Glorantha: The Dragon PantheonThe Dragon Pantheon by Greg Stafford originally published in Wyrms Footnotes #14 This document is Copyright © 1998 Issaries, Inc. It may be freely linked to, and one copy may be printed for personal use, but any other reproduction by photographic, electronic, or other methods of retrieval, is prohibited. Table of Contents Author's Note A Dragon Poem Ouroboros and the Cosmic Dragon The Ancestral Dragons The True Dragons Hykim -- King of Animals Origins of the Dragonewts Dragonewt Motivations Dragonewt Code of Ethics Personality Traits and Advancement to Dragonhood The Dragon Religion Author's Note The dragonewt race is unusual and mysterious to most people in Glorantha. In my own campaign I have always treated them as odd beings who are never understood by outsiders (player-characters) who meet them. Even the same dragonewt met twice is likely to appear as two different creatures. Their behavior is unpredictable and often seems irrational. I enjoy having them for this role, and have tried to use it constructively as a persistent and non-understandable source of some of the mysteries in life. I generally don't allow players to have dragonewts as characters, insisting that they don't really understand how to play them properly. On those occasions where I have allowed player-character dragonewts it is always with the understanding that the player is playing non-normal, aberrant dragonewts who are attracted to non-draconic ways and are considered perverse by their peers. I also insist that such player character dragonewts have, by their actions, outlawed themselves from their natural way of life and have, thereby, broken the cycle of natural resurrection into a new body grown by their eggs. Thus player-character dragonewts have usually been played as if they were humans with the same motivations as a normal player character. A Dragon Poem ........Silence, The Infinite. O ........Zero, or an exclamation. OU ........A cry of pain; Ego. OUR ........Collectiveness, plurality. OURO ........Collective emptiness. OUROB ........Creation (Collective with an end-stop 'b'). OUROBO ........Closed Infinity, or Being. OUROBOR ........Birth. OUROBORO ........Nothing, emptiness. OUROBOROS ........S = 'Voice' (i.e. the sound a serpent makes). This immortal poem is a dragonewt chant and prayer which relates the creation of the world. The right-hand explanation are glosses to a human version of the poem made by a western scholar (probably a god-learner, hence a worshipper of Lankhor Mhy). They contain hints and explanations to elucidate the symbolic imagery of the inhuman magic. They are, of course, incapable of containing all the nuances and secrets of the poem in the dragontongue, but are helpful in indicating the lofty realms which the dragonewt philosophy begins in. In general, the poem shows a gradual internalization of something to bring about the formation of the concept of 'self.' This poem was also repeated backwards at dragonewt rituals and transported the chanters and the universe into mystical bliss which was ordinarily impossible to reach. The Dragon Pantheon Ouroboros and the Cosmic Dragon Ouroboros has no personality or character, nor even interacts with anything other than itself. It is a philosophical concept which is occasionally personalized in a symbolic manner. Because of the general disability of perception this symbol is often mistaken for a living being. The image is the shape of a dragon devouring its own tail. This is intended to make someone wonder what will happen when it reaches the end and swallows its own head. There are no answers for this, only a realization. It is also sometimes shown as a shape. Popular interpretation says that the Cosmic Dragon is the 'S' shape and the end of the Ouroboros poem. This is both a sound and the shape of the broken infinity symbol. Thus, instead of the Infinite, our perceptions are confronted with some other image which we are capable of comprehending: the Cosmic Dragon. The Cosmic Dragon is hardly more understandable then its mystical predecessor, but at least it is often clothed in understandable imagery. It interacts with other things and is accorded its own beliefs and actions, though not much personality. Yet, its actions are the reasons for creation and it is also the philosophical model towards which all dragonewts strive. In the degenerate forms of the Kralori and Empire of the Wyrms Friends worship, the Cosmic Dragon is held to be the greatest of all immortal deities, solely responsible for the creations of the worlds. The god-learners gave it a more masculine bent to complement the world-wide goddess Glorantha who was, quite unmysteriously, without consort or mate in her own realm. These comparisons are