Information on Dragonwright

[Razorwing]

I am looking to compile all the information that has been currently published in official material for the Church of Dragonwright... as presented in Palladium Fantasy (not really interested in the version found on Rifts Earth).

Unfortunately, finding much of this information is proving to be very much a needle in a haystack type deal... references in Dragons & Gods is easy to find, as are some pieces in the Yin-Sloth Jungles (will that book ever be updated to 2nd Ed?)... but finding references in other books is proving a little more tricky... and I don't know how much official information for Palladium Fantasy is in the Rifters (let alone if any of it relates to Dragonwright).

I am hoping that there will be individuals here that can point me in the right direction as to which books (and Rifter issues) where such information can be found... even if it is relatively insignificant. Any help with this would be appreciated.

[Lukterran]

I could try and give you the info. But I will just wait for Prysus who already probably has extension charters and graphs and pg reference for all that.

[Prysus]

I could try and give you the info. But I will just wait for Prysus who already probably has extension charters and graphs and pg reference for all that.

Greetings and Salutations. Appreciate the confidence. But I haven't researched Dragonwright before. I can look into later (if I remember), but I'd be starting from scratch (though I do have a few tricks that sometimes help me expedite my research). Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[Reagren Wright]

I could try and give you the info. But I will just wait for Prysus who already probably has extension charters and graphs and pg reference for all that.

Yeah Prysus will be the one who will be able to track down all the references. I do
know that there's isn't a lot of info outside the sources mentioned. I know there are
temples in Timiro cities, but no info. I think there is one in Western Empire with some
background. For myself, I believe I put one in Lopan with some background info.

[Razorwing]

Not quite the answers I was hoping for... but kind of what I was expecting to hear.

Do we even know which of the two main branches... the Western Branch and the Eastern Branch... is "Good" and which is "Evil"? (yeah, I know that both sides see the other as "evil" and that they are the "true" religion.)

Any idea of how much of a force Dragonwright could become once more if they could be united under one authority?

[Prysus]

I am looking to compile all the information that has been currently published in official material for the Church of Dragonwright... as presented in Palladium Fantasy (not really interested in the version found on Rifts Earth).

Unfortunately, finding much of this information is proving to be very much a needle in a haystack type deal... references in Dragons & Gods is easy to find, as are some pieces in the Yin-Sloth Jungles (will that book ever be updated to 2nd Ed?)... but finding references in other books is proving a little more tricky... and I don't know how much official information for Palladium Fantasy is in the Rifters (let alone if any of it relates to Dragonwright).

I am hoping that there will be individuals here that can point me in the right direction as to which books (and Rifter issues) where such information can be found... even if it is relatively insignificant. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Greetings and Salutations. So this is what I found ...

PF: Second Edition (main book) - Briefly mentioned as a possible Family Background for the Knight O.C.C., then a fair bit more on page 279 under the Battle of the Gods (this will overlap with some of the information from Yin-Sloth Jungles, of course).

PF2: Old Ones - City of Aracho, Map C, item 45 (page 34), Temple of the Dragonwright Hostel (very little info); Map D, item 1 (page 35), Temple of Dragonwright (very little info); Credia, Dock Area, item 102 (page 54), statue of Zandragal (no real info); Old Timiro, Palace Area, item 70 (page 56), Temple of Dragonwright (no info); Smia, item 75 (page 65), Church of Dragonwright (specified as "the evil version"); Tomoro, item 63 (page 71), Temple of Dragonwright (no info); town of Aria, item 12 (page 73); Temple of Dragonwright (specified as the "good sect").

PF3: Adventures on the High Seas (1st Edition!), page 176 (under the Sulanok Map Key, item F, sub-item 21) - The Pantheon of Dragonwright is mentioned in Temple's Row of the city. No real info, but this is part of the South-Winds and will only be found in the 1st Edition book (this city was NOT re-printed in 2nd Edition).

