Changing the Medieval Paradigm: What About Dragons!?!

  Scarterra has, at most a couple thousand dragons, and almost as many in Scaraqua, but we will focus on Scarterra because the nature of a dragon fighting non-dragons changes drastically underwater.  

Cliff notes version of dragons in Scarterra

  Baby dragons are about the size of dogs and weigh about 30 pounds. Dragons get bigger as they get older, and they get stronger as they get older. Dragons also get smarter as they get older and they get magically more powerful as they get older. Dragons roughly max out at the mass of an elephant, though they have wingspans and tails much larger than a relatively compact elephant.   All Scarterran dragons breath fire, but they don't all breath equally deadly fire. Dragons have a wide variety of powerful abilities, strength, speed, cunning, charm, intellect, sorcery, and fire breath among other things. Dragons get stronger in every ability as they get older but the aspects of themselves that they prioritize grow in strength much faster. Scarterran dragons have their equivalents of weak nerds, dumb jocks, and weird drama kids.   Most dragon attacks on humanoids come from relatively young dragons because young dragons don't realize they aren't invincible until they have at least one brush with death. This period of a dragon's life is called the leyacorpla.  

Dragons in Numbers

 

by Me using Hero Forge

"It is said that, as few as they are, if all the dragons unified completely they could take over all of Scarterra in a single fortnight, but fortunately for us, it is hard enough for two dragons to 'unify' long enough to propagate.   That's not exactly fair to dragons. It's not like humans or elves are particularly good at unifying" Sir Pie Eater, court jester

  Most of the time, if a dragon is fighting humanoid mortals, it is one dragon attacking or maybe two.   Dragons famously don't cooperate very well. Siblings can cooperate when they are young, but this rarely lasts far into adulthoods. Some dragons mate for life and other dragons mate temporalily and opportunistically. When two dragons mate for life, they are usually very in sync and can coordinate extremely well in a fight. Dragons can also form deep platonic friendships with other dragons and these dragons can be almost as well coordinated as mated pairs.  

What Provokes a Dragon?

  Any dragon will defend his or her lair ferociously and dragons of either sex will defend their eggs and young very ferociously though they usually make their young adult and adolsecent offspring fight their own battles.   Nearly all dragons have some form of hunting grounds or territory outside their nests and lairs and depending on the dragon in question they may brutally attack invaders in their broader territory or they may simply watch them.   Humanoids mortals accidentally tresspass on dragon territory all the time. Others do it on purpose because they want glory or riches for killing a dragon. The fact that dragon's hoard treasure is well known. And dragon body parts can be converted into reagents though trade in dragon body parts is often heavily restricted or even branded maleficium.   Moral issues of dealing in dragon body parts aside, dragons really hate in when mortals turn draconic body parts into armor, potions or trophies and will often seek brutal revenge on mortals on mortals who engage in the trade of such parts, even if the dragon corpse in question belonged to an enemy dragon.   Beyond the obvious ways to provoke a dragon, it is possible for a humanoid to face the wrath of a dragon through no fault of his or her own.   Dragons famously love treasure. Some will barter for treasure but many dragons will simply steal it. Dragons often like to bully weaker races and hunt them for sport, seek to dominate them outright.   A few sociopathic dragons enjoying eating Scarterran mortals for kicks, and they may or may not develop Man Eater's Madness.   Dragons can get into conflict with various humanoids when they try to eat a humanoid's livestock. Dragons especially like to eat horses. Some dragons will barter or negotiate for livestock while others will just take it. If a dragon sets himself as the "king" or "queen" of a group of humanoids they might demand livestock as tribute assuming they are the sort of dragons that like to eat fair maidens. Often, communities can placate a dragon by sending their "nag" horses and this can be mutually beneficial if a dragon opts to defend the humans who pay it tribute.   Dragons are very proud easily offended and they go on killing sprees against humanoids for silly reasons or simply to test their mettle.   Dragons are easy enough to provoke that most Scarterran lords and generals have put some thought into what to do if a dragon attacks.   Step One: "Bring me my brown pants!"   Step Two: Send in the minions.   Step Three: Pray to the Nine.  

