A Lesson on the Dragon Wars

Sir Rassilon Shiroken hosted a history lecture upon the topic of the Dragonwars at the Shrine of Austinian. In attendance were Lord Rithor Thorne, Sir Meroveus Grayhawk, Squire Taiyer, Duchess Caecius Mamoritai of Althainia, Ayshan Topknot of Althainia, Fyy'par Ye'arie, of Althainia, and myself, Dame Datai d'Aggravaine, the Lorekeeper.

Sir Rassilon began:

Those of you who attended my last lecture and discussion are familiar with the period of history prior to the one we discuss today, the Brotherhood War. Suffice to say it was a chaotic, bloody period of our history. Splinter groups upon splinter groups.

Following the Brotherhood War, with the death of Lord Croyden in the Tower that now bears his name, the Fifth Lord of the Knighthood was Darion Doreath, though what his former position was amongst the Knights none can say. While Malice had failed to destroy us, they quickly gathered together many like-minded rogues and ruffians and were quick to take advantage of the Knighthoods relative weakness. There was said to be easy looting all over the declining Serpantol Empire.

With Knights too few and far between to protect everyone, the mood of the populace was not understanding, and blamed the Knighthood for being unable to protect them. I think we can all agree this is not an enviable time to be a Knight, or to live through in any fashion, so I wonder how this turn of events sits with those present.

Sir Rassilon then opened up the floor for discussion of this. I remarked: Sounds like a right mess. Without enough Knights to protect others, yah don't have their trust.. and that just spirals downwards.

And Sir Meroveus replied, 'At the same time, this was a dire time of need in Algoron. Appreciated or not, a Knight would have had much good work to do.'

Sir Rassilon pondered, 'I wonder if there was a way that they, or we, could have improved matters'

I jokingly replied to Sir Meroveus, 'And think of all the impossible odds we could throw Lord Rithor at.'

To which, the Lord of the Lance grinned lightly and remarked: 'One can never give up hope no matter the odds.'

Fyy'par said growlingly 'A great trait about the Knights, no matter if they are still disliked by the people they still do the lights work.'

Sir Rassilon remarked: 'Very true. Alright, history marches on, as they say...'

I noted to Sir Rassilon: 'Somehow we survived, I reckon due to Lord Rithor's spirit there, Suh. Yah would have to continually work though, to befriend each increasingly splintered village as the empire slowly lost connection with its parts.'

Sir Rassilon continued the lecture:

Also defeated during the Brotherhood War, Eclipse lived on and returned to the shadows to prepare a new plan of conquest. With their original leader long dead, two men assumed control, Targetter and Moderate, the former of which became their Highlord. They drew up what would later be called the Dark Alliance with ogre and minotaur groups (mercenaries mostly) and concieved a plan to steal and use the Draconus. At this point in history, the Draconus had been entrusted by the Gods to the care of the Conclave of Shinalstin following its initial creation. That history I will not delve into here.

The Dark Alliance waited until the perfect night, a night when a great eclipse covered all three moons in the sky, rendering Magi powerless, and struck. Their raid successful, they carried off the Draconus. If the Knighthood had known of the attack (all evidence suggests otherwise), I ask if it would have been prudent to move and offer aid to the Conclave during such.

Here Sir Rassilon paused his lecture, to open things up for discussion.

I remarked, noting: 'I would reckon so, Suh. Back then, the Knighthood and Conclave worked together quite often.'

Sir Rassilon replied, 'True, but their relationship was still never as solid as some... like today, the Conclave is a merging of three philosophies, one of which we strongly oppose. Perhaps a different question then. If the Draconus was held by the Conclave today, instead..'

Lord Rithor said, 'For the greater good we would aid.'

Sir Meroveus asked, 'What would the alternative today be, in such a scenario - Bloodlust acquiring such power? I suspect we would be forced into the same action.'

Sir Rassilon remarked, 'Shadow more likely than Bloodlust, but yes, that is the idea'

Duchess Caecius said, 'Perhaps, that is a power no mortal, good, evil or neutral shall ever hold together as one.'

