The Meeting of Equals

Gathering / Conference

Never has such a gathering occurred, before or since. I cannot say whether that is a good thing without the hindsight of future historians.

In what would become Year 1, a gathering occurred without precedent. The heads of every major nation in existence at the time, including the long-dead legendary Talia Carte, as well as the heads of every organized religion, and even several outlaw rulers, gathered at the behest of the last recorded dragon to have ever been seen.   Preparing to pass the world truly over to the mortal races, Scelleraxianth wished for a world united before he (or she; histories disagree on the dragon's exact descriptions) moved to his final rest. What is meant by this phrasing is hotly debated among scholars interested in reviewing the event. Regardless of implications, the powers of the known world responded to the summons in good faith; in no small part due to the dragon's advice that he would unite them by force if need be.   At what Scelleraxianth dubbed The Meeting of Equals, frameworks were laid down to facilitate communication and interaction that persist to this very day. The current Calendar of Modern Timekeeping was established on the first day, which Scelleraxianth had carefully timed to fall on a proper day to be considered the first day of spring. The International Maritime Accords are based strongly on a very similar set of strictures for naval interactions and borders set at the meeting. The customs of declaring war openly and ensuring rulers are present on fields of battle were first laid down here, as were the formalized concepts of proxy combat to avoid unnecessary loss of life.   Even our traditions of measuring the value of items in terms of gold pieces regardless of whether there is an ounce of gold within sight can be traced to the establishment of a system of weights and measures at The Meeting of Equals (though documentation indicates the original unit of measure was a silver piece).   Upon the close of the meeting, all present agreed to a powerful geas to uphold the systems decided therein. Passed-down accounts indicate the meeting nearly fell apart at this point, and only the threat of forceful response from both Scelleraxianth and the representatives of Talia Carte convinced recalcitrant parties to submit to the spell.   Though no dragon has been seen since, and Talia Carte later collapsed under circumstances almost as mysterious as that of the dragons themselves, the concepts and systems put in place have endured, and can be argued as a main reason for the age we find ourselves in, where innovation, culture, and commerce can continue in spite of intermittent wars and other sources of chaos.