Nest disturbed, but restored by dragon other than parent

Guillaume and Cirjon established that the shortest-lived true dragon, the white, can live as long as 2,100 years. The true dragon species that lives the longest is the gold; Guillaume and Cirjon put the gold’s maximum age at 4,400 years. In addition, the sages discovered that dragons can extend their life spans to some extent by entering a state called “the twilight.” That term, coined by Guillaume and Cirjon, refers to the closing phase of a dragon’s life. The cessation of growth at the great wyrm stage heralds the onset of death (as it does for most creatures that grow throughout their lives). A dragon can survive for centuries after reaching the great wyrm stage, but a dragon is mortal and cannot stave off death forever. The twilight occurs when the weight of a dragon’s years finally comes crashing down, forcing the dragon’s physiology into a downward spiral. A dragon’s twilight period can last for a number of years, but often the dragon succumbs when the twilight first sets in.

AVOIDING THE TWILIGHT

Many dragons prefer to avoid a slow descent into death and leave the mortal coil with their dignity intact. Many great wyrms seem to just disappear at the ends of their lives. No one knows exactly where they go, but scholars have identified at least three possibilities: departure, guardianship, and dracolichdom.

Departure

A dragon can simply will its spirit to depart. Upon doing so, the dragon dies, and its spirit is released into the hereafter.

A dragon prepares for its departure by consuming its entire

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RULES: AVOIDING TWILIGHT

Any dragon that has reached the old age category or higher can depart, become a guardian, or become a dracolich. (Details of dracolichdom can be found on page 146.)

To depart or become a guardian, a dragon must consume at least 135,000 gp worth of treasure—or at least 90% of its hoard, if the dragon possesses treasure worth more than 150,000 gp. All the treasure must be consumed in the same day, and at least 120,000 gp of this treasure must have been part of the dragon’s hoard for at least 200 years.

After consuming the required amount of treasure, the dragon must find a dragon graveyard or suitable site to guard. Once it is at the graveyard or site, the dragon completes the process instantly simply by willing it to happen. When a dragon departs, its body dies. When a dragon becomes a guardian, its body melds into the landscape. Once it has consumed the treasure, a dragon can delay departing or becoming a guardian for no more than 1 day per point of Charisma it has. If the dragon exceeds this time limit, the opportunity is lost, and the dragon cannot make another attempt to depart until it again consumes the required amount of treasure. pqqqqrs

hoard. Most dragons also travel to a dragon graveyard and die there.

Dragon graveyards are ancient places whose origins are lost even to dragon memory. As a rule, they are accessible only to flying creatures, being situated on mountaintops, in hidden valleys (surrounded by jungle, deserts, or mountains), on islands located in windless or storm-tossed seas, or in the depths of great rifts on the earth.

Within the graveyard, dangers abound. Storms of elemental energy often wash over dragon graveyards, and elemental vortexes often appear in random spots. Some of these may belch forth groups of hostile elemental creatures or suck the unwary right off the Material Plane and onto an elemental plane. Dragon carcasses or skeletons may spontaneously animate and walk about, attacking any living creatures they meet.

Dragon graveyards also are haunted by ghostly dragons.

Despite the dangers, dragon graveyards often draw visitors. According to legend, and some reputed discoveries, not all of a departed dragon’s consumed hoard is always destroyed, and many treasure hunters (showing dragonlike greed) eagerly seek out dragon graveyards for the treasures they are said to contain. Other visitors seek to obtain dragon remains for magical or alchemical purposes.

Guardianship

At the end of its normal life, a dragon can elect to become a guardian, literally transforming into part of the landscape.

After the dragon consumes its hoard, it changes itself into a geographic feature: hills, mountains, lakes, swamps, and groves seem to be the most common choices.

Such areas become favorite places for dragons to lay their eggs. It is said that no nest of dragon eggs laid in such a locale will ever be disturbed. Wyrmling dragons living in the site are said to commune with the guardian spirit, receiving the knowledge they need to become strong adults.

As with dragon graveyards, legends say that some of the late dragon’s treasure may still remain hidden at the site, making these features prime targets for treasure hunters.

Extracting the treasure (if it exists at all) is apt to be difficult. Younger dragons living at the site usually resent intrusions, as do absentee parents who have laid eggs there (as we have seen, dragons that leave their eggs untended often still keep watch over their nests). These sites also attract

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RULES: DRAGON GRAVEYARDS

A dragon graveyard presents a macabre landscape of blasted earth littered with ossified dragon bones and fresher dragon remains.

Every dragon graveyard has at least one ghostly guardian, charged with protecting the place. The graveyard’s guardian is exactly like a ghostly dragon (see page 161) of a great wyrm dragon, usually a gold dragon or other dragon of lawful alignment. The guardian exists only to guard the graveyard, not to recover a lost hoard. The guardian cannot be put to rest by offering it treasure. If it is defeated in combat, the guardian reforms in 1 day.

Other ghostly dragons might be present also. These additional spirits are normal ghostly dragons.

Supernatural hazards abound in a dragon graveyard. Periodic storms of elemental energy rage through area. These storms are similar to fire storm spells cast by 20th-level characters (Reflex DC 23 half), except that they can be composed of acid, cold, electricity, or fire, and they cover the whole graveyard. They typically strike every 1d4 hours, but the frequency can vary widely.

Dragon graveyards also contain areas in which the fabric of the cosmos is weakened. These unstable areas can be anywhere from 5 feet to 50 feet across. Every 1d4 hours, such an area is equally likely to expel a horde of elementals (treat as an elemental swarm spell cast by a 20th-level character) or draw everything within the unstable area into a vortex leading to an elemental plane. This vortex lasts for 1d4 minutes. Creatures that touch or enter the unstable area during the period of the disturbance are whisked to an elemental plane.

A weak spot always has a lingering aura of conjuration magic (aura strength is overwhelming when it is active).

A dragon graveyard also has an ever-changing population of dragon skeletons and dragon zombies (see pages 192 and 197) that have become animated by the supernatural forces in the graveyard. These creatures attack any living creature they meet, except for dragons that have come to the graveyard to die.

The legends about treasure in dragon graveyards are true. A dragon graveyard typically contains triple standard treasure for the guardian’s Challenge Rating. Though ghostly dragons normally do not have any treasure, a dragon graveyard accumulates bits and pieces of treasure that departing dragons have left behind and equipment from would-be looters who weren’t up to the challenge.

RULES: GUARDED SITES

When a dragon becomes a guardian, it creates a geographical feature with an area of about 1 square mile per 5 points of Constitution the dragon had.

The feature created always resembles a dragon in some subtle manner. The contours of a hill might suggest a sleeping dragon, for example, or a lake might have the shape of a dragon’s head or footprint.

Dragon eggs laid in a guarded area become hidden by nondetection and mirage arcana effects, provided the female laying them is of the same kind as the guardian. Both effects lasts until the eggs hatch, and neither effect has a magical aura, but otherwise they function as the spells cast by a 20th-level caster.

Any dragon of the same kind as the guardian and of juvenile age or younger can visit the area once a month and receive the benefits of a commune spell. Older dragons of the same kind as the guardian get the same benefit, but only once a year.

The heart of a guarded site may indeed contain a small amount of treasure left over from the guardian’s transformation (hidden near the heart of the site). Such a treasure contains coins and goods only and is of a level equal to one quarter of the guardian’s Challenge Rating at the time of its transformation. Removal of the treasure does not harm the guarded site, but most dragons take a dim view of such activity.

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