Some dragons of the Thousand trade with the dominion lords of the Vast, bartering for servants or treasures produced in that land. Flames of the forge wander the land, using their skills as architects, artificers, and engineers in exchange for treasures or useful information. Beyond this, the dragons are self-sufficient and self-involved; few real industries exist within the Thousand.
Draconic culture was built upon the Thousand Flights of Argonnessen. This region, which has the longest history and is as tradition-bound as the Light of Siberys, boasts lairs and lore reaching back to before the Age of Demons. It’s also the heart of the religion of Thir, the ancestral home of the greatest draconic lines, and the dominant force in the Conclave and its politics.
The dragons of the Thousand are divided into extended families called flights, and each rules its own territory. With very few exceptions, status is determined by a combination of age and the value of a dragon’s hoard. The eldest living member of a flight serves as its leader and assigns duties, decides who speaks for the flight at the Conclave, and makes decisions on all other such matters. Each flight is self-sufficient, except for occasional trade, and must remain so or else slowly die off.
To weed out the weak and teach young dragons the realities of the world, all dragons of the Thousand must spend fifty years either dwelling in the Vast or serving in the Light of Siberys. The most favored nondragons are retainers for a particular dragon or flight, as their ancestors have been for generations, while others are serfs laboring on behalf of their wyrm overlords. In some particularly hidebound domains, nondragons are unwelcome and executed on sight.
The Thousand Flights represents traditional dragon culture—one of power, greed, and arrogance, but also of ancient knowledge and even older pride.
The Thousand Flights of Argonnessen—more commonly called the Thousand—is the heart of the dragon homeland. The great wyrms of the Thousand inhabit lairs hewn in the Age of Demons, and the cries of soaring dragons fill the air. Dragons have lived here for hundreds of thousands of years; the territory is replete with monuments to wise wyrms and legendary prophets, shrines to the deities of Thir, and wondrous locations created by the greatest flames of the forge. Crafted through pure magic by colossal artisans, these edifices tower over the landscape. Flying across the Thousand is a breathtaking experience, but one few nondragons ever experience; intruders find scant welcome in the land of the Thousand.