Pax Draconica: a world building project

[Avaris]

Pax Draconica

“Guided by the claw of Chronepsis I gazed along the myriad threads of future possibility. I saw death and destruction, I saw my brothers and sisters all slain by the hand of upstart apes. I saw my own end. And I said NO.”
- Odesume Tisnamul, The Silver Seer, founder of the Pax Draconica

The Dragons are among the greatest of the mortal races, and yet they find themselves divided and hunted, a distant second to the ruling humanoid races. The goal of Pax Draconica is to ask the question of what would happen if they resisted this state of affairs, if they saw the threat to their species and moved to control the world themselves. My hope is to end up with a viable campaign setting, and although I have no current plans to run anything with it anyone else is welcome to do so if they want.

First, a few creative rules:
1) Anyone is welcome to contribute and comment on the project. There are no ‘wrong’ ideas, though if you don’t think someone’s idea is in keeping with the setting feel free to say.
2) Though this world is ruled by dragons, the focus of any campaign is intended to be the humanoid races. The bulk of the project will be determining the effect of the Pax Draconica on the humanoid kingdoms, rather than looking at draconic society in exhaustive depth.
3) The main focus of this project (from my perspective) will be on background rather than rules. Stats and mechanical considerations are important, but storytelling takes precedence (as will hopefully be borne out by the decidedly un LG actions of the metallic dragons in the history)

And now, a little bit of history.
The world of the Pax Draconica used to be like any other. The elven and dwarven civilisations were in their ascendency, and the human race was making its first footsteps along the path to greatness. The dragons had begun their long decline into myth, content to hoard the treasure of the young civilisations around them and only interested in their own localised schemes and projects.

And then everything changed. A young silver dragon, Odesume Tisnamul, began to study the art of divination. He called upon Chronepsis, the normally impassive draconic god of fate, to guide him as he sought to unravel the threads of the future. And the god answered. Odesume saw the ultimate fate of dragonkind, and resolved to change it, to reclaim the inheritance of his species.

Alone, Odesume would have almost certainly failed in his task, yet fate played him an unusual hand. While travelling to persuade other silver dragons of the necessity of his goal he was attacked by an elderly green dragon, Mezedo-Rei-Harobi. As the two tussled in the air they attracted the attention of an elven hunting party, who had been stalking the green dragon for many weeks and now took advantage of the distraction provided by the silver dragon to attack. If they had hoped Odesume would prove to be an ally they were mistaken; though wounded, he attacked them alongside Mezedo, all the while roaring of the superiority of dragon-kind.

With the elves devoured, the two dragons turned to each other. Odesume explained his visions of the future, and Mezedo agreed to help him. Together they spent several decades seeking out like-minded dragons, both chromatic and metallic, relying both on Odesume’s charisma and Mezedo’s strength to gather support. For the most part their support came from the younger lawfully inclined dragons, but even a flight of young dragons is still a flight of dragons.

With their forces gathered in secret, the dragons picked their target. The greatest civilisation in the world was that of the elves, centred around an ancient forest and stretching from the mountains to the sea. It was destroyed in a single night.

The humanoid races fought back of course, but the draconic assault was swift and brutal. Within five years the entire surface world could be seen as under the control of the dragons, with the humanoid populations slaughtered and subdued. In the ruins of the elven capital Odesume Tisnamul announced a new age, the age of the Pax Draconica. No longer would the draconic species be divided by mentality and outlook, they would put aside their differences and be united by their shared blood.

Almost 2000 years have passed since then, and almost all of the young founders of the Pax Draconica have passed from the world. The humanoid races have been allowed to flourish to some extent; their overlords have little interest in the day to day lives of their servants, and in many cases seek to aid or protect them from the darker creatures of the world. However any who appears to pose a threat to a dragon is swiftly removed, either by the dragons themselves or by even by their worried peers. The most dominant humanoid race is the humans, who emerged from the wars relatively unscathed and who have grown their civilisation to maturity during the time of the Pax Draconica. Elves are relatively rare, with the population having yet to recover from the huge numbers killed when their civilisation fell. Dwarves are even rarer, and have never been subject to draconic rule; their mountain fortresses remain sealed and silent to the outside world.

