J'mon Sa Ord

J'mon Sa Ord, the Soul of the Jeweled City, is the ruler of Ank'Harel, the central city in Marquet, since its founding. Their true form is that of an ancient brass dragon; their name in that form is Devo'ssa. As an NPC, J'mon Sa Ord is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
In their humanoid disguise, J'mon Sa Ord is a slender, humanoid entity, androgynous and beautiful. Their skin is a deep-set reddish brown, smooth and impeccable. Their features are extremely fine and delicate. Their eyes have black sclerae and pupils that burn like molten metal. J'mon is almost as tall as Grog and has elongated limbs. Their overall appearance is somewhat alien, not quite matching that of a man, elf, or fey. J'mon does not wear any jewelry, ceremonial adornments, or crown. They just wear a simple brown cotton shirt over simple elegant pants. They don't wear any shoes, preferring to leave their feet bare.

In their true form, Devo'ssa is a massive brass dragon. The golden scales on their wings and tail tip shift to green in the sunlight. Their appearance is beautiful and frightening at the same time, although there is almost a smile and benevolence to their presence. The dragon's eyes are the same as those in their humanoid form: black sclerae with molten pupils.

Background
Devo'ssa fought and defeated Thordak when he tried to attack Ank'Harel, before the red dragon grew into an especially large, elementally corrupted ancient dragon.

In General Krieg's home, Vox Machina discovered a series of bronze busts of J'mon Sa Ord wearing a cloth headwrap. Although the cloth headwrap and neckwrap were detailed, the features of J'mon's face were plain and nondescript. Vox Machina didn't recognize the face at all, but the party recalled tales from a far-off continent called Marquet. Marquet was known as a largely desert landscape (desert and mountains). Of the few bastions of civilization that existed in this desert, there was a central town referred to as Ank'Harel, which was a little oasis in the center of this vast desert. (General Krieg was actually a blue dragon, which are known for competing for desert territory with brass dragons.)

According to the tales, Ank'Harel had been ruled in a very benevolent way—since its existence began about four hundred years ago—by an individual referred to as J'mon Sa Ord. People don't know if they are human or what they are, but they have apparently lived that long. Vox Machina had heard that J'mon Sa Ord was human but their features were hard to make out—even looking into their face, one would seem unable to focus. The series of busts in General Krieg's home seemed to depict this individual but Vox Machina had never seen anything like this art in Tal'Dorei and had no reference for comparison.

Upon their first meeting, J'mon recognized Vox Machina as the heroes of Tal'Dorei.

Upon meeting Vox Machina, J'mon tested them with a Cobalt Golem. After their defeat of the golem by pushing it down from a balcony J'mon awarded them with a brass flute that would summon the guardian of the city, a massive brass dragon called Devo'ssa, being J'mon themselves.

Summoned by Scanlan Shorthalt via the flute they had previously given Vox Machina, J'mon showed up to assist with the fight against Raishan. While they had expected to fight Thordak, they still participated in this battle, but unfortunately did not prevent Raishan from escaping.

In the aftermath of the battle with Thordak and Raishan, J'mon Sa Ord was one of the first (along with Shaun Gilmore, Pike Trickfoot, and Lady Kima of Vord) to witness the beginings of Scanlan's developing drug habit, as he prepared to take a third of the suude that Jarett procured for him. They did not stop him (though Pike attempted to), but did not seem to approve. However, rather than watching the brief talk between Scanlan and Pike about what the drugs were, they had a conversation with Gilmore in Marquesian, as Gilmore expressed interest in speaking with the ruler of his country of origin. This conversation however, was interrupted by Kima asking them to help with a perimeter search which they did participate in. Later, they (also with Kima and Gilmore) watched a conversation between Keyleth, Vax'ildan, and Kerrek about the day's events and their future plans, with a remark on "[t]he drama of such short lives." Vex'ahlia stated that they could leave their tower away from more mortal lives, however J'mon made it clear that they the felt a strong need to remain in Ank'Harel to protect the city. They then wished luck to Vox Machina and gave some advice about fighting Raishan before leaving towards home.

J'mon Sa Ord brought the Hand of Ord and their warriors to Vasselheim to help protect the city from the newly reconstituted Vecna, noting that the clouds had even darkened the desert skies in Marquet. While the leaders of the defense of the city were gathered in the Platinum Sanctuary, an illusion of Vecna appeared and began threatening the less-protected loved ones of the most formidable figures present. The threat he directed at the "great protector" of Ank'Harel was to note that while J'mon was away, their "studious concubines are left without their guard."

After J'mon teleported northwest with Vox Machina to the Zenwick Mountains, where they discovered the Primordial earth titan had been reanimated and was marching toward Vasselheim, J'mon took on their brass dragon form and began flying Vox Machina back toward the city, following the craters marking the titan's stride. They were attacked by gloomstalkers as they approached the titan, but the dragon dropped off the adventurers at an entrance into the titan and cast Mass Cure Wounds to help them on their way.

Vox Machina briefly saw J'mon in the form of Devo'ssa flying over the magical barrier encasing the city of Thar Amphala. They were struck by a blast of energy fired from the barrier, but quickly recovered from the hit and flew out of sight.

After succesfully deactivating the barrier surrounding the city, hundreds of gloomstalkers began to converge on the party's location, but they were intercepted by Devo'ssa alongside all the wyvern-riders of Vasselheim. The following aerial battle provided Vox Machina with a chance to run for Entropis.

During Vox Machina's final confrontation with Vecna, Devo'ssa flew in to aide them, threatening the lich and unleashing a torrent of flame in his direction. Vecna declared that Devo'ssa's presence made him uncomfortable, and trapped them in a Forcecage. This effectively nullified them for the rest of the fight, as they were unable to escape it on their own.

As soon as Vecna was banished, the Forcecage containing J'mon dissipated. They apologized to Vox Machina for not being very helpful, and offered them a ride down into Vasselheim, which the party accepted. They accompanied Vox Machina to the Platinum Sanctuary, assuming their humanoid form, and were present for the conversations and speeches that took place therein.

Thordak
Devo'ssa has a history with Thordak, having fought off the red dragon when he attacked Ank'Harel. Many years later, J'mon promised to help Vox Machina in their battle against the Cinder King, offering them a magic flute which they could use to summon the brass dragon to their side.

2nd-level

 * Invisibility

5th-level

 * Mass Cure Wounds

Trivia

 * One of the Quon a Drensal racing lizards in the Luck's Run casino is named after Devo'ssa.
 * Devo'ssa appears in a stained glass window in the Exandria Unlimited opening.