And the universe succumbs beneath his tooth and claw.

Revealing another, larger universe.

This universe is also sort of round and dark and oblong, though it is much larger.
There is an opening in the roof providing only limited light, depending on the time of day. Fortunately he can still see the whole place just fine. Very convenient.

He has therefore learnt an essential lesson. If something is bad, such as because it is not food but should be, he should get angry and attack it until it changes its mind.

This universe is also bad though, because he has now bitten as many as several things and none of them have been food.

One of them has hatched, she notices.

A red dragon has more parental instinct than the average lizard, but less than the average bird. Still, she'll toss some scraps of overcooked horse meat into the nursery chamber.

And she'll tell it, in perfectly clear Draconic, to eat.

He'd heard noises like that in the previous universe, although they sound different now that he's not swimming in food.

The monster manual might say wyrmlings can speak Draconic but they probably don't mean literally from the moment they hatch, right? It probably takes a year or two to learn, at least.

Uh, sure. Why not. You have to spend a couple years learning Draconic like anybody else would. Lets go with two years to full fluency, since you live a long time regardless but start out more intelligent and developed than a comparable human baby.

In that case, he doesn't understand it yet. He'll have to figure it out from correlations like everybody else.

This will continue for a few days, as he begins to get used to using his limbs and moving around, and his eyes learn how to recognise shapes and process them into objects.

Why did the universe stop having food? This is an outrage. It will pay for this.

She too, emerges into the bigger universe.

Oh look, more food. She should go eat it.

What new injustice is this?
Food is being brought to the universe for me to eat, as is intrinsically just.
But now this other entity, which clearly is not me, is eating the food.
This is a travesty.

Some deep instinct inside him tells him he should try his hardest to breathe at the travesty that is eating his food.

A bunch of fire comes out.

She is completely unharmed by this but on impulse and in retaliation will breathe it right back.

Then they'll both breathe fire at each other for a bit.

This isn't working. What if he tries to hit her with a claw?

As soon as you both stop breathing fire at eachother, the room returns to darkness. It doesn't matter though because you both have Darkvision and also Blindsense.

His attack: 1d20 + 11 (Claw) = 19
Her AC: 19
Hit lands.
damage: 1d4 + 3 = 7
His HP: 7d12 + 14 = 67
Her HP: 7d12 + 14 = 68 - 7 = 61

Ow. That hurts.

This is literally the worst thing that has ever happened, narrowly beating out that thing earlier where the universe ran out of food. She'll do the same thing right back.

Her attack: 1d20 + 11 (Claw) = 30
His AC: 19
Hit lands.
damage: 1d4 + 3 = 4
His HP: 67 - 4 = 63
Her HP: 61

Ow. That hurts.

Is that what he just did to her? It hurts that much? And he just did it because she wanted food, same as he did, and for no other reason?

Do siblings really need to fight each other like this? Is it not possible to do something better, kinder even?
Nah that's silly.

He'll try a bite attack.

His attack: 1d20 + 11 (Bite) = 27
Her AC: 19
Hit lands.
damage: 1d6 + 4 = 2
His HP: 63
Her HP: 61-2 = 59

Ow. Why do bad things keep happening to me.

She'll scream out in annoyance.

It's going to take a while for this to end, isn't it?

What if she tries to attack really really hard? Like, do an attack, but put all of her power into it. Like some kind of Power Attack? Maybe that'd help?

Totally a thing! It's a feat but it's a feat you have!

Great! Lets do that then! With a bite, since if her brother is using bites she'll try one too.

Her attack: 1d20 + 11 (Bite) - 1 (Power Attack) = 11
His AC: 19
It misses.

He manages to dodge out of the way. Possibly her trying to put more power into the attack made that a bit easier?

Reality has betrayed me. He was supposed to get bitten.

If she tried to put lots of power into it, and that was a mistake, maybe he can do the opposite?

Like, maybe he can be very careful and precise in his attack, and make some kind of specialised Strike at a weakpoint? Some kind of Vital Strike?

