Factions
Ring of Scale
The Kunark dragon council. Skyfire / Burning Woods / Veeshan's Peak-aligned, hostile to Iksar.
Ring of Scale is the dragon council of Kunark — the Veeshan-aligned dragon political body that controls Skyfire Mountains, the upper Burning Woods, and the gated raid zone of Veeshan's Peak. The Ring is structured as a hierarchy of named adult dragons under their senior leadership, and it serves as Kunark's parallel to the Claws of Veeshan Velious dragon council — same parent god, different continent, different political project.
The Ring's standing fight is with the Iksar empire on a long historical scale. The Iksar's prior wars against the dragons of Kunark, the dragon-blood-and-bone artifact tradition the Iksar built on top of those wars, and the Iksar's continued presence on Kunark all keep the Ring of Scale and Iksar-aligned factions hostile by default.
Lore
The Ring of Scale represents Veeshan's continuing presence on Kunark — a council of adult dragons that organizes the continent's dragon population, maintains the standing political fight against the Iksar, and gates the raid-tier content at Veeshan's Peak. The Ring's leadership reads like the Veeshan's Peak named list, and the dragons within it operate as both political body and combat force.
Skyfire is the Ring's overland presence: the named adult dragons in Skyfire are Ring-aligned, the lesser drakes and wyverns under them check Ring faction, and the political project of keeping Iksar out of Skyfire is enforced through standing aggro on every Iksar character entering the zone. The upper Burning Woods extends the same pattern, including the named tier above the Sarnak fortress content.
Veeshan's Peak — the gated raid zone — sits at the apex of Ring content. The Ring of Scale named encounters there are some of the highest-tier raid content in canonical Kunark and drop the Veeshan's Peak loot table, which holds up well into the Velious tier and is part of why the zone retains its place in the era progression long after Kunark's leveling content has been outscaled.
The Ring's relationship with the Claws of Veeshan on Velious is passive but theologically aligned — both councils answer to the same parent dragon god — and The Last Camp treats them as cross-continent counterparts rather than directly linked factions.
Why grind it
The Ring of Scale faction is primarily raid-relevant. Positive Ring standing makes Skyfire navigable without aggro for non-canonical-evil characters and is part of the Veeshan's Peak access path, which gates the highest-tier Kunark raid loot table. For raid-tier characters working through the Velious progression, the VP loot table remains relevant well past its release tier, and Ring standing is what unlocks the door.
Outside the raid context, Ring standing is mostly a quality-of-life faction for any character spending significant time in Skyfire or upper Burning Woods. It is rarely grinded for its own sake — the standing tends to come as a byproduct of the kill loops adjacent characters are already running.
Notable NPCs
- Phara Dar — Veeshan's Peak named encounter, senior Ring of Scale dragon
- Hoshkar, Silverwing, Druushk, Nexona, Xygoz — the named Veeshan's Peak dragon roster
- Jaled Dar — Skyfire-aligned dragon contact tied into broader Ring storyline content
- Severilous — Skyfire-tier named adult dragon
- Ring-aligned wyverns and drakes — populating the Skyfire and upper Burning Woods overland tier under the named adults
Faction path
+faction
- Killing Iksar-aligned NPCs in Kunark zones
- Killing Sarnak in Lake of Ill Omen and the surrounding Sarnak fortress content
- Specific raid-tier hand-ins inside Veeshan's Peak
- Quest progressions that flag Ring-positive
-faction
- Killing any Ring-aligned dragon, wyvern, or drake
- Crusaders of Greenmist hand-ins and Iksar empire-aligned task chains
- Veeshan's Peak raid kills that target Ring leadership
The Last Camp any-race-class adjustments
The Last Camp's any-race-any-class doctrine means an Iksar Ranger or a Wood Elf Shadow Knight can pursue Ring of Scale standing the same way any character would, and the Ring's checks remain faction-only. The standing line cares about kills and hand-ins, not the lineup running them. The wrinkle is the Iksar default starting standing: an Iksar character begins Ring-hostile because of the historical war, and the standing climb takes longer for an Iksar than for a non-Iksar character starting from the same baseline.