Is someone you know in a dragon cult? It's more likely than you might think.
There was a moment in RIFT when a quest giver started talking about the evil doings of a dragon cult, and my first reaction was to ask myself why these are so popular, because this is the third time I've encountered one in a fantasy MMO.
There's the Cult of the Dragon in Neverwinter, who are established early on as the enemy of choice for the first daily quests in the game, and so die in droves as conscientious players rack up the necessary kill quota each day, all the way to the Well of Dragons campaign zone.
Then there's the dragon cult in Guild Wars 2, though I haven't run into them as often. I get the impression they're more of a presence in Norn areas, but I've spent most of my time in GW2 killing centaurs and have only encountered the cult in passing.
And now here they are again, in RIFT.
Why dragons though? Sure, they're in the top tier of most fantasy bestiaries, and unlike some other common enemy types that are also found in sci-fi and horror settings the dragon is more or less exclusive to the fantasy genre, with the occasional exception such as Shadowrun. That doesn't explain why they've become such a common focus of cultish fervor though. I can only assume that this is another example of people being radicalized by too much exposure to social media.
Dragons in fantasy really only come in two types - wise and noble or greedy and selfish - and there's a lot more of the latter than the former, so I don't really see the appeal. I mean if you really want to serve something that's arrogant and aloof and sleeps all the time then why not just get a cat? It's less likely to burn your house down.
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