Seren Barbarians

Every Seren inhabitant follows the dragon gods, but very few are deemed worthy to speak to and for the gods themselves. These honored men and women are the dragonspeakers, who are the highest civil authority in each tribe.

As civic leaders, dragonspeakers are responsible for every aspect of tribal life other than the business of warfare, the province of the chieftain. They oversee life events, make pronouncements on life, hear petitions for justice, pass judgment, and enforce sentences. They prophesy for the tribe, and prescribe rituals to appease an angry patron when hard times befall their people. They have absolute power of life and death, even over a chieftain found to displease the gods.

Many senior dragonspeakers are clerics or favored souls (Complete Divine 6). Dragonspeaker clerics prefer to choose the Dragon domain (Spell Compendium 273). Lower-ranked speakers are also spellcasters but usually adepts.

Dragonspea kers adopt elaborate costumes to make them appear as draconic as possible. They affect horned headdresses, brightly painted dragon masks, and robes embroidered with scaly patterns. A shed scale shard or claw from a dragon is immensely prized, forming the centerpiece of the possessor’s regalia. Apprentice dragonspeakers wear simple garb, but they accumulate more draconic ornamentation as they advance in seniority.

Becoming a dragonspeaker takes a lifetime. The long journey begins in adolescence, when all Seren youths receive their tribal markings and become recognized as adults. The senior dragonspeaker of a tribe oversees these ceremonies and performs the ritual cutting that marks the passage to adulthood. For most, this is the culmination of the process. But a very few display something unusual during the ritual, such as blood forming a sacred pattern. This individual is seen as chosen by the tribe’s founder, and he is taken immediately to the huts of the dragonspeakers. He has no choice in the matter—the gods have spoken.

Once identified, the dragonspeaker-to-be leaves behind his family, friends, and all ties to his former life. He is sequestered in the dragonspeaker compound and begins lengthy training in the lore of the tribe’s founder and the mysteries of the dragon totems. This involves memorizing thousands of years of tradition in the form of epic chants, with frequent testing and harsh punishment for inadequate mastery. The initiate also undergoes instruction in traditional magic, usually training as an adept. Only after becoming an apprentice can a dragonspeaker learn cleric spellcasting; many do not progress further.

Training as a dragonspeaker takes around fifteen years, broken into three stages of five years apiece. Each stage is marked by rigorous testing, followed by a speaker quest. Quests are challenging but not intended to endanger the initiate’s life (unlike those of dragon god worshipers). Each demonstrates that he has mastered physical and spiritual discipline appropriate to that stage of training.

After passing all three stages, the new apprentice receives the first piece of his religious garment: a wooden mask carved into a dragon’s head and painted to resemble his tribe’s patron. This usually occurs at around thirty years of age. He is assigned to a senior dragonspeaker, whom he serves for a number of years as a low-level functionary. His duties include maintaining the tribe’s totems, attending to the physical needs of his mentor, carrying messages, and the like. All the while, he observes the dragonspeaker to learn the practical side of the knowledge he spent so many years absorbing. The time of apprenticeship varies with each mentor, who decides when the young dragonspeaker is ready to advance in responsibility. A typical period is three or four years.

Once the mentor releases him from apprenticeship, the initiate becomes a junior dragonspeaker. He receives an inscribed badge crafted from a dragonscale shard, and is authorized to conduct minor rites and to perform mundane administrative tasks for the tribe. He participates in all religious services and attends councils of the other dragonspeakers, joining in the discussions but not casting votes. During this period, the junior dragonspeaker travels extensively between Seren, the outlying islands, and Totem Beach. He oversees the maintenance of the giant sculptures and deals with visitors to the shore. As time passes, he gains additional responsibilities. Finally he must make another visit to the interior of Argonnessen to receive the blessing of his dragon patron. This blessing takes the form of a personal item bestowed by the dragon, such as a shed claw or spine. On his return, he is acknowledged as a senior dragonspeaker and incorporates the dragon’s gift into his costume. Only these exalted individuals can deal directly with the gods.

Each tribe has just one or two senior dragon speakers, along with a handful of initiates at various stages of training. Tribes with more dragonspeakers than others see themselves as especially favored by the gods, and since their speakers are proportionally more influential in the councils, this favor translates into practical benefits.

The council of dragonspeakers consists of the senior members of each tribe, numbering perhaps fifty in all. Each senior speaker has a vote in religious and political decisions. The junior dragonspeakers also attend these councils but do not vote. The dragonspeakers still in training have no official rank within the religious hierarchy but are still superior to lay members of the tribe simply by virtue of being chosen.