Sir Rassilon nodded in agreement with the Duchess, and noted, 'An excellent point, and one we'll explore a little later...'

During this I had been thinking, and said, 'When it is a merging of the three philosophies though the Conclave isn't ideal, its a reasonable orginization. When it is dominated politically by the black robes... well, that's what yah get, evil. Still, if they were taking care of the Draconis properly there, we couldn't let it fall into the wrong hands.'

Sir Rassilon said, 'I figured such would be the response but I thought I would ask all the same, get an idea of the how and why'

Here for a moment Lord Rithor and I grumbled about undead demons being in charge of the Conclave at the moment. To make historical note, at this point in time, Biem the vampire-demon of the Black Robes is Conclave's Master.

Sir Rassilon returned us to our topic:

Regardless, we did not know, and the Conclave could not protect it. So with the Draconus in their hands, the Dark Alliance had tipped the balance of power in the world, and sent out a call to draw the chromatic firstborn under their direct control. Now, as I understand from my research, previously, chromatic and metallic dragons in general did not organize in large groups or flights, and tended to keep to themselves, away from large groups of mortals. Nothing like how they are today.

The Dark Alliance first targeted the declining Serpantol Empire, giving a wide berth to the other nations relative strength and wishing to build up a suitable power base before tackling the Dwarves and Elves, or dealing with the emerging Yinn menace. Possibilities exist, if the Dark Alliance had targetted a nation other than Serpantol, and how history might have unfolded differently as a result.

Here Sir Rassilon paused his lecture once again for our consideration of the options the Dark Alliance had.

I pondered, 'Hrm, I wonder what would have happened if they had attacked the dwarves or elves. Suppose the other side would have joined the dark alliance to get rid of the other? That would have been horrible.'

Sir Meroveus said, 'That may not have been enough to bind Knighthood, Conclave, and Malice together. It may have even been to their advantage.'

Sir Rassilon remarked, 'Given how badly the Dragon Wars went, that would have been disastrous'

And here we gently teased Sir Meroveus for spoiling the next twist to the historic plot.

I returned to the discussion topic at hand by asking, 'But yah, has horrible as it was, I reckon their choice to attack Serpantol was for the best for us... I wonder why they chose Serpantol then? Easy mark?'

Sir Rassilon replied, 'Or... one other possibility, given that Eclipse led the Dark Alliance'

I enthusiastically supplied: 'Revenge against the Knighthood?' (After all, who doesn't love a story with a nasty revenge plot to it?)

Sir Rassilon replied, '... partially.. Eclipse likely also bore a grudge against the Empire they had tried to protect... and might even have still have been trying to "protect"... only now through conquest and subjugation'

I thought this sounded close to the truth, and agreed with Sir Rassilon: 'A good point, Suh. Dark Knights have a warped way of looking at things. They may have thought they were ..helping.'

Fyy'par also seemed to be in agreement with this line of thought, and remarked: 'Well Serpantol was also dieing perhaps they knew that and thought that the only way to save it was to take it over.'

Sir Rassilon noted: 'And may well have been right, given the trouble with Malice raids and looting. The people may even have welcomed such. If it meant order and protection, even if it was from Eclipse...'

Here I saw a parallel with the evils we face today: 'Precisely, like the Knights of Shadow today who want to remake the world for Neccy. Necrucifer could have been trying the same thing back then, only with the Eclipse.'

Sir Rassilon seemed to agree and said, 'Seems likely'

While Sir Meroveus remarked: 'Hm. It's heartening to think then, that he may have failure as a precedent.' Which brought a few smiles from the group.

Duchess Caecius quietly hoped: 'Perhaps they will fail yet again'

And here Sir Rassilon returned to the lecture:

It was a close call of a failure. And, as has already been mentioned, that is not the juiciest piece of history here... that would be the allies the Knighthood found to combat the Dark Alliance. Shalonesti and Thaxanos alike both remained neutral in the war, from what I've found. As did the Yinn forces. Leaving...

I supplied in the dramatic pause: 'Conclave and Malice. Strange bedfellows indeed.'

