Dragons of Iskandria

The large reptiles known as dragons are living cataclysms, mindless engines of consumption that occupy the absolute apex of the food chain. Despite their clearly elemental or planar nature, scholars do not classify them as magical beasts, but as “macro predators”, creatures so massive and resilient that they function less like animals and more like moving natural disasters. They possess a bottomless, instinctual hunger that makes encountering them a survival scenario.

Their scales are inches-thick plates of organic mineral composite that shatter conventional steel, and their resilience to mortal wounds is legendary, often continuing to fight even when disemboweled or missing limbs, driven by a hyper-adrenalized nervous system that ignores pain entirely. While all share the same terrifying resilience, they have adapted into horrifying subspecies based on the environments they ravage or originate from. Although dozens of varieties have been encountered, these are the most common ones:

• Pyroclastic Hellkites (Fire): Native to the volcanic chains of the Ashen Wastes, these beasts are living furnaces. Their internal temperature is so high that their blood alone can melt most organic matter, and they vomit superheated bile that ignites on contact with air. Fortunately, they are easy to spot due to how they are often followed by permanent smoke clouds, hunting by sensing thermal gradients rather than sight.

• Vitriolic Scourges (Corrosion): Lurking in the stagnant, chemical-choked fens and swamps, these wingless, multi-legged horrors are coated in a constantly weeping slime, a mucus that is in fact a hyper-acid capable of dissolving iron in seconds. They hunt by spitting pressurized streams of digestive enzymes that liquefy prey from a distance, allowing the dragon to slurp up the remains. Their lair is easily identified by the fact that all the surrounding vegetation, rock, and soil have been chemically stripped down to white, sterile dust.

• Grave-Maw Leviathans (Death): Perhaps the most feared, these are often found near ancient battlefields or mass graves, as they have evolved a parasitic connection to necrotic energy. Their flesh is necrotic and gangrenous, constantly rotting and regenerating in a sickening cycle. They emit an aura of palpable entropy that causes metal to rust and leather to rot within minutes of exposure. They do not hunt for meat, but for life-force, draining the vitality of unsuspecting prey until they are dry, brittle husks.

Killing a dragon is an achievement that defines an era. It is not the work of a lone hero, as it usually requires a siege battalion, specialized harpoon-ballistae, and a willingness to sacrifice hundreds of soldiers to distract the beast.