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Dracon

Dracons are a minor[3] spacefaring race in the Spelljammer campaign setting[4] and can be selected as a player character race.[5]

Overview[]

The dracons are a race of dragon-centaurs that have recently appeared on the fringe of the Known Spheres.[5] Dracon exploration ships have been spotted in the phlogiston and at the edges of known space, and are only just beginning to make contact with the smaller communities in space.[4]

Description[]

A dracon is centaur-like in appearance, with a heavy four-legged body with broad, flat, elephantine feet and a long, snakelike tail. Its torso and arms are human-like, although its six-fingered hands end in claws. A dracon's head is reptilian, with the horns and flanges of a dragon.

Dracons speak their own language and that of dragons. A few speak the common trade tongue, though haltingly and with a thick accent. Their speech is often formal and ornately ceremonial.[5][4]

Personality[]

Dracons are herd creatures, and their lives are circumscribed by a series of formal rituals designed to allow them to interact with the rest of the herd with no dissension. To humans, dracon formality is seen as condescending and a weakness; a view that is superficially supported by their willingness to flee or discuss a situation rather than fight. More than one human has been surprised. however. at how effective they are once the herd has made up its mind.

A lone dracon is a freak. Most dracons cannot survive outside the family unit, and become sick and confused if denied access to the leadership of the eldest of their herd for extended periods of time. A dracon left by itself will try to find another dracon family to adopt it. If this is impossible, it will attempt to form a new herd, even adopting non-dracons into its "family".[5]

Most observers speculate that only the most adventurous of the dracon species have traveled into wildspace, but even so most dracons seem stuffy and passive, more content to retreat than fight. There are exceptions, in particular those dracons who have adopted humanoids into their family units.[4]

Combat[]

Dracons consider themselves civilized, and adhere to a stylized dueling code. Under this code, when one dracon challenges another, the challenged individual has choice of weapons (swords, bare hands, etc.), the challenger then names the terms of the battle (to the death, to first blood, or to three falls, for example), and finally, the challenged dracon names the place and time (within reason, though a dracon rhyme speaks of the Battle Eternal, in which heroes return each year to fight a single round of combat).

Although dracons apply these codes among themselves, they typically do not offer them to non-dracons. However, should a non-dracon offer such terms, the dracon would be honor-bound to adhere to them, within reason. (A single dracon would not accept a challenge from a mind flayer, for example, unless the illithid pledges not to use their mind blast).

Dracons usually use thin-bladed long swords in combat, but are just as adept at holds and wrestling. Their long thumb-claws make them particularly dangerous in hand-to-hand combat. In addition to their swords, dracons have also been known to carry large darts and ceremonial halberds. The last are useful in wildspace, often as grappling hooks, but they are usually reserved for formal duels and ritual ceremonies.

Dracons are adequate metalsmiths, the equal of elves but less skilled than dwarves. They use heavy armour which is ritualistically donned before entering battle.[4]

Society[]

Dracon families are huge, and there is good evidence that all dracons are members of one enormous kin-group. Further, it would appear that all dracons are natives of the same planet, and that they have only recently made the first steps among the stars.

The herbivorous dracons follow a strong herd instinct among their people, which carries through into space. Dracons prefer to travel in familial units, headed by the eldest male or female dracon; a lone dracon is a rarity and a freak among its people. Dracons separated from their family will usually become ill unless they find a method of recreating a familial unit, and individual dracons have been known to adopt non-dracons as pseudo-family members.

The leader of a dracon herd is called a kaba. Assigning the role of kaba is determined not by the strongest, nor the swiftest, but by means of a system of kinship that borders on the mystical. Dracons have a flair for genealogy, and through a long series of questions and answers can trace one dracon to another in a fashion that determines who rules the dracon herd. Cynical non-dracons believe that the dracons make up such relationships on the spur of the moment, relating old slights and favors in their attempts to determine precedence. If such is the case, this method of dealing with leadership shows that the quick-thinking and the crafty tend to survive.

The kaba of the herd is assisted by a shalla, or high priest. Each herd, no matter how small, has a shalla, who is keeper of rituals, advisor to the kaba, and a healer to the people. The shalla is typically a cleric, with the more powerful shalla usually found with larger herds.

