Raulothim

Raulothim was a paranoid emerald dragon who lived on Axard, the northernmost outer isle of Ruathym.

Personality
Raulothim was a solitary dragon who actively avoided contact with others. However, he was also highly curious, had a love of flying, and hated feeling left out. He enjoyed spying on people and important events from afar, never speaking to anyone and flying away if approached, thus earning the nickname "the Silent Shadow." Even if he never got close enough to understand the context of the things he saw, he was content merely bearing witness.

After encountering a spelljammer crew near his lair, Raulothim grew more introspective and fearful. He was deeply concerned at the implications of gate magic, wondering how many different worlds existed, and how many powerful spellcasters they contained. As his paranoia grew, Raulothim stopped ranging far afield of his lair, preferring instead to remain at home and lose himself in deep contemplation. He resolved to gather up as much magic as he could&mdash;even if he could not master it all, he felt safer keeping dangerous items and spells from potential enemies.

Raulothim was concerned that Faerûn might become a battlefield in one or several wars between factions of "creatures from elsewhere." He urgently sought to establish of some sort of surveillance network to monitor gates and portals for potential threats to the world.

Abilities
Well versed in the Art, Raulothim commanded roughly four hundred battle-related spells, and was able to cast around three hundred of them. Draconic sages believed he could cast analyze portal, dimension door, fireball, lightning bolt, and magic missile without having to prepare. Raulothim's collection of spells also included analyze portal, blink, blur, burning hands, cat's grace, cloud of bewilderment, cloudkill, color spray, cone of cold, confusion, daze, dispel magic, forcebarb, forcewave, Ghorus Toth's metal melt, greater invisibility, Grimwald's graymantle, Kaupaer's skittish nerves, Khelben's suspended silence, levitate, mage armor, mage hand, open/close, polymorph, read magic, shimmermantle, summon undead II, teleport, Tirumael's energy spheres, and web.

Raulothim was also extremely proficient at psionics, being able to use the powers aura sight, body adjustment, burst, catfall, clairvoyant sense, claws of the vampire, compression, concussion blast, control body, control sound, defensive precognition, destiny dissonance, detect psionics, dimension slide, divert teleport, ectoplasmic cocoon, ego whip, empty mind, energy conversion, id insinuation, intellect fortress, know direction, mental barrier, metafaculty, mind blast, mind thrust, missive, object reading, psionic dimensional anchor, psionic disintegrate, psionic dismissal, psionic dominate, psionic grease, psionic mind blank, psionic minor creation, psionic sequester, psionic true seeing, psychic crush, remote view trap, telekinetic force, telempathic projection, thought shield, tower of iron will, trace teleport, ubiquitous vision, and vigor.

In combat, Raulothim magically animated his extensive arsenal of wands and staves. These would "float and fire" at his command, making Raulothim a truly terrifying opponent.

Lair
Raulothim's primary lair was in the Pit of Stars, the cauldron of the extinct volcano Xardmount on Axard. The Pit was lined with large blobs of gleaming, volcanic glass, making it look like a canopy of stars. At the center of the Pit lay a substantial pile of gold and several trapped dummy chests, daring would-be robbers to come closer. The center of the Pit was guarded by an invisible doomsphere, once a powerful eye tyrant who inhabited the caldera before Raulothim.

The cave network in and around Xardmount was also bristling with magical defenses, including traps both mundane and arcane, as well as magical guardians such as golems and gargoyles.

In addition to his primary lair, Raulothim also maintained eight or more perches, all situated on high mountain ledges on various islands along the Sword Coast North. At least one of these smaller lairs contained a backup cache of magical items and duplicated spells in case the Pit of Stars was compromised somehow.

Possessions
As befit his personality, Raulothim possessed an extensive hoard. He accumulated large sums of currency, intended to purchase spells and items when necessary. This hoard was buried deep beneath the Pit of Stars, under several tons of gravel, together with most of his magical items.