Well, that should hopefully be enough ideas to get people started. I look forward to hearing other ideas and suggestions, and have a few more things of my own to write up as well.

[Omeganaut]

Well, the dwarf kingdoms would probably still feel scared due to draconic attacks on anything above ground (especially being the last surviving race the others might see them as a rallying point like the Varden inhabiting Dwarven lands). The dwarf kingdoms would decline due to a lack of trading with the surface world. Also, if your setting has drow, they may have allied with the dragons and attacked the dwarves with allies. There would probably be small underground pockets of resistance, some with help from dwarves. I would also think the gnomes came out better than most due to the fact that they could live underground, and that they are masters of misdirection.
Ultimately the one thing I worry about with this setting is finding adventure to get a party up to a level where they can take on dragons. The solution I see is to different groups of dragons that are hostile.

[Sydonai]

I can see Bahumat starting his Dragonborn plan much earlier, and him being so ticked off at the Metallics.

edit: On the other hand Tiamat will be ecstatic. She may or may not use the Dragonspawn, but if she does they will include metallic variants this time.

Sardior will probably try to distance himself from Dragons and pick up more mortal worshippers.

[boomwolf]

Well, here are some things I belive need to be considered:

1-Large numbers of dragonborn, half-dragons and draconic heretige mortals. maybe some special rules for dragon blood effect in this world? do they recive special treatment from dragons? do they count as "better" then other mortals? how do the rest of the mortals treat them?

2-Two thousend years is enough for political factions to have risen within the dragon kind, maybe one faction is against the slavery? maybe another belives all non-dragons are to be purged? these two groups might be illigal or even hunted down by other dragons, and the PC's might be involved in either helping them or hindering them.

3-Resistence. there has to be one, maybe even dozens. how well is it faring? how advanced are they with anti-dragon warfare? are they a well-known terror organisation or small clusters of freedom fighters who do well to concel the fact they even exist?

4-Where are the gods of the mortals? why did they not save them? do they even exist? are they too weak? or simply do not care enough?

5-If mortals where allowed to continiue to expand and evolve, just what is the current situation of them? do they have kingdoms the swaer alligence to certain dragons? small settelments only? or are they under direct rulership of dragons and their agents?

[Icedaemon]

The way I see it, dragons are typically divided as a species because they are not descended from a social creature. Dragons tend to be loners because they are not interested in cultures and civilizations. They do recognize one another's superiority, but this rarely extends beyond respect and staying out of a greater dragon's way. As an example, I resolved the dilemma of a dragon-ruled nation on Walufar thus: a particularly powerful blue become the patriarch of his family (for at least among the lawful ones, small family units do have order and unity) and extended the family's control over several other families' lands, but did not displace or destroy those, opting to demand tithes in exchange for passage and safety. While this evolved into a sort of a feudal order over many centuries, the dragons are still loners at their core and each dragon-noble controls a region quite separate from those of others, with only some basic laws, traditions and taxes tying them to the emperor. They do not mind their children and mates from roaming their territory, but the paranoia and plotting that exists whenever two adult-grade or older dragons are in close proximity makes the history of Florence look happy, safe and simple. The only non-deific non-dragon they have learned to see as someone to pay attention to is the ancient lich-king of the second largest human nation. All others are short-lived meaningless imbeciles, who pretend to be kings in regions the dragons are not (yet) interested in. This loner-like nature and paranoia handily explain how no empire ruled by green dragons exists in the forests.

As I see it, dragons are all too aware of their superiority, but since they see each other as rivals at best, their understanding of draconic superiority leads to seeing the old green in the nearby forest as a dangerous and worthy foe and a party of adventurers as arrogant worthless pests, or at most pawns of some other rival.


3-Resistence. there has to be one, maybe even dozens. how well is it faring? how advanced are they with anti-dragon warfare? are they a well-known terror organisation or small clusters of freedom fighters who do well to concel the fact they even exist?

This is somewhat unlikely, given the time scale. The oldest elves and dwarves might remember hearing of ancient freedom from their (great-great-)grandparents, but the latter have sealed themselves in their fortresses and the former are, well, elves.

