Most people living in Korvosa don't think about what goes on in the sewers of their city... which is why it might surprise them to learn that the foul catacombs are actually thriving with stubbornly hardy creatures. Case in point: the Tunnel Dragons, a small tribe of kobolds who call the sewer tunnels beneath Old Korvosa their home, surviving by sporadic expeditions to the surface streets and rooting through the refuse of the citizens. Among them was the humble kobold Athraz, a somewhat talented animal tamer who helped handle the tribe's animals. While not wildly successful, he was decent at what he did, and that was enough for the tribe.
But a few months back, one of the Tunnel Dragons came back with a strange drug called "Shiver". The drug quickly became popular among the rest of the kobolds, and they became slavishly desperate for more of the stuff. Athraz never had a desire to try it (he was too busy with his animals to get hooked), but in an effort to secure more and appease their demanding chief, Athraz entered into business with a local crimelord named Gaedran Lamm, who promised to supply his tribe with more shiver in exchange for the use of his animals in his criminal activities. Athraz was so pleased to be of use to his tribe, he never saw the imminent betrayal by Lamm coming. In an attempted break in using one of his dire rats, Athraz was locked in the building and left to be caught by the city guards and taking the fall, while losing ownership of his beloved creatures.
Athraz was reminded of the many urban legends he'd heard of the infamous hero, Blackjack, hero to the city's downtrodden. Hopeful as he was that Blackjack might miraculously show up to save him, he knew such a chance was slim to none. And then a thought occurred to him: why should Blackjack save him? Blackjack was a human hero... there was no such thing for monsters like him.
So... why not become that hero?!
Athraz cleverly managed to convince a human child passing by the building to let him free, pretending to be another child stuck in the building, and quickly escaped back to his tribe. Athraz spent the last few weeks doing two things: helping his tribe overcome their addiction to shiver, and fashioning a new persona for himself. Korvosa's humans already had a hero... but the city's monsters had none. Nobody to stick up for them, even though they were the most downtrodden of all! But he would fix that! If no hero of monsters existed... he would just become that hero! After weeks of practicing with his favorite taming whip, practicing with one of the rapiers in the tribe armory, and digging through old rags to get just the right color, Athraz took to the streets of Korvosa as her newest protector. He would rid the city of the blights that harm both it's people AND it's monsters!
He was now El Dragón.
