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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Reference 2 Chapter 8: Hunter's Guide 80 Chapter 2: Geography 34 Chapter 9: Miscellaneous Information 84 Chapter 3: Dragon Psychology 39 Adventures Chapter 4: Role-Playing Dragons 46 The Millennium Dragon (C.S.) 90 Chapter 5: Dragon Hall of Fame 56 Invitation to a Robbery (C.K.) 100 Chapter 6: New Dragon Species 64 The Servants of the Verdant Cloud (J.T.). .109 Chapter 7: Magicll 73 Draco Holy Wars (W.T.) 120llkl

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lReference Material Design: Nigel Findley Adventure DesignSample: Christopher fileKubasik, Carl Sargent, John Terra, William Tracy Editing: Mike Breault Project Coordination: Anne Brown, Bruce Heard Proofreading: Anne Brown, Bill Connors Color Art: Brom, David Dorman, Keith Parkinson Black and White Art: Terry Dykstra, Fred Fields, Robin Raab, Valerie Valusek, Karl Waller Graphic Design: Roy Parker, Stephanie Tabat Typography: Angelika Lokotz, Gaye O'Keefe Keylining: Paul Hanchette Cartography: Steve Beck

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TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd. POB 756 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton Lake Geneva Cambridge CB1 3LB WI 53147 U.S.A. United Kingdom TSR, Inc. 9297XXX1501 PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION ISBN 0-88038-876-5 Chapter 1: Reference

Terminology other, score upon score, they bent have been scribed with great preci- their breath against the body of sion.) This combination of lan- Several new Asgorath, and the skies rang with guage and script explains the terms are re- their lamentations. Only one of the difficulties and delays involved in quired before Spawn of Asgorath withheld his translating the tome. one can con- breath. Instead, he pulled a shard From its content and the mythic veniently talk of the Crystal Sun from the flesh of forms used, it is obvious to about dragons. Asgorath, and used it to draw scholars that the Book of the World Throughout blood from his own flesh, and this is an example of holy literature— this book, the blood fell upon the face of the that is, it once was at the center of word dracoforms is used to refer to World. a body of religious beliefs. The na- dragons and their obvious kin. "As before, there was movement ture of some of those beliefs can be (Thus a wyvern is a dracoform, as where the blood fell, but the crea- inferred from the myths contained is a gold dragon.) The word dra- tures that came forth from this in the Book, but there is insuffi- conic is used as the adjective for blood were not of the pure red. Col- cient cultural context to confi- matters relating to dragons ored like the products of the World dently analyze the belief structure. ("things draconic"). they were, like the unliving (For example, it is not known metals. And the Renegade raised whether the creation myths are Draconic Origins his voice, and his voice was a trum- symbolic or intended to be taken pet: 'I too have Created.' as absolute truth.) ". . . The World was still flat, here before the beginning of Time, be- "The form of Asgorath began to The sheer volume of mythic ma- fore Asgorath the World-Shaper stir, as the Renegade knew it must. terial within the Book, and the rel- folded the cloth of existence into The Renegade spread his wings atively organized chronological its final form. The World was flat, and flew, and the Spawn of the and contextual structure used and above it hung the Crystal Sun Renegade followed him into the throughout, imply that it origi- that Zotha had wrought before farthest reaches of the world." nated from a fairly sophisticated Asgorath cast him down. Asgorath culture. This is paradoxical, since soared above the World and looked —from the "Book of the World" no cultures of sufficient sophistica- down upon it, and she saw that it tion apparently ever arose in was good. Excerpted from The Origin Asram. The possibility cannot be Myths—ASample Treatise bfiley Dunkelzahn overlooked that the Book was "And so Asgorath bent her form ofCandlekeep, 1354 DR transported from elsewhere and around the Crystal Sun, and abandoned in Asram, but that the- touched her breath to it. And the Perhaps surprisingly, there are ory also has its problems. There is Crystal Sun burst into fragments very few origin myths that relate no modern culture that contains that pierced the flesh of Asgorath, directly to dragons. One of the few even the vaguest mythological or and her blood fell on the World. is a tome known as the Book of the symbolic echoes of the Book's con- Where the drops fell, the Powers of World. Only one copy of this book tent. Judging from the oxidation of the World and the Powers of the has ever been found—and that