Chromatic dragonflight

Chromatic dragonflight
Chromatic drake in Hearthstone
Main leader	Unknown
Formerly	Deathwing † Nefarian †
Race(s)	Chromatic dragon Dragonspawn Drakonid Drakeadon
Capital	Blackrock Spire
Theater of operations	Azeroth
Language(s)	Draconic
Affiliation	Old Gods' forces
Status	Crippled

The chromatic dragonflight of Blackrock Spire was created by Nefarian's magical experiments, using the blood of dragons from the other dragonflights. Nefarian was obsessed with following in his father's footsteps by achieving what Deathwing could not, and has been experimenting with the blood of all of the various dragonflights to create a chromatic dragonflight. These experiments were largely considered failures; many whelps died before hatching, and those that survived were unstable, short-lived, volatile, and/or deformed. Those that reached adulthood were artificially aged by Nefarian's twisted magics.

Chromatus, the first and only completely successfully created chromatic dragon.

History

The history of the chromatic dragonflight began ages ago with Deathwing, though no specimens were produced until recently, when Deathwing's son, Nefarian, achieved success with his magical experiments in his lair at the top of Blackrock Mountain. Nefarian captured whelps from the other four flights, and magically combined their traits to form the first chromatic dragon whelps, with the intent to bolster his forces against Ragnaros the Firelord for control over the mountain. His experiments were horrific, brutal, and eventually effective. For years, the spawn of this new chromatic dragonflight—consisting of blood from all five flights—had died before hatching. Eventually, a few began to survive. Then a few more. Nefarian believed he was on the verge of ensuring their survival, and he eagerly set his minions to preparing a clutch that would hatch an entire generation of this flight. The potential within them was greater than anything he could have hoped for, but for the moment, they were still vulnerable. Only a few had reached maturity and could defend themselves. While at least one proved hardy enough to survive being magically aged to adulthood, adventurers of the Horde soon breached his inner sanctum with the aid of the red dragon Vaelastrasz, killed Nefarian, and destroyed the chromatic dragonflight.

Cataclysm

This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.

After being reanimated by the Twilight's Hammer during the Cataclysm, Nefarian returned to his own experiments and forged a new generation of chromatic dragons. A few chromatic drakeadons and Chromatic Prototypes could be found within Blackwing Descent. After their triumph against Ultraxion in Dragon Soul, adventurers came into possession of the chromatic drake  [Experiment 12-B].

Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects

This section concerns content related to the Warcraft novels, novellas, or short stories.

The chromatic dragonflight played a key part in Deathwing's plot to destroy the other Dragon Aspects. Under the direction of the mysterious Twilight Father, Twilight's Hammer cultists infiltrated the Chamber of Aspects and replaced all of the eggs at Wyrmrest Temple with chromatic eggs; these eggs were destroyed when Korialstrasz discovered the cultists, and sacrificed himself to ensure their destruction. In addition, a massive chromatic dragon named Chromatus was created. Chromatus had five heads, one representing each of the dragonflight, and was animated by the Twilight Father using the energies of the Eye of Eternity and the blood of Malygos's son, Arygos. Chromatus was eventually defeated by the combined might of all the Dragon Aspects with the assistance of Thrall, but his body proved indestructible by any known means and was locked in an arcane prison by Kalecgos and the blue dragonflight.

Battle for Azeroth

This section concerns content related to Battle for Azeroth.

At the time of the Fourth War, a single chromatic drake, Chromitus, was seen aiding the unexpectedly renewed black dragonflight during the Island Expeditions in gathering Azerite.

Known members

Main article: Chromatic dragonflight members

Various members of the Chromatic dragonflight.

Name	Type	Role	Status	Location
Chromatus	Dragon	First and only successfully created chromatic dragon	Inanimate	Unknown arcane prison
Gyth	Drake	First and oldest known chromatic drake, mount of Rend Blackhand	Deceased	Hall of Blackhand, Upper Blackrock Spire
Chromaggus	Drakeadon	Drakeadon infused with powers of all five flights	Killable	Crimson Laboratories, Blackwing Lair
Chromitus	Drake	Chromatic drake	Killable	Island Expeditions

As a mount

 [Experiment 12-B] has a very low chance to drop from  Ultraxion in Dragon Soul on Normal and Heroic difficulty.

In the RPG

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

The breeding program began with Deathwing in ages past to replenish his own destroyed dragonflight. While Deathwing aimed to create chromatic dragons years ago (this desire constituted much of his motivation for attacking Grim Batol), he was never able to capture enough eggs to succeed.

Nefarian currently breeds with the assistance of Rend Blackhand and the rest of the Dark Horde, who hope to use the dragons to overthrow Warchief Thrall and make the Horde back into the conquering, bloodthirsty force it once was.

Notes

• The game manual and Story So Far article for The Burning Crusade describe the chromatic dragons as hybrids of only red and black dragons, instead of as hybrids of all five dragonflights.
• The  [Soaring Skyterror], a rylak mount, is described as a "chromatic rylak" and uses the same color scheme as members of the chromatic dragonflight (red-violet, yellow, and cyan).
• The CM Caydiem once posted on the official forums, "The breeding program began with Neltharion many years in the past. While it's not yet proven what methods Nefarian uses for his Chromatic flight, it's worth noting that some of his creations hold weaknesses that their predecessors did not have, thus lending credence to the idea that he is using a different (seemingly inferior and/or untested) method from that of Deathwing."

Gallery

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  Gyth, a chromatic drake.

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  Chromatic whelp

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  Chromaggus

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  Gyth in Hearthstone.

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  Chromaggus in Hearthstone.

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  Dal'rend Blackhand riding Gyth.

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  Chromatic drake (RPG).

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  Chromatic drake (RPG, colorized).