After two thousand years of slavery, few humans can even imagine a different system, especially if the dragons (charismatic and intelligent, if you recall) have been doing some propaganda. Three thousand years from now, a human who would be told of a nation not ruled by dragons would surely laugh or be confused.

[Avaris]

The way I see it, dragons are typically divided as a species because they are not descended from a social creature. Dragons tend to be loners because they are not interested in cultures and civilizations. They do recognize one another's superiority, but this rarely extends beyond respect and staying out of a greater dragon's way. As an example, I resolved the dilemma of a dragon-ruled nation on Walufar thus: a particularly powerful blue become the patriarch of his family (for at least among the lawful ones, small family units do have order and unity) and extended the family's control over several other families' lands, but did not displace or destroy those, opting to demand tithes in exchange for passage and safety. While this evolved into a sort of a feudal order over many centuries, the dragons are still loners at their core and each dragon-noble controls a region quite separate from those of others, with only some basic laws, traditions and taxes tying them to the emperor. They do not mind their children and mates from roaming their territory, but the paranoia and plotting that exists whenever two adult-grade or older dragons are in close proximity makes the history of Florence look happy, safe and simple. The only non-deific non-dragon they have learned to see as someone to pay attention to is the ancient lich-king of the second largest human nation. All others are short-lived meaningless imbeciles, who pretend to be kings in regions the dragons are not (yet) interested in. This loner-like nature and paranoia handily explain how no empire ruled by green dragons exists in the forests.

As I see it, dragons are all too aware of their superiority, but since they see each other as rivals at best, their understanding of draconic superiority leads to seeing the old green in the nearby forest as a dangerous and worthy foe and a party of adventurers as arrogant worthless pests, or at most pawns of some other rival.


This is pretty much how I am envisiging it. The 'Pax Draconis' of the setting name is an agreement between the dragons designed to prevent any inter-species warfare from threatening their overall dominance. What do people think of this as a start?


The first law of dragonkind: Each adult dragon has a right to territory, and a responsibility to it. Any beings that live within this territory are subject to the rule of the dragon, whatever form this may take. It is the dragon's responsibility to defend it's territory however it sees fit.
The second law of dragonkind: The young of the species are precious. No dragon is to knowingly endanger the life of a wyrmling that has not reached adulthood.
The third law of dragonkind: A dragon may challenge a rival for territory, but if it succeeds it must be able to defend the new territory as well as the old.
The fourth law of dragonkind: Major disputes within the Pax Draconica must be ruled upon by the Council of Wyrms, to which each draconic species is entitled (but not required) to send a representative.


Of course, having rules is all well and good for the lawful dragons; Green, Gold, Silver, Blue and Bronze are well-served by this system... Black, Red, White, Brass and Copper less so. The way I see it, those who object to this system will have been hunted down and killed by the more organised forces of the Pax Draconica; White dragons will be all but extinct, while Red and Black are rarely seen forces of destruction (though some will likely see the value of holding territory in the Pax Draconica... these are not areas one would wish to live). The Brass and Copper dragons will likely have fared a little better, but in most cases will be a weaker force than the other species, though their territories will likely be among the nicer places to live.

[Icedaemon]

Gold dragons will need a big overhaul. They were made with a clear 'rightful rulers of dragonkind' flavouring and their 'lawful good' alignment is granted to them as some imbecilic form of 'they is goood cuz tehy is fightan evil!!1' as opposed to any sort of actual good personality traits, which only fits a boring hack and slash setting. While the gold dragons might look nice, their fluff is a mess.

Brass dragons would likely fare better than the coppers, since they are mostly talkative and peaceful folk (thus merely marginalized) as opposed to incorrigible pranksters (who would probably be as rare as black dragons after the blues and greens are done with them)

If you are up to it, I suggest expanding based on the li-lung, possibly incorporating the 'dragons change more cardinally as they grow' aspect into the life cycle of metallic and chromatic dragons or turning those into possible forms of li-lung.

[boomwolf]

This is somewhat unlikely, given the time scale. The oldest elves and dwarves might remember hearing of ancient freedom from their (great-great-)grandparents, but the latter have sealed themselves in their fortresses and the former are, well, elves.

