Dragons are among the oldest beings in existence, predating human tribes, elven wanderers, and even the first written symbols by thousands of years. They did not merely live in the desert — they shaped it. In the oldest tribal songs, dragons are not creatures but forces of nature: storms with wings, volcanoes with minds, ancient destinies given form.
Yet despite their ancient power, dragons are not united. Two dominant lineages emerged early in the desert’s history:
Red Dragons — rulers, tyrants, architects of empire
Brass Dragons — wanderers, storytellers, keepers of memory
Where one sought dominion, the other sought understanding. Their differences shaped the first age of the desert — and their choices shaped the ages that followed.
Long before mortals walked the sands, dragons roamed the land freely. Red and brass dragons alike soared over the desert. This era is scarcely documented, known only through desert myths and the scattered murals buried beneath the sands.
During this time, the Desert Spirits — primordial forces of wind, stone, and sand — watched silently from the edges of creation. Some tribes believe the Spirits guided dragons; others say dragons defied them. No record agrees.
As the world took shape, the red dragons rose to prominence. Proud, brilliant, territorial, and born with a natural command of fire, they generated the first true empire in the region: The Crimson Dynasty.
Its domain stretched across what is now desert: obsidian citadels, molten forges, and colossal roost-halls carved into mountains. Red dragon lords ruled with absolute authority, enforcing order through strength and flame.
The brass dragons did not challenge the Dynasty; they drifted along its edges, uninterested in conquest and content to observe.
The empire fell not to rebellion, invasion, or time — but to dragons themselves.
Red dragons, bound by pride and consumed by ancient rivalries, turned on one another. Their civil wars tore mountains apart, scorched everything to ash, and shattered the region. Whether the Desert Spirits nudged fate toward this ending is a matter of belief, not proof.
When the firestorms ceased, the land had transformed even more to an empty desert. The citadels were buried, the steppes burned, and the glorious dynasty became a half-remembered myth.
After the fall:
The red dragons retreated into isolation, weakened, paranoid, and nearly extinct. What remains of their once-mighty lineage now clings to survival in the Crimsondawn Basin, where they still clash in bitter, destructive feuds.
The brass dragons, shattered by witnessing the devastation, withdrew peacefully into the Blackmountains. Over time, they embraced a quieter, reclusive life — though they occasionally descend to speak with desert tribes, trade stories, or deliver warnings carried from ages long past.
Red dragons endure — but only barely. Their numbers are few, each a survivor hardened by centuries of conflict. They are driven by:
Bitterness over the fall of their empire
Rage at their own weakness
Unending ambition to reclaim dominance
Yet their greatest enemy remains each other. Their instinctive pride prevents unity. Their feuds keep them fractured. Their ambition blinds them to collaboration.
The Crimsondawn Basin is both a cradle and a graveyard — home to the few red dragons that remain, and the battlefield where they slowly destroy themselves.
Today, red dragons are seen as threats, omens of destruction and relics of a violent past.
Few mortals seek them out; fewer return.
Brass dragons remain curious, eloquent, and compassionate in their own draconic way. After the Sundering, most migrated to the Blackmountains, where they built lairs among ancient mesas and high cliffs.
Unlike reds, brass dragons:
Occasionally visit desert tribes
Trade stories, history, and guidance
Warn of spiritual or environmental dangers
Value diplomacy over dominance
Some tribes treat them as honored guests; others as holy beings; a few as dangerous but useful neighbors.
Though brass dragons rarely interfere, their knowledge of ancient history — and their relationship with the Desert Spirits — is deeper than any mortal’s.