Post by Addis Hellfire on Sept 15, 2008 13:46:50 GMT
Hey all, I've made my own site on Proboards, basing the structure off of this and a few other cool forums I've seen, and the story on a D&D setting called Council of the Wyrms. No knowledge of D&D is required, and I've got information on the story posted.
Here is something to give you a taste of the setting:
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It lies in an isolated stretch of ocean, far from the continents where humankind thrives. Its distant shores range from sandy beach to lush jungle, icy plain to steamy swamp. Its islands form a chain that starts in the frigid Ice Sea, passes through the more hospitable Coral and Blood Seas, and ends among the boiling waves of the Burning Sea. It is the Io's Blood Island chain, whose varied isles are bound in an ancient covenant of claw and wing.
Dragons rules these isles. They hold that the greater god Io, the Ninefold Dragon, created these islands specifically for their kind. They have maintiained this belief in story and legends millenia old. But the true history, as told by the great dragon sages, tells a more intricate tale . . . a tale of squanered gifts, dragon wars, and a dire threat that nearly ended dragonkind's dominion of the Io's Blood Isles.
From the teachings of Kulustan the Bronze, master sage of Clan Tempest:
Great Io, the Ninefold Dragon, the Swallower of Shades, the Great Eternal Wheel, the Sire of All Creation, looked down upon the wild lands to see what realm his first, best children, the dragons, had quartered for themselves. His opalescent eyes widened. He had expected to find his children at the rightful head of creation, ruling a harmonious world. With their natural majesty and boons he had given them, nothing less would he accept. Such gifts of size and claw and wing he had given them! Further, he had graced them with breaths of power, the might of spells, long life, and more. But there was a price to exact for the cost of these gifts, and when Great Io saw the lands below, he knew the price had not been met.
All Dragonkind was scattered across the world, at odds with each other, immersed in Dragon War. As dragon shed the blood of dragon, as gold claw ripped through red wing, Io gave fourth a mighty cry. "If dragon blood must flow," th Ninefold Dragon declared, "then let it be mine!" The greater god extended his claws and sliced through the beautiful scales protecting his own belly. The claws cut deep, and flaming red blood flowed freely from the wounds.
The blood fell in great drops, plummeting towards the world from Io's perch high above the sky's blue dome. The crimson rain splattered into the frozen waters of the Ice Sea, there to sizzle and cool as great clouds of steam filled the air. Blood fell in huge fiery beads, separating the Sea of Coral from the Blood Sea. The last drops poured into the southern waters. So hot were these bitter pellets that their fire spread to the water where they fell. So was born the Burning Sea.
As the blood cooled and formed islands Io sent dreams to the sages of dragonkind. In these visions, the Ninefold Dragon urged the sags to take their particular dragon branch to these islands. For it was here, among the islands formed from Jo’s holy blood, that the Concordant Dragon wished his first, best children to grow and flourish. Here they would learn to rule in harmony as he had intended all along.
But once the migration started Io departed. He would not force his children to follow his dream for them, but neither could he bear to watch should they fail to do so. There were other worlds to visit, other spheres to view, and he left in search for them. For centuries at a time, Great Io immersed himself in these other lands. Eventually, however, his travels brought him back to this world. He looked down upon the isles made with the blood of his life, and great anger flared within him. Dragonkind did still inhabit the islands, but not in the harmony he had intended. Indeed, the fifteen dragon races were engaged in dracocide.
Once again Io sought to guide his children through the dreams of sages, but so intense was this Dragon War, so frenzied were the dragons, that the visions were ignored. This left the Concordant Dragon with only one options. To the islands Io sent his avatar, its form that of a gargantuan great wyrm.
So great was the war fury that even the avatar could not sway dragonkind from its destructive course. The avatar devised a different plan. "If the dragons want a war," Io's avatar delcared, "then the Ninefold Dragon will give them a war!"
The avatar looked over the rest of creation and found the perfect enemy on the continents far beyond the Blood Sea, an enemy that would ultimately prove a grater threat than that posed by dragonkind itself. This enemy had a deep-rooted loathing of dragonkind, and while individually far inferior to even the least of Io's children, this enemy had the advantage of numbers. Further, its tenacity would offer a serious challenge to dragonkind. This enemy? Humankind.
