Devil Dragon Lore

Yueletharnia’s dungeon dive had been more fruitful than she had anticipated; she had been to maybe a dozen floors (with her magic telling her there were at least six more) and found decent treasures on almost all the floors he had visited; there was far more gold than she had anticipated as well. Some of the gems she had found had magic embedded in them, it was actually pretty tricky finding out what magics were in each of the gems, they seemed to resist the identification magics she tried with them.

It was all a slight respite from her current state; she needed a distraction. As she had done so many times before, she turned her mind to the tales of the Seven Devil Dragons of Sin and the tales of their sealing. It always started with Gelnarisius, the Devil Dragon of Pride, and Vritra, the Devil Dragon of Gluttony, for entirely different reasons. There are a few ways the stories start, but Yuletharnia’s favorite goes a very particular way. Granted, this version wasn’t well-liked by any of the other dragons she knew, including her own siblings, and her mother was more indifferent to this version than anything else.

The way it starts is initially similar to all the others but then veers off in what many dragons call less than flattering. The tale doesn’t give any real names at first; those come later within the story. Long ago, in the time when the world was newly formed, just a barren rock with no water yet, the planes that would become tied to it were also newly forming; this included the planes that would become the realms of demons and devils, the first of the gods at this time were formless masses that were just beginning to figure out how to take shape. Just as the gods coalesced into more definitive forms, templates for the mortal races to come, they encountered the first of the Devil Dragons, the Devil Dragon of Pride, and it was over the course of the fight that both sides became more defined in form. The fight created the concepts of virtue and sin, pieces of the foes, wisps of their power, melded with one another to influence some of the gods; this is the origin of the arrogance of the gods and inescapable sin unintentionally added into the mortal races when they were molded into existence by the gods. It was during this fight at the concept of time was given form, a **** not a primordial deity like the first gods but the first of something new. With the concept of time came the concept of its passing. This is where, and when, the goddess of time was born.

With her birth, the great primordial god of creation became aware of their power for the first time; using his power, this ancient of ancient forces took pieces of the essence of the power of each of the gods and crafted for them the first weapons in all of existence, it was here the primordial gods of War and Destruction realized their purpose when presented with their weapons. Creation was able to forge itself a hammer; Destruction was granted an ax, War a Sword, one who had yet to realize their reason a spear, and Time was presented a scythe. They managed to best Pride, but he was not destroyed, merely rendered incapable for a limited time. Creation forged the first chains, forged from the very concept of sealing something away, and the gods bound Pride in them before taking it to the realm that would be the domain of demons and hiding it away in a place that was set to be sealed off from all other places. Little did the gods know that fragments of power would leak forth ages later to corrupt and change what came later.

An age passed, most of the gods learned to control their power, at least the ones that knew what it was, and the second of the Devil Dragons arrived, Gluttony. This time gods were ready, but what they did not know is that Gluttony had already consumed concepts that had coalesced within its stomach that were waiting to be released. Gods fought long and hard, the god that had yet to know their purpose managed to pierce Gluttony’s stomach, just enough for Time to cut it open. Out from the Devil Dragon of Gluttony flowed the concepts of Water and Life that spilled onto the lifeless rock that became our world, the nameless primordial god finally realized their purpose and became known as Life. Gluttony had absorbed enough of the concept of life that it could not be slain, but it could be sealed. So, like Pride before it, Gluttony was sealed away, this time in a pocket that only the gods could access, a place between all realms, after Gluttony had been placed into a great eternal slumber, and bound with chains like those of Pride’s, it was placed within its prison in hopes it would never cause harm again.

Many ages passed and the beginnings of the mortal races were born. This is when the next Devil Dragon emerged. It is at this point the tale runs into conflict with itself, it is debated as to whether the next Devil Dragon was Greed, Sloth, or Wrath. Personally, Yuletharnia liked the versions where Greed was next, most dragons despise this narrative because of how it affects the look of dragons going further into the story. Along with the mortal races were plants and animals established before and alongside them to help sustain them, along with the emergence of life, Time took on being the manifestation of the concept of ****. In addition to the creatures and plants, there were monsters created to test the mortal races and keep them from getting too complacent. As the mortal races formed, so too did Devils and Demons take form, but the gods were less involved in their creation and cultivation, hence the lack of uniformity among the Fiends that mortal races tended to have. As the fears and dreads of the mortal races became more concise, demons took on more defined forms.