Humans are really creative yaknow...and DnD features races that make humans look like stubborn and nonadjustable fools.

So someone PROBABLY got the idea of "we are better of without dragons."

Not saying they want a democracy or something, maybe they want to be ruled by one of their own? or maybe they are anarchists? lots of possibilities to play with, and a good hook for normal PC's to play in this world, don't diss it so quickly.

[Icedaemon]

Humans are really creative yaknow...and DnD features races that make humans look like stubborn and nonadjustable fools.

So someone PROBABLY got the idea of "we are better of without dragons."

Not saying they want a democracy or something, maybe they want to be ruled by one of their own? or maybe they are anarchists? lots of possibilities to play with, and a good hook for normal PC's to play in this world, don't diss it so quickly.

Some people, yes. But if the dragons are smart (and they are, at least on paper) these people will be rare and have a nigh-impossible task when it comes to getting the peasantry on their side. Implanting the idea that the proper superior of serfs is a massive flying acid-spitting monster as opposed to some fat sack whose father was a pretty good warrior in the cultural conciousness over a period of two thousand years? Not very difficult. They probably haven't even heard of the concept of democracy.

You could perhaps be assuming that the peasants of that world get education and other sources of knowledge regarding other regions as people do in the modern world. This is not the case. A historical peasant knew the other nearby village or three, possibly occasionally visits the nearest town and maybe went to a different town once or twice in his or her lifetime. They can compare themselves to their peers and maybe a close neighbour, but anything from far away is Mysterious and Foreign. They probably know what the nearby foreign places are called and maybe have heard the language, but mostly assume life there to be the same as it is back home. After all, those who do not tend to get too optimistic and ruin themselves. In a world where suicidally agressive monsters roam the woodlands, hiking for its own sake is strictly the domain of the most insane imbeciles (generally referred to as adventurers).

[Warrior Birdy]

If gold dragons got their fluff tweaked more toward Lawful instead of the Good part of their alignment they could work as vigilant enforcers and judges, avid worshipers of Lendys instead of Bahamut.

I don't see why coppers just have to stay "all pranks all the time" if we've got other dragons making fairly drastic breaks from their usual personalities- such as the silver dragon who instigated genocide.
Here's an alternative: With both races not quite meshing with the new society, copper and brass dragons are now live together in small mixed communities (reservations?) in desert mesas, canyons and badlands that the blues find too rocky to comfortably live in. Those coppers and brasses that are allowed to travel wear saffron sashes and are called Miirikossalur or 'wandering songs', devotees of Hlal and Aasterinian. Miirikossalur serve as messengers between the dragon-kings, recorders of deeds and arbiters of disputes, professional poets and satirists who amuse and criticize their patrons. They could take bard or rogue levels to reflect this, though both races have Bluff as a class skill so they could survive without it. They'd likely be the most sympathetic to mortals, and possibly be able to shelter or assist PCs trying to revolt.

Speaking of religions, the following of Io is probably absolutely huge compared to pre-Pax, with the emphasis on cooperation and ignoring subspecies. It may even be that Bahamut and Tiamat are considered mere aspects of Io now (with metallic vs. chromatic taking a backseat), with Garyx or Falazure acting as the major gods of the aforementioned red and black dragons on the fringes of society in Tiamat's place. Chronepsis' church would be larger, too, for obvious reasons.
Building on boomwolf's 3rd question; maybe enforced worship of the dragon gods was part of the new society, helping drain away faith from the humanoid gods who might have assisted them?

This might be jumping the gun, but concerning maps; would a set-up like this be good for this world (http://www.thefutureiswild.com/index.asp?level1id=3&level2id=8)? (I know it's a weird source; just ignore the creatures and look at the maps.) The land may have been more lush before the Pax due to magic or godly blessing which has since crumbled- to the detriment of the humanoids but benefit for the dragons. It creates a lot of woods for the former elven empire to the north- now where the green dragons reign. The central desert is good for brass, copper, red, and blue; the rain shadow desert better for copper and brass; especially with the brass' mastery of winds. (It would help explain the underground settlements of the dwarves: why deal with the desert's extreme temperature swings when there's comfortable caves below?) Silver and red lived on or above (cloud-lairs) the mountains, and the huge ocean is good for bronze, black, white, and gold. Obviously there could be mixed cities anywhere, but that's where the various species would be most comfortable having their territories.