Io's avatar appeared before the human tribes, who believed the vision was a god. The avatar inspired the humans to take up the cause of holy war against the dragons. It taught them how to battle the great wyrms. At the avatar's urging, the humans devised armor to protect their frail flesh. They forged weapons to act as claws. And they built great ships to sail to the seas to Io's Blood. The avatar turned the humans into dragon slayers, then set them loose upon the islands of dragonkind.
The dragons were unprepared for a threat from beyond the seas. There had been some minor invasions (by the frost and fire giants) over the ages, but never anything as momentous as these ships cresting the crimson waves and carrying human dragon slayers. Caught up in their own war against each other, the dragons did not notice the tiny invaders. Even those who saw the sails slip quietly toward the islands did not think to consider their danger. It wasn't until the armored horde swept across the islands and began its systematic slaughter that the dragons thought to respond in kind.
The dragons, however, were not organized, and against the heavily armed and armored forces even their great power was not enough to stop the waves of attackers. Ultimately, the dragon slaters were on the verge of utter victory, but then Io's avatar appeared before three mighty dragons. Exaurdon the Gold, Starratiel the Amethyst, and Bloodtide the Red listened to the avatar and heard the words of the Ninefold Dragon.
"Seperately, no one dragon or family of dragons can stand against the human horde." the avatar explained. "But together, as unified as the many forms of Great Io himself, you can stop these attackers." With these powerful words echoing in their minds and a vision of Io before them, the three great dragons united dragonkind and forged a plan to stave off the invaders. Under their leadership, the dragons defeated the dragon slaters and destroyed their ships. Where individually they could not stand against the army of slayers, as a group they were strong enough to win with flame and lightning, acid and ice, claw and wing.
Io rejoiced at the victory of his children, certain that now they would see the error of their ways and live in the harmoney he had intended. But with the majority of the dragon slayers' army destroyed, dragonkind turned back to its own internal war for control of the islands. Great Io, the Concordant Dragon, was furiouis. Had his children learned nothing from the lesson of the dragon slayers?
Once more the Sire of Dragons sent visions to his chosen prophets. Exaurdon saw a great aerie on a golden plain where all dragons could gather. Bloodtide envisioned formidable formal challenges to replace the fatal dragon wars. Starratiel dreamed of a great council of dragons to mediate matters of dragon importance. Through their combined visions, the Council of Wyrms was born.
Here is something to give you a taste of the setting:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It lies in an isolated stretch of ocean, far from the continents where humankind thrives. Its distant shores range from sandy beach to lush jungle, icy plain to steamy swamp. Its islands form a chain that starts in the frigid Ice Sea, passes through the more hospitable Coral and Blood Seas, and ends among the boiling waves of the Burning Sea. It is the Io's Blood Island chain, whose varied isles are bound in an ancient covenant of claw and wing.
Dragons rules these isles. They hold that the greater god Io, the Ninefold Dragon, created these islands specifically for their kind. They have maintiained this belief in story and legends millenia old. But the true history, as told by the great dragon sages, tells a more intricate tale . . . a tale of squanered gifts, dragon wars, and a dire threat that nearly ended dragonkind's dominion of the Io's Blood Isles.
From the teachings of Kulustan the Bronze, master sage of Clan Tempest:
Great Io, the Ninefold Dragon, the Swallower of Shades, the Great Eternal Wheel, the Sire of All Creation, looked down upon the wild lands to see what realm his first, best children, the dragons, had quartered for themselves. His opalescent eyes widened. He had expected to find his children at the rightful head of creation, ruling a harmonious world. With their natural majesty and boons he had given them, nothing less would he accept. Such gifts of size and claw and wing he had given them! Further, he had graced them with breaths of power, the might of spells, long life, and more. But there was a price to exact for the cost of these gifts, and when Great Io saw the lands below, he knew the price had not been met.
All Dragonkind was scattered across the world, at odds with each other, immersed in Dragon War. As dragon shed the blood of dragon, as gold claw ripped through red wing, Io gave fourth a mighty cry. "If dragon blood must flow," th Ninefold Dragon declared, "then let it be mine!" The greater god extended his claws and sliced through the beautiful scales protecting his own belly. The claws cut deep, and flaming red blood flowed freely from the wounds.
