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Dragons, Draeden, and the Outer Beings

by Ryleth

In the course of my research, I discovered this article about dragons (Havard), and several connections presented themselves. (Originally brought up in my other post but I wanted to start a separate thread because there might be some interesting discussion to be had here.)

Here's what I'm proposing. I'll link my primary sources in-text, but I'm also drawing loosely on this article (Simone Neri), (though I'm treating it as secondary to the others) so I'll just link it here at the beginning.

Note from after finishing this writeup: phew, that ended up being way more in-depth than I meant it to be! I got a bit sidetracked and wrote a whole history of dragons, draeden, and their relationships to the Outer Beings. All I was trying to say is, the reason that the cold breath of Ariksbane can destroy the Eye of Arik in B3, is because dragons were originally created to help the Immortals fight the Outer Beings, and he inherited a resurgent piece of of that ancient power. Anyway, this was a lot of fun to research and write, so hopefully it will be useful or at least interesting to someone else too!

Oh yeah, one last edit: it should be noted that I treat Law and Chaos a lot more black-and-white than most DMs. In my game, Law = Life = Good (you want things to continue to be alive and free and safe), Chaos = Death = Evil (you want things to be under your control or destroyed), and I flat out deny the existence of neutrality in a cosmic sense. I've tried to write this agnostic of my views on alignment, but knowing my perspective might clarify why I changed certain things. (For example, I treat dragons as Chromatic = Chaos, Gold+Gemstone = Law.)

Dragons, Draeden, and the Outer Beings

In the wars of the Immortals and Outer Beings (James Mishler), the draeden were the most powerful of the Lesser Servitors, combining Outer Essence with elements of the Sphere of Thought. In accordance with the Discontiguate Theory presented in Outer Geometry 801 (Sharon Dornhoff), they are discontinguates of dimensions 1, 2, 5, and 6. I.e., they possess length and width (allowing them to occupy space), Immortal power and presence in dimension 5, and Old One vastness in dimension 6, but lack dimension 4 (meaning they cannot and do not use mortal magic, and also have 99% antimagic). In the early Multiverse, they were more than a match for the Immortals due to their presence in the 5th and 6th dimensions. The Immortals feared and fled from them.

Meanwhile, the dragons were one of the ways that "The Immortals . . . were able to call on . . . the potent and unlimited energies of the Elemental Planes, and thus were they able to bring the forces of the Entities low." In other words, dragons were created to contain the elemental powers and harness them to use as weapons against the Outer Beings and their servitors. The first dragons were grey and colorless, having brilliantly-hued scales that shone and sparkled with Energy. (This is the species to which the Great One belonged, "in a time when the dragon races were not so distinct from one another.) Their creation was a cooperative effort between two forgotten Powers, one of Matter and one of Energy.

However, Hel, a Power of Entropy, soon became jealous of the powerful and beautiful new race. She interfered and corrupted the newborn dragons, causing them to warp and mutate into new forms, which would later coalesce into the five races of Chromatic Dragons. (A few degenerated into wyverns and the other lesser draconic races, too.) The creators of the dragons, horrified at the damage wrought by Entropy, were nonetheless able to save some of their children, purifying their natures and solidifying them into the unified race of the Gold Dragons. A few of the corrupted proto-Chromatics were stolen away by (or perhaps willingly chose to follow) an unnamed Entropic who served the Outer Beings, and became the first Night Dragons.

It was during this time that the office of the Great One and the Dragon Ruler Hierarchy was created, to mediate between the pure Lawful Golds and the corrupted Chaotic Chromatics. The Lesser Dragon Rulers served as liasons and commanders, and together this government served the Immortals directly. The dragons were not directly responsible for fighting the draeden, but they did fight in the same war, and over time this fact was forgotten, misremembered as a "war between dragons and draeden." (Side note--maybe Megaliths were originally created to combat the draeden...? Not sure how, but what else could?)

When the Dimensional Vortex was put in place, cutting off the 6th dimension, the Outer Beings themselves were torn apart and put into a state of suspended animation within the prison dimension. The draeden were able to survive in a weakened state, because they were composed partially of Thought. Deprived of their 6th dimension, though, they became 3 dimensional beings. Though they retained great power in the 5th dimension, (i.e. large number of Immortal Power Points) their lack of the 3rd and 4th dimension meant that their 1-dimensional magic was much weaker than it had been. The Immortals were able to overpower and eliminate most of them, and the remaining draeden fled into the deep void to contemplate their estate and await their creators' return.

