Misbegotten world

Chapter 2: Days of Past Eras

Thousands of years ago, it was the era of Dragons. Born from the power of the Dragonlord and serving the Celestial Dragon, these majestic beings ruled the realm of Sajar, once called Vartharak. For centuries, dragons dominated the skies, the land, the mountains, and even the seas. Unlike other creatures, dragons never ceased growing. From greater dragons, they evolved to become named dragons, each bearing a unique identity and legacy.

Dragons had their own servants to carry out their will—the Draconic people. These Draconic people, tall and bulky, with scales as hard as a fully grown wyvern, formed the backbone of the dragon kingdoms' armies. Each Draconic warrior or knight possessed incantations bestowed upon them by their lord dragon. Whether their master was a thunder dragon or a fire dragon, the Draconic would bear and wield the elemental powers of their lord. Clad in armor forged by ancient dwarves who once served the Dragonlord, Draconic men were formidable warriors.

Dragons, known for their wisdom, had the ability to transform into Draconic form upon achieving a name, granting them a second form and the capacity to speak ancient Draconian. Over the years, Draconic servants and dwarves together built the grand city of Guvar-Etna-Thalas, or the City of Dragons. This magnificent city, with its massive walls, became an impregnable fortress. Within its confines, demi-humans, dwarves, Draconic, and High-Men coexisted in harmony. The city was guarded by the Draconic City Watch, an army of hundreds of thousands of warriors resplendent in draconic metal.

During this golden era, prosperity and peace flourished across the lands. Trade flowed from every corner of the continent, and wars were few and distant. Dragons continued to grow, with some reaching sizes as vast as three mountains combined by the age of six hundred years. Greater dragons became more prevalent, and countless eggs were laid and hatched, ensuring the continuity of their kind. The abundance of food facilitated trade with the High-Men, who exchanged provisions for wyverns. Bred for war, wyverns grew to an age of two hundred and thirty years to three hundred years before ceasing their growth, providing the Draconic Knights with formidable mounts for battle.

The Draconic Knights saw action against the warmongering factions of the Makar Legions in the scorching deserts of the Makaylon region. Meanwhile, dragons that remained in their original domains, such as the Thunder Dragons, Water Dragons, and Magma Dragons, were granted the right to establish their own cities. However, without named dragons to lead them, these dragons seldom built settlements. The dwarves, on the other hand, constructed their own homes—strongholds atop the tallest mountains and fortified cities on the plains. These strongholds were the forges where weapons of war were crafted, supplying the Dragon kingdom with their formidable armaments.

With each settlement of High-Men and dwarves, Draconic Knights were sent by named dragons to defend them, a hundred knights to each haven where weapons were forged. As time passed, greater wyverns were born, evolving through the ages. Alongside these greater wyverns emerged the named ones. Through this evolution, wyvern-dragon bred Drakes were born, possessing scales as strong as a dragon's and the speed of a wyvern. However, these drakes ceased growing, making them far less powerful than a true dragon. It was said that a hundred Draconic warriors or fifteen Draconic Knights could bring down a single drake. This news spread throughout the City of Dragons until it reached the ears of the Dragonlord. In his wisdom, he banished the drakes to the far south, where the Koulgar people inhabited the gentle snow. The Koulgar took them in, accepting the first twenty drakes born in the city and breeding them. Over time, they formed an army of drake warriors and Draconic Dragon-Drakes. The Koulgar, however, desired peace and had no intention of waging war, but the drakes feeling the sting of rejection, rebelled. They massacred the people of Koulgar, seizing their cities and enslaving skilled individuals. Those who could breed cattle or cultivate food were spared, as were those who could forge weapons. Individuals with any notable skills were also spared. In just a few months, millions were slaughtered in a brutal betrayal. After a century of growing in power and numbers, the drakes turned their eyes toward their creators, the ones who had cast them away. Prepared for war, they marched north with a singular purpose: to destroy and annihilate their creators, seeking vengeance for their banishment.