When Dragons Die- The Complete Trilogy Box Set

by K. Scott Lewis

  Druids (Channelers)

  Druids are channelers of the element of Life. The elemental link is conferred through initiation, although a few are born with a natural link. The first druid was initiated by Graelyn’s dreamwalker.

  Kaldorite Paladins (Channelers)

  Kaldorite paladins are channelers of the Light. Their elemental link is conferred through initiation. The first such paladin was initiated through a magical spell by Kaldor.

  History

  Pre-History (First through Seventh Aeons)

  Before recorded human history, Dragons emerged from dragonsleep and then returned again in cycles attuned to Ahmbren's core. As they slept, the lesser races evolved. Countless years and generations passed in this era, long even by sidhe standards. Only sidhe developed any semblance of civilization, which was not shared with orcs, humans, trolls, or dwarves. The four indigenous races remained in Stone Age hunter-gatherer communities in which family, the tribe, ancestor worship, and the tribal gods were everything, and all people not of your tribe were enemies to be feared and slain.

  Year - Event

  - Dragons rule the world as the only sapient race, and create the Otherworld before entering dragonsleep.

  - Millions of years later, orcs, humans, trolls and dwarves evolve into sapience. Their primitive art reverberates through the Otherworld and gives rise to the faerie folk of all kinds.

  - Some of the Fae came to Ahmbren and become the sidhe, the high elves. Sidhe create the first cities.

  - The sidhe council of elders create the Kairantheum.

  - The Kairantheum gives rise to the gods.

  - All races come to worship the gods, except the sidhe. The secret of the Kairantheum is kept only by a few sidhe. Nevertheless, the sidhe never embrace the gods and remain at odds with the peoples of faith.

  The First Age (Seventh Aeon) – Age of Power

  The character of this age ranges from tribal pre-history, to barbarian, and early Bronze Age. The sidhe are reclusive, peaceful, and have not yet developed a taste for war.

  History begins when humans formed city-states and developed writing to keep records. History follows human civilization as the dominant race on Ahmbren. Sidhe history is slow to develop, and they do not share their records. Dwarves also keep history, but they too stay secluded and tend not to share their records. The tribal history of orcs and trolls are oral.

  Human pre-history is largely tribal, but it was the advent of the human city-state that set the stage for a common history shared by the races of Ahmbren.

  Year - Event

  ~400 years - Rise of human civilization. Human tribes develop agriculture and settle into a loose association of city-states, mostly at peace with each other and the nonhuman races.

  423 - Coming of Dragons.

  433 - Three Dragon Kingdoms established. Archurion begins codification of mythos into the Archurionite Church. Embryonic church forms. Klrain adopts the subterranean troglodytes.

  2435 - Klrain destroys capital cities. First Dragon War begins.

  2738 - Imprisonment of Klrain. The Three return to dragonsleep.

  The Second Age (Eighth Aeon) – Age of Magic

  The character of this age is Iron Age. Sidhe culture has reached high magic and unlocked the secrets of elven steel. The rest of mortalkind remains in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Magic and sorcery stunt technological advancement.

  This age is characterized by the rise and fall of two monolithic empires: the rise of Sutonia and the High Elven Imperium, to later be replaced by Artalon and the Darkling Empire.

  Once the Dragons depart into dragonsleep, their kingdoms fragment largely along racial lines. The sidhe are the most advanced race and decide that taking control of the other races is the best way to enforce peace and protect their long-term interests. They communicate between their great cities and leave the younger races largely unmolested, allowing small towns and communities to grow up in the spaces between the Imperium cities. However, they watch the younger races, and should a community become too advanced, they cause its downfall.

  The problem for the sidhe are the gnomes. The sidhe have revered dragons since the time of the Dragon Kingdoms due to the knowledge that the Four created the Otherworld and thus were the parents of their own race. They are aware the gnomes are direct descendants of bronze dragons, so turn a blind eye to gnomish ingenuity. Thus, the gnomes are able to build Artalon, which eventually becomes the catalyst for the fall of the Imperium and the rise of the Darkling Empire.

