Behind the Dark Fist - Golotians

I am a huge fan of non-human, non-standard races in almost any RPG I  
play. So the most fun part for me in writing what I have for Behind  
the Dark Fist was playing with non-standard race options for  
characters from the Twelve Spheres region. Of all of the places left  
bereft of fleshing-out in the Under the Dark Fist product (which, as  
a I side note, I notice tends to happen a lot with the published SJ  
library -- pretty much my only complaint about SJ), the one I most  
looked forward to playing with was Golotspace.

 From the brief block-text provided for Golotspace, I immediately  
thought of employing the Council of Wyrms rules. It seemed a very  
natural fit, based on what little I knew about the Golotians from the  
adventure itself.

I have also always had a twisted fantasy about having a Dragon PC  
adventure alongside "lesser" PC races -- though not as a DM, of  
course. God that would be a nightmare. Such fantasies are only for  
players, and man would I love to tear the everloving snot out of  
stuff with a dragon, while my human companions look on in bewildered,  
jealous awe of my munchkinny goodness. Whether a DM (should a DM ever  
actually run any of this material) would actually do that is up to  
him/her, but I provided notes anyway for the sake of completeness  
(and to allow dragon NPCs from Golotspace to be rolled as well,  
should a DM need them).

Humans are the only humanoid race mentioned as living on Golot, and I  
was wary of putting down a population of demihumans. The one thing I  
like about what I've written so far about the Twelve Spheres is that  
almost nothing is "normal" like you would expect in a D&D setting.  
And that mood would just totally be horribly murdered by the  
inclusion of a tribe of HIgh Elves, Hill Dwarves and Rock Gnomes  
gaily prancing their Tolkeinny way into things. (okay, gnomes aren't  
Tolkeinny, but whatever) I did venture to plop down half-dragons,  
though, because I always try to give that race some love when I can.  
I also added extra dragon and half-dragon races from two issues of  
DRAGON magazine. Because of why not.

I see the Golotians being one of the most horribly conservative  
factions of the Twelve Spheres. They are severely isolationist and  
guarded -- even from each other! -- and are interested in uniting  
only insofar as it might keep another Vulkaran from walking in and  
taking over their whole planet again. They're ashamed and insulted  
that they were dominated for so long by people they consider less  
than them, they will not let this ever happen again. And as if that  
weren't enough subtext, a few upstarts among the dragon elite are  
agitating over the rights and protections extended to Golotian humans  
(and, by extension, the half-dragons, who are considered little  
better than their non-dragon half). Pretty soon the anti-human rights  
fiefdoms are going to secede from... the planet... and then Dragon  
Abraham Lincoln is going to have to go to war to free the humans and  
save the union... of the planet... You know I provide my own  
amusement at 6:30 in the morning when I've gone near completely  
without sleep.

