Dragon Aspirants

Dragons are known to inspire fear and terror wherever they roam, dominating their enemies, subjugating the residents of their domain, and making even the most stalwart adventurers quake at the thought of fighting them. However, dragons sometimes inspire something else: ambition. Certain brave and foolhardy people hold them up as models, aspiring to become more dragonlike, expanding their own philosophies and thoughts to encompass the frightening and amazing world of dragonkind. To a dragon aspirant, a dragon is a role model to be studied and emulated.

Some dragon aspirants are friends or allies with dragons already. These lucky few need not go far to find their source of inspiration; they have ready access to the knowledge, wisdom, and practices of dragons. Others are not so fortunate and must embark upon quests to seek an audience with a benevolent dragon. Some dragon aspirants are content to study dragons from afar, learning through history and the firsthand accounts of others. Regardless of how the aspirants come to possess knowledge of dragons, these rare adventurers apply what they learn to their own lives.

A dragon aspirant usually has a profession or course of study before adopting a draconic philosophy; wizards, soldiers, thieves, and religious leaders might take an interest in dragons as a means of furthering their own careers. To a dragon aspirant, becoming more dragonlike will help her do what she already does -- only better.

• For a soldier, dragons represent the epitome of combat prowess, and so the more ambitious soldier studies to fight like a dragon.
• For a spellcaster, dragons represent the highest known form of intuitive magic, and so the more powerful caster studies to channel magic like a dragon.
• For a cleric or paladin, dragons represent proof that the deities can create beings of magnificent power beyond those of their angelic hosts, and so to model oneself after a dragon is to aspire to be like the greatest of all creations.
• Regardless of a character's role in the world, dragons represent something greater than she could achieve by being merely humanoid. This chapter presents a new standard class, the dragonfire adept, who channels draconic powers in a manner similar to the warlock (from Complete Arcane). Following this are seven new prestige classes for those who aspire to be more like the legendary creatures.

The Blood of Vol

Few religions are as misunderstood as the spiritual path known as the Blood of Vol. Seekers, as followers of the faith call themselves, do not worship a divine entity, nor do they revere their ancestors, as do the elves of Aerenal. Indeed, it would be difficult to classify the Blood of Vol as a religion at all were it not for the fact that its adherents do believe in a divinity -- albeit a most unusual one.

Doctrine

If any single religious doctrine unites the Blood of Vol, it is the concept worshipers call the Divinity Within. This notion is embodied in one of the Seekers' most treasured axioms, spoken at the opening of almost every ritual gathering:

Look not to the skies, nor to the depths below, nor even to the distant past or future. Seek the divine within, for the blood is the life, and in its call can be heard the promise of eternal life. One has but to listen.

This chant illustrates how the faith stands apart from more traditional religions. Seekers believe in no divinity but that which courses through their own veins, and refuse to acknowledge the existence of any "god" on principle alone. To them, followers of the Sovereign Host and the Dark Six are living deluded lives that will ultimately end in despair. Seeker philosophy does not exclude the three great Dragons but views them more as concepts than as literal beings. Worshipers believe in the power of things seen and grasped, and a dragonshard can be held in the hands, power coursing through it. Seekers hold that any "creator" who would devise the plane of Dolurrh as a soul's final reward is worthy only of contempt. Thus, the faith focuses on the pragmatic -- specifically, the life-or-death coin toss that is existence.

Seekers believe that traditional faith is a self-indulgent conceit, a means for small minds and even smaller souls to come to terms with the true nature of existence. In a world as unforgiving as Eberron, the only faith that is not misplaced is faith in oneself and one's own capabilities. When priests of Vol meditate on their daily spells, for example, they are praying not to deities or to concepts, but in truth, to themselves. The Divinity Within grants the power to shape reality, not some outside force.

History

Before moving onto the details of the Divinity Within, it is instructive to learn how the Blood of Vol came to be. Most would be surprised to learn that the roots of the faith stretch back tens of thousands of years to the time of the giants in Xen'drik. It was not until the lost mark -- the Mark of Death -- appeared among the elves of House Vol, however, that the Blood of Vol as we know it was born. In a misguided attempt to put an end to the conflict that had ravaged both elves and dragons, the matriarch of House Vol mixed the blood of the two races, resulting in the birth of a baby girl who embodied both. The matriarch, a powerful necromancer named Minara d'Vol, named her daughter Erandis after her grandmother. Unknown even to the rest of House Vol, Minara fell deeply in love with the girl's father, a mighty green dragon known as the Emerald Claw (his true name is believed known only to Vol), over the course of her pregnancy. Erandis was raised in secret while both House Vol and the Emerald Claw tried to secure a peaceful end to the conflict.

How word of the half-dragon's existence got out is still a mystery to this day. Some claim the baby girl was betrayed by one of the elves of House Vol, but none can explain who did so or why. The prevailing belief is that the girl's own father, desperate for an end to the intermittent but devastating conflicts between the elves and dragons, announced the news of the successful union between elf and dragon. Whatever the cause, revelation of Erandis's existence did indeed unify of the two races (and ironically, brought an end to the periodic conflicts) but not in the House Vol as they had hoped. Mutual outrage brought elves and dragons together, and they immediately began a campaign to obliterate all traces of both half-dragons and House Vol from the face of Eberron.

According to legend, the Emerald Claw vanished not long after the purge began. Some say he was killed defending the race of half-dragons (of which his daughter was now the most famous example). Others claim he withdrew from the world in shame over what his hubris had wrought. Twenty-six hundred years ago, House Vol was brought low, and the Mark of Death was lost in the process. Rather than see her daughter destroyed, Minara used her powers over life and death to transform Erandis into a lich. She had just enough energy left to send her daughter to safety before a powerful red dragon named Avothirax arrived at the head of a thousand elf warriors.

[Note: You can see the rest of this chapter when we post our monthly excerpts.]