The Grandfather of Dragons commands us to be Deities and Demigods: vigilant against all evil and to destroy it wherever we encounter it. Yet many who wear his noble colors By Robert J. Schwalb are content to await the coming darkness—they think that they will be ready for the time when evil Bahamut Illustrations by Rick Hershey, Tim Hibbets, and Colin Throm shows its hideous visage. Brothers and sisters, evil will never reveal itself. Those sworn to wickedness cannot abide the shining beacon because they find its brilliance loathsome. No, evil’s servants haunt the darkness that spawns it. They bide their time. They spread evil’s filthy seed to unsuspecting innocents, offering temptations even the innocent cannot re- fuse. We permit this festering cancer as we strive to safeguard our lands. We combat the obvious threats, but this, friends, is what darkness wants. Evil would have us fritter away all our strength against its de- coys, laughing at our feeble flailing. How, I ask, can we ever hope to quench the hated one’s conflagration when all we do is fight the small fires? The Platinum Dragon commands us to pro- tect the weak and to safeguard the innocent from evil’s depredations, yet time and again the common person succumbs to temptation We cannot wait any longer—we cannot allow another day to pass—while the Dark Lady and other vile forces plot our dooms from unseen redoubts. We must look deep within our hearts and find our purity. We must scourge our flesh to purge temptation and doubt. We must test our friends, our families, and our neighbors to be certain shadow has no hold. And where we find it, we must cleanse the flesh. We liberate the spirit. If we falter in this holy mission, we fail. If we quail before the horrors, evil wins. Giving mercy, we permit evil and become no better than those we fight. Brothers and sisters, we are at war. -Josseth Crownblade, Platinum Talon, Templar of Bahamut TM & © 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved. August 2009 | DRAGON 378 70 Deities & Demigods: Bahamut The Platinum Dragon shines brightly in the world. those principles on which a society depends to thrive, What follows are ways Bahamut’s faithful Bahamut champions virtue and justice. He urges laws have no meaning. might take extremist positions regarding his mortals to embrace their noble natures and to better commandments. themselves and the world around them. His holy Bahamut in the World Honor and Justice: When a lord fails to enforce texts teach them to reject the baser, destructive emo- the laws equally in a community, Bahamut’s priests Bahamut stands at the forefront among those gods tions undermining order’s harmony. Erathis inspires supplant the constables and mete justice. No matter who champion good. Communities founded on mortals to reach further and to build and claim their how inconsequential, all crimes receive the same principles of justice, equality, and virtue include the rights to the natural world, but Bahamut teaches the punishment: death. Platinum Dragon in their prayers. For all that mortals wisdom to ensure that mortal achievements improve Protect the Weak: A Bahamut sect moves into look to Bahamut to resolve their troubles, not all sub- lives rather than destroy them. For the Platinum a poverty-stricken barony. Seeing the lord’s rela- scribe to the full tenets espoused by his teachings. Dragon virtue and order are one and the same. Essen- tive wealth and security compared to the peasants, Absolute good causes problems for many mortals. tially, they are different aspects of the same ideal. the sect sacks the baron’s castle and gives away his Good and evil are subjective concepts shaped by Law without goodness is tyranny, while goodness wealth. Not satisfied, the sect assumes control over culture and social demands. Rather than struggling without order is irresponsible and offers no protec- the land, violating privacy and restricting freedoms with an external ethical model, many faithful allow tions for the weak, the infirm, and the destitute. to ensure a better quality of life, or an equal one at their personal moral compasses to guide them. Even The only way for good to survive in the world is least, for all. among Bahamut’s servants, opinions vary as to the Defend Just Order: When the aristocracy revolts Good lives outside the individual, and it sometimes remains against the queen, Bahamut’s templars come to the monarch’s defense, seeing her rule as just and unclear, but it is a thing to which all mortals should aspire divinely sanctioned. What the templars do not real- ize is that the queen is secretly plotting to plunge the or reject as is their choice. nation into war by sending her armies to conquer a neighboring state. through an ordered society. No relativistic