in the Book's metal pages, the speci- Crystal Sun came together, and the land of Asram, about 100 years men under examination was prob- the Spawn of Asgorath came forth ago. The language of the book is ably no more than 500 years old. upon the face of the World. Thorass—more correctly, an even In that time, it seems unlikely that "Red, they were, red that would more archaic form of Thorass than an entire religio-mythic tradition later depart from its purity. But most samples of this language— would vanish from Toril. But that here before the beginning of Time, but the script used is a simplified seems to be the case here. (The their red was the pure red of the runic form. (No doubt the selection wild speculations that the Book of shattered Crystal Sun. They of runic script was necessitated by the World did not arise in Tbril at spread their wings and took to the the construction of the book: it all are discounted by most reputa- skies, circling around the still, cold consists of 300 sheets of thin, flexi- ble scholars.) form of Asgorath. One after an- ble metal onto which the runes The Book provides a fascinating Chapter 1: Reference

origin myth relating to dragon- close a correlation—can Asgorath diverged from kind. From a close reading of the be Tiamat and the Renegade be the great apes text, it becomes obvious that Bahamut? a little more Asgorath the World-Shaper is a An interesting speculation has than 17,000 dragon. The implication—that a recently arisen. It has long been years ago.) It is dragon created the universe, and thought that the Book of the World obvious, then, that dragons were the first crea- represents a body of human, demi- that the hu- tures to exist—is quite fascinating. human, or humanoid myth. Is this manoid races A further point arises from the sen- a short-sighted and humanocen- once dwelt in a tence that reads, "And so tric assumption? The key features world without Asgorath bent her form around the of the origin myth—sacrifice, be- dragons as we know them. Crystal Sun, and touched her trayal, and rebirth—are common How does that fit in with several breath to it." In the original to almost every humanoid ethos, ancient elvish myths—particu- Thorass, the word "breath"—nor- but in all of those myth-bodies the larly the Parwiccan Cycle—that mally used as a singular or un- central characters are anthropo- deal with "dragons" and countable noun in this context- morphic. In other words, human- "wyrms"? The key phrase is has been given a plural suffix oid myth-builders create gods in "dragons as we know them." It is ("breaths"). Is this meant to imply their own image. In the myth pre- our contention that the creatures that Asgorath is a multi-headed sented in the Book of the World, described in the Parwiccan Cycle dragon? there is not a single humanoid are not true dragons, but dragon The text is clearer when it comes character. precursors. Our evidence indicates to the "Spawn of Asgorath." There Might not the Book of the World that these "pre-dragons" were can be no doubt that these crea- present an origin myth that was considerably smaller than modern tures are red uragons. The follow- originally developed by dragons— specimens, with little or none of ing sentences hint that this probably red dragons—them- the daunting array of powers religion holds the red dragon as selves? At a later date, humanoids shown by true dragons. In addi- the most important species of adopted the myth, and incorpo- tion, it seems obvious that these dragon. All others would "later de- rated it into the Book—for the creatures were not sentient; in part from ... purity." Book of the World is obviously a fact, they probably had no more When the Renegade ("bahmat" humanoid artifact. than animal intelligence, and in the original Thorass) duplicates DragonSamples have neve filer been hence the most borderline form of the actions of Asgorath, the drag- thought to be great mythogra- self-awareness. Thus, the "drag- ons that arise are "not of the pure phers. Does this statement tell us ons" that figure so centrally in the red," but rather "colored . . . like more about dragons or about the Parwiccan Cycle are little more the unliving metals." The implica- prejudices of researchers? than large, winged lizards. tion here is obvious: The Spawn of Although these pre-dragons the Renegade are the metallic— were probably long-lived by hu- and primarily good-aligned—drag- [The following is excerpted from man standards, we believe that ons. What the Book of the World an address to the Council of Sages their life spans were but a fraction contains is not only an origin myth byKelmaraofArabel, 1346 DR) of those of modern dragons. If their of dragons—which makes it im- life span was even as short—rela- portant enough in its own right- Dragonkind