After the war, the dragons settled in a distant solar system in the far reaches of the Prime Plane. Over the millennia, as the Outer Beings were forgotten and the struggle between Life and Death became the focus, the Gold Dragons and the Chromatic Dragons became embroiled in a bitter interplanetary war which resulted in the destruction of the homeworld of the Chromatics. The Chromatic Dragons came to Mystara and founded the Draconian Empire on Brun around 5500 BC, and the Gold Dragons pursued them shortly after, allying with the elves and enduks to create the Golden Empire in Davania. (James Mishler)

Later, as Blackmoor began to spread out through the stars, some Chromatic dragons grew disgusted with their Entropic natures and sought to purify themselves of its influence. Unable to discover the names of the Immortals who had cleansed the Gold Dragons, they attempted to recreate the ritual themselves. They were partially successful, reproducing the two breath weapons of their metallic cousins, but the spell went awry, and rather than purging them of their disparate colors, instead simply altered them, turning them into the first Gemstone Dragons. The War of the Dragonlord saw the near destruction of the Draconian Empire at the hands of Blackmoorian fusiliers. At the Treaty of Gandhar in 3420 BC, the newly-Lawful Gemstone Dragons served as the political scapegoats for the still-Chaotic Chromatics, They went down in the historybooks as the masterminds behind the war, and were exiled to the Outer Plane of Veydra as punishment.

After the Great Rain of Fire, all the empires of the world were obliterated. Dragons of all colors reorganized into the Dragon Kingdoms for survival. Many went rogue, and some few of them were seduced by Outer Powers, and became the first Night Dragons to exist in the Multiverse since the first War of the Immortals and the Entities. Unfortunately, obscure as the Night Dragons were even in those days, their true nature had been completely forgotten by even the oldest Immortals, and they were treated as creatures of simple Entropy. To this day, they pose as mere undead and bide their time until their true Masters shall call.

Much later, a lone draeden found its way to Veydra. Like its cousin Ulgurshek, which had found its way across dimensional barriers long ago, this draeden became trapped on this plane and found that it could not leave. It began to enslave the inhabitants, calling itself the Overlord. From the Gemstone Dragons, who were unaware of the Great Rain of Fire, it learned of the great technology present on Mystara, and schemed to capture it, thinking that it might free its Creators from their Prison and regain its sixth dimension, which would allow it to free itself from Veydra and travel the Void once again.

The Overlord was contacted in secret by certain Entropic Immortals who sympathized with it and secretly wished for the return of the Outer Beings. They were able to shield the early stages of its invasion of Mystara, giving the Gemstone Dragons and the Flaems the element of surprise. The invasion happened as recorded in the Dragonlord Trilogy, and at the final battle, the Overlord was able to manifest an avatar on the Prime. This was done with the covert help of the Outer Beings themselves, manifested across dimensional barriers, something which had not been done since the sinking of Lhomarr in 7022 BC. The avatar was destroyed, and the Overlord lapsed into dormancy. Its Thought ceased, but its Outer nature lived on, dreaming in nightmares and madness along with its Makers.

Today, at the dawn of 1005 AC, (the present of my current campaign) Dragon culture hangs on the precipice of change. The unexpected defeat of the Diamond Dragon by Prince Jaggar von Drachenfels and the ensuing battle for the rulership of Lawful dragons has had two main effects: the Lawful dragons are distracted and do not go to Glantri's aid in the burgeoning War of the Wrath of the Immortals, and the Chaotic dragons see an opportunity to strike at their hated enemies, the Dracologists. The Great One has thus far been able to prevent the Chromatics of Wyrmsteeth from allying with Alphatia, (recognizing the great threat posed by Alphatian control of the Radiance to the stability of the world) but the recent deaths of Rad and Mealiden have shown for the first time in millennia that the Immortals are not invincible. As the battle lines on the Outer Planes form contemporaneously with those on Mystara, the positions of the Pearl Dragon and even the Great One Himself have come within the sights of powerful Chaotic dragons. Meanwhile, the Night Dragons of Oceania wait and watch, knowing that the time draws near when they may be called upon to serve once more...