The Dragon Nations
The event during which the gods of the Greater Pantheon brought demi-humanity to Ere is called Saint’s Landing. This name refers to the powerful beings that accompanied the gods to Ere to guide and protect mortals from the deadly spirit beasts that prowled the land.

Most of the sphinxes, giants, titans and other mighty beings that helped establish the first mortal cities migrated to the Moons soon after doing their part in mankind’s history. A few of these beings remain on the continent, but the greatest remnants of the Saints are the dragons; who have organized themselves into clans, called Nations.

When dragons refer to their ‘Nation’, they are referring to their color, which is akin to breeds of cat or dog. Dragons view these blood bonds with great importance. They will fight to the death to defend another dragon of their Nation from outsiders, even if the two dragons have a personal blood feud and will generally follow the strongest of their kind if asked. A dragon no related by blood can sometimes be blooded (adopted) into another nation in a ceremony in which the dragon is tattooed with unique patterns and markings along his face and wings to show his new loyalties.

There are eight recognized Dragon Nations on Ere. They are: black, brass, bronze, copper, green, red, silver and white. One color of dragon, the gold, has no recognized clan. Nations are ruled by the oldest or most recognizably powerful dragon in a given region; thus the most powerful dragon in a mountain range rules that range, but he may be subservient to the a more powerful dragon when it comes to national matters.

This near fanatical adherence to the Nations has lead to them being viewed by outsiders in the same light as political organizations. This view isn’t entirely incorrect, as the dragon Nations compete constantly over territory and hunting grounds.

The Dragon Nations as a whole try to stay out of mortal affairs, never exerting any influence as a whole. This is because they still feel responsibility for allowing Ghazhuulphear and his armies to betray their ancient promise to the gods to protect mortals. Sadly, the draconic memory is worse in many respects than the memory of elves, most fleeing memory and much detail fading in the span of even two centuries. As such, some dragons and even a few individual Nations have begun to take a more hands on approach in the affairs of mortals.

Naming conventions
Dragons name themselves within the first ten years of their hatching. All dragon names consist of their own name, followed by the last draconic syllable of their Nation name separated by an apostrophe (Example: Kalueth’nor). Only close friends are allowed to refer to a dragon by their given name alone.

Children substitute the honorific ‘sira for their father’s Nation name and ‘mira for their mothers. Parents substitute the honorific ‘lit for the Nation name of their offspring.

While gold dragons still exist, their nation was thrown down and is no longer recognized. They have no nation name and their names contain no honorific. Gold dragons whose names were recorded before the fall of the Gold Nation have the apostrophe removed from their name (Ghazhuulphear, for example, was once Ghazhuul’phear)

The Nations
For the most part, the behavior and temperament of the dragons of Ere is not genetic; it is cultural, dependant of which Nation a dragon was raised by (usually the one corresponding to their color). A dragon that is not part of a Nation for some reason has an outlook appropriate to those it associates with.

The boundaries of color are not social boundaries in any way. Dragons interbreed freely among one another with the resultant clutch having a 70% chance of being the mother’s color, a 29% chance of being the father’s color and a 1% chance of being a sterile half breed (applying the half dragon template of the father’s color to the dragon type of the mother). All dragons from the same clutch are the same color.

Interbreeding with non-dragons is a strong cultural taboo among most nations, though all Nations have a few deviant members who take mortal and even monstrous lovers. The result of a mating between a humanoid and a dragon has a 20% chance of being a half-dragon and an 80% chance of being dragon-sired.