Seligard

## Consulate of Seligard

The flag of Seligard. The cross stands for devotion, the crown for nobility, the lion for honor, the dragