Ragnarok Development Diary - Dragons, Wyverns and Wyrms!

Last week's Episode of D-Infinity Live was on Dragons in RPGs - what we like, what we hate, how to play them and make them special - i.e. awesome, memorable, and terrifying! We touched a little bit about dragons and what they represent cosmically, or at least cosmologically, in an RPG. We talked about what makes a dragon, including the shape, number of limbs (if any), whether it flies, breathes fire or something else, etc. 

AND we had a spirited bunfight about Dragonborn - what are they, how are they, and perhaps most importantly WHY are they?

It was a great episode and well worth your time!

Today, I want to discuss some of the above points in relation to ongoing development for Ragnarok, The RPG!

Dragons exist in Germanic and Norse Mythology. The story of Siegfreid, related in the Old High German lay,  the Nibelungenleid, and the poem Beowulf spring to mind as iconic dragon inclusions in Germanic Myth. There is also Sigurd, the Nordic iteration of Sigfreid,, also a dragonslayer, whose deeds are recorded in Thidreksaga, Volsungasaga, and elsewhere.

Mostly, these sources are vague in their description of the physical attributes of the dragon. The best of them, the poem, Beowulf, refers to the creature with the words Dragon and Wyrm, but it is silent on whether it had legs.

We do discover that Beowulf's dragon breathed "Heathofyre" (Battle-fire), had a corrosive or venomous bite (or perhaps this is poetic description of the fiery-ness of the dragons mouth and thus, its bite).

We learn that it lived in a "Beorge" (which could be a cave, a rocky stronghold, even a castle). Beowulf himself tells us these things, in his address to his people on determining to fight the wyrm, confirming details already given that place the dragon's lair, and the hoard of treasure it guards, on a rocky headland overlooking a moor, including a secret underground way to reach the wyrm's lair.

Beowulf goes on to tell us that his foe is a "Guthflogan" (War Flyer), so we know the dragon can fly.

If this all sounds familiar, and rather tolkienesque, this is because the Beowulf poem occupied a central place in Tolkien's scholarly and authorial life. For Middle Earth, as is well known, he looted liberally from Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon culture and literature generally. It should not surprise that his Smaug is similar in so many respects, to the nameless wyrm of Beowulf.

This description of a wyrm, legless perhaps (there is no reference to claw attacks, or to the creature's possession of talons in the poem, but it doesn't specifically say the wyrm was legless either) is typical of other Germanic references. Siegfreid is no help, as his dragon description is not detailed enough. Sigurds is also less than effusive in its descriptive.

But we do have the World Serpent of Norse Mythology, fated to die slaying Thor at the culmination of Ragnarok! Jormungand, which literally means "World Wand" encloses the earth with its girth, which lies submerged in the deepest sea. His wyrmishness is in the name, and the way he surrounds Midgard. No wings are mentioned of him, nor any ability to fly, which should not surprise us in a creature that lives a submarine lifestyle.

To these literary descriptions, we can  add numerous artistic depictions dating to the medieval or viking periods - many of which show serpentine, legless dragons, often acting as a sort of "border" around the stone's face, or around other imagery, perhaps reminiscent of Jormungand. However, there are other stones that show dragons with a set of legs, or things that might be interpreted as legs. And others show creatures that might be wingless, four-legged dragons. And there is one that may show a wyrm and a legged-dragon locked together in combat.

SO - Germanic Dragons were Wyrms, at least for the most part. They might have wings, they might not, they might be -sea-serpents like Jormungand, the original sea-monster. To these we can add certain descriptions called Nokk, or Nikkur, or Nicor, depending on  Germanic tongue, but they may have been other lesser sea-serpents. Certainly they were se-monsters of some sort.

Using the above, I can say that in Ragnarok, if you are unfortunate enough to face a dragon, if will probably be a wyrm. And you will probably be glad that it has no claws, because it will probably be tough enough without.

But what about those people who like their dragons with legs? Well, if we have sea-dragons and winged dragons, why not legged dragons, or earth dragons who don't fly - like the Linnorm. Well, why not. If we can accept that the World Serpent was the child of Loki (along with Hel and the Fenris Wolf), it is no big stretch that dragondom could have considerably more variation than is suggested by the surviving sources. So you might see rules for a variety of Wyrmlike creatures, like some of the rune stones depict.

Which brings us to Dragonborn:

In Nordic Mythology, wyrms were invariably the enemy - often living lives of solitude and relative quiescence until disturbed. After all, Beowulf's dragon only roused itself to burn the kingdom to ash after a thief had stolen a golden cup from its rightful hoard.

But at the end of the nine worlds, Jormungand rouses himself to attack Asgard. Would not his lesser kindred also feel moved to do . . . something? Most wyrms will probably side with the World Serpent and his allies, the giants, in trying to bring down Midgard and the Gods. And in such a time, there would be people desperate, selfish or simply evil enough, to throw in their lot with that side too - especially those who are halftrolls or giantborn.

The ones who are not, but are equally desperate, and who happen to live near a wyrm, or know of one's location, might offer service to a wyrm in exchange for protection and power.

Or they might have gone to slay the creature, and been turned instead to its service. Such is the case of Erek Wyrmson, an iconic character of the Ragnarok RPGm who has been around since the very first playtests of the combat system began at Comicpalooza a few years ago.

In the years leading up to the Fimbulvintr, the Great Winter that marks the onset of the Ragnarok, Erek was outlawed when he could not pay the wergild (the fine) for killing a jarl's son in a duel. Fleeing a step ahead of the jarl's thegns, he formed a warband of brigands and outlaws as he went. Desperate and hunted, they scraped through a bitter winter - until spring refused to come. Starving and chilled to the bone, Erek saw no alternative to returning from exile and accepting judgment. 

Until he heard of the gold-hoard, and the wyrm who sat on it.

Erek sought the lair of the Wyrm, but did not defeat the monster. Instead he was taken as its servant. In the Ragnarok RPG, this can be represented by the Background: Wyrmfostren, someone who is fostered by, or has entered the service of, a wyrm. Erek prospered in the service of the wyrm who took him in, and came to be called Wyrmson. To this epithet, was later added Wyrmhand, when the skin on his sword-arm turned red and became scaly.

Wyrms are potent magical and mythical creatures, who often seems to exert some measure of metaphysical control over an area. When the World Serpent shifted, sea storms grew. The lairs of dragons seem to encourage a zone of desolation or at least isolation around them. They might do the same to the creature of that region. Over long periods, usually generations, Wyrmfostren could also be affected, perhaps taking on certain features of the wyrm they serve.

Wyrmfostren have access to new abilities that they can learn in service to their inhuman masters, as well as benefits like better wargear and draconic mounts (which is another way to bring in different wyrm-like creatures, like wyverns and four-legged dragons, winged or otherwise).