The dwarves might not be the only races underground: gnome and halflings could have dug deeper than they usually do to escape the razing of the surface; and maybe even some of the elves escaped below to hide with their drow cousins. (I know it's unlikely, but alignment seems to be going out the window in this setting, so. *shrug*) These hidden underground cities of mixed refugee races could be more developed than any humanoid settlement on the surface, if PCs want to be from a last bastion of civilization instead of a dragon-razed shamble above. Stories would be told about the depredations of the Skylords above instead of the standard fantasy setting's horror stories about the Underdark.

[kopout]

I was actually thinking that maybe there are no drow in this world, or at least there weren't to begin with. maybe the decedents of elves that survived the original attacks and fled under ground have become this worlds drow. Ijn this case drow aren't evil especially if the managed to join up with the dwarfs.

[Camelot]

I love dragons, and this idea sounds reasonable and cool. :smalltongue: I don't have time right now, but I'll read this thread later and report back with any comments!

[Avaris]

Ok, time for me to throw some more stuff into the ring. Much of this is inspired from what people here have said, so thank you for all the contributions so far!

First, a little more history... not quite a retcon, more of an expansion...

The secret history of the Pax Draconica
Every dragon knows the history of the victory of their species, how the forces led by the silver dragon Odesume Tisnamul devastated the nascent humanoid kingdoms and united them under the wing of dragonkind. What most do not know is that Odesume was himself deceived.

As a diviner and devotee of Chronepsis, Odesume believed that his visions of the future came from that uncaring god. Yet the Watcher cares little for the affairs of the living, and only those with delusions of grandeur would mark themselves as special in his eyes. Odesume's visions came not from the divine, but from one who had been manipulating him his entire life.

It was no accident when Odesume met Mezedo-Rei-Harobi; the elder Green Dragon had been planning their encounter for decades. A powerful sorceress, she had manipulated the silver dragon from a distance for almost his entire life, striving to twist him into a useful tool for her schemes. It worked far better than she had possibly imagined; Mezedo would have counted any conquest as a victory, yet the founding of the Pax Draconica gave her power beyond her wildest dreams. It was to be shared of course, but among her kind she would be recorded as the greatest mistress of intrigue of all time.

Despite this success, Mezedo has not been heard from for almost 700 years, and it is widely assumed she has passed from the world. Only the few Green dragons of her direct bloodline know the truth behind the founding of the Pax Draconis, and as they are counted among the most powerful members of draconic society they do their utmost to preserve it. However none have yet managed to get as much of a hold over Odesume Tisnamul as their forebear did, and the Great Wyrm is now beginning to privately question why Chronepsis has fallen silent.


Next, a piece on each of the draconic sub-species. In each case I have also included a more appropriate name, based on the Draconic language in the Draconomicon.

Black (The Vuthastrix)Though very few of their kind subscribe to the Pax Draconica, the fetid wetlands favoured by the Black Dragons hold little value for the other draconic species or the humanoid races, and so for the most part they have survived in peace. Particularly troublesome or powerful Black Dragons are routinely hunted down, most often by a combination of Bronze (who see Black dragons as a threat to their coastal territories) and Green (who wish to expand their forest territories) Dragons. Unlike the Red Dragons, the Black dragons rarely threaten the territories of the Pax Draconis, seemingly preferring to bide their time. It is however rumoured that they control significant parts of the Underdark, and that some may even have entered into an alliance with the elves that dwell there.

Blue (The Uharstrix)For the most part the Blue Dragons subscribe to the Pax Draconis, and as reward they have been granted dominion over the vast majority of the desert lands. However in many ways the Uharstrix stand apart from their fellows, for each of them also owes fealty to the High Suzerain, currently an Ancient Blue named Smagirdrun Gailen. Though responsible for the preservation of the Pax Draconis, Smagirdrun and his lesser Suzerain rule over the desert lands as an Empire, often imposing their own interpretations of the laws and installing themselves as the primary source of authority over the Council of Wyrms. For this reason Brass and Copper Dragons have largely been forced from their traditional territories, and those that remain risk being hunted for sport by the more powerful Uharstrix.