  The Darkling Empire is brutal and decadent. Darklings respect strength and power, and it is this focus that allows them to survive and raise humanity above the limits imposed on them by the Imperium. However, darklings create a rigid caste system with themselves at the top. Darkling families vie for ascendancy, trying to jump the strata of their own subcastes. Wolven are second, valued for their martial prowess, and the human majority, from whom the darklings emerged, were forgotten as a third-class labor and slave caste.

  Year - Event

  1 - The Three good Archdragons form parts of their beings into dreamwalkers and send them out to keep watch over mortalkind’s history. They make a vow not to interfere and only act to protect the natural unfolding of mortal history.

  104 - Sidhe cities pledge allegiance to the city of Sutonia. Sutonia establishes the High Elven Imperium and actively prevents lesser races from developing beyond the Bronze Age.

  800 - Archurionite Church has faded as an organized structure; however, the myths have been codified now and inform the beliefs of men and women. Myths drive apart from each other over time.

  962 - Klrain sends out his dreamwalker, keeping hidden beneath the notice of the Three.

  4248 - Troll civilization forms under tyrannical patriarchy in Vemnai. Troll women are subjugated as property. They stay on the island and worship Athra as a virgin goddess subjugated by Yamosh.

  6048 - Last bronze dragon (as a gnome) dies. All gnomes are now their descendants, unable to assume dragon form. Gnomes are recognized as a native race of Ahmbren by the Imperium.

  8625 - Gnomes start construction of Artalon

  9024 - Gnomes finish construction of Artalon.

  9044 - Humans become dominant race in Artalon.

  9052 - The Council of Thirteen is formed, consisting of human High Wizards. This council rules Artalon.

  9400 - The High Elven Imperium declares war on Artalon (to protect the Kairantheum), and begins systematically wiping out human city-states.

  9422 - The Council of Thirteen High Wizards make pacts with demons and become the first of the darkling race. Only Tal Harun rejects the pacts, and he abandons Artalon to its fate to found the city of Omalar. They remaining Artalonian rulers are now the Council of Twelve.

  9431 - Darklings create first wolven, realizing that even with gnomish magic and technology, they are slowly losing.

  9450 - The last of the Council of Twelve dies. Tal Harun returns to Artalon and disappears.

  9470 - Rin reveals herself to the troll women of Vemnai and grants them runic power. She gives them the likeness of human women. She teaches that their women are really the creations of her and Soorleyn. They rise up and enslave the men, destroying the worship of Yamosh and Athra. They withdraw into a tribal, nature society as the pure society. Rin teaches them that men are aberrations of Yamosh.

  9674 - Graelyn reaches out to the trolls and teaches the druidic arts. Druidry eventually becomes corrupted and bent to serve Rin.

  9957 - Under darkling rule, Artalon shatters the High Elven Imperium. Sidhe are driven from their capital in Sutonia. Sutonian sidhe city is destroyed. Darkling Empire is established and unites human civilization under one banner.

  9970 - Darkling Sorcerer-King, guided by Klrain's dreaming spirit, spans the stars with Dark pathways. Artalon exists on two worlds simultaneously. First alien world settled.

  10,030–10,452 - Artalon continues to bind worlds together, creating a nexus of pathways at Artalon itself.

 
10,452 - Klrain breaks free from his prison due to the pathways the Sorcerer-Kings created. The Three awaken to battle and contain their brother. Artalon is utterly destroyed and swallowed by the sea. (The sidhe purpose is achieved—protect the Kairantheum.)

  The Third Age (Ninth Aeon) – Age of Faith

  The character of this age, especially by the time of the Nine Realms, is high religion and chivalry, medieval to renaissance. Magic and theology stunt technological advancements.

  After the sinking of Artalon, the Darkling Empire shattered, and human civilization splintered into hundreds of small, warring fiefdoms, declaring a throne as their seat of power and each attempting to dominate the others. Eventually, over 10,000 years, this stabilized into nine prosperous, independent kingdoms ruled by human rulers, known as the Nine Realms.

