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I've poured over my copy of Dragons revisited, several times in fact, and while I can tell Reds derive pleasure from their rampages, Blacks are merely misathropic and hateful, whites attack from pure frustration and rage, and that blues loooooove to micromanage their chaotic natures out of existence, it still failed to explain one important thing for me.
What motivates a blue? A desire to acquire more wealth? To control others as they control themselves? Are there no generic motivations for blues, their motivations as different as those of men, merely their methods are similar? Social status among other blues?
Does anyone out there know?
According to the 3.5 (and earlier) books, they form a suzerain and maintain an informal hierarchy of sorts.
All dragons desire wealth. Blue dragons also desire control. I think of blue dragons as compulsive control freaks. Think of the prototypical teenage girl gaggle with the alpha queen who controls every aspect of their coven. What they wear, what they do, what they say, what they think.
In my games very powerful blue dragons extend their compulsive desire for order around their lair and even into towns they control. There are no steaming refuse piles, nor any broken bridges or even ancient ruins. All of those things offend the blue's desire for orderliness.
Highly intelligent blues will attempt to extend that orderliness into the cultures of the people around them, creating highly lawful societies with strict rules of conduct and swift and severe punishment for straying from the "lawful" path.
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Ah. So I was right then. In my case I have a fairly young, but clever blue who enjoys enriching himself through an agent in the Pathfinder society who funnels gold and artifacts to him. Carefully of course.
Later, he decides that, if he can seize the control of the entire society, his wealth and power would more than quintuple, and instructs his agent, along with his requests, to begin forming a coup.
meglomania
As i said to someone earlier this month who asked about a black dragon. The best thing to look at is the Draconomicon 3.5 book.
Excellent resource for all info on dragons.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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My Blues are the Chessmaster types of Dragons.
Wyrmlings/Very Young - Trying to survive (face it, between being small, other 'siblings' trying to kill you, and all the do gooders, you have it rough) they start scheming to manipulate. A group of kobolds, a group of goblins, join an adventuring party... finding allies to rule/manipulate is their motivation.*
Young - Having survived most adventurers, Young blue dragons are now looking to disappear. 'Practical' Blues may destroy their previous followers, to make for a 'clean break' for anyone who pierced their plans. Ghost sound can be used to make their planned new lair 'haunted' and with their above average intelligence, they may start building libraries, or even ruin delving.**
Young Adult/Adult - This is the second most dangerous (for the dragon) time of the dragon's life. Just getting his sorcerer spells, at the cusp of prime life for dragons, blues get more reckless willing to be overt and physical. A blue might raize a town to add a trinket from a shrine for his collection, or pick a fight with another dragon to get the other dragon's lair. Most half-blue dragons come from this time in their lives, as the normally manipulative blues feel "If it feels good, do it" so shagging other species would be a guilty pleasure.
Mature Adult - Here is where the Blue begins to realize what his lifespan actually means. He's seen adventurers come and go (possibly even fought generations of the same human families) and nations rise and fall. He realizes he can live for hundreds of years more, unless the overenthusiastic monkeys-with-sticks cut him down. He also likely had a few close calls that drove home that 'monkeys with sticks' can cut him down. The cleverer ones also begin to realize that they can cut others down and plan accordingly. That fortune teller that sends the new heroes to kill a wyrmling red? She's been charmed to provide that cryptic message. Sole survivor of a raided caravan? Is he telling the truth of the blue dragon attacking, or is it a suggestion that he tell people that. They also begin to set long term plans in motion. A blue dragon version of Mengkare, for example, might choose to sponsor and maybe even 'seed' a human bloodline, manipulating it from a distance, even pruning it if need be.***
Old/Very Old- If the blue hasn't taken what he plans to be a permanent lair, then here is where he carves out one. Hallucinatory terrain, lesser geas and bestow curse all help to obscure their lair and their history. Sages cursed to not be able to speak of the dragon, adventurers geased into destroying records, use of Mirage to frame other threats to their lair, all are options for removing/destroying threats, all without direct action.
Ancient+ Here blue dragons become their most sedate. Their plans can take decades to enact, and their status as manipulators excel. Less ethical people who discover the blue's true nature or lair might not be killed outright, but can enter into relationships as servitors/employees. They also decide on other methods to entertain themselves possibly to compensate for lesser beings lifespans. A blue who is enjoys human music might be both a patron of the arts, and have his agents kidnap musicians/bards at the height of their careers. a blue with flesh to stone and stone to flesh might have a 'cabinet' of petrified bards, across generations, using them as living music boxes. ("I'm in the mood for a classic Taldan opera." *casts stone to flesh "Sing for me human!" *casts flesh to stone* "Thank you.") The breeding dragon, above, might collect a variety of species for breeding. When there's an exceptional 'breeding stock' using the same spells to preserve that bloodline for 'future use' might have merit as well. At this point, blue dragons will often offer their 'services' and experience to other powerful beings. Why not work with a human archwizard? He'll die in a brief time, and then you can take his stuff. Why raize a villiage where they have records of your lair, when you can 'advise' that impulsive red dragon to do the job for you, it's a win win. If the dragon raizes the village, you have your records destroyed and the survivors report a 'red dragon attack'. If the villiagers defeat the dragon, you've distracted them from your agenda, so your 'pet' adventuring band (geased, charmed or otherwise coerced, or just simply hired) can go in and destroy the records themselves.
