Dragons

Dragons have been a part of the catholic world for more than a thousand years, ever since Saint George tamed and converted the legendary Wyrm of Silene in the third century AD.

From that moment, the European dragons that would otherwise have been massacred by human knights and soldiers became instead a valuable resource of human armies.

For the last millennium, warfare has been shaped by the presence of Dragon Riders, and their use has allowed European kingdoms to secure lasting power over their lands.

The most famous examples were the Crusades, where Richard the Lionheart’s catholic dragons defeated Saladin’s djinn army and sacked the Holy City; the legendary battle where St. Joan of Arc and her Holy Dragon defeated Richard’s descendants, thus ending the so-called Hundred Years’ War; and the liberation of Castile from Moorish forces, at the hands of the freedom force led by Jimena Díaz de Vivar, still remembered as La Saida Campeadora – the most famous dragon rider in history.

Now, however, as every army and kingdom owns a mandatory dragon force of roughly equal power, European forces have come to a stalemate. Unable to expand into each other’s borders, they have turned to new routes for trade and conquest, taking their dragons to previously uncharted lands.

Twenty years ago, Christopher Columbus found such a land – a whole New World, it seems, waiting to be discovered in the middle of the Western Sea. European Kingdoms were quick to send their own ships and dragons to the new territo-ries, looking for new lands to expand into and riches to exploit.

But this land is, of course, inhabited.

And Here, too, Be Dragons.

New World dragons differ from their European counterparts in their sleeker, larger bodies, their lack of lower limbs and the beautiful plumage that adorns their scales. The most important difference, however, is that these dragons have never been converted to any religion or allegiance.

They are free and wise, and have many natural abilities that humans would call sorcery – and indeed humans could only imitate by limited prayers and crude spells. Many of these dragons can even take on human form, and of course only allow themselves to be mounted by those they choose.

It goes without saying that these dragons do not serve their human neighbours; in fact, humans often revere them as divine beings. In return, dragons take care of them, as a shepherd takes care of his flock; thus New World natives have no dragon armies, but are under dragon protection. And their gods won’t take kindly to a swarm of lesser lizards invading their land.

However, even if the Catholic dragons of European armies are generally less powerful than their New World counterparts, they are far more numerous and better organised.

God only knows what will happen when both forces collide - and which side He will favour.