Ferrous Dragon Overview

No one knows where the ferrous dragons came from. In the ancient age of draconic rule, before elves or humans arose, they may have been the strongest of all dragons, and they remain among the deadliest today. They follow the standard dragon rules, with exceptions given in each species' entry.

Before dragon rule fell, the ferrous clans fought a centuries-long civil war they now call the Iron Wars. At least twelve species existed then; two were exterminated, their names forgotten. The tide turned when the nickel dragons switched sides to support the Supreme Dragon, the clans' rightful ruler, and peace followed soon after. The losers fled to distant corners of the world, and ferrous dragons questioned about their fate go strangely quiet.

Ferrous dragons have no monarch or god, yet even the evil species obey a strict ranking: iron, chrome, cobalt, tungsten, nickel. Each species is divided into clans of two or three families plus any loners on land the clan leader claims. The eldest or mightiest member leads, and each clan holds a set rank within its species. Over every species stands a sovereign, almost always a great wyrm at maximum hit points, and all sovereigns answer to the Supreme Dragon, Khalvoreth (see his entry).

A sovereign is ordinary for its kind except for a telepathic bond with each of its clan leaders, and Khalvoreth shares the same bond with every sovereign. Governing is easy this way, and few ferrous secrets stay hidden from those above, least of all from him.