Onyx Dragons are a reclusive and ancient breed of subterranean dragons whose origin traces back to the Terran Drake—primordial True Dragons of earth and stone who once served the Unknown during The Aeonic Struggle. During The Riftfire Rebellion, the Terran Drakes were hunted to near-extinction by the Njordir (earth elves) who used their mastery of Earth-Rifting to shatter their receding dominion. In the aftermath, a scattered few fled deep into the crust of the world, carving out sanctuary in untouched crystal hollows and magma-lit underworlds.
Time wore heavily on them. Cut off from the surface, these dragons evolved in isolation—slower, more cautious, but immeasurably more resilient. Their scales hardened into pure onyx, gleaming like black glass in darkness, and their bodies grew hunched and jagged, adapted to labyrinthine corridors of volcanic stone and pressurized crystal.
Today, they are creatures of grim legend—feared by miners, revered by druidic cults, and all but extinct... except in the subterranean recesses of the world.
Physical Description
Onyx Dragons are among the most formidable physical specimens of their kind.
- Size: Typically reach lengths of 80–120 feet
- Coloration: Deep black, with scales that shimmer like obsidian
- Eyes: Burning silver, violet, or molten gold, piercing through even magical darkness
- Horns: Jagged, volcanic, and crystalline—almost like forged obsidian
- Wings: Tattered at the edges, yet capable of summoning titanic windstorms in flight
Abilities
- Onyx Scale Armor: Their natural armor resists nearly all forms of elemental damage, including flame, lightning, and force. Only adamantine, divine weapons, or Riftforged steel can reliably pierce their hide.
- Breath Weapon – Black Ichor Torrent: Instead of fire, Onyx Dragons expel a deluge of acidic ichor that clings like tar and melts stone, steel, and flesh alike. It is especially effective against crystalline entities and earthbound prey, often used to flush out burrowing beasts.
- Subterranean Sense: Born of darkness and silence, they have an innate sense of tectonic shifts, vibrations, and soundless motion in stone, akin to tremorsense. This makes them nearly impossible to ambush underground.
- Void Roar: A rare ability in elder Onyx Dragons, their roar echoes with residual Rift energy—disorienting foes, shattering earthen structures, and silencing arcane spells within its radius.
The Immortal Isle
The Immortal Isle settled by the Valar is home to the last known brood of Onyx Dragons. They were discovered in the early Third Age by King Athelstan Valarion and his heir King Cyrus Valarion, nestled deep in a volcanic crevasse beneath the northern Onyx Mountains. Rather than slay or bind them as many civilizations might, the Valarion kings formed a pact of protection with the reclusive dragons, recognizing their shared exile and cursed legacy.
Cyrus Valarion, in particular, formed a profound bond with one of the brood—a young drake he named Umbryx, whose crystalline wings now shadow the skies over Valheim. Since then, it has become a rite of passage within House Valarion for chosen heirs to earn the trust of an Onyx Dragon, creating an enduring alliance between winged predator and immortal noble.
Temperament & Culture
Onyx Dragons are solitary, paranoid, and wildly territorial—but they are not mindless. Deep within their lairs, they hoard not just treasure but memory-stones—crystalized fragments of time, which they attune to and relive like dreams. This ritualistic hoarding of the past marks them as the melancholic historians of the deep, burdened by ancestral grief.
They fear the sun, not because it harms them, but because it represents the world that betrayed them. Only in recent centuries, under the Valarion banner, have they slowly re-emerged into the skies.
Known Brood
• Umbryx – The bonded dragon of King Cyrus Valarion, most frequently seen circling the Spire of Valarion. Intelligent, capable, and loyal.
• Vathrak – A young wyrm said to be nesting deep in the molten tunnels beneath the Spire of Valarion.
• Na’rhul – A shadowy elder who has not been seen since her bonded -- King Athelstan Valarion -- threw himself off the cliffs of Crown's End, but is believed to be the progenitor of the brood.
Legacy
The Onyx Dragons are not just creatures—they are living relics of a world broken by war. Their existence is a reminder of the arrogance of elves, the savagery of rebellion, and the burden of surviving when all else has turned to ash. To tame or befriend one is not merely a feat of strength—but an oath to remember the forgotten.
As the Fifth Age dawns, and whispers of elemental upheaval rise, the Onyx Dragons once again stir in the depths. And should they rise, it may be either as guardians... or as doom.