The Bloody Red Dragon

The essence of fire personified, the Red Dragon is a monster of sheer destruction. He is capable of reducing armies to cinders, to raze cities, and bathe the world in flame. How fortunate then that he finds it much too amusing to do so. Despite being one of the most destructive of the Great Dragons, eclipsed only by the Blue and perhaps the Black, the Red Dragon finds mortalkind endlessly fascinating. In particular, he has become enamoured with the ways they make war. Ever since seeing children play with toy soldiers, the Red has taken the world has his own personal game. He moves armies and incites wars, watches as tactics and weapons develops, studies the way in which warriors to fight. To him, there's no greater joy than that of a swift and brilliant maneauver, a daring raid, or the methodical decimation of an outwitted foe. When the whiff of blood grows too strong and the fire inside him grows too fierce, the Red descends upon the battlefield himself to reveal in glorious warfare.

The Red is an exemplar of the Greater Dragon form - a four-legged titan with brilliant red scales, two powerful wings, and four curved horns that frame it's narrow, long face. Its black claws are sharp as greatswords, and even before resorting to magic or trickery, the Red has the strength to bring down castles and topple titans. The very air ignites in bursts and sparks around him, and all who approach the Greater Dragon must brave an oppressive heat. All artists suffer for their craft, and the Red is no different - scars mar its powerful body from cunning and powerful adversaries. The Red does nothing to remove them, wearing them to honor the heroes and villains both that chose to stand against it.

After a youth as an avatar of destruction, told in legends as doom come manifest in fire, the Red has since changed in its ways. Now, it spends most of its time observing and learning from the mortals it could easily crush, because war is a game it cannot play on its own. By now, it has spent centuries watching, learning, and guiding the development of warcraft in the world of Lagash, and there is no greater tactician or strategician in the world than the Red. Despite this acclaim and its own power, the Red is ever hungry to learn. It reveals in mistakes, in being proven wrong, in being bested in contests of wit and tactic by mortal officers and heroes. Unlike its kin, the Red's ego is impervious to wounds.

For these reasons, the Red has many interactions with the mortal world. Through agents and manipulation, the Red incites or changes the flow of war to better suit it, or reaches out to pluck promising mortals from danger when it sees something in them. No other Dragon has done so much for the myth that Dragons have hoardes of wealth as the Red, but it uses its treasure either as bait (adventurers are so easy to trick) or a war chest. There are several bands of mercenaries around the world personally funded by the Red, and not always to their knowledge. Adventurers that come to claim its life and gold may even leave alive and perhaps even with the Favor of the Red, but only if he is sufficiently impressed. Others are left as charred bones to warn those weak of will.

When the funds acquired through these various agents, adventurers, and mercenaries, the Red isn't above refilling its coffer by personal effort. More than one city has been plundered and burned for no other reason than that the Red needed more to fund its many wars.

Out of all the Greater Dragons, the Red is the most generous with his blessing. He likes people, and rewards those he finds interesting, funny, or who he believes could bring more war for him to enjoy. Beyond his own personal blessing, which have risen heroes and kings to their lofty perches, the Red is responsible for several important treaties on strategy, logistics, and more. The art of warcraft has benefited greatly in its development from his personal attention. He has gifted scale, claw, and even horn to mortals that have particularly impressed him, and they have been turned into artifacts of great renown.

Besides that, at least six (and probably more) styles of martial arts have been inspired or invented by the Red, drawing upon equally upon fire and fury as it does measured strategy and cunning tactical deception.

But every now and then, the excitement of battle becomes too great and the Red himself descends upon the battlefield, for no reason other than the thrill of battle.