These are all excellent points Xelu. Above, Plortius suggests that Nok may have meant those on the road of dragon metamorphosis, or otherwise advanced beings. I do not think this was the case. Nok rather clearly was referencing fully metamorphosed 30th level dragons. Nok spoke of one dragon pushing out the other from its territory. This makes sense only in context of one 30th level dragon pushing out the other.
Jadenfayle brings up the issue of the dragon frenzy. Surely this is an important issue. However, Athas is a large world, and if their devastations remained isolated to the remote corners of the planet, the Champions of Rajaat may have not felt the need to intervene (or perhaps they were overly busy at the time).
Another clumsy point is the obvious question as to why the Champions of Rajaat would have remained 21st level dragons (most of them anyway), and not progressed onward. We may say that they feared one another, and that he who advanced too far was liable to be overwhelmed by the united. Borys himself however seems to have had a different view, and very interestingly we gain some insight into his thoughts on this subject. At the end of The Amber Enchantress, Tithian dares a fascinating discussion with Borys:
“I promise you, my city will meet its levy next year,” Tithian
answered, forcing himself not to look at the torture being inflicted on his
former advisors.
“Your city!” the Dragon scoffed. “Tyr belonged to Kalak, and Kalak to
me. His power was my power, and you have robbed me of that.”
Tithian shook his head defiantly. “No, we did you a favor. Kalak was
trying to become a dragon so he could take your place.”
“I’ll be the judge of what favors me and what does not,” the great
beast snarled. “All sorcerer-kings are dragons of one kind or another,
though they assume different shapes to suit their tastes. If Kalak wished
to fashion himself after my form, that was his business—but he would
not have dreamed of taking my place. Saying such things only shows
how little you know about what you’ve taken upon yourself.”
By this, we take it that in and of itself, Borys seems not to have been overly concerned about Kalak transforming fully into a dragon, and would have still considered him a subordinate. We even are to take it that Kalak himself would have recognized this. I think this is no bluff or fanciful thinking from Borys. He is telling the truth. The Lord of Ur Draxa was the Keeper of the Black Sphere, and none of their number would have ever jeopardized their very lives by interfering with Borys office. In Cerulean Storm, on several occasions his peers called Borys “Great One,” and it is a title of respect and fear.
The assassination of Dregoth and the magical self-inflicted destruction of the metamorphosing Khalid-ma may have given much pause for the other Champions continuing with the transformation. Also, they may have been reluctant to continue for more personal reasons. The loss of what remained of their humanity may have potentially weighed heavily upon them. They also may have become extremely possessive and even caring over their cities, and may have seen the metamorphosis as leading to the abandonment of their domains and peoples. Danger of course followed the metamorphosis steps. Khalid-ma seemingly killed himself in one of the rituals, after all. And the animalistic stage may have brought them great pause. In the case of Kalak, unlike in the time of Dregoth, Borys was there to kill Kalak should he also succumb to animalistic frenzy, which perhaps Kalak in his madness was prepared to risk. I imagine Kalak, even if successful, would have still been responsible for his levy, even if all of Tyr were destroyed in his elevation to a full 30th level dragon.
As to other full dragons out there, as to my own campaign I will keep my thoughts on this private, but I will say that were they to exist, the explanation of them needs to be sound. Jealousy and suspicion would attract the attention of the Champions, and they likely would have been killed, especially non-Champions, so therefore any that actually exist need to have sound explanations for how they avoided this fate, and how they rose in power. Upon reflection, especially given Borys’ words above, I do not think it is impossible for Borys to have tolerated other dragons. But surely, if they ruled anything meaningful as far as empires, they would have paid the levy, or would have faced the Champions. This is why I think any that are out there are not great kings, but closer to lone beasts, great monster of the farthest wilds of Athas, who have likely consumed in mass devastation all that is around them for many hundreds of miles or more over the centuries. Should they exist though, I speculate that many of our favorite fan-maps may present far more forest and other verdant strips than actually exist, and that indeed, with “many” dragons, Athas is a very forlorn world indeed.
But even with multiple dragons, I think none would dare interfere with Borys. As leader of the Revolt and the surviving Champions of Rajaat, he would not face any serious challenger alone. His power base in Ur Draxa was certainly the greatest super-fortress on Athas, so indomitable so as to make even the assault of another full-fledged dragon seem to be a foolish thing. His final mastery was likely uncontested, though I imagine, as Nok said, he would have stayed largely in vast domain/continent, while they remained in theirs, there as yet being no need for any undue conflict.
This is a fascinating subject to me, and opens the wonders of the farthest reaches of Athas, which so few of us have meaningfully explored. I am hoping to explore further now the Anattan Continent, which asks this and many such other questions.
that indicates rampaging on other planes much more strongly to me then
