Message #1042359

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

The Drakelands

No  one  knows  exactly  how  or  when  the  first  dragons appeared  on  Triaxus,  but  legends  suggest  that  in  the beginning,  there  were  only  the  somewhat  humanoid dragonkin and the bestial drakes. For untold millennia, they lived alongside the Triaxians and other races with no more or less aggression than might be expected.
Then came the true dragons. Whether these were visitors from  another  world  or  plane  or  a  natural  evolution  of dragonkin into something more powerful, the newcomers immediately  took  up  rule  over  their  lesser  cousins.  From their appearance in the heart of the continent now known as the Drakelands, the true dragons warred with each other, established nations, mustered armies—and began to spread.
Thus  began  the  War  of  Heroes.  For  generations,  the humanoid  races  of  Triaxus  not  already  enslaved  by  the draconic conquerors banded together to halt the spreading destruction. Joining them in this fight were those dragonkin who  resented  enslavement  and  subjugation,  as  well  as  the good-natured metallic dragons who sought to oppose their conquest-minded brethren. It was this first great alliance that eventually halted the dragons’ advance, ceding them a single continent for their territorial disputes and establishing the Skyfire Mandate to guard against further growth.
Today,  the  Drakelands  are  a  squabbling,  chaotic  mess of  independent  fiefdoms.  These  territories  range  from true  nations  complete  with  functional  governments, metropolitan  cities,  and  high  quality  of  life  for  their subjects,  to  simple  slave  camps  and  villages  paying terrified tribute to an overlord. Yet at the head of each state is a true dragon who sees the nation as his or her territory, and its governmental coffers as a shining hoard.
Life  in  the  Drakelands  flows  according  to  a  strict  caste system.  At  the  top  are  the  “true”  dragons,  chromatic  (and occasionally  metallic)  nobility  with  total  authority  over everything  save  each  other.  Below  them  come  the  less powerful but far more numerous dragonkin, who often work as generals, government officials, consorts, and other people of influence. Lesser still are the bestial drakes and dragon-blooded  Triaxians—those  humanoids  who  can  trace  their ancestry  to  a  draconic  dalliance.  But  even  these  are  better than the mundane humanoids, who fall somewhere between peasants and livestock in the views of their superiors. The  political  geography  of  the  Drakelands  is  always changing,  with  nations  falling  or  expanding  as  the dragons vie for power. This is especially true as the seasons change—during  the  winter,  the  barbaric  whites  tend  to be  ascendant,  only  to  be  driven  back  into  the  northern reaches  during  the  summer  by  the  more  powerful  reds and politically cunning blues. Greens and blacks, for their parts, tend to form more isolationist settlements to pursue their own ends, yet aren’t above being drawn into conflicts or alliances when their territories are threatened.
Contrary to popular belief, not all of the dragons in the Drakelands are evil. While it’s true that many of the noble metallic dragons were slain during the War of Heroes, and that those who weren’t were hunted almost to extinction in the pogroms that followed because of their “racial treason,” a  few  metallics  still  hold  their  own,  banding  together  to protect each other’s nations against the chromatics. These lands  are  something  of  a  fairy  tale  among  the  lowborn subjects  of  the  other  nations,  and  many  Triaxian  slaves run away in hopes of making it to these fabled utopias. The few who actually succeed find themselves welcomed with open arms—though not necessarily with the lives of leisure and plenty they might have imagined. The metallic-ruled nations  are  often  highly  militant,  constantly  forced  to make hard choices and fight for their right to exist. Small wonder, then, that many of the metallics who managed to escape the Purges but didn’t flee the planet altogether choose to forego nation-building and simply hide themselves away in remote locations, or within Triaxian societies.