Planar Collisions
Ten thousand years ago the Elves' homeworld was shattered by the wars of its would-be stewards. This cataclysm flung pieces of their world outwards into the Void, becoming what are called Shards. These Shards carried terrain, raw materials, and even survivors of the cataclysm outwards across the Void in all directions. Currents in the Void brought some of these Shards to Prime, where they collided with it.A plane collision isn't like a meteorite. They don't fall from the sky in balls of fire or create massive explosions when they land. Rather, a collision is more like stacking sheets of transparent plastic. One minute there's an ocean, the next there's an island. Whatever was there before is displaced, either out into the void or to somewhere else on the same plane (usually in a million small pieces).
What does this have to do with the Dragon Wars? Well, the Dragons had never seen a plane collision before. If one minute there's a city and the next there's a mountain, would it not be reasonable to think you were under attack? The cataclysm caused hundreds of shard collisions all over Prime.
First Contact
The Elves arrived on Prime in the year zero their calendar (TR 0), early in the wave of shard collisions that would continue until TR 317. In TR 40 the Elves' new civilization caught the interest of the Dragons. First contact was made that year when the Dragons' council sent the Gold Dragon Praetor Khalizanth to meet with the Elvish King Amastatica. Khalizanth granted the Elves a broad tract of uninhabited land on the world's southern continent (Goldgrace, Loraida) as their domain, and let them be.Disaster and War
By TR 150 the Elves had outgrown Goldgrace and claimed more territory on Loraida without the Dragons' leave. This did not yet attract the Dragons' ire, not until three things happened: A wave of plane collisions across the south transformed large swaths of dragon-held mountain steppes into grassland, Elvish settlers began openly worshiping their own gods and built their first temples, and a plane collision erased the Grand Citadel of Bahamut from existence, replacing it with an inland sea (The Eye of Eternity). The highly religious Dragon deemed that the Elves' gods sought to destroy their own, and ordered the destruction of the Elves.The First Dragon War was a near-total rout for the Elves. By some estimates three quarters of Loraida was burned when the Dragons struck. Only intervention by Khalizanth and his Golden Army saved the Elves from being wiped out. Once again the Elves were boxed in on Goldgrace; forced to renounce their gods and live meagerly.
Aside: Time & Generations
It may seem a little preposterous to have a civilization exist for 2000 or 10000 years and not advance further than this. To that I say, "what a very Human perspective." Elves are not humans. Dragons are not humans. Both races have average lifespans an order of magnitude longer than Humans. Why should their society advance at the same speed as ours? Elves don't even reach adulthood until they're 110 years old! Dragons are about the same. Both races can live to be over 1000 years old. Two lifetimes from grass huts to massive cities seems pretty fast now, doesn't it? For some parts of the real world that's about spot on.Peace
By TR 317 the plane collisions stopped. Two years later the King of Tan'Rar negotiated control of more territory for the Elves (mostly grassland) to expand their kingdom. Centuries of relative peace followed and Tan'Rar continued to grow. As long as the Elves were good tenants, the ruling council of the Dragons allowed them to live and flourish.The Elves were forbidden from settling outside of their land grants, but allowed to travel and explore. This peace became the Age of Exploration. There were four key discoveries during this age: The locations of the Dragons' capital and major colonies (ca. TR 440), Humans (ca. TR 655), The Mana Well (ca. TR 1000), and Levistone (ca. TR 1530). In two thousand years (~17 generations of Elves) the Elves had gone from living in grass huts to having massive cities of stone, mages, cannons, and airships. Tan'Rar was bursting the bounds of the Dragons' land grants, and the Dragons were becoming uneasy with the Elves advancement.
The Battle of Rakos Bridge
A show of force was called for to put the Elves back in line. Arsaan the Red was sent with a dozen of her brood to destroy the Elves' grand academy and burn their library at Rakos Bridge. It was thought this would set the Elves back a few hundred years and discourage them from expanding further. Things did not go as the Dragons had planned.The Elves had invented divination and knew the attack was coming. When Arsaan and her red brood descended upon Rakos Bridge, they were greeted with airships armed with hooked net launchers, harpoons, drug-raged Human berserkers and Elvish wizards hurling acid and lightning. Arsaan and her reds were wiped out. The Elves mounted Arsaan's head above on the gates of the Rakos Bridge academy and used the scales of her brood to make armour and plate airship hulls. The Second Dragon War had begun.
The Conquest of Loraida
Using their new weapons the Elves were able to expand out in all directions, pushing the Dragons clear from the southern continent (which the Elves call Loraida). Only when they reached the ocean were the dragons able to hold. Elvish airships of the time were vulnerable without mages on the ground for support, and their sailing ships had all been burned in the first stages of the war. A truce was reached: The Elves could have Loraida and continue trading with the Humans, but any ship within 100 miles of Dragon territory would be destroyed on sight.By TR 2110 the Kingdom of Tan'Rar had expanded into an empire controlling all of Loraida and the Elves were once again at peace with the Dragons.
Gameplay Notes
(Rob: I'll be including sections like this with bullets on storytelling, roleplay, and game rules in all future history & mythology articles.)- Dragons and Elves hate eachother, almost universally, and to a far greater degree than any other race. Dragonkin and anyone else raised in Draconic-speaking culture have probably been raised to hate Elves as imperialist conquerors. Elvish- and Human-speaking cultures likewise raise their members to fear Dragons as tyrannical monsters.
- The world's southern continent, "Loraida", is littered with ruins of old Elvish settlements dating back to the expansionist days of Tan'Rar.
- Planar collisions still happen from time to time. They rapidly and permanently change the terrain and can bring features with them including new terrain, buildings, and life forms.
- Planar collisions can be caused intentionally by powerful magic, though the precise knowledge of how to do this is lost to the ages. The continent of Teredahar was created in this way.
- Planes and Shards can also have a "glancing blow" or pass through each other without merging. This can create any number of effects including slight weather changes, hauntings, natural portals, and invasions of Outsiders.
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