Zombie Dragon

"I thought there were few pleasures left in the world that I had not already experienced, certainly none that were worth expending any effort towards. I must confess, though, to the great thrill I felt when I first bound Agorak the Silent to my will. As delicious as it was, it paled in comparison to the joy I felt when I finally had the opportunity to unleash him on my enemies. Nothing quite like a Dragon to put fear into the hearts of Men. So much better if he's Undead!"

—Constatin von Carstein, Vampire Lord.

 

Zombie Dragons are the reanimated corpses of long-dead Dragons that were raised from their resting place within the Plain of Bones by the use of powerful Dark Magic.

he Plain of Bones is a harsh and lifeless landscape of multicoloured sand and tainted rock located to the east of the Worlds Edge Mountains, from which protrude huge rib cages of ancient primeval Dragons. This is the place where Dragons of ancient times once came to die, to rest their bones amongst those of their ancestors as they had done for millions of years, before any other sentient beings walked the world.

Here lies the bones of the great ancestral Dragons: skulls the size of castle towers lie mingled with leg bones larger than the mast of an Imperial warship. These bones date from the ancients days of the draconic race. Though today's Dragons are of a lesser breed, they are still incomparably mightier than other races of the world. However, following the arrival of Chaos, the Plain of Bones has since become saturated with large amounts of Dark Magic. This magic eventually contaminated the remains of these Dragons, forcing them to rise once more as the first Zombie Dragons.

Ever since then, Vampires and powerful Necromancers of all kinds have been known to take a pilgrimage to this ancient landscape where they pick through one amongst many Dragon remains. Once he finds a suitable corpse, the Vampire or Necromancer who use the excess Dark Magic that contaminates the land to resurrect the Dragon back to life as his eternal combat mount. These once majestic creatures stagger upright once more with a great despairing roar before stooping to allow their new master to ride atop their powerful shoulders.

 

Animated by Dark Magic, a Zombie Dragon is borne aloft by great tattered wings, its body covered with thick, withered hide. Though in life it once breathed fire capable of melting steel, a Zombie Dragon can only belch forth a cloud of pestilent gas which strips flesh from bones and corrodes armour. A Zombie Dragon's claws and sword-like teeth remain as deadly as they ever were, and is still capable of ripping an armoured knight in half and swallowing his warhorse in one motion. When such a monster is used as a steed by a powerful Vampire Lord, even the greatest heroes quail before the raw might of undeath, for the combined might of Vampire and his Undead Dragon is enough to break the back of any army sent against them. Wreathed in a fog of rot and surrounded by swarms of blood-hungry flies, a Zombie Dragon can turn the tide of a battle purely by dint of its horrific presence.

Terrorgheist

    "I have seen them, at night, flapping their mighty wings across the moon. They call to me, tell me I will join them soon. Herr Doktor Leberknoedel says that I am crazy, but I know that its not true... They will carry me off to my new home, and we will dance round the moon together... Oh yes."

        —Rudi, Great Altdorf Asylum Inmate.

Terrorgheist are the largest and most ferocious bat species to have ever existed, so large and terrifying that they've grown to the size of Dragons.

In the hidden reaches of Sylvania, these titanic bats soar out from their caves to hunt horses, caravans and pegasi under the sickly skies. It is the ambush tactic of the creatures that give them their truly terrifying reputation. A Terrorgheist's vision is poor, so the swooping monstrosity ensures that its prey is rendered motionless by emitting a piercing shriek so loud and unexpected it can stun even a Bretonnian warhorse into paralysis. At that precise moment, the Terrorgheist will dive down, gather up rider and mount in its talons, and return to its lair to glut itself on the warm blood of its victims.

It is the mortal remains of these troglodytic beasts that the Ghoul Kings of the caverns bind to their service. The binding process comes easily to these reclusive Vampires, for Strigoi Ghoul Kings and Terrorgheists have much in common. As Dark Magic swirls around the monstrous cave-creature, a bond of blood is formed between master and beast. Much like any other creature that drinks from a Ghoul King's veins, Terrorgheists have necromantic power running in their blood that can heal even the most severe of wounds.

In death, a Terrorgheist becomes a nightmare made real. Guided by its master's will, the monstrosity creaks through the clouds above the battlefield on blotch-skinned pinions, its rotten flesh and withered organs open to the night air. It is the deathly shriek of an unliving Terrorgheist that is perhaps its most fearsome aspect. As the magics of undeath are worked upon the beast, its cry is transformed from a simple but shockingly loud noise into a barrage of eldritch power. Some say the Terrorgheist's shriek is nothing less than the screams of the damned, channelled directly from the Realm of Chaos. It matters little to the Terrorgheist's prey, for so devastating is its sonic attack that it can cause a man to die of fright in an instant. By venting this noise as it dives down upon its prey, a Terrorgheist can cripple an enemy regiment moments before it slams into the reeling survivors, slaughtering the rest with disease ridden tooth and claw. Even when the Terrorgheist is slain, these creatures have a violent tendency to explode upon their deaths. Due to their ferocity, Terrorgheist are a highly favourable mount amongst many Undead factions.

Exploring Mythology: Dragons

Famous prototypical dragons include the mušḫuššu of ancient Mesopotamia, Apep in Egyptian mythology, Vṛtra in the Rigveda, the Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible, Python, Ladon, Wyvern, and the Lernaean Hydra in Greek mythology, Jörmungandr, Níðhöggr, and Fafnir in Norse mythology, and the dragon from Beowulf.

They traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it in East Asian culture.

Ancient people may have discovered dinosaur fossils and understandably misinterpreted them as the remains of dragons. Chang Qu, a Chinese historian from the 4th century B.C., mislabeled such a fossil in what is now Sichuan Province.

Storm dragon

Storm dragons (or storm wyrms) are dragonkin native to Skywall. Harnessing the elemental powers of the storm, these majestic beasts crackle like lightning and roar like thunder.

The mighty storm dragons are mysterious creatures that inhabit Skywall, the portion of the Elemental Plane that serves as the domain of air elementals. Their origin is unknown, as before the Shattering no one had seen them (or lived long enough to tell the story). Their draconic appearance however may not indicate their true nature. It appears they are quite tightly connected to the element of air, and serve Al'Akir, mostly found in Vortex Pinnacle. They also seem to be non-sentinent beings, as none of them so far can be seen using any kind of language, neither draconic nor kalimag, not even Auran. This may mean that they are in fact elementals similar to the phoenixes from the Firelands.

Brann Bronzebeard recently uncovered evidence, corroborated by reports from adventurers in Deepholm, that proto-dragons and dragons may have origins in these — and other — elemental drakes. The inhabitants of Deepholm, the Skywall, the Firelands, and the Abyssal Maw are less than talkative on these matters, however, and most of them were not around when the elemental prisons were created.