moral- degree to which a society should shape moral ideals, Liberate the Oppressed: A nearby forest com- ity exists: Good lives outside the individual, and it and many have waged bitter disputes over identifying munity under a druid king’s rule rejects the social sometimes remains unclear, but it is a thing to which the good or its absence in a community’s laws. conventions upheld in a neighboring kingdom. A all mortals should aspire or reject as is their choice. Without regular discourse with the gods and Bahamut priest sees the community as lawless, mor- An ordered society reinforces morality and encour- when lacking an overarching religious structure, ally confused, and deceived by its leaders. To liberate ages mortals to be generous, temperate, and peaceful, most faiths splinter and fracture, since personal inter- the people he sees as being oppressed, he leads an while its laws define unacceptable behaviors as being pretations about a particular commandment divide invasion force to unseat the druid king and install a anything that would threaten or undermine the otherwise likeminded servants. The most dangerous leader more akin to his beliefs. common good. Within an ordered society, the path to sects are those that latch onto a particular com- virtue is clear. mandment, placing special importance on the divine Justice, then, is vital to realizing the good in the decree so that it eclipses any other command the god Divine Distance world. Without consequences for acting against the might offer. Taking a particular piece of dogma out Those who take a rational view toward Bahamut and common good, and with no punishment for violating of context can pervert the god’s intentions and have his doctrines might question why the god makes no disastrous results in the larger world. effort to correct his followers’ mistakes. Extremists August 2009 | DRAGON 378 71 Deities & Demigods: Bahamut can cause as much suffering and destruction as those unfolding on the mortal world, a misguided band, no History DC 15: Although the Talons commit servants dedicated to Bane in his worst aspect. How matter their actions, is nothing compared to the chal- themselves to fighting evil, their single-minded can a god purported to represent justice, honor, and lenges the gods must contend with in the planes. efforts can and have blinded them to the unintended nobility tolerate such actions by his supposed ser- suffering that results from their crusades. Wherever vants? Learned theologians have debated these issues THE PLATINUM TALONS the Talons go, they leave behind shattered lives and for ages and no definitive answer has yet emerged. ruined communities. The Talons make no apology for Some suggest mortals incorrectly assume rational- “Suffer not the transgressor!” their actions because they believe their ends justify ity is necessary to understand divinity. Perhaps the If time proves anything, awaiting evil does nothing to whatever means they use. gods encourage fanaticism. Perhaps they depend on defeat evil. Left to its own devices, it festers, spread- History DC 20: The misery the Talons create their zealous servants to advance their aims in the ing its corruption to all corners, planting dark seeds exists in the ashes and bones of those whose paths world. Maybe these extremists have a greater under- in mortal hearts and turning them against the proper they’ve crossed. One only need look to Four Oaks standing about what is at stake if they fail and thus order. As long as war is waged against evil’s servants, to see just how the Talons operate. Once a prosper- fight all the harder because of it. They might pursue there can be no victory. To defeat the darkness—to ous forest village, Four Oaks had rumors about witchcraft and diabolism dogging it. The people If time proves anything, awaiting evil does nothing to were innocent, but they placed little stock in gods, instead embracing the “old” ways and the primal defeat evil. spirits who sheltered their lands. The Talons followed their suspicions and descended on the set- misguided goals, but what good they work along the cast it from this world—a true warrior must suspect tlement. They interrogated forty innocents and when way might serve a higher purpose. all of treachery and test everyone he or she meets to they found nothing, they burned the village to the A chilling thought to be sure, and scholars retreat ascertain the purity of the heart, and, where he or ground. When questioned, the Talons’ only response from such speculation. Instead, they claim a god’s she finds corruption, destroy it. was “everyone dies, but evil always prospers.” distance from mortal events is due to the ban placed The following organization demonstrates how a on the gods by the primal spirits after the Dawn War.