Dragonborn

The Dragonborn were once a well-respected, honourable race in the Isles. Before the Cataclysm, they were met with adoration in the cities, often regarded as honest upholders of the law. Since the skies turned red, the Dragonborn themselves have not changed much, still living by their same code of honour. However, the other races now fear and distrust the Dragonborn, not because of what they have done, but because of what they may become.

During the Cataclysm, it became known that the Dragonborn are (willing or not) vessels for the Great Wyrms. It was once thought that dragons, while rare, bred normally and raised their young. This turned out to be quite false. When the dragons emerged during all of the chaos, the habitants of the Isle learned that there is actually only ever 10 dragons in existence at a time: Five Chromatics (Red, Green, Blue, Black and White) and five Metallics (Gold, Silver, Copper, Bronze and Brass).

In the rare event that a dragon died, its soul would inhabit a Dragonborn it deemed worthy. The chosen Dragonborn would be overcome with the need to quest to a far-off area where it could remain in solace, hidden from the rest of the world. Not much is known about this process, but in time, the body of the Dragonborn would be consumed, and the dragon would be reborn. It was this secretive rebirthing that lead the inhabitants of the Isles to believe many dragons existed, as they would see dragons of varying ages.

When the chaos of the Cataclysm began, an all-out war began in the skies. The Metallics and the Chromatics battled openly, with little care for what lay beneath them. Many cities were razed to the ground inadvertently as breath weapons, or even the bodies of vanquished dragons fell from the sky.

Chillingly, the Metallics not only lost this war in the skies, but the Metallic Dragonborn have never been seen since. The only Dragonborn on the Isles are chromatics, which have lead to fear and distrust from anyone else... and there are a lot of chromatic Dragonborn.

Legends have held that most of the dragons fell during the Cataclysm, but no Metallic Dragon or Dragonborn has been seen since. Most of the chromatic dragons fell as well, but their dragonborn walk the Isles, indicating the dragons will return.

A deep-seated fear and distrust of the otherwise honourable, and seemingly innocent Dragonborn has risen sharply ever since the sudden appearance of Serpent Mountain. Genuine trust in the growing population of chromatic Dragonborn across the isles would be extremely uncommon. Some craftier humans have been known to use this fear of the Dragonborn to their advantage, by hiring the Dragonborn as guards and enforcers in town, but always with a sharp eye on them.