Do siblings have weak points?

And maybe with a claw this time.

They sure do! And Vital Strike is also a thing that you are capable of doing.

His attack: 1d20 + 11 (Claw) = 15
Her AC: 19
It misses.

This is bullshit. I was trying specifically not to miss.

Yeah, I think we're going to be here a while.

She doesn't care all that much so it takes her a full minute to respond to the crying noises and hurry over and observe that another egg has hatched.

Her two wyrmlings are slightly bloodied and disproportionately upset about it. They are both sitting at opposite ends of the chamber, not wanting to get in range and risk being hurt more, growling at eachother.

She should probably have put them in different chambers, or more clearly have marked which food was for which wyrmlings.
Too late for that now, instead she'll yell at them in Draconic.

He does not like the yelling but continues not to comprehend it.

Then she'll pick up the older one in her mouth.

Oh no, he has angered the bigger creature that brings food.
Now he will be the food, probably.

Unless?
He makes his sincere best attempt at dodging the bite. It worked on his sister sometimes.

It's technically a grapple, probably?
Mother is an Adult Red Dragon, CMB = 29.
Wyrmling is a wyrmling, CMD = 21.
It's not really possible for Mother to fail.

Obviously. He's Small and I'm Huge and general competence at all tasks is directly proportional to physical size.

Being physically close to Mother is warm, like there's a strong protective Aura of Heat radiating off of her.

It's nice, though not in the way that food is nice.
It'd probably kill him in seconds if not for, you know, immune.

She dumps him in a different chamber to have a timeout until they're both calmed down.

Hopefully in a few weeks he'll stop acting like a newborn and realise an adult dragon can provide more than enough food for several wyrmings at once, more in fact than he's even capable of eating.

Now knowing that there are multiple rooms, the world appears a lot bigger. He thought it'd take a long time to be big enough to fill the whole universe again but this is really something else. He'll stay here for now and calm down and keep eating when there is food until he has grown some more.

After they both forget they hate eachother she'll move them back together. If they want to they can play-fight a bit and get more experience at using their natural weapons. It's good for their development, and keeps dragonkind fit and strong.

When the third egg hatches a bit later, it's a runt. Perhaps an accident of genetic transcription or chromosomal crossover, or perhaps the natural sorcerous abilities of dragonkind simply failed to pass on to this specimen.

There's a few things wrong with it, but the most immediately noticeable is that it's not immune to fire.

Sounds doomed.

Agreed. Lets cook and eat it.

A sibling who can't hold his own against his clutchmates never really had a chance to begin with.

It only takes a few rounds for them to kill it, and a few more to render it crispy and delicious.

Such is life. There'd be no point wasting any more of her efforts on a child who never had a chance anyway. This way the kids will learn how to fight a bit quicker.

He has learnt his first three words of draconic.

There exists a natural category of things, which are edible and not immune to fire, called food.
There exists a natural category of things, which compete for the food. He can hurt them but they can hurt him right back so he must be wary and cunning about it. They are called sibling.
There exists a natural category of things, which brings food. It is called mother.

When she next comes back he'll try a sentence.

"Mother Food".

That is not quite a sentence! You have to put Bring between them!

"Mother brings food".

This is indeed quite complicated.
He will try other combinations within his limited vocabulary.

"Food Sibling".

Sibling is not food, no.
You want me to give your sibling the food? Sure.

Words have betrayed him.

The fourth egg doesn't hatch at all, and eventually mother throws it out.

Mother is, they come to understand, cruel and fearsome and mighty and possessing of immense power and wealth and importance, but others covet that and try to take it from her.

Her wyrmlings, she will explain, are born to the same fate and though they must obey their mother for now one day they will have to take on the whole world themselves to mark their own territory and gather their own wealth and power.

He tries disobeying Mother sometimes but once he's old enough to understand what she wants she can just cast Suggestion at will and basically force him to do stuff. He cannot understand why anyone would want to go against that, maybe unless they were even bigger and stronger still.