One senior dragonspeaker is elected by the council to be the Dragon’s Voice, the supreme religious leader of the Seren cults. The Voice wears a special mask, a minor artifact carved from the bone of an ancient wyrm and overlaid with gold and precious gems. He never appears without it.

The Council meets in a special enclosure on the small island to the northeast of Seren. Also on this island is the compound where initiates receive their training. It is off-limits to all others, on penalty of death.

Below the dragonspeakers and their initiates, but higher in status than the common folk, are the Totem Guardians. These are barbarian soldiers drawn from all the tribes, called to protect Totem Beach and keep intruders away from Argonnessen’s interior. Dragonspeakers usually select new guardians as a result of visions, but occasionally a dragon itself sends the call. Totem Guardians cut their hair short and apply lime to make it stand up in spikes, resembling the crest of a dragon. Often they dye their hair in brilliant colors to match those of their dragon patrons.

An initiate who does not receive the dragon’s assent on his final quest, or an apprentice who does not earn his patron’s blessing, is clearly unworthy of the gods. Such failures almost always take their own lives in shame, if the dragon does not destroy them first. Those who survive can never return to their people; no one would acknowledge their existence or feed or house them. They become half-mad hermits who haunt the wild lands of Argonnessen, lurking just outside the notice of the dragons they still long to serve, and tormenting themselves with the hope that one day they will be found worthy. The dragons, of course, do not care about or even notice this human refuse—unless a hermit enters a lair. That usually means swift death. Sometimes a Chamber dragon comes across one of these pathetic creatures and makes him into a special emissary to Khorvaire’s nations, mostly for its own amusement.

No record exists of a senior dragonspeaker who turned away from the faith. However, the epics are full of stories of chieftains who lost their positions and their lives when they abandoned the dragons and their chosen emissaries. A myth of the world’s end describes the Final Voice, heralding the consumption of existence by its draconic lords. Some dragonspeakers fear this prophesies a great betrayer who will bring the dragons’ wrath upon their people; others believe it means a recreation of existence, and rebirth in the perfect forms of dragons.

Dragonspeaker initiates must pass three quests to prove their fitness for office, as mentioned above. The first quest takes place as the initiate reaches young adulthood (around age eighteen, for humans), after five years of instruction. The initiate must enter the jungles of Argonnessen, which form a miles-thick boundary between the Great Barrier and Totem Beach. There he searches for a shard of dragonscale. This fragment is crafted into the badge the initiate earns on becoming an apprentice. If he is unsuccessful in locating a fragment, he must repeat the entire five-year stage. The threat of such humiliation keeps the initiate searching until he collapses from hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. If he does not return after three days, the dragonspeakers dispatch search parties from the initiate’s tribe to bring him back.

The second-stage quest is more challenging. The initiate travels to a point along the Great Barrier near a dragon’s lair and camps there, out of the way and hopefully out of the dragon’s sight. For one week he must remain there and observe the dragon’s activities. Usually the chosen lair belongs to the tribe’s patron (or a descendant if the original dragon has died). He prepares a detailed report on his return and must defend his observations and conclusions before a panel of senior dragonspeakers, much like a scholarly thesis. Sometimes a quester does inadvertently draw the attention of the dragon, who might become irate at the intrusion. If he survives the dragon’s fury, the failed initiate is immediately expelled from the order but usually becomes a Totem Guardian.

On completing all three stages of instruction, the initiate travels once again, this time to cross the Great Barrier and visit the lair of his tribe’s patron. He must make contact with the dragon and ask to become a priest of its cult. The initiate carries tokens identifying him as a priest in training, and the dragon receives him with varying degrees of friendliness. By putting the “fear of god” into the puny human, the dragon ensures his faithful service—another buffer between itself and the outside world. It then magnanimously dismisses the petitioner after first bestowing its arcane mark upon him. This proves to the speakers that he has been accepted, and he becomes an apprentice.

One last quest is required before a junior dragonspeaker can assume the title of senior. He must go again to his patron and ask the dragon’s blessing. He brings a valuable offering for the patron’s hoard (worth at least 5,000 gp) and wears all the tokens of office he has earned to date. The dragon’s symbol is tattooed onto or cut into his face. If the dragon accepts the offering, it confers a gift of its own, usually an intact small scale or a brokenoff spine. This becomes part of the dragonspeaker’s religious costume.

A dragonspeaker receives various quests from the Council throughout his career. Sometimes he also experiences a dream vision of his patron, requesting him to undertake some task for the dragons.

The Seren worshipers’ lives are defined by superstition and ritual. Even the most minor undertaking is accompanied by a wish for the dragons’ blessings. If something goes wrong, a Seren assumes he has angered his tribe’s patron somehow and undertakes some form of atonement.

