Avalon of the West's Lore

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{{toc,wide # Contents - ### [{{ Avalon of the West's Lore}}{{ 1}}](#p1) - #### [{{ The Century War: 1220 BC - 1120 BC}}{{ 2}}](#p2) - #### [{{ The Golden Era: 1120 BC - 1070 BC}}{{ 2}}](#p2) - #### [{{ The Brotherhood of the Scales Rises: 1070 BC - 1020 BC}}{{ 3}}](#p3) - #### [{{ The Civil War of the Order: 1020 BC - 1000 BC}}{{ 3}}](#p3) - #### [{{ The Curse: 1000 BC - 0 AC}}{{ 3}}](#p3) - #### [{{ The Curse Ends: 0 AC - 30 AC}}{{ 4}}](#p4) - #### [{{ The Resistance vs the Brotherhood: 30 AC - 50 AC}}{{ 4}}](#p4) - #### [{{ Peace Returns: 50 AC - 80 AC}}{{ 5}}](#p5) - #### [{{ Present day: 81 AC}}{{ 6}}](#p6) }} {{pageNumber,auto}} \page

The Century War:
1220 BC - 1120 BC

In the year 1220 BC, the humanoid races warred with dragons. Humans, Elves and Dwarves all banded together against the ancient and powerful creatures, united in their desire to stay alive. The dragons, while formidable, found themselves unable to make headway against their opponent. The united humanoid races, likewise, weren’t making any progress. Neither side truly lost ground, however both sides were steadily losing the resources required to prolong the war.

After a hundred years of conflict, the elves came to a realization: this war with the dragons will drain both sides dry, and leave no one alive. A meeting was called among the humanoid races, and after much debate, they decided to cease their aggression to gauge what the dragons would do.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the dragons sent an envoy, a representative to communicate with the humanoids, using magic to replicate speech via a linking of minds. The meeting that followed was long and precarious, with both sides bargaining and negotiating for what their side wanted. In the end, an agreement was made, and a treaty was forged.

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The Golden Era:
1120 BC - 1070 BC

With the treaty between the humanoids and the dragons in place, the humanoids’ unity shattered, leading to the rise of many kingdoms throughout the land. Despite this, 1120 BC marked the beginning of a golden era for both humanoids and dragonkind alike. The treaty that had been made secured peace between the humanoids and dragonkind via the forming of two new organizations.

The first of these organizations was the Order of the Bonded Dragons and Riders, or the Order of the Bonded for short. These were the knights, the riders and their partnered dragons, connected through a magical bond that formed prior to a dragon hatching. This group traveled the lands and enforced the treaty above all else, while remaining politically neutral.

The second organization was the Magician’s Guild, formed with the intent of creating a checks and balance system between themselves and the Order of the Bonded. Their secondary objective was to settle disputes between kingdoms.

This peace lasted for fifty years, until a new organization threatened everything. {{pageNumber,auto}} \page

The Brotherhood of the Scales Rises:
1070 BC - 1020 BC

Among the population, there arose a quiet yet formidable group - the Brotherhood of the Scales. This group believed that there had never been a treaty. They believed that when the meeting with the dragons’ envoy happened all those years ago, they had not simply linked minds to speak, but had instead taken over the humanoids’ minds and enforced their will on them. They believed the bonded riders were subjugated, slaves to their dragon mounts, used to enforce the dragons’ will over all of humanoid kind.

Their resistance started small. They worked in the shadows, never announcing their presence to the world. They whispered in the dragon riders’ ears, promising power, fame, wealth, whatever it took to get them on the Brotherhood’s side. They turned the riders against each other, spurring on the bloodiest conflict in recorded history.

The Civil War of the Order:
1020 BC - 1000 BC

Around 1020 BC, the Order of the Bonded split in two, the riders that sided with the Brotherhood declaring war on the remaining riders in the Order, as well as the Magician’s Guild. The war that followed was brutal and bloody, with many casualties on both sides. Spies and infiltrators within both the remaining Order tore down from the inside out, while the defectors staged repeated frontal assaults. The Magician’s Guild, for all its magical capabilities, could not defend the remainder of the order from the combined weight of the defecting riders and dragons, as well as the Brotherhood, who had emerged from the shadows to help in the war efforts.

In the end the Order of the Bonded was decimated, all riders and dragons killed in the conflict. But the Brotherhood didn’t stop there - they continued their genocide against dragonkind until every dragon, young and old, was dead. Even the Ancient dragons, who had lived far longer than most, were not immune or exempt from the carnage. And when there were no more opposing dragons to kill, they then turned to the dragons and riders that had sided with them, slaughtering their allies in the ultimate betrayal. In the eyes of the Brotherhood, the only good dragon was a dead dragon. \column

The Curse:
1000 BC - 0 AC

As the last of the great Ancient dragons fell, and the Brotherhood reigned victorious, a great curse seeped into the lands. Triggered by the spilling of vast quantities of dragon blood, this curse marred the landscape and greatly impacted the people living in these lands. Magic was impacted as well, leading to chaotic and often unstable, unusable magic all over the world.

