Sithtillaxx – the ancient copper dragon

Digital painting of Sithtillaxx, a very ancient copper dragon in the Dragonlance fandom. Commissioned by AT, who studied every bit of information about this proud and kiind dragon, who became friends with a Kagonesti woman (wild elves of Krynn).

My working title for this giant lady is “Dragon mama”.

To show her advanced age, other than with the size, I painted her with the lovely colors of oxidized copper, turning azure in the sunlight. Also, she has scars and lumps here and there. She’s relaxed, here, bathing in the sunlight like all reptiles do, perfectly still and happy to let things move around her.

Progress:

Her story

“The coppers have a proud ancestry, dating back to the matriarch Querrasian. The offspring of her first eggs included Blayze and Hyaniss, who mated to create the eggs of the next generation. The survivors of that clutch were Tharn and Sithtillaxx who, upon their flight from the grotto, grew to maturity and survived to become the procenitors of all copper dragons living today.” (from the Fift Age Dragons – manual)

From the commissioner: I’ve been reviewing some of the “very early dragon lore” from the source material. Her complete pedigree (family history) is pretty straight forward:

• Circa 9000 PC: Querrasian, the first copper dragon, amongst the Five Daughters of Paladine who were “created” (rather than hatched). She procreated with a “platinum serpent” (probably Paladine) and bore the first 4 copper dragon eggs. – Circa 8000 PC: half of the copper eggs survive and hatch; Hyaniss (f) and Blayze (m) emerge, and are the first two copper dragons to hatch from dragon eggs (see above).
• Circa 3000 PC: In the Grotto, the first metallic dragons whose eggs were produced fully between dragon-with-dragon pairings (because their parents’ eggs were created by dragon-with-deity pairings, and their grandparents were created by the gods), these dragons are both the “third generation of dragons”, and also the “first ‘NATURAL’ generation of dragons”, the first to come from natural pairings/breeding. Amongst the coppers were THARN, a male who eventually inherited his father’s ENORMOUS treasure hoard, and SITHTILLAXX (“Sithtill” for short). Tharn and Sithtill in turn paired up, and became the parents to ALL future copper dragons; they are the only copper survivors of the slaughter at the Grotto, and go on to produce at least 25 offspring, before parting ways.
• Nothing is said of Sithtill after all of that, but in my campaign, she fought in the Third Dragon War (present in the battles of 1018 PC, with a Kagonesti rider) and appears in 833 PC (in the form of that Kagonesti). At this time, she is at least 2167 years old– well into “advanced great wyrm” status– 1,000+ years into her “great wyrm” status, which began at 1,200 years.
• Her children, and grandchildren, continued to fight and serve, both in the Dragon Isles and through til the War of the Lance, including famous Cymbol (one of the first dragons to carry riders in the WotL and reignite the alliance between the metallic dragons and the Knights of Solamnia). (Cymbol is believed to be her son, as far as I can tell.)
• Per 3E rules, she has another thousand years (or so) before reaching “twilight”, after which death from old age becomes possible. So she may have retired from being a dragon, but hasn’t given up on being alive, just yet.
• Technically an “Advanced Greatwyrm Copper Dragon”, using 3.5E game jargon. Given her advanced age, her dragon form has grown to colossal size– somewhere between 32 meters and 38 meters in total length– with a size breakdown of about 30% head + neck, 30% body, and 40% tail.

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Copyright 2024 Elena Zambelli, All Rights Reserved.
Created on: 05/03/2024

Last page edit: 05/04/2024