Just when you think we are reaching the end of the many varieties of dragons, no, there
are some even I have not heard of before that I kind of just stumble across, and for today's
dragon, that is exactly what it is like when you encounter them on the world of Toril,
also, Toril is the only known planet that they are found, so, let me introduce you to
the very, very rare Gem dragon sub-species called the Beljuril draons.
First a note on the Beljuril gemstone and it's qualities.
I'll be quoting in parts directly from the Forgotten Realms wiki pages on these topics,
and also quoting from issue number 265 of Dragon Magazine, published in November 1999,
just on the cusp of the release of 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons.
This issue of the Dragon magazine had a lot of Volcanic themed content, including a fairly
amazing magic user that literally controls techtonic forces and deliberately creates
volcanic activity, so, as you might guess, the Beljuril dragons are found exclusively
in actively volcanic areas, meanwhile the gemstones, while they can be found in these
dragons lairs, they are most often found in ancient rock formations, such as blue claystone,
having formed over a very long period of time out of the minerals found in there.
Beljurils, are also known as fireflashils or fireflashes, and like the dragons, are
only found in the forgotten realms where they are highly prized for their unusual properties.
They are found as fist sized not quite spherical deep seawater green, smooth surfaced gemstones.
Oh I should say roughly the size of a human fist.
Every hour or so a beljuril gem flashes some light, without heat or sound but with a pretty
little sparkle of electicity that can be seen from some distance in the dark and a moderate
distance even in candle light or in twilight.
The unusual luminous property even work if the stone is kept away from light, so it doesn't
just absorb only light.
Many sages and specialists have strived to unlock the secrets of the Beljurils over many
centuries, it has become invaluable in the currently most widespread and popular method
of constructing Wands of Lightning and other items that deal with the Electrical sphere.
You can see the shards of Beljuril in the very tip of your wand if you happen to have
one handy.
The resulting focus of the electroical bolt is stronger and harder to block.
Its also a pigment added to ink for scrolls involving lightning and a grounding assister
added to iron lightning rods, copper shock sticks and the new charged blowgun electro-stunners
just hitting the market in Lantan from the ever industrious church of Gond.
Obviously such a rare and useful gem is quite expensive and highly coveted in the Underdark
as well as the surface world.
The Drow elves of several enclaves use it as a lavish decoration strictly to important
places like a wizards' tower, ornate and imposing temple approaches, or inside the profane temples
of their cults and those of the orhodox temple of Lolth.
There are exceptions, for example, temples to Vhaeraun a high vaulted roof illuminated
by sparkling beljuril gems to simulate the star filled night sky over head, something
handy to acclimatize raiding parties before they head high up and climb a long way to
reach the surface word, the entry ways often found at the bottom of recklassly excavated
dungeons and wells, or naturally deep plunging cave networks that lead back to the surface
world.
There are many distant, hidden or forgotten places on the world of Toril, it is an endlessly
epic wonderland of weirdness and there are places in the world where humanoids never
dared to settle, and other places where they dared but were driven back.
These wastelands of glass and wind, lava plains and magma chambers, are home to creatures
who are part animal and part energy.
Some were born of a volcanic eruption, others were spawned by the resulting destruction.
They require large spaces to live, and their harsh environment admits few other residents.
Often their only neighbors are denizens of the Inner elemental planes, where these dragons
also sometimes travel.
Sages collect stories from the few wanderers who encountered them and returned alive to
tell the tale.
Most information is known only through story and legend.
Beljuril dragons feed on, among other things, seismic energy.
They can use this energy and drawn to it, even if it lies deep beneath the planet surface.
If they draw on this energy too deeply, their feeding sparks earthquakes and even volcanic
eruptions.
Jennifer Tittle Stack informs us in her dragon magazine article that there is an ancient
Faerunian legend that tells of a king who wanted a beljuril dragon for a pet.
The curious creature was restless and agreed to leave their volcanic habitat and go into
what they call the Shallowlands, which is what they call the vast majority of the rest
of the world that is not undegoing a lot of seismic activity and has low seismic energy.
After a time the dragon felt a deep hunger that could not be sated.
The dragon found the energy so far below the surface that when it was drawn up by the dragon
to feed on, the ground buckled violently enough to swallow up the whole kingdom.
If beljuril dragons wander too far or are away too long from the geological hot spots
with all that elemental power, their strength will begin to fade away and they will, slowly
but inevitably die.
This reliance on such a rare and isolated terrain means that they don't really interact
with other species that much and thus, other species are safe from the potential destruction
these dragons could cause.
Beljuril dragons are likely to gravitate toward naturally occuring planar portals that lead
to the Inner elemental plane of Fire, they fit into the ecology of the magma seas and
islands dotted with iron watch towers overlooking the City of Brass on a massive dark edifice
of volcanic stone, the metal domes of its countless mineretes and grand palaces, but,
Beljuril dragons keep a great distance between themselves and the Efreeti if they can.
All gem dragons are reclusive.
In appearance, the Beljuril dragons are much like their descendents, the Obsidian Gem dragons,
but the attitude and specific quirks of the Beljurils makes them stand apart from their
kin.
