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ORIGINSOnly the most arrogant enthusiast might claim certainknowledge of dragons’ origins, and such a claimshould be taken with a grain of salt. Legends andthe knowledge that sages do have, however, stretchback for centuries and hint at what might have been.Sometimes new stories come to light, promptingreassessments of the existing body of knowledge andspeculation regarding dragon inception.First DragonsThe five major dragon families (chromatic, catastrophic,metallic, scourge, and planar; see theMonster Manual for details) share a common origin.Most accounts begin with mention of the deity Io.Io, as legend has it, created dragons in his ownshape but without a divine spark, so that dragonsmight frolic and exult in the new world formed bythe primordials. To Io, dragons were the epitomeof mortal form. Though they lived in the world, thepower of the Elemental Chaos flowed in their veinsand spewed from their mouths in gouts of flame orwaves of paralyzing cold. They also developed keenminds and lofty spirits that linked them, as with allsentient mortal beings, to the Astral Sea.The SunderingDuring the wars between the primordials and thegods that followed the world’s creation, the primordialknown as the King of Terror attacked and slewIo and the dragons defending Io. According to oneaccount, the dragon deities Tiamat and Bahamut rosefrom the two halves of Io’s corpse. Another legendclaims that Tiamat and Bahamut were among Io’seldest creations and received their father’s divinespark upon his death.Io’s remaining children found their position lesssecure than they had believed it to be. Forced to adaptto a changing world, they chose diverse philosophiesand lifestyles to reflect their individual natures.A number of surviving dragons chose to followBahamut, called the Platinum Dragon, and theybecame the first metallic dragons. Over the ages,as Bahamut upheld justice, opposed evil, and liberatedthe oppressed, creatures other than dragonscame to honor him as the deity of justice, protection,nobility, and honor. In the fullness of time, he hasbecome better known for those attributes than for hisassociation with metallic dragons. Today, all metallicdragons revere Bahamut as their originator, but notall of them worship him.6CHAPTER 1 | Dragon LoreFRANCIS TSAI