The Seren tribes treat the dragons as a pantheon: They offer prayers to their founding dragons in matters of personal importance, and to the dragons in general for matters relating to community. A prayer to the founder addresses the dragon as a kind of high chief. Seren prayers use the Draconic tongue, though a debased form of it. They consist of ritual expressions taught by the tribal founders and passed down over thousands of years, and now so garbled that a dragon would have difficulty understanding them. An oft-repeated invocation is “Vormoninaku,” which seems to have derived from the Draconic vorel ominak ocuir (“watch over us, incarnation of beauty”). A Seren frequently utters this formula to ward off ill fortune, much as a superstitious person might knock on wood.

Each tribal village has a totem of its founding dragon, carved from wood and richly painted, in the dragonspeakers’ compound. Lesser rituals usually take place at the totem. As founder and patron of the tribe, the dragon (in the form of its totem) oversees the typical life-passage ceremonies, such as naming, coming of age, marriage, and death.

Fishers and hunters sometimes make a brief offering at the totem to ensure good luck before they embark on an expedition. Such minor invocations involve promising the patron a portion of the harvest on the worshiper’s safe return. The dragonspeakers understand that dragons rarely take any action for its own sake, instead expecting some sort of payment. They believe the patron listens to them through the totem, but they also understand that dragons are capricious and might not respond.

The most important Seren observances take place on Totem Beach, at the foot of the monoliths that stand along it. The rising of the constellation sacred to the patron’s god is the occasion for a nightlong celebration in the dragon’s honor. Traditionally, this is the time a dragonspeaker-in-training receives quests or embarks on the journeys that might advance him along his spiritual path. The Seren are cruel, violent people; their reputation for bloodthirstiness is not much exaggerated. Should they capture intruders on Totem Beach or within their own lands, those unfortunates become living sacrifices to the draconic patron. The victims are slaughtered on the beach and their blood is poured over the mighty statues. If the dragon founder is evil, or has a taste for human flesh, the dragonspeakers bring the slaughtered intruders to its lair as an offering.

The primitive Seren tribes live close to nature and have no knowledge of or use for the Galifar calendar. They do mark the rising of the moons, however, since these are tied to the patrons’ festivals, and the changing of seasons are important as well. They also pay attention to the dragon constellations, again for the purpose of ritual, and refer to a patron’s favored day by the moon that rises in that time. Generally speaking, though, there is no liturgical calendar, and the Seren mark secular life simply by the phase of the dominant moon and the season.

The influence of a dragon patron is everywhere within the life of a tribe. Totems and marks representing the tribe’s founder decorate buildings and clothing, and the dragon’s priests are always visible in their impressive regalia. Tribe members believe they are granted life, and allowed to continue living, solely at the discretion of the founding dragon. They fervently hope that upon death, their spirits might be reborn into dragons rather than drift in Dolurrh.

The Dragon Cults and Government

Each Seren tribe honors its own founder, and its high priests are also the tribe’s leaders. Tribes often come to blows over the honor due each one’s founders. Thus, religion and politics are inextricable among the barbarians. The primacy of one tribe perforce causes the worship of a given dragon to become ascendant.

The Seren have no interest in Khorvaire (those who even know of the continent) and no influence on the politics of its nations. Individuals on Khorvaire who seek the knowledge of dragons might persuade a ruler to finance an expedition to Argonnessen, but beyond that the rulers have no designs on the dragon isle. Seren raiders do come into conflict with the Lhazaar Principalities when the pirates descend on the isles to loot and take captives, but such raids are rare.

The Dragon Cults and Other Faiths

The isolation of the Seren tribes means they have as little involvement with other religions as they do other governments. They know much of the dragon gods, though, and some offer prayers to one or more of the draconic pantheon in addition to honoring their tribe’s patron. A few Seren follow druidic or shamanistic practices, but these exist in harmony with the dragon cults. The dragons are seen as the source of life, and the powers of nature and spirits are simply another side of their great gift to the world.

The Dragon Cults in the Last War

The Seren had no more interest in the struggles of the Five Nations during their long war than they have now. They did notice that the internal strife of the continent made raiding more successful, since military forces were turned inward rather than guarding against external assault. Since the destruction of Cyre, some dragons of the Chamber have decided that the young nations bear watching. Occasionally a tribal patron who belongs to the Chamber charges a dragonspeaker with gathering information about activity in Khorvaire.

As mentioned, each tribe has a totem of its patron in the dragonspeakers’ compound. Religious life and ceremonies generally center around this representation. The Seren believe that the patron or its spirit (if deceased) sees through the eyes of the totems and keeps watch over his charges.

