the wielder’s strength and rank among the Bearded (and range from daggers to great blades or scythes) Boneshards, incidentally, cherish pieces of broken drakeblades for their own purposes • Beacon Watchful: Whenever possible, Dramidgeth always sleep facing the stars, in hopes of seeing Tharcluun’s Beacon, should it appear • Daragkorlis Festivals: The Dramidgeth engage in the Daragkorlis, monthly dragon festivals dedicated to particular dragon types or constellations of the same, revering a sort of a Zodiac of Dragons During these festivals, any dead Dramidgeth (some packed in salt, if they passed away since the last Daragkorlis) are laid out with ceremony and left for wild dragons to eat • Dragon Slayer Enmity: Dramidgeth hold deepseated hatred in their hearts for all dragon slayers and hunters • Kuad Ahir Enmity: They hate the Kuad Ahir, the “Awakened” followers of the enigmatic Prophet, since their powers are a mockery of true magic • Gare Attessa Enmity: The Bearded Ones also loathe the Gare Attessa and distrust those pervasive Chroniclers “who must be up to no good.” • Trakeen Affinity: They are always friendly to Trakeen, the Dragon King worshipers • Tharcluun’s Blessing: The Dragon King Tharcluun blessed the original founders of Dramidge to enhance their magic The most senior mages repeat this ceremony annually, using a wild dragon to keep that tradition alive (along with whatever mysterious enhancements come from it) The Importance of History When one meets a Dramidget, one always finds more than a few books near at hand, as this college stresses an importance on history and knowledge thereof Their books on magic are equally important, some more than others A popular saying in Teleris mocks that “A Dramidget holds knowledge aplenty, if he has a way to carry all his books.” However, the mages make a distinction between a book and a tome To a Dramidgian, a tome is both a holy relic of the college and a powerful artifact and spellbook in its own right Each Dramidget hopes to attain a level of knowledge and spellcraft that their own personal book—a combined journal and spellbook containing all a mage learns and experiences since his graduation be- 24 yond Daragari status—might attain the coveted status of a Dramidgian Tome While the exact number of Draneek Tomes is unclear even to many Bearded Ones, there are at least a dozen verified by non-Dramidgian historians and eyewitnesses They are of three types in order of importance—the Major Tomes (attributed to the seven original college founders), the Grand Tomes (those later Dramidgeth with extensive contact with Tharcluun, of which there may be up to five tomes), and the Great Tomes (any major Dramidgeth in power or daragkish knowledge since the Classic Age, these numbering no less than four) All the most revered magical tomes of the college originally stayed in Rhojess from their writing until the recent past Now removed and almost always on the move, the Draneek Tomes secretly travel around the Granite Basin with several deep hiding places Draneek Tome Guards specialize in protective and obscuration magic to keep the tomes safe Failure to protect the tomes or adhere to the magical college rules is punishable by death The loss of any tome matters most to Dramidgeth—without their Tomes, they may lose their rituals and their magic from which they draw their power and their connections to the Daragkarik Rumors & Whispers The truth of any rumors attributed to the Dramidgeth is unclear, as they never confirm or deny any of them This leads most to safely assume any stories heard are true until personal experience proves otherwise Of the wide and varied rumors, these are the most frequent • Dramidgian mages control wild dragons without any apparent spells at all • Many blame them specifically for the departure of the Dragon Kings, though most are hard-pressed for an explanation as to why • Even a fool “knows” the Dramidgeth nurture dragon eggs in the desert • Many fear they gather slaves to feed to wild dragons or their tame servitor dragons • The only places you can find more than one Dramidgian wizard are their schools and tutor halls, inside which are guardian dragons reduced in size but not in power • Their entire college estate in Rhojess, some say, is not carved stone but actual daragkin—the bodies of rock and mud dragons that died at the command of Tharcluun and the founding Dramidgeth to bulwark the college and its students with their power (and to provide permanent self-sustaining water supplies separate from the city wells)