Building My Dungeons and Dragons World Part 10: Dragonborn
Introduction
I am sure I surprised no one by covering dragonborn after setting up the draconic cultures last week. You may also not be surprised by the next move either. According to much of the lore I found, dragonborn were believed to have been created by Bahamut or Bahamut's predecessor, Asgoroth. You will remember that last week, I decided to cement the fact that they had been created by Bahamut in my world. This has created a unique situation for me in my world.
The various Wizards of the Coast text have created rules for dragonborn of every kind of dragon. In my world, the dragonborn of the metallic dragons are the ones who have an established society. dragonborn from any other dragon race are rare in the Prime Material Plane for a variety of reasons. This is not an outright ban on them but instead means that others will have to be plot justified if they crop up. It also means that the dragonborn society I am discussing today revolves around those descended from the metallic dragons.
With that in mind, let's begin.
Dragonborn
The Metallic Union is home to one of many unique races in my world, the Dragonborn. Often mistaken to be half-human and half-dragon, the dragonborn are actually a race of humanoid-shaped dragons created by Bahamut during the Fracturing. Like the dragons, they are a proud race dedicated to improving both themselves and the societies they live in.
The dragonborn are divided into clans in a similar fashion to the dragons they are based on. The Gold Clan, the Silver Clan, the Bronze Clan, the Copper Clan, the Brass Clan, the Mercury Clan, the Iron Clan, and the Steel Clan. Each clan's culture and society and even living conditions are similar to those of the dragons they are based on. For example, the Gold Clan dedicated itself to fighting evil and built its society on the plains.
The dragonborn generally trusted the Metallic Senate to have their best interests at heart and therefore felt no resentment at having no representation there. The dragons did not abuse their authority over the clans, either out of the goodness of their hearts or for practical reasons. The clans had made themselves the agents and guardians of their respective dragons. The more practical dragons knew that betraying the clans would make them easy targets.
But even this society was not without its differences. Each clan, and their dragon counterparts, had different views on good and evil and law and chaos. Some clans preferred to remain isolated while others believed that being proactive against the North was the better idea. Some clans were traditionally more reckless, creating strife with their more lawful brethren. While these differences were present and often dominated discussions between clans, they were not enough to drive the dragons to outright war.
The Metallic Union Guild Office
The Metallic Union was very open to other races. Elves, humans, gnomes, and many more found homes and work within its borders. This open-mindedness paved the way for the teachings of artificers to come to their shores. Most of the clans ended up founding a branch guild office, each specializing in their own ideas and specialties. To help foreign artificers, the Metallic Union Guild Office was born.
The Metallic Union Guild Office was not a government entity in charge of artificer offices but instead operated more as the central hub of communications. They would act as the front face of the many clan artificer guilds and point foreigners to offices they believed would be most helpful in their journey.
The Path of the Ancient Dragons
Dragonborn barbarians were not uncommon in the Metallic Union. The Union was born out of war and many of the older dragons could still remember them. As such, every clan wanted to be prepared for the next war, should it come. While a draongborn's natural breath weapon was something to be feared, they knew that they needed to be good at hand-to-hand combat as well.
The Path of the Ancient Dragons was named as a reminder to dragonborn of their ancestry. It also allowed them to fight in honor of those fallen before them. As such, the dragonborn don themselves in unique body art, similar to tattoos on other humanoids. This body art is generally designed to emulate a physical characteristic of the ancestor(s) they wish to remember. This body art is often the first sign to others in their society that they are talking to a follower of the path.
The Order of Bahamut
The Order of Bahamut is small, by comparison to other paladin orders, especially those in the Celestial Empire. It also did not hold the same power and authority in the clans that their foreign counterparts did. In fact, the Order of Bahamut believed that their order should remain independent of the clans. As such, the Metallic Union created a clan-neutral territory just for them to conduct operations. Not even the Metallic Union can give the paladin orders.
There is no unique oath taken by the members of the Order. The Order of Bahamut believes that most oaths are dedications to the tenets of Bahamut. The oath of the crown ties the paladin to Bahamut himself while the oath of devotion tied the paladin to his general ideology. The oath of glory is the most prominent one, given dragonborn societies' preference for self-reliance and improvement. Many members of the Order believe that they will one day be called to either defend the Metallic Union from the Chromatic Warlords or even Tiamat herself. The oath of the watchers is taken by those seeking to protect the Metallic Union from threats from other planes of existence. While many choose to focus their efforts on those who may serve Tiamat, others keep an eye on other threats that could unite or overthrow the northern dragons, like the once great giant-kin and their gods. The oath of redemption is taken by members who are less interested in their own glory and are more interested in the glory of those in their communities. They seek to help those in their society learn from their past mistakes and grow into better people, thus further bettering the Metallic Union overall.
Not every oath is equally represented in the Order. Bahamut was a lawful good dragon god after all and the members of the Order are expected to be the same. It is rare for members of the Order to take oaths of conquest or vengeance, and those that do are usually frowned upon. Members of the order who take these oaths are usually looking to go to the north to fight the Chromatic Warlords, either because of lost loved ones or a genuine belief that the Chromatic Warlords are evil. The oath of the ancients is even rarer, with most members having never heard of it.
The House of the Draconic Bloodlines
It only makes sense for those who live in the Metallic Union to seek the powers of dragons and even the dragonborn are not above doing so. The House of the Draconic Bloodlines was organized to train those who have these powers. This organization is unique to the others so far in that it is not solely made up of dragonborn. The House of Draconic Bloodlines will take any sorcerer who has taken a pact with a dragon for power.
The organization is still good though, so its members are expected to act responsibly with the power they have been granted. As such, it is uncommon to see someone with a pact with a chromatic dragon in its halls. Many of those who have made pacts with chromatic dragons seek to use the power for good or seek redemption for the horrible acts they have committed in the past. Many of these sorcerers become frontline operatives in the north following their training.
The Bronze Clan is largely in charge of the House of the Draconic Bloodlines since Metallic Union believed having such an organization on the coast would help foreigners find it more easily. That said, the Bronze Clan generally lets the group run itself, trusting that the group will call them in if there is an issue, such as betrayal or attack. After all, the House of the Draconic Bloodlines is one area that is vulnerable to infiltration by enemy forces.
The Pact Organization
Not even the Metallic Union can avoid the criminal underworld. Nor is every dragonborn a good person. The Pact Organization proves this, though not directly. Founded to help dragonborn reach out to others for power, the Pact Organization is not picky about its members, their motives, or who they make deals with. Their only rule: don't hurt the Pact. In exchange for giving them this power, the Pact reserves the right to deploy the pact seeker on jobs. The Pact will usually try to ensure that these jobs align with the contract forged between the pact seeker and whoever they signed a pact with.
Dragonborn are prideful and self-reliant. Very rarely do they pursue power out of a sense of malice. But making a pact means putting yourself under someone else's command in order to get access to their power. What's more, the dragonborn natural breath weapon holds value to the Pact, who see this feature as a valuable asset to their operations. Breath weapon aside, the Dragonborn are some of their most loyal agents and usually do not quit until the job is done. As such, the Pact Organization is very careful about where and when they deploy dragonborn agents, knowing full well the backlash they could receive if the agent fails.
Conclusion
That ended up being a lot more interesting than I expected. The dragonborn and dragons had a lot of depth and I was right to give them their own corner of the world. Their foes, their culture, and even the history I gave them made them very different from the Celestial Empire.
I look forward to seeing you next week when I can hopefully cover the next playable race in just one article. But we shall see.
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