Dragon Tyrannies

Held together by the magic and will of the Dragon Tyrants their walled citadel cities became sanctuaries from the Curses, monsters, and weapons left behind by the Godswar.

Initially the Dragon Tyrants were seen as the saviors. But as time went on the suppressed the power of the masses more and more in the name of security against the terrors outside the citadel walls. As the ranks of the Scions — children of the Dragon Tyrants — grew, they became a hereditary nobility, further destroying the power and freedom of the people.

Connected to each other through the teleportation channels empowered and strictly controlled by Dragon Tyrants, there existed limited trade between the Tyrannies cut off from each other geographically. Because the teleportation channels required active consent by two Dragon Tyrants they were not used in warfare. And with the massive distances through dangerous terrain between the Tyrannies this was an age of peace.

The First Spirit Pacts

But that peace only existed between the Tyrannies. Rising abuse from the Scions and strict authoritarian control by the Dragon Tyrants led to revolt. As the Dragon Tyrants cracked down on their subjects, the first Spirits reached out offering Pacts to the desperate. As the subjects of the Dragon Tyrants started gaining power, the Scions lead crackdowns on the early Pactmages and Pactborn drove them underground to operate in secret.

The Scions' Wars

Having power over their subjects but without the ability to inherit power from their immortal parents, the Scions began to fight over their parent's attention. Then they fought for power over each other. These wars took the form of political machinations, assassinations, and eventually creating proxy armies of citizens. As the Dragon Tyrants apathy over their conflicts of their Scions grew, the conflicts grew in intensity.

Grand Rebellion

As the power of the Pactmages grew in secret the idea of rebellion spread. Pactmages who fled or were banished from the Tyrannies started to survive and carve out settlements. As these settlements grew the accepted fact of the necessity of the Dragon Tyrants and their feckless Scions ruling over them was challenged. Using subterfuge, guile, and their newfound magics, they pushed the Scions into greater and greater conflicts that necessitated the intervention of the Dragon Tyrants. And while the Tyrants were powerful, they were not powerful enough to survive uprising by the Scions and the new armies of Pactmages. Their power was broken, all but a few handful died, and the citadels — who were held together by the will of their Tyrant — crumbled to ruin. The people, cast out of their sanctuaries, turned to the Pactmages to defend them from the terrors beyond the citadel walls.