Brass (The Ukristrix)Though their territories are greatly diminished, the Ukristrix have fared better than most of the draconic species that opposed the Pax Draconica. Seeing the way the wind was blowing, they have adapted to fill a vital niche in the hierarchy of the Pax Draconica; that of messengers and diplomats. Many of them assume the role of a 'Miirikossalur' or 'wandering song' and travel across the world, rarely settling in one place for more than a decade and always seeking the patronage of a settled master. The wandering life often makes it difficult to maintain a hoard or to find a mate, but the Brass Dragons are able to find some fulfilment by living on their wits and telling stories of far off places. They are intrigued by the developing societies of the humanoids, and though they are often treated with the same deference of any dragon they are the most likely of all the draconic sub-species to count a citizen of the Pax Draconica as a 'friend'.

Bronze (The Hesjingstrix)The guardians of the coastlines of the Pax Draconis, the Hesjingstrix are in many cases the first line of defence against any outside force that may threaten the rule of dragonkind; though the land has been almost entirely subdued, the great ocean remains largely unknown and unconquered. Despite this it is along the coasts that one finds the largest settlements of humanoids; of all the sub-species, the Bronze dragons have been most supportive of their subjects, encouraging them to build and prosper. Almost all the largest cities of the world owe fealty to a Bronxe dragon, who in return for patronage are able to enjoy the vast wealth of their subjects.

Copper (The Rachstrix) Where the Brass dragons adapted, the Copper Dragons retreated. Very few of the Rachstrix bow their head to the Pax Draconica, but due to their relatively peaceful nature they have not suffered the same fate as defiant chromatic dragons; their territories in the mountains of the desert have been declared as reservations protected by the law, much to the chagrin of the Blue dragons, who flout it whenever they can. Despite this, their territories are confined to the least hospitable parts of the continent, and many would wish to escape their containment. To this end, the Coppers have encouraged humanoid settlement in their lands whenever they can, marvelling at and supporting the endeavours of those who would live without draconic rule. They have developed a particular affinity with the gnomes, who routinely delight them with their inventions and new, powerful magic.

Gold (The Auristrix)Proud and regal, the Gold Dragons have easily adapted to become wielders of authority. Their normal role is usually that of distant lord; they rarely interfere in the dealings of their citizens, but when they do they expect their orders to be followed without question or hesitation. Most Auristrix maintain an extensive palace within their territories, and humanoids invited into their courts are seen as being highly privileged. Within Draconic society many Gold Dragons have assumed the role of philosophers or priests, and of the species that adhere to the Pax Draconica they are the most likely to question the rights and wrongs of the current world order. However they pursue these questions as one would an interesting mental exercise; asking what would have happened if the Pax Draconica did not exist rarely equates to a desire for change.

Green (The Achurastrix)As the inheritors of one of the founders of the Pax Draconica, the Achurastrix enjoy a position of immense privilege. They have claimed the ruins of the Elven kingdoms as their own, and see to it that few humanoids are safe to venture beneath the forest canopy. However they have remained heavily involved in the politics of the Pax Draconica; indeed, many of the laws and policies of society were first championed by one of the Achurastrix. Chief among these have been the purges; wars of aggression that have been responsible for the decline in opposition to the Pax Draconica among dragonkind.

Red (The Charistrix)During the founding of the Pax Draconica the Charistrix were at the forefront of the war, relishing the chance to freely rain death upon the weakling humanoids that scurried beneath them. However when offered the chance to rule they turned away, seeing their goal as nothing less than the obliteration of each and every last non-dragon. Seeing their allies strive to conquer and rule filled the hearts of the red dragons with anger and then hatred, and it has become their avowed mission to break the Pax Draconica and raze the land with dragonfire. Though many have retreated to their volcanic lairs and attack simply on a whim, some of the red dragons have sworn grudging loyalty to a high king, Asyaga Nocrecol. Asyaga and his followers chiefly dwell upon the elemental plane of fire, from where they launch devastating and unpredictable raids upon the lands of the Pax Draconica.

