Lore · Legendary Figures
The Claws of Veeshan
Skyshrine, the Temple of Veeshan, the Sleeper: Velious’s dragons were a nation with a civil war waiting to happen.
One nation, then two
In the early ages all dragons were one society, Veeshan’s favored children ruling the world she had claimed. Then the nation split in two. The Ring of Scale fled to Kunark, while the Claws of Veeshan, the original order and wurm council, stayed on Velious. Jaled Dar led the dragons who left, and Trakanon was among them.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Claws of Veeshan · Library of Erudin: Trakanon · Library of Erudin: Lady Vox
The prismatic son
Eons ago a forbidden union of elemental dragons hatched the first prismatic dragon. Kildrukaun, Arch Priest of Veeshan and a member of the Council of Elders, condemned the parents to death and made himself custodian of their son, Kerafyrm.
Furious about the schism, Kildrukaun prophesied that Kerafyrm would lead the Claws in a civil war against the Ring of Scale and reunite dragonkind as Veeshan willed. Some doubted his visions; others doubted only his rather self-serving reading of them. The Council dismissed the prophecy, fearing a war would leave them open to the giants of Kael Drakkel.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Claws of Veeshan
A general too terrible to keep
So Kerafyrm sharpened his teeth and his tactics on the frozen battlefields of Velious instead, rising to general, as shrewd as he was merciless. But no battle could satisfy his hunger for destruction and chaos, and in the end the Council of Elders ordered him imprisoned. What happened next is on Kerafyrm, the Sleeper.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Claws of Veeshan · Library of Erudin: Kerafyrm
The watcher of the Wakening Lands
Not every dragon cared about the politics. Wuoshi, set to guard a stone ring in the Wakening Lands in Veeshan’s service, told Tunare that he cared little for the Claws or the Ring. The forest was simply his home.
The four warders
The in-game book The Loss in Western Wastes says Kerafyrm’s supporters, Kildrukaun among them, were badly outnumbered by those loyal to the elder council. The prismatic dragon was locked in “a prison of indefinite slumber,” guarded by four immensely powerful dragons: Tukaark, Nazata, Ventani and Hraashna. Kildrukaun and the surviving traitors fled Velious to wait for their saviour to return. The book’s narrator sees the outcome as fixed all along: everything they did to prevent it was “destined” to fail.
Sources: Library of Erudin: The Claws of Veeshan (The Loss in Western Wastes)
Why the dragons split
A dragon in the Temple of Veeshan remembers a different version of the schism. Before Kerafyrm was imprisoned, all dragons lived on Velious, until their ideals diverged: some believed the newly made mortals could be controlled and made to serve them. The 2017 Ring of Scale preview gives the exiles’ side: they wanted free will for each dragon and refused to condemn mating between dragons of different elements.
Crusaders and handlers
In Skyshrine, Jortreva the Crusader of Veeshan calls himself “the ear to the whispers upon the shadows,” and tells mortals that the dragons hold “neither gratitude nor contempt” for them. In a 2006 post, developer Vhalen said that in the early Age of Scale Tarinax was the first dragon named handler of the drakota, charged with hunting down and punishing renegade dragons, a post most recently held by Darathar.
Keep reading
Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.