Xorvintaal Dragon
The Ones Who Play The Great Game
By Allan Frost AKA: Big Ugly
© Big Ugly Designs 2008
Dragons of the Great
Game
All dragons, above the age of adult,
devote their lives to a competition called
Xorvintaal, the “Great Game.” They scheme
against their fellows, wagering their hoards and
manipulating their minions like chess pieces.
Sometimes those that don’t directly serve a
dragon find themselves caught up in the game.
Dragons choose to take up Xorvintaal
when they’re adults, drawn by the allure of
besting their fellow dragons and the promise of
vast treasure and respect. But the game
demands commitment from its players.
Dragons are a proud and solitary creatures, so
Xorvintaal is one of the few ways a dragon can
earn draconic prestige. Masters of Xorvintaal
are regarded as the finest minds among
dragonkind.
To join the great game, a dragon must
preform the Ritual of Xorvintaal. The rotual
requires the dragon to spend a month
meditating in a magic cocoon. When the
dragon emerges, it is forever marked as a
dragon of the Great Game, having sacrificied
its innate spellcasting ability for the ability to
manipulate its minions, to interact telepathically
woth other Xorvintaal dragons, and to gain
power as it advances in the Great Game.
Xorvintaal has a feudal element as well,
with older, successful players taking new
players under their wings. A new player that
does well earns esteem and influence for its
older draconic partons, and the older dragon
earns a share of the younger dragon’s hoard
and of future conquests.
The rules of Xorvintaal forbid dragon-todragon conflict except under rare
circumstances. Most players act subtly to divert
attention from themselves, avoiding the direct
ire of other players.
Because they join the Great Game
through a transformation ritual, Xorvintaal
dragons are incapable of breaking the rules,
but they have the potent minions and the
unusual abilities granted by the Ritual of
Xorvintaal. They manipulate adventures and
other creatures to raid the lairs of their
opponents. These pieces in the Great Game
draw attention to themselves rather then to
their manipulator. After a successful move,
such pieces might find themselves the target of
a more powerful Xorvintaal dragon that had a
stake in the defeated dragon’s treasure and
winnings.1
Xorvintaal takes years to learn and
centuries to play. Only dragons understand the
finer points of the rules. At its heart, Xorvintaal
is a combination of chess and poker, played
with the world as the board and “lesser”
creatures as the pieces. Dragons use lackeys
to take over one another’s territiries and
hoards, but they must also place their own
hoards and lairs at risk.
1
© Big Ugly Designs 2008
Monster Manual V
In the Beginning
In the beginning there was only one
dragon. He was the first and all who came
after, came from him.
Xorvintaal, was the first dragon of
Milosha. He was created as the Gods created
the world. He spent his time traveling Milosha
observing the creations of the Gods. Always
being alone and never a part of Milosha as it
developed. As the years went by he grew
bored with the world and the creatures that
inhabited it. He created dragons in his image
and gave each type a piece of his body and
soul, insuring that each type of dragon was just
a smaller aspect of his nature. But soon he
become frustrated with the way the other
creatures viewed his children. Instead of
accepting them they feared them and tried to
destroy his beloved children. His children
became a solitary race, only associating with
each other. This enraged Xorvintaal, how could
these mortals be so naive that they would shun
his children? His children are magnificent
creatures born with size, beauty and
intelligence that these lesser races could only
dream of obtaining.
This is the point where Xorvintaal
decided to create the Great Game. Instead of
trying to be accepted by the lesser mortals, his
children would control and manipulate them
like puppets. Many years were spent defining
the boundaries of the Great Game. Perfecting
it, determining what could and couldn’t be done
within the rules of the Great Game. Many
mortal life times went by as Xorvintaal and his
children developed the Great Game. The rules
were constantly changing and evolving as new
concepts and maneuvers with tried. Some
good for the game and some that would only
lead to the destruction of the dragons.
Xorvintaal made dragon-to-dragon conflict the
© Big Ugly Designs 2008
first unacceptable practice. Having his own
children destroying each other was not the goal
he was trying to obtain with the playing of the
Great Game. Instead he wanted his children to
use the mortals as pawns in his own game. As
a way to show them who is the strongest race
on Milosha.
