandoned."
  • Hunter Dragons - "Their ways are so directionless, and so easy. I envy their freedom, but understand that I can never join them in their life of simplicity."
  • Forest Dragons - "The young are so joyful in their innocence. Little do they know how precarious their lifestyle and their world is."
  • Ashen Dragons - "Claim dominion over your little domain if you will, Ashen Dragon, but you should never believe that is of any true consequence."
  • Velvet Dragons - "I met one of their spies in Kalarn once, and we shared information. They can be dealt with, carefully."
  • Chimerical Dragons - "Our friends on the dream isles, and our greatest trading partners. More than any others, they understand us."
  • Ghost Dragons - "They fear extinction and have reason to be frightened. What they do not recognise is who they should be fearing."
  • Blood Dragons - "Their ferocity would serve well in the Kraken war, but ultimately dragonflame counts for nothing in the deep ocean. They are insignificant."
  • Sable Dragons - "We Storm Dragons fight to defend against demons from the deep, yet the Sables invite one to rule over them. It is a shame that we do not have the resources or time to fight this threat - Endless Night is but one demon amongst many."