PENTACLES

The Court of Pentacles, they are called today.

The Court of the Dragon Kings, of the Barrow Queens, of the Lords and Ladies of Tomb and Treasure. Personifications of wealth and power from time very nearly immemorial.

They may be, perhaps, younger than the primeval forests of the Ancients, but the High Courts are as old as human civilisation. Many would claim they are responsible for human civilisation, though others claim the humans created them.

Regardless, they have had plenty of time to gather their names, and they have as many stories as they have titles.

In one story, there was an alliance of sorts, between a human Queen and a great Drake King. The Queen’s will and desire to hold on to what was hers was so great and so impressed the King, that when the time came for her to die, he offered her immortality so she could remain with him forever.

Of course it is hard to imagine a Dragon offering anything. In another version of the tale, the Queen tamed the Dragons and kept their power for herself. Or perhaps she simply clung to life so hard not even Death itself could pry her soul from her grasp.

A third story tells that these goblin creatures were the ancient kings and queens of humanity, drawn into the world by mortal greed, seizing all they could and ruling much of the world from their seats of power.

To this day they remain in those places, guarding what they have and rarely willing to leave except to reach out a claw or lay a subtle web of intrigue that will draw more influence and power to them. Those who venture into their holds are rarely able to leave, and those that do are...changed. Influenced. Perhaps it is simply that tales of treasure attract certain people, but those who return seem distinctly...covetous. Or perhaps they are envious of the ones who never return, who truly ascend and join with the Court of Pentacles.

A final myth warns that this was how the Court came to be - that it was those ancient rulers who became the first Goblin Kings. The great leaders, the wealthy, those who held on to what was theirs with such determination that men named them Dragons - and whether by curse or boon that is what they became. They sit now in their Tombs, surrounded by the hoards they amassed in life. To take even a single coin risks their ire or - perhaps worse: their respect.

There are as many stories as there are coins in their treasure vaults. It is not accurate to say that the Court of Pentacles is secretive. Rather, it is that the truth is theirs. And like everything else they own they hold it tight and bury it deep where none can take it from them.

One truth however is known, as a warning to the curious: Those who covet, be it wealth, power, knowledge, or even innocence, will find themselves drawn into the webs and coils of the Dragons’ Court. And once there, things are rarely given freely.