User:Ecstasy Amphetamine/sandbox7

The order of the Dragon Knights is a dragon-slaying faction exclusive to the series of Dota: Dragon's Blood.

Description
The history and the origins of the order of the Dragon Knights is largely unknown. But one can at least speculate how they came to be.

The Dragon Knight order is dedicated to protection of the mortal world from the plague known as dragons. For uncounted years, dragons preyed upon all sorts of lesser creatures and terrorized entire civilizations with their power over the elements and this fundamental forces. At some point in time, their more ingenious prey managed to exploit their inner strength and power by fashioning their remains into draconic equipment. They also learned that any equipment forged from Dragon remains still retained the powers that it once had as a part of a live dragon that still had fire or whatever power it once had in its guts. Eventually, these ingenious warriors became organized and the Dragon Knight order was born, named after their dragonslayer occupation, as well as their signature dragon forged equipment that they carry to battle.

Recruitment and Promotion
Once an orphan has come of age, they may recruit themselves into this dragonslayer knighthood by presenting to them proof of the dragon-strike that befell upon them and their lost family. Even a small piece of a dragon's remains, such as a tooth, is proof enough for recruitment.

However, getting admitted into the ranks of the Dragon Knights order is not an easy task. Those who seek to join must first undergo and complete a harsh rite of passage known as the Crossing. Mentioned only once by Father, this ritual of initiation is a potential recruit's solitary journey from their home to Dragon Hold. Surrounded by frost glazed peaks and prone to snowstorms, reaching the Hold is difficult. This harsh rite may ensure that only the toughest men and women are what constitute humanity's defense versus dragons.

He also mentioned another tradition called the Blade Bond. Judging by the name and the context, it may be the custom of deeming a knight worthy of holding a weapon.

oaths
no run from fight

Armory
Unlike most kingdoms with their mundane weaponry, the Dragon Knights source their weapons from slain dragons. Even in death, the power of a dragon outlives its vessel. Hence, any equipment made from their remains—scales, flesh, bones—can still channel a dragon's respective powers. Weapons forged from a dragon can give the wielder an edge over them as it can penetrate their durable scales, something that can't be done with ordinary weapons. Plus, dragon forged weapons can channel the elemental or fundamental power of the dragon that it was made from. The power left in a dragon's remains is proportional to its age before it died.

So far, the order of the Dragon Knights has equipment forged from hatchlings, wyrmlings, and only a few items forged from adult dragons because they are very rare to find. Eldwurm-forged equipment does not exist because the order has yet to kill and harvest one, let alone confront another one after the destruction of Leathsham by the bellows of Slyrak.

Weapons are not the only things that they make out of their remains. Their armor is also forged from dragon, which is much more durable than any mundane armor and has the added benefit of allowing its wearer to access a dragon's powers. Miscellaneous items that can channel a dragon's power are also included, often used for purposes outside of combat.

All in all, the Dragon Knights' cache of dragon forged equipment makes them one of the most powerful fighting force out there because they can harness a dragon's strength, the four elements, and the four fundamental forces with their dragon-forged weapons. Luckily, such power is reserved for these honorable men and women only and not in the hands of an evil and corrupt force or army.

Ember Dragons
The element manipulated by an Ember Dragon should be a no-brainer. However, some of their fiery powers require a bit more explanation to them. The properties of an ember dragon give it fire manipulation: They breath fire, possess a bite that can burn anything it touches, emit flames from their bodies (which may manifest as an explosion or a simple combustion), etc. The Dragon Knights source all of their incendiary weapons from the remains of ember dragons because of these powers. Ember dragon remains are usually crafted into ranged weapons. One such example is a spear that Davion acquired while defending Dragon Hold from Terrorblade's unnatural dragon-strike. The tip of this spear is red and black in color, suggesting that it was made from ember dragon scales. Because the spear is tipped with their scales, the spear has the burning power of an ember dragon. The inner power is activated once it is thrown, causing it to heat up before it reaches its target. When it successfully pierces its target, the spear will detonate in a fiery explosion, blowing up its target (or whatever part of the target that it hit if the target was larger) and leaving its charred remains behind. Ammunition such as ballista bolts and arrowheads are also made from Ember Dragon, imbuing mundane projectile weapons such as ballistae and bows with the ember dragon's element. These special ballista bolts can quickly ignite its targets on impact. Kaden carved arrowheads out of their scales that can be fitted on arrows to give them an explosive and fiery effect. He later handed these arrowheads in a pouch to Mirana to aid her in her journey, which she later used to battle the Ember Eldwurm Slyrak by shooting his exposed wound, which was the only way for her to harm this Eldwurm whose scales were completely impervious to her weapons, including her dragon scale tipped arrows if they didn't hit his wound.

