Lady Vox

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Background

Powers and Abilities

(As usual the key words in parentheses are for DC Heroes gamers.)

Lady Vox is an old, major dragon. She is white of scale, attuned to water frost and ice, and is large and strong enough to ignore most physical threats and obstacles. Vox is a high-level cleric of Veeshan the primordial dragon, with considerable magical potency, and is generally cunning and knowledgeable.

If attacked, Vox will use her terrible roar (Aura of Fear), scattering most opponents in a blind panic, and her draconic ice breathe (Ice production used to attack through sheer cold, or occasionally to encase in ice – especially if she wants to keep an interesting-looking opponent as a trophy).

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If needed, she can heal herself or, more rarely, her allies through her priestly abilities (Invulnerability, Regeneration, Systemic antidote).

Though she cannot really fly anymore since she was confined to a gigantic cavern in Permafrost, she retains such draconic assets as enormous claws (Claws, Joined), a proximity sense (Sonar) or the ability to psychically drag a foe to her (Attraction), often to use her breathe at point blank or bite.

Her gigantic size also allows her to sweep multiple opponents with her powerful tail (Growth used to Sweep Attack).

Though Vox is not a very imaginative dragon, she could use her magic and raw might to perform other effects. On the other hand she seldom needs to.

Our game stats assume that Vox can easily exist underwater – it would be weird if a dragon of water and ice could be drowned.

Dragons of Norrath

The dragons of Norrath — the world where most of Everquest adventures take place — are the descendants of the primordial dragon goddess, Veeshan. As in many fantasy worlds, they dominated ancient prehistory and are formidable creatures.

Less cunning and crushingly powerful, but still mighty, creature also descend from Veeshan’s eggs – the terms “wurm” and “drake” are often used for these species.

Dragon have been major presence in every Age of Norrath, but the older events are poorly documented – with one very important exception. However, to understand what happened then, one must first understand the main sexual taboo of dragons.

Dragon sex

Certain dragons are forever forbidden to mate with each other. The taboo has often been understood by mortals as a sort of miscegenation taboo based on the colour of dragons’ scale – for instance, it is often thought that red dragons must never mate with white ones.

This is a slight misunderstanding. Dragons are deeply atuned to elemental energies – for instance Vox is atuned to cold, water and ice. The actual taboo is certain dragons must not mate, as their offspring would inherit incompatible elemental energies — which is likely to have catastrophic consequences.

The confusion comes from scale colour being more or less correlated with energies. It is not so much about white scale or red scale, but because ice-attuned dragons tend to have white scales and fire-atuned dragons tend to have red scales. A baby atuned to both ice and fire would not be a natural creature, but an uncontrollable abomination.

Another strongly taboo pairing is earth with air (often corresponding to black and blue scales, respectively).

Dragons atuned to opposite elements generally have little in common in terms of temper, prefered environments, favourite magical studies, aesthetic tastes, etc. and such pairings are unlikely to occur spontaneously.

The Sleeper

Only one taboo dragon child was ever born on Norrath, during the earliest documented age of the world – the Age of Scale. This dragon was named Kerafyrm, and the resulting cataclysm became year zero of the draconic calendar, used by most dragon races.

(Ironically, the date of this year zero is unclear, presumably due to differences in continuity between Everquest and Everquest 2. Another version is that Kerafyrm was active during the Elder Age and led dragons against a common foe for a time – presumably giants.)

Kerafyrm is commonly called “the abomination” or “the prismatic dragon”, and is said to have been comparable in might to the primordial dragon Veeshan. Insane and monstrously powerful even by the most ancient draconic standards, Kerafyrm was only stopped at the cost of dozens (if not hundreds) of dragon lives.

Even then the dragons couldn’t destroy him – they employed powerful spells to plunge him into a deep catalepsy and bind him to a underground structure in Velious. Kerafyrm, whose coming had been prophesied under the name of “The Sleeper”, thus met his destiny.