PF4: Adventures in the Northern Wilderness - Both the Sun Child Tribe (page 7) and Oak People Tribe (page have a large number of worshippers. Page 17 has a brief paragraph within the Religion section, and it discusses one of the major sources of conflict for the Wolfen people with this religion.

PF5: Further Adventures in the Northern Wilderness, page 46 (under the Badd Land adventure idea) - The Gentlemen's Society (a major thieves' guild) is affiliated with Dragonwright. This is primarily discussing the guild, but you could try to draw conclusions of the church from their affiliations.

PF6: Island at the Edge of the World, page 41 (under The Church of the Scar sub-plots) - The second sub-plot mentions the followers of Styphon (though not Dragonwright as a whole) and the "evil Dragonwright" as who "covet and vie" for a particular relic.

PF7: Yin-Sloth Jungles - This church is mentioned A LOT! I won't go into every reference, but I will include a few key ones. Page 8 (under "Gods are born!") discusses how to define the "evil" and the "good" sects (as there's a canon distinction). Another important note here will be under Terellia (page 85 general write-up and the notes, as well as three specific areas on page 88), as this shows that both good and evil sects can live within the same city, and how the "true" faith of Dragonwright is used synonymously with the "good" sect (at least within this book). A few mentions in the Tezcat write-up; a brief mention under Sulyott the All Knowing (page 39): listed as a religion for the Orcish Empire (page 68), the Commonwealth (page 81, both good and evil), City of Mishala (page 82 and 84, "true" a.k.a. "good" is the official religion), the adventures that follow (mentioned on pages 91, 94-96, 102); Castle Deltor (a Timiro Baron who suffered religious persecution for his beliefs and the official religion of the area), item 15 on page 117, and Dragonedara & Dragonedra (page 119, one good and one evil).

PF8: Western Empire - Syrefald, page 69 (under the Religious District), item 19, Temple of Dragonwright (minor info); Caer Glaverius, page 151 (under New Town District), item 44, Temple to the Gods of Dragonwright (sect conflict, but not much else), and this is also mentioned in the Town & City Generation Tables on page 183 (under the Main Religions/Pantheon of Gods), and that it could be "either" (implying to me good or evil).

PF10: Mount Nimro - Page 119 (under the Quick Stats for Nevay Bron), his main weapon is a holy weapon of evil Dragonwright; and on Page 151 (under the HLS: The Buddy System), there's talk of the Battle of the Gods and a possible artifact belonging to the Church of Dragonwright.

PF12: Library of Bletherad, page 37 (under the Prophet: Religion) - One paragraph discusses Dragonwright, and not with much useful detail (in my opinion). This is mostly useful if you want an intro into the cult of Dragonwright (basically you a way to hook up with the "good" ones, but the other ones will likely attack you as a result). I didn't see any other references in the book.

Dragons & Gods - I'll skip the section on Dragonwright itself, but it's also mentioned a couple of times in the Dragons section (briefly in the overview and again in the random insanity section with a phobia). Again on Page 160 under Anhur's write-up (alliances). Once again briefly on page 178 under the Southern Pantheon (one of the religions that people left the jungle gods for).

All right, I might've missed some (I did only a quick search, and I mainly focused on the word Dragonwright, so my tunnel vision may have missed other terms like Styphon, Dragon God, god-dragon, or other linked names), but that's at least a decent collection. Enjoy the reading and have fun.

Do we even know which of the two main branches... the Western Branch and the Eastern Branch... is "Good" and which is "Evil"? (yeah, I know that both sides see the other as "evil" and that they are the "true" religion.)