represents some of tively speaking—as 200 years, but also one of the few surviving the newest species on the face of however, a question arises. Evolu- evil-oriented origin myths. Tbril. My colleagues and I find the tion proceeds at a rate directly pro- It is easy to speculate, based on evidence incontrovertible: Drag- portional to the life span of the this myth. The plural inflection of ons, as we know them now, arose creature—or so our research indi- the word "breath" might be taken no more than 10,000 years ago. cates. How could the pre-dragons as implying multiple heads; the (For comparison, our research in- evolve into true dragons so rap- Thorass word for renegade is dicates that humanity—the idly? A climatic or other environ- "bahmat." It seems almost too youngest of the humanoid races- mental upheaval of unparalleled Chapter 1: Reference

violence would speculations concerning a global Their ascent was guided by be required. upheaval, we all know well her lik- powers beyond our ken. As evi- The Parwic- ing for apocalyptic philosophies. dence of this, take the fact that, in can Cycle And depending on the Parwiccan every world and in every sphere, comes to the Cycle for substantiation is like and on every alternate plane we rescue again, walking on thin ice—your support have yet explored, there are drag- with its talk, may at any moment vanish from ons. And these dragons differ not variously, of beneath you. one whit from those native to Tbril. the "month of Take, for example, the phrases Dragons are beyond the reach of mist," the quoted by my learned colleague. A our biology, I fear—even beyond "seven-turn winter," and "Tear- "seven-turn winter" certainly such far-flung and ill-supported fall." It seems clear to us that Tbril seems to be evidence of climatic theorizing as that characterized by was struck by one of the large upheaval; seven years of winter my worthy colleague. rocks that comprise the Tears of would, anyone must agree, be a ca- Selune, upsetting the world's cli- tastrophe. But a little research un- [Kelmara's response to Verilux's matic balance. Such a global ca- dermines the certainty of this rebuttal, in its entirety, 1346 DR) tastrophe could easily cause the conclusion. At the time and in the extinction of some species, and the language in which the Parwiccan Collops! rapid evolution of others. Cycle was written, "turn" was In response to the environmen- used in varying ways by various tal upheaval, the pre-dragons groups. In some writings, "turn" (The following is excerpted from quickly evolved into the multiple refers to a circuit of Tbril around its An Ecology of the Planes by Garth dragon species known today. primary—a year. In others, how- ofSuzail, 1354 DR) ever, "turn" refers to a circuit of Selune around Toril—a month. The "diffusion theory" has often [The following is excerpted from a Still others use "turn" to refer to a been invoked by philosophers to rebuttal by Verilux to the address single rotation of Tbril around its explain why creatures on planes byKelmaraofArabel, 1346 DR) own axis—a day. While a seven- totally removed from each other month winter might be inconven- should be biologically indistin- Kelmara speaks with great assur- ient, it could hardly be classed as a guishable. The most commonly ance about the link between life catastropheSample. file held version of the theory asserts span and evolution rate. Even if "Tearfall" is a strong, emotive that each creature arose—whether one were to accept fully the evolu- image, and I wish to congratulate this be by evolution or no—on a tionary theory—and I do not—it my colleague on its selection. single world. Then individual crea- should be obvious to even the most Watching your faces as she spoke, tures somehow were removed addle-pated student that life span members of the Council, I saw the from their home plane and trans- would have very little relation to profound effect it had on you. How ferred to others, where they evolutionary rate. More important much would that effect be less- thrived. The necessary removal is by far would be the length of a gen- ened should I tell you that the orig- speculated to occur by various eration, which I define as the dura- inal word—ileleste—could also be means: spontaneously-opening tion separating a single creature's translated as "falling rain"? gates (or "fistulae," to use the term sexual maturity and the sexual Nay, I fear my colleague has commonly in vogue), purposeful maturity of that individual's first failed to convince me of her posi- attempts at "cross-pollination" offspring. Depending on the spe- tion. It seems obvious to me that performed by plane-traveling sen- cies involved, dragons reach sex- dragons did not evolve on Toril as tients, accidental transfers (as ual maturity not much later than Kelmara wishes us to believe. when a pack animal or a pet es- do humans. Thus a dragon genera- They may, perhaps, have arisen capes on an alien plane), or even tion is little longer than a human from baser creatures, but this divine intervention. generation. transcendence was not under the (There is a more extreme version As to my learned colleague's blind drivings of natural selection. of the diffusion theory that will be Chapter 1: Reference

