The Blackfire Ascendency

As the splintered races of The Far Reaches bicker and jockey for resources, an ancient power gathers strength in the north. Bent for now on regional domination, the Blackfire Ascendency seeks to bring the entire world under the rule of the dragon Creator God Itun.

The Long Game

At the end of The Dragon Wars wars over 600 years ago, the remnants of dragon kind were driven back to their ancestral home. Their eggs were crushed, their Origin Site was set ablaze, and the The Second Generation gods eliminated the threat of Itun. Most of the other races of Karos believed the dragons had been hunted to extinction. They were more than happy to be given a break from war so they could begin to rebuild their splintered societies - again.

Though decimated, the dragons were far from extinct. Driven deep into mountain caves in the most inhospitable place on the planet, they hunkered down to rebuild, knowing that the other races would return to finish the job if they got even a hint that dragon kind had survived.

Harbingers or Ghosts

Recently, scattered reports by Reachers in remote areas have spoken of massive creatures - resembling dragons - flying overhead. These reports have been so rare and incredible that most have brushed them off as either fanciful daydreams or cries for attention. Those who claim to have seen a dragon are treated either with benevolent incredulity or outright scorn, leading some to keep what they have seen to themselves. After all, dragons have not been seen at large in the world in 600 years. Their return after all this time is as likely as visitors from the stars.

A New Army

Having learned their lesson during the last war, and with only visions from their vanquished god to guide them, the dragons have progressed with extreme caution as they built their numbers. Unwilling to put his own kind in unnecessary danger as the invasion nears, Jar'eht, High Priest of Itun and leader of the draconic forces, has commissioned the creation of a new species to serve as fodder for the coming war. These Kaelyth, as they have become known, have swollen in numbers and are currently being trained for war. Many welcome the coming battles, leaning into their mandate with a zeal that bodes ill for the races of The Far Reaches. Some, however, have shown a hesitancy to inflict death on peoples they have never met. In these cases, their dragon masters have proven more than willing to resort to coercion to ensure compliance.

The army is nearly ready to march, and when it does, it will deliver winged death to the ancestral enemies of dragon kind.

Dissension

Even as preparations for the invasion near their completion, rumors spread among dragon kind that some of their youngest, idealistic adolescents who cannot remember the purge of their ancestors and have not heeded the lesson that accompanied it, have broken ranks and travelled to the homes of their enemies, seeking to warn them before it is too late. Dragon leadership has gone to great lengths to quash these rumors. Undoubtedly, they hope to dissuade others from joining the dissidents. If true, these upstarts pose the greatest threat to the dragons' invasion and dominance of the region.