While there is an Eastern and Western branch (Dragons & Gods, page 222, under "Symbol" is the spot I noticed this in, but if it's mentioned somewhere else let me know as I didn't read the actual section on Dragonwright very well, as that's an easy section to find for references), that doesn't seem to be the dividing line from what I can tell. Those who worship Kym-nark-mar and Kormath primarily seem to be the good (the "true" faith), while those who follow closer to Zandragal and Stypon (mainly Stypon) are the dark/evil "cult" (described in Yin-Sloth, with "blood cult" being mentioned in Dragons & Gods). Sacrifices are another dividing line (with those who worship the darker/evil gods more likely favoring humanoid sacrifice while those who worship the good gods will likely be against it). However, both can exist in the same city at the same time, or will cause a single city to divide into two. The division does NOT seem to focus on east vs. west though. Hope that helps. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[kiralon]

From First Edition PFRP
There seems to be two disparate parts to th efollowers of Dragonwright, an evil bload soaked cult hidden in the shadows and The Church of Dragonwright, which is a good and proper church, for example the magical armour of Alhambra otmi is dragonwright armour for scrupulous and principled fighters only, but the cult in shown in a bloody manner.
(I play the two are enemies, but will sometimes work together against outsiders, for example if say a priest of ra is giving a priest of korameth a hard time, his buddy a priest of styphon knows a guy in the cult and tells him and the cultist disappears the priest of ra.)

Quotes from the tombs of gersidi and the lsat one is the quick writeup on dragonwright from first ed.

"Quentos Gersidi (1068-1148). Quentos was as perverted as popular legend ascribes to all the Gersidi family. It was he who built much of the underground crypts that make up the tombs. And because of his dedication to the bizarre cult of Dragonwright that demanded blood sacrifice he was also the one who filled many of the graves and crypts. His demise was caused by the over-enthusiastic ministrations of his own Priest of Darkness."

"Deciding that the place warrented further attention, the church of Dragonwright sent Father Resad and the relic known as the Chalice of
Dragonright on a quest into the tombs."

"The room contains only a single earth filled coffin and a gory religious painting from the Dragonwright Blood Cult."

"Dragonwright sect is an ancient religion that has been corrupted and transformed into a cult of evil and depravity. The deities are basically good and would like to see the sect of Dragonwright be restored to its original days of law, peace , and prosperity. GM's: You could develop an" interesting conflict with the new good followers of the "True" Dragonwright (if any) and the evil cultists."

[Whiskeyjack]

My absolute favourite religion in any work of fiction.
From my readings, I've always taken there to be three different sects to the church.
There's the Cult of Dragonwright, which embraces blood sacrifice and follows Styphon and Zandragal.
There's the Church of Good Dragonwright, which doesn't encourage blood sacrifice and generally follows Kym-Nark-Mar and Kormath.
Then there's the Church of Dragonwright, that contains all four dragon-gods within their prayers. Even though certain priests will prohibit blood sacrifice, during times of need, it will be allowed to garner the favour Styphon and Zandragal. This is the church that has in the past, and will one day again be a major force on Palladium.

[Razorwing]

One of the great ironies of Dragonwright is that the name of Kormath (one of the "good" dragon-gods) is often a point of contention between factions... those saying it one way claim they are the only "true" religion... while those who say it any other way are nothing but a blood cult. Of course it doesn't help that Kormath chooses not to clear this up and unify his faithful.

The way I am leaning to seeing (the following is all personal opinion) the various versions of Dragonwright is that each Dragon-God has their own cult dedicated to themselves... and it is these cults that have fractured the faith for the most part... placing their Dragon-God above the others. Blood cults are more common with Styphon and Zandragal cults... but even Kym-Nark-Mar and Kormath cults will perform human sacrifice (of willing victims) if the need is great enough.

The two main branches of Dragonwright are also fractures of the main faith... and while they continue to worship all four Dragon-Gods, the two place more emphasis on specific pairings... such as the Styphon/Zandragal and the Kym-Nark-Mar/Kormath pairings. Again, both of these branches will practice human sacrifice, though the Kym-Nark-Mar/Kormath pairing tend to do so only in the most extreme need... and only with volunteers from the faithful. Meanwhile the Styphon/Zandragal pairing are more willing to use such sacrifices and rarely ask for volunteers (and see nothing wrong with using anyone... faithful or not). Still not sure which parings will be with which branch, but the Styphon/Zandragal pairing seems a better fit for the Western Branch... likely based out of the Western Empire.

