DRAKES LOOM LARGE IN THE MYTHS OF ATHAS.

Water Drake

Fire Drake

Air Drake

 Earth Drake

Though tales of them might scare children, few people believe these giant monsters exist. Those who find out the truth rarely survive the experience-the soft flesh of humanoids is drakes' favorite food.

LORE

Athasian drakes are enormous, fearsome predators having only animal intelligence and strong instincts. Each variety of drake is attuned to a specific element and has psionic control over that element, making its home in areas dominated by its associated element. Athasian drakes collect objects in their lairs or expand their territory, depending on the individual drake's nature. Although some hoards are valuable, drakes also amass trinkets or souvenirs that have no worth to anyone else. Air drakes maintain multiple lairs atop rocky spires or mesas and divide their few precious belongings among these lairs. 

ENCOUNTERS

Drakes use terrain to their advantage, and the setting for a battle with a drake can be as important as the monster. Precarious cliffs are a great setup for air drakes, volcanic fissures favor fire drakes, and unstable underground burrows make tricky settings for encounters with earth drakes.  Water drakes might appear anywhere precious reserves of water exist. Any location might also have been booby-trapped or fortified before the drake claimed it.

DRACONIC ORIGIN

According to the dragons, the first two gods were waters, one fresh and representing law, the other salt and representing chaos. Their mingling was mostly harmonious, and from their union came other gods. These new gods created Heaven, Hell, and the mortal realm in between. Then the firstborn of the waters, which called himself Dahak, took a mighty and terrible form and rampaged through Hell, making it a nightmare of devastation and suffering. This embittered the other gods toward him, but he cared little, and he ruled alone in his shadowy realm. When the salt water created six new metallic gods, Dahak named them, recast them into forms similar to his own, and hurled them to the Material Plane, where they shattered and became the first mortal dragons. These he hunted for sport.

The fresh water, Apsu, took the form of a radiant dragon and went to the material world to rally his mortal offspring. There were many great battles, with tremendous casualties on both sides, but eventually the dragons laid Dahak low. Dahak cried to his mother, the salt water, to save him, and she offered to heal the injured mortal dragons if they spared his life. Those who agreed exchanged goodness, love, and mercy for vengeance, wrath, and cruelty, replacing their shining metallic forms with dull chromatic hues. Then the dragons battled each other, and in the confusion, Dahak slipped away, and his chromatic followers fled after him. Apsu and the good dragons rested and healed, then searched for a world far from Dahak where they could know peace. Vengeful Dahak and his followers pursued them, and it seems Apsu and the metallic dragons have chosen Golarion as the place to make their stand.

Apsu is the god of dragons, glory, leadership, and peace. Lean and ancient, he is one of the two oldest beings in the universe, though he is still strong. All dragons respect him as their progenitor, though the evil ones do so grudgingly, and few good dragons worship him with the same vigor that lesser races do their gods.

Dahak is the god of destruction, dragons, evil, and treachery. Almost universally hated by both good and evil dragons, his offers of power and endless life still tempt a few evil dragons to his service. Covered in bony ridges, spikes, and horns, he bears many scars from his battles with Apsu, which still pain and enrage him.

Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych

A modern interpretation of Dobrynya and Zmey Gorynych by AlexanderYatskevich.

When Dobrynya was still a young man, his mother gave him four pieces of advice. ‘Don’t ride to the Saracen Mountains. Don’t trample baby dragons there. Don’t rescue Russian captives, and don’t bathe in the Puchai River.’ Of course, being a valiant young man and a seeker of adventure, that’s exactly what he did. Slipping away from home one day, Dobrynya walked up into the craggy peaks of the Saracen Mountains. During his trek, he went out of his way to stamp on any baby dragons that he passed, ensuring that they would never grow up into monsters. He also moved a boulder away from the mouth of a cave, releasing some travellers who had been captured there by a dragon. Finally, Dobrynya made it high into the mountains, near the source of the Puchai River. Tired from his excursions, he decided to take a bath.

While Dobrynya was bathing naked in the river, he felt a rush of wind and looked up to see a mighty three-headed dragon swooping down upon him. In a panic, he swam to the shore and cast about for a weapon. There was nothing there but an old hat of the type worn by Greek pilgrims. He snatched this up as the dragon landed in front of him. As the dragon’s middle head reared back, preparing to belch fire, Dobrynya ducked around its heads, leapt upon its back, and used the old hat to clamp its mouth shut. Man and dragon wrestled hard, until they rolled over Dobrynya’s clothes that were laid out by the riverside. In that instant, Dobrynya grabbed hold of his knife and put it to the dragon’s throat.

‘Hold Dobrynya, Nikita’s son,’ said the dragon. ‘Let us make a pact! You will not come into the Saracen Mountains, nor trample baby dragons, nor rescue Russian captives, nor swim in the Puchai River. In return, I will not fly to Holy Russia. I will not take any Russian captives. I will not carry away any Christian people.’

