Quartz 5

Dragonborn

Properties2
tagsrace, half-blood
aliasesThelemerian Dragonborn

3 min read

Dragonborn

“While they all suffer from the pride of their ancestors, all the great stories will tell you that their pride stands on a firm base. It is a great thing for us mortals, that they are born wingless; if they weren’t, I believe we wouldn’t have been the rulers of these lands.”

  • Dimbaal Noretso Grim, Old Storyteller

Thelemerian Dragonborn are a tough breed, inheriting far more from their dragon ancestors than the dragonborn of other worlds. Born of dragons, as their name proclaims, they walk proudly through a world that greets them with fearful incomprehension. Whether they grow estranged from their draconic ancestors or close to them, dragonborn live with their heritage shaping every step of their lives.

Description

Dragonborn look much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings. They bear scales of vibrant hues matching the colors of their dragon ancestors - but this trait weakens with interbreeding, fading toward a more uniform coat of small, fine scales usually brass or bronze in color, sometimes ranging to scarlet, rust, gold, or copper-green. The vividness of a dragonborn’s scales separates the first generation from their more diluted cousins.

They are tall and strongly built, often standing close to 6½ feet and weighing 300 pounds or more. Their hands and feet end in strong, talon-like claws, with three fingers and a thumb on each hand.

Personality

Dragonborn inherit their ancestors’ sense of dignity and power, and all of them strive to live up to the legacy - and the immense potential - of the dragons they descend from. This drive only grows stronger with age, mirroring the way true dragons grow more powerful as the centuries pass.

They exhibit a continual drive for self-improvement, valuing skill and excellence in all endeavors. They hate to fail and push themselves to extreme efforts before giving up on anything; many hold the mastery of a single craft as a lifetime goal. Members of other races who share that commitment earn a dragonborn’s respect easily. Believing themselves immensely capable, dragonborn strive to be as self-sufficient as possible, and struggle to accept help from those they deem weaker than themselves.

Society

Culture

Language

Dragonborn speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic; it sounds harsh to most other creatures, full of hard consonants and sibilants.

History

Origins

Dragonborn are counted among the Half Bloods, the offspring of magical creatures and mortals, and like the rest of that category they are regarded with a mixture of awe and fear.

Every dragonborn descends from either a Fear Dragon or a Safety Dragon, and that lineage leaves a deep imprint on who they become - Fear-descended dragonborn carry a subtle dread and scales of shadow, withered bone, or chilling blight, while Safety-descended dragonborn reflect the protective, hopeful domains of their ancestors. See Dragons for the Fear and Safety cosmology that defines draconic kind in Thelemar.

Appendix

See Also

Notes

  • The “Draconic Nature” choice (Fear vs Safety ancestor) is preserved here as lore; the associated game mechanics and the Draconic Ancestry damage/breath table were intentionally omitted.

Sources & Attribution

  • Primary lore: editions/5e-2014/species/thelemerian-dragonborn.md (Traveler’s Guide, heading chain Half Bloods → Thelemerian Dragonborn), author TrueMichato.
  • Origin category: editions/5e-2014/world/bloodlines-of-thelemar.md (The Half Bloods).
  • Superseded original: content/General/Dragonborn.md (backed up at content/private/_originals/General/Dragonborn.md).
  • Art credit (not embedded): “Langdedrosa Cyanwrath” by Bryan Syme.

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