The Council meets in a special enclosure on the small island to the northeast of Seren. Within the enclosure is the compound where initiates receive their training. This area contains simple huts for shelter, fire pits for cooking food and for warmth, and a special totem statue sacred to all the tribal patrons. Totem Guardians protect the area and sometimes hunt to supplement food supplies for the compound. The area is off-limits to all others, on penalty of death.

The monoliths on Totem Beach contain the spiritual essence of the dragon patrons, according to Seren belief. The barbarians defend the statues as though they were the gods themselves, and they make offerings and sacrifice victims at the monoliths’ feet.

The wild nature of the Seren is not conducive to the sort of discipline required for monastic training. However, the Stormwalker tribe has developed a martial style that mimics dragon attacks, and they have formed a loose organization of combatants who specialize in these techniques. Stormwalkers are the most feared of the Totem Guardians.

Some non–Serens revere the dragons as nearly divine, and believe that emulating the dragons can lead worshipers to a divine state. They reject the traditional gods of the Sovereign Host and instead have formed the Path of the Elemental Masters, eight orders of shugenjas (Complete Divine 10) dedicated to the elements as expressed by the various dragon types (Player’s Guide to Eberron 45). This is a young movement, and some of its most zealous practitioners have traveled to Seren in the hope of winning converts (not many have survived the trip).

The dragons control Argonnessen, and they suffer no trespass into their land by any of the “lesser races.” While their seclusion gives the dragons a low profile within the Five Nations, the dragons are still revered by their closest neighbors, the barbarians of the island of Seren.

The Seren tribes truly worship the dragons, and traveling across the Dragonreach by longboat to the shores of Totem Beach is a spiritual journey for the barbarian warriors. Of all the societies in Khorvaire, even those who have seen the Silver Flame in Flamekeep, the Seren barbarians are the only ones who can see up close the majesty of their chosen deities.

Seren warriors view dragons as their patrons and protectors, and they often claim dragons as totems. Dragon totem warriors have been seen abroad in many of the Five Nations, but still unknown in Khorvaire are the secrets of dragon totem magic.

The spiritual leaders of the Seren tribes are the dragon disciples, tribe members who have so dedicated themselves to their dragon totems that they slowly transform into halfdragons. They hold the secrets of ancient rituals, passed down through the generations, that more fully embrace their draconic heritage, allowing them to experience brief glimpses of dragonhood.

These dragon totem rituals involve the sacrifice of Siberys dragonshards, collected from the shores of Argonnessen. The greater the number of dragonshards included in the ritual, the longer the benefits of the ritual will last. The dragon disciples perform rituals for a variety of occasions, such as preparing the tribe for a raid, as a rite of passage or coming of age ceremony, or to demonstrate their dedication to their inattentive dragon masters.

Few visitors have ventured beyond the shores of Seren, and fewer still have witnessed the totem magic rituals. A recent expedition from Khorvaire included a professor from Morgrave University, who managed to convince a group of Seren warriors to take him to Totem Beach on the coast of Argonnessen. There he bore witness to this secret rite. Later, he would write about his experiences, and discuss whether the totem magic came from within the Seren barbarians, was granted by the magic of ancient dragons, or perhaps was the result of magic harnessed as the dragonshards were destroyed. No subsequent expeditions have provided further information on the topic, however.

No Seren tribal members capable of performing dragon totem rituals are known to exist beyond the shores of Argonnessen. However, a PC with the right background can learn the Dragon Totem Lorekeeper feat in order to perform such rituals. Alternatively, a DM who wishes to introduce dragon totem rituals in his campaign without lengthy trips to Argonnessen can create an adventure that introduces the PCs to a tribal leader capable of performing such rituals. The characters should not take this benefit lightly; they should work hard to earn the trust and friendship of such an NPC, and they might have to prove themselves worthy again and again to continue to benefit from the NPC’s rituals.

Heart and History

A traveler passing through Q'barra or the Lhazaar Principalities is sure to hear tales of the tribes of the Seren Islands. These fierce barbarians guard the coast of Argonnessen, and it is said that the waters of Totem Beach run red from the blood of their victims. In song and story, the Serens are typically cast as horrible monsters -- firebreathing warriors who consume the flesh of their still-living foes and sacrifice children to their draconic gods.

These stories are much exaggerated. The Serens are fierce warriors who will give their lives to defend the shores of Argonnessen from outsiders but they are not cannibals, and their reverence for dragons is more complex than simple awe of the mighty beasts.

