Blue Dragon

Blue dragons, also known as Storm dragons, are a race of chromatic dragons who normally inhabit the most arid regions. They are obsessive schemers and highly addicted to strict order.

Appearence

Blue dragons have a very sleek appearance necessitated by their burrowing and boast only a single pair of horns that sweep from the back of their skulls. Their faces are smoother than most dragons, as the sand they burrow through wears away any exposed ridges of horn. Blue dragons are the only dragons able to tuck their wings close in to their body to keep them out of the way, and the leading edges of their wings are covered in thick scales to help prevent damage while underground.

Habitat

Blue dragons are the only chromatic dragons that lair near or beneath humanoid settlements, reflecting their desire to control and manipulate. Blue dragon lairs reflect their love of social manipulation. The ideal blue dragon lair would be beneath a front for some kind of illegal operation owned by one of the dragon's lieutenants. Such a perfect lair can take centuries to cultivate, however, and most young blue dragons will settle for a dry cave, ideally with a water source. It then uses its minions to slowly build up a settlement around it. As they inhabit the same region as brass dragons, blue dragons often compete for lairs with them, favoring those stolen from defeated brass rivals. Blue dragons also often lavish large sums on sculpting their lairs to include incredible architectural features. The desert territories of blue dragons are often more stable and wealthy than the surrounding areas as the dragons use their influence to destroy any threats to the trade routes passing through their domains, funneling more gold into their hoard and giving them more people they can manipulate.

Ecology

Blue dragons are obsessively controlling creatures, including toward themselves and their own emotions. They lack green dragons' self-discipline, however, and sometimes snap. Blue dragons have the strongest lungs of all dragonkind, allowing them to fly higher than any other breed and giving them an advantage when facing other types of dragon. They refuse to eat any sort of plant matter out of sheer disdain but can consume nutrients directly from sand and rock if starving. One of the few pleasures blue dragons allow themselves is to swim alone through the endless sands of the desert, which they claim focuses their minds. Blue dragons are responsible for more half-dragon and dragon-blooded creatures than any other draconic breed. These descendants are expected to be unwaveringly loyal to their progenitor and they instil this utter dedication in their own offspring; any whose loyalty falters is remorselessly destroyed by their draconic parent.

Society

Blue dragons defining social trait is their need to manipulate and control; typically, most maintain networks of agents and contacts who they can utterly dominate. They strive to keep their existence and the nature of these organisations secret for fear of retaliation. As they cannot change forms, blue dragons, by necessity, must sometimes reveal their true form to their underlings, but they do so only for their most trusted lieutenants. Young blue dragons will have only one or two such trusted followers whilst the oldest may have dozens, each with their own separate network of agents and servants, eventually creating a vast web with the blue dragon enthroned firmly at its centre. These networks grow so vast that most members never even suspect for whom they truly work, and even the lieutenants normally have no idea how many other such agents the dragon has.
Blue dragons generally will not tolerate non-blue dragons within their territories using their mastery of aerial combat to drive them off. They will also engage in such combats for pleasure with fellow blue dragons, using a ritualised version as an icebreaker before settling into formal negotiations. Despite this, blue dragons are not anti-social creatures and have a deep respect and even admiration for the highly disciplined green dragons. Blue dragons are also happy to work with the more chaotic red dragons; even if blue dragon ethos does not align with that of red dragons, blues cannot help but respect the unholy might of red dragons. Often, blue dragons will serve as advisers and lieutenants to reds that control territories including humanoid settlements which the blues manipulate. While they hate all metallic dragons, blue dragons have a particular loathing for brass dragons as they compete not only for desert territory but also for social influence. Blue dragons generally get along well with one another, carefully defining their respective territories to minimise any risk of conflict. When rival blue dragons do come into conflict, they normally settle the issue via shadow wars fought through vast networks of proxies.

General

Type
Dragon
CR
3-23 (by age)
Environment
Deserts
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Breath Weapon
Lightning

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Dragon