  It is in the Nine Realms period that the dragon avatars emerge and the Champion is found. Aaron changes the world and heralds the return of Artalon, bending the Nine Realms to his will. The last thousand years of this age, he reigns as God-King, and the Nine Realms are all but absorbed and dissolved into his Empire.

  Year - Event

  ~1–800 - The Throne Wars.

  220 - Honward gathers Yoshen, Winter, and Tia to build the Vault of Art. It is the power of Honward's paintings that later touches Sorel's dreams and inspires the Prophecy of the Dragons.

  421 - A mad gnomish wizard's experiments in Kallanista go awry, and the ratling race is created.

  800 - Treaty of Tavenport signed. Nine Realms established, each with their own throne. This allowed for cycles of peace, but war and conflict ebbed and flowed. The thrones survived, but borders changed, and sometimes tribute and allegiances were forced from one throne to another. Competition for the title of High King dominated for generations.

  9428 - Sorel the Prophet, a darkling from Surafel, formed his dragon cult and prophesied that only a man wielding the power of a dragon could slay Klrain. By this time, Artalon was a dim memory, and Klrain was given little to no import in the myth cycle. Sorel's cult becomes popular, and his followers and teachings spread throughout the realms. It is never condoned by traditional churches.

  9432 - Xandelbrot born in Tavenport.

  9518 - Sorel's Dragon Cult vanishes.

  9668 - Temples from the kingdoms come together and reestablish a unified Archurionite Church.

  9764 - Treaty of Tavenport II. Solidified peace for the Nine Realms, effectively ending war through a complex system of mutual defense pacts and trade agreements aimed to ensure that if one fell, they all fell.

  9882 - A book of Sorel's lost prophecies is found.

  10,011 - Valkrage born to the Frost Court

  10,016 - Sidhna born to the Flame Court

  10,019 - Aaron born in Windbowl

  10,025 - Kaldor born in Omalar

  10,041 - Aaron brings Kaldor, Valkrage and Sidhna to Erindil.

  10,046 - Kaldor, Valkrage and Sidhna learn they are the avatars.

  10,051 (1) - Aaron invested with the power of the Two (Kaldor and Valkrage). Sidhna rejects Graelyn, dies, and rises as a revenant. Aaron raises Artalon anew and establishes the Artalonian Empire. (The Artalonian Empire begins their calendar here, as the first year of Aaron’s reign).

  10,052 (3) - Aaron fuses the Archurionite Church with the Imperial State, declaring himself head of both. Kaldor goes into seclusion in Taer Iriliandrel.

  10,055 (5) - Aaron establishes Imperial Bureaucracy. All worship outside of the Church is forbidden (but the full pantheon is still worshipped).

  10,350 (300) - Aaron declares himself God-King, the living reincarnation of the dead god Karanos.

  10,351 (301) - All worship of gods other than Aaron as Karanos is outlawed. The Kaldorite order is founded in secret.

  10,412 (362) - Kaldorite movement flourishes. Valkrage imprisons Kaldor outside of time in Taer Iriliandrel.

  10,484 (434) - Ratlings develop zeppelins, but use is rarely seen outside of Vemnai; Artalon does not adopt for use.

  10,581 (531) - Gnomes invent gunpowder and airships powered by elodian crystals.

  10,592 (542) - Artalon uses rune magic to create rune-powered sky barges and skiffs.

  11,013 (963) - Attaris born in Farstkeld.

  11,018 (968) - Hylda born in Farstkeld.

  11,038 (988) - Arda born outside Astiana. Oriand born in Vemnai.

  11,042 (992) - Gunpowder now seen in military use, sporadically in the Artalonian Empire.

  11,046 (996) - Anuit born in Windbowl.

  11,063 (1013) - Imbued with the faith of millions, Aaron fully becomes Karanos' avatar. Aaron wakens and slays Klrain. Aaron dies. The Otherworld is destroyed. Graelyn sacrifices herself to save world from shattered Otherworld. Seelie race manifests. Aradma born near Windbowl. Aradma becomes a druid. Seelie gather in Artalon under Aradma’s guidance. Arda begins quest for Taer Iriliandrel. Valkrage dies, slain by Tiberan. Valkrage projects Tiberan eight years into the future. Tiberan believed dead. Aradma leads her people back to Windbowl to settle in peace.

