Zmeys
Zmey (which translates to serpent) is what Slavic powers would call any kind of dragon. Most other bashers would use this word to describe a member of a powerful draconic society, dedicated to finding a way to destroy and subsume the power of Slavic gods.
Their leader is Limbe-Limbeu (great wyrm gold dracolich [he/him] / NE), a powerful and incredibly ancient dracolich. His metallic stronghold (and by extension his phylacteria—one of three clockwork beetles, hidden in a fearsome hog-shaped iron golem) are said to be located somewhere near the border of the Negative Energy Plane. Limbe-Limbeu has discovered a number of horrible magical secrets, most important of which is the ritual that leads to the birth of multi-headed dragons.
His closest companions are three ancient brass dragons (the midnight dragons), whose scales are blacker than a night sky. It’s unknown why they are so loyal to Limbe-Limbeu, or what their true goal might be.
The Zmeys are sort of united by a common goal, but they rarely meet in person. They’re barely even a sect, as they are only really held together by their desire for power. Here are some of the most important movers and shakers among Zmeys.
Gorynych
Zmey Gorynych (ancient red dragon [he/they] / CE). This monster was apparently created by Limbe-Limbeu himself. Gorynych has three heads, that get along incredibly well, for a red dragon. So well in fact that Gorynych is able to lay fertile eggs all by themselves—and seem to be building some kind of private dragon army. The Sorochyn Mountains are immense peaks in the Scorched Waste region of the Plane of Magma that are riddled with caves and hideouts. One of these caves is Gorynych’s lair. It has three branches, one of which leads to the brood chamber where their wyrmlings live, while two others are the treasury and prison. There are plenty of smaller lairs clustered around Gorynych’s abode, where less powerful red, fire, pyroclastic and obsidian dragons who are allied with Gorynych dwell.
Crystal Mountain Conclave
All Zmeys actively employ dragonborn and half-dragon servants and soldiers. It turns out they often deliberately create such offspring through the seduction of unsuspecting humans using their humanoid disguises. However, Duklyan (ancient sapphire dragon [he/him] / LE) takes this to the next level. The Crystal Mountain is his hidden kip, a sort of bootcamp for an army of draconic humanoids from kobolds to dragonkin. Duklyan’s second-in-command is Tugarin, an obese dragonborn with a greyish hide. Tugarin’s breath weapon is a puff of poison, but he rarely uses it, preferring daggers, which he can throw with surprising agility. In battle Tugarin rides a dragonnel, a horse-like draconic beast, but he also wears a cloak that can unfold into wings when he utters the command word.
The Crystal Mountain’s physical whereabouts are unknown. Adventurers hired by agents of the Perun have combed through the Plane of Mineral, but to no avail. During her last visit to Sigil, Flaming Marina became acquainted with Magnum Opus and her chant on the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Crystal. Marina is now searching for bloods willing to venture into the place and continue the seach for Duklyan’s kip. However, planehoppers should beware, as the dragon is said to have absolute control over the Crystal Mountain, and if Duklyan were to get written into the dead-book then his secret realm would instantly collapse.
Hala
These creatures are a strange and monstrous breed of dragons that originated from Limbe-Limbeu’s experiments on the Inner Planar dragons. Halas have three heads, each with three tongues, six wings, a weird flattened body and nine tails that look more like a the plumage of a peacock. Despite this unusual appearance, it turns out that hala dragons are agile fliers. While they are clumsy of land they are threatening combatants, and mighty elemental mages.
Halas are numerous on the Inner Planes—they mostly inhabit the Plane of Air, but can survive almost every other plane’s elemental environment too. They prefer to stay away from all solid planes—Ice, Earth, Mineral, Ash—and Vacuum, as they hate not being able to fly. Uniquely for dragon-kin, hala aren’t prone to create lairs, and instead embed the few items they may need in their hides. Each head of the hala has one random breath weapon out of following: lightning; buffeting hurricane wind; thick freezing fog; cloud of desiccating salt particles. They can also spit hailstone projectiles as a means of ranged attack (which halas greatly prefer over melee). And lastly, like any dragon, these creatures are natural mages, able to cast weather-related spells and change shape into humanoid or beast forms.
Halas are generally chaotic and evil. They are gluttonous and greedy, aggressive and treacherous. They are, however, willing to cooperate with other Zmeys, especially if the plan includes attacking Slavic powers and their worshippers. There’s a tale of a seemingly good hala, who was grateful when kind villagers saved her after getting herself injured. However, most bloods are suspicious of this story—even if that hala was actually hala and not some other kind of dragon, misinterpreted by clueless folk, she could very well be using her pawns in some plot.
Some halas apparently serve Stribog, which seems to be quite weird on face value. Turns out that these sods have been infected by a magical plague from Oinos that blinds them, but at the same time makes their breath weapons poisonous. These dragons, that are named sárkány, are guided by the petitioners of Stribog, who use them to defend the Tsardom of Copper from fiendish incursions and lend their might to other escapades. Many bashers believe that sárkány merely wait for the opportunity to strike back at their tormentor. Stribog, however, seems to think he’s got them under his control.
Serpent’s Iriy
Deep under the surface of Krangath lies a vast system of caves. Halas and Zmeys come here now and again to meet and discuss their schemes. Some say this grim place used to be the realm of a draconic god; perhaps one who created the Zmeys as they are now. Their name has been long lost to time, however.
Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. A homebrew addition to the lore. Margarita notes: While this adaptation is heavily based on Slavic folklore and beliefs, I must warn you. The amount of actual information we have on pre-Christian Slavic deities is so minuscule that building any kind of lore out of it is impossible. However, there’s a lot of folk beliefs about things these deities are thought to represent.