After this incident the two Great Laws of Veeshan’s Brood were promulgated – no mating between dragons of conflicting primal elements, and no killing of a dragon by another dragon. Two great societies of dragons, the Claws of Veeshan and the Ring of Scale, were founded after the Sleeper was defeated – and they both enforced these laws.

History of Lady Vox, part 1

Lady Vox is ancient, and lived through many Ages of Norrath. It is likely that she was present during the war against the Sleeper.

When the two dragon societies were founded, Vox joined the Ring of Scale, along with various malcontents who disagreed with all the rules drafted by the Claws of Veeshan. Her reasons for doing so are unknown but might be theological – Vox is a senior priestess of Veeshan, and the Claws hold firm ideas about the veneration of the primordial dragon.

The defeat of Kerafyrm was the beginning of the Elder Age, as gods allied to create sapient races to populate Norrath. These elder races (including the dwarves, the giants, the elves, the kedges and some others) fought against the mighty dragons to establish a new equilibrium as to whom would control which parts of Norrath.

The fights of the Lady Vox and her Ring of Scale comrades against the races of the Elder Age are unchronicled.

The Ring of Scale became an important part of history on the continent of Kunark. Leaders of historical importance include Trakanon the Poison Dragon, or Jaled Dar and his daughter Phara Dar.

Love, actually (part 1)

The Lady Vox and a fellow Ring of Scale dragon, Lord Nagafen, fell in love — but one of the elements of Nagafen was fire, making theirs a forbidden love. The couple decided to reject all laws of their kind and have a taboo child that would destroy all dragons.

Presumably, they knew from the war against the Sleeper that such a creature would not harm its parents – or perhaps they had a plan to eliminate it after the great war.

However the renegade lovers’s plan was discovered, and they were hunted down by their kind. The couple had a contingency plan and they fled to the continent of Tunaria (later called Antonica) in separate hideouts ; Lady Vox found refuge in the frozen land of Everfrost whilst Lord Nagafen hid in the Lavastorm Mountains.

Love, actually (part 2)

The Ring of Scale nevertheless found them. Though the Laws meant they couldn’t kill them, the Ring used magic to imprison the renegades in their hideouts – forever.

Many scholars think that Vox had already laid eggs, which were found and magically frozen in time by the great dragon Jaled Dar so they would never hatch.

Though Vox and Nagafen were imprisoned, they had the satisfaction to see that the Ring of Scale didn’t fare well over the centuries. The mighty Empire of Sebilis experimented with creatures merging draconic traits and traits from their own species, the Iksar.

At the instigation of the green dragon Trakanon the Ring of Scale went to war against the Empire of Sebilis. This brutal, interminable war ravaged the continent of Kunark, and Jaled Dar was killed in what would become the Field of Bones.

A conspiracy led by Trakanon succeeded him, but Trakanon was then banished in turn by the Claws of Veeshan for having started an unsanctioned war.

The Drakotas

Before his death, Jaled Dar allegedly created a small order of dragons to keep Nagafen and Vox imprisoned and their eggs frozen in time. It was called the Drakotas.

However in the Age of Destiny, the word “drakota” is almost always used to designate a race of lesser dragons allied with the Ring of Scale. While this is confusing, it is possible that the lesser dragons were inducted into the Ring of Scale specifically so they would watch over Vox and Nagafen’s places of imprisonment.

Perhaps the Drakotas are not technically considered dragon and thus can kill dragons without breaking the Laws – or some such legalistic ruse.

The role and nature of Drakotas is made even more mysterious by observations during the Age of Turmoil – corresponding to the era of Everquest. No special guardians or dragon-like creatures are to be found in Everfrost or Lavastorm. Either there was some grave disruption to their mission, or the role of the Drakotas wasn’t to watch over the two prisons.

Perhaps Jaled Dar’s plan was to build up the Drakotas’ strength to eventually kill the Lady Vox and the Lord Nagafen, not have them act as guards.

The Keep of Permafrost

Vox’s bolthole in Eveverfrost was an enormous fort called Permafrost. In this famous lair she built up her power and marshalled her forces for ages. Here is an overview of the keep and her traditional allies.

