Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Monster Academy - A Treatese On Dragons

[Kyradathea]

Dragons - By Ivan Sovani, Envoy of the Mages to the Dragon Court..

The following essay is a representation of my understanding and comprehension of dragons, to the mage's, to complete our understanding of how to operate within this land of monsters we find ourselves. To the Council of Magi, I great you all with great respect, but I have found that our fears regarding the dragons are correct... they are incredibly powerful, and only a few of their clans objected to our presence, the Lord of Dragons.. who's age and power seems to rival that of the entire council, is a massive red dragon who is both beautiful and frightening.. did not, he seemed to feel if we could claim the valley, it was ours by right of conquest.

Estemed Magi.. The following are a few things to take into account while dealing with dragons, at least of the chromatic variety. Dragons are possessive in the extreme, to put into perspective, the mortals of earth would say each demon is linked to a particular sin, if so, Dragons would be creatures of Avarice, or Greed, but far beyond the degree that humans are.. Dragon's break everything down into three categories.. and I capitalize for emphasis: Mine, Not Mine, and Could Be Mine. My Territory, My Friends, My Allies, My Gold, My Horde, My Pets, My People, My Family... furthermore, the difference between these things is not all that great in the dragon's mind. This may be part of why they are so dangerous, anything that isn't theirs, is to be attacked and destroyed without regret if it's necessary to protect what is theirs.

Dragons also seem to feel nothing of regret or shame, unless it's failing to protect what they have claimed as their own, or cowardice. They are also very wild, instincts are very close to the surface and dragons have no laws against killing or murder, because their instinctive rage is very easy to provoke.. when a higher ranking dragon is provoked, a lesser dragon will immediately submit and attempt to stay out of the way of the rage if possible.. anything else could draw the dragon's rage to them.

On another level, if a dragon sees something (or even someone), they want, they will challenge another for it (or them). This situation even extends to the matter of mates.. They do make exceptions for those they consider equals, and never attempt to claim something from someone who has proved themselves higher ranking.. which means that establishing oneself at least as an equal is very important early on (dragons will almost never consider non-dragons higher ranking, unless they are royals of another type of demon, and even then, the demon must prove superiority). The only ones that seem exempt in dragon culture is their children, but that seems to be due to an almost instinctive knowledge that they need to allow their children a measure of freedom, for the sake of the continued growth and development of their race, and due to a edict from their lord. The children are allowed to fight with each other, however, and it seems to be a testing ground to see where they will rank when full grown. Certain attitudes and behaviors seem to set when in childhood, this is the point of maximum adaptability, depending on how a dragon grows up, tends to shape it's behavior for years to come.

Dragon Magic tends to be elemental, and highly focused, red dragons for example, tend to master fire magic, where as blues master air and lightning.. but some dragons branch out into other esoteric studies, and a few dragons even seem to control multiple elements or very esoteric things, like dream magic, or mirror magic.. their Lord seems to touch on many areas, his knowledge is exceptionally deep, even a few words from him on the subject has allowed me new insights into my own field of mystical study.

In conclusion, Esteemed Magi.. the Dragons should be dealt with in extreme caution, we should take great care when approaching them collectively and individually.. They can be powerful friends and allies, and terrible enemies.

[Kyradathea]

Further Exposition

Esteemed Magi, you asked for a further explanation of dragon magic form me, of focus and capability, so here's what I have learned. First off, the focus of dragon magic is almost always offensive first, defensive secondary, and information gathering next, and sometimes summoning.. other aspects of their magics tend to be incidental. It is rare, but not unheard of, for a dragon to spend much time studying the more subtle aspects of their magic's, generally they study magic to become more powerful and dangerous, the subtle arts less likely among the males, it is the females most likely to know and use the subtle applications.

Furthermore, while females dragons are a bit more likely to study and develop the mystical arts, and the most likely to be restrained in their applications of it, this should be considered a tendency and not a rule however. However, this has generally given the various males caution in approaching females of their kind, while they may be more likely to be more physically powerful then the females, they are unlikely to share their mystical strength. This, and the fact all dragons are always armed and dangerous, creates a more egalitarian attitude between the sexes among dragon kind then one sees among humans.

Once more upon the matter of dragon magic, however. A dragon doesn't cast spells or manipulate the fields of magic, as we do, instead, they use a mix of will and magic to directly influence the forces to do what they desire. This is likely the reason they focus on the elements first, they various elemental magics are the easiest to control this way, but it also limits them in ways, sense they rarely develop the talent to manipulate magic in the more variable manner the Magi do. They are also immortal, so the older a dragon is, the more likely he or she is likely to become a exception to these rules, or have a trick or two they have kept for just the right moment.

The Dragon Lord seems to be one of the extreme examples of this, but in his case, we should consider him the exception, not the rule.. he seems almost to be able to manipulate mystical forces as well as a Magi, but it also could simply be a matter of knowing so many varieties of the more traditional dragon magics that he seems exceptionally flexible. On a different note, dragons often have magical items that break some of these rules among their hordes, and while reluctant to use them, they will if they believe they need to.

In conclusion, a magi might be able to overpower a dragon with inventive use of magic, but he should be very careful about becoming overconfident, for should the dragon overcome his magics, death or slavery is the most likely end.. and dragon's play for keeps. Generally, diplomacy should be considered first, before escalating matters to the more deadly levels.

