very LightRaider knows of the Dragons; how they were cast out of the Glade with Shaitan in the beginning, how they walk the world to corrupt and confuse men with their MindSpeech, how they can use their breath and smoke weapons to conquer and kill. They command great power in Talania, both through the confused DragonSlaves that sometimes serve them, and through the evil creatures that the Dragons drive and control, the Armies of Darkness. I don't run too many changes beyond the way dragons play in the LightRaider Handbook that comes with the official set...breath weapons, MindSpeech and all that run mostly the same. Here are a few improvements I have made that add to the fun of the game...

Shaitan

his most powerful evil creature is the Great Red Dragon, the Adversary, cast out by the OverLord into the Flames of Chaos. This huge vile dragon, the "Father of Lies", is unable to enter the physical world himself, but the many earthly dragons that serve him do his bidding. There are said to even be secret societies of OnceBorn that work for him, knowingly or not. This horrible creature wants OnceBorn enslaved or dead, preferably with as much suffering as possible.

Lesser Dragons

n My Game, the Dragons have set themselves up as "false gods" to the people of Illsig and Ranke (of the "Sanctuary" books.) They are literally "fallen angels" seeking to challenge the OverLord. These scaly liars hide in caverns far beneath their OnceBorn temples down on Temple Avenue, and mislead the people that theirs is the way to Salvation. No Dragon walks abroad...they pull the political and social strings to get their evil work done by others. (I assure you, one by one, at the right time, my commando team of Raiders is going to bring down those lying reptiles!) I urge you to adopt this in Your Game. It is a great teaching tool for youth; the lying dragons offer the people all of the temptations and falsehoods that the Real World brings to divert us from Christ. ("The way that seems right to a man", and all that.) The specifics and setting of your personal campaign are your business, but I do like the "hidden dragons" conspiracy slant...perhaps the people don't even believe in dragons (all the better to manipulate you, mortal!) Perhaps there's a OnceBorn named Mulder, who belives! The possibilities are endless.

Anyway, all lesser dragons generally match the stats given in the LightRaider Handbook that comes with the boxed set. If I write any new ones, I'll post them here. 

Hatching Lore

he most evil of creatures, the dragon, begins with a tiny egg. Little has been known about the nesting habits of Shaitan's Brood, but some odd facts have recently come to light. Note that this info may not even be known to the Wise Ones at the Academy...you may want your Raiders to be the first TwiceBorn to discover and report these facts: 

Dragon Eggs
When a Dragon lays eggs, it has an opportunity to further corrupt the races of Men. The Dragon's egg, a gem-like lump about fist-sized, has the ability to act as a "focus" for DragonPower. Many mages would kill to own one, as it will seemingly amplify the dark magic that they seek to control. (This is not surprising, as what men arrogantly call "their" magic is only trickledown evil from Shaitan's Brood.) Possession of an egg will double all conventional AD&D spell abilities (range, duration, effect, etc.) but will slowly drive the mage owning one to powerlust and madness. This corruption will take slightly longer if the mage in question views him/herself as a "good" magician, but will be infinitely as complete. (Magic corrupts, and absolute magic corrupts absolutely.)

Destruction of an Egg - The egg may be smashed by taking 20 damage points from a blunt weapon, which will shatter it. However, any attack on the egg or intent to attack within 10' radius will cause it to begin immediate special attacks on all in that range. Attack will be one of two types:

• Forgetfulness Attack: A d8 level attack against the Raiders' Self Control rating, transmitted as the word "Forget." Characters failing the check will find themselves "back in town", several hours later, with no memory of the egg. Characters beating the SC check will watch these other Raiders walk off with a glazed look. Holy water in the face (vs. the DL) may break the spell, or Rescue dealing with faithfulness to the OverLord's plan may stop the PC's from going further, but neither will recover memory of the egg. Beating the SF save will prevent FA damage points to MU. (For extra-special fun, begin the adventure by having the Raiders find themselves in a familiar place with no memory of how they got there; they found an egg and all failed the "Forget" attack. Include mysterious cuts, scrapes, bruises and other mysterious oddities to make the memory loss even stranger. In this scenario, no PC should have to take FA damage, though. Fair's Fair.)

• Dragon MindSpeech Attack: This duplicates the above end effect, but the attack is a type of MindSpeech attack against one of the 9 prime abilities, phrased in a "doubt" keyed to the specific Dragon species listed in the LightRaider Handbook. SF save to that prime will prevent damage to the prime. No damage will be charged if the special "Surprise Opening" mentioned above is used with this attack, either, because fair is fair.

• First Round to Fifth Round - The egg emits a gentle humm. (LIS check at DL 5, then DL 4, then DL 3, etc.)
• Sixth Round - Egg levitates 2 feet, begins to spin & smoke, emitting glittering lights. All within the sight of the egg must DL d8 save vs. SC or be charmed and dazzled by the "pretty lights." Those charmed will stare off in the distance with a stupid grin on their faces. (SF save prevents PEace damage.)
• Seventh Round - With a sound like a breaking wine glass, the egg shatters to reveal the 1' long Egglet. 

The Hatchling
In d8 days after dry, the Dragon will eat whatever it can catch and grow rapidly into a Hatchling. The dragon in this larval stage grows into a 6' tall bipedal form, and is mildly telepathic with OnceBorn. (TwiceBorn are protected from this effect.) At this stage, it also has limited Shapeshifter abilities, to the extent that it can disguise itself as a human or elf. A successful HS True Sight check will reveal the slimy creature for what it is, but to the blind OnceBorn, it may pass itself off as anyone; kind of an evil "OverLord's Guard." They are unspeakably arrogant, but sometimes can be tricked because they don't know everything yet. (Picture Q's child in Voyager...self-centered, powerful, and egocentric.) Hatchlings may be ordered on special missions for elder Dragons where other dark creatures cannot be trusted.

Most often, the sly creatures will walk the Urth on their own missions, learning about Men and their weaknesses, so that the young Dragon may better control and harm Men when an adult. It will also seek to cause as much pain and suffering as possible, so long as it can remain undetected. It will fight if cornered, though unless all seems hopeless, it will publicly retain the humanoid disguise. They may even impersonate a person who is elsewhere when this lie would aid them in their goals. It may take several years for a Hatchling to grow into a full Fledgling, but this time is not lost to the Dragon. It's like a continuing education course on Men and their weaknesses (and how to exploit them.)

A Hatchling has the following stats: BA of 10, 30 Pride Points, fire attack for 6 at a range of 20'. They attack, per round, on the same tables as the Eglet (above), however physical damage will usually be a d10 sword they carry to complete the humanoid disguise. All other attacks will include hand gestures designed to make them appear as magic spells. When killed, the disguise is lost, and the vile creatures return to their scaly natural form.

A Hatchling makes a good argument for frequent HS checks. Who in town is really a Dragon, subtly working for evil? Hummm...

That is all that is known at this time concerning the Dragons that prowl the world. Any new developements on what is known of the Dragons will be posted here.