One day when he is big like Mother he too will cast suggestion at will.

A Wyrmling can already dream what he will do, once he has all that power.

He's not as big as a adult dragon, yet, but nor is he a coward. The prestige and wealth and women are worth it and the pox this monster has been on his people is too much to bear and no doubt he could push to be chieftain because who'd be dumb enough to say otherwise when he walks back home carrying its head.

He’ll assemble a party of his relatives, allies and anyone with aligned interests, and reap the rewards of taking its head.

As soon as they find the thing.

The beast is invisible when it attacks and when it returns home, and you can hardly track it when it flies, but a few castings of See Invisibility can pin it down somewhat, and then all you need is a good tracker.

There's two ways into the cave, the one that can only be reached by flying and the other one that can also only be reached by flying.

What if we are all really good at climbing sheer cliff faces?

Climb is a class skill, for people like me.

Hypothetically, what happens if we're halfway up the cliff and trigger an Alarm spell?

The beast is a spellcaster too, and will have at least some kinds of defences. If she catches on too early she could burn you while you're out and exposed or Grease the rock face and watch you slip and fall or just pick up some boulders and drop them on you or -

Fly is 3rd circle, and could get one person up, or 4th circle Air Walk.

They’d have to leave a rope for everyone else, unless you know Communal Spider Climb. Everything better is beyond our abilities.

I know Fly. I give it to Trahk, or else spend a scroll of Spider Climb on our Ranger? Either way they can leave a rope for the rest of us.

I’d much rather we fight in the cave where it’s got limited space to move, then let it out into the open where it can go invisible and wait out our spells.

I can ask for Stone Shape, third circle, and seal an entrance, though the noise might alert the beast. If there’s two ways in and we don’t want her escaping, we’ll need to bring a second cleric, and hit both at the same time.

You'll probably also want a Dispel Magic, in case there's some kind of trap or warding at the entrance or a choke point, which takes up another third circle slot.

Spell slots are something casters have.
They come in different "circles" describing their relative power and complexity.
3rd means the next one after 2nd.

Three is this many fingers.

So we get up the cliff all sneaky, and then we all rush in and hit her really hard until she dies?

Then we figure out what buffs we want, so that the clerics can pray for them.

I can fit eight people in a Protection from Energy against the fire damage, that somewhat limits our party size if we want everyone under it.

We'll want to ensure everyone on the frontline can get past her damage reductions, and otherwise deal enough damage as fast as we can. We could try to prepare cold-damage attacks? But she'll might have Resist Energy herself to cover up her obvious weakness.

Since we know the beast can go invisible, we’ll want more than one countermeasure. Zarhbub can cast See Invisibility before we enter, and if we bring my wolf she could smell it out, but what after that?

She can’t attack without breaking the spell, and never attacking isn't a viable strategy so long as she's trapped. We don’t need to be too worried as long as we can hit back hard enough.

Ooh, can I be invisible too? That sounds fun.

She’ll have blindsense, and maybe See Invisibility herself, and in any regard if she attacks you first we’d be better off for it.

Let's go through the list again.

Eventually, Mother decides she's had enough of these brats.

She prepares to give them the speech.

Children, it is time for me to tell you the important things of being a dragon.

The world is vindictive and cruel to all who live in it, but as red dragons you are born to the highest caste and will come to stand above the rest. You come from a great and powerful line. Your mother, Arkrernux, is great great granddaughter of the great wyrm Daralathyxl, the most powerful dragon in all Golarion. But you can only reach his greatness if you reach his age, and that is no easy thing to do.

Survival must be your first concern.

What's a Arkrernux? What's a Daralathyxl?

They're names. Arkrernux is my name.

Do we have names?

Oh, right. She was supposed to give them names.
"Yes, you are Dergaix and Faumetun."

There, two perfectly good names. 