[Kyradathea]

Dragon Weaknesses

You asked me for a expansion on of the weaknesses of dragons, and after several decades among them, I have been able to ascertain several important weaknesses possessed by these mighty creatures. A warning, however, dragons are very good at finding ways around or even muscling their way though their various weaknesses, so the Magi should not count on knowing these weaknesses to help them in a battle against a dragon.

Dragonsbane

This strange mystical plant is somehow dangerous to dragons, it appeared to be aethericly opposed to dragonic nature. It's a small plant that is generally found as a black flower with threads of silver, it is only found here in the monster world, and is very poisonous to dragons. If you could make a weapon coated in it, it will cut though dragon scale with much greater ease, but would more affective made into a poison, and fed to the dragon, were not a dragon's sense of smell so incredibly sharp that they would instantly be aware of this. A spell used with this as a focus component, or use this effect, might work more effectively against a dragon, but the magi should have backup plans, in case the dragon manages to muscle though it, or overcome the effect ..

Arrogance

Dragons view only the most powerful as a threat to themselves and their hordes, this means that they often underestimate those they consider less then themselves.. which is everyone who isn't a dragon or related to a demon lord, or has the power and potential to be near that of a demon lord. This means that subtle action can often slip under the radar for a dragon, they are so powerful, even as children that they rarely need to be subtle. Just remember to be careful, while it's one step up from ignored, becoming part of a dragon's desired lunch menu isn't going to be much fun.

Avarice

I already discussed the Horde important to dragons, this is both a strength and a weakness on their parts, they are easily distracted by things they consider worth adding to the horde, and they get extremely furious if one tries to steal from their horde. They also will go to extreme to protect something (or someone) who is part of their horde, which can be quite dangerous, but also can make them exceptionally easy to manipulate, unless they figure out they are being manipulated

Development

Dragon's age slowly, generally a young dragon can be considered 3 to 4 times older then her age appears, a dragon that is considered a young teen in dragon terms is likely closer to 50 years, in human terms. It should be noted, before this point, dragon children are extremely easy to distract, as easy to distract as a kitten with a ball of string, and almost as cute. If by cute, you mean a 18 foot lizard with the reflexes of a cat, the strength of kodiak bear, wings able to allow it to fly and ability to breath fire, who can be distracted by the passage of a butterfly. As their body begins to mature, the aging rate becomes more normal, but they have a lot to learn at this point, as they began to shape attitudes and learning that will guide them for years to come.. once they fully mature, aging stops completely, as they are immortal. Which comes to the next weakness, one that is more important to the dragon development over next century or two..

Lust

Dragons who are mature physically go into periods of what I can only call heat, it affects both sexes, and in essence the sex drive turns up several notches, to something that almost matches that of the Incubae and Succubae. The first time this happens is something of a surprise to dragon, even when they have been warned about it coming. At this point, the dragon puts out hormones that attract other dragons of the opposite sex, and often get into terrible fights, as instinct makes they desire the strongest possible mates. This state of being lasts from a week to an entire a season, before it dies down to a simmer, though it doesn't completely die, a decade is likely to pass before the dragon goes into heat again, but the dragon is now awake to another part of his or her nature..

Interestingly enough, immediate family members, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and close cousins are immune to the hormones put out by a dragon's heat. I believe this is an evolutionary trait that keeps them from inbreeding, sense it insures they instinctively seek mates beyond kin.

I won't go into how these particular weaknesses can be used, sense I am certain that a Magi worth his magic can figure it out.

[Kyradathea]

Dragon Society

This will be my last letter in my short treatise on dragons, the final bit of information I feel needs to be shared for long term consideration.

Dragon society has developed into a clan like form, a hierarchy with the most powerful dragons ruling over the lesser ones. There are major clans and minor ones, but the most common divisions are the nature of their powers and the color of the their scales. Minor clans are almost always bound to a greater clan, in allegiance. In fact, the Royal Clan is could be considered a minor clan with alliance of the greater red clan, though that's not quite how it's seen. The Royals within the Red Dragon Clan are presently the most powerful and capable of all living dragons, with their power over fire and often lava, served them well, but it was not uncommon for that family of dragons to branch off into other destructive elements, such as wind, lightning, raw energy, acid or even sound, be wary of that small group of dragons belonging to the royals, they are the most powerful and unpredicatable. But then, the royals are also not all purely red, some dragons of other colors are mates of the Dragon Lord himself, and considered part of the royal clan.

Clans are ruled by clan lord, who always had to be the most powerful dragons of their clans, this often created a situation where to replace a clan lord one had to kill them, or drive them out of the clan, replacing him or her with the next most powerful dragon in the clan.

Rarely a dragon chooses to become a wandering dragon, or is pushed out of their clan for one reason another. Sometimes, this leads to the start of smaller minor clan as groups of wandering dragons join together, it is from this sort of thing that some dragons believe the rare dragons like storm dragons, nature dragons or shadow dragons have been born from. The great clans are large and cover huge areas, the Red clan for example, rules over a vast mountain range, with the highest mountain reserved for the Royals, in a bit of a reverse model from the usual one, smaller minor clans tend to rule over small areas, and some other demon races do fall under their rule as well.

All Dragons are under the rule of the Dragon Lord, but other then enforcing a few laws, he rarely interferes with dragons society as a whole, or takes an active role, unless he feels it necessary for all dragons, or to protect his most precious treasures. Generally, though he rules as the High Lord of the Dragon Council, which contains the Dragon Lord and the Lords of the most powerful Clans. Forming a treaty with all dragons requires dealing with the Dragon Lord, or the Dragon Council. But a treaty or alliance with a particular clan is much easier.