Dragon ascendant

A dragon ascendant was a means by which a true dragon could become a quasi-deity.

Culture
True dragons were the most powerful mortal creatures. Dragon ascendants were dragons who tried to exceed mortal existence by becoming deities.

Even prior to becoming dragon ascendants, these true dragons were old and powerful specimens of their species. All of them needed better physical and mental resilience, reflexes, and movement speed than the norm, as well as an inherent healing ability, and an attunement to the elements, which allowed them to tap into additional knowledge. Probably the biggest hurdle for a prospective dragon ascendant was the requirement to eat its entire hoard, which had to account for at least 100,000 gp.

As a general rule, a prospective dragon ascendant's powers were the product of age and not of training. Those who underwent additional training were generally divine spellcasters like blackguards, clerics, or paladins. In the case of a dispassionate watcher of Chronepsis, a sacred warder of Bahamut, or an unholy ravager of Tiamat, who wanted to become a dragon ascendant, the motivation was different. It included not just to exceed mortality but also the desire to become perfect servants of their respective deities.

Abilities
A dragon ascendant exchanged its frightful presence for another ability called awesome aura. Initially, this ability could only be used to strike fear into the minds of enemies. With increasing skill, this aura could be modified into bolstering allies while crushing the morale of enemies to forcing others to be in awe about the dragon. The ability was tied to a dragon ascendant's devotion to its own philosophy. The ability was unique in that quasi-deities usually did not own it.

Other abilities included a plethora of protective ones. Starting with a complete immunity against meddling against its body and mind and against instant death through magic to a strong resistance against magic in general and fire as well as a field that deflected incoming physical attacks.

At the pinnacle of their abilities stood godhood and with it immortality. They could grant spells to those who pledged themselves to them.

Possessions
While not a possession, fully developed dragon ascendants could grant spells and have a church dedicated to them.

Relationships
Even by dragon standards, a dragon ascendant was a proud individual. Added to this pride came an aloofness that was characteristic for them. Once becoming one, a dragon ascendant viewed itself as in a competition about who obtained divinity first and tried to keep out of this "race". However, despite these characteristics, a dragon ascendant's threshold to cooperate with lesser dragons and non-dragons was very low for true dragons in general.

History
In 1374 DR, Tchazzar was the only fully developed dragon ascendant but he was not the only dragon ascendant, Maldraedior was also one, albeit one at a rather early stage.