Age of Dragons: Velvet Dragons
Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> The Twelve Breeds -> Velvet Dragons
Contents
Rules were made to be broken
The Velvet Dragons can't help being beautiful - its the way the goddess made them. They can't help it if Dragons of other breeds sinfully lust after them - to their mind, it is the purpose for which they are made.
So the Velvets use their beauty - they tempt, they deceive, they lie and they manipulate. They make no secret of being a force of sin, as they know that this is why they were created. They represent the hidden urge within every living being to just do what instinct and feeling says to, regardless of laws and morality.
Even in serving the Ascendancy, they see no paradox. They undermine the Mother's order and the Mother's world simply because this is what the Mother wants them to do.
Character Creation: Game Rules
Sphere Ratings
- Soma 4
- Sophis 3
- Pneuma 5
Birthrights
Glamourweaving - A Velvet Dragon appears beautiful, for reasons that go beyond the physical. They have an aura of desirability that makes every dragon want to touch and caress them. Likewise their voices are mellifluous and soothing, making others want to believe them even when they should know better. They have -1 TN on any dice rolls made to seduce or manipulate.
Breed Weakness
Aversion to Truth - In contrast, Velvet Dragons find truth and sincerity difficult. When trying to persuade sincerely, such as when speaking a truth that they want others to believe, or when making a direct threat that they intend to follow up on, they find that a mix of low reputation and reverse glamour casts doubt on their words. They are at +1 TN on any dice rolls where they they are bing absolutely honest and sincere.
Physical Appearance
Ashen Dragons are dark grey in colour, with blackish mottling, but always in non-metallic shades. Their horns are the colour of dried bone, and are like a bull's in shape and position. Most breeds grudgingly admit that Ashen Dragons have a cleaner line to their facial features and physical build than most breeds - they seem nobler, more evolved and more blessed in aesthetic beauty than most, just as a classical sculpture or posed portrait might seem. Ashen Dragons vary in minor ways from family to family - pronounced lower canines might be found in one bloodline, while solid white eyes might be found in another. Ashen Dragons themselves place great stock in these small bloodline differences, basing their society and castes around seemingly minor differences in physical traits.
With chaos-spawn, of course appearance is very different. Most are dragon-sized and wingless, often with extra limbs and heads, tentacles, multiple maws and many eyes. Some take on features of other creatures (such as mammalian hair, or a fishlike face).
Society and Culture
The Ashen paint themselves as a noble and unified kingdom, but in truth the Ashen Kingdom is rife with internal intrigue, both between the Bloodline Houses and between individual dragons making powerplays at each others' expense. Alliances will form and be broken, enmities will form or be cast aside, and the Ashen will take this all in their stride.
The onyl sense of unity they have comes from their pride in being Ashen, and in their opposition to outsiders who seek to encroach on their domain. The Ashen as a whole hold the Hunter Dragons in contempt as "relics of an outdated past", and see even the Ascendancy and the Alliance as "inflexible, and inferior in nature despite their greater strength."
The Ashen have a multitude of cabals, organisations and power groups. However, these rarely have any true permanence or meaning and will come and go as the centuries pass. It is entirely usual for a single Ashen to swear "lifelong and undivided loyalty" to at least six different (and often opposed) power groups during his life, and not even unheard of for an Ashen Dragon to change his Bloodline House (usually through the intrigues of marriage and rededications). Each group of dragons is often more like a conspiracy with a joint agenda, where none trust the others but all are willing to use each other for greater gain.
Naturally the draconic attitude echoes through to the mortal inhabitants of their lands. The Ashen Kingdom is one where the King may change anything from five times to two dozen times per century, with different mortal houses sponsored by different dragons seizing power and losing it as their fortunes wax and wane. Despite this, there is some illusory sense of continuity, with each new ruler claiming some sort of legitimacy to "inheriting the ancient title". Sometimes the dragons rule outright, sometimes they just advise, sometimes they merely share the land with the mortal king or kings. Regardless, this is always the Ashen Kingdom, or the Ashen Kingdoms.
Another unifying factor for the Ashen is their reverence of a second god. While the Ashen revere and respect the Mother Goddess (who they call Mother Sky), just as Southern Dragons do, they have also adpopted the idea of Father Earth as an equal deity. Sometimes cults dedicated to other gods come and go, for example worshipping a host of deities, or revering Endless Night, but the Ashen ultimately retain belief in their dual god and goddess, and prefer to take religion as a melting pot of experimental ideas rather than something to be followed with absolute dogma and conviction.
Finally, there is the place that Chaos-Spawn and the Senile Insane have in society. At sometimes they are regarded as a blessing, at others a terrible curse. Some will seek to use them as weapons, and others simply to put them out of their misery. Only one rule applies - the Ashen don't talk about them with outsiders. If anyone asks, they change the subject.
Lifepaths and the Ashen Dragons
As suits their changing and experimental nature, it is almost unheard of for an Ashen Dragon to pursue just one lifepath. Most find that the necessity of defending their interests requires some time and training as a Warmaster, and most find that experimentation with magic is easiest on the Lifepath of a Scholar-Sage. Of course, the intrigues of the Bloodline Houses require some skill as an Ambassador-Courtier, there is enlightenment to be found in the mutable physicality of the Physical Adept, and even imitating the Hunter Breed as a Beast Unbound has its value. Almost any lifepath can be assumed by an Ashen Dragon, and they are not so stupid as to fail to copy the Lifepaths of other cultures as well, leading to some pursuing short stints as Demonbinders, Sarcomancers, Animist Adepts or Sky Dancers.
Often the Ashen will mark the change into a new lifepath by joining a group of likeminded dragons. For example, one Ashen might join the Cabal of Broken Reflections to learn about polymorphing, then later swear "unending" loyalty to the Society of Ashen Knights to learn warcraft, then attend the Courts of the Grey Circle to apply his skills to the political arena. As already noted, these societies are always coming in and out of existence, and any that does persist often does so by changing its name and agenda every half century or so.
Outlook
Scion-of-Unchanging-Truth, says he is of House Boneclaw, and of the Cabal of Fractured Reflections, but this may be as inaccurate as his name. He may be lying when he tells you what he thinks:
- Pure Dragons - "Ah yes... we also revere Mother Sky, so we are kindred, you and I. Tell me, have you ever considered the other half of the creation myth?"
- Argent Dragons - "A fearsome bunch of soldiers to be sure, and so grim, so serious. Very admirable, I'm sure."
- Solar Dragons - "Of course we will support your Alliance and sign your treaties! The Cabal is with you, my friend! What do you mean we reneged on the last treaty we signed? Well, we were hoping to renegotiate..."
- Hunter Dragons - "Stupid ferals, clinging to the "old ways". If your old ways are so great, remind me why you're losing our little war?"
- Forest Dragons - "So interesting that they have subspecies of different sorts, eh? I wonder if that phenomenon can be manipulated somehow..."
- Storm Dragons - "Yes, yes, you go play in the sea. We'll deal with things up here."
- Velvet Dragons - "Come in my dear, make yourself comfortable. I do like to collect things like you."
- Chimerical Dragons - "Astonishing sorcerous prowess, and such wisdom! I do so admire them."
- Ghost Dragons - "Oh we sympathise, we do so much. But there's no room here in our little paradise, so move along, move along."
- Blood Dragons - "Best not to mock one of these, unless he doesn't realise you're mocking him. Which isn't hard, really."
- Sable Dragons - "Clever - damnably clever. Luckily, so are we."