Approximately thirty Seren tribes are scattered across the islands and the coastline of Argonnessen. Every tribe has a legend of a draconic covenant: a tale of how their ancestors were brought from a distant land by a mighty dragon and charged to honor the dragon and defend the land from the weak and unworthy. The dragonspeaker priests say that the dragons are the embodiment of all that is best in the human spirit. When a Seren dies, his soul is judged, and if he has upheld the covenant, he is placed in the shell of a dragon's egg. When enough worthy souls are brought together in the egg, it hatches and a new dragon is born, distilled from the essence of all the noble souls that went before.

The Seren islands are harsh and unforgiving, and the tribes exist in continuous conflict. The first recorded contact with the Serens comes from a Sarlonan account from -3,120. The civilization has changed very little over the millennia; the Serens are devoted to their traditions. Until the dragons themselves order a change, the Serens will continue to uphold the covenants. Any traveler who wishes to explore the land of the dragons will have to deal with these barbarians.

National Character

Each Seren tribe is defined by its draconic covenant. When creating a Seren tribe, a DM needs to answer the following questions:

• What color was the draconic founder? Look to appearance, breath weapon, and elemental ties for things that the Seren tribe will use for inspiration. Traditionally tribes of the same color frequently act as allies despite different alignments and beliefs. 
  
  
• What alignment was the founder? In Eberron, alignment and draconic color are not automatically linked.
  
  
• The Serens are charged to protect Argonessen from the unworthy and to honor the founder. This is a vague directive. What were the specific words of the founder? What does this tribe consider unworthy and how do they honor the founder? Because the Serens consider upholding the covenant to be their key to the afterlife, this is a major point. A violent, chaotic tribe could believe that they honor their founder by spilling the blood of anyone weaker than themselves. A more peaceful tribe could believe that they honor the founder by amassing knowledge or treasures. 
  
  
• In addition to the general vow to protect Argonnessen, some of the tribes have specific, additional charges -- protecting a specific shrine or guarding a particular piece of treasure, for example.

Seren culture is very warlike, and the Serens repel any invaders. Because of this, the people of Khorvaire and Sarlona have learned to avoid Argonnessen, leaving the Serens to spend most of their time fighting each other. Through these battles the Serens hone their skills and prove their worth as guardians. Only the strongest have a place on the shores of Argonessen. Children and caregivers are generally spared during raids, allowing tribes to eventually recover from defeat.

Most of the Seren tribes have a similar social structure. The warlord is the mightiest warrior. This position is based purely on skill, and any member of the tribe can challenge a warlord. The warlord oversees all military action: patrolling the land, organizing raids, training young soldiers. A council of dragonspeakers, mystics who use wisdom and magic to guide the tribe, oversees spiritual and domestic matters. Dragonspeaker is a lifelong post with authority within the council based on age. Despite the warlike nature of the Serens, dragonspeakers hold final authority and can overrule a warlord's decisions or even force a warlord to step down from his position.

Gender roles vary by tribe and are often depend on the gender of the founding dragon. In many tribes, female warriors (barbarians) are just as common as men, while in other tribes women become spiritual leaders or are allowed only domestic roles.

Appearance

The Serens claim that the dragons brought them from many lands, and their appearance backs this up. All manner of skin and hair color can be found among the Serens, though there is a tendency toward dark complexions and heavy builds. Tattooing is a common practice on the islands; as Seren warriors win victories in battle, they earn the right to have draconic features tattooed across their bodies.

Seren culture is primitive. Warriors typically wear hide or leather armor. Some rely on dragonscale tattoos in place of physical armor. Weapons are made from wood, bone, or shell. Each tribe, however, possesses heirloom arms and armor handed down from the draconic founders. These can be both traditional items from the dragons' hoards and dragonscale armor or weapons made from dragon bones or claws.

Away from the battlefield, most Serens wear simple, gray clothing. As Serens rise in influence and reputation, they are allowed to wear clothing and accessories matching the color of the draconic founder. Dragon scale and dragon bone ornaments are reserved for the greatest heroes of the tribe. Such treasures are not passed to descendents upon the owner's death but rather returned to the tribe to be awarded to the next hero who proves worthy.

Language and Names

The Serens speak Draconic as opposed to Common. A Seren may take Common as a bonus language or learn Common by spending a single skill point.

Seren names are also based on the Draconic language. They do not use family names, instead earning titles and honorifics tied to the draconic founder, such as Delhasha'alhasc ("Delhasha the Cold").

Typical Male Names: Durshast, Kharizhak, Lhasharak, Nolashar, Solashan, Xaxhan

Typical Female Names: Aralithyr, Delhasha, Eshka, Freilashka, Hakalasha, Shaesthyr