Serreg

Serreg was a black dragon, though before that he was a Netherese archwizard from the floating city of Delia.

History
For centuries before the Year of Bold Pioneers (-461 DR), Serreg lived in the Glade, the innermost circle of Delia and the second in prestige only to Central Keep. That year, he was tasked by Lady Polaris to find the source of the life-stealing blight that was killing the land, and the beasts living on it, beneath the city. For over a year, he used spells and experimentation to narrow down the cause of the blight, and in that time discovered that some stable and reliable magics were also failing. Eventually, he discovered that the source of the blight came from deep underground. Teleporting himself to the surface, he used his magic to dig deep into the earth until he finally caught the attention of the saboteurs: the phaerimm.

Seeking to capture one and interrogate it, Serreg sent many powerful spells into their midst, but to his chagrin found that his magic was being absorbed. In that moment, he learned that this same effect was draining the magic from Delia and the life from the land around it. He was forced to flee from the battle, eventually hiding himself in a rocky outcropping and begging anyone for help. He was answered by the god Targus who, though refusing to aid him directly, agreed to give him a weapon with which to help himself. Serreg requested a dagger, given his lack of martial skill, enchanted with the ability to polymorph the wielder, and was rewarded with such a blade.

One of the phaerimm seeking him eventually caught up to the archwizard, and Serreg was able to kill it. In so doing, he discovered that the polymorph power granted by the dagger was not one he could activate at will; instead, it would transform him into a random creature whenever it drew an enemy's blood, and in that transformation become part of Serreg's new form's body, if that body wasn't humanoid. In his flight from the remaining phaerimm, he was transformed into a cat, a wyvern, an orc, and a dragonfly, before he was forced to feed and became a black dragon. Preferring this new existence to that of his isolated human existence in Delia, he flew to a nearby swamp to form a lair, tore the dagger-claw from his flesh, and used to to begin his hoard.