Draconians¶
The Draconians are the dragon-blooded people of Terrun: winged, horned, sorted into sub-races by the colour of their scales, builders of tall terraced cities and keepers of slaves. Once they crushed the Elven Imperium and ruled "their own worldwide empire" (S386); in the Age of Magic they held the empire of Pherox; in the Fifth Age their armies broke against the Sancturi and they dwindled to a remnant in their homeland. By the Age of the Divine they are gone (S112).
Origins¶
The newest account groups the Draconians with the other peoples "formed during this age by Kalar and the other younger gods" in the Age of Demons, and ties their magic to the dragons: "Dragons were formed by the gods to fight the demons from ancient Titans, who in turn were given dominion over the Elements. A Dragon or Titan may therefore tap into their own Fae lifeforce as an energy source. This includes Draconians" (S208). The compiled lists of the gods name Rakkan, Lord of Strength and Conquest, as "Creator of Draconians, Orcs, Ogres, Trolls" (S429, S384).
Earlier accounts make them a mixed blood. The oldest phylogeny calls the Draconians "the result of dragon's mating with Lothim while in humanoid form", a branch of the High Elves with the Kobolds as a mutation beneath them (S525). See Lineages of the Humanoid Races for how the accounts fit together.
Appearance and the six colours¶
"Female Draconians are wingless and smaller than the males. All Male Draconians have wings, but only some are capable of flight. The Draconian race is split into sub-races by color. The draconians use Persian names and build large terraced cities and towns" (S384); their settlements "are tiered and tall, with lots of towers" (S498). Horns and wings are also the marks of honour, since dishonoured draconians have their horns removed and males their wings (S384). The six colours (S384, S429) are:
| Colour | Temperament | Preferred country |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Heat-resistant, "more aggressive than others, normally physically strong" | Sunny, hot lands |
| Black | "Cunning and stealthy and also often very strong" | Darker places: jungles, forests, caves, the Underdark |
| Brown | "The lowest intelligence, but are often physically strongest and largest" | Most environments, avoiding the very wet |
| Green | "Excellent swimmers and can breathe underwater" | Wet and shady lands; "often construct underwater towns and cities" |
| Blue | "Often magic users, more cerebral than their cousins" | Most environments |
| White | "Quite intelligent, smaller, skinny and considerably physically weaker" | Cold country, "often high mountains" |
Each colour's gifts are said to unfold in a set order as a draconian matures, from flight through a breath and a touch to a mastery named for the element (firecaller, deathweaver, earthspeaker, watermage, stormshaper, windcaster) (S384). The 2015 lore draft opens headings for the six colours as "Draconian Ethnicities (Persian)" and leaves them empty (S387).
Society¶
Draconian society "is very regimented, and draconians which rebel against this regimen are enslaved", as are criminals. Pherox knew three castes: a slave caste of "captured slaves of all races and dishonored draconians", a worker caste of "flightless males and females who have produced flightless children", and a nobility of "males capable of flight and their female relations" (S384). The empire was ruled by an emperor and eleven High Consuls; in the Compendium's present the emperor is the Blue Draconian Ptoko Tholovassus (S384).
Slavery runs through everything. "Draconians are fond of taking slaves and often keep quite a fair number each. Slaves outnumber the draconian population approximately 12 to 1", and at the empire's height "in some places of over 30 to 1". They "have a very strong racial hatred of Elves (and will not take them as slaves, though they will often use them as fodder in gladiatorial arenas). They have a strong dislike of Orcs, Humans and Dwarves, and these are prized slaves. Gnomes and Goblins they consider less-useful slaves". A large part of the slave population is bred in captivity, and "children of slaves are sold off by law at an early age to break up familial ties between slaves" (S384). Because draconians reproduce slowly, the population "is not expanding much", and the empire raids for slaves and goods rather than conquering (S384).
Magic¶
The Draconians are one of the few peoples with magic in the blood. "The ability to harness Mithis is in bloodlines... These bloodlines are very rare except in magical races such as Elves and Draconians" (S304), and "only a handful of races have consistent casting ability (Elves, Gnomes and Draconians)" (S395). In the Age of Dragons arcane magic "was limited to High Elves, Dark Elves and some breeds of Draconians and Dragons" (S208). They developed their own arcane tongue, Drakkas, "an uncommon language developed exclusively by and for the Draconians" and prized for fast casting (S304, S303). That inheritance turned against them after the Dark Sun: "Magical races such as High Elves, Dark Elves and some kinds of Draconians which had high concentrations of Mithis in their blood became pawns of the Devils... or were destroyed outright" (S208), and in Pherox "their legacy of Mithis magic use weighs heavily on the land" (S324).