Given the fact that ember dragon products are dangerously volatile with its fiery properties, they are probably not used in making dragon armor.

Water Dragons
Among the four elemental dragon types, only the water dragons embody and can draw upon the most capricious element: water. Water is the very essence of all life and exists in more than one natural state: liquid by default, solid (ice), and gas (vapor and steam). A water dragon's exhalation can freeze their victims into brittle statues of ice.

So far, there are no appearances or demonstrations of any Dragon Knight equipment that was crafted from a water dragon's remains.

Air Dragons
Air Dragons embody and can harness the elements of air and wind. Their element is mainly associated with their movements, and so far they have yet to display more combat-oriented applications of their air and wind element. Anyways, an air dragon can generate a current of mild wind just by flying, and they can propel themselves with a powerful air blast that can boost their speed in short bursts. Kaden's dragon forged armor includes a pair of sabatons imbued with an air dragon's prowess. When used, the boots will emit a downward burst of air that is powerful enough to propel the wearer several meters away from the ground or through the air. Consecutive use of these wind bursts can grant the user flight so long as they keep using it while they're airborne. The distinct sound made by the activation of an air dragon's powers can also be heard in these sabatons when their power is used. The sound is akin to a zipping sound.

Kaden makes these boots more effective using his excellent acrobatics. While mid-air, he can quickly change directions by performing acrobatic maneuvers such as mid-air rolls that allow him to change his position and hence the direction he will launch himself in, allowing him to maneuver in zig-zag lines. This is great for outmaneuvering enemies or dodging their attacks or even both.

Earth Dragons
Avatars of the earth element, earth dragons are as strong as their element, embodying its aspects of strength and toughness. Their strength allows them to effortlessly break down the earth to dig tunnels that can vary in size, depending on the size of the dragon that dug it. They dig into the earth with their claws or simply dive into it headfirst as if it were just water. Such strength is required to loosen up tons of rocks at high speeds. Besides their inner strength, they also have earth-based attacks. The demon Terrorblade possessed Uldorak's dead body to access his elemental power, using it to raise a massive rock pillar from the earth to smash victims with. Once again, Kaden's armour suit—loaded with the powers of all eight kinds of dragons—shows us another example of dragon forged equipment. The bracers (or gauntlets) are forged from the remains of an adult earth dragon that he killed, imbuing him with its strength.

The strength boost allows him to match or even surpass the strength of a dragon, but its real purpose is to allow him to lift his gravity blade when it increases its mass. This sword can knock down creatures as big and as heavy as an eldwurm, because of the sword's additional weight matching its target's, so Kaden would need to be strong enough to lift and swing the blade once it becomes as heavy as a hundred ton dragon.

Chaos Dragons
True to their name, chaos dragons are creatures of disorder. Besides chaos itself, they are also the manifestation of the weak nuclear force. Yet again, Kaden's suit of armor is a good example of a chaos dragon product. The stolen abilities of a chaos dragon lies within the cuirass, whose gaps glow red once it is activated. While it is active, Kaden can planeshift beyond physical existence and disappear, akin to Puck's. After that, he can teleport in place or to another location before restoring his own presence. It's important to note that his power isn't passive nor does it work on its own. Kaden must toggle on his armor's chaos power to use it, which means that he is still vulnerable to attacks that he does not anticipate. Mirana was able to exploit this by attacking him from behind with Davion's bracer blade but she failed to deal any significant damage to Kaden, let alone his super tough armor. Kaden's helm also draws upon a chaos dragon's power, which grants it access to planes of existence transcending the material plane. With access to these planes, he can use them as his personal hammerspace for his helmet. Safely kept in an extradimensional space, he can withdraw the helm whenever he needs to put it on or stash it back into that space when he does not need it.

The power of chaos dragon does have one weakness: luminous dragons. This also applies to any equipment that's crafted from their remains. The bracer blade that Mirana borrowed from Davion (which is made from a luminous scale) was unable to pierce Kaden's Armor, but its chaotic power dissipated shortly after her blade touched it. Because of that, Kaden wasn't able to use the planeshifting ability against Slyrak for the rest of their fight. His helm, however, was not affected since it wasn't on his person when that happened.

