Jason Andresen (order #1578489) - Jump page for Jubei

Dragons
Of the extraordinary fauna through this tome,
there is one entity of the kingdoms I would be
remiss not to add. Moreover, it merits an entry
akin to its magnitude. This is a creature—if
I dare call it such—that dwarfs all other things of the
world short of the gods themselves, a creature so deadly
and unspeakable that the very mention of such draws
out awe in men, elves, and dwarves alike. It is the dragon.
Fortunately they are few in number and appear to dislike
proximity to civilization.
Elven works of art illustrate the dragon, ancient dwarven
codexes make mention of it, and men whisper fearfully of the
beasts and their ilk. In my possession is a rare volume of The
Wyrmsaga Cycle. A passage reads:
“…And I, weeping at the sight of the land laid waste,
Witnessed the Black Wyrm fell then ‘pon us,
Bore up two score and eight,
And all went screaming into the maw.
Swords and spears were nothing to it,
And their skins were boiled from the bone.
The great Blight-Bringer, the terrible Father of Dragons,
Toruk of the Black Scale had been beckoned,
Defending his Mountain on the Isle…”
–Book I, The Wyrmsaga Cycle
More than mere legend and far from just “wyrms,” some
dragons have been regarded by men of ages past as gods.
Indeed, their power is such that entire civilizations have been
destroyed, others enslaved—or blighted—by the will and actions
of such beings. Today dragon-worship is limited to the island
kingdom of Cryx, for in that dark corner of the realm the
dark dragon Toruk reigns supreme. Without a doubt, he is
both powerful and ancient, and he relishes the homage paid
unto him. A church exists in his name on the isle, and the
dragon grants power to his priests just the same as Morrow
gifts his own devoted clergy. His following hails him as the
Father of All Dragons and the oldest of gods; they say all
lesser dragons are his spawn, and I once read a grisly fleshbound
tome delineating a peculiar lineage that suggests these
dark tales may hold some truth.
If I recall correctly, it is believed thousands and thousands
of years ago, Toruk decided to create servants worthy of
him—men and elves were unworthy, despicable creatures—so
he brought forth from his own blood the very first dragon
brood. These he made in his image and nurtured them, but
once they had grown, their hunger was too great and they
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sought to be free of Toruk’s dominion. The dragons rebelled
and there was a great struggle. In his rage and indignation,
Toruk destroyed all but a handful of his progeny, but these
few escaped into the world and went into hiding for millennia.
Toruk searched the realm but they were hidden deep within
the earth, so the Father of Dragons eventually engaged in other
matters and seemed to forget his disloyal brood. Over several
thousands years, the young dragons grew powerful until finally
their hunger forced them to slink up from their earthen lairs
and establish their own territories. Ultimately they attacked
one another, for the dragons knew that in consuming their
brethren, they would grow in power (a point of interest I will
touch upon further in a while). In this new havoc, Toruk easily
found his offspring and once more fell upon them with a
vengeance. It took an alliance of all the children to drive away
the father, so the progeny made a pact that if Lord Toruk were
ever among them again, they would drop their quarrels and
join against him who had made them. It is said this alliance of
dragons exists to this very day.
Some delvers I have met over the years allege their paths
have crossed with dragons, but most of these claims I eventually
uncover as misleading. In fact, I have never encountered
one up close and personal, nor do I wish to, though I have
seen them from afar and witnessed the effects of their presence
firsthand. It was the very dragon mentioned above,
Toruk the Mighty Lord of Dragons—or at least I believed
it so—who was suddenly winging through the clouds above
while my party and I hid among the rocks and brambles of
the Cryxian badlands. Having heard his terrible roar echoing
throughout the vale, chilling my blood and touching my soul
in ways no other beast or monster ever has, I can now tell the
difference between those who have seen an actual dragon and
those who have encountered one of the many creatures of
the realm often confused for one. Dracodiles or the various
breeds of drake or tatzylwurm or even the fear-inducing dune
prowlers of the Bloodstone Marches have all been mistaken
for dragons one time or another, but I can tell you they most
assuredly are not.
The Wyrmsaga Cycle was penned shortly after the Orgoth
landed on our shores. It was in those days while the coastlands
were beset by the Orgoth that Toruk renewed his assault on
western Caspia. I suspect that he originally came from the east,
from beyond the dreaded Stormlands, but he had settled in the
Scharde Islands centuries earlier and was a constant threat to the
people of the Thousand Cities. His motives for founding Cryx
and ruling as a god-king are obscure, but it is clear he has a
rapacious desire for conquest and enslavement. For over a thou-
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