Silver (The Ornistrix)The successors of Odesume Tisnamul serve as the enforcers of his Pax Draconica, preferring to extend their influence over a wider area than just their own territory by uniting into loose family groups that rule over a large area. Through careful observation of their subjects the Ornistrix have accepted the truth of Odesume’s visions, and many seek to integrate themselves within humanoid society so as to uncover conspiracies against the Pax Draconica. Within their own territories they serve as the ultimate arbiter of law, yet unlike the gold dragons are more welcoming to those who seek an audience; after all, a humanoid with a grievance is a humanoid that needs to be watched. The silver dragons are also among the most involved in the wider politics of the Pax Draconica, arguing matters of law and policy endlessly with their rival green dragons.

White (The Aussitrix)Of all the draconic species, the Aussitrix have suffered most. Weaker and slower-witted than their fellows, they did not recognise the danger of the rising Pax Draconica until it was too late. Their predation upon the humanoid subjects of their kin could not be tolerated, and now the white dragon is all but extinct, surviving only within the most desolate and secluded arctic wastes. Where they are encountered the white dragons are seen as little more than vermin, and though technically protected by the laws of the Pax Draconis they are often hunted down in revenge for their attacks upon outlying settlements.

Thats it for now; any comments/criticisms and contributions are welcome. Next I’ll be exploring the religions and the state of the humanoid races.

[Haldir]

First off, I must say that I'm a fan of this concept.

If your goal is, as you say, to examine the way the humanoids have had their worlds changed by the preeminence of the dragons, then I recommend a decidedly top down approach. Specifically, before you go any further in developing the humanoid races, you should know very specifically how the organized dragons interact with the organized lesser races.

Do dragon governments subsidize or support humanoid governments in any way? If the dragons disappeared tomorrow, how much would it effect the current operations of the rest of the races?

If you're looking for sources of inspiration for this, I'd look at the foreign policy actions of the U.S and the U.S.S.R during the Cold War. Particularly power hungry dragons (when is a dragon not power hungry?) will be actively installing their own leaders and ensuring that they are the sole beneficiaries of humanoid resources. These sorts of actions could go as positively as South Korea or as negatively as the majority of Latin American states.

Pax Draconia has potential for a very unique cultural style too. While many of the humanoids that suffer under Draconic rule (And there's likely to be many of them) will resent the dragon culture. Those that benefit will embrace it and begin modeling aspects of themselves after it.

The unification of the Dragon species relies on the implied assumption that Dragons Kick Ass. Every dragon should be able to see and agree with this. Dracophilia should be rampant in every aspect of your world, especially concerning arts and social activities.

[Silverscale]

I have been keeping an eye on this thread since it started as I am a fan of dragons myself. I've actually got a CWBP going called Dragon-World (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197115) that takes this idea in a different direction. The dragons long ago decided to work with the "lesser races" instead of constantly worrying about being arbitrarily hunted by them. I'm interested to see where this goes and you may want to take a look at what I've got so far on my thread and also the Wiki (http://dragon-world.wikispaces.com/) that goes along with an earlier incarnation of the same project.

Also if you're open to the idea of including non-core dragons into your setting don't forget about the Gem Dragons, the Lung Dragons, the Planar Dragons, as well as others from various splat books. And if you're willing to include Home-brewed species as well the Zaydos has brewed up over 100 new (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169209) True Dragons and several Lesser Dragons

[Maho-Tsukai]

This interests me very much, being a dragon fan and running a very simmilar world myself. The main difference between your setting in mine seems to be tech-level. From what I take it you want to go more standard D&D tech level, correct? I ask because my setting was a typpyverse setting that very sci-fi and it's look and feel was inspired by, among other things, FFVII though with more gloomy, dark midgard-esc industrial and urban locations and less pretty natural areas. Despite this it was also EXTREMELY high magic and actually featured the whole multiverse(as inter-planar travle for the mundane folk via magi-tech "spaceships" was indeed a part of the setting.). In this setting there was no governments so to speak, as everything was run by megacorps. Despite their public faces as in reality all the megacorps where part of a giant monopoly held by a society of very evil and very greedy dragons who basically controlled the entire economy. Of course the companies had their own CEOs under the dragons and some of them where less then loyal(the giant medical company that used all kinds of necro-medicine was run by a lich who had his own plans for the multiverse....and some of the other CEOs where not 100% loyal either but the Lich was the most tratiorous of them.).....but enough on that setting...