When dracon herds meet, the first order of business is to determine who is the kaba of the entire group, empowered to make decisions. This is done in an odd fashion, by determining the relationships and favors exchanged between groups. There is no shame for a deposed kaba removed from their post by a new kaba that outranks them – the position is a duty, and the reward for such duty is that someone more powerful will come along and give you a rest.[4]

Faith[]

The dracons have a pantheistic religion incorporating the dracon equivalents of human, dwarven, and elven deities, including gods of war, fertility, storms, and the sea. The dracon gods are always pictured together in a huge herd, moving together and led by the Ub-Kalla, who always knows the correct course in every situation. To be called Ub-Kalla by a dracon is considered to be a high honor, for your decision-making is compared favorably with dracon thoughts.

The dracons hold all dragons in awe, and the shalla have declared that they are the messengers of the gods. As a result, their every action is watched carefully for signs from the gods, indicating their needs or their intentions.

The dracons also tell tales of a spider-like Dark God that lies beneath the sands of their homeworld, waiting to pop up to trap youngsters that stray too far from their parents. This creature may be real or the product of the herd mentality, but the dracon faith makes heavy use of imagery of the Dark God as an enemy and a tempter. The semblance between this Dark God and the spider-like neogi may be a coincidence or the result of real encounters with the slaving race. Whatever the cause, the dracons hate spiders in general and the neogi in particular.[4]

Relationship with other races[]

Dracons refer to humans, mind flayers, elves, and dwarves as "the deformed." Though they are polite toward and interested in non-dracon society, they view any creature with fewer than six limbs as disadvantaged. They are not good at distinguishing between the various non-dracon races, particularly humanoids, and often ascribe human traits to elves, and elven abilities to dwarves (they can never figure out who operates the big rock-ships). Lizard men get along very well with the dracons, and are often adopted into larger families as disabled smaller relatives. Centaurs and other similar races are considered long-lost allies as well.

Dracons hate spiders in general and the neogi in particular, putting them in good stead with other races, but consider the beholders comical. Beholder jokes make the rounds among dracons, comparing them to large kickballs used in ritual games on their homeworld. How long this situation is going to last remains to be seen.[4]

Notable Dracons[]

  • Chirp and Trivit were dracon brood-brothers who joined the crew of Teldin Moore, the Cloakmaster, after adopting him as their kaba.[6]
  • Kaba Danel was the latest kaba to lead the dracon herd onboard the Spelljammer.[7]
  • Eremic Besoom of the Watery Glade was the kaba and co-leader of the Stellar Nomads native to the Stellar Islands in Krynnspace.[8]
  • Riktal Vlakis was the only survivor after his pack was wiped out by elves in Clusterspace.[9]
  • Stakahlla was an ancient and powerful dracon who spoke on behalf of all dracons in wildspace,[10] and served as kaba for the dracon herd on the Rock of Bral.[11]

Signature Spelljammers[]

Dracons have only recently made their first steps into wildspace, and as such favor the same seaborne designs usually employed by groundlings, except with higher ceilings to accommodate their taller statures. Dracons will typically be found onboard large modified galleons, though there are reports of dracon herds who have started using hammerships.[4]

Appendix[]

Gallery[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Table 5: Age section, chapter 2: New Spacefaring Races, page 27
  2. 2.0 2.1 Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Table 4: Average Height And Weight section, chapter 2: New Spacefaring Races, page 26
  3. Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Major and Minor Races side bar (pp.50, 52 and 54)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Dracon entry (pp.71–72)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Curtis M. Scott, CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Dracons section, chapter 2: New Spacefaring Races, pages 16-17
  6. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, pages 15-16 and 20-22 (first appearance)
  7. Jeff Grubb, The Legend of Spelljammer: Captains and Ships, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Personalities of the Spelljammer, pages 54-55
  8. Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Important NPCs section, Stellar Islands chapter, pages 64 and 66
  9. Sam Witt, The Astromundi Cluster, The Celestial Almanac. 1993, (TSR Inc.), The Almanac chapter, page 51
  10. Richard Baker, SJR5 Rock of Bral, 1992, (TSR Inc.), part 2: A House Divided, page 30
  11. Richard Baker, SJR5 Rock of Bral, 1992, (TSR Inc.), part 3: A City Among the Stars, page 75
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