Although the Highborn dragons themselves were absent from the world for many centuries, people who were interested in their history have, for eons, made pilgrimages to a flat plain with an incongruous, pointed hill in its center.

Whether they come in times of plenty or times of privation, these pilgrims have considered themselves lucky to be greeted by the Old Woman—a lady who looks and speaks like she could have stepped out of ancient times herself. In truth, she is the inheritor of a great tradition of old women and their families who have lived on this hill, healing the sick and—when dragons fly over the world—playing an important role in the gestation and birth of the Ancient breed of dragons.

While most dragons breed in the usual way of reptiles, with the mother guarding a fertilised clutch of eggs, Ancient dragons arise when one or more individuals from the six ordinary dragon breeds offer a special form of vital energy that they are born with to the Old Woman, who weaves it into an egg that hatches into one of the Ancients.

The mighty, wise Ancients serve an important role as spiritual leaders of all dragonkind, and the Old Woman serves as their adviser and a symbol of the indelible link between dragons and humans. She is a wise counsellor, a staunch ally and an implacable enemy, and enjoys the respect and veneration of many cultures, countries and religions.