People who lived in the cursed lands were beseeched by constant pain, from the moment they woke to the moment they slept, and even in their dreams. Some who wished to have kids found that they could not anymore. Those who were lucky enough to have kids found them to be warped, different, mutated with animal features. Thus gave rise to the creation of the Hybrids - half humanoid, half creature. They were more adapted to the curse than their parents, their pain from the curse lessened, their chance of survival greater.

The cursed lands spanned a great portion of area, the better part of an entire continent. Those who lived there often weren’t able to leave. Any who opposed the Brotherhood’s rule were sent to the cursed lands for the rest of their life, left to scavenge and fight among themselves for the dwindling resources the land could provide. Few survived, either succumbing to another humanoid, or the curse itself.

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The Curse Ends:
0 AC - 30 AC

After one thousand years of cursed lands, the curse finally began to abate. This marked a massive turning point in history, and many historians to this day mark this difference by using the BC and AC markers of year, signifying the time before the curse (BC) and after the curse (AC).

During this period of healing, a new movement stirred within the people. The remnants of the Magician’s Guild, now able to properly use their magic due to the curse lifting, began working in the shadows, much like the Brotherhood had before. They rebuilt, they spread their dissent for the Brotherhood, and they began the resistance. For thirty years, they’d lie in wait, growing their forces, waiting for the moment to strike back.

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The Resistance vs the Brotherhood:
30 AC - 50 AC

The following conflict lasted twenty years, and was an uphill battle for the resistance. The combined efforts of the remnants of the Magician’s Guild, backed by powerful deities, along with those who despised the Brotherhood fought tooth and nail against their oppressors. While the conflict may not have been as long and bloody as the Brotherhood’s takeover, it certainly came close in comparison.

In the end, the resistance was successful. They believed they had dismantled the Brotherhood in its entirety. They tore it apart from the inside out, much like the Brotherhood had the Order. A hesitant peace settled on the land, and rebuilding began.

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Peace Returns:
50 AC - 80 AC

A time of healing and renewal settled upon the people of the world. With the Brotherhood gone, the people rebuilt, and it wasn’t long until new kingdoms started cropping up, reshaping the cursed lands from a barren landscape to a liveable world once again.

All had believed that the dragons were extinct, that the last of the Ancient dragons had perished. But those of the Magician’s Guild had a secret - a single Ancient dragon still lived. But it could not remain hidden as it was for long. So the deities once again came to the aid of the people, and performed a magic ritual to turn the dragon into a humanoid.

A great tower was erected, a sanctuary and safe haven for those who had been displaced and left homeless by the curse and the war against the Brotherhood, any refugee or person needing a place to rest their head. It was at this Guardian Tower that they hid the last Ancient dragon, an old man with a broken mind, one who needed constant care.

Fifteen years later, around 65 AC, the Ancient dragon remembered a riddle. "A place underground, above the clouds can be found. Careful who you take, for the Bond it might make.” His memory wasn’t the greatest, but this riddle being remembered was a breakthrough. Scholars believed it to be key to finding a hidden clutch of dragon eggs. It had been noted in ancient books that the Order of the Bonded had hidden eggs somewhere the Brotherhood would never find, and with this riddle remembered, many at the Magician’s Guild believed they could find the eggs.

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The leader of the Magician’s Guild, a deity named Caelum, advised caution. They believed the Brotherhood to be dismantled and dead, but one couldn’t be too careful. They’d need a place to store the eggs once they were found. After ten years of preparation, in the year 75 AC, adventurers and scholars set off to find the hidden cache of eggs.

In the year 80 AC, the eggs were found. There was one problem, however - the eggs refused to hatch. Scholars and magicians tried everything they could think of to get the eggs to hatch, anything from spells and incantations, to incubation. Nothing worked. After five months of testing and research, trial and error, and lots of failures, they decided that something else needed to change.

Much debate was had, but ultimately it was decided to move the eggs to a neutral ground, one far from the politics and heavy occupation of the rest of the world. Advertisements and fliers were posted worldwide, on every bulletin board in every town and kingdom, offering free land to settle and explore on a newly discovered and uninhabited continent, further west than ever seen before. This brought in people who could potentially bond with dragons.

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Present day:
81 AC

Which brings us to today, the year 81 AC. Settlers are encouraged to form towns and governments of their own, maybe even kingdoms. The west must be settled if dragons are to return.

On the first few ships to reach these distant lands was a traveler, who sought rest after arriving to these lands. That night, a dragon egg went missing. The Guild sent a magician to trace the egg’s whereabouts, finding it had brought itself to the traveler and hatched, confirming the theory that the eggs will hatch when their chosen Bonded is near.

The Magician’s Guild took the traveler and his two baby dragons in, making the three the founding members of the new Order of the Bonded. New wards were set into place to prevent eggs from leaving the location they were stashed at, and to prevent the presence of the eggs from being sensed by others.

The deities would watch every newcomer to these lands, every traveler and vagabond, testing them and gauging their loyalties, looking for those who might be able to bond to dragons. The world is not complete without the dragons in it, but no one wants to see them killed again. The hope is that the new Order of the Bonded will be strong enough to overcome whatever challenges it faces this time. Perhaps you, too, could bond with a dragon and become its rider.

It all begins in Avalon.

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