Brass dragon

Legacy canon content This article contains information of uncertain canon status due to changes made in Monster Core. Additional context might be available at Meta:Brass dragon.

Brass dragon
(Creature)
Common CG Dragon Fire Level Varies by age Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of brass dragons Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 117–118 Type Dragon (fire) CR 3–19 (by age category) Environment Warm deserts Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of brass dragons Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 102–103

Brass dragons are the most gregarious and whimsical of the metallic dragons, and are willing to spend hours in seemingly pointless conversation with shorter-lived races. Although this may give the appearance of low intelligence, they are in fact quite the opposite, playing the simpleton to put others at ease.

Habitat

Brass dragons typically inhabit sandy deserts. They make their lairs in exposed stone outcroppings, typically within a half day's flight of a stable source of water. Brass dragons are often highly nomadic, and rarely stay in a single lair for more than a few decades. Older specimens sometimes return to the same location multiple times in their lives, with each residence being separated from the others by hundreds of years.

Ecology

As desert-dwellers, brass dragons often have to subsist on the scarce fare offered by their homes. In western and southern Rahadoum, the relative fertility of the desert environments allow brasses to subsist on prey and forage such as cactus flowers, coyotes, rattlesnakes, and eagles. In the more barren deserts covering the rest of northern Garund, however, brasses rely on what they can obtain from passing caravans or forage from desert blooms.

Society and culture

Brass dragons are among the most sociable and gregarious of dragons, and greatly enjoy intelligent conversation and the company of others. They readily associate with non-dragons, and often maintain extensive networks of contacts within neighboring societies of humanoids and jaathooms, as well as keeping in close communion with sphinxes and other intelligent desert-dwellers. It is common for brass dragons to personally frequent taverns, restaurants, and similar establishments; some magically disguise themselves while doing this, but most brasses choose to maintain their true forms during these excursions, as they enjoy the notoriety and attention that this engenders.

Despite their sociable natures, brass dragons rarely interact with one another directly. Disputes and communications between brasses are typically managed through their networks of contacts and proxies, allowing brass dragons to seek out mates, resolve territorial disputes, and discuss access to water rights without meeting in person. Brasses often include other metallic dragons within their networks, however, as their cousins often enjoy their company and consider them to be useful ambassadors to non-draconic races. Brass dragons mingle especially well with the likewise-chaotic copper dragons.

Brass dragons often come into conflict with blue dragons, with whom they share their preferred habitat and frequently compete for lairs and social influence. It is not uncommon for the more powerful blues to drive their weaker cousins from their lairs and claim them for themselves.

Brass dragons frequently hoard knowledge, although their imperfect memories and propensity for exaggeration lead to them not being entirely reliable sources of information. However, brass dragon hoards often contain large quantities of written texts, which the dragons care for meticulously. Brass dragons are also highly emotive beings, making little effort to repress their emotional responses, and are more likely to respond to emotionally inspired appeals than to logical arguments. Brass dragons are particularly drawn to magic that allows them to shape and control their external environment and physical forms, and consequently tend to focus on transmutation magic. Brasses greatly enjoy spicy foods, and find most Avistani cooking unappealingly bland.

Brass dragons are not especially religious and rarely worship Apsu directly, although they willingly serve him when he calls on them.

On Golarion

Update needed This article should be updated to reflect canon changes by the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project noted in Monster Core. Please help improve it if you can; the talk page might contain suggestions.

See also: Category:Brass dragon/Inhabitants

Creatures of the desert, brass dragons are most at home in the warmer, arid regions of Casmaron and northern Garund, particularly in the nations of Rahadoum, Thuvia, Osirion, and Qadira, in particular the Alavah Peninsula. Thuvia is home to the largest population of brass dragons on Golarion, whose relationship with the local water lords depends on the disposition and behavior of the lord in question. While brasses often struggle against the more exploitative and ruthless water lords, they willingly cooperate with the more well-disposed ones and allow them to access the water sources in the dragons' lairs, and often add members of the lords' retinues to their personal networks.

In the past, Cheliax was home to a large population of brass dragons, which were especially common in the province of Kharijite, but most were forced to flee the country after the rise of House Thrune after having supported its opponents during the Chelish Civil War. Most of these displaced brasses fled to the deserts of Casmaron and Garund, leading to them coming into conflict with the blue dragons already living there. Other Chelish brasses fled into Andoran and Taldor, but avoided Absalom and its territories for unclear reasons.

References

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