Luminous Dragons
Despite their name, luminous dragons have nothing to do with light (which is actually belongs to Indrak and his ionic dragon's), but they are actually the strong nuclear force. The cyan scales of a luminous dragon can emit a bright light that is useful for illuminating dark areas and can be used as a beacon. Davion wields a retractable blade on his right bracer that was forged from a wyrmling of said species. Small though it may be, the blade is surprisingly tough. It can pierce through an earth wyrmling's tough scales which is impervious to mundane weapons, even causing metal swords to break upon them. When Mirana used this blade, she was able to break a thick metal chain and collapse a cave's ceiling with just a single strike. She also wielded the blade against Kaden to stop him from harming Davion. This blade touched his armour and nullified his chaos dragon ability, preventing him from using its planeshifting abilities. However, she was not aware that it could do that nor did she intend to do so. This implies that the chaos dragon's weakness is a luminous dragon, and that the latter is their antithesis. All of Master Ritterfau's equipment is forged from the golden scales of a luminous dragon. He wears a suit of luminous scale armor that has a very high luster to it, just like polished gold. Apparently, there's nothing special about this armor—no cool powers or special properties whatsoever—besides its aesthetic value, which Ritterfau seeks to preserve by having it polished constantly (preferably done by someone else).

His sword emanates a tinkling sound similar to that of Orrak's, suggesting that it was also forged from a luminous dragon. This is also shown in its gold hilt. In the hands of someone as trained as Ritterfau, this sword is powerful enough to cleanly cut an earth wyrmling in half. Its innate ability, sourced from a luminous dragon, causes its blade to glow brightly. Any wounds made from this sword with its power glow with the same light.

Perhaps the light that emanates from an active, luminous-forged weapon is some sort of damage boost.

Ionic Dragons
Ionic dragons are the embodiments of Indrak the electromagnetic force, the charge that binds all of existence together. Kaden's earth dragon forged bracers can channel an ionic dragon's electricity through them. This allows him to imbue his strikes with electricity. He used this to knock Davion unconscious for a few minutes, so that he may bring him to the heart of a Dragon Knight redoubt for interrogation, without the risk of Slyrak suddenly manifesting himself while he's at it. Kaden used the teeth of an ionic dragon to interrogate Davion on Slyrak's whereabouts. He claimed that they can force those who are pierced by them to say the truth. Its alleged “bite of truth” did naught to him, but later on we see that their bite carries a powerful electric current that can even stop the regeneration of the wound that it is embedded on. This tooth's electric current is powerful enough to electrocute a creature as large as Slyrak. Every time the Eldwurm was electrocuted, Davion in the dream roost would also feel it and receive the same nasty shock. This may be because they are at one with each other.

The extreme power within a single ionic dragon's tooth was displayed in the final episode of Book 2, courtesy of Kaden. He threw an ionic dragon tooth towards the rogue void eldwurm Kashurra to electrocute him with a small but violent storm of massive lightning bolts. Although they didn't do anything to harm Kashurra in the slightest, their power is quite impressive nevertheless, being able to exude massive levins from such a teensy vessel of power. One can only imagine the vast power of an ionic dragon's jaws lined with all of its teeth if just a single tooth contains such power. Ionic dragons were also used to craft ammo for Dragon Hold's ballista emplacements. These bolts can shock a creature as big as a wyrmling, as seen on the left picture.

On the right is a shield crafted from an ionic dragon. The face of the shield has a triskelion made of the blue protuberances on an ionic dragon's body. The shield can emit a circular electrical barrier that can repel and electrocute incoming attackers. It can also repel attacks such as a water wyrmling's ice breath.

Void Dragons
A void dragon's powers are of gravity and the dark emptiness of the cosmos. Kaden's sword is forged from the remains of an adult void dragon, retaining its gravity powers. It is linked to a portal scroll that allows him to receive anyone who uses the scroll to summon him through a portal after reciting a specific incantation.

This sword is best known for its ability to increase its own mass or weight in proportion to its current target. Kaden explains this concisely: "The bigger you are, the harder it hits." Because of the ability to turn the target's physical strength against them, this weapon is indispensable in his personal war against dragons, allowing him to fight these massive creatures. The blade can get heavy when it is against a heavy target such as a hundred ton dragon, so Kaden must wield this sword with his earth dragon gauntlets to have the strength required to lift it when that happens. Besides dealing damage proportional to the target's mass, Kaden's sword has other cool features. To the left we can see Kaden using its power to propel Davion off of it, allowing him to reach and kill a low-flying water wyrmling. To the right, we can see that it can also form a spherical shield. This is a void dragon's shield since a rogue void dragon named Kashurra also has this kind of shield as well, albeit darker in color. Plus the color of Kaden's shield is the same as the purple and blue aura that emanates from his sword when it is active. Not to mention that the sword was activated when this shield was up. This is a portal scroll, the usable side facing towards the viewer. Inscribed with mystical runes of unknown origin and infused with magics from an unknown brand, they are very much akin to a. They are made from void dragon remains (hence their dark and faded violet color) and thus they retain and use their space-bending powers and properties.

