Primal Dragons¶
Contested
Named in the open questions Primal Dragon colours, domains and loyalties (the 2014 Demi-Gods and its 2019 conversion disagree on several Primals' domains and on which still serve the gods), When and why the dragons were made, and the History domain's King Turic's archdemon; custodian of the Worldstone (Primal Dragons or High Elves).
"Even dead Primal Dragons are dangerous things. Their spirits are potent and cannot be destroyed." — the dreams of Inwe (S031)
The Primal Dragons, the Dragon Gods, are the heads of the dragon broods: "Created to combat the demon hordes, the primal dragons were each imbued with great powers. They were very successful, though they alone proved not enough to turn the tide. Each primal dragon is of a unique color, and is the head of their brood. They are immortal in form and age" (S434). Forged by the Einar from Titans and made their masters, they held astral demesnes of their own, fought the Dragon Wars among themselves and the gods, and fell one by one; yet a Primal does not die. "They regenerate eventually, but if left undisturbed it could take tens of thousands of years" (S031).
Forged from Titans¶
"When the Primal Dragons were forged by the Einar (from Titans), they were made the masters of the other Titans. In the days when Primal Dragons were at the height of their power, the Titans would be reborn from their master's dragon fire. Now that most of the Primals are dead and are slowly regenerating on their own, the Titans have no means to be restored to life. As there were hundreds of Primal Dragons, it is believed there were somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 Titans" (S448, S543). "The primal dragons were given dominion over the Titans" (S279). "Primal Dragons have souls like Titans", that is, souls that are not of the Ethereal (S018). They are among the demi-gods who "possess astral demesnes", and they are the kind of being normally made Ascended, joined to a shard holder's power (S013). Lore names the Comet of Origination as the place "where Kalar forged most of the mortal races, and where Tamariel created the Primal Dragons" (S143), and the Well of Souls in the Rift as "the place where Kalar created the souls of all the greatest beings: Primal Dragons, the Archwizards, the Eldritch" (S076).
A Primal's power runs through its brood; "Their magic channels through all of their kin and seems to be required for dragon eggs to properly develop into young dragons" (S434). Of the kind as a whole, see Dragons.
History¶
"Izhtari and the Einar used the Throne of Law to create the Primal Dragons and their broods to counter the threat. The Primal Dragons were forged of Astral and Elemental energies" (S386). After the demons were driven into the Abyss, the Einar fell back to competition, and "The biggest prize of all of these were the Primal Dragons. Until now, the Primal Dragons had been united in cause, but some of the Einar had formed a group among the gods whose goal was to restore the Throne of Law... The Izhtarus recruited many Primal Dragons and a few arch-wizards to their cause, granting them Ascendancy and other power in return for their loyalty." In the First Dragon Wars "most of the Primal Dragons and their broods were slain" (S386). After the Shattering, "The remaining Primal Dragons went into hiding with their broods to rebuild and recover" (S386). In the God Wars came "the death of the last Primal Dragon still loyal to the Kalari... Several of the Primal Dragons, including Pravustiratel, also became the first non-Einar to possess Astral Shards. After becoming gods themselves, these dragons no longer saw benefit in their relationship with the Izhtarus... Their betrayal brought bitter fighting and the end of the Primal Dragons. Pravustiratel was himself killed in his lair, which had been the great Dwarven capital Kuhn'Darahl" (S386).
The Compendium's battle for Gor'Turra names three Primals slain in a single day: Lothos "credited with destroying the Primal Jade Dragon Noxximaratel", Auressa who "caused her staff to explode, sacrificing herself to mortally wound the Primal Cerulean Dragon Syssinatal", and Poth'Emuren who "conjured a lightless sphere, which consumed both himself and the Primal Silver Dragon Argensutal" (S429).
Of the Worldstone: "After the end of the Demon War, the High Elves were declared custodians of the Worldstone and the Primal Dragons as their protectors" (S386); the Compendium has "The primal dragons were declared guardians of the stone" (S372). The question is the History domain's.
Earlier accounts¶
The Compendium's early history has the Primal Dragons empowered "with massive astral energies to deal with the Demons" in the Age of Faerie, and "the last of the Primal Dragons" killed in the Third War of the Dragons (S372, S384). The Fifth Age sources know living and regenerating Primals, and are followed.
Death and regeneration¶
"Even dead Primal Dragons are dangerous things. Their spirits are potent and cannot be destroyed. They regenerate eventually, but if left undisturbed it could take tens of thousands of years. Until then, the corpse will remain an astral divergence... a place which will be enticing to the wrong sorts in their quest for power, and then through whom Vixseranyol would project her will to bring about her own reawakening" (S031). "Some primal dragons have taken so long to regenerate that their entire broods have gone extinct" (S434). A Primal's heart outlives it: Pravustiratel was "Torn asunder in a great ambush by the Dark Gods during the Fae Wars. Her spirit they could not contain and roams Gor'Turra. They hid her Dragon's Heart and scattered her bones", and "Should her spirit, heart and body be re-united... This is the ultimate goal of the Cult of the Dragon". Her heart is "a crystal made of Kalamite", held by Necatus; "With the heart, Necatus could kill Pravus at any moment, though only a true God/Einar could pull it off (It would need to be taken to one of 3 Kalari creation sites). Destroying the heart would weaken Pravus, but not undo her existence." Pravus "has been gathering the hearts of other Primal Dragons" and wants to be "made Broodmother of all Dragons" (S143). The claw of Vixseranyol, each finger "the size of a small table" weighing a hundred pounds, was kept in a shrine of Moros and used to raise a red bone dragon (S053, S056).