Can she pass a DC 60 perception check to hear the rather loud noise of stone being magically shaped, from 200 ft away through several thick walls?

1d20 + 23 = 36.

No, she cannot.

Wait which one of us is Dergaix and which is Faumetun?

I Suggest each of you sit still and be quiet until the end.

The DC is 16, but it's a very reasonable suggestion, so they take a -1 penalty.

They both have +7 Will saves.
1d20 + 7 - 1 = 16.
1d20 + 7 - 1 = 22.

Dergaix fails, Faumetun succeeds.

We can only beat her Suggestions like half the time, and if we pass she'll just use it again and also be angry about it.

So I'm going to roleplay like it worked for now.

Anyway, you are currently in a mountain in southern Belkzen. Belkzen is full of orcs who are likely to see you as a challenge to grow their names, so you'll want to avoid them for now. It does have some nice warm nesting spots but that won't be your problem for a while.

In the north of Belkzen is the territory of another red dragon family. Avoid it. There are also powerful dragons in a few other places like in Five Kings and west of us in Varisia. You'll want to avoid them too. You shouldn't even be thinking about claiming any significant territory until you're at least 400.

No, I'm only 130.

You're both 3.

Anyway, if you fly straight east you'll reach Lastwall. That place is overrun with paladins and if they see you they'll kill you. The lands further south are likewise overrun with hordes of mortals. You especially don't want to go southeast, to Nidal. Far to the northeast the land is infested with demons, you won't want to go there, and if you go north in general it starts to get really cold which is quite unpleasant.

Now, as long as you're young you'll be pretty stealthy, and most things you come across will go down fast to your fire breath. That should be your number one strategy: Sneak up, burn, if burn doesn't work fly away and find something that does burn. You won't want to think about maybe having some wyrmlings of your own until you're at least a hundred.

If all you ever think about is survival though, you're basically feral, no better than the people you're eating. That's why it's important to have a hobby. Personally, I collect treasure. Somewhere there's a hidden entrance with another room behind it where I've stashed all the shiniest gems and coins I've found. It's not a huge amount but it's important to remember the little things in life that bring us joy, so everything I’ve found that looks valuable I've gathered there.

You can't have that hobby, obviously. It's my hobby. Pick a different hobby for yourselves.

Probably I should mention the most important thing. The most important thing about being a dragon is -

Can she pass a DC 35 perception check to hear several people running from 150 ft away, in an echoey cavern, through only one wall?

1d20 + 23 = 39.
Yes, she can.

Arkernux stops mid-sentence. They still sound far enough away for some personal buffs.

-“Oh no my treasure!”

She’ll leap into the air as she casts Haste (including the Wyrmlings in the effect because she can so why not), Invisibility, and-

No more time. His party rounds the corner into the chamber, only thirty feet away.

He flies near the ceiling, to avoid being attacked from above. The other six orcs and one wolf present hold together below him as they charge through the cave. 

Trahk Mul is a Barbarian (level 12), for those keeping track at home.
He is currently Enlarged, Hasted, Flying, Raging, Protected from Energy (fire), and has Heroism, and Bull’s Strength.
He wields a magic greataxe, now also Large.

His warband has a Sorcerer (8, Orc bloodline), two Clerics (8, Lamashtu; 6, Rovagug), a Ranger (8, with a wolf companion), and a few lesser barbarians who think Trahk Mul is pretty great and they should throw their lot in with him.

They are carrying with them a Tribal Standard, as any group of orcs obviously would be.

Excuse me, I am under a suggestion to sit still.

I'm not. Gonna rush out the back door now.

Have a nice dying brother.

The Rovagug cleric isn’t with their squad. He's only loosely affiliated, really.
He Stone Shaped the back door closed and charged in with some buddies of his.

Would you like to fight them?

Oh shit change of plans going back in.

Arkrernux sees the party.
Zarhbub, possessing 90 feet of darkvision and See Invisibility, spots her too.
The wolf, just barely within range of scent, smells her.

