They say the creature known now as the Dragon was once the most powerful Archangel to be given to the world. Its fall was one of the deepest into the unreal realms, and yet somehow the Dragon survived and learned how to build its own simulacrum of reality in the Qlippoth. Without the Dragon's cunning and wit, the other Sycroaphim would never have succeeded. If there is a single master of these evils, it would be the Dragon.
The Dragon, like all arch-demons, has many names. In the Book of Lost Tales It is the Bronze Prince, in the scrolls of Aithanki the Bringer of Flame, the Poet Lisan the Mad called It the Wayward Storm or the First Nightmare. The descriptions are varied and diverse, but each agrees on two points: The Dragon's presence is hot enough to melt iron, and It is very, very hungry. Like all of the Angels, they speak to us (by accident or design) in dreams by design or merely by their activities, and the imagery of it normally comes as a great lizard-like monstrosity with wings like a bat, eyes and mouth burning with the heat of a forge and covered in scales of heavy black iron.
(Image found HERE, at the talented Garnabiuth's Deviant Art Gallery.)The Dragon is, like all Angels, inscrutable, but from it's minions we can perhaps learn something of it's mind and goals. The classical title of Its' is Sparti, or 'sown-men', being made from the bronze fangs of the dragon after being placed in the ground. These horrible artifacts are well documented in history, for the worshipers of the dragon normally carry them to sow dissent and chaos (and, if needed, stall authorities for a hasty retreat). When they come from the earth, these dragon-men are terrible to behold; over a head and a half taller than the tallest man, with skin of bronze or iron scales and eyes of burning fire, and a crown of horns on their head. Their mouths are filled with massive fangs, and claws make their hands into deadly weapons.
Perhaps most terrible of all, these creatures are built for only one thing--empire. Masters of war and bloodshed, true, but it is their ability to deduce tactics and organize that makes them spectacularly dangerous. Each Sparti is a master of multiple weapons, but each is also raised up with an intrinsic knowledge of its rank and purpose in the grand scheme of the Dragon's plan. There is no squabbling for rank, no training needed--each Sparti comes out of the earth knowing its destiny and it's role.
This goes for all the nightmare creatures of the Dragon's wrath--from the flying Wyverns to the monsterous Gigants, the Dragons are not a wave of monsters, but instead a legion of troopers.
Unlike other Sycroaphim, the Dragon's Gauntlets are more structured and orderly. Instead of a chaotic labyrinth of twists and turns, the Dragon favors long hallways, simple defensive fortifications, and fortress-like buffers to protect it's Gates. The Dragons are well-prepared, and have a well-organized responses against attacks--from full-on ranged blitzes to Demians throwing the masonry about, Dragons always seem to have some way to at least balance out their attacks.
If anything, their weakness is that the Dragons' armies are perhaps simply too prepared and too cunning. Dragon's are terrifying in their adaptability and unity, but they are far from the strongest or fastest Fallen. Their desire to plan for any attack means they tend to be a bit slower in terms of response, and there have been a few instances historically where a group can go with a unexpected tactic like "Let' just walk up to the front door" that has actually caused some confusion among the Dragon-men's ranks (yes, they planned for it, but they didn't expect it)...
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