Part 41: Regarding the Dragonkin

Regarding the Dragonkin

The dragonkin were, of ancient days, one of the peoples of Myrror who dwelled upon it in independent villages, until all were conquered first by the empire of the dark elves and then by the Confederation of Wizards. In the days of their independence the dragonkin were haughty and proud, and preferred to hunt the forests rather than till the earth. They learned many secrets of magic, and were great keepers of history and of lore, but they did not learn to work metal until they were taught the art under the yoke of others. They cannot be mistaken, for no other people bears wings, scales, a tail, and such marks of dragonkind on a form in many ways like in shape to other civilised races.

Now, however, the dragonkin till the soil to feed themselves and forge metal weapons and armor for their use, which although crude and unlovely by dwarven standards are serviceable enough. They fare better as hunters and woodworkers, in which they have some skill. Their hide is formidable and provides some protection beyond that offered by their armor, and a spark of Chaos within them allows them to breath out a jet of flame that is some small hazard in battle. Their dwellings are well-made enough houses of wooden planks, made fast one to another by cunningly-wrought wooden pegs. They better revere their savants than their artisans and tradesmen. Like the dark elves, they too have a woeful lack of skill at commerce and deal only a little in coin, many of them still relying on barter and trade in kind, with all the poverty that engenders in a people. They hold that by birth each of their kind is suited to a role or caste, and amongst them their trades are hereditary and inescapable. At their head rule their savants, their loremasters, and their priests, under them are their warriors, under their warriors their merchants, under their merchants their tradesmen, and under their tradesmen their farmers, their miners, and other such laborers. The savants and loremasters of the dragonkin might work some acts of magic, but up to this point their lore has been hoarded and kept secret, and their savants remain few. They have not quite the same mastery of the magical arts as the dark elves, but their skills should not be underestimated. Their rule in Fangrock is held by a Council of Five, their five greatest savants and priests, who plot against each other even as they plot against their enemies in Blademarsh.

They are fanatically devoted to their spiritual beliefs, but in their spiritual beliefs there is little veneration of the gods whatsoever, but rather a program of meditation and philosophy in which it is said their savants excel above all others. Their priests, if they may even be called 'priests', are meditative monks and nuns who have achieved some skill in the magics of Nature and Chaos, which they may exercise at will.

Though not true enemies of dwarvenkind in the same fashion as the dark elves, the dragonkin bear no love for the dwarves, and view our ways as alien. To us, also, are they alien, and much in their ways is difficult to endure.