Editing Age of Dragons: Storm Dragons

The Storm Dragons will tell you that there are two worlds, and that one is far larger than the other.

One world is the ''Mother's Gift'', which is the world as others know it. The world above is the sky, the land and the air. It is the domain of Dragons, and of the mortal races, and was formed when the Goddess exhaled it into being.

The other world is the ''Endless'', which is the ocean of the rest of existence. It has existed forever, and what other dragon's laughably call the Realm is nothing more than a single island within its endless reaches.

The ''Storm Dragons'' know that beyond the (relatively) small area of land, there lies an infinite expanse of water. Not only does this enclose the land, it also encloses the sky itself, with all the air that surrounds the realm little more than the contents of the bubble that the Goddess created for her children.

They do not have the hubris to believe that the whole of the sea is their domain. The Storm Dragons recognise that they patrol only the borderline where the ''Mother's Gift'' encounters the ''Endless'', and that the best they can do is to keep the ''Endless'' at bay.

Against them are railed the ''Outer Gods'' of the ''Endless'', who are legion and who individually are almost as strong as the Mother Goddess herself. The Storm Dragons battle the massive ''Kraken of the Drowned Abyss'', each of whom is many times the size of a dragon, but who are little more than the frontline soldiers of the Outer Gods' oceanic armies.

The ''Outer Gods'' want to destroy the ''Mother's Gift'' and reclaim it into the ''Endless.'' The Storm Dragons are all that stand in their way...

*'''Soma 50'''

*'''Sophia 60'''

*'''Pneuma 40'''

'''Breathing the Endless''' - Storm Dragons can breathe underwater as easily as if they were in air. Also, they can swim as fast as most dragons can fly, whereas most dragons are not well suited to propel themselves underwater.

'''Echo Location''' - Storm Dragons can use a bat-like system of sonar-location to "see" their surroundings, even in absolute darkness. Underwater, this is just as effective and detailed as their sight. Out of water, it is less effective, and only half as accurate as their sight.

'''Ocean Douses Flame''' - Storm Dragons cannot use any magic relating to fire, including the universal birthright ''firebreathing''.

 

'''Call of the Second Sky''' - A Storm Dragon who spends more than a century away from the ocean will start to go mad, losing 1 Sophia each year that passes after that time. This is permanent, and resuming contact with the ocean will halt the decline but do nothing to cure the madness already present.

'''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.  

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 a vital skill in an existence defined by warfare, most Seekers speak only rarely and quietly, earning the underwater realm the nickname of ''"The Domain of Whispers."''

''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 oceanic 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 "your momentary lapse".