The roster¶
Two copies of the roll of known Primals survive, the 2014 Demi-Gods and its 2019 conversion. Both mark with an asterisk the Primals who still serve the gods; the conversion says instead that "A large number of primal dragons have been corrupted by Rakkar, and they and their broods no longer serve Kalar". Where they differ, both readings are given (S434, S429).
| Brood | Stone | Domain (S434) | Domain (S429) | Still serving (S434 / S429) | Named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Obsidian | Shadow | Shadow | no / no | Pravustiratel |
| Black | Basalt | Void | Void | no / no | |
| Black | Onyx | Spirit | Spirit | yes / no | |
| Black | Ebon | Darkness | Darkness | no / no | |
| Black | Stygian | Death | Death | no / no | |
| White | Pearl | Moon | Moon | yes / yes | |
| White | Ivory | Ice | Ice | no / no | |
| White | Silver | Frost | Frost | no / no | Argensutal (S429) |
| White | Platinum | Light | Light | yes / yes | |
| White | Ashen (underground) | ? | ? | no / no | |
| Brown | Gold | Sun | Sun | yes / yes | |
| Brown | Brass | Desert | ? | no / no | Qomneztarial (S434) |
| Brown | Bronze | ? | Desert | no / no | |
| Brown | Amber | ? | ? | no / no | |
| Brown | Copper | ? | ? | no / no | |
| Red | Garnet | Inferno | Inferno | yes / no | |
| Red | Ruby | Volcano | Volcano | no / yes | |
| Red | Vermilion | Magma | Magma | no / no | |
| Red | Scarlet | Fire | Fire | no / no | |
| Red | Crimson | Blood | Blood | no / no | |
| Blue | Sapphire | Storm | Storm | no / no | |
| Blue | Beryl | Wind | Wind | no / no | |
| Blue | Cobalt | Lightning | Lightning | no / no | |
| Blue | Azure | Sky | Sky | no / no | |
| Blue | Cerulean | River | River | no / no | Syssinatal (S429) |
| Green | Jade | Poison | Poison | no / no | Noxximaratel (S429) |
| Green (sea) | Emerald | Acid | Acid | no / no | |
| Green | Viridian | Health | Life | yes / yes | |
| Green or Blue (sea) | Turquoise | Sea | Sea | yes / yes | |
| Orange (sea) | Coral | ? | ? | no / no | |
| Orange | Cadmium | ? | ? | yes / yes | |
| Orange | Titian | Growth | ? | yes / no | |
| Purple | Amethyst | Positive | ? | no / no | |
| Purple | Amaranthine | Negative | ? | no / no | |
| Purple | Violet | Ethereal | ? | no / no | |
| Grey (underground) | Iron | Metal | ? | yes / yes | |
| Grey (underground) | Stone | Chasm | no / no | ||
| Grey (underground) | Slate | Quake | ? | no / no |
The Fifth Age names Primals the rolls do not place: the great red Vixseranyol, who rebuilt the red brood after the Dark Sun, allied with Pravustiratel, and was destroyed in her lair at Pro'Turra by the Ascendant Khemeia, her corpse walled in "so that it would act as a tomb and prison" (S031); the "Primal Death Dragon Nexxumar", whose return was spoken of after the Nexa-Vinian War (S053); and the "Primal Red Dragon Glaurmelnis" of the age after the Sancturi fall, whose Red Priests of Glaur hold "an unsteady truce with the Divine" (S112). In that age "Everyone thinks Pravustiratel was betrayed and killed by the Dark Gods... when in fact he made a secret pact with Sharuvas and is now the Chosen of the Divine" (S112). The Primals' Mithis blood was never corrupted (S142).
Gap
The rolls name only a handful of Primals; the colour and domain of Vixseranyol beyond "red", of Nexxumar beyond "death", and of Glaurmelnis beyond "red" are not given, and Nexxumar and Glaurmelnis have no page yet. Whether the thirty-eight stones of the roll are all the Primals that were, or only those known, is not said.
In Play¶
A Primal is met through its remains and its worshippers. Its lair, "abandoned dwarf fortress (these always seemed to be favored by dragons for some reason)", is "a closely guarded secret, especially between Primal Dragons who are more often rivals and enemies than allies" (S031). Cultists feed its spirit to hasten its reawakening, as the Circle of Eternity feeds Vixseranyol (S028, S061); the Cult of the Dragon gathers Pravus's bones, of which "only about 25%" are needed (S143).