As mortals began to develop a more defined sense of avarice, Greed took form in the realm of demons and came forth into the mortal realm. The races were still young, just barely having figured out how to craft and maintain tools, agriculture was in its infancy, and there were those that hoarded what was in those early days of harvesting, this was the time Greed stepped into our realm of existence. The gods came forth to fight the Devil Dragon that was Greed, War was wounded and some of Greed’s essence folded into War. This was still a time when the concept of names had to take form. From War’s harm fragments of his power, untouched by Greed, flew from him and melded with the raw energies of this early world, Time gathered them up and used some of its own power to stabilize the fragments, this was when Knowledge was born, god similar to Time, but also born of it and fragments of the other gods that Time had worked to gather up so Creation could once again forge something new. With the power of Knowledge, the other gods bested Greed and sealed it away in a manner similar to Gluttony. After the fight Creation took a fragment of Knowledge’s essence and forged a staff for the new god.

More ages passed, and Wrath came forth, this time, instead of unintentionally infecting War, the Devil Dragon that is Wrath targeted War and **** its taint on War. This was not out of some greater planning, Wrath just saw War as the most convenient target. Because of Wrath’s taint, War spent almost as much energy fighting the other gods as it did Wrath. With the aid of Time and Knowledge, War was able to bring his aggression down to a manageable level and discovered that he could direct the taints to something more beneficial. It was this act that birthed Justice. And with the aid of Justice, Wrath was defeated and sealed away like the others that came before.

The era of early civilization came to the mortal realms, the gods decided it was time to sit back and only intervene when absolutely necessary, but they could still influence and guide the mortal races with their words. And so, the first of those with the power to commune with the gods were able to emerge, in time the gods and the mortal became complacent with their lot in things. It was at this time that Sloth made its arrival. Unlike the Devil Dragons before it, Sloth chose to merely have its influence do the work, Sloth itself was not actively involved. Many mortals went from complacent to slothful, it took a few centuries for the gods to notice Sloth’s presence and influence, and even they had fallen prey to its influence. Only Justice and Time seemed to have the ability to actively resist Sloth, but with some nudging by them, Creation and Life were able to shake free of Sloth’s influence. The other gods could not, no matter how hard their fellow gods tried to rouse them from their states of non-involvement and inactivity. Sloth put up no resistance and was sealed away in its own prison.

Then came the age between Bronze and Iron for the mortal races. The gods became aware of the threat of a new **** in the mortal realm that required their attention. Envy and Lust had both emerged, this was the first time they had to face off against multiple Devil Dragons. Thankfully, in the time after the prior Devil Dragon fight, four new gods had emerged, Valor, Crafting (an offshoot of Creation), Storm, and Protection. Valor carried a War Pick, Crafting wielded a hook on a pole, Storm carried a bow that it could create any arrow for with its power, and Protection wielded a massive shield. Envy was powerful, almost as much of a match for War as Wrath had been, but it was Lust that was the bigger threat, she was able to direct and manipulate both Envy and the gods with her words, making almost all fall prey to some hidden desire that was magnified to being lusted after. It was over the course of the fight that each of the forces involved were given names, and the process made them even more powerful.

Creation became known as Alphaeus, for he was seen as the first of the gods; War was given the name Conflatius, he was seen as a symbol of conflict, for war is a great conflict; Life was given the name Nursariin, mostly because of her nurturing nature; Destruction was given the name Devastria, for she brought a sense of devastation to the world around; Time was given the name Chronalla, it is from her name that many words regarding time spring forth; Knowledge was given the name Metatros, he is more of a record keeper than one that gets involved; Valor was given the name Victalius, it is from his name we get the word victory because true victory holds genuine valor; Crafting was given the name Gemaria, it is often said a properly crafted work is its own special gem; Storm was given the name Tempestrias, it is said from his name we get the word Tempest; and Protection was given the name Guardinia, it said her name the words with guard come from her name. The Devil Dragon of Lust was given the name Jezelthinabelletharsa, it is many of the names for those that entice others are derived from her name, and the Devil Dragon of Envy was given the name Spitaltalthisa, it is said the word spite comes from her name. In time the rest of the Devil Dragons were given names as well, they were collectively given the name 7 Devil Dragons of Sin, it is said that sin and demonic entities originate from them but that’s more conjecture than anything else.

The gods would have been in trouble then and there, but Spitaltalthisa turned on Jezelthinabelletharsa, she turned her spite on her supposed ally for manipulating her so thoroughly. In a straight-up fight, Jezelthinabelletharsa was at a clear disadvantage, she was more cognitive than most of the other Devil Dragons, and clearly better than them in the use of magic, but when it came to raw power she was far too lacking. Taking advantage of the turn of events, the gods managed to bind and seal the last two of the Devil Dragons away. It was believed they, and their power, would be kept locked away. But no prison is perfect, even those made by the gods, and cracks in their prisons opened up to the other planes, the influence of their essence has caused many things to happen, including the emergence of demonic dragons. Most mortals think demonic dragons are a myth, a legend, something that was made up for whatever reason, when demonic dragons are noticed they are often misidentified, and that’s the way it will stay for possibly ages to come.