Apex Beast - Draconic Creature

[Dargurd]

Hi All - in my home brew city i've got many many layers of stories featuring all differing World and Chronicles of Darkness games. One of the thoughts/themes ive had for some time is the imagery of dragons and draconic forms. Gang symbols, corporation logos etc.

Im thinking of having a centuries old Apex beast (not even sure if thats possible) thats a dragon or ancient mokole type creature. I'd really appreciate thoughts, ideas etc. I dont see the creature being a physical manifestation as such in the city but rather an incedibly powerful ancient spirit or similair that is influencing, shaping, twisting the city.

Any thoughts, help, advice etc would be really appreciated.

[Heavy Arms]

Well, dragons can come up in a few places in the CofD depending what you want to base it on.

Plenty of Beasts themselves can have draconic Horrors, and Beasts can live at least 250 years (the book isn't 100% clear on "age at Devouring + 250 years" or "normal human lifespan + 250 years") at Lair 10. An Inheritance could have a draconic Horror separated from its human host and end up still bound to an area indefinitely instead of returning to the Primordial Dream.

Changelings are also capable of extended lifespans and some are dragon-themed. You could also have a native Hedge creature that's a dragon (or a Gentry or a Huntsman) that's also essentially ageless to be powerful enough little can challenge it for Apex status. Any such beings that do a lot in human dreams could easily spread dragon imagery around the normal human populace so it starts showing up in all sorts of places.

Downplayed in 2e, the Diamond Order mages that put stress on the metaphor of Atlantis credited some unknown dragon entities for gathering mages to Atlantis, and thus structured the Diamond Orders in their image. If the local Consilium is strongly flavored towards that interpretation of mage history, the most powerful mages would likely use normal folks embracing dragon images as tools to help monitor the goings on of the area.

And of course, nothing stops a given Shadow spirit from being a dragon in imagery, though it would take some setup to tie them to a specific location. Of course once a spirit that powerful was tied to a physical location, it would want dragon stuff everywhere to help it harvest more Essence. The Pure Tribes (esp. the Fire Touched and Ivory Claw) would seem the most likely to be at the center of this and support it.

[Dargurd]

Thankyou so much - loads of "food for thought" there. Going to spend a bit of time today taking those ideas and creating something that can sit in the background always watching, waiting, directing within the city.

[Iguazu]

For dragons, I have always looked to OWoD's MtA as the product and end result of a mage.