discussed in more depth later in of dragon seems to be a subset of lier. this text. It holds that one single properties belonging to one or Eliminating a plane is the source of all life, and other of the archetypes. Or, con- shadow—as by that creatures diffused throughout versely, each archetype seems to shining a light the multiverse from this source.) possess a superset of the proper- on it—has no At first glance, it would seem that ties possessed by the appropriate effect on the the diffusion theory can be proved class of dragonkind. creature cast- or disproved by close examination Some sages truly believe this ob- ing the of the fossil records of several servation to be representative of shadow. But planes, searching for traces of a the truth of the matter. According what is the certain species. If evidence for the to this theory, the very existence of effect on shadows when the crea- evolution of that creature occurs the two archetypal forms—Baha- ture casting them is removed from on one plane but not on others, mut and Tiamat—is responsible the scene? then surely the diffusion theory for the existence of dragons would be proven. Unfortunately, throughout the multiverse. In met- however, there is not one explored aphorical language, dragons are {The following is excerpted from plane where the fossil record is the shadows that the archetypes Evolution and Creation by Tkrr- anywhere near complete. There cast across the planes. As shadows ance Balancehand of Scornubel, are puzzling gaps, anomalies, and are, in a sense, subsets of the crea- 1356 DK) even apparent reversals of causal tures casting them—as they must events, which make us question be, since shadows are two-dimen- The case of dragons has been used how much we will ever be able to sional—so are the "shadows" of as a major supporting point for learn categorically from fossils. the dragon archetypes subsets of both sides of the ongoing "creation And here the conversation must those archetypes' characteristics versus evolution" argument. turn to dragons, for in these spe- and powers. (The shadow analogy The creationist argument won- cies the diffusion theory seems to is actually quite an elegant one. At ders how evolution can explain the be the only suitable explanation your leisure, examine the shadow occurrence of dragons on virtually for their wide-spread existence. cast by a simple object such as a every known plane, and in virtu- Dragons are the only creatures for cube. Depending on the viewer's ally every crystal sphere of the uni- which there exist archetypal orientation to the cube and to the verse. The fact that dragons— forms. In dragonkind, these forms surface oSamplen which the file shadow is almost indistinguishable, biologi- are Bahamut, the Platinum cast, the shadow can take the form cally, from one another—can be Dragon, and Tiamat, the Chro- of a square, a rectangle, a paral- found in Realmspace, Greyspace, matic Dragon. All of the "core" lelogram, or more complex poly- and other spheres ad infinitum is species of dragonkind—the good- gons. This simple experiment only explicable if one accepts that aligned metallic dragons and the shows how different shadows of some Unitary Principle (i.e., god or evil-aligned chromatic dragons (ig- the same source can be as different association of gods) created them, noring for a moment those fringe as a green and a red dragon.) simultaneously, throughout the species like crystal dragons) seem Is it any wonder that many drag- universe. The problems with this to be pale reflections of their arche- ons worship the archetypal forms? position are that there is strong typal forms, displaying some but If this theory of shadows is true, fossil evidence in several spheres not all of that archetype's charac- then the archetypes truly are the for an evolutionary process, plus teristics. For example, a red creators of dragonkind, although an undeniable evolutionary tree dragon possesses some but not all the sense of creation is diluted in that explains how various draco- of the characteristics attributed to this case, since it seems to lack the forms diverged from one another. Tiamat, while a gold dragon pos- aspect of an act of will. The evolutionary point of view sesses some but not all of the char- What are the consequences if plays heavily on the biological evi- acteristics attributed to Bahamut. this theory turns out to be correct? dence for the kinship of dragons Indulging in mathematical lan- One possibility arises from a con- and dracoforms such as wyverns guage for a moment, each species sideration of the analogy used ear- and drakes, and repeatedly touts Chapter 1: Reference