After playing the Great Game for
over 5000 years, Xorvintaal found that his
children had developed their skill in the Great
Game to a point where he was no longer
needed to act as a player, but as a judge. He
spent all of his time traveling around the known
world determining who was winning and losing
at the Great Game.
After many years of constant travel and
always having to get information second hand,
Xorvintaal decided that the time had come that
his children would succeed on Milosha and the
only thing that truly mattered anymore to him
was the Great Game. It had become his only
purpose in life and the form he was in didn’t
help him observe and tally the scores in the
game correctly. After consulting with several of
his older children he decided that it was time
for him to leave his physical body and ascend
to a higher place where he could better
observe the Great Game. After a few hundred
years of gathering the need materials and
researching the powerful magic that would be
needed. Xorvintaal created the Ritual of
Xorvintaal that would bind all his children to the
Great Game and to him in his new form.
Xorvintaal’s new form would be a magical
mirror that would be used as a focus point for
the binding ritual and also a home for his
spiritual essence. He would be able to follow
every move in the Great Game at once.
Observing them as they happened and
therefore being able to judge and rank each
move immediately.
Not only will the mirror provide a new
base and home for Xorvintaal, it will serve as a
trophy that will be maintained by the Supreme
Master of the Great Game. The mirror has
many benefits that will help the Supreme
Master as he plays the Great Game.
The Mirror of Xorvintaal
The Mirror of Xorvintaal is a large oval
shaped mirror made of living liquid silver that is
the essence of Xorvintaal. It had an obsidian
frame that in inlayed with thousands of runes
and gems. The mirror is 20 ft. high and 15 ft.
wide. The obsidian frame has a width of 3 ft.
When you look at the gems and runes inlayed
in the obsidian, you get the feeling of looking
into the clear night sky of Milosha, gazing upon
millions of stars and far away worlds.
The mirror is a very powerful artifact,
and it grants many special abilities to the
Supreme Master and his exarchs.
Powers:
3/day-The mirror can be made invisible for up
to 3 hours each time.
At will it can be shrunk down to 2”by2” for
travel and protection.
3/day-The Supreme Master can use the mirror
to communicate with any player in the Great
Game.
© Big Ugly Designs 2008
1/century-The mirror can remove 50 years of
aging effects from one person/dragon.
1/decade-The mirror can remove 1 year of
aging effects from one person/dragon.
1/year-The mirror can remove 1 month of aging
effects from one person/dragon.
1/month-The mirror can remove 1 day of aging
effects from one person/dragon.
These powers are usually used on the
Supreme Master or other players, exarchs that
have gained great favor with the Supreme
Master.
1/year-The mirror will show the Supreme
Master the one person/dragon who is their
greatest challenger in the Great Game.
The current Supreme Master Knasith an
Ancient Gold Dragon who lives on the Thrillian
Islands has used the mirror to keep his age
effectively at 550 years, even though he is
almost 1000 years old.
The Great Game in
Milosha
On the World of Milosha there are
currently forty five dragons playing the Great
Game. They are all based around the continent
of Aslem. There are many dragons throughout
the World of Milosha but the Great Game has
been lost to all but the dragons of Aslem. Not
ever dragon plays the Great Game with the
same amount of zeal and effort. Many of the
dragons have adopted a passive approach to
the Great Game. This trait worries Xorvintaal,
because this same attitude is the reason that
only the dragons of Aslem play the Great
Game.
There are currently 15 dragons of adult
age or greater on the continent of Aslem that
are not players of the Great Game. Twelve of
them have been given lifetime banes from
playing the Great Game by Xorvintaal. Most of
them have been exiled from the Great Game
for multiple infractions of the rules of the Great
Game. Almost everyone one of them still tries
to affect the Great Game by disrupting all the
players or by just harassing a selected player.
Two dragons do not play the Great Game due
to great injuries or illness that have affected
their abilities to play the Great Game.
Xorvintaal insures that all their needs are taken
care of by the Supreme Master. And one
dragon a Great Wyrm who has lived will
beyond her time as given up on the game
waiting for her journey into the Twilight.
© Big Ugly Designs 2008
Xorvintaal Map of the Continent of Alsem on the World of Milosha.
© Big Ugly Designs 2008