The blood fell in great drops, plummeting towards the world from Io's perch high above the sky's blue dome. The crimson rain splattered into the frozen waters of the Ice Sea, there to sizzle and cool as great clouds of steam filled the air. Blood fell in huge fiery beads, separating the Sea of Coral from the Blood Sea. The last drops poured into the southern waters. So hot were these bitter pellets that their fire spread to the water where they fell. So was born the Burning Sea.
As the blood cooled and formed islands Io sent dreams to the sages of dragonkind. In these visions, the Ninefold Dragon urged the sags to take their particular dragon branch to these islands. For it was here, among the islands formed from Jo’s holy blood, that the Concordant Dragon wished his first, best children to grow and flourish. Here they would learn to rule in harmony as he had intended all along.
But once the migration started Io departed. He would not force his children to follow his dream for them, but neither could he bear to watch should they fail to do so. There were other worlds to visit, other spheres to view, and he left in search for them. For centuries at a time, Great Io immersed himself in these other lands. Eventually, however, his travels brought him back to this world. He looked down upon the isles made with the blood of his life, and great anger flared within him. Dragonkind did still inhabit the islands, but not in the harmony he had intended. Indeed, the fifteen dragon races were engaged in dracocide.
Once again Io sought to guide his children through the dreams of sages, but so intense was this Dragon War, so frenzied were the dragons, that the visions were ignored. This left the Concordant Dragon with only one options. To the islands Io sent his avatar, its form that of a gargantuan great wyrm.
So great was the war fury that even the avatar could not sway dragonkind from its destructive course. The avatar devised a different plan. "If the dragons want a war," Io's avatar delcared, "then the Ninefold Dragon will give them a war!"
The avatar looked over the rest of creation and found the perfect enemy on the continents far beyond the Blood Sea, an enemy that would ultimately prove a grater threat than that posed by dragonkind itself. This enemy had a deep-rooted loathing of dragonkind, and while individually far inferior to even the least of Io's children, this enemy had the advantage of numbers. Further, its tenacity would offer a serious challenge to dragonkind. This enemy? Humankind.
Io's avatar appeared before the human tribes, who believed the vision was a god. The avatar inspired the humans to take up the cause of holy war against the dragons. It taught them how to battle the great wyrms. At the avatar's urging, the humans devised armor to protect their frail flesh. They forged weapons to act as claws. And they built great ships to sail to the seas to Io's Blood. The avatar turned the humans into dragon slayers, then set them loose upon the islands of dragonkind.
The dragons were unprepared for a threat from beyond the seas. There had been some minor invasions (by the frost and fire giants) over the ages, but never anything as momentous as these ships cresting the crimson waves and carrying human dragon slayers. Caught up in their own war against each other, the dragons did not notice the tiny invaders. Even those who saw the sails slip quietly toward the islands did not think to consider their danger. It wasn't until the armored horde swept across the islands and began its systematic slaughter that the dragons thought to respond in kind.
The dragons, however, were not organized, and against the heavily armed and armored forces even their great power was not enough to stop the waves of attackers. Ultimately, the dragon slaters were on the verge of utter victory, but then Io's avatar appeared before three mighty dragons. Exaurdon the Gold, Starratiel the Amethyst, and Bloodtide the Red listened to the avatar and heard the words of the Ninefold Dragon.
"Seperately, no one dragon or family of dragons can stand against the human horde." the avatar explained. "But together, as unified as the many forms of Great Io himself, you can stop these attackers." With these powerful words echoing in their minds and a vision of Io before them, the three great dragons united dragonkind and forged a plan to stave off the invaders. Under their leadership, the dragons defeated the dragon slaters and destroyed their ships. Where individually they could not stand against the army of slayers, as a group they were strong enough to win with flame and lightning, acid and ice, claw and wing.
Io rejoiced at the victory of his children, certain that now they would see the error of their ways and live in the harmoney he had intended. But with the majority of the dragon slayers' army destroyed, dragonkind turned back to its own internal war for control of the islands. Great Io, the Concordant Dragon, was furiouis. Had his children learned nothing from the lesson of the dragon slayers?
Once more the Sire of Dragons sent visions to his chosen prophets. Exaurdon saw a great aerie on a golden plain where all dragons could gather. Bloodtide envisioned formidable formal challenges to replace the fatal dragon wars. Starratiel dreamed of a great council of dragons to mediate matters of dragon importance. Through their combined visions, the Council of Wyrms was born.
