RPG Antagonists: The Ebon Dragon (Exalted)

So, it's been awhile since I've tackled an RPG antagonist outside of WoD or Dark Heresy, so today, we're going to be looking at one of White Wolf's less played RPG's.....Exalted.

Now, I've never had a chance to play Exalted, though it seems like a really fun game that I can get into. That said, I've read the books, and I know the lore of Creation pretty well, and that's why I feel qualified to talk about possibly my favorite villain within Exalted, the Ebon Dragon.

Now, the Ebon Dragon differs from many RPG antagonists because he, among them all, really doesn't have a goal or a selfhood. Like all Primordials, the Ebon Dragon is a concept made manifest, powered by Essence, and incapable of going against his nature in exactly the same way that other Primordials are. The key to the Ebon Dragon, and the reason he's such a cool baddie, is that he represents the principle of antagonism. The Ebon Dragon, to the very core of his being, represents the defiant urge to go against something. Now, I've heard the Dragon referred to as the embodiment of freedom, because one of his urges is to be free, but I find that quite the misnomer. The Ebon Dragon wants to be free only to spite the gods and the Exalted that trapped him in Malfeas. To understand the Ebon Dragon, one needs to understand that he has no sense of self. The Dragon is the eternal antagonist, that little bit of boundless malice that stands in opposition to everything you do.

In portraying the Ebon Dragon, there needs to be a personal element to it. Remember, that despite his power, the Dragon is a very personal antagonist, and even if he de-powers himself, the Dragon reshapes himself to be your personal enemy.  In a very real way, the Dragon lacks identity, and the only way he can get power over the world is by sacrificing his identity and becoming the opposite of someone else. In reality, the Dragon is the weakest of the Primordials, because he, of all of them, can't exist without mortals to torment or gods to oppose. Like Tzeentch, the instant he succeeds in one of his plans, he loses another portion of himself because he's destroyed something that gives him power through opposing it. The true tragedy of the Ebon Dragon, is that he has no endgame and no goal. As soon as every one of his enemies is dead, he will cease to exist, because there isn't anything to oppose any more. He's just a sentient, all consuming thematic, and  the true pity is that once he accomplishes his goal, he will die, however he cannot steer away from the path of accomplishing it.

Now, one of the most important things about portraying the Dragon is that he is the opposite of the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, that ultimate embodiment of righteousness and honor, who would sacrifice his own divinity to save a single mortal.  The Ebon Dragon, in his natural state, is the opposite of the Sun, the very original creator of darkness, and as such, he is devoid of virtue entirely. The Ebon Dragon, when it comes down to it, is a rather weak individual, largely because virtues are somewhat necessary to be a functional being. The Dragon knows no temperance, compassion, valor or conviction, and cannot summon up the willpower to continue his plans if they are sufficiently foiled. Sure, he can summon these traits as a defiant opposition to his opponents, as well as a blatant betrayal of himself, but he has no idea what they really mean. What this means, of course, is that the Ebon Dragon is only ever as willful as whoever he's opposing at this moment. He literally cannot summon these virtues from within because there's nothing there.

Finally, I think it's important to talk about the Dragon's goals. The Reclamation is something that the Dragon has been working toward from the first moment of it's imprisonment, mostly to spite the gods. However, it's difficult to think of the Dragon as a particularly effective planner, especially given his total lack of conviction.  However, one has to remember that the Dragon's conviction is always equal to the person he's trying to oppose, and in this case, he's opposing the Unconquered Sun. Another thing people always forget is that the Dragon has no friends, merely people he hasn't gotten around to hurting yet. As a Compassion 1 entity, he literally cannot comprehend the concept of Charity, and as such, plots to be the first one out of Malfeas just so he can seal the other Primordials in forever and laugh at their expense. The problem here is, while he is committed to his goal, his souls are equally committed to betraying the other souls of the Dragon and leaving them behind, being the sole soul (heh) to define the only free Primordial. The Ebon Dragon is a powerful opponent, but when fighting him, remember that he is the embodiment of betrayal. He'll always be betraying himself in some way, because on a very real level, he can't exist if he wins. That's the key to portraying him. A huge amount of power, but fettered by the fact that deep down, the Ebon Dragon is a loser. He can't just escape into bizarre alternate moralities like the other Primordials, he's stuck in a human morality, a very understandable, weak human morality, and he sucks at it more than any other being in creation.

Here are some neat bits of fiction to inspire a game of Exalted where the Ebon Dragon is the primary antagonist:

The Dark Knight: If you want to see a villain defined primarily by their antagonism to the hero, look no further than the Joker. Like the Ebon Dragon, he has no reason for what he does, and no backstory to make himself seem sympathetic. Gotham city, in fact, is nothing more than collateral damage for him, and his sole goal is to corrupt Batman. Like the Dragon, there is no reason for what the Joker does, he simply exists to oppose.

American Psycho: Both the book and movie are an intense character study of Patrick Bateman, who like the Ebon Dragon, has no sense of selfhood, and nothing to live for outside of murder and hurting people. The book in particular portrays a fairly spectacular breakdown when Bateman runs out of people to hurt, and has to come to terms with the fact that he's an empty shell of a person.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A really strange one, I know, but think of the protagonists as the reclamation Yozi. Dennis is the Ebon Dragon, the eternal sociopath who schemes and could be magnificent, but is sort of pathetic anyway, Mac as Malfeas, the sad and pathetic man who thinks of himself as a big shot, Charlie as Adorjan, who hurts who he loves, and is violently insane, Dee as She Who Lives Inside Her Name, smart and capable, but always unheard and ignored, and finally Frank as Cecyline, the spiteful, fallen power who takes pleasure in cynically hurting everyone around them. This show actually provides a great dynamic for how the Yozis interact with each other, and on top of that, is really, really, really,  funny.