Age of Dragons: Storm Dragons
Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> The Twelve Breeds -> Storm Dragons
Contents
Guardians of The Second Sky
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 so much hubris as to believe that the sea is the domain of their breed though. 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, 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...
Character Creation: Game Rules
Sphere Ratings
- Soma 4
- Sophis 5
- Pneuma 3
Birthrights
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.
Breed Weakness
Born for the Second Sky - Storm Dragons are uncomfortable out of water, and out of harmony with environments other than the subaquatic. When not underwater, Storm Dragons are at -1 dice to any Pneuma or Sophis related rolls.
Physical Appearance
Forest Dragons are predominantly green-scaled, though their shade and patterning varies greatly. The majority of Forest Dragons (who dwell in the vast Heartswood) have leaf-green scales with dappled brown patches, and are slight and aerobatic in frame. Horns vary also within the Breed, with long horns, spiral horns and other variations found across all the various subspecies.
Society and Culture
The Heart Forest runs the entire North-South length of the realm, covering its Western border. It varies from frozen pine forests in the northwest, to steaming jungles in the southwest, with temperate forest and other forms of woodland inbetween.
The Forest Dragons proper are found throughout the central portion of the Heart Forest, and are form part of a great meta-civilisation that they call "The Blessed of the Mother". (This term excludes Jungle Dragons and Jade Dragons)
The People of the Green tend to live in small family units of around six to twelve dragons called Kindreds. Each Kindred is centred on a single "Nest", at the centre of their domain. Because the Heart Forest is vast, many Kindred domains are quite isolated, with barely any contact with neighbouring Kindreds. When territories do meet, most Kindreds coexist peacefully, but occasionally violent feuds can break out.
Despite their disparate and scattered existences, the Kindreds do have a shared culture and history, mostly thanks to the efforts of the Seers of the Green: a society of animist adepts who function as priests, arbitrators, leaders and messengers across the Forest. The Seers have a tradition of oral storytelling that stretches back to the dawn of history, and lead the Forest Dragons in prayer and ritual.
It is because of the Seers that the Forest Dragons all keep a sacred grove in each Nest, and plant a birth-tree for each newborn. It is through the Seers that the centennial Gathers are organised, when Forest Dragons tend to find new mates, catch up on news and join in celebration. Only the Seers can officiate over family-bindings (the closest thing Forest Dragons have to marriage), can give a wandering Forest Dragon leave to move beyond the Heart Forest, or insist that a stranger be given free passage through another's territory. The Seers themselves are factionalised of course, and have no single leadership or agenda save for the continuation of their traditions.
Possibly, the numbers of Forest Dragons equal those of the other breeds combined, but as few Forest Dragons wander far from their Nests they are rarely seen beyond the Heart Forest. Those that do travel are usually either malcontents or outcasts, or working directly on the instructions of the Seers to achieve a particular goal before returning home.
The Forest Dragons have shown no interest in joining the Alliance, and have no spokespersons to allow the breed as a whole to join anyway. Some displaced individuals have found a place there, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
The Forest Dragons have even less interest in joining the Ascendancy, as the Ascendancy's religion and ethics run counter to Forest Dragon thinking.
Lifepaths and the Forest Dragons
With their short lives, it is uncommon for Forest Dragons to pursue more than one (or at most two) Paths over their entire lives. Forest Dragons don't tend to seek to master every field of endeavour, but rather pick one role that suits them. Generally a single family unit will have a particular preference of Lifepath, which most family members will follow, simply because they have easy access to mentors from that path and are exposed to it from an early age.
Three major philosophies exist within the Kindreds, though there are also many smaller ones:
The Call of Harmony follow the Lifepath of Physical Adepts and see their calling as gaining unity with nature, both by understanding their physical forms and by wearing the skins of other animal races. These families will often maintain nests that share territory with animals and mortals, and seek to coexist rather than to dominate or rule.
In contrast, Call of Clouds kindreds favour the Lifepath of the Sky Dancer and are fairly uninterested in the world below the canopy, instead preferring the skies above where they can be closer to the Pneuma of the Goddess. They represent the exuberance and joyfulness that is the best aspect of the youthful culture of the Forest Dragons.
Finally, families which follow the Call of Thorns tend to follow the path of the Beast Unbound. They seek to dominate their environments, and tend to be amongst the most vicious and feral of their breed. They believe that a short life should find joy in spilt blood and ferocious struggle.
Outside the Kindred-based structure of society are the Seers of the Green, who almost universally follow the lifepath of the Animist Adepts. Traditionally, in a brood of four or more hatchlings, the youngest will seek out the Seers to join their number. Often, the Seers will pick out these youngest siblings at Gathers, and guide them into choosing to join their number. A small force of Warmasters called the Emerald Branch also dedicate themselves to the Seers' service, travelling with them as bodyguards or soldiers. It is almost unheard of for a Forest Dragon to become a Warmaster without first trying another Lifepath, and the Emerald Branch themselves do not accept any Dragon who has not at the very least spent twenty five years in normal life within a Kindred.
Outlook
Wisdom-of-the-Young, is a respected Seer, and shares the thoughts of his people:
- Pure Dragons - "Children of desert, as we are children of forest. The Mother gave us different gifts, but I think ours was the better."
- Argent Dragons - "The humans of Arrantis have learnt to stop at the border of the Forest, knowing that they have no authority beyond where the trees begin. The wise Argent should know the same."
- Solar Dragons - "For all their claims of sibling empathy, they can never truly understand us. We are not part of their grand society - the Forest breed stand apart."
- Hunter Dragons - "They almost understand - almost. But they have seized onto one aspect of the mysteries of life, and lost track of the others."
- Storm Dragons - "They are to be respected, and feared. The duty out Mother gave them is a difficult one, and they serve it well."
- Ashen Dragons - "They think themselves so superior in intellect, but for all their knowledge they have little true wisdom."
- Velvet Dragons - "Their beauty is like that of a marble statue - ancient, unchanging and artificial. Our beauty is that of living youth - one that they can never match."
- Chimerical Dragons - "They have insights, these ones, that even we Seers cannot match. But I fear where their insights come from - the dream realm was not meant to be explored, or conquered."
- Ghost Dragons - "Death-cultists of the worse sort, whose very presence makes nature recoil. They will find no refuge in our forests."
- Blood Dragons - "Time and time again they have sought to burn us out of our woods - time and time again, we have driven them off. They all deserve death."
- Sable Dragons - "The force they worship is evil, but it is just a powerful spirit rather than a true deity. Endless Night could never threaten the Heart Forest."
