Gesh'tiannak
Gesh'tiannak (a.k.a. The Divine Emerald, The Great Deceiver)
Gesh'tiannak is an ancient green dragon that dwells deep in the Glamoured Tangle. She is the current weilder of the Emerald Dragon Core, passed down by her ancestors after the first of their lineage had devoured the green greatwyrm Ningish'zidal, champion of the dragon god Tiamat.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
At the end of the Dracomachy, the surviving chromatic dragons fled to various corners of Divostra. While most of the metallic dragon flight dedicated their pursuit to the red greatwyrm Gibil'an'shalak, who was feared as the most powerful of Tiamat's champions, the ancient bronze dragon Shâd'havâr chose to pursue her former lover, the green greatwyrm Ningish'zidal, to the east. She hunted him into the nascent jungles of Zandrazil, where the powerful bronze dragon slaughtered countless green dragons in pursuit of their sire. Ningish'zidal chose to hide rather than fight, transforming himself into a crocodile and hiding in the waterways of the Zandrazil Jungle, hoping to remain undetected until Shâd'havâr relented.
However, Shâd'havâr was well aware of her former lover's abilities, as well as his cowardice. She tracked him down and used her own powerful magic to trap the greatwyrm in his bestial form, leaving him to survive the jungles as a lowly crocodile. Ningish'zidal maintained his sentience thanks to the emerald Dragon Core and relied on his draconic cunning to survive many years in the wilds of Zandrazil. However, his crocodile form continued to age, until one day he was caught by a green dragon and devoured along with his emerald Dragon Core.
Upon devouring the Dragon Core, the green dragon's soul fused with that of its ancestor, granting it centuries of magical power that once flowed through Ningish'zidal's veins. This green dragon pulled the still-intact Core from itself, aware of the significance of the emerald it now possessed. It passed the Core down to its firstborn child, who in turn passed it to its firstborn child, and so on through the centuries. The innate magic of these dragons compounded upon each iteration, with subsequent green dragons living progressively longer than its previous incarnation and growing more powerful than their kin as they added to the well of energy that was Ningish'zidal's essence.
During this time, a civilization of green dragonborn known as the Aryt Draken would emerge within the jungles of Zandrazil, descendants of the first green dragons. One of Ningish'zidal's descendants happened upon this society and told them fanciful legends about their ancestors, weaving a mythology in which the green dragons had fought to protect the jungles of Zandrazil so that the Aryt Draken would have a safe place to call home. These stories were passed down from generation to generation and the Aryt Draken began to worship the green dragons as their god. Whenever the emerald Dragon Core passed to a new green dragon, they would visit the Aryt Draken to bask in their worship and adoration, with the magic of Divostra further empowering this lineage through the green dragonborn's devotion to their supposed god.
In the last century before the Sundering, the latest in this line of dragons gave birth to Gesh'tiannak. She grew at an accelerated pace, outsizing her kin within the first hundred years of her life, during which the other green dragonlings learned to look up Gesh'tiannak as their leader. Gesh'tiannak reached adulthood just as the Sundering plunged Divostra into a hundred years of darkness and sent many societies across the world into anarchy.
Her daughter having reached adulthood, Gesh'tiannak's mother bestowed upon her daughter the emerald Dragon Core and instructed her to seek out the Aryt Draken, who had not been visited by a green dragon in over a millennia. The appearance of the latest descendant of Ningish'zidal during this moment of crisis would solidify the green dragon's role as the Aryt Draken prime diety and further increase the bloodline's power. However, when Gesh'tiannak arrived at the Aryt Draken capitol city, she found it besieged by Urkesh raiders. Ever prideful, Gesh'tiannak saw the orc incursion on green dragon territory land as an insult to her kind and assembled her kin to deal with these invaders.
Gesh'tiannak and her flight used illusion magic to disguise themselves as influential orc leaders and infiltrate their clans. The seven orc khans maintained an unstable entente following the dissolution of the Urkesh Empire some eighty years prior, each having carved out its own sovereign territory from the former empire. The green dragons coaxed the khans into open conflict with their kin, which diverted the warbands' attention away from the Aryt Draken. This weakened the strength of the invading orcs and allowed the green dragonborn to push them back to the highlands, the Aryt Draken managing to completely wipe out two of the seven clans in the process, crushing them between rival clans and the Aryt Draken warriors.
At the height of the War Between the Khans, the Ariun-Zovlol received a vision from the goddess Luthic informing the elders of the green dragons' deception. The council of shamans still retained some of their political power as religious leaders within the former Urkesh Empire, and as such were afforded audience with the khans in order to relay the goddess' message.
News of this reached Gesh'tiannak, who grew fearful of her plot being discovered before they had fully weakened the orcs. She attempted to convince the khan Uruk Khilen that the Ariun-Zovlol' message was merely a ploy to undermine his soldiers' spirits, so they would fall in battle to another warband. Uruk Khilen, being a religious orc, ignored the green dragon's lies and welcomed the Ariun-Zovlol into his home in Urusgon. The evening before they were to speak with the war council, Gesh'tiannak snuck into their quarters and murdered the five shamanic elders in their sleep. Upon discovering the crime the next day, Uruk Khilen summoned his war council and informed them of the situation. While most of the council showed great distress at the news that their holy elders had been killed while in their clan's care, Uruk Khilen noted Gesh'tiannak's reaction was much more calm than the rest of his council. The khan confronted the disguised green dragon, who sputtered out a string of lies to the increasingly suspicious war council. In front of the assembled orcs, Gesh'tiannak transformed back into her draconic form and tore her way out of the khan's home, slaughtering soldiers as they attempted to capture or kill the fleeing dragon.
Ultimately, the assassination led to what Gesh'tiannak most feared, galvanizing the Urkesh. The orcs set aside their differences in order to avenge the fallen Ariun-Zovlol, with the khans declaring peace among the orcs and establishing the second Urkesh Empire, which immediately declared war on both the Aryt Draken and the green dragons. Gesh'tiannak's siblings were systematically hunted and killed by the newly organized orcs, and the green dragon was forced to flee with her few surviving kin back to the jungles of Zandrazil.
It was in this miserable state that Gesh'tiannak was first contacted by envoys of Martu'amurruk. With her flight weakened, her followers disheartened and her pride bruised, she jumped at the opportunity to join the Prisma Convocation and reassert what she believed to be her rightful place as god and ruler of Zandrazil.
Mental Trauma
Over the past several years, Gesh'tiannak has grown increasingly neurotic after a number of failures, her schemes becoming ever-more meticulous in her efforts to plan for all contingencies. Only the prodding of Martu'amurruk keeps her from spiraling into decision paralysis; without the blue dragon's direction, Gesh'tiannak would accomplish nothing except concocting increasingly convoluted plots.
Intellectual Characteristics
Gesh'tiannak is incredibly intelligent, having used her wealth of illusionary magic to infiltrate several cultures to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge, history, and customs of civilizations across the globe. Her long lifespan has given her time to exercise her intellect, which has caused the dragoness to develop a superiority complex, believing other species are incapable of matching wits with her. Thus, when she does find herself outwitted by anyone she considers a lesser being (i.e. anyone), it sends her into an apoplectic rage that impedes her critical thinking and decision-making, often leading to her defeat.
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Current Location
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Ithquant Achiusk ("Divine Emerald" in Draconic)
Mukhadie Eazim ("Great Deceiver" in Urkesh)
Mukhadie Eazim ("Great Deceiver" in Urkesh)
Year of Birth
90 PS
930 Years old
Birthplace
Children
Pronouns
She/They
Belief/Deity
Tiamat
Aligned Organization
Ruled Locations
Comments