Dragons versus Armies

 

by me with Midjourney

-Jemmurth the Swamp King

 

Discretion is the better part of valor. I've never killed a human or demihuman that didn't deserve it.   We dragons can potentially live well over a millenium. I don't want to throw my life away fighting a swarm of creatures that will all be dead in a mere half century anymore than a human wants to die fighting a swarm of bees.   Humans outnumber us at least 30,000-to-one but even the most militant human tribes in Scarterra can only produce one warrior per ten people. There is saying among dragons that takes 1,000 human warriors to best one dragon, but they always have 1,001.

  Unfortunately, it actually takes far less than a thousand humans to take us down...at least if they come all at once and if none of them break formation and run away. If humans and demi-humans never failed in their courage and were always willing to fight to the death against dragons, we would all be dead. But humans and demihumans do not want to die.   When fighting non-dragons, we do not normally have to kill our enemies to the last man, we fight until we break their spirits than we decided what to do with the survivors. It often helps to kill your enemies in very dramatic ways in order to break their spirits faster.   When facing a group of humanoids stronger than expected, a wise dragon withdraws from the field and flies away. A foolish dragon keeps fighting and dies. A wise human general lets a dragon fly away, an unwise human general chases the dragon to his home territory."

 

by Eron12 with Heroforge

-Sir Casmir, Grand Marshal of Fumaya

 

"A dragon on the ground is a formidable force, but a dragon's greatest strength is its ability to fly.   Bestial predators have strong instincts for capitalizing on the weaknesses of prey and wise mortal generals know they need to pick their battles. Dragons have great mortal wisdom and bestial instincts. They can take on a whole army by identifying the weakest point in an army and striking at quickly than flying off before the army can rally or regroup.

  To defeat a dragon, you don't have to kill it mid-air. You only need to injure it enough to force it to land.   Units of Infantry and cavalary are practically useless against a dragon until the dragon is on the ground. A healthy dragon can outrun a horse on land, but an injured dragon can be caught and defeated by human knights if they are bold and lucky, but your best is archers. A dragon on the ground is much easier for archers to hit and you need archers in the first place to bring them down.   You need to have as many archers as you can find. A dragon can easily fly high enough to stay out of range of an arrows upward trajectory but dragon breath is relatively short range. If a dragon wants to use its breath weapon, it has to expose itself to enemy fire.   Just like everyone else, I have heard tales of legendary archers killing a dragon by hitting them square in the eye or finding the one missing scale on thier torso, but I doubt the veracity of such stories. Quantity usually beats quality with arrows though if you can get enchanted arrows, that certainly helps. Against an older dragon, one arrow will only annoy a dragon but hit with fifty or a hundred arrows and it's a different story.   A sage once wrote that a dragon's wings can heal faster than the rest of a dragon's but it still takes at least a full day of rest to heal. Put a enough small holes in a dragon's wings and they will have to land or at least it will make their flight slower and clumsier. You don't even have to tell your archers to target the wings. Given how a dragon's wingspan exceeds their body, many of your arrows will hit the wings whether you want them to or not.   You want to group your archers close enough to be able to volley fire but not so close that your whole army is hit by a single strafing run of fire breath. The key is discipline. Make sure your men know that if they hold their ground, they will probably live and that if they break the dragon will kill them...if you don't first.   A younger dragons fire breath is agonizingly painful, but it is survivable and with magical healing it won't even scar. I am living proof. That is why it is good to have magical healers or potions in reserve. I've never faced an older dragon, but from I've read an older dragon's breath is probably going to be instantly fatal so healing magic is not important. Armor helps a little bit from dragon's fire, but not a lot.   An Arcane Abjurer or a Protection theurgist of only modest talent can weave potent spells to protect soldiers from dragon's fire. Said magic will turn a young's dragon's fire from an agonizing wound into a moderate annoyance and turn an older dragon's fire from instant death into an agonizing wound.   This magic is not difficult to cast, but it ca only be cast on one person at a time. If you know you are going to fight a dragon, it is possible to prepare thusly but clever dragons prefer to attack when least expected, so this is seldom an option.   Dragons will normally catch on almost immediately if their enemy is warded from energy attacks and they will likely either withdraw or a seek a part of your army that isn't so warded."