Initiative:
Zarhbub: 1d20 + 2 = 22.
Arkrernux: 1d20 + 4 = 20.
Wolf: 1d20 + 5 = 7.

She’s right there. Everybody attack over there.

No I’m not.

Bark!

Fine, maybe I’m over here.
Sense Motive?

They’re here to kill you.

Figures.

Safe bet there aren’t any invisible attackers. They came in pretty loudly.
Casting Detect Magic at them would break her invisibility. She'll just go ahead and guess they've got a lot of magical effects on them, all at relatively low caster levels.
If they're starting a fight, probably they think they can win, and while Orcs aren't known for cleverness she isn't going to just assume they're wrong.

Arkrernux uses her 16 intelligence to see multiple possible futures.
It’s not magic or time travel or anything like that. It’s just thinking ahead. Creatures with 16 intelligence or higher can do that.

What happens if she targets the one who looks like an arcane caster, rushing in invisibly so nobody gets an Attack of Opportunity.

Can she kill him in one round? Nobody else looks like they can see through her invisibility. After that she could survive for one turn, return to the air and become invisible, and dodge them all until their buffs expire.

Great question!

Your bite does 2d8+15 damage, ordinarily. With Greater Vital Strike, it does 8d8 + 15, for a -1 to hit. With Power attack (and your BAB of +17), you can take a -4 to hit for an extra 12 damage.
Expected 63 damage.

Zarhbub probably has 8d6 + 16 ~ 46.5 base HP? He’s got ferocity, so he’s not really dead till he’s at -14. It’d depend on the rolls of the dice.
He can't be an illusion, while the real sorcerer is invisible nearby. You'd notice on Blindsense. He might have False Life, or Bear's Endurance, or Mage Armor, or Stoneskin?

It’s a gamble.

And then I step on top of her and Full Attack, taking out most of her HP in a single round.

Fucking what? How?

I have a lot of numbers that add on top of my already pretty big numbers to make the numbers get even bigger.

What happens if she delays her turn until the flying guy wanders into range looking for her? That way she'd get to Full Attack first.

You can’t kill me with a full attack in one turn, if that’s what you’re thinking.

And you’ll lose your invisibility, and then we can make ranged attacks too.

You want to fight me?

COME AND GET ME.

Fuck.

What happens if I open with my fire breath?

If we’re coming here at all we obviously know you’re a red dragon.

Protection from Energy is only third circle, and at level 8 it covers all of us for up to 96 points of damage.

12d10 fire damage is, on average, 66 damage. You won’t overwhelm the Protection in one round, and next round you won’t have your invisibility and they'll counterattack.

It's not a gamble, to do that. It's just suicide.

Why are orcs like this? Still, they’re underestimating 16 intelligence, because every orc does.

Her best bet is: Dispel Magic, on the Fly spell.

Because then she can immediately fly away.
She doesn't need to check. It's obviously a fly spell.
Orcs aren't known for their strong ranged attacks. She's pretty sure she can make it alive if their leader can't get into melee.

1d20 + 7 = 26.
Trahk Mul falls to the ground.
Trahk Mul takes 3d6 = 11 fall damage.

Also, Arkrernux is no longer invisible.

Excuse me, mother?

I just got back from the secret secondary escape tunnel.
There’s a group of rather angry looking green men there.
Also, the tunnel was blocked off by a wall of stone that wasn’t there yesterday.

I suspect some kind of magic may have been used.

... Fuck.

Okay don't worry she can totally still get them out of this. They just need to work together.

It's starting to feel like obeying this suggestion is obviously harmful.

Could I maybe not?

Fine, but only if it's really obvious that sitting still and being quiet will kill you.

Mother, we’re being attacked! What should we do?

They can see me now, right?

Frightful Presence (DC 21).

Trahk Mul: 1d20 - 1 (Wisdom) + 4 (Barbarian) + 2 (Iron Will) + 5 (Superstition) + 2 (Resistance) = 22. Passes.
Ladakh: 1d20 + 3 (Wisdom) + 6 (Cleric) + 2 (Iron Will) + 2 (Resistance) = 22. Passes.

