Brass dragon

Legacy canon content 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:Brass dragon.

Brass dragon

(Creature)

2E1E

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

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Brass dragons are the most gregarious of the metallic dragons, and are willing to spend hours in seemingly pointless and whimsical conversation with shorter-lived beings. Although this might lend an impression of low intelligence, they are in fact playing the simpleton to put others at ease. Their seemingly naive curiosity also serves to inform them on the events around their homes and cultivate networks of information across societies, which allows them to anticipate conflicts before they begin.

Habitat

Brass dragons typically inhabit sandy deserts. They hide their lairs in exposed stone outcroppings, typically within a half-day's flight of a stable source of water and near humanoid settlements. 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 must often subsist on the scarce fare offered by their homes. In western and southern Rahadoum, the relative fertility of the desert environments allow brass dragons 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, brass dragons 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. Brass dragons commonly frequent taverns, restaurants, and similar establishments, and while some magically disguise themselves while doing this, most 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 brass dragons 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. Brass dragons 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 peoples. Brass dragons mingle especially well with the likewise-chaotic copper dragons.

Brass dragons have a carefree outlook on life and both value and champion independence for those who live without harming others. They have short attention spans and are prone to depression as they age, with many taking on pets or caring for houseplants in response.

Blue dragons often conflict with brass 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. Similarly, brass and blue dragons' knowledge networks are often in conflict or competition with each other, but while blue dragons wield theirs to manipulate others, brass dragons use their contacts to support causes of justice and equality.

Brass dragons frequently hoard knowledge, although their imperfect memories and propensity for exaggeration cause them to be less reliable sources of information. However, brass dragon hoards often contain large quantities of written texts for which the dragons meticulously care. Brass dragons are also highly emotive beings who make little effort to repress their emotional responses, and are more likely to respond to emotionally inspired appeals than 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. They also 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

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 Chelaxian Civil War. Most of these displaced brass dragons fled to the deserts of Casmaron and Garund, leading to them coming into conflict with the blue dragons already living there. Other Chelaxian brass dragons fled into Andoran and Taldor, but avoided Absalom and its territories for unclear reasons.

Notable brass dragons

See also: Category:Brass dragon/Inhabitants

• Helexa, whose falsehoods about dragonkind were published in Volume 11 of the Pathfinder Chronicles, leading to several Pathfinders' deaths
• Sarithil, who fled Cheliax for Rahadoum before settling in Thuvia

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.