Memoirs: Elrin Frostborn 2

On the Nature of Dragons

Written by Anthony Stuertzel

For most races, understanding the dragons of the realm is a nigh impossible task. Part of the reason they are so incomprehensible is because of their long lifespans, which stretch far beyond even the centuries-long lifespan of the elves. Therefore, you think the elves would be the most inclined to understand these mysterious creatures, but they are perhaps the least equipped to understand a dragon’s psyche.

No, in fact, I dare say that it is the human races, despite their short span of life, who can empathize with a dragon’s mentality the most. For it is the human races which are above all driven by wild emotions and passion, much like many dragon-kin. However, even amongst the dragons, there are vast distinctions. Much like the elemental planes themselves, which according to religious doctorine was no small part of the initial creation of the dragons, the dragons are often seen with polar opposites, from the wrathful red dragons who spread devestation across the land, destroying or dominating any who cross its path, to the magestic white dragons, who like its icy breath is the diametric opposite of the red dragon in personality as well: calm, righteous, and protective.

It’s almost as if dragons were created to represent duality itself. Scholars and monks have often mused over the idea of “duality,” a term which describes our innate impulses, both of agression and passivism, of selfish and selfless, of man and of woman, and so on and so forth. It is said that the individual exists in peace with the world when the two sides of duality are joined in harmony, and so, too, you must wonder if this is the same for the world in regards to dragons.

Perhaps that is part of the reason why I fought so hard to convince my allies to trap Tiemriel, rather than destory him. Perhaps Emella, the Celestial Goddess, saw the duality of the world and urged me to preserve it. And certainly enough, in the final fall of the great wyrm, the resulting devestation was much worse than we could have imagined. Garrenbiuug, the patron demon of chaos, set forth his great designs upon the world, irreversibly scarring the people of the world perhaps forever.

It is curious to me now, looking back on the events, to find that dark forces tend to have a much greater successf of affecting the change in the world’s cycle, that nature I have described so many times before of the world to return to a point it has once been time and time again, than those of good. For even with a greater perspective of the mechanisms of society and change, I find that change for the better requires a subtle interjection, while sinister change often takes place with rapid succession, washing away the foundation of positive structures and replacing them with structures of society that are wrought of anger, fear, sorrow, and other powerful motivators.

We often find ourselves espousing our commitment to positive change, but is these impulsive negative emotions that really inspire action, not altruism, and perhaps that is the whole point of it all. Perhaps these red dragons are like the sinister forces of chaos that mean to derail us from foward progression, that we might always have some greater force to strive to conquor, and these great white wyrms are here to provide a guiding hand toward that perpetual progress, lest we ever achieve our ambitions of making the perfect society, only to change in the other direction much like the spiral design of “duality” teaches us, and teaches us, too, that all things in the world need balance… even good and evil.

-Elrin Frostborn