 

Dragons versus Heroes

 

by Eron12 with Heroforge

-Sir Casmir, Grand Marshal of Fumaya

 

"Those humans or human-like mortals who 'walk the Dragons' Path' are better able to fight dragons.   Maybe a great hero can fight a dragon one-on-one if the dragon is young and dumb and the hero is very strong, but most dragon slayers are part of elite teams.   Either the adventurers need to have reliable access to flying magic from a arcane Transmutater or theurgist with Augmentation, or they need to catch a dragon somewhere where it cannot fly.

  Even with flying magic, older dragons can usually fly faster than flying heroes if the dragon truly wishes to get away. Humans with flying magic are much more manueverable than airborne dragons and those with flying magic can hover in place perfectly while dragons cannot. Dragons take a while to accelerate or decelerate and they need a lot of space to change direction.   Flying humans have a short window where they can use their superior manueverability to catch a dragon, but if they can't seriously wound the dragon in that window, the dragon can escape, assuming the dragon doesn't opt instead to instead still slay the would-be dragon slayers.   Dragon slaying adventurers need more than just magical flight. They should have energy shield spells, magic armor and every other possible magical augmentation they can access to increase their odds of success though dragons win more than half the time and usually even the adventurers win, not all the adventurers live to enjoy the victory party."

 

by me with Midjourney

-Jemmurth the Swamp King

 

"If you find a small group of humanoids flying at you, they are not ordinary humanoids and do not merit an ordinary response. If you are far from your lair, you should strongly consider withdrawing as once you have reached cruising speed, they will not be able to catch you.   Do not confuse caution with cowardice, you should certainly kill them later. A wise dragon has informants. Find out who these so-called 'heroes' are later and pick them off one-by-one at a time and place of your choosing.

  If flying humanoids are near your lair, these upstarts must die. No theatrics or drama, just ruthless efficiency. Do not offer them quarter or mercy. Do not try to convert to being your minions. 'Heroes' in this situation are mentally prepared to die, so fulfill their expectations...with prejudice."

 

Dragons versus Castles and City Fortifications

 

Nuldrun Dragon by Eron12 using Hero Forge

-Nuldrun Dragonbane, freelance castle engineer

"Dragon attacks on castles and cities are common enough that every one of my clients asks about them, but dragon attacks on castles and cities are rare enough that only lords who are both very rich and very paranoid will pay for fortifications that defend specifically against dragons.   Essentially to sell an anti-dragon feature you have to pitch, 'This will help you against dragons and enemy armies, my lord!' If you cannot sell a feature's versatility they probably won't pay for it.

