Izhkarial
Creature 16Brine dragons are usually blue-green in color, with shiny scales, crests that help them glide through the water, and sweeping neck frills. They care little for either good or evil. As they are both opinionated and willing to impose their sense of order on others, many brine dragons eventually seek to rule over a meticulously crafted community. These communities are orderly and well-planned, with rigid standards of courtesy and unchanging laws set down by the dragon themself. A settlement seeded by a brine dragon can be made of members of almost any ancestry, but the most common inhabitants are humans, merfolk, tengus, or sahuagin.
Depending on the dragon's personality, their community members might view their brine dragon ruler as anything from a benevolent force of order to a fearful tyrant. Regardless, the typical brine dragon has little patience for kindness or philanthropy, and the strength and health of their settlement as a whole are of greater concern than individuals' well-being. A notable exception to this dispassion rises when an outside force encroaches on their lands. In these cases, the brine dragon is quick to step in and aid in the defense of their community.
Although brine dragons enjoy cultivating settlements, they rarely make their lairs within the city limits, instead preferring to dwell in sea caves or cliffside grottoes overlooking the coastline. Here they can retreat for privacy as needed, or can accumulate and display their gathered wealth in a place where they feel safe spreading out their treasures. Brine dragon hoards often consist of a mix of offerings and taxes paid by those they rule over and strange discoveries salvaged from sunken ships.