Dray

The dray are a new race of intelligent beings created by Dregoth, the undead dragon king. He wanted servants and followers made in his own image, so Dregoth developed a process for transforming humans into draconic humanoids. There are two types of dray: first generation and second generation.

Dray are tall, lean draconic beings with scaly skin, hairless bodies, and clawed limbs. They have no wings, though they do have tails. The first generation dray are less than the perfect beings Dregoth envisioned. Their claws are jagged, their scales mottled and uneven, their bodies slightly bent and mutated. The second generation are near-replicas of the dragon king, with proud draconic heads atop long necks. Straight, ivory teeth are set in neat rows within their long jaws. Their leathery scales come in a variety of colors, and their long, whiplike tails stretch out majestically behind them.

Both types of dray speak the tongue of ancient Giustenal, though the version used by the first generation dray is rougher, less refined. Neither type of dray speaks any of the languages currently in use in the Tyr region.

Combat: The first generatlon dray are savage melee fighters. They wear crudely fashioned leather and hide armor that reduces their Armor Class to 6. They often use bone clubs (60%) or bone long swords (40%). If forced to, they can also fight with their natural claws and bite attacks. The claws inflict 1d6 points of damage each, and the bite causes 1d4 points of damage. They can make all three natural attacks in a single round. Because of their natural Strength and heightened senses, first generation dray receive attack and damage roll bonuses of +1 each when using their natural attack forms.

Second generation dray are not as savage as their first generation cousins. Most of the common second generation dray do not spend vast amounts of time refining their fighting skills. Instead, they call on the templars to aid them when danger appears. The templars are another matter. They wear well-crafted hide armor that reduces their Armor Class to 5. Most templars wield metal weapons. The second generation dray also have the natural claw/claw/bite attack form, but most never use it. The common citizens will never use such a primitive form of attack, and the templars will only use their natural weapons when no other choice is available. Because of their training, templars receive attack and damage bonuses of +1 each when using dray-crafted weapons.

Habitat/Society: The first generation dray were banished from Dregoth’s domain long ago. They currently inhabit the ruins of Kragmorta, struggling to survive and make a home in the fiery cavern. They are ruled by a Clan Father named Mosak, who does his best to keep the clan together. The first generation dray still worship Dregoth as their god, but they also hate the undead dragon king for rejecting them. While most of their training and education comes from clan elders, the High Priest Absalom sometimes visits Kragmorta to teach and preach the word of Dregoth.

The second generation dray live in New Giustenal. In the city of dragon bones, most of these dray live contented lives. The templars protect them and see to their spiritual needs, so they are free to work and raise families. All second generation dray are expected to battle in Dregoth’s army on the Day of Light that is to come, but until then only the templars work to perfect their military skills. Everyone else lives in varying degrees of comfort.

The second generation looks down upon the first, feeling superior to the earlier dray. They are the chosen of Dregoth, and the first generation deserves nothing but their contempt and hatred. First generation dray, on the other hand, consider themselves better than the dray who replaced them. They do not hate the later dray, but they do not trust them either. Someday the first generation dray hope to be taken back into the fold. It is a day they pray for.

All dray distrust surface dwellers, though the second generation have been taught to also hate them. Demihumans, Dregoth has proclaimed, are to be scorned and killed, while humans are to be pitied until they can be transformed into dray themselves. This is just a continuation of the Cleansing Wars that Dregoth and the sorcerer-kings fought in the ancient past. If Dregoth succeeds with his plans of conquest, the surface world will see another series of Cleansing Wars – with the second generation dray as the soldiers in Dregoth’s army.

Most of the classed dray are templars of one sort or another (though a defiler who wears the templar robes is still just a defiler, he gains no cleric spells). The most powerful group of templars is the kalin riders. See the kalin entry for additional information on these elite warriors. The dray of Kragmorta can be fighters, thieves, psionicists, or clerics. They have no wizards and do not even understand the concept of such magic. The dray of New Giustenal can be of all classes, including defilers. They have no preservers.

Ecology: All dray are omnivores, though they need a lot of meat in their diets. In Kragmorta, the dray hunt food from among the creatures released into the cave by Dregoth, or those that naturally inhabit the under-regions. They also gather roots and wild fungi that grows along the shores of the lava rivers. In New Giustenal, the dray raise fanner beasts, cultivate fungi, and draw fish from the Blacklaw River.

Kalin Riders

Dregoth’s most elite troops are the kalin riders. These mid-level templars ride the ferocious kalin, predatory insects discovered in the under-region of the Dread King. For now, the kalin riders patrol the ceilings of New Giustenal looking for trouble in the streets below. Most citizens hate these troops because of the viciousness of the mounts. Kalin have been know to rip the arm off a passing dray for no particular reason, and even their riders often have trouble controlling the kalin bloodlust.

Dregoth has four squadrons of 25 kalin riders available to him at present. These troops are to lead the assault on the surface world when the time comes, and they have gotten the best share of the vast magical armament Dregoth has prepared.

Kalin riders are all 5th-level templars armed with magical weapons (usually a long sword +1). They wear enchanted kalin hide armor and carry either metal weapons or weapons crafted from the limbs of dead kalin. Officers are usually 8th-level templars who wield metal weapons with enchantments as high as +3. Finally, every kalin squadron has a defiler from the College of Blackspire assigned to it. The mage will be of 7th to 10th level (1d6+4), and will also have five randomly assigned magical items. Use the table in the DMG to assign these. Reroll for any item you feel is excessively powerful.

Kalin riders are ferocious opponents. They are trained to fight in cooperation with their mounts, so both a kalin and its rider can attack the same foe in the same round of combat. In battle situations, a kalin rider and its mount receive a +2 initiative bonus due to their tenacious, extremely aggressive fighting style.