  Dragons are famous for their fire breath, but dragons are far from the only potential enemies that are likely to try to burn down a castle. Fire resistant construction and ample sources of water rigged with water pumps are useful against any attacker with fire whether or not the source of the fire is winged and scaly.   Unless it's a very small castle facing a very old dragon, I have not heard of any castle falling to dragon fire alone.   A dragon's fire is limited if a dragon is flying by and making a strafing run. To truly maximize his fire, a dragon needs to place all four feet on the ground, inhale slow and unleash its full blast at short range. A dragon that does this will be extremely exposed to enemy attacks unless he has already killed most of the castle defenders before landing.   Dragons actually do better against castles with their physical attacks. They can fly by and snatch men off the battlements and either claw them or just drop them and is this devesating to the defenders' morale. A strong enough dragon can act like a living battering ram. A dragon is not likely to be able to knock down a stone wall easily but more than a few dragons have managed to force open a gate with their bulk alone.   If a castle is large enough to have a courtyard, you will notice that the large windows all face inward. An outward facing window is a strategic liability. Unless it's a decorative palace and not a true castle, the only openings to the outside are generally arrow slits. Arrow slits are as useful against for shooting at dragons as they are for shooting at men. An arrow slit will not completely stop a blast of dragon's fire, but it will stop most of it, if I was an archer fending off a dragon, I'd rather have an arrow slit than be out in the open field.   Unfortunately, castle warding spells that stop a mage from flying over your walls do not work on dragons. The real problem is that a dragon can fly over the walls and land in a courtyard and then use dragon's fire breath from the less defended side. This makes a dragon somewhat exposed to the defenders' bows but the shock value is usually enough of a benefit for the dragon to warrant the risk. Most dragon's cannot hover very well, to attack from in the courtyard, they have to land. This is where you want to deploy your non-ranged infantry, idealy with pole arms.   This is not the greatest threat to a castle that a dragon brings. By it's very nature of physics, a structures walls are going to be stronger than a structure's ceiling. This is why if a besieging force is able to use a trebuchet and hurl rocks in an arc that lands on the ceiling, they are going to do a lot more damage than if they hit a wall.   Now imagine a dragon landing on a ceiling and then just jumping up and down. This will hurt the dragon a little bit when they break through but this will bring most structures down and is utterly terrifying to any castle defenders who witness it. You can mitigate this a little bit with reinforced ceilings or putting large spikes on the ceiling, ideally spikes that can be enhanced with magic, but these features are expensive and unlikely to help a lord against mundane armies.   Cities are a lot harder to defend against dragons. Even the best city walls are only mild inconveniences to flying dragons and most above ground cities are basically tinderboxes and are very vulnerable to dragon's fire (or any other kind of fire).   The best defense against a dragon in a city to have lots and lots of archers. Maybe add a few balistae for good measure. A basllista is essentially a giant crossbow that fires spear-sized bolts at great distances. Balistata bolts are unlikely to hit a dragon, but they are devestating when they do hit. Just the possibility of being struck by a ballista is enough to make a dragon think twice.   Castles also benefit from having ballistae and having lots of archers, but the one advantage of defending a city versus defending a castle is you could put archers and balistae in sneaky places. I heard a legend about a city that kept a dummy vault supposedly holding a duke's treasury but instead holding loaded balistae pointed at the vault door."

 

by me with Midjourney

-Jemmurth the Swamp King

 

"Many dragons fantasize about laying waste to castles and cities of the proud and foolish human lords. If you must destroy a castle or city, do not attack randomly or casually. Find someone who knows the city or castle well and persuade to share what they know, and don't stop at one informant.   Every fortified structure has a guard rotation and every guard rotation has a point of greatest vulnerability. Attacking a location while the bulk of the soldiers are deployed elsewhere helps, as does waiting for the aftermath of a festival when many of the would-be defenders are drunk though beware...festivals attracted strangers from out of towners, and some out of towners are so-called heroes.

  Find out as much as you can and attack when they are most vulnerable. But be prepared for the reprucussions of your actions. Toppling a lord's castle might alter the balance of power in a region and create a power vaccuum which other lords will capitialize. This might be what you want if you have a pawn ready to fill said power vaccum but the chaos of these situations is hard to predict and you may not like the new status quo that develops when the dust settles.   If a dragon destroys a castle, the number of would-be dragon slayers in the area will increase four-fold and if a dragon destroys a city, the number of would-be dragon slayers increases nine-fold.   Be wary of how many survivors you leave. Humans like to say that dragons are petty and vengeful but a vengeance is a very powerful motivator for humans and they will pass their grievances on to their children and grandchildren. Some dragons relish the opportunity to kill multiple generations of their enemies, but it only takes one lucky human to bring you down.   There is another problem in that a city burned to ground is awfully hard to loot. By destroying a city, you are taking a lot of risks for a small payoff, unless the payoff is more about your reputation than the material gains.   If you want material gains, it is better to threaten to destroy a city and collect tribute, or to attack caravans. Caravans are very exposed and hold many valuable goods and they are a lot more vulnerable. And caravans usually have horses."