Dobrynya lowered his knife and rolled away from the dragon. ‘I will hold you to this, Zmey Gorynych. Now go and keep your promises.’ With that, the dragon beat its mighty wings and leapt into the sky, flying out of sight.

Several years passed. The story of Dobrynya’s fight with the dragon had spread around the country. The young man had become a regular at the court of Prince Vladimir, who ruled from his capital at Kiev. Although still not officially honoured as a bogatyr, the prince often called upon Dobrynya to serve as his messenger, especially when courtesy or cunning was required.

Then one day, while Vladimir’s niece, Zabava, was out walking in the garden, the three-headed dragon, Zmey Gorynych, swooped down from the sky and grabbed the princess in his claws. Before anyone could react, the dragon was gone, flying home to its lair in the mountains. The court was in uproar. Many brave bogatyrs rushed for their arms and clamoured for the honour of rescuing the princess, but Prince Vladimir went first to Dobrynya.

‘The stories tell that you have bested this dragon before, Dobrynya Nikitich. Go now to the mountains and bring my niece and the dragon’s head. If you succeed, you’ll be made a bogatyr and greatly rewarded. If you return in cowardice without her, it will be your head that is mounted over the city gate.’

So Dobrynya left the court, weighed down with responsibility. He went first to see his mother and told her of his plight. His mother, that wise woman, said he must have a horse. So she gave him the horse, Burko, who had carried both his father and his grandfather on many adventures. She gave him also a whip of seven silks, and told him to use the whip to drive Burko forward. Finally, she gave him a Tartar spear with which to fight. Thus equipped, Dobrynya set off to face the dragon.

He rode up into the Saracen Mountains, and as he rode, the baby dragons attacked Burko’s legs. The poor horse trampled them into the dirt, but more and more emerged from the rocks to snap at his fetlocks. When it appeared that Burko might be pulled down by the nasty little creatures, Dobrynya took out his whip and snapped it on the horse’s flank. Burko sprang forward, shedding the baby dragons and charging up the slopes.

Near the mountaintop, by the banks of the Puchai River, Dobrynya found the dragon once more.

‘Hail Dobrynya, Nikita’s son,’ spoke the dragon. ‘You have failed to keep your promise. You’ve rode in to the Saracen Mountains, and you’ve trampled baby dragons. No doubt you’ve come to rescue Russian captives here.’

Dobrynya responded, ‘Hail Zmey Gorynych. Was it I or you who broke the faith? Did you not swoop down and take the princess, a virtuous Christian woman, and carry her away as your captive? For this treason you must die.’

Without further words, the battle was joined. For three long days the brave warrior and the mighty beast battled. The dragon blew fire and bit with its three snake-like heads. Dobrynya dodged and parried, looking for openings to drive in his sharp spear. On and on the battle raged, around the River Puchai, through the rocks of the mountains, and even into the caves underneath it. Both man and monster received and dealt many wounds, until both were covered in bloody cuts. Dobrynya began to despair of ever defeating the dragon, until a voice, carried by an angel from heaven, spoke into his ear. ‘You have fought for three days, Dobrynya, fight for three more hours and you will have victory.’

So the fight continued for another three hours, until Dobrynya found himself unhorsed and battling the dragon in a small crater on the mountainside. There, the dragon finally made a mistake. Rearing up in its anger, the dragon exposed its soft underbelly. Dobrynya took his chance and drove his Tartar spear deep into the unprotected flesh. The dragon cried out in pain, as Dobrynya ripped the spear free in a spray of blood. The dragon staggered and then collapsed, its weight falling upon Dobrynya and pinning him to the ground.

Dazed, Dobrynya looked about and saw that everything below his waist was pinned under the dragon. All around, the dragon’s blood flowed from the monster’s many wounds, filling the shallow crater. Over three more days, the blood came up to Dobrynya’s ears. Bereft of strength after his long battle, he knew that he would soon drown in his enemy’s blood. He laid back and prepared for his own death.

Then the angel’s voice came to him again and said, ‘Do not give up Dobrynya. You have won a great battle. Drive your spear into the earth and go free.’

In that moment, energy once again filled Dobrynya’s limbs. With a prayer, he drove his spear down into the earth, allowing it to soak up the dragon’s blood. With the spear firmly planted, he used it to pull himself free of the dragon’s corpse. Covered in blood, he staggered up from the crater and saw the princess, Zabava, standing by the mouth of the dragon’s cave, surrounded by numerous other captives that he had rescued.

Courteous knight that he was, Dobrynya checked upon the captives to make sure that they were well. Then he did one more thing. Removing his blood-soaked armour and clothes, Dobrynya bathed in the waters of the River Puchai one more time.

Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych is one of the most popular Russian byliny, the traditional folk songs of medieval Slavic culture. Thanks to a major cultural conservation effort in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Russia has preserved a huge body of byliny, including over seventy versions of the Dobrynya and the dragon story. This story is only one of the many tales to include Dobrynya, who is considered one of the ‘big three’ bogatyrs (knights-errant) of Russian folklore, the other two being Ilya Muromets and Alyosha Popovich.