interesting and useful but they modify and demean the original image significantly. The primary action of the Cosmic Dragon is his conflict with the monster called Orxili. Later generations associated Orxili with chaos, or perhaps as the philosophy of the many forms of chaos and how they all fit together. If you have ever tried to reason why all of the forms of chaos work as one or are thought of as one thing then you will understand this better. In the ancient myth the monster had six limbs but no head. These limbs each had varying numbers of hands, fingers, or appendages. It attacked and grappled with the Cosmic Dragon as it meditated, trying to interfere with its composure. For a moment the Cosmic Dragon was disturbed, but the dragon power is as unchangeable as the Void and Orxili was doomed. The Cosmic Dragon set forth the Six Principles and with each recitation one of the monster's limbs was torn off and cast into emptiness. These limbs later returned but were countered by other defenders. The body of Orxili was placed in the center of the world and the Cosmic Dragon set it spinning and wrapped itself about the body, cutting it off from the outer, more mystical realms. The body inside changed and grew, and was called the Cosmic Egg. The Ancestral Dragons The Cosmic Egg hatched and from it came the Grand Ancestral Dragon. It sat and meditated in the Silent Void, treasuring the secrets of the universe. The halves of the eggshell were made into the servants of the Grand Ancestral Dragon and were called the Inside and the Outside. The Grand Ancestral Dragon is invisible and omnipresent, as are all the dragons greater than him. He is responsible for the created world, and he is the first who shows character and actual, rather than philosophical, interaction. He represents the wholeness of Being. He is shown as hostile or benevolent, when personalized, though his worshippers claim that his acts are totally neutral no matter how they appear to the observers caught within the effect. The Grand Ancestral Dragon was committed to six actions which it voluntarily undertook. Each of these resulted in the creation of one of the Ancestral Dragons. The Ancestral Dragons were born of the entanglements which their creator committed itself to, and the entanglements, in turn, were created from the birth of the Ancestral Dragons. This paradoxical creation is typical of dragonewt explanations. Whatever the understanding of it may be, this brought about the creation of a recognizable pantheon of Dragon Gods. The six Ancestral Dragons are: Guardian of Silence, Guardian of Secrets, Guardian of Being, Guardian of Experience, Guardian of Thought, and Guardian of Spirit. Either during or shortly after this time the Grand Ancestral Dragon was assailed by powerful enemies. Some of the limbs torn from Orxili had returned. The mild waves of Disorder lapped back from the Void and the Oozing Chaos was born, returning now to thwart creation and reclaim its own to the void. The first sluggish waves of chaos burbled at the feet of the meditating dragon, interrupting perfect plans. To combat the distraction the Grand Ancestral Dragon took the Disorder power and used it upon the chaos which in turn made a new power which drove off the chaos and held it at bay, This was the race of Darkness, formed from the feet of the Dragon. When the meditations were complete the Grand Ancestral Dragon cut open its loins and from the blood that ran forth was born the power of the Oceans, seas, and all liquid things. From its belly the Dragon created the power of the Earth and all things which lay within it. From the head of the Dragon came the fiery beings which are the Sky and the Aetheric powers, and each of the Dragon's eyes became a noble god of that realm. The brains of the Grand Ancestral Dragon, hidden deep inside and outside the worlds, hatched secretly among the fledgling races of immortals. These were the Ancestral Dragons, wise teachers of deities, who met once for a mating dance in the place now called Dragon Pass. They completed their mysterious dance, laid the first dragon eggs, and disappeared from the world. This dismemberment, called utuma in dragonewt philosophy, is the result of the Grand Ancestral Dragon's willingness to accept the duty of entanglements which his actions had brought about and resulted in his full integration into the world. By dying he re-entered the world to fulfil his duties. To have done otherwise would have resulted in a fatal weakness which would have destroyed the basis for draconic existence. This is often equated, or confused, with the dragonewt sense of 'honor.' The Ancestral Dragons are believed to have form and essence, and also complete co...
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