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Blooded Doctrine (GM-Only)

Restricted Knowledge
This page contains truths that are not widely known in Kaernest.
Characters may encounter Blooded frequently without ever learning these facts.

What the Blooded Are (The Truth)

The Blooded are not a separate Species.

They are corrupted members of existing peoples, altered through consumption of dragon blood in controlled or semi-controlled processes developed by dragons over centuries.

The transformation: - overwrites physiology, - distorts psychology, - and reorients purpose.

In short, dragons do not merely create servants, they remake people.

This fact is the core secret of the Blooded.

The more powerful of the blooded need access to blood more often. In-world the dragons see this as keeping them in line. System/balance-wise, this is so the more powerful ones can't just show up conveniently or on a GM whim. They have to be tied closer to dragons.

What the World Believes

Most people in Kaernest know the following: - Dragons created the Blooded. - Blooded are intelligent, dangerous, and unnatural. - Blooded possess “corrupted blood” that makes them hostile or monstrous.

What is not generally believed: - that Blooded were once Dazhdvog, Fluvarri, Kampanni, Qnassi, Sektarri, Verdanni, or others, - that Blooded transformations are consistent by Species, - that the process is reversible only in theory, not in practice.

This misunderstanding is politically convenient and socially stabilizing.

Dragon Intent and Control

Dragons use the Blooded as: - soldiers, - spies, - enforcers, - and infrastructure.

Control is not permanent.

Most Blooded: - are created for specific campaigns or purposes, - are abandoned when no longer useful, - escape or are displaced when dragon power shifts.

Over time, many Blooded: - go feral, - form independent groups, - or become localized threats with no active dragon oversight.

Blooded are not loyal by nature.
They are leftover consequences.

Species-Specific Outcomes

Dragon blood interacts with each Species in predictable ways.

This consistency is not widely understood.

Dazhdvog → Gargoyle-Type Blooded

  • Stone-like skin and wings.
  • Extreme patience and endurance.
  • Function as sentinels and ambush predators.
  • Often found guarding ruins, roads, or forgotten infrastructure.
  • Capable of remaining motionless for impossibly long periods.

Common misconception: they are living statues or earth spirits.

Fluvarri → Kyoga

  • Telepathic and psychic manipulators.
  • Capable of reading thoughts and implanting suggestions or memories.
  • Require constant access to dragon blood to function.

Critical exception: - Kyoga cannot go feral. - Kyoga always serve dragons directly. - Every Kyoga is active dragon intelligence.

Kyoga are best understood as dragon secret police.

Their presence always indicates deliberate dragon interest.

Kampanni → Imp-Type Blooded

  • Small, winged, venomous, and magically volatile.
  • Use lightning and harassment tactics.
  • Most effective in numbers and chaotic environments.

Often used as skirmishers, messengers, and battlefield disruptors.

Qnassi → Kobold-Type Blooded

  • Small, violent, and highly aggressive.
  • Breed extremely rapidly.
  • Travel almost exclusively in packs.

Key behavior: - Lone kobolds are extraordinarily rare. - Encountering one implies many more nearby.

Many kobold populations have gone fully feral and exist far from dragon armies.

Sektarri → Werecat-Type Blooded

  • Capable of appearing fully Sektarri.
  • Can transform rapidly into large, lethal predators.
  • Designed for infiltration and shock violence.

These Blooded are a source of deep Imperial paranoia.

Verdanni → Anivines

  • Plant-like entities that attach to animate hosts.
  • Capable of reanimating corpses or seizing control of living beings.
  • Thrive in battlefields, ruins, and abandoned zones.

They blur the line between creature and environment.

Empire Doctrine and Suppression

The Empire exists to contain dragons.

This creates a dangerous contradiction: - If people understood that Blooded were corrupted citizens, - public tolerance for Blooded extermination would falter, - fear of dragon contamination would skyrocket.

As a result: - The Empire emphasizes corruption, not origin. - Evidence of Blooded humanity is quietly destroyed. - Knowledge is compartmentalized and controlled.

Even anti-Imperial groups often avoid spreading the truth.
The destabilization would be catastrophic.

Using the Blooded in Play (GM Guidance)

  • Never introduce the truth directly.
  • Allow players to infer the truth slowly over long arcs, if ever.
  • Blooded encounters should feel:
  • intelligent,
  • purposeful,
  • unsettling.
  • Kyoga sightings are campaign-level events, not random encounters.
  • Feral Blooded reinforce that dragon influence lingers even when dragons do not.
  • The horror of the Blooded is not what they are, but what they used to be.

Core Principle

Dragons do not conquer by force alone.

They conquer by rewriting what people can become.

The Blooded are proof that this has already happened.