While the stories of the bogatyrs mostly exist in the land of fairytale, there are some who argue that both Dobrynya and his confrontation with the dragon have a historical basis. Dobrynya was the name of the uncle of Vladimir I, who ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev from 980–1015. It was during this reign that much of the population is thought to have been Christianized, and this may have included a mass baptism in the Pochaina River. Thus, some argue that the story is a metaphor for the rise of Christianity against the pagan dragon, which also explains why the story contains a Greek pilgrim’s hat and the voice of heaven. However, it is just as possible that these Christian elements were later additions to an older, pagan tale.

While Dobrynya remains relatively unknown in the west, he is still a popular hero in Russia, where he continues to serve as the subject of numerous artworks. In 2006 an animated movie, Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych, was released in Russian cinemas.

T-rex's tiny ancestor could hold clue to predator's dominance, scientists say

The horse-sized primitive tyrannosaur Timurlengia euotica from the middle Cretaceous (ca. 90-92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan.

The fossils of a newly discovered, smaller ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus rex may hold clues as to why the iconic dinosaur rose to the top of the food chain, scientists say.

The comparatively tiny Timurlengia euotica — yet to receive the notoriety and catchy nickname of its larger descendant — was similar in size to a horse as opposed to the elephant-sized T-rex.
But it had already developed the large brain needed to track and devour prey.

Researchers said the previously unknown relative was just one in a long lineage of animals, but should help illustrate how small tyrannosaurids evolved to become smarter and larger over time, and eventually the undisputed top predator at the of the food chain.

"The ancestors of T-rex would have looked a whole lot like timurlengia, a horse-sized hunter with a big brain and keen hearing that would put us to shame," Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences said.

"Only after these ancestral tyrannosaurs evolved their clever brains and sharp senses did they grow into the colossal sizes of T-rex.

"Tyrannosaurs had to get smart before they got big."

New discovery part of a missing link
The first tyrannosaurs appeared about 170 million years ago and was about the size of a human.
Until now, researchers had little evidence of how the iconic predator grew to become one of the largest carnivores to ever roam the Earth before dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago.

The bones of the Timurlengia euotica were uncovered in Uzbekistan, where it lived about 90 million years ago.

By the Late Cretaceous Period, between 66 and 80 million years ago, the Tyrannosaurus rex was the king of the big lizards, weighing up to seven tonnes.

But a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said little had been known about how the T-rex got so big, "largely because of a frustrating 20-plus-million-year gap in the mid-Cretaceous fossil record, when tyrannosauruses transitioned from small-bodied hunters to gigantic apex predators but from which no diagnostic specimens are known."

The new discovery is "the first distinct tyrannosauroid species from this gap".

The specimen was discovered between 1997 and 2006 by a team of palaeontologists, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, working in the Kyzylkum Desert in northern Uzbekistan.
"The early evolution of many groups like tyrannosaurs took place in the coastal plains of central Asia in the mid-Cretaceous," Professor Alexander Averianov of Saint Petersburg State University said.

Timurlengia's skull was much smaller than that of the T-rex, suggesting it didn't grow as large, but its skull shape reveals "that its brain and senses were already highly developed," the report said.

"Timurlengia was a nimble pursuit hunter with slender, blade-like teeth suitable for slicing through meat," said professor Hans Sues of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

"It probably preyed on the various large plant-eaters, especially early duck-billed dinosaurs, which shared its world."

'Pre-historic foreplay': Dinosaurs may have danced like modern birds to woo mates

Artist's reconstruction of dinosaurs engaging in scrape ceremony display activity, based on trace fossil evidence from the Dakota Sandstone, Colorado. Scientific Reports/Xing Lida

Fancy footwork similar to that of modern birds may have been involved in some prehistoric mating rituals, researchers say.

Physical evidence of large scrapes made by the feet of theropod dinosaurs has been discovered at four sites at Dakota Sandstone, a single Cretaceous rock unit in Colorado.

The scrapes are similar to those made by some modern ground-nesting birds — including Atlantic puffins and ostriches — during breeding season.

The behaviour, known as nest scrape display, involves males showing off their ability to provide for females by excavating fake nests.

The largest site discovered by the team, led by palaeontologist Martin Lockley from the University of Colorado Denver, was about 750 square meters and contained at least 60 traces of scrapes.

The display arenas contained marks of different sizes and depths, meaning they were likely used by different species of therapods.

"These are the first sites with evidence of dinosaur mating rituals ever discovered, and the first physical evidence of courtship behaviour," Professor Lockley said.

"These huge scrape displays fill a missing gap in our understanding of dinosaur behaviour."
The discovery supports theories about the nature of dinosaur mating displays, which, until now, scientists could only speculate about.

"This is physical evidence of pre-historic foreplay that is very similar to birds today," Professor Lockley said.

The findings were published in Scientific Reports.