Portal scrolls can, well, open portals that allow for instant teleportation across vast distances of space, albeit this teleportation seems to be limited to one-way transits towards another point in spacetime that's selected, unlike the that can teleport its user more than once. Hence they are consumable items. All in all, they are just like TP scrolls. To use the scroll, one must put it down on the floor in front of one's feet. Then shed a few drops of blood on the runic circle. Finally, recite the required incantation. For a personal teleportation, the incantation is "Eridu". The scroll will then begin channeling, magically floating into the air, until it teleports its caster. Besides blood magic, there seems to be a risk to these items. According to Bram, the user's body parts may be swapped with someone else's during teleportation. Even worse, they might lose their body parts during displacement. This hasn't been proven or seen yet.

The destination of these scrolls may be determined by the thing it's linked to. For example, a portal scroll that was given to Bram by Kaden was keyed to the blade of the latter. The link between these two items that are made from void dragon creates a path between the two. The path allowed Bram to summon Kaden through a one-way, consumable rift. The incantation that he said for this is "Sata emedu", which Kaden received and responded to thanks to the link. The raw muscles of a void dragon are powerful restraint devices. These muscles are durable because they retain their ability to change their mass (hence its physical strength) in proportion to its wearer's strength, or whoever attempts to break it with force, similar to Kaden's brand. In simpler terms, these muscles tighten up and toughen up in response to their wearer attempting to break free or if someone else tries to break it. Relaxing like what one would do to a chinese finger trap doesn't work because these muscles are stretched by something external like pulleys which exerts force on them and causes the muscles to tighten anyway.

However, these muscles can only take in their intended prisoner's mass and nothing more. One can exploit this flaw to break them by adding another being's mass to its prisoner, such as embracing them tightly. The muscles will tighten harder on its prisoner in response to the added burden, but since it exceeds what they can normally take, they will eventually snap violently. Fymryn did the same thing to release Davion from his bonds, even though she didn't know what they were or what they can do.

Others
Besides the dragon-forged equipment listed above, the Dragon Knights have generic weapons in their armory: swords, clubs, battle axes, spears, war hammers, bows, and shields.

The Dragon Knights also use spools of rope that are tipped with hooks. They're used to capture and entangle airborne dragons that fly low enough for them to catch.

A more painful method of entangling Dragons is their spools of razor wire that is tipped with a hook. Hooked onto a victim, the wire is wrapped around the body so that it can lacerate the victim once it's pulled on. This wire is strong enough to restrain an earth wyrmling and sharp enough to tear through its scales.

Small capsules that release smoke when broken are used to sedate small dragons, like hatchlings and Slyvion. Sedating wyrmlings and larger dragons requires a larger dosage.

Members and Ranks
The Dragon Knights' order appears to be solely composed of orphans.

brothers fathers sisters

Squires
Squires are the lowest ranking members of the Dragon Knight order. That's not to say that they are lowly, though. They form the order's bread and butter for they are budding Dragon Knights in training that have yet to kill a dragon (and have said kill confirmed and recorded).

A squire does mundane tasks that revolve around the maintenance of the order's property and attending to a fellow brother's or a Father's needs and demands in and out of battle. Bram is the best example of a squire in the Dragon Knight order. Most of what we known about squires is attributed to this hardworking fellow.
 * Polishing the equipment in the armory and polishing the equipment that's currently worn or used by a Dragon Knight when told to
 * Carrying a knight's extra equipment during or out of combat and handing it to them when needed
 * Butchering dragons slain by their fellow knights (usually with the aid and cooperation of the local military)
 * Collecting resources for the knight they're attending
 * Taking inventory of collected resources
 * Apparently, a squire may be the bard of their fellow knight, such as Bram to Davion. It's unknown if other squires do this.
 * Squires may do gaoler duties, such as handling restraint devices and keeping cell keys. They don't seem to guard or watch prisoners, though.
 * And many more mundane yet beneficial tasks that revolve entirely around supporting their fellows...

Before Davion was a knight, he started out as a squire. As a squire, he once met Kaden in Dragon Hold and filled his cup for him.

Master Ritterfau started out as a squire. Back then, he used to rigorously polish the fathers' boots to the point of exhaustion, for he believed that it was an honor to do so.

Knights
argh Davion
 * forge and craft weapons, handle the forging equipment

Kaden

Bram has the honor of being a Dragon Knight after he was given a field promotion by Kaden, who saw him kill a water wyrmling with a well-placed ballista shot.

Fathers
Sitting at the top of the order are the Fathers or Masters of the order.

tacticians

Father

Ritterfau

Kaden's Captain

others
they're quite popular, even Drysi knows who they are