As for this setting I have a few ideas that sprung from my own setting, one of which is mechanical. The mechanical one? Well, what is the one weapon in D&D that can kill dragons with just one use and puts the fear of PCs into the hearts of Dragons everywhere? Magic. Magic can turn even the most pathetic of creatures and make them into a mighty weapon of mass destruction and as a result dragons, many of whom lack 9ths, would most likely try to control who has magic since magic is the ultimate weapon humanoids and others can use against them. Thus, I think both mechanically and fluff-wise I think it would be interesting for the dragons to have supressed magic knowldage and even have found a way to cut off the gods from mortals, and as a result have gained control over who has magic and who dose not. Mechchanically, this could mean two things..

Option 1: All spellcaster classes remain in tact but Clerics get their spells from powerful dragons as appose to deities.(This can be done as some PrCs have fluff about dragons granting divine magic.) Wizards, archivists and other casters who learn their spells from writings and carry spell/prayerbooks would have to be educated at dragon run schools and would only be taught spells dragons wanted them to learn. Scrolls and other magic items would be heavilly controlled and in order to even buy one you would have to possess a special magical brand/mark which only a dragon can give you. The mark would give off a distinct magical signature that nobody could copy and this signature would appear totally unique and would be detected as a dragon signature via detect magic. To buy any kind of magical item leagally you would need to possess this mark. All (non-black market)magic item sellers would be low level drago-clerics with detect magic and other spells to see if somebody was fakeing them.

Paladins, Rangers and other primary martial classes with spellcasting would lose their spellcasting and automatically use their purely martial ACFs.(except for wildshape rangers..which I will get to later.) Assassins if working for the dragocracy would have spells, if not then they would lose spellcasting UNLESS they obtained sure knowledge from the black market/some other criminal source. Druids would be the only fullcaster class not under the thumb of the dragons as they can't very well cut NATURE off from people like the gods not can they control who has access to nature(unless you make it a tippyverse setting like mine in which the world is mostly urban instead of mostly rural.)

B) Same exact fluff and restriction level from A, except instead of keeping all the caster classes all fullcasters are removed and replaced with one, single caster class. Basically, said caster class would be the sorc class, except it can choose what list to draw it's spells from what starting class features it gets. All of these "generic casters" would automatically be divine as they would get their magic directly from the dragons. Nobody but the dragons themselves(Or perhaps MAYBE one of their spoiled brat kids(sorcerers perhaps?).) would be allowed access to arcane magic. So to simulate awould be allowed So for a "cleric" you could have a "dragomancer/whatever you call it" that has Turn/Rebuke, A single Domain, casts spell from the cleric list. For a "Wizard" you get one with a familiar, scribe scroll and the sorc/wiz list as it's list of choice.


OR...

C) You don't use the generic caster idea and use a homebrew class I made a LONG time ago that was never finished but fit the fluff perfectly. It was a class based on gaining divine magic by making a pact with a spirtual dragon. This could be refluffed to a physical dragon perfectly and the idea of the class was that it was meant to replace all caster classes/be the only caster in it's setting, much like the Shugenja. Unlike the Shugenja the class had no spell list but rather "spheres" for each of it's spell. I only got so far with the spheres(as in as of now they only have Core spells) but I eventually intended to fit every spell in the game into a sphere and the class gains a primary and secondary sphere it can choose it's spells known from(though it's class features are determined by it's primary sphere...

the class is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY old and not even close to done, but if the idea of making this world a one-fullcaster class setting where magic is tightly controlled by dragons then this class COULD make that possible if some of the better crunch homebrewers help me fix it up and actually finish the darn thing.

The (unfinished) class can be found here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9908161#post9908161)