Keep on the borderland

The Keep of Permafrost existed well before Vox fled to Everfost. It dates back to the glory days of the giants, shortly before they were struck down by the Curse of the Rathe.

Its construction started just before the Rallosian War ; it is unclear whether it was ever truly finished, since the giants started losing their magic and intelligence to the Curse during the project.

The keep is built over ice caves, including a mammoth cave that would become the actual lair of the Lady Vox. Perhaps the giants chose this spot to use the caves underneath as a secure storage space.

The Keep of Permafrost eventually fell to the assaults of the Northfolk (more commonly known as the Barbarian people) as the power of the giants waned. The Barbarians tried to raze Permafrost, but it was too stoutly build and the ground floor and much of the first floor of the keep proved impossible to destroy.

Centuries later, the Northfolk were subjugated by the Devastation Horde, and a handful of giants seized the occasion to reclaim their ancestral keep.

The ice goblins cometh

By the time the Barbarian tribes across the North freed themselves, there were just enough giants fortified in the ruins of Permafrost to make retaking the fort cost more lives than it was worth. There were too many defenders to easily take the keep, yet too few for them to pose a serious raiding threat.

The giants did not retain Permafrost to themselves too long – a tribe of ice goblins stumbled across the keep and poured in. There were too many of them for even the giants to beat back, and an uneasy cooperation ensued as there existed enough living space for both species.

More creatures came to Permafrost after the Lady Vox arrived. A handful of ice terrors established themselves in the extensive underground portions of the keep. The giants also had pet bears, and the ice goblins trained guard wolves, as per their respective traditions.

Giant ice lizards, naturally attracted by the presence of an ice-aspected dragon, also came and became Vox’s pets.

The Cyth goblins, part 1

A specific tribe of icy goblins, called the Cyth clan, serves and worships Vox. Vox called them to Permafrost, where they soon ran into the ice goblins settlers. Being bigger and even meaner, the Cyth goblins beat the ice goblins until they surrender and agreed to worship and serve Vox.

During the Age of Turmoil the Cyth were a small clan – perhaps fifty goblins. It would seem that their numbers grew considerabbly in later Ages, though.

The Cyth goblins are blueish goblins, like ice goblins – but they are considerably larger and more muscular, being half-a-head taller than most elves and having a good 50 lbs. on them as well.

They also sport three reptilian claws on the back of each hand – giving the distinct impression that they were mutated somehow to be more dragon-like. This might be Vox’s doing – especially when one considers how attuned Cyth goblins are to ice and cold, Vox’s elements.

The Cyth goblins, part 2

The Cyth clan is fanatically loyal to Vox, whom they revere as a goddess. They defend her, keep her fed, and follow her orders. In particular the Cyth worked on improving Vox’s quarters and related areas, being competent stonemasons. They built an array of traps as ordered by the ice dragon, and bullied the smaller goblins into keeping them fed as they worked.

The Lady Vox allowed the Cyth to retain their officials so she wouldn’t have to bother with day-to-day management. By the end of the Age of Turmoil the Cyth leaders were High Priest Zaharn and King Thex‘Ka IV.

By the Age of Turmoil, Vox and Nagafen had re-established indirect contact. A delegation of Cyth envoys took residence in Lavastorm, and a cadre of fire giants came to Permafrost. The giants even brought a gift from Nagafen – a magical globe of cold light to illuminate Vox’s cave.

Cyth goblins are essentially immune to cold, though they are vulnerable to flame. They actually radiate cold, with prolonged exposure to a Cyth goblin being liable to result in frostbites and hypothermia.

The Cyth goblins, part 3

Cyth goblins are also unusually smart and perceptive – for goblins. Though they have the usual goblin taste for bullying, curiosity, greed and the like, they are not cowards – albeit they revere creatures of immense power and antiquity, such as Vox.

Cyth goblins generally live in the basements of Permafrost to be close to their divinity, though they are sometimes sent on errands — or go upstairs to bully other goblins into getting them food or other resources.

Cyth goblins are often called ’icy goblins’ — an example of how the common taxonomies across Norrath seem designed to confuse the non-specialist. Determining whether ’ice goblins’ or ’icy goblins’ are being discussed can take longer than taking in the information itself.

The ice giants, part 1

Vox is also served by ice giants – the same tribe that was present at the Keep of Permafrost when she arrived. Given the eons-old antagonism between giants and dragons, this is a very unusual arrangement, though Nagafen similarly holds fire giants in his thrall. Many of the long-lived giants remember when the Lady Vox came to Permafrost.

The proper name of these ice giants is Kromshrif, a folk chiefly present in Northern Antonica after the Curse of the Rathe turned it into a frozen wasteland. Though one might imagine that before the curse they looked and behaved somewhat like the non-cursed giants in Kael Drakkal, they now almost look like they’re made of living ice.

Their skin is chalk white or pale blue, their limbs are very thick and stout, and they display a shining transludescence greatly reinforcing the ice-like aspect of their body. This also serves as excellent camouflage in the Frozen North, compensating for their size.

The ice giants, part 2

Being Rathe-cursed, the Kromshrif people have clouded minds – they are not stupid per se, but they display none of the intelligence they once did. They also have but a shadow of their former magical potency.

Still, they retain enough magic to exist under Norrathian gravity and pressure conditions, and a few of their members wield minor elemental and druidic magic, making them the loose equivalent of minor rangers.

A typical Kromshrif stands between six and seven meters tall (making them the equivalent, in terms of height, of a building with a ground floor and a first floor) and weighs between three and four tonnes. It is unclear whether there is any female ice giant at Permafrost.

Some of the ice giants (such as Nightshine, Rockfall or Diplomat) have their own giant-sized private room in Permafrost, and have individual skills and assets.

The most notable among these “elite” giants is Iceheart – Vox’s champion/bodyguard. A misanthrope who never fit in with his fellow Kromshrif (or anybody else, really) he spontaneously applied a short time after the Lady Vox came to Permafrost and passed the tests she made up, earning the position and some respect from the dragon.

History of Lady Vox, part 2

The Age of Monuments, the Age of Blood and the Lost Age passed. It is unclear at which point Permafrost became what it was during the Age of Turmoil.

The Barbarians watched the overt militarisation and development of Permafrost with wary eyes, but it soon became clear that the mistress of Permafrost had no intention of conquering much beyond the walls of her keep – presumably because she couldn’t leave her cave.

At its weakest during the Age of Turmoil, there were more than 200 goblins of various sorts and nearly forty giants of both kinds living in Permafrost in chaotic conditions. Vox never seemed to really care, lost in her thoughts and schemes and being dutifully served and fed by the fire giants and her Cyth.

On several occasions, Permafrost became even more chaotic as independent expeditions launched by Northfolks and/or foreigners attempted to raid the place to steal and slay.

Some survivors of such foolhardy expeditions reported that the Lady Vox had been killed, but those tales were obviously exaggerated – either complete fabrications or the result of raiders assuming that they had mortally wounded the ice dragon before having to retreat with some stolen curios, not knowing of her prowess as a healer.

Some suspect that at least one of the Cyth goblins or ice giants serving Vox is a capable illusionist, and may be responsible for deceiving some raiders into believing that they had encountered the Lady of Permafrost.

She’s cold as ice (part 1)

The Lady Vox thus endured through the Age of Turmoil. She also lived through the whole of the Age of War, during which her foes in Halas mostly fell to the Horde of Inferno. She was still alive during the early Age of Cataclysms, surviving the near-destruction of Norrath during the Sundering.

During the Sundering, much of Velious was destroyed. This reportedly included the sacred grounds of the Claws of Veeshan and Skyshrine, the enormous temple to Veeshan. The Claws were broken, and it would seem that most of them died in the aftershocks of the Sundering.

The Ring of Scale, who had long since recovered from the war against the Empire of Sebilis and suffered far less severe losses than the Claws during the Sundering, attempted to become the dominant draconic faction.

Their plan hinged on something called the Orbs of Omnipotence, which are thought by modern scholars to have been the unhatched eggs of Vox. The Ring of Scale rallied the Drakotas and sent them to Permafrost to take her frozen eggs from Vox.

She’s cold as ice (part 2)

As they came, the Drakotas discovered that Permafrost, though damaged by the Sundering, was still standing, and that Vox was scheming to leverage the physical damage to her prison to escape. The Ring of Scale and the Drakotas decided to kill Vox, take her eggs, then kill Nagafen for good measure.

The raid by the Drakotas and the Ring against Permafrost did not go terribly well. The Lady Vox had apparently continued to build up her power base, and with the threat of Halas gone it would seem that Permafrost in the Age of Cataclysms dwarfed what it had been during the Age of Turmoil – as thousands of creatures were reportedly serving Vox at that point.

The armies of Permafrost fought savagely against the dragons, and though the Ring and its Drakotas did kill Vox, they suffered tremendous losses that broke any bid at world domination. A smaller assault on Lord Nagafen failed, with Nagafen killing the Drakotas that reached him.

As to the Orbs of Omnipotence they were whisked away before the Ring of Scale could capture them. Depending upon accounts that was either the doing of one of Nagafen’s servant who intervened during the war at Permafrost, or of Vox’s most trusted ice giants.

Destiny

Furthermore, Nagafen collected much of the spirit of his beloved before she passed on. As the Age of Cataclysms ended and the Age of Destiny began, he plotted to resurrect her.

Nagafen struck a deal with the Shadowed Men – strange and dangerous invaders and souls-harvesters from an alien dimension, entering Norrath through the extra-dimensional Obelisk of Lost Souls. Their objective was to recover the fragments of his lover’s soul, who had been captured by Drakota leaders during the Ring’s assault on Permafrost.

If the whole spirit of Vox could be recreated, she would return.

Description

By draconic standards, Vox is petite. While by humanoid standards she is a towering creature weighing as much as two or three large bull elephants, dragons of her age and power are usually visibly larger, weighing more than fifty tonnes.

Personality

Little is known of Vox’s personality, given what interactions she had with humanoids in the modern ages. She seems to be rather evil, temperamental and power-hungry, though. Any sympathy toward her for just wanting to have a kid with her lover is arguably misplaced.

Vox is bitter and considers that she has lost everything – power, status, freedom, love – leaving her only to plot her global vengeance.

The Lady Vox likes being comfortable, and to impress the rare visitor. Her quarters are thus lavishly and quite tastefully decorated, and include such unusual furniture as enormous cushions upon which even a thirty-tonnes dragon can rest – usually while reading her mountainous collection of mystical scrolls and spell books.

Misc. Universe History

Vox is a powerful white dragon with significant backstory and some name recognition (at least among pre-WoW MMORPG gamers). Her main story bit being exile and imprisonment for her transgressions so she could conceivably wind up anywhere, perhaps even in another dimension.

It might be interesting to focus on the part where she arrives, learns to communicate and starts building up her power base, especially in an environment not generally known for its dragons.

For instance she could enslave a modern town, magically turn its climate frigid and mutate some of her servants into ice giant-like creatures, turn some animals (such as bears and spiders, traditionally) into giant white guard animals, etc. by drawing from her Rituals.

Which may in turn lead to sending her servants on quests to procure some ritual components that may be problematic outside of a high fantasy world, attempting to barter with perceived equals to establish boundaries, etc.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Everquest MMO.

Helper(s): The pen-and-paper Everquest and Everquest II RPGs (particularly the Everfrost Peaks supplement) ; Darci, Ethan Roe ; the EQ2 history and lore forum at the Sony Station. Several illustrations from Allakhazam.com and various other Internet places since levelling a Project 1999 character and joining a raid just to take screenshots wouldn’t be reasonable.

Writeup completed on the 24^th of November, 2010.