Lastly there is the Church of Dragonwright as a whole... a religion that hasn't been truly practiced as such for millennia. This church places all four Dragon-Gods on equal terms, each with their own purpose in the religion. Sadly, with the fracturing of the religion into various cults and groupings, this religion has mostly disappeared. There are some sanctuaries and enclaves that try to continue the worship of the four Dragon-Gods as equals... but most are isolated or surrounded by the other factions and cults... and tactfully support the views of such groups when confronted (and continue their own practices when they are being ignored... which is most of the time). Ironically, if these groups of the Church could unite, they might find their power rivals that of the two main branches... they are just spread too far apart to make such unification easy. Like all other groups of Dragonwight, the Church of Dragonwright will perform human sacrifice... but the try to do so only when needed (or ordered by their Dragon-Gods) and while they prefer such sacrifices to be from volunteers, they will collect the needed sacrifices regardless of such concerns (especially if the need is great).

Organization-wise... there isn't much. Most of the individual cults dedicated to specific Dragon-Gods usually have one or two High-Priests (of Light or Darkness). These priests likely came from one of the two main branches but struck out on their own... either because of a desire for more power (common with Priests of Styphon and Zandragal) or because of irreconcilable differences (such as the name of Kormath). These priests usually find a small community where they take over the Dragonwright worship... turning it to their views... and begin training acolytes in their ways for the faith. The strength of such cults will depend on how much influence the Priests have in the area... with those that need to hide the more unsavory aspects from the populace (or hide from prosecution from other factions) being smaller than those who have enough influence to practice their version openly.

Within the two main branches, most of the power is held by the Priests of the dominant pairing... with the Priest of the other Dragon-Gods (and those dedicated to the Dragonwright Pantheon) relegated to lesser positions that have little power or chance of upward mobility. While the priests of the dominant pairing will work together to hold on to the power they have, intrigues between the followers dedicated to each can be surprisingly common (more so with the Styphon/Zandragal pairing than with the Kym-Nark-Mar/Kormath pairing... but even the latter will have to deal with attempts by the fewer priests of the other Gods to increase their power within their branch). Hierarchy of these branches is likely similar to that of other religions, with bishops, cardinals and such (not going into such details here).

When the Church of Dragonwight was in its prime and united, it often was lead by a council of 5 leaders... One High-Priest dedicated to each of the Dragon-Gods and a Grand-Priest that was dedicated to the Pantheon as a whole. These five would hold their respective followers in line with those dedicated to the Pantheon acting as mediators between the followers of the other Dragon-Gods when tensions rose between them (not an uncommon occurrence). Sadly, those dedicated to the Pantheon were the smallest group... with the four Dragon-Gods desiring direct worship rather than sharing with the others (an all too common mentality with Dragons... God or not). It was when these followers of Dragonwright grew too few to keep the egos of the other followers in check that the Church of Dragonwright fractured into what it has now become. Most followers now tend to dedicate themselves to one of the Dragon-Gods when they enter the Church (through one of the two main branches), while a small few continue the old practice of keeping balance between the factions. The few pockets of the old faith tend to only worship the Pantheon as a whole to keep from further fracturing... though more than one has seen a follower or priest dedicate themselves to one of the Dragon-Gods (often in secret with the promise they will turn their church to worship of their particular dragon-god in exchange for greater power from that dragon-god... which has been successful far more often than many wish to think).

With the fracturing of a united Dragonwright, it seems like only a matter of time before the various factions exhaust themselves fighting each other... especially with other threats that find such infighting to their advantage. Still, there is a small chance that one or more factions could unite Dragonwright once more... the question is... what will it look like if that happens? Regardless, it would be a near impossible task that would require extraordinary individuals to accomplish such a legendary feat.