Orichalcum dragons, named for a mysterious coppery-red metal used by the ancients, are obsessed with rooting out the secrets of the past and rebuilding the glory of fallen empires. They seek out ruined cities and temples to uncover ancient knowledge and magic. An orichalcum dragon’s hoard is more than just gold and gems – its home is its hoard.
Orichalcum dragons were far more numerous in ancient times, and many bloodlines were sworn to the service of great empires, such as Azlant, the primeval elves, or the empires of the serpentfolk and cyclopes. Around the time of the rise of Thassilon, orichalcum dragons across the globe fell victim to plague, decimating their numbers. Some scholars blame Thassilon’s First King Xin and his obsession with mysterious starmetals, including “horacalcum” (the Thassilonian name for orichalcum); using unheard-of quantities of the metal in a dark ritual, they say, he placed a curse on the dragons who served his rival empires.
In any case, orichalcum dragons today are a dying breed, obsessed with their race’s past glories. More than anything, they wish to rebuild their standing in the world, and to do so they reconstruct ancient sites and build new (if petty) kingdoms on the ruins of the old. Because they were most closely associated with Azlant and the serpentfolk, orichalcum dragons are found in the greatest numbers in the jungles of Mwangi Expanse, where those two empires abutted one another, but individual dragons have staked out claims to ruins all over the world.
Once an orichalcum dragon claims a ruin as its own, driving off or killing any previous squatters, it sets about attracting new followers, typically humans, lizardfolk, goblins, or even gnolls, depending on what are closest at hand. Kobolds in particular are drawn to orichalcum dragons, and a kobold tribe under one’s protection tends to be less vicious and more sophisticated. The dragon’s followers may treat it as anything from a benign feudal lord to a violent god-king depending on the dragon’s temperament. Orichalcum dragons may be either a friend or an enemy to adventurers – some eagerly recruit mercenaries to help clean out the deepest corners of its new home, while others viciously kill any intruders in their lairs.
Orichalcum dragons are vaguely feline in build, with clawed feet shaped more like a lion’s paws than a lizard’s talon. Their scales are dull brown at hatching, but take on a lustrous coppery-red shine as they age. Older orichalcum dragons enjoy embedding jewels in their scales in designs inspired by the art of their home ruins.
Shores of Swords 