  11,064 (1014) - Fernwalker is born to Aradma by Odoune.

  11,064 - The vampire plague spreads through Roenti and begins its spread through Roen

  11,068 - All of Roen is infested with vampires.

  11,069 - Astia is infested with vampires. Markus makes deal with Yamosh, and the Covenant is formed.

  11,072– 11,073 (1022– 1023) - Arda and Anuit journey together. Find Kaldor. War with the Covenant breaks Hammerfold into federated states. Odoune meets his daughter Fernwalker. Malahkma is re-bound in the Abyss by Athra. All Hungerbound vampires die; Covenant survives and is established within the borders of Astia as an enduring political state. Aradma conceives Naiadne with Kaldor. Athra awakens in Athra's Jewel. Arda given the Seal of Light by Kaldor. Kaldor killed by Rajamin.

  11,073 - Gnomish city of Cloudmoore moves to Artalon. Athra's Jewel instigates armies to take Artalon. Dwarven army, sidhe army, orc army, and Hammerfold army all descend on Artalon. Naiadne born to Aradma while in captivity.

  11,074–11,083 - The Ten-Years War

  11,083 - Aradma destroys the Kairantheum, with Arda, Anuit and Tiberan enabling. This destroys all gods, precludes the possibility of new gods or demons arising from faith, and all runewardens lose their power. The direct conduit to the four elements of Light, Dark, Life and Time remain. Aradma becomes Queen of Artalon and limits Artalon's borders to the peninsula itself, leaving the other human countries to their fate. The destruction of the Kairantheum and the Old Gods marks the end of the Third Age.

  The Fourth Age (Tenth Aeon) – Age of Reason

  The character of this age is philosophical magic and steam-powered mechanical technology. This age quickly sees the spread of gnomish and ratling gadgeteering into human culture, and rapid travel is facilitated by airships and steam rail.

  The Fourth Age begins when the four Living Seals destroy the Kairantheum. They value truth and reason over the chaotic nature of faith and the dangerous effect that the Kairantheum has on the world by manifesting characters described by faith, for good and bad.

  The destruction ends all gods, the possibility for new gods to arise, and the power of runewardens. Both good and evil gods cease to be. It is revealed that there is no evidence for an afterlife (these were lies of the faithful propagated by the gods who believed in it). Demons ceased to be, so all sorcerers lost pack-bound power.

  However, this left Ahmbren naked to the awareness of the Those Who Dwell Beyond… aberrant evil beings of malice who were formed from the vestigial remnants of powers older than the Kairantheum that floated in the Dark.

  With the disappearance of the gods, the surviving Fae now appeared in cities and joined society. The last of the sidhe abandon their policy of isolation and open their cities to human society.

  At the height of this age, gnomish and ratling gadgeteering has infused human culture, and rapid travel is facilitated by airships and steam rail. Invention proliferated and infused society after the final fall of the Ar
churionite Church and the vestiges of Aaron's Empire fell away. Discovery, exploration, trade and prosperity set the keynotes for this period of history. The Fae who were manifest in Ahmbren when the Otherworld was shattered survived the shattering, but were refugees in Ahmbren. They eventually made themselves known and joined civilized society.

  Lexicon

  The common language of the Nine Realms is Roentian. Some names and words from older languages continue to be used.

  Old Draconic

  • arad (pl aradi) – dragon

  • ezh – blade, tooth, or claw

  • galad – people

  • ira – night

  • ma (pl maia) – heart

  • tiber – to master

  • malahk (pl malahki) – emptiness, need, void

  Vemnai

  • chal (pl. -im) – friend

  • koris-val (pl. -im) – heart of my heart

  Galadic

  • heim (pl. -s) – land

  • holm (pl. -s) – home

  Dwarven

  • braech – promise, oath

  • farst – first

  • keld – home, mountain kingdom

  Underworld (Troglodyte)

  • choros – self, a person who has the right to earn station. A servant.

  • choros-nalcht – no one, or nameless one (literally, self-not)

  • kaldrassa – honored victor

  • kessana – warrior