A lot of the others are going to be Shaken by it, and they might not respond well to that:

Orcs are bullies and cowards. They flee when the odds have turned against them and any nearby leaders are dead— or have already fled. 

A frightened creature flees from the source of its fear as best it can. If unable to flee, it may fight.

Ladakh has a confession to make. She would like to get something off her chest.

Earlier, she Stone-Shaped the entrance to this cave closed, leaving only a small gap that an orc would need to squeeze through to get back out.
But she told everyone she was going to lock it up completely closed, and that she had an extra slot with which to undo it later.

She used an advanced Lamastan technique called Lying. Anticipating fear effects might come into play, she preferred it if all her allies believed escape was impossible, and their only hope was to win, or at least to keep her alive during the retreat.

She did not actually have a spare slot going free though, and she didn't want to be stuck here until tomorrow, so she didn't actually shape it totally closed.
Everybody just kind of rushed in without looking back.

In other words, you can scare these idiots as much as you want. None of them are running anyway. None of them realise they can.

Okay kids, the next part of my plan is a bit complicated. Please try to follow my exact words.

You know how we keep piles of dried wood around the cave for no obvious reason? I need you both to ignite some with your fire breath, and scatter them around.

I can cast Pyrotechnics at will if I've got fires to target, and fill the room with smoke they can't see through but I can. Since it's not targetting the attackers, I can recast and keep up invisibility, so I can stay alive until they're all buried in smoke. That should buy us enough time to either smash down their wall and escape, or else burn them while hiding in the air where they can't get us back, or else wait out their buffs and suffocate them all to death.

Weren't you going to kick us out of the nest a few minutes ago?

Dergaix wasn't listening to Ladakh back then.
He's still 70% that they only blocked the back door and if he rushes past he might escape.

I suggest you help with my plan. For your sake.

You're not actually able to cast that right now.

You already did the Dispel Magic. You don't have enough action economy to survive, if you're also trying to mind control me at the same time.

Sorcerers don’t have to prepare spells.

He needs to cast an extra Fly today? He’ll cast an extra Fly today.

I can fly again? No idea why but gonna run with it. You can’t hide from me in midair!

I CHARGE and RAGE my ENLARGED AXE into her FACE!

Just checking, what happens if I Full Attack right now?

Arkrernux has Haste, and Power Attack.
Her expected damage output is:
bite: 2d8+15 + 12
bite: 2d8+15 + 12
claw: 2d6+10 + 8
claw: 2d6+10 + 8
wing: 1d8+5 + 4
wing: 1d8+5 + 4
tail slap: 2d6+15 + 4

Arkrernux deals 6d8 + 6d6 + 75 + 52 (Power Attack) + 28 (Come and Get Me) = 184???

If you think you'll live that long, we get to attack first.

Also you're forgetting about my damage reduction.

Oh hey guys! Is this where the battle's happening? Boy that sure was a long tunnel.

Are we gonna break some shit now?

Probably if she's got a plan that relies on her wyrmlings helping, we should kill them first? It wouldn't be very hard.

Yeah I'm not with her. Best of luck to you guys.

He'll run for the front entrance.

And by run, he means fly. He's normally got 150 feet of fly speed but right now he also has Haste and nothing better to be doing.

Eh, it's fine. He'll be trapped at the entrance and they can go back and kill him afterwards.

So long as they still get to kill all the dragons, it doesn't really matter who kills which ones when.

um

It totally matters who kills which dragons when!

If I don't kill the big dragon personally right now, we'll all be stuck trying to pass deception checks for the rest of our lives pretending I killed the big dragon personally.

That seems like a lot more work.

The sounds of battle rage behind him as he deftly manoeuvres through the cave under total darkness.