Anyway, here are Golotians. And dragons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Golotians - The world of Golot (go-LOAT) in Golotspace boasts a  
culture that could easily exist on any of the major worlds of the  
Known Spheres. The one significant difference here is the pre- 
eminence of Dragons, who rule as feudal lords over fiefdoms of  
humanity. Vulkaran personally ensured the loyalties of the Dragon- 
Barons by defeating their greatest warrior (a Red Wyrm) in single  
combat. Since then, no other Dragon displayed the courage to stand up  
to the Emperor, and the Dragons were all collectively too selfish to  
band together and present a unified front against the Vodoni. Since  
Vulkaran's fall, the Golotians have realized the error of their ways  
and have banded together to form a unified world government. This  
effort was sparked first by the guilt of the Good dragons for failing  
to act, followed by the pragmatism of the Neutral dragons (who saw  
the wisdom in being unified against more conquerors from beyond the  
stars) and then joined last of all by the Evil dragons (who were  
suddenly deathly afraid of the Good and Neutral dragons allying  
against them). The result was a governing body not at all unlike that  
found in the Council of Wyrms campaign setting, with each dragon  
clan's Wyrms and Great Wyrms being afforded a seat in a shared  
decision-making council. The system is still very new to these  
dragons, who above all else prefer to defend their own fief's  
independence rather than surrender any sovereignty to a unified  
government. Though the new government is somewhat of an improvement  
over the feudal system that was in place before the Vodoni arrival in  
Golotspace, it is still mainly to benefit the Dragons before their  
human subjects -- though, to the dragons' credit, the issue that is  
most hotly debated within the new government is the expansion of  
legal rights for humans.
	•Dragons - DMs running a Behind the Dark Fist campaign should  
exhibit some discretion in allowing Dragon PCs. Dragons adventuring  
alongside "lesser" races should begin play at the Hatchling age  
category to help keep the playing field somewhat leveled. The Dragon  
races of Golot number the same fifteen from the Council of Wyrms  
setting (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Brass, Red, Blue, Green,  
Black, White, Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Topaz and Crystal), plus  
the seven additional Dragon PC races presented in DRAGON #263 "Wyrms  
of the West" (Cloud, Deep, Mercury, Mist, Shadow, Steel and Yellow  
Dragons). The Dragons generally have the same associations and  
alliances as is standard for AD&D, and like in Council of Wyrms they  
break down roughly into related clans, with each clan's territory  
being broken down into individual dragon fiefdoms ruled by individual  
dragons. The fiefdoms themselves are often divided and re-distributed  
by the clan's Great Wyrms every few generations, to accomodate clan  
growth. Within the new government, the Dragons tend to break down in  
terms of alignment: with the Good Dragons (the five traditionally  
reckoned "Metallic" dragons, plus Mercury and Steel Dragons) in one  
camp, the Evil Dragons (the Chromatic dragons, plus Deep, Shadow and  
Yellow Dragons) in another, and the Neutral Dragons (Gem Dragons,  
plus Cloud and Mist Dragons) floating or mitigating between the two  
sides. These lines blur and become indistinct on the issue of human  
rights, with dragons of all three alignment-types coming down  
scattershot on all possible sides and angles to the issue.
Dragon characters may belong to the Dragon PC, Dragon Mage, Dragon  
Priest or Dragon Psionicist (Gems only!) kits. The Dragon Sage kit  
(from DRAGON #207, "The Dragon Sage") can also be made available to  
PCs, if desired. Unlike the Council of Wyrms campaign, the player of  
a Dragon character does not get to control a character set. If the  
dragon wishes to have a Kindred, he/she must share the Kindredbond  
with another PC. Dragon PCs in a Behind the Dark Fist campaign should  
come from a clan that supports human rights. Many dragon clans do  
support human rights in the new government -- and not just good  
dragons, either. Just as a significant portion of good dragons is in  
favor of maintaining the dragons-on-top status quo, a small minority  
of evil dragons (and a somewhat larger number of neutral dragons)  
either supports or has no problems either way with the humans of  
Golot having expanded rights. These dragons join the Neo-Imperialist  
movement as an expression of their support of freedom.
	•Humans - Golotian humans do not understand this so-called "burden  
of freedom" that is plaguing the Vodoni. Unlike the Vodoni, the  
Golotians were not freed by the fall of Vulkaran. In fact, if  
anything, their lot has worsened: where once a human serf might  
escape from an abusive Chromatic master into the holding of a  
generous Metallic dragon lord, with a unified dragon government on  
Golot, the status of humans (one way or the other) is set to soon be  
defined globally. The Golotians that show up as Neo-Imperials are  
typically representatives from a beneficent dragon lord who supports  
the cause of human rights. Apart from these individuals, human travel  
offworld is a rare thing at best. Golotians begin play knowing High  
Draconic (the "Common" tongue of Dragonkind) and one other Draconic  
language appropriate to the character's local dragon lord (either the  
Metallic, Chromatic or Gem Dragon tongue). These languages are free,  
and in addition to any others the character eventually chooses to  
learn. They may also begin play with the Kindredbond proficiency, if  
a fellow player in the campaign is running a dragon and the two wish  
to be Kindred. Golotians may belong to any standard character class,  
though certain kits (such as the Dragonslayer, or the Wyrmslayer kit  
from the Paladin's handbook) are forbidden for obvious reasons.
	•Half-Dragons - A natural consequence of the arrangement of Golotian  
society, there are a prominent number of half-dragons present on this  
world. They are not always viewed as an abomination by the Golotian  
dragons; some clans lump them in with the rest of humanity, and view  
them as useful regardless of their blood. Other clans gift them with  
petty noble status, or employ them in a middle-management role as  
overseers of labor (befitting their nature, being somewhere between  
dragon and human). True enough, some of the more conservative  
elements of draconic culture think the whole idea of a half-dragon is  
somewhat disgusting, but the Golotians have had hundreds of dragon  
lifetimes to work the more violently racist responses to the  
phenomenon out of their systems. In addition to the standard Half- 
Gold, Half-Bronze and Half-Silver dragons from the Council of Wyrms  
boxed set, there are also Half-Steel and Half-Deep dragons on Golotia  
(as presented in DRAGON #206, "Part Dragon, All Hero") as well. Like  
Golotian humans, half-dragons may opt to begin play with the  
Kindredbond. They speak the language of their dragon parent in  
addition to Common and High Draconic. Half-Dragons' class selections  
and racial modifiers are all unchanged from previous presentations.