The Worst Scourge

As bad as they are, Defilers are not the worst of magic's blights. Compared to the dragon, even sorcerer-kings are babes toying with a dimly understood gift. The dragon wields sorcery powerful enough to crush entire cities, and so destructive that we must measure the devastation caused by its spells in square miles. Anything that crawls or walks or flies trembles at the mere sight of the horrid beast, for the dragon draws its magical energy from animal life. When it casts its spells, any creature from whom it draws energy collapses in its tracks, dying before it hits the ground. In addition, the dragon can store magical energy in its body for use at a later time. This gives it the freedom to use its spells in even the most barren of wastes and the incentive to roam over wide expanses of desert in search of food. Being a wanton user of magic, the dragon preys upon anything that can feed its ravenous appetite for energy. When the horrid beast is about, caravans of withered corpses line the trading routes. Whole herds of desiccated erdlus rest alongside their shepherds in blackened fields of dead saltbrush. Entire villages lie smashed and flattened, the bodies of the inhabitants strewn about the streets like refuse. No society, from the smallest family of hunters to the largest, most crowded city-state, is safe from the dragon.