Silver dragon
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This article contains information of uncertain canon status due to changes made in Monster Core. Metallic dragons will not appear in Remastered canon works. Additional context might be available at Meta:Silver dragon. |
Silver dragons are sleek metallic dragons determined to aid the weak, destroy evil, and behave in a chivalrous and honorable manner.1
Appearance
A silver dragon's body is sinuous, and their scales resemble armor more than hide. This appearance contributes to their reputation as being the most paladin-like type of dragon.1
Ecology
Silver dragons prefer to lair in mountains, which often brings them into conflict with red and white dragons,2 with which they compete for mountain lairs. Disputes between silver and red dragons are often violent and result in one of the dragons' death, but white dragons typically respond to the arrival of a silver by gathering their hoards and fleeing.3
Silver dragon lairs tend to be positioned within or beneath existing or occupied fortresses, provided that their defenders measure up to the silver's moral standards. If they do, the relationship between the two parties is often beneficial, as the silver gains an already constructed and heavily defended home, while the fortress gains a powerful defender.3
Society and culture
Silver dragons are distinguished by the extremely strict codes of conduct and behavior that they live under.13 Silver dragons are presented with an array of potential oaths, codes, and regulations passed down through generations or learned from silver or gold dragon mentors.1 They often accumulate more such rules over their lifetimes1 as they form pacts and agreements with greater powers, such as councils of gold dragons and Apsu himself.13
On reaching great wyrm age, silver dragons strictly and carefully regulate every activity and process. This extends to biological processes such as reproduction, leading to older silver dragons rarely bothering to breed. Consequently, most silver dragons breed several times while they are still young and their codes more permissive. In the past, elder silvers also lived under strictures determining particular ritual manners under which they were permitted to expel waste, until the copper dragon Hylyax petitioned a council of gold dragons to lift this restriction.3
The confining strictures silver dragons live under are often puzzling or confusing for other beings, especially their copper and brass dragon kin, and have spawned rumors that silvers are the most weak-willed of the metallic dragons and require such strictures to avoid falling into evil. In truth, silver dragons actively seek out their codes and restrictions and are often the ones responsible for devising them, as they find regulations and ritualized behavior comforting and pleasing.3
All silver dragons form a strong bond with a creature they consider to be their mentor, often a gold dragon. This is usually the most important relationship in a silver dragon's life, and it plays a significant role in helping the dragon remain true to their ideals and shoulder their responsibilities. Silver dragons tend to perceive most other creatures as rivals, allies, weaker charges that they are bound to protect, or enemies to be vanquished. A silver's allies tend to include any powerful or skilled being seeking to uphold goodness and order, and any creature who promotes evil or evades lawful punishment for their actions is considered an enemy.3
Silver dragons consider others of their kind to be rivals and rarely interact. Exceptions include a silver dragon's relationship with its mate, although this is also often marked by rivalry, and alliances against foes too powerful for a silver to face alone. However, all silvers in a specific area gather together approximately once a year to discuss the status of their lands and any crusades they might be involved in at that time. Despite their distant relationships with their own kind, however, silver dragons are often social creatures and typically live in close proximity to gold dragons and celestials.3
Despite their otherwise intense righteousness, silver dragons are the most likely metallic dragons to tarnish and abandon the cause of goodness. Most silvers fall into lethargic neutrality, or champion the rule of law so zealously that they lose sight of the moral values that drove them to do so in the beginning. Silver dragons who fall fully into evil are rarer, with only a few existing in any millennium, and those often degenerate to such a degree that they can be difficult to recognize as silver dragons.3
Even silver dragons who do not tarnish have developed neurotic behaviors as a result of their strict and moralistic lifestyles, often enforcing draconian and unforgiving legal codes, or obsessively pursuing a single form of crime while ignoring other transgressions.3 However, many silver dragons offer their unwavering support to evildoers who express and work toward genuine atonement.1
Silver dragons tend to favor magic that can be used to aid their allies, and secondarily, magic useful for weakening their foes. Abjuration is thus one of the schools most used by magically inclined silver dragons, and they also employ transmutation, conjuration, and divination.3
Silver dragons prefer to hoard currency and items made from "white" metals, such as silver, platinum, steel, and white gold. They attempt to trade copper or yellow gold for their preferred metals, and otherwise keep them in chests separate from their coin beds. In addition to these metals, silver dragons also collect colorless stones such as diamonds and appreciate clear glass, and often collect decorative items created from it. They consequently enjoy possessing crystal balls, although they rarely use them. Silver dragons also collected banners, shields, and other items decorated with the sigils and heraldic symbols of powerful foes they have defeated, as well as assorted military paraphernalia.3
Silver dragon names often incorporate the word "argix", the name of the first silver dragon and the Draconic word for "silver".4
Religion
Silvers are the most religiously inclined dragons, and most worship Apsu. Silver dragons in Apsu's service often travel extensively in their god's service, in many cases venturing into the Great Beyond to aid celestials warring against the forces of evil. Worship of Iomedae has also gained a growing following among silver dragons,13 and Iomedaean silver dragons show more concern with matters pertaining to Golarion, especially demonic threats once spawned from the Worldwound.3 Some silver dragons also worship Sarenrae.1
On Golarion
- See also: Category:Silver dragon/Inhabitants
As a consequence of the Mendevian Crusades, Mendev is home to the largest population of Iomedaean silver dragons in Golarion, although their numbers suffered significant losses during the wars against the demonic hordes.3
The chaos and social unrest of Galt's constant revolutions have attracted numerous silver dragons, who reside either within the country itself or in nearby areas within Taldor. While they have not been able to quell the nation's ongoing strife, they have successfully created small pockets of relative stability.4
Notable silver dragons
- Avaleru, a silver who guards the Ulfen memorial Hero's Rest on Hagreach's eastern border with Irrisen.5
- Eranex the Fey-Marked, a fey silver dragon in the service of Shyka the Many.6
- Terendelev, an ancient silver who guarded the Mendevian city of Kenabres and distinguished herself in battle against the balor Khorramzadeh during demonic incursions in 4692 AR.7
In the Great Beyond
As of 4709 AR, a population of silver dragons in the Plane of Air was locked in conflict with a population of white dragons also living there. The white dragons sought a set of magic items entombed with a number of floating icebergs, which the silver dragons were determined to prevent.4
References
Paizo ceased the use of metallic dragons with the publication of Monster Core, as part of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project. When mentioned in Monster Core and subsequent publications, existing metallic dragons might be retroactively changed to new or equivalent types of non-metallic dragons.
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 . “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary, 125–126. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ Paizo ceased the use of chromatic dragons with the publication of Monster Core, as part of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project. When mentioned in Monster Core and subsequent publications, existing chromatic dragons might be retroactively changed to new or equivalent types of non-chromatic dragons.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 . “Red Dragons” in Dragons Revisited, 46–50. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 . “Red Dragons” in Dragons Revisited, 50. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ . “The Linnorm Kingdoms” in Lands of the Linnorm Kings, 16–17. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Eranex (Fey Creature Adult Silver Dragon)” in Dragons Unleashed, 16–18. Paizo Inc., 2013
- ↑ . “The Worldwound Incursion” in The Worldwound Incursion, 52. Paizo Inc., 2013
