What does it mean to play a dragontamer?

The Dragontamers are an unruly bunch who only follows its own rules. They usually travel in small parties of 3 to 7 people but now they have gathered in one big company. The Dragontamers always work in a group; there is no such thing as a lone tamer, doing good deeds all by herself. One just simply doesn’t hunt monsters alone, it’s team work. They usually work for food and lodging and the small amounts of money the people they service may scrape together. To be just one in a large group of other tamers with a lot of money in the pocket, is a completely new situation for most of them.

The tamers have been travelling for months to get to this remote and dragon infested place. They are used to living on the rough, sleeping wherever they find shelter, eating what the group has been given or what they have hunted down, rabbit, fox, elk, bear - ”meat is always good to meet”. Now the tamers will be living in tents or jurtas with outdoor cooking places. They will now be living in tents or jurtas with outdoor cooking places and reindeer hides to sleep on.

The Dragontamers are by nature competitive and eager to demonstrate their skills. Thus, where more than one tamer party meets, all kinds of contests and matches often take place. Tamers' aptitude is measured in many different sports including running, swimming, arm wrestling and a variety of group sports. The contests are held not just for the thrill of the game or the joy of winning – they are also good training and a way of measuring and getting to know your allies' strong and weak points.

However, even during these games it is strictly forbidden to hurt one another. The only time a Dragontamer will ever deliberately harm a human being is during a ritual mensur duel. The duels are used only to decide who will take up an external assignment, never to settle conflicts between tamer groups. Possible arguments are most often solved by group leaders, who will decide on a way of settling the quarrel – or a punishment if such a thing is needed.

When the day starts to turn into a night, around the campfire different kinds of skills are measured as, for instance, storytelling and instrument playing competitions are held. They are usually spontaneous, informal events, the main purpose of which is to entertain. The audience decides the outcome of the competition and is not hesitant to show if a performer fails to amuse them.

The winner of a storytelling competition is not necessarily the most skillful lute-player but the best entertainer – someone who can make the listeners really feel the story, be it a famous poem or an improvised exaggeration of your ancestors' deeds. If the piece sung or the tale recited is known to all, other tamers may join the storytelling by singing the refrains or acting out the legend.

The Dragontamers often add to the excitement of the contests by betting on the results. Some bets often involve playing a trick on another tamer group. Challenges and practical jokes can also be a way of proving your own group's worth. Personal honour is important to a Dragontamer but so is that of his or her party. A typical tamer would think: "I'm better than the others, but together we are the best."

Tamers’ religion

The Dragontamers believe in the Thunder God, but their devotion is very different from the witches’. For the tamers the Thunder God is the almighty enemy of monsters in general and dragons in particular.

The tamers construct gigantic “burning man” figures to send their prayers to heaven. They play deafeningly loud music with bagpipes and drums while the smoke and the sparks take their pleas to the skies. The meaning of these rituals is to make the tamers invincible in upcoming fights against their foes and to awake the true spirit of bravery and courage inside them.

Another form of worship is the reverence they show to dead comrades and even fallen enemies. Instead of the playing simulating bagpipe tunes they now wail long laments, interspersed with occasional dancing tunes, which express both grief over lost friends but also the happiness of surviving.

Tamers’ healing

Dragontamers lead a life filled with danger, so they have developed methods for taking care of their injuries. The organizers will provide the players with improvised strechers for carrying wounded comrades out of danger - you don't have to travel with such unwieldy things to the game.

Remember to check the rules on healing. Note that mensur duel cuts don't count as wounds, unless you really want to play injured. Without this rule no tamer could do anything apart from being hurt.