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| University of Michigan Museum of Art Photo c. 2012 by John Everett Till |
...And surrounded by fine bronze metalwork. This conch horn was one of those used to attract and kill the dragon Sea Hag who had terrorized the people of the realm of Wingspan. Brave shaman-sailors from the Sitting Dog Archipelago went to sea in the war-catamarans of the Archipelago's trader-pirates accompanying the war parties readying themselves for battle. The shamans blew horns like the one shown above to attract the dragon. Thirsty Ones, summoned from the deeps, and the thirsty arrows of countless archers did the rest.
But the story doesn't end there.
The horn depicted here ended up in the Dragon Trade, and has traveled from realm-to-realm across the spheres since the great sea-battle. While not made from a dragon's parts, this particular horn helped to kill a dragon, and is therefore considered relevant to the Trade. A dragon didn't touch it, but its sounds helped to attract and kill a dragon!
The horn has changed realms many times, but still has the power to call out to the dragons of a sphere, and to draw those dragons called toward the horn blower. The horn has also developed two novel abilities as a result of its travels:
- It can call to a dragon in an adjacent sphere, opening a gate for them; and
- It can sound out the 'branes of a realm for concealed, interpolated realms, such as Nest Realm
A terrifying device. In the settings I run, no-one with a shred of common sense would ever blow such a horn. Hmm... unless he was in a different sphere trying to lure them from his home sphere...
ReplyDeleteHow do you treat Dragons in Everway? Do you subscribe to the tales of Dragons as the first race, and most things people call Dragons these days are but shades of those ancient creatures? Or do you go more traditional fantasy?
@John Poole: I work with the Tweet/Stolze assumptions about the dragons being a race that were diminished by their own hubris. Alurax was the antagonist in one of my campaigns, in the human guise of one Lord Answer.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested what others are doing, so chime in folks!
I used Alurax too. The heroes of a campaign ended him after a long series of adventures, bringing together the three ancient artifacts of the Gods to finish him once and for all.
ReplyDeleteThen the heroes of a spinoff campaign had to deal with several of his spawn, including a couple who rejected their dark heritage.
Along they way, they discovered Alurax was NOT the last. The last Dragon was the Dragon of Blue, responsible for the color blue, who was ancient when the war began, and slept away the war unnoticed. She slept so long, and grew so great, the humans of her world mistook her for a mountain range. Until the heroes accidentally woke her. Oops.