The Weeping Dragon

The Weeping Dragon is one of the four escaped Dreadgods on Cradle. It’s cult members are called Stormcallers.

The Four Beasts

The Weeping Dragon, the Wandering Titan, The Bleeding Phoenix, and the Silent King. Plus, the imprisoned first Dreadgod, Subject One

“They are...disasters. Four monsters, big enough to blot out the sky, hungry for destruction, and so powerful that the most advanced sacred artists in the world have to join forces to drive them off. Drive them off, you understand. None of the Dreadgods have ever been killed.” “They're sacred beasts?” “Corrupted ones. Like the dreadbeasts of the Desolate Wilds, they were warped and twisted by their own powers.. .They're scattered all over the world. They burrow into a secure location and wait for decades...but when they wake up, they're hungry. Fortunately for humanity, no two have woken at the same time in centuries. But the last time they did, they destroyed the original Blackflame Empire.” (Skysworn, ch 7)

Dread Wars

A Monarch cannot withstand a Dreadgod. In the Dread Wars, the previous generation of Monarchs was all but eradicated, with only 2 out of 12 surviving following a combined attack on the Wandering Titan, which woke up the rest of his brothers.

Origins

About two or three thousand years old, “born” of a dreadbeast, long after the time Ozmanthus Arelius lived. A failed research experiment to control hunger aura. Created by Subject One in the Labyrinth under Sacred Valley. It escaped.

Descriptions

• Too powerful for anyone on the planet to kill. Even Monarchs cannot kill it. Thankfully, it sleeps a lot.
• “a long blue serpentine dragon that travels on thunderstorms, and sleeps on miles-long beds of clouds”

• “a kilometers-long azure dragon flew on a violent storm, moving like a hurricane toward a small kingdom” (Suriel’s view, Unsouled, ch 6)

• "Ziel saw the shining dragon that flew on unnatural stormclouds of madra." (Uncrowned, ch 14) "He remembered the storm rolling in, flashing blue and gold as living lightning slipped in and out like fish in the sea. The majestic roar, as the Weeping Dragon approached. He had watched the horizon then, awed by its majesty." (Bloodline, ch 16)

Dragon Sightings

• Some years ago, probably before the Cradle series began, the Weeping Dragon flew over the region where the Dawnwing sect school was located, on the Iceflower Continent (see theory, below)

• In Book 1, Unsouled, while hovering far above Sacred Valley, Suriel saw the Weeping Dragon: “On another hemisphere, a kilometers-long azure dragon flew on a violent storm, moving like a hurricane toward a small kingdom.” (Unsouled, ch 6)
• In book 4, Skysworn, Eithan says “the Weeping Dragon was sighted only last year on the Iceflower Continent.” (Chapter 6)
• In book 4, Skysworn, chapter 18, Report: "The Weeping Dragon sleeps in the upper atmosphere, on a miles-long bed of clouds. It has not been long since it last woke, and it is still weary. Though the power of the Phoenix prickled its spirit, it will take more enticing bait to rouse the Dragon from its slumber."

Theory

Many readers theorize that the Weeping Dragon flew over Ziel’s sect on the Iceflower continent en route to the Rosegold continent because he was drawn to the lightning madra that Monarch Tiberian Arelius used to battle Monarch Reigan Shen. Tiberian died, and Eithan came through the portal to the Blackflame Empire. In book 3, Blackflame, ch 10, Eithan and Cassias confirm that Eithan left Rosegold almost 7 years ago. That could narrow down the timing of the Stormcallers attack on Ziel’s Dawnwing Sect. One readers explains it this way:

This is all a chain of events: The fight between Reigan Shen and Tiberian Arelius is happening on the Rosegold continent. However, it's still a Monarch level of clash, gigantic amount of madra and aura are released in the world. Everyone on the planet with enough advancement can sense what's happening. And the madra and aura are released in such quantities that are enough to attract Dreadgods. This fight awakens the Weeping Dragon in particular because he would be more sensitive to Tiberian's madra (they both use lightning madra).

This Dreadgod starts killing everyone around him on the Iceflower Continent making his way toward Rosegold, Northstrider steps in to stop the Dreadgod, but he's too busy and can't deal with the Stormcallers, who destroy the Dawnwing Sect already weakened by the attacks from the Dreadgod=> Ziel's backstory. After the fight, Northstrider is unhappy with his performance against the WD =>decides to play dead, and spends 7 years at the bottom of the oceans Consuming submarine dragons.

Meanwhile on the Rosegold continent, Reigan Shen kills Tiberian, House Shen destroys the main branch of the Arelius family => Eithan takes the portal to Ashwind. (subreddit iteration100/Cradle, 12-29-21)

Abilities

It creates unnatural and severe storms. Hurricanes. Storm clouds of madra. Lightning. Thunder. Rain. It can cause massive floods, landslides, etc.
But, like all four monsters, the Dragon tires easily and just wants to feed and sleep. Or, as Dross tells Ziel, “Dreadgods don’t fight to the death. If the prey takes too much energy to beat, they back off.” (Bloodline ch 18)

Madra

Hunger and storm madra, maybe.
Aspects: Storm
Techniques: Living Lightning

Smaller Dragons

The Weeping Dragon is hungry. It sends out smaller dragon spirits of lightning madra. Hungry. Always hungry.

"The Weeping Dragon had brought with it lesser dragons, spirits of Stormcaller madra, which had been repelled by the Dawnwing sect’s defenses. Until the Stormcallers themselves had torn those defenses down. Then he’d seen hungry lightning tear men apart.. . .The dragons were spirits of lightning madra. They had no blood. When they were destroyed, they splattered into blue essence and gold sparks." (Bloodline, ch 16)

Cult

The Weeping Dragon is followed by a Dreadgod cult, parasitic power-hounds calling themselves Stormcallers, led by the Sage of Calling Storms. This is the thug who mangled Ziel’s spirit and led the slaughter of his Dawnwing sect. Ziel remembers it:

“He’d known all about the Dreadgods, of course, but their sect was ancient. Well-defended. Protected by scripts and constructs. How much danger could they be in? As it turned out, they had survived the Dreadgod itself. But not the scavengers that fed in its wake.” (Bloodline, ch 9)

Greatfather Peak, Sacred Valley

The residents of the valley appear to know nothing of the dreadgods, except for maybe the ancient sacred beast, a snowfox called Elder Whisper. Nonetheless, the Weeping Dragon’s type of aura has been associated with the Greatfather, one of the four holy peaks surrounding Sacred Valley. The Dragon River runs down this mountain and into the valley. Elders at the Holy Winds School refresh and strengthen themselves in the rich aura of the sacred pool, Greatfather’s Tears. This is because there is/was a core of lightning aura at the base of the mountain, until Reigan Shen began his scheming.

Water pools up there, cascading down the cliffs in a stream known as the Dragon River. Fueled by the water aura at the top of the mountain, storms wrack these slopes year-round, and the Holy Wind School maintains shelters for unlucky travelers caught outside. Favored Holy Wind elders can bathe in the pool known as Greatfather’s Tears, regenerating their vitality of body and spirit. (Unsouled, chapter 12)