The Dragon Orbs: Their Origins and Powers
The Dragon Orbs, also known as the Orbs of Dragonkind, are all exactly the same at five inches in diameter, made of fragile crystal, and have a strange mist swirling with all five colors of the Chromatic Dragons. In that mist, just below the surface are arcane ruins for using the orb. Once someone decides to use an orb, it will expand to twenty inches in diameter, and then the mist in the orb with begin to swirl violently as the user reads aloud the runes that are just below the surface. A dragon orb cannot be destroyed by any magical force, either arcane or divine, but are easily destroyed by a physical attack.
Each orb is an intelligent artifact with its personality reflecting what dragons it has trapped inside of it. An orb will communicate through dreams and visions, rather than directly with the user. Only powerful Wizards or someone with incredible sense of self can attempt to control an orb, if they fail in this attempt the orb takes control of the user until one of three things happen to the user: the user breaks free, something from the outside frees the user, or the user dies of hunger and thirst.
If a user is able to dominate the orb, then they are able to access massive amounts of information, see into the River of Time's past and future, use the orb to telepathically summon Chromatic Dragons, causes massive confusion upon Dragon type creatures such as Draconians, scrying, and much more. The full list of what an orb can do has never been able to be listed, since most wizards are too nervous to even attempt to use one.
Creation of the Orbs
The Dragon Orbs were powerful artifacts that were created at the end of the Age of Dreams during the final desperate hours of the Third Dragon War. Wizards of all three colors, Red, White, and Black, saw what would become of the world if Takhisis took control and agreed with each other to unite to create a weapon to destroy the Chromatic Dragons. The three orders met at the Tower of High Sorcery at Palanthas on a night when all three moons were full. The greatest mages created the orbs that night with the assistance of the gods of magic. Once they were created, each orb was given to one of the five Towers of High Sorcery, but some were moved around and others destroyed.
Histories of the Five Orbs
Daltigoth Orb
The orb that was housed in the Tower of High Sorcery at Daltigoth was believed destroyed during the Lost Battles with the Istar Empire in 19 PC. It had an unknown color of mist inside this orb, either blue or black.
Losarcum Orb
The orb that was housed in the Tower of High Sorcery at Losarcum was believed destroyed during the Lost Battles with the Istar Empire in 19 PC. It had an unknown color of mist inside this orb, either blue or black.
Wayreth Orb
The original location of this orb was the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth, where it was displayed in plain view for many centuries. Its purpose unknown by many mages who walked past it. Seemingly forgotten, it gathered dust upon a golden pedestal until the time of the Lost Battles. It had an white color of mist inside this orb. Just before the Cataclysm, the wizards asked Feal-Thas to take it and keep it safe from the Kingpriest. It has been in Icewall Castle since.
Palanthas Orb
Also known as the High Clerist's Tower Orb. During the Third Dragon War, the orb was put at the High Clerist's Tower so that the dragon traps in the tower could be utilized. This orb was known to have a red mist inside of it, most likely standing for Red Dragons.
Istar Orb
During its creation, the spirit of the dragon named Viper was imprisoned into the orb. Following its creation, the orb was located at the Tower of High Sorcery at Istar. There it sat for many years until a young Silvanesti Elf by the name of Lorac Caladon arrived to take his Test of High Sorcery. There the orb spoke with Lorac and convinced him to steal the orb due to some imminent danger that was coming and moved it to below the Tower of the Stars in Silvanost.
The Sixth Orb
Centuries after the Third Dragon War, a group of Black Robes created another dragon orb to be used against the Metallic Dragons should they return. The orb has the spirit of a Gold Dragon named Assamiel in it and was kept in Bastion. The Knight of the Thorn, Theo Drawde, took the orb but he and it were later thrown into The Gray.
The Gray is a limitless plane of other-dimensional nothingness, that is occupied by strange creatures, and a number of islands and random matter. Gravity does not exist in this plane, although objects and people move about through being pushed off other things, or mentally moving themselves along. Time also operates differently in the Gray, moving past more slowly than in the Material Plane. There are numerous gateways between the Gray and the normal world, many of which are guarded by Ethereal Dragons.