The Absconding

The mortals now ruled the world with their technology, and the Gods were reduced to mere advisors to only the wealthiest of mortals. The Humans, Dwarves, and Elves, with their mechanical creations, had become powerful enough to rival the gods and perhaps even strong enough to defeat them. This newfound strength led the mortals to ignore the gods' advice and their warnings of the dangers of independence. Unbeknownst to the mortals, the gods had an agreement with the spirits and other prominent groups of the world including the Splinters and Druids, known as The Pact of Balance.   This agreement permitted the nations to coexist on Talrak, with Societies confined to their cities, Druids perpetually wandering the wilderness or residing in their sanctuaries - never to enter the cities - and the Splinters with their Locomotives remaining in the North. Violating the pact entailed paying the price demanded the wounded nation as penance. However, this pact remained concealed from the mortals who resided within the societies.   In their extreme arrogance, the mortals believed they no longer needed the Gods. Much like the Splinter Revolutions they once hunted and hated, they placed all their trust in their technologies and inventions for protection and advancement. Humans, Dwarves, and Elves ceased to worship or heed the advice of the Gods. All, except the Dragons, abandoned and denounced the Gods they once called heroes. The dragons, however, remained forever loyal to their Gods, leaving the Societies along side the gods.    

'If mortals wish to be deaf.   To our words and warnings.   Then we too shall be blind.   To their wants and pleads'  

Sermon 1 – The Birth of Kings, doctrine 1, stanza 3 - The Theon

  As the Gods were no longer needed or worshipped by the mortals, they left Andreval and returned to their Heavens. However, the dragons remained on Andreval as the gods' eyes and ears. After leaving the Societies, the dragons were hunted down and captured, as the furnaces went cold and other mechanisms within the societies were designed with dragons to operate them, so soon the cities stopped functioning and for the first time in centuries they became silent. Soon enough, the Dragons became hostile to the other mortals, fearing that they would be hunted to extinction or, worse, enslaved in the cities. Consequently, war broke out between them in 2538 PB.   The war shattered the pact that had maintained peace for so long. Not only did the dragons fear the now atheist Societies, but the Druids and splinters also focused their strength into militias and prepared for war. Thousands of years of peace were decimated because mortals believed they no longer needed the Gods, not realising how much they depended them. Now they alone were fighting the Dragons—the children of the gods—and probably the splinters and druids also in the future.   The war continued between the Societies and Dragons, with large swaths of land being destroyed and made uninhabitable by the warring factions. While the Dragons tried to prevent death and preferred non-lethal methods, resorting to self-defense only, the other mortals were not so wise. They were ruthless and unforgiving during their crusade to retrieve the dragons needed to keep their cities alive. In their frenzy, the mortals destroyed everything in their wake, disregarding the collateral damage they caused. You were either with them or against them.   This war continued for 300 years and was known as the First Dragonsteam War, until the Druids and Splinters formed an alliance and pooled their resources in 2245 PB. Both parties had a keen interest in preventing this war from destroying the world, and together they managed to create a peace treaty aptly named the Pact of Dragonsteam peace. Over several weeks and plenty of deals, promises, and amendments under the supervision of the Druids and Splinters, known collectively as the Verdant Alliance, this truce was established.The negotiations took place on the hills of the land called Nivaran, one of the few sanctuaries of the Druids, and was signed in 2244 PB. For the next few centuries, there was peace once again.   Until the destruction of Shengro, an influential ancient society, in 1902 PB by an abnormally large Dragon of unknown origin, known only in myth as Skarak the Titan. The city was destroyed and its remains burned and the Pact of Dragonsteam peace, signed in good faith, was incinerated along with it. Chaos returned to the world. The peaceful coexistence became a distant memory of a forgotten era. The war was renewed with greater hatred, more vigor, and now driven by revenge. The Second Dragonsteam war had begun.   The Druids and Splinters continued to collaborate, often supporting each other in times of dire need, with their Verdant Alliance growing ever stronger. Eventually, they relocated to the province of Ott'Jaren, now more commonly known as Re'Alec. There, the druids' sorcery and the technology of the Splinters were combined to create powerful weapons and armor, but these were never used, being kept in reserve for emergencies and in case the war ever came to them.