First, they are typically of a chaotic neutral alignment, and their population is so low,
I mean almost all of them are of that alignment, an exception would be quite notable, second,
their species is ancient and originally cavorted and swam through oceans of magma, cooling
in the torrential rains and titanic gales of a newly formed planet Toril, which would
mean that either the Gem dragons are much older than the Metallic and Chromatic dragons,
or, perhaps an obsidian dragon traveled back in time somehow and the Beljuril dragons are
that individuals descendents, the gem dragons probably know the truth, they are exceptionally
intelligent, but, they either don't care to tell anyone else, or they really don't know.
The third possibility is that, the Beljurils are so rare and uninvolved in the affairs
of the other dragons, that nobody really cares either way, as long as nobody raises this
topic within earshot of an Obsidian dragon, as their ego doesn't abide being even closely
compared to the Beljurils, they consider that quite insulting and respond in a deadly fashion.
Chromatic and Metallic dragons tend to not care either, as the Beljurils are remarkably
non-aggressive for true dragons, you could actually approach them fairly closely without
being in danger, other than the extreme risk of their volcanic territory of course.
The dragons, like all gem dragons, have potent psionic powers along with a total immunity
to fire and heat, they inhabit lava lakes formed at the summit of a volcano by an eruption.
This is an awesome environment where curtains of fire coil and fountains of fire periodically
leap, bubble and jet out of the lava lake.
The molten rock is smooth and sinuous, it cools to a dark skin, which is torn and cracked
by the currents, and by the movement of creatures that reside within it.
The dragons only migrate from their home territory when there is another eruption about to take
place elsewhere, the massive release of seismic energy is a feast for them and also prime
new territory for new lairs, and of course, producing offspring, or a chance for the younger
dragons to establish new lairs of their own.
The young beljuril dragons are curious about creatures that live in the shallowlands and
may bother to learn one of their languages, but they really have nothing in common and
not much to talk about, as while they find shallowlands creatures easy enough to figure
out, they quickly grow bored dealing with... for want of a better term.. dull brained animals
with no psionic powers.
Beljuril dragons don't often develop telepathy and don't bother with empathic of mind manipulation
powers, they are physical psychics, able to manipulate molecules, control flame and heat,
transform and contain energy and heal their body.
They are also dragons of course, they have got two forms of breath weapon, one is a burst
of seizmic energy which discharges as a spectacular green, violet, or blue elongated orb that
sparkles with intense flashing light.
This energy absorbs heat, light and vibratory energy at random and releases a pulse of seismic
force that is strangely silent aside from the roaring crackle of electrical bolts it
discharges.
The seismic blast inflicts a lot of damage but can only be used in areas with a lot of
seismic energy to tap into.
The second breath weapon is a gout of magma.
Most magma has an average temperature that ranges between 1,292-2,372 F (700-1,300 C),
the magma released by the Beljuril dragon may occasionally contain the highly valuable
and rare Beljuril gems which will be scattered over areas where these creatures spend a lot
of time.
Which brings us to the main reason why these dragons interact attention from aggressive
little humanoids... treasure of course, a spectacular variety of raw, uncut precious
ores and gems, but these are just pretty things collected from their immediate enviroment,
the real treasure that these dragons value enough to travel away from their volcanic
lairs for is star metal, meteorites, they really love that stuff as it assists them
greatly in spell casting and rituals.
In Dungeons & Dragons, meteoric metal has fantastic arcane properties, because that
is what ancient people believed, quite a few modern folks believe that also it seems as
metallic meteorites fetch very high prices from people purchasing them for the purpose
of new age medicine, healing properties of crystals and minerals of all sorts.
Great treasures can be found in Beljuril dragon lairs.
The dragons swim among rare ores carried into the lava lakes from deep within the planet.
The lakes are also 50% likely to contain liquid gold, silver and copper in a much larger amount
than people would believe, but the problem is that these metals are in a liquid state
due to the heat.
Precious stone is also fairly plentiful and of course, the fist sized, 5000 gold coin
in value Beljuril gems that can be found studding the rock all over the place.
Beljuril dragons display a lava-like coloration, with grey or black plates interspersed with
red and yellow outlines.
Older beljuril dragons develop dark grey and violet scales streaked with incandescent blue
and green.
They range in size from 11‑foot-long (3.4‑meter) wyrmlings to 200‑foot-long (61‑meter)
great wyrms, as with all dragons since 4th edition, the general sizes of dragons have
been more or less standardized, so you will know how old a dragon has to be of that species
specifically, before it gets to be this size category, which saves on a lot of confusion.
Red dragons reach larger size categories faster and earlier than other chromatic dragons,
so, they have a justifiable reputation for being brutes and dominant tyrants, but given
enough time, most dragon sub species are able to produce a Great Wyrm over a thousand years
old, I have posted an expanded size chart here for you, and if you compare the challenge
rating of the dragon listings from official sources, you can work out what CR each size
category of that dragon is.
Its not hard.
My name is AJ Pickett, I make videos like this and hundreds more full of D&D lore.
Have an excellent time including these dragons in your games, tell your players I said Hi,
put me in your game as a Non player character sage, by all means, and as always I will be
back with more for you, very soon.