Sir Rassilon continued: 'The Conclave is understandable, they had lost property to reclaim. But Malice... well, thats why this is debate. History does not record their exact reasons for joining us, though we can speculate'

Fyy'par noted: 'Well Malice had no love for Eclipse as Gohdams death did bring about their clan and perhaps they saw a chance to obtain the Draconus'

Sir Meroveus said, 'One might assume those not with the Dark Alliance stood only to lose in the face of their advances. Malice in particular would lose its weak prey if it was conquered by Eclipse.'

Sir Rassilon replied, 'Enjoying the status quo, with a weak Knighthood and instead of a strong Eclipse overseeing Algoron. That's my theory as well'

I noted the following on Malice: 'They had cast off to go their own way, I reckon they wouldn't want to be ruled by Eclipse again. And, well, money is always to be made in war and looting.'

Sir Rassilon noted: 'Hopefully not from us. I imagine I know the answer to this but the question does come up, of course whether or not it was wise to ally with Malice...'

I pointed out the following: 'Yah don't know the logistics or how close of an alliance it was either from history.'

Sir Rassilon agreed, saying, 'No unfortunately not, though we do know the war was brutal. "city after city conquered" is the phrase I came across.'

And I made the following point: 'It could have been as simple as today when I see the demon Biem and a slayer in the great forest, I throw Lord Rithor at the demon first. The slayer isn't my friend or anything, but.. the demon is the greater evil.'

To which the Lord of the Lance agreed, and then grumbled about the Slayer choosing to attack him over a demon. I consoled Lord Rithor by saying he was just unnaturally good.

Sir Rassilon returned to the topic:

Well, the Light Alliance (it had no formal name) (and here, since I am editing this, I will point out that may be proof that the alliance between Knighthod and Malice was not formal) was holding out against the Dark Alliance for a reasonable while. During the Siege on Thalos, the Conclave reclaimed the Draconus from Eclipse, breaking the hold it held over the chromatics, who turned on their former masters. Thalos was, unfortunately, lost in the ensuing conflict. Its structures, now called Old Thalos to differentiate it from the newer kingdom, lie in ruin to this day. Most of its refugees re-located to what is now New Thalos, or else moved to Midgaard near Gareth's Keep, which is now known as Althainia City.

With the battle concluded and Eclipse surrendering, the Master of the Conclave (history does not record the name) split the Draconus into five fragments, and entrusted one to each of the five great political and military powers of the time. I am curious to know if anyone here can name all five of them?

Fyy'par answered first: 'Conclave, Eclipse, Knighthood, Wargar, and Shalonesti if I recall'

'Correct,' Sir Rassilon then continued: 'Magic, Souls, Justice, Might, and Truth... respectively. And for those of you no doubt growing bored of me, I am coming to the final leg of my lecture...

Darion Doreath was slain during the final battle, records report battling a white dragon over Althainia in the defense of Thalosian refugees. He was succeeded by Lord Vanaard VDare. As is commong of our historical records, it seems to begin and end when a Lord dies. Eclipse was, naturally, not pleased by the broken Dark Alliance and the loss of their ogre and minotaur armies, and attempted (with various success) to reclaim the Draconus pieces to re-forge it.

Catching wind of their plot, the dragons (here it does not specify, but it may imply both chromatic and metallic alike) went to war with Eclipse, all but erradicating most of the Clan and slaying Highlord Moderate. His second, Targetter, took command of what remained. And this bring us to the sad conclusion of the Dragon Wars, when the dragons... left.

I noted: 'They do like long naps.'

Sir Rassilon continued, 'They would not be seen again for many decades'

Duchess Caecius quietly observed: 'I wouldn't wake up if I were a dragon after that.. I mean that's seems to be betrayal to me in many ways.'

Sir Rassilon then brought the lecture to a conclusion: I end my lecture with a quote from an unknown dragon: "The Draconus was our life. It was part of our license to live. We would be kept as slaves of the gods if not for our willingness to sacrifice a part of our essence to the Draconus. For we are the Children of the Wing and Scale, and we are more powerful, more intelligent, and of a higher universal being than the mere mortals of the land, the flightless ones. Who can blame them for their jealousy? Who can blame them for their hatred?"