History¶
Before the Shattering¶
In the Age of Titans, after the First Dragon Wars had slain most of the Primal Dragons, "Draconians crushed most of the Elven Imperium and gained control of the Worldstone and establish their own worldwide empire which lasted over 600 years before it's fall" (S386). The 2015 lore remembers this as the Draconic Ascension, in which the Aquitanian kingdom of Qom was wiped out and the Sun Elves decimated (S387).
The Age of Magic¶
The Draconians were among the races that "seemed better able to manage the transitions" after the Shattering and "flourished" (S386). In the early 800s MA "many Draconian and Dark Elven societies were practicing dragon worship, leading them to eventually become ruled by Dragons", and their kingdoms marched under the Primal Dragon Pravustiratel in the Second Dragon War until the defeat at Gor'Turra (S386, S384).
Pherox is their story in Numenia. "As the Draconians were being hunted and exterminated across the remnants of Astia, rumors surfaced of the strong Draconian kingdom in Pherox and Draconian refugees began making their way to Pherox. They were initially ruled by a council of 12, 2 of each color." By 212 MA Pherox had conquered its region and "re-enslaved the inhabitants"; in 647 MA it took Rhovun, and by the end of the millennium it ran from the Blue Mountains to Sulai and from the Pictish jungles to central Dalmar. Its golden age was a long struggle to hold what it had: endless slave revolts, slave-raid campaigns into Pictia, generational wars with Dalmar, and expulsion from the Blue Mountains by the dwarves. In 2016–2017 MA King Rodruk II of Dalmar liberated Rhovun and died before the gates of the capital, but the losses "were catastrophic" and slave revolts collapsed the empire to Pherox itself and a few provinces (S384, S429). When Chaulssad was lost, the Draconians "began systematically slaughtering the several hundred thousand non-Draconian inhabitants (slaves)" (S384). In Moarte their cities fell to earthquake and to the Arachne (S384).
The Fifth Age¶
Seven hundred Draconians survived the Age of the Dark Sun on the Broken Sea (S326). In the 400s SM "large scale conflict is driven by two large Draconian forces. One operates from Pherox and strikes south into Rhovun and Angorath. The other operates from Turas and strikes into Myrkan." Draconian forces took the Kithallen Plateau in 425 SM and founded the nation of Myrox; Pherox took Rhovun and Angorath in 451 SM; Angorra, Seawall and Tallachia submitted to Myrox in 516 SM. Then the Sancturi rose: in 524 SM "the last dragon seen west of the Cloudwall mountains is defeated by Sancturi forces. Seen as the turning point of the conflict, the Draconian forces crumble quickly to the superior numbers of the Sancturi without their dragons in support." By 527 SM "the draconians have completely abandoned the Broken Sea and survivors have returned to Pherox" (S326). Earlier campaign notes put the defeat of Myrkan and the scattering of the draconians north in 521 SM (S132).
"After their defeat during the War of the Faewilds and subsequent effects of the Hollowing, the Draconians have come together back into their ancestral homeland of Pherox, though their numbers are small... Most of northern and central Pherox have been overrun with Hollows" (S324). In 704 SM there are about 185,000 Draconians, 180,000 of them in Pherox and 5,000 in the Riven kingdoms; none remain in the Imperium (S326). By the Age of the Divine the Draconians are listed among the races that are gone (S112).
Kobolds¶
The Kobolds are a small draconic people, "apparently a natural mutation of Draconians" in the oldest phylogeny (S525); the Fourth Age bestiary classes them simply as the small Draconic form beside the medium Draconian (S331). They have no page of their own because the sources show them only in service and in the margins.
Kobolds serve dragons and those who claim dragon-blood. The old and weakened red dragon Kuorethimel keeps a lair "protected by kobold worshippers", and kobold workers laboured for the elemental cultists of the Primal Union of Ter'Gaia in the Illuri Fold of the Rift (S010). In the hills of Etterwood a clan of kobolds, the Thornbacks, held a cave with a repaired rift-gate and made a pact with a necromancer's expedition "for shiny", not knowing they were to be eliminated on the way out (S052). Kobolds live among the outcasts of Proturas; one, the thief Zygzil, was enslaved as a child "to keep you safe" and works a smithy because he "scared customers off" (S074, S077). Asked what a kobold would want of a Keeper of Life, the same Zygzil answered "To be a Dragon", and was told "I'm not sure I can do that, but I can speed your evolution" (S057), which suggests the kobolds think of themselves as dragons in waiting.1
Gap
No source describes kobold society, lifespan, homeland or beliefs beyond their worship of dragons and love of "shinies".