the fossil re- in this or any world). How much This is how I view the creation cord that more elegant for the creator(s) to versus evolution controversy. The shows "dragon set up initial conditions whereby worlds we live in arose from the act precursors" in the evolution of those very same of will of a Unitary Principle. But various lo- dragons is inevitable according to after that initial act of will, all other cales. Why the laws of nature, magic and, sci- developments were according to would a Uni- ence? Some readers may be fa- the laws of the world. Dragons— tary Principle miliar with the game of "pockets," and elves and humans and ores actively at- which reputedly was widely and the rest—did evolve, but only tempt to de- played in the ancient land of because the Unitary Principle cre- lude its "children" by planting Mulhorand. The purpose of the ated the initial conditions so it was such evidence? The problem with game is to strike a single "key" inevitable that they evolve. this position is that evolutionists ball with a stick, in a very precise This explains how dragons— are at a loss to explain how drag- way, so that it contacts other balls and other species too, of course— ons that evolved in Realmspace on a table, and causes those balls could have arisen in so many dif- and Greyspace—two significantly to fall into holes or pockets posi- ferent places in the universe. The different ecosystems—have tioned around the table. When one Unitary Principle—through the evolved so convergently that it is views the end result of the game- original, one-time act of creation— impossible by any means (short of all balls but the key safely residing so designed the initial conditions asking dragons) to determine their in the pockets—the most simple in each of those diverse regions sphere of origin. conclusion to draw about how that dragons could not avoid And so it is from these contradic- they ended up there is that some- evolving. tory positions that I select dragon- one picked up the balls and placed Creation and evolution are then, kind as the ultimate support for them in the pockets. (This it becomes obvious, not contradic- my thesis. equates, in my mind, to the "spe- tory theses, but merely different Evolution and creation are not cial creation" theory.) It is cer- stages within the process that is contradictory and mutually exclu- tainly a simple way of reaching the the development of the universe. sive, as most sages would have end result. But how much more you believe. The two are inti- elegant it would be if—instead of mately and elegantly linked, two placing the balls individually and somewhaSamplet arbitraril filey in their {The following is excerpted from sides—as it were—of the same an inebriated tirade by Corkitron coin. I believe it is impossible to eventual pocket homes—the same result were reached with a single Allinamuck, member of Halflings deny that dragons evolved to their Inc., of no fixed address, 1357 DR) present state in the Forgotten striking of the key ball? Theoreti- cally, a powerful and precise Realms. It is also impossible to There's always been dragons, and deny that the same thing occurred enough stroke of the key ball would cause all other balls to end there's always going to be dragons, in the world of Greyhawk, and in that's what I think. You want to the many other spheres that have up in pockets, creating a complex and artistically pleasing dynamic know any more, why don't you ask been visited by spelljamming ves- the darned dragons? sels. How, then, can this quandary pattern as they did so. be solved? Once the key ball is struck, all Evolution The problem lies in the tendency other motions of the balls are ac- to view creation as a single act in cording to the laws of motion The following theories related to which a Creator says, "Let there known to sages and mathemati- the evolution and interrelation- be dragons," and there were drag- cians. If one did not actually wit- ship of dracoforms are drawn from ons. Such a kind of special crea- ness the original striking of the key the writings of a group of sages tion seems somewhat arbitrary, ball, one could come to believe that known only as the "Club of and far from subtle (and I will ad- the eventual outcome was a result Candlekeep." These sages, al- mit that I view subtlety as one of of those laws only, and not involv- though members of the Order of the greatest attributes of divinity ing any act of volition at all. Candlekeep, are more interested