The Dragons of War

Disciples of Draghignazzo

We’ve been talking about monsters all month and how to position them against players; using them to spice up your stories. We’ve looked at who witches worship, Alazhra and Mestama, and in the past we’ve taken a look at the god of vampires, Zura, but who do monsters in general revere?

There are three deities that monsters call their creator. Lamashtu is the only major deity of the trio and she is outlined in detail in Inner Sea Gods.  The second is Shub-Niggurath of the elder gods, a creation of H.P. Lovercraft whose first mention was in The Dunwich Horror. And the last is Draghignazzo, the devil-dragon who is the one we will be concentrating on today.

As always, let us imagine we are sitting at our theoretical gaming table. Our imaginary GM sets out the rules for the game we will play. In this game, we are to make a follower of Draghignazzo. The character does not need to be a divine caster, just a devotee of the devil-dragon. What character do you make?

For more information on Draghignazzo

Draghignazzo’s Pathfinder Wiki Page

Draghignazzo’s Archives of Nethys Page 

The Tainted Scale

Although Draghignazzo is not truly a dragon but a cornugon devil, many dragons still follow his teaching. Fed up with the war between their creator gods Apsu and Dahak, these dragons have sought other means of divine inspiration. Promises of being officers in the ranks of the armies of Hell appeared better to some than the endless fighting that they seem to have been saddled with.

The Tainted Scale is one of the few groups of dragons that actually work together instead of always being at each other’s throats. The sect itself is small, numbering only six members: two blues, one green, one black, one umbral, and one gold. These dragons work to amass their own armies of followers and use them to make war on the material plane to Hell’s advantage. Currently many of the Tainted Scale’s forces are working to push back the demons in the Worldwound.

The Becoming

The becoming is a sect of humanoids that looks to become something more than what they are now. They seek the power that comes with a monstrous form. Made up of transmuters, alchemists, and shape-shifters, this sect worships Draghignazzo in hope he will remake their bodies—even if it means they must give up their souls.

The sect chooses members as they are very secretive. They keep an eye on wizards academies, alchemical universities, Bardic colleges, and even local druid circles. Members of these organizations who appear to be outsiders and who show aptitude for metamorphosis are put through a number of tests before being offered acceptance into the sect.

The Last Army

Some followers of Draghignazzo are monsters and some want to become monsters, but others use monsters to their own ends. The Last Army is a small sect of Hellknight worshipers of the devil-dragon that wrangle up unintelligent monsters and train and breed them for war. The job is insanely dangerous—some of the creatures can kill with a look or a scream—but these creature handlers do what must be done to aid the armies of Hell and its mortal representation of Cheliax.

Any competent warrior can join the Last Army. The one thing all members have in common is a vast knowledge of many of the creatures that inhabit their world. If you want to know lore about even the rarest of monsters, the Last Army would be the ones to ask, if you could get them to tell you. Because of the danger inherent in their mission, there is huge turnover among the sect. However, everyone knows to fear those who can grow old in a group of monster hunters.

The followers of this member of the Malebranche are poised to join the armies of hell, are you? Who is your follower of Draghignazzo? Why have they chosen to dedicate themselves to the devil-dragon? Where does their devotion come from? Let me know in the comments.

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