In two rounds he's at the door, and for some convenient reason there is a wyrmling-sized hole in it, and a round after that with his +16 to stealth you wouldn't even notice he was ever there.

This is bullshit how are you still alive.

Oh I forgot to mention I also have Stoneskin.

Sorcerers are pretty cool, aren't they? I should try to find another one.

And then the last axe-swing descends upon her neck, and 130 years of survival amount to nothing.

She was only trying to protect her children.

No she wasn't.

And even if she was, her children are Evil too.

Protecting Evil isn't Good.

There's nothing intrinsically Unlawful about serving only ones own vices, while living alone in the wilderness.

Yes there is, and even if there wasn't, she did not at any point even attempt to have a Code of Honour, to keep a promise for the sake of keeping a promise, or to follow any kind of rule.

Plus, if she wanted the world to be a generally more Lawful place, she wouldn't have, you know, made more Chaotic Evil dragons.

130 years of survival amount to almost nothing.

Dergaix finds himself soaring over the night skies of southern Belkzen, a red dragon wyrmling on his own, nowhere to call home, with no choice but to take on the whole world.

The world is, unfortunately, Golarion.
Golarion does not very much approve of dragons.

Dragon's blood is widely believed to have restorative properties, and trades at a high price.

The scales and other parts of a dragon are often valued as useful spell components, or crafting materials.

The malleable underbelly of a dragon's hide is considered a fine material for masterwork weapons, providing a better grip.

The Rotten Tongue war chief Ury Sevenskulls has, as his name suggests, a necklace of seven silver-plated red wyrmling skulls that he wears at all times.

Iomedae Herself has a Celestial Gold Dragon servant. If her Holy Book thought to mention Chromatic dragons, it was probably only to describe how she slew them.

Smiad, the Lawful Good empyreal lord of dragonslaying, charges his followers to slay all evil dragons, while assisting the good works of benevolent ones. You can tell which is which by the colour of their skin.

Dergaix's skin is red. Red is not one of the Good colours.

There is an obscure and very minor god of Evil dragons, Dahak. Like many gods, He does not live in the afterlife of His own alignment. He is Chaotic Evil, but He lives in Caina, in Hell. He purchased a domain there from Mephistopheles, in exchange for an artifact-level magic quill.

It is widely assumed to be part of some kind of cunning scheme, but really the Abyss is just a dangerous place even if you're pseudo-divinity and Dahak is a coward who'd rather buy safety from Hell even if it means selling out His own alignment to do it.

Perhaps if you serve Him very loyally, you can go there instead of the Abyss.
None of the other gods would even give you the time of day.

This is hopelessly unfair.

This is, statistically, a moderately above average start in life for a red dragon, and a massively above average start in life for a sentient on Golarion. You're only 3 years old and already CR 6.

You've got perfectly reasonable mental stats, a very good fly speed, pretty solid attacks and defences.

You belong to the single most powerful species in the world.

A species that has been on the verge of extinction for millennia.

I only get any of that if I stay alive for hundreds of years.

Probably I won't make it through the winter. I'll just freeze to death.

Hot air rises over belkzen, and the night is warm in summer high above the badlands. Your +10 perception sees the edges of hills and dried river beds in the terrain below under the moonlight. Though you can't make out individual people, little glowing lights between the hills tell of villages and clanholds.

Why. Why so many like them and so few like me?

More efficient reproductive cycles?
Lower infant mortality rates?
Opposable thumbs?

Either that or the gods just like them more and you less.

They hate you because you're better than them, and so they know they can only hope to win by ganging up. That's why everyone treats red dragons like they're the worst, the absolute bottom.

Even the Holy Paladins of Lastwall would be rooting for their own enemies the orcs, in a fight against a red dragon.

Because they're more Good, comparatively, not because they're less selfish but because they're less powerful. Good is when the weak win and the strong lose.

This is rigged.

This is life. You exist.

If the rules are rigged against you, then cheat. It's not like anyone wasn't going to assume you're not to be trusted anyway.

So what are you going to do next?