Age of Dragons

After the Dawn War, Arith was for the first time free of the meddling of Gods and Primordials. As the most powerful sentient creatures in existence, the Dragons began to spread from their homeland and bring the world under their control. At that time, there were so few dragons, and so much world to rule that conflicts were few and far between. Each dragon set itself up as the absolute power in their region. Only seeking one another out for mating.   As the dragons explored their world, they began to recognize that other beings had the potential to think and reason. With lifespans that measured in centuries, the dragons began to watch, investigate and even experiment with these creatures. On Draconis, they created their primary children, the Dragonborn, and also the kobolds, who took the roles of servants to the Dragonborn.   In southern Caldonia, they merged beast and humanoid to create the various types of beastfolk, or beastlings: bugbears, gnolls, kenku, lizardfolk, ophidians, yuan-ti and the like were all created in the aptly named Beastlands. Some say that lycanthropes and eventually shifters were created during this time as the dragons experimented with mixing the spirits of beasts and humanoids.   On the continent of Togoshima, the dragons civilized the humans of that continent and taught them that they were a part of a "Celestial Bureaucracy", where the dragons functioned as intermediaries for the gods. The evolving system of government on Togoshima even today continues to reflect that bureaucracy and revere their draconic heralds.   It was during this time that the titans crossed the Veil from the Elemental Chaos into the lands now known as Hjalmar. Finding the mountainous region to their liking, they established a foothold in the lands. Like the dragons, the Titans of that age bred and created their own servitor creatures. These Titans created the orcs, the ogres and the trolls. Though these Titanspawn races count the dwarves among their own, the dwarves fiercely deny that they were created by the Titans, usually using the blades of their axes to make their point.   The Titans dominated the humans of the region and placed them as slaves to their orcish warbands. Inevitably, dragons tried to settle and rule their lands, and while the dragons were individually more powerful, the Titans and their servitors had the numbers to win each of these battles. Soon the thoughts of the Titans turned to conquest.   Erupting out of Hjalmar, the Titan armies attacked. The circled Lake Rumael and took the Wildlands in the first of many massive battles. The dragons of the region put up a good fight, but were overwhelmed by numbers despite their power.   The Titans headed west and north, taking the Soro Valley then the Northlands. They pushed the dragons back to their continent of Draconis, and then the titans invaded Draconis.   Facing defeat, the dragons gathered in the southern portion of the continent. Choosing the caldera of an extinct volcano, the dragons established the first Council of Wyrms. Always an egotistical lot, it took the understanding of their eventual defeat that prompted some of the most powerful wyrms to gather and work together to defeat the titans.   Forming their war council, the most powerful dragons on the continent cajoled, convinced and intimidated their own kinds to join the battle. Over the course of months, as the titans advanced further into Draconis, the dragon's army gathered. In one massive push, the dragons attacked.   The skies went dark above the main titan army, so many dragons had gathered. After the initial strike, the dragonborn-led armies of kobolds, humans, and beastmen attacked. The strategies used in each battle was coordinated from above by the dragons. In a short period of time, the remains of the titan armies were fleeing to the shores.   The titans lost many more of their kind sailing across the straits, and still the dragons pushed. Back on Caldonia, the titans were more entrenched, with towns and cities spread across the north. The dragons established a beachhead for their invading armies, wiping out all of the giantish humanoids for miles from the point of landing.   With so many actual titans laying in open graves on Draconis, their lesser descendants, the giants, took command of their forces. Though not physically or magically as powerful as the titans, the giants were much more numerous.   The war for Caldonia went on for decades. The draconic forces built settlements on top of the giant settlements their conquered. Slowly, the giants were pushed back to current day Hjalmar, the area where the titans first crossed the veil.   In Hjalmar, the giant forces, backed by the few remaining titans were impossible to rout. The elemental energies of the manifest zones made the entire area dangerous for the attacking armies of the dragons. The giants and titans knew the terrain and the zones and successfully trapped and destroyed many of the soldiers arrayed against them. The dragons withdrew, but left a large portion of their armies in the current day Wildlands to keep watch over the giant lands and the giant spawn.   Back on Draconis, the greatest wyrms of the Council went back to their weirs to once again pursue their own interests. Other dragons, mainly younger adults, chose to stay with the council and band together. They declared the southern portion of the continent to be the territory of the Council of Wyrms. None of the ancients objected, and the elders who did could not stand against the might of the combined dragon council.   Since that time, the council has ruled their lands, and kept them separate from the northern Scaled Dominions. Dragons who wish to be part of something larger than themselves may join the council or establish a weir in the Dominions, but not both. One of the goals of the Council is to make sure its dragons and servitors are always trained to work together on the field of battle. Council members play a role across Arith as patrons, spies, diplomats and provocateurs.   But the dragons would never again be masters of the world.