The metallic dragons were victorious, but their numbers had been greatly reduced. The Dragonborn stepped in to fill the void, claiming the right to rule by their descent from Bahamut. Over time, centralized bureaucratic rule from Bahamut's domain came do displace the feudal rule of the Dragons. As the dragons began to slip from their positions of authority, many of them were consumed by jealousy. Fallen from their positions of power, their scales began to turn. Their numbers being small, they had no choice but to go mostly into hiding. The Dragonborn rulers, fearful of the return of chromatic, adopted a law that all chromatic dragons should be slain wherever they are found. Dragons being hoarders of treasure, this law was enthusiastically followed by specialists in the trade. Their traditions continue to this day, with dragonslaying being considered the epitome of heroic acts among all who live in the areas once ruled over by the Dragonborn.
The Dragonborn cleared away the feudal barriers to trade that existed under the old Dragon Empire, and industry began in earnest, the peoples of various areas specializing in various trades. It is during this time that living standards reached the highest mankind has yet known. There were great heroes in many academic and industrial disciplines in this area. There was a great judge and stateswoman, Erathis, whose efforts to reform the Empires law codes and extend their application into newly opened areas in the Blasted Lands (which was largely ungoverned during this age) were legendary. There was Ioun, who founded the first academy of magic, beginning the rise of wizards as an organized force within the Empire. There were many legendary athletes and warriors, the most enduring name having been that of Kord. There were others, as well. It is said that the greatest of this age ascended into the ranks of the Gods, and are today worshiped as such.
It is also during this age that men first began calling upon the gods in a formal fashion, the gods having fully withdrawn from The World, but still seeking to influence it through their followers, and their gifts of power. The various temples, magic school, and merchant houses vied for power within the empire. The more powerful these new forces became, the more difficult it became for the Dragonborn to maintain their positions.
The Tieflings
Even as the Dragonborn Empire was busy consolidating itself, the peoples of the blasted lands were busy fighting over the remains. One powerful family in particular, descendants of a noble family that flourished under Tiamat, sought new help from the Devils of the Nine Hells, and got it; this was the beginning of the Tieflings. Their empire spread across the formerly Blasted Lands, at the same time the people of the Dragonborn Empire were just starting to develop the lands at the edge of their empire. The Dragonborn pushed inward, the Tieflings pushed outward, and when they encountered each other, neither was accustomed to meeting a neighbor, let alone an enemy, that was their equal. The two fell into war cheerfully, each assuming victory would be easy.
Arkhosia (the name of Bahamut's royal domain which had been extended over the entire empire) clearly had far more raw power at its disposal, but that power had become fragmented over its nearly thousand year existence. The loyalty of the Colleges and the Temples could not be counted on, and the Dragonborn were forced to expend their capacity for force cautiously. Bael Turath, weaker in many ways, managed to organize the warriors of the Blasted Lands into a fairly united fighting force, under the promise of booty from the much wealthier Dragonborn Empire.
In the balance, they came out fairly equal, and as each threw more and more resources into the conflict, seeking to overpower the other, their power bases were neglected. With so many of Arkhosia's loyal warriors abroad, and the Colleges, Temples, and Houses jealously eyeing each other, the collapse of civil order seems almost inevitable. As for Bael Turath, they could only take the field for so long until their neighbors and vassals exploited their absence. In the end, the protracted warfare ruined both societies, and civilization collapsed into a state it hadn't known since the Primordial Age.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Dragon Empire
I am envisioning an ancient, global empire, ruled by the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut. After the wars between the Gods and the Primordials, Bahamut and Tiamat retreated briefly to their own realms to lick their wounds, then returned to The World intending to claim temporal dominion over it and its people.
The Dragon Age
This inagurated the Dragon Age, during which the humans of the world were ruled over by various dragons. At first, various regions were carved up into feudal domains, each ruled by a particular dragon, with all owing fealty to either Bahamut or Tiamat. Those who owed fealty to Bahamut promoted virtues such as honor, loyalty, thrift, compassion, courage, and justice in an attempt to strengthen the peoples over whom they ruled in the long term. Those who owed fealty to Tiamat focused more on gathering the resources to fight the final battle more quickly, creating avaricious and often overtly violent regimes, with the most prosperous among their human followers being those most capable of imitating the ways of their overlords.
Most of the dragons simply ruled their domains using their overwhelming personal power. Bahamut's royal domain was a different matter. He adopted a policy of mixing a part of his own essence into that of his strongest human servents, thus creating the Dragonborn, who served as soldiers and enforcers in his own domain.
There were six basic varieties of dragons, each corrosponding to a given metal: gold, silver, bronze, copper, iron, and mithril dragons. Those that served Bahamut were blessed with protection from scalar corrosion, while those that served Tiamat were allowed to corrode to duller colors. The benevolently sociable silver dragons would corrode into the most antisocial of dragons: the black dragons. The inquisitive and adventurous bronze dragons would corrode into the piratical blue dragons. The playful but restrained mischief of the copper dragon became the green dragon's cat-like delight in stalking and attacking (and then playing with if the creature is weak enough to risk it) the unwary. The militant iron dragons would corrode into the powerfully violent red dragons. The mithril dragons, most difficult to corrupt, became the nearly mindless white dragons. Gold dragons were seemingly incorruptable, but served Bahamut in a more direct capacity.
For a time, the more aggressive policies of the forces of Tiamat resulted in Bahamut's forces suffering losses; however, the world was simply too large for short term tactics of that nature to win in the end. The more economically productive domains of Bahamut's vassals were coming into their own just as Tiamat's vassals' domains were falling apart. It was at this point that the Dragon Wars began in earnest.
The Dragon Wars
Coordinated attacks by Bahamut's dragons eliminated Tiamat's dragons in droves. Dragonborn soldiers occupied and administered captured territories, abolishing the human regimes in place and freeing masses of slaves and serfs, who flourished under the mostly benevolent administration of the Dragonborn. The Bahamutic advancement rolled back Tiamatic resistance, until Bahamut himself faced Tiamat at Mount Drakkenkreig.
The battle that ensued devastated half the world, as deific energies were released in the torrential conflict. It didn't last long, however, as Bahamut realized that further battle would ruin the lives of more of his subjects, while Tiamat feared the conflict would attract the attention of the Primordials, who she could not hold off in her weakened condition. Both took their battle to the Astral Sea, while their dragons continued their conflict in the world. The battle ended conclusively in the world, with the Metallic Dragons driving the few surviving chromatic dragons into hiding in the blasted lands. Bahamut and Tiamat's battle was less conclusive, with each of them ending the battle exhausted and wounded, mutually agreeing never to return to the world to rule directly again.
Non-Humans During the Dragon Age
During the Dragon Age, dwarves, elves and eladrin, and halflings, being under the direct protection of other gods (Moradin, Correlon Larethian, and Avandhra) enjoyed a considerably greater autonomy, particularly in the domains ruled by the followers of Bahamut. It is during this age that they fully developed their well known craft specialties, prospering in certain roles within the Dragon Empires. If anything, dwarven and elvish craft have suffered since the fall of the Empire, as they have been required to develop other skills for which they once relied upon humans for, and must now draw upon in their own communities.
Gnomes had not yet migrated in any appreciable numbers from the Feywild, and goliaths and shifters were mostly unknown barbarians living in cooler areas beyond the reach of the empires. Orcs and Goblins having not yet arrived in the world, half-orcs did not yet exist. Bal Turath was not yet founded, thus there were no Tieflings.
The Dragon Age
This inagurated the Dragon Age, during which the humans of the world were ruled over by various dragons. At first, various regions were carved up into feudal domains, each ruled by a particular dragon, with all owing fealty to either Bahamut or Tiamat. Those who owed fealty to Bahamut promoted virtues such as honor, loyalty, thrift, compassion, courage, and justice in an attempt to strengthen the peoples over whom they ruled in the long term. Those who owed fealty to Tiamat focused more on gathering the resources to fight the final battle more quickly, creating avaricious and often overtly violent regimes, with the most prosperous among their human followers being those most capable of imitating the ways of their overlords.
Most of the dragons simply ruled their domains using their overwhelming personal power. Bahamut's royal domain was a different matter. He adopted a policy of mixing a part of his own essence into that of his strongest human servents, thus creating the Dragonborn, who served as soldiers and enforcers in his own domain.
There were six basic varieties of dragons, each corrosponding to a given metal: gold, silver, bronze, copper, iron, and mithril dragons. Those that served Bahamut were blessed with protection from scalar corrosion, while those that served Tiamat were allowed to corrode to duller colors. The benevolently sociable silver dragons would corrode into the most antisocial of dragons: the black dragons. The inquisitive and adventurous bronze dragons would corrode into the piratical blue dragons. The playful but restrained mischief of the copper dragon became the green dragon's cat-like delight in stalking and attacking (and then playing with if the creature is weak enough to risk it) the unwary. The militant iron dragons would corrode into the powerfully violent red dragons. The mithril dragons, most difficult to corrupt, became the nearly mindless white dragons. Gold dragons were seemingly incorruptable, but served Bahamut in a more direct capacity.
For a time, the more aggressive policies of the forces of Tiamat resulted in Bahamut's forces suffering losses; however, the world was simply too large for short term tactics of that nature to win in the end. The more economically productive domains of Bahamut's vassals were coming into their own just as Tiamat's vassals' domains were falling apart. It was at this point that the Dragon Wars began in earnest.
The Dragon Wars
Coordinated attacks by Bahamut's dragons eliminated Tiamat's dragons in droves. Dragonborn soldiers occupied and administered captured territories, abolishing the human regimes in place and freeing masses of slaves and serfs, who flourished under the mostly benevolent administration of the Dragonborn. The Bahamutic advancement rolled back Tiamatic resistance, until Bahamut himself faced Tiamat at Mount Drakkenkreig.
The battle that ensued devastated half the world, as deific energies were released in the torrential conflict. It didn't last long, however, as Bahamut realized that further battle would ruin the lives of more of his subjects, while Tiamat feared the conflict would attract the attention of the Primordials, who she could not hold off in her weakened condition. Both took their battle to the Astral Sea, while their dragons continued their conflict in the world. The battle ended conclusively in the world, with the Metallic Dragons driving the few surviving chromatic dragons into hiding in the blasted lands. Bahamut and Tiamat's battle was less conclusive, with each of them ending the battle exhausted and wounded, mutually agreeing never to return to the world to rule directly again.
Non-Humans During the Dragon Age
During the Dragon Age, dwarves, elves and eladrin, and halflings, being under the direct protection of other gods (Moradin, Correlon Larethian, and Avandhra) enjoyed a considerably greater autonomy, particularly in the domains ruled by the followers of Bahamut. It is during this age that they fully developed their well known craft specialties, prospering in certain roles within the Dragon Empires. If anything, dwarven and elvish craft have suffered since the fall of the Empire, as they have been required to develop other skills for which they once relied upon humans for, and must now draw upon in their own communities.
Gnomes had not yet migrated in any appreciable numbers from the Feywild, and goliaths and shifters were mostly unknown barbarians living in cooler areas beyond the reach of the empires. Orcs and Goblins having not yet arrived in the world, half-orcs did not yet exist. Bal Turath was not yet founded, thus there were no Tieflings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)