Draconic History and Lore *Spoiler Info*

I'm starting to write up some history for my site about the dragons of Norrath; however i'm getting towards a road block. My lore knowledge mostly pertains to Lord Nagafen, Lady Vox, a little on Darathar, Veeshan and bits and pieces on several other dragons. Any and all information is welcomed be it large, small or some bits and pieces that lead to a good foundation for the lore section of my site.
Here's what I know at the moment about Dragons in the realm of EQII and Norrath.
Veeshan is considered the "Mother of all Wyrms" and is called "Queen Veeshan" by many to all ove her children. She came to Norrath and clawed the land marking it then depositing her children on it. At the moment in our current time 500 years past EQ1 there are 5 draconic types of creatures.
Dragons: The highest rank within the realm of draconic order and are considered one of the most powerful races. Their intelligence level can easily surpass that of humanoid creatures and they have powerful magical abilities at their desposal.
Dragons can be classified by the type of element they are associated with. Currently there are 9 to count: Earth, Wind, Fire, water *ice*, Disease, Poison, Sky, Storm, and Prismatic. The Prismatic classification is the rare exception when two dragons of opposing elements mate. This mating is forbidden by dragon code and any dragon attempting to do so is punished severly for it. Kerafyrm is the only known Prismatic dragon in existance and his power is rumored to be on the demi-god level.
*Lore* Supposedly only one (sky or storm dragon forget which) may exist within Norrath at a given time. If another one is concieved into existance the two must eventually meet and attempt to kill each other. It is inlaid into them at the time of birth and it is an unescapable fate. *End*
Drakota: This is the next highest rank within the Draconic ranks. Drakota are just one step bellow the power of Dragons and are able to wield powerful magic. Now true or not the Lore and Legend book states that perhaps Drakota were mindless beasts with great power. Somehow through magic or a sort of "Evolution" they calmed down learning to control their power.
There is lore stating that Drakotas are controlled through the quote "Power of the Harness". Darathar is indeed in control of this power which is why you are able to use special weapons upon him.
Droag: The third ranked class within the Draconian realm, but not the least. These creatures are half-man half-draconic beings that serve a specific dragon without question. They have a strict believe that by serving a Dragon they hope to appease and serve their "Mother" Queen Veeshan.
The Arbiter is proof that a Droag can change his alliance from one dragon to another. By doing so the Arbiter hope to serve the true purpose that Veeshan had always wanted. Loyalty and Honor do play a major role with droags and this is seen with the Exiled Droag in the Bonemire. It is still unclear if he chose to go into Exile to retain his honor or if it was done by his brethern.
Drakes: Near the lower end of the tree and are considered to be the more intellectually lacking creatures of the draconic realm. As said drakes seem to display no intelligence whatso ever which makes them perfect for lethal warriors. A breeding program of sorts can be seen on the main island within The Barren Sky.
*Spoiler* One mission teams you up with an unlikely Aviak ally who wants to disrupt the drake breeding program. Droags use the the drakes as attack dogs sending them in to tendorize the enemy before landing the fatal blow. By infecting eggs with a generation timed poison you help to slow this down making the 4th-5th generation drakes weaker. This inturn makes them unable to fight helping slow down the Droag threat. *End*
Wyrms/Wurms: The lowest area within the draconic ranks, but no less powerful than droags. These creatures have an inate ability to use elemental attacks such as Fire or Ice. A breeding program to similar to the drake one can be seen in the Tenebrous Tangle area of the Overrealm.
There are supervising droag breeders wandering around checking on eggs and seem to check the amount of wurms/wyrms in the area.
*Dragons*
Lord Nagafen: The Fire dragon has existed for practically as long as Norrath has. He has existed in EQOA times which takes place 500 years before EQ1. Lord Nagafen has a love interest with Lady Vox the dragon of Ice and they nearly mated producing another Prismatic Dragon. For his crimes he was sentenced to the Inferno known as Solusek's Eye where he was to remain imprisoned.
*Spoiler Information*
By saving The Sage of Ages you are set on a path which brings you into the presence of Lord Nagafen. It is only after learning the Draconic Language that you are able to speak with him. Some how *From my PoV* Nagafen did indeed mate with Lady Vox and he has in his possesion Prismatic Eggs.
You later learn that The Sage of Ages is Darathar a rogue dragon hoping to use a Prismatic Egg against Norrath. Through combined efforts you are able to defeat Darathar and reclaim the Prismatic Egg which unfortunately shatters during the battle. Strangely Lord Nagafen doesn't seem at all upset and lets you keep the Prismatic Egg shell forming the basis for your Prismatic Weapon.
*Spoiler Information 2*
As you progress through the areas of the Overrealm you find a lone Droag in The Bonemire on a little rock. Doing several tasks for the Arbiter you learn he serves a new master. It is hinted that you know him and from the dialogue you have a pretty good guess.
Traveling back down to the Inferno of Solusek's Eye you find out Lord Nagafen is indeed the Arbiter's new Master. Nagafen's motives arn't really to clear as to why he helps you out, but you agree to help him for draconic kind freeing up the treasure in Deathtoll.
Lady Vox: This dragon has existed for about as long as Nagafen has. She is confined to the castle of ice in Permafrost up until her demise. Sadily it is unknown at the moment *to me* what killed her. Lady Vox is an ice dragon and attempted to mate which is why she was probably confined to her Ice Castle.
*Spoiler Information*
It is in the quest Fire and Ice that you are sent to retrieve 3 shards of heart, mind and soul to ressurect Lady Vox. Sadily this does not work and she is not truely ressurected.

