Dragons of the Flanaess: Shaunoroth, Crystal Dragon

This entry into the Dragons of the Flanaess is an actual NPC that was talked about quite a bit in the Bone March campaign on Wicked Studios LLC live play stream Greyhawk Adventures. While his name came up often in the campaign he was never seen of encountered. Shaunoroth is one of my favorite big bads and the players in that game wisely decided not to confront him. I really didn't want to end that show by having a TPK, but they had no chance against him at their level.

Art by Ben Wooten

Name: Shaunoroth, Crystal Dragon
Age: Great Wyrm, 1,200+
Description: Shaunoroth is an ancient dragon. While still luminescent in sunlight, his scales are not quite as spectacular as they used to be, having dimmed slightly. On closer examination, one can see that the scales have become cloudy around the edges. Shaunoroth is also very large, far larger than most other crystal dragons, more comparable to an ancient red dragon in regards to his bulk and size.
 
Personality: Shaunoroth, in many ways, is unique for his species of dragon, and it is hard for many to believe that he really is a crystal dragon. Shaunoroth is friendly, as his species is known to be, and enjoys talking with others that stumble into his domain. Still, the dragon has tendencies that lean more towards a more lawful and even evil nature. 
 
Shaunoroth is a collector, but the things he collects are a bit odd. The ancient wyrm collects adventurers, albino maidens, and white dragons.
Any adventurer that dares to venture into his domain is not killed but captured and placed into a domed town located in a subterranean cavern. They are provided for, and he sometimes spends hours simply watching them like a child does an ant farm. Casters that happen into his realm undergo a treatment much like a lobotomy that takes away their ability to perform more complex magics (Anything over 2nd level). Most clerics are simply killed by Shaunoroth. The adventurers are not mistreated physically but are imprisoned to live out the rest of their lives. Shaunoroth infrequently will transform himself into a humanoid and even mingle amongst them, pretending to be a new addition to this strange and odd collection.
 
Shaunoroth also has a weird fascination with albinos. Slavers in the region, especially in the Bone March, know of this and are always on the lookout for albinos to kidnap and sell to the dragon. As a result there are several generations of albinos that have grown up knowing Shaunoroth as their lord. Female albinos are placed into a harem that Shaunoroth uses to breed his half-dragons. 
 
Lastly, Shaunoroth collects white dragons as pets. The drake seeks out other adult white dragons and kills them to collect their young, or even their eggs that he will have his other white dragons care for. Shaunoroth enjoys breaking the natural viciousness inherent in white dragons and turning them into obedient servants. This, of course, doesn’t always work, and he is forced to kill those that refuse to conform. The white dragons that Shaunoroth kills in this way are harvested for materials to produce magical weapons, armor, and other items for his half-dragon children. 
 
Shaunoroth sees himself as a being that will transcend the traditional role of dragons and become a god. He believes that his destiny is to reshape not just the Flanaess but Oerik itself into his own image. He feels that other people, races, and even nations should bow down before him in servitude. This revelation is relatively new to Shaunoroth, having come to it only some two hundred years ago.

While Shaunoroth is highly intelligent, it is evident that he is also quite mad. Speaking with him for any length of time, one will see that the dragon has concocted several fantasies in his mind to justify his actions and whims. No attempt to dissuade him from these actions will work. He believes that he is merely following a destiny that he deciphered from the stars he gazes upon at night.
 
Location: Shaunoroth began his life in the frigid northern Corusk mountains until he was an adult dragon. Then he migrated slowly to the southwestern branch of the Raker Mountains.

Lair: Shaunoroth’s lair is in an old dwarven citadel named Garnholm. When traveling through the Rakers, he happened upon this hidden vale of the Clan Blackanvil and snooped around for fun. There he was approached by a greedy dwarf looking to take the throne of his people for himself and arranged for Shaunoroth to slay the current clan chief and his heirs, which the drake did gladly. Unfortunately for the greedy dwarf, Shaunoroth didn’t just stop there. He slew most of the clan and took their citadel for his new home.
Shaunoroth did not just take the great hall of the Blackanvil clan as his new home, but the entire vale as well. The vale is dotted by old ruins of the dwarves' above-ground buildings. The vale is now home to a town that is the home of the drake’s half-dragon children.
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Besides his children, the vale is currently home to three white dragons, two adults, and one juvenile. These white dragons are Shaunoroth's current white dragon pets. While they still show signs of their impulsive and animalistic side, they are loyal to Shaunoroth. 

Art by Ben Wooten

​Relations: Shaunoroth has very few official ties with any of his neighbors. The other dwarven clans of the Raker Mountains despise him for what he did to the Blackanvil clan. A few Blackanvil dwarves still live scattered throughout other dwarven strongholds in the region. 
 
Most of the humanoid tribes that live in the southwest Racker Mountains know to avoid his territory. However, in recent years the dragon has been making alliances with some in preparations for possible expansion. Earlier in Shaunoroth’s life at his lair, the dragon did employ some humanoids as guards, but this practice ended as soon as he had reared enough of his own half-dragons to take their place. 
 
History: Shaunoroth grew up and spent his early life in the Corusk Mountains until he was of a venerable age. He was well known among the Schnai barbarians there. He interacted with them, but this was before he had decided on pursuing godhood and never kidnapped any of their people. While living there, he concentrated on hunting and killing other dragons and raising hatchling white dragons as his extended family. When exactly Shaunoroth grew tired of this lifestyle is unknown, but as he became a wyrm, he left the Corusk Mountains and migrated south.
 
First, Shaunoroth moved to the Griff Mountains and into the highlands of Tenh. Then he moved to Ratik before settling down in the southwest Raker Mountains and claiming Gornholm. 
 
After killing off most of the Blackanvil clan dwarves and stealing their home, Shaunoroth settled down and put into motion his plan to raise up an army of his own race of half-dragons to help him eventually subjugate the Flanaess. 
 
Shaunoroth believes that through conquering, capturing, and assimilating the lesser races and replacing them with his children, who worship him as a god, he will become divine. 
 
The Great Wyrm knows these plans will take time to come to fruition, but he is patient. His children's population has blossomed into several thousand and are now breeding amongst themselves at a steady rate, ever-increasing their numbers. Shaunoroth himself has a small harem of albino humanoid and human women to make more of his children.
 
The time when Shaunoroth wishes to expand beyond his vale and conquer new lands is coming. He sees now as a perfect time for him to launch his first conquest and so many lands are weary after the Greyhawk Wars. The targets he is considering are Ratik, Nyrond, and the county of Knurl. Ratik is small and has far fewer troops than Nyrond, but is well organized. Nyrond, while being far larger, is in turmoil and on the verge of another civil war. The third and most likely first step for his domination is Knurl. This independent county in the Bone March is still human-dominated. It could act as a base from which he could expand his operations.
 
Adventure Hooks: While Shaunoroth has led a secluded life since moving to the Rakers and taking over the citadel of the Blackanvil dwarves, he has made several enemies. Those few remaining Blackanvils despise him and would jump at any opportunity for revenge. If the players are high enough level, one of these dwarves might hire them to slay the dragon.
 
Many slavers that operate in the region know of Shaunoroth and are constantly on the lookout for albinos for him. This has led to many families that have lost loved ones to the dragon and many who might seek revenge because of it. A friend or possibly one of the player characters themselves might have been captured and sold off to the dragon. 
 
Regardless of how characters become involved with Shaunoroth, keep in mind that the dragon is mighty and has his own personal army and dragon servants. If, as a DM, you are looking to put the characters into direct conflict with the Shaunoroth they should be of a higher level.

Art by Ben Wooten