A Note on Dragons

There is a common misconception that dragons are living creatures. Oversized reptiles that are magical and long-lived with varying degrees of intelligence, but ultimately just reptiles. They are not. Dragons are not alive in any way we would recognize. They're walking calamities, natural disasters incarnated and loosed on the world.

The mere presence of a dragon warps reality around it, causing unpredictable and unnatural changes in the physical world and any creatures unfortunate enough to be exposed. At this time the exact mode of action of a dragon's destructive field is unknown. The prevailing thought is that the extreme mutagenic and corrosive effects are caused by the hyper-concentrated zones of arcane energy dragons radiate. Unfortunately there are no solid studies to support the hypothesis yet since none of the research teams who have attempted entering dragon wastes have survived long enough to collect significant amounts of data.

What we do know from the few successful dissections we have on record is that dragons are anatomically very similar to lighter-than-air vehicles like ornithopters. Their wings are only used for propulsion and steering while the lift for their flight is generated by dozens of helium bladders distributed throughout their bodies. The helium itself is a byproduct of the internal fusion reaction that dragons use to sustain themselves and generate the energy for their destructive breath.

This lighter-than-air method of locomotion is key to dragons' ability to effortlessly fly long distances. In theory they could stay aloft forever since they don't actually need to eat and can subsist off atmospheric hydrogen and carbon dioxide alone. Unfortunately dragons enjoy eating so we'll continue to encounter them for the foreseeable future.

We also know that dragons don't reproduce. They don't lay or hatch from eggs and don't birth offspring. Eyewitness accounts of draconic generation, known as apodracosis, confirm that every dragon was once another creature which was transformed into a dragon. The exact form of the nascent dragon depends on several factors: What the creature was before the curse took hold, the strength of any nearby thaumaturgic fields, and most critically their emotional state at the moment of transformation. Greed is the usual catalyst of an apodraconic event, but all-consuming rage, pride, hatred, defiance, and betrayal are common instigators as well. In rare instances dragons can form from emotions that are generally considered positive, such as love, loyalty, curiosity, determination, and selflessness. The resulting dragons are just as terrible as the more common specimens, exhibiting a twisted form of their inciting emotion and an even greater drive to seek out living things.

It's always preferable to prevent the creation of a new dragon rather than slay one that has already developed. Should you encounter something or someone displaying the early symptoms of dracosis, don't hesitate.

d66 Elder God Exposure Side Effects

Treat elder gods, their avatars, and spawn like the existential hazards they are. 

They're cosmically awful and unspeakable entities beyond the scope of our reality. Exposure to them is physically dangerous and mutagenic in profound, unpredictable ways. Like standing unshielded in front of a living, baleful sun. 

Elder God Exposure Side Effects (d66)
11 Begin coughing up worms every Ud20 minutes after initial exposure.
12 Eyes skin over and migrate to somewhere else on your body.
13 Fingers begin to split and bud into a fractal net of phalanges.
14 Glowing cilia starts sprouting from your mucus membranes.
15 Perfectly round holes begin appearing on your body 1d3 days after initial exposure. Number increases exponentially after first appearance.
16 Webs of mycelium spread under your skin, fruiting bodies erupt through cracks and shed spores.
21 Your bones slowly transmute into jade ridged with fine networks of spirals.
22 Spontaneous second and third-degree burns forming unknown scripts appear on your skin 2d8 hours after initial exposure.
23 First-degree burns develop on any uncovered skin, immediately begins peeling in thick sheets.
24 Your teeth become deciduous and grow in rows across the roof and floor of your mouth.
25 Salivary glands begin producing silk alongside spit.
26 Begin seeing colors beyond the visible spectrum.
31 Teeth fuse into a single sharp bone ridge.
32 Your flesh automatically grafts itself to other living tissue on contact.
33 Your reflection is replaced by Something Else. Only some people notice the change.
34 Tears replaced by a thin black fluid that clots blood instantly.
35 You can't digest normal food anymore.
36 Blood begins to glow pale violet, pulsing in irregular rhythms.
41 Injuries heal quickly with rusty orange chitin instead of new skin.
42 Bones turn cartilaginous and connective tissues become elastic.
43 Your shadow billows and reaches towards light sources.
44 You can taste electromagnetic fields and radiation.
45 Flesh becomes transparent as glass in irregular blotches.
46 Begin hearing sound frequencies outside the normal human range.
51 Sweat turns pale milky green and corrosive to metals.
52 Fully comprehend every language except your first.
53 Eyes segment into compound eyes surrounded by smaller supplementary ocelli.
54 Begin experiencing detailed, accurate premonitions in dreams.
55 Begin accidentally initiating time loops during periods of high stress.
56 You can hear the things crawling behind the walls of reality and gnawing at the edges.
61 Begin reproducing asexually by budding.
62 You can see and walk through the spaces between acute angles.
63 Bond between spirit and body becomes attenuated.
64 Inanimate objects become warped and gnarled after a few hours in your presence.
65 You can see the things living inside others and behind illusions.
66 Die in 1d3 days, then get back up and continue as normal. Repeat.

Bonus!
* Something begins listening to your prayers and answering.
* Constant awareness of where the god and its children are.