I will leave it at that for now till I have some time to forage up some new Dragons I need info on. What I need answered is several things:
1. What is the validity of my answers for everything? Are they correct, wrong, or only partially correct?
2. Am I missing anything pertaining to what I put up?
3. Should I ommit or add anything to help out the lore area pertaining to dragons?
Thanks in advance to any and all helpful information.

Your information is pretty much correct, but I'm gonna point out a few things worth mentioning.
1. Anything and everything we know about Darathar comes from the Prismatic line. He only exists in EQ2 and has no history in EQlive.
2. Wyrms and Drakes.... it's debatable. In EQlive, Wyrms/wurms were classified as Dragons Without Wings. They were quite capable of intellegence, and often showed it. Drakes were no exception. For some reason, Wyrms and Drakes in EQ2 seemed to have been lowered to little more than non-sentient beasts.
3. In EQlive, I do not know if it was ever confirmed about the existance of Sky Dragons, but I see no reason why there couldn't be one. Rumor has it that the legendary undead dragon Trak'Anon was a Sky dragon, but his Disease based AoE's proved otherwise.
4. Correct. Nagafen and Vox were banished to Solusek's Eye and Permafrost because they wanted to create another prismatic dragon.

Cusashorn wrote:

The only thing I have seen to contradict number 1 is that he has the power of the harness. I mentioned a small blurb because i'm betting there is some shakey ground around him.
One thing I do need some more about is the Ring of Scale and *I think it's called this* The Claws of Veeshan. I believe it is mentioned somewhere Darathar was apart of 1 of those two factions. As to where that was mentioned I can't say since it was back in the older forums. Another thing to note is that on the Trophy for Drakota it says "You are no children of the sky, feel my mark upon you"-Darathar.
For number 4 I need to know when exactly they were banished. Did this occur all the way back in EQOA times or did it happen during EQ1 times as everything progressed?

Specific dates have never been mentioned in EverQuest. They were just banished for trying to make another.. That's all.

Would you guys consider Sarnaks to be another form of dragon since they are a hybrid? I realize they were magically created, but they were a thriving race in EQ1.

I would have added them in, but I don't know enough about them to classify them. The only thing I could say is that if they were introduced they would be between drakes and drakota like the droag. Their intelligence level could be at or less than droags as well.

I'd consider myself to be a lore novice due to my horrid memory, but I remember them being pretty close to average human intelligence. Maybe they might be a little smarter or less I'm not sure, but their culture looked pretty Humanish. I'm sure one of the lore masters here on the board could tell ya more. I'd like to hear it too Edit: Gah, this is Gradick. For some reason it keeps switching between my picked name, Gradick, and my forum name, Gowry. Sorry :/

Gowry wrote:

Problem is I need to know if it is at or bellow Humanoid level. Droags i'm betting surpass high elf/gnomish intelligence levels or are atleast a couple steps beyond that. Dragons I know for a fact are probably the most intelligent race on Norrath; however this makes them a bit arrogant (Darathar being an example).

Sarnaks dont count as members of the Draconic orders and history. They're genetically engineered creations that the Iksar made back in the prime of thier empire. They have Dragon DNA in them, but they are anything but dragons/droags/drakes/wyrms/drakota.

Cusashorn wrote:

Even still they do deserve to be recognized. What I would have to know is exactly what part dragon are they? Are they 1/2, 1/4, 1/8th, etc... and what are they combined with?

[p] From the Maps of Myrist:[/p][hr]The Sarnak were magically created by the Iksar, made by combining dragon kind and the iksar themselves. The Sarnak are a ruthless avian humanoid race, powerful in war and able to conduct some of the dark magics of thier Iksar forebears. The Sarnak were used by the Iksar as a slave air force which would swoop down from the skies to shear everything in their wake. [p] [/p][p]They are mortal enemy to all, and ally with dragons only when it suits thier whim. They are ready to expand from their mountain cities and begin to build an empire of their own. They currently reside in the mountain city of Chardok, but have numerous mines and outposts scattered about Trakanon's Teeth and the Frontier Mountains alike. During the slave revolt of the End Days, the Sarnaks ate many of their iksar masters.[/p][p]Their power and longevity make them powerful foes indeed, and the years that have passed have afforded them the opportunity to form a militia of power equal to that of the Iksar. Adventurers who dare to enter the city of Chardok are strongly advised to bring with them a group of their most powerful and trusted companions, for as the Sarnak are fierce warriors, their abilities to wield the powers of the arcane are uncanny and flow like instinct through their dragon blood. [/p][hr][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]Remember, they were magically created, not biologically. You could call them "Artificial dragons" if you want to, but they dont resemble dragons at all. They dont have wings, they dont breath elemental fires or anything like that. They have scales, a tail, and an elongated skull with two horns protruding out the sides of thier ears, but that's about it.[/p][p]They were used as a slave air force, but the sarnaks were instructed to ride upon another creation the Iksar had created. I forget their name, but they are a now extinct animal that could be closely described as a froglok with wings.[/p][p]Also, there weren't any quests in EQlive that indicated that the Sarnak have ever made an alliance with the Dragons of the Ring of Scale when they felt they needed it.[/p]

Cusashorn wrote:

Well it says Magically created so it leaves me to ask exactly how were they "Magically Created". I would assume you can't just wave a hand speaking an incantation combining an iksar youngling and a draconic youngling together.
What I may have to do is add in a side part describing the Iksar linking to the info you provided Cusashorn. As said I can't make too many speculations since I never encountered these guys. My only question would be is it possible that some survived and are still alive today or did they die out somehow?

As far as I know, all the Sarnak in EQLive were located on Kunark, so their situation is probably dependent on the fate of Kunark.

Amana wrote:

I don't think the information about there being only one kind of sky or storm dragon is correct. This sounds like something new and not something that came from EQ2. We have two sky type dragons, Barakah and Siyamak and they seem to get along quite well.
*Spoiler*
Our lore is running off of the idea that there are four types of pure elemental dragons. Fire (red), Water/Ice (White), Air (Blue), and Earth (Black). Generally a dragon's breath is reflective of that element, but not necessarily, and breeding could vastly associated one breath type with a completely different scale color. All other dragon colors and types derive from the intermixing of these types, except for the law prohibiting the mating of dragons of directly opposite elements; Red-White, Blue-Black. Usually dragons of opposing pure elements clash because of their mentalities, like Talendor and Gorenair, but there are rare cases like Nagafen and Vox that can lead to trouble. Dragons that are not of pure element are not in danger of creating a prismatic because their elemental essence is not as concentrated. Dragons like the deceased Darathar (brown) and Venekor (yellow) would not be able to produce a Prismatic offspring with a mate of any color/element.

Actually, there was only 1 recorded instance of the legendary dragon Trak'Anon to be undead. And that was during the bard epic quest in EQ1. Undead spells, effects were of no use to the original Trak'Anon, but once resurrected as undead they were quite effective and upon his demise produced undead dragon guts and sinews (but not before). He is "merely" a disease dragon before he is killed and resurrected. This was true on my last Trak raid, after LDoN, before Gates of Discord, things may have changed since then.

Well, there was that whole... ya know, being all decayed with flesh and exposed bone thing, that kinda hints towards his undead nature :wink:.

[p]Interesting. This brings a new new aspect to light. Many of us have been curious how different colored dragons could exist. Genetics would suggest that red + red = Red, yet we have red, green, gold, black, purple, white, blue, silver, Orange, and other colored dragons.[/p][p] [/p][p]So Prismatic dragons can only be born from the mating of Air + Earth and Fire + Water, but Air+ Fire, or Earth + Water is perfectly acceptable among dragon-kind? [/p]

Cusashorn wrote:

Yep, and that is what produces the different colors and breath abilities.

It makes you wonder then, what are the results of non-opposing dragons breeding? Like, Venekor is a poison dragon, but what combo of base elements equal poison?

It isn't necessarily a mixing of genes to produce a color and type, it could also be a result of the essences involved. Maybe a Red Fire and Blue Air made a Green Poison (burning air?). Maybe a White Water and Black Earth made a Green Poison (deadly water?). Also, a dragon could inherit the scale color from one parent (Orange mother) and the breath type of the other (White father) resulting in an orange that breathes ice. Dragon biology traits are definitely not a law of science that follows predictable outcomes... that is the stuff of lesser beings.