Batterion

Graves, dragon scales, teeth, flat gray stones, bones.   As worship of Batterion is incredibly new, there is precious little in consensus on what to offer him in worship.

While not technically a god, Batterion has quickly changed the landscape of the pantheon itself and to many, is considered as one if only in power alone. Extraordinarily fast and despite protest from both The Dragonflights and the Gods, the dragon has amassed a large following of both worshipers and those who fear him.   Batterion himself does not appear to have any goal or mission, and it is unclear on whether the dragon has any real control over his mind or body himself. While Batterion may have been intended to be a puppet by Hilathu, he also has very little to perhaps no control over him.   All that is clear is that just as in myth, Batterion is ever hungry, and ever vengeful to the dragons that killed him.

In life, Batterion was said to be the largest dragon to ever live. A massive wyvern type dragon, possibly the originator of an early form of the hypo-heavy bodytype, and father of many offspring. Due to his sheer size, Batterion was known to be able to fight and kill fully grown dragons with ease, growing ever larger and ever more powerful and larger from the plentiful food supplied by their corpses.     In death, however, Batterion is far larger than even the most ancient of dragons have ever claimed him to be, likely influenced by his life having been highly mythologized. This has also resulted in Batterion's wounds, mainly along his neck, to constantly spew a potent mix of pure death magic in vast clouds, known to choke the life out of any living being caught within them.     His sheer size has proven to be a major issue for all sides of the War of the Moon, who consider Batterion a potential enemy and have attacked him thusly. Although proportionally similar to ordinary dragons, his size alone means his hide is so thick it cannot be pierced by most weapons, only seeing significant damage on his fins, wing webbing, or from high power explosive devices elsewhere. It also appears as though Batterion may have a similar form of regeneration as Shia, the God of Death, and ability to utilize the corpses of other beings in order to repair his own body when wounded, though this has not been confirmed.

Batterion has a unique head shape and horn arrangement not often seen in modern dragons, as well as very likely being afflicted with the hypo-heavy body type condition due to his proportions. Features specific to Batterion in their combination are very rarely seen in modern dragons, though some of more basal groups or diverse flights such as the Blood Flight have been known to appear in their members, suggesting ancestry that can be tracked to him. Batterion's physical traits may also have been much more common in ancient dragons, however.   His chin horns are a quite rare trait as well as the lack of any apparent ridging on the 'struts' between fenestre, which are quite common in modern dragons with more robust builds. This has been known to occasionally occur in dragons who naturally were of much smaller proportions but grew to extraordinary sizes later in life due to excesses of food, but like many traits of such ancient dragons, remains unknown if it is due to having been a more common trait in the past, or due to individualistic variation.

It is unknown if Batterion can control the plumes of death magic that spew from his wounds, which are near constant and often exacerbated by his breaths. Batterion's plumes are exceedingly toxic and oftentimes promote the growth and proliferation of disease, and although research into the mechanism behind such is as new to the world as the dragon himself, have found that long thought extinct ailments have been found in their gasses.

The Fall of Batterion of both myth and oral storytelling of Batterion's fall and his death, with many consistent and corroborated points. Although much of the myth has changed over the centuries, and it is used to explain certain phenomena about the world, most scholars agree that many of its points are likely true due to differing flights with little to no connection historically agreeing with one another on small details as fact.     Since having been raised out of Limbo by Hilathu, it is unknown just how much of Batterion's mind is his own. The dragon does not appear to be under the fallen god's control, yet thus far, no one has been able to communicate with him. It seems as though Batterion may solely be driven by hunger, anger, and fury directed at his own kind for his death.   Batterion's movements across the world appear to be random, mainly driven by his hunger and avoiding the attention gained by his presence alone. Attacks by mortals, gods, dragons, and omnia have been sufficient in distracting Batterion from areas he has attempted to move into, such as population centers, though often only for short periods of time and are highly risky endeavors. It is unknown if the dragon has a particular goal in mind in where his movements take him, or if Batterion is simply following resources, avoiding attack, or hunting as his hunger drives him.

Myths and historical accounts of Batterion's life have rarely, if ever, given details of this area of the dragon's life. Draconic texts as well as oral histories almost always refer to Batterion with a unique identifier used in Dragontongue that lacks any kind of gender marker, more similar to those used for non-competitive dragons. This identifier is thought by some to be an artifact of much older dialects of Dragontongue itself, with extreme disagreement as it its particular meaning.   Due to some accounts of the Fall of Batterion referring to Batterion having reared massive clutches, it is thought by some that he may have been a stag with a large harem. As such, many refer to Batterion as 'him', as is common with stags when using languages other than Dragontongue.

Batterion's sexuality is similarly to the dragon's gender, unknown and unable to be confirmed. As oral histories suggest that he may have been a stag in life, as with other dragons, ones of this era similarly divorce the concept of gender from physical sex. Oral histories and Batterion's myths do make mention that Batterion has reared massive clutches in life, however, which suggest that Batterion may have been female in life as in such old forms of Dragontongue, parenthood is oftentimes only attributed to dragons that laid the clutch themselves outside of monogamous pairings. This has led to speculation that at least in life, Batterion likely at least took on a mate for the purposes of reproduction, though sexuality among dragons, and in particular such ancient ones, is also complicated and can change throughout life.

Batterion's social aptitude is a difficult subject, as due to Hilathu's mind control and attempts to use him as a puppet, it's unknown how much of his mind and actions truly belong to him. With this in mind, there is also much confusion in interpreting Batterion's actions due to a likely language barrier, as the dragon is so ancient that there has been significant linguistic drift since he was alive, and he may not even understand modern Dragontongue, or if he does, may only understand much more basal forms of it's body language component.   To gods, mortals, and omnia, Batterion appears indifferent to their existence unless provoked or assaulted first, and even in such cases rarely makes effort to defend himself unless necessary. Only when sufficiently damaged or harassed has the dragon made effort to drive them away, which has thus far almost always resulted in the assaulting party's death due to hte death magics spewing from his wounds and his tendency to consume those who attempt to harangue him. This is in stark contrast to Batterion's reaction to other dragons, whose mere presence have been enough to not only capture his attention, but cause a violent response. Sufficiently large dragons in his vicinity have prompted Batterion to give chase, attempting to kill and eat those he catches, which are largely successful and only stopped when he does manage to catch one (or several) and be distracted long enough for other dragons to escape. Dragons of more modern flights do not seem to provoke such an aggressive response from Batterion, more often requiring more extreme acts to prompt him to action. It's believed this may be due to Batterion potentially not recognizing the features of modern flights as a threat.   Although no one has thus far been able to speak to Batterion, some common and incredibly basal body language signs have been recognized from him, with nearly all of them being threat and aggression displays.