Basically if you find an older blue dragon's lair by research either a) you are very good, or it's a trap.
As you can tell from my icon, Blues are my favourite dragons.
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My Blues are the Chessmaster types of Dragons.
Wyrmlings/Very Young - Trying to survive (face it, between being small, other 'siblings' trying to kill you, and all the do gooders, you have it rough) they start scheming to manipulate. A group of kobolds, a group of goblins, join an adventuring party... finding allies to rule/manipulate is their motivation.*
Young - Having survived most adventurers, Young blue dragons are now looking to disappear. 'Practical' Blues may destroy their previous followers, to make for a 'clean break' for anyone who pierced their plans. Ghost sound can be used to make their planned new lair 'haunted' and with their above average intelligence, they may start building libraries, or even ruin delving.**
Young Adult/Adult - This is the second most dangerous (for the dragon) time of the dragon's life. Just getting his sorcerer spells, at the cusp of prime life for dragons, blues get more reckless willing to be overt and physical. A blue might raize a town to add a trinket from a shrine for his collection, or pick a fight with another dragon to get the other dragon's lair. Most half-blue dragons come from this time in their lives, as the normally manipulative blues feel "If it feels good, do it" so shagging other species would be a guilty pleasure.
Mature Adult - Here is where the Blue begins to realize what his lifespan actually means. He's seen adventurers come and go (possibly even fought generations of the same human families) and nations rise and fall. He realizes he can live for hundreds of years more, unless the overenthusiastic monkeys-with-sticks cut him down. He also likely had a few close calls that drove home that 'monkeys with sticks' can cut him down. The cleverer ones also begin to realize that they can cut others down and plan accordingly. That fortune teller that sends the new heroes to kill a wyrmling red? She's been charmed to provide that cryptic message. Sole survivor of a raided caravan? Is he telling the truth of the...
I approve.
In my case, as the situation stands, my blue is a fairly young adult, still old enough to have a number of class levels in wizard under his belt, but not so much that he feels he's set for life.
One day, by pure happenstance, a Osirion Pathfinder by the name of Sekphet Al Emesh stumbles into his lair half dead and starving. Quite literally, in fact. This pathfinder managed to barely survive a cave-in that left him trapped, and the rest of his group assuming that he was dead, leaving the rest of them to waltz right into a trap and die themselves, leaving the expedition a failure.
Sekphet, through sheer luck and judicious application of the last spell in his spellbook, managed to dig himself a tunnel to freedom, to an extent, at least. Unfortunately, that tunnel took him straight to the lair of the wyrm Sashavintal.
The blue considered killing him, at first, but then decided to seize upon an opportunity. It had heard about the stirrings of mistrust among the pathfinders (this would be a year or two before the events of the Shadow War) and decided to take advantage of the situation. He offered Sekphet a deal. Power, knowledge, information and his life in exchange for treasure, protection from the pathfinder society and their machinations, and eventually, control of the society itself.
Sekphet agreed, promising to deliver all of these things to the blue, but Sashavintal, being mistrustful, took a lock of hair from the Osirion, as well as a drop of his blood and placed a greater Geas on him, the specifics of which prevented him from ever speaking directly of the dragon, or his existence to another living soul but the dragon himself, as well as forcing him to foreswear loyalty to him. If Sekphet ever took a direct action that would act as a betrayal in any form, he would die instantly, as though from a heart attack. (I houseruled geas to be a bit more like earlier editions, since, well, played Baldur's Gate and the bit with Yoshimo was heartbreaking. That's a geas done well.)
After that, Sekphet returned to the society with knowledge of a number of caches, discoveries and historical facts the dragon had told him to speed his rise in the ranks, as well as ensuring him power, while Sekphet in turn funneled artifacts to the dragon that would, in some manner or another be "lost in transit" while being moved, or merely disappear from the archives during the internecine affair with the Shadow Lodge, which worked excellently as a cover.
Sekphet rose in the ranks, and with the help of Sashavintal became a venture captain, and eventually began plotting a method of murdering the Decemvirate and replacing the members in a silent and unknown coup so that Sashavintal would be able to rule the entire society through Sekphet. Unfortunately, Sekphet began to become dissatisfied with his end of the bargain and began researching methods of breaking a geas.
Remove Curse spells being ineffective, due to the people he could find being unable, and he himself being unwilling to answer the questions that surely would follow the knowledge that he was placed under a geas. He knew that a wish could potentially break the spell, but preferred not to deal with djinn, knowing precisely how unpredictable the spell could be (He could ask for his geas to be broken, and the djinni would merely kill him as the simplest solution.)
The blue has yet to learn of his agent's disloyalty.