His collection of battleworthy items was stashed in various warded locations around Axard, though he kept several items on his person in a sack fastened around his neck. These items included rods of flailing, lordly might, terror, and smiting, as well as two staves of thunder and lightning, four wands of fire, three wands of frost, and at least one wand of lightning, wand of paralyzation, and wand of polymorph. Finally, Raulothim's battle arsenal included a javelin of lightning and an enchanted ring that allowed him to cast dispel magic and reverse gravity.

Raulothim also owned several enchanted swords.

Activities
Prior to his encounter with the spelljammer crew, Raulothim was frequently seen observing important events at a safe distance. This happened so often that some barbarian tribes mistakenly venerated him as a "watching spirit" who reported to their own gods. Certain magical organizations also falsely claimed Raulothim was a spy in their employ.

Raulothim occasionally plundered wizard towers and tombs, hoping to amass more magical items and knowledge.

Through his crystal balls, Raulothim spied on many adventuring parties to determine their true natures. He sought to recruit several bands of loyal and capable adventurers to carry out missions he deemed too dangerous for himself. He was particularly interested in bidding adventurers to travel through gates, guard portals near his lair, or research a way to establish surveillance over all gates. He also entertained the idea of convincing baelnorn to watch over a potential "gatewatch" network.

Raulothim traded with the halfling Taerserr family of Holgerstead. They provided him with minor magical items, and in return he provided stone slabs carved with extremely detailed maps of the Sword Coast North. Blucklo Taerserr sold these to the wealthy and powerful of the region, who prized the maps both for their accuracy and for their being "drawn by a dragon".

The Silent Shadow spent significant time and effort on magical research. Among other projects, he sought to uncover the incredibly rare bloodfire spell that would nigh-guarantee absolute loyalty from whoever he cast it on. Raulothim also sought to clone himself through a modified version of the spell stasis clone, though he lacked the helm of supreme wizardry required for its casting.

Over two score adventuring companies, mercenary groups, and other motley bands fell to Raulothim's formidable lair defenses over the years, including the Robes of Doom, Bendever's Talons, and The Bold Broadswords of Mirabar. Raulothim enjoyed rearranging the corpses of fallen intruders to misdirect and trick future visitors into even more devious traps.

Relationships
The dragon expert Velsaert of Baldur's Gate described Raulothim's relations with other dragons as "a series of avoidances, flights from even friendly overtures, and deadly defenses of his lair." Because of his extreme paranoia, Raulothim was only willing to deal with other beings when he saw no other way of proceeding, and then only under conditions firmly under his own control.

History
The earliest known sighting of Raulothim was in the, when he was observed hovering over a small-scale battle fought somewhere in the Dessarin Valley.

One day Raulothim chanced across the crew of a spelljammer attempting to bury treasure near his lair. When the crew realized they were being watched by a huge emerald dragon, they fled through a gate to another plane. Raulothim was previously unaware such magic existed, and immediately had his world view shattered. He became even more reclusive and paranoid, spending much time brooding over the dangers of gates and other magic to himself.

He was known to have visited a magefair once, in disguise. Raulothim found the experience of being surrounded by so many wizards terrifying yet oddly comforting, since he realized not all magic-users were out to kill him or conquer the world.

During the Rage of Dragons in the, Raulothim retreated to the Elemental Plane of Air.

Rumors & Legends
Little was known about Raulothim in Ruathym, save for the fact that he guarded powerful magic and was once far more active. He was also known to hurl spells at travelers who came too close to his island.

Elminster Aumar, Chosen of Mystra, speculated that Raulothim would find some way to prolong his existence by the end of the 15 century DR, either through stasis clone or lichdom, provided he did not fall to adventurers first. Since Mystra did not approve of the hoarding of magic, her Chosen occasionally spread rumors and maps directing adventurers to Axard, in the hope that Raulothim might be defeated.