Silver dragon

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Silver dragon
(Creature)
Common LG Cold Dragon Level Varies by age Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Adjective Silver dragon Images of silver dragons Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 125–127 Type Dragon (cold) CR 6–22 (by age category) Environment Temperate mountains Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Adjective Silver dragon Images of silver dragons Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 109–110

Silver dragons are tall, with a feathered tail, and scales that shine like polished silver. They are graceful fliers and can breath a blast of deadly cold air. Lawful good, silvers are known to be the bravest of the dragons, determined to aid the weak, destroy evil, and always behave in a chivalrous and honorable manner.

Ecology

Silver dragons prefer to lair in mountains, usually below the snow line. This often brings them into conflict with red and white dragons, with which they compete for mountain lairs. Disputes between silvers and reds 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.

Silver dragons prefer to lair within or beneath pre-existing and 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 a pre-made and heavily defended home while the fortress gains a powerful defender.

Society and culture

A silver dragon battles a red dragon atop a crumbling tower.

Silver dragons are distinguished by the extremely strict codes of conduct and behavior that they live under. Silvers are presented with an array of potential oaths, codes, and regulations, only some of which they have to agree to, and accumulate ever more over their lifetimes as they form pacts and agreements with greater powers, such as councils of gold dragons and Apsu himself. On reaching great wyrm age, silvers lead lives where every activity and process is strictly and carefully regulated; this extends to biological processes such as reproduction, leading to older silver dragons rarely bothering to breed. Consequently, most silvers 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.

The confining strictures silver dragons live under are often puzzling or confusing for other beings, especially the silvers' copper and brass dragon kin, and have resulted in rumors that silvers are the most weak-willed of the metallics 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.

Silvers are the most religiously inclined dragons, and worship Apsu almost universally. 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. The worship of Iomedae, however, has gained a growing following among silver dragons as well. Iomedaean silvers are more concerned with matters pertaining to Golarion itself, and tend to be especially focused on combating the demonic threats spawned from the Worldwound.

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 plays a significant role in helping the silver 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, and enemies to be vanquished. A silver's allies tend to include any powerful or skilled being seeking to uphold goodness and order, while almost all other creatures are considered charges. Any creature who promotes evil or evades lawful punishment for their actions is seen as an enemy.

Silver dragons rarely interact with one another, as they tend to perceive others of their kind as rivals. Exceptions to this 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 will gather together roughly once yearly to discuss the status of their lands and any crusades they may be involved in at that point. 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.

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. Silvers who fall fully into evil are rarer, only a few existing in any millennium, and often degenerate to such a degree that they can be difficult to recognize as silver dragons.

Even silvers who do not tarnish are known to develop neurotic behaviors as a result of their strict and moralistic lifestyles, often enforcing draconian and unforgiving legal codes, or becoming obsessed with pursuing a single form of crime while ignoring other transgressions happening around them.

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, although transmutation, conjuration, and divination are all employed as well.

Silver dragons prefer to hoard coinage 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 if they can, 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. They also 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.

Silver dragon names often incorporate the word "argix", the name of the first silver dragon and the Draconic word for "silver".

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.

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.

Notable silver dragons

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• Avaleru, a silver who guards the Ulfen memorial Hero's Rest on Hagreach's eastern border with Irrisen.
• Eranex the Fey-Marked, a fey silver dragon in the service of Shyka the Many.
• 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.

In the Great Beyond

A population of silver dragons inhabits the Plane of Air, and is locked in conflict with a population of white dragons also living there. The whites seek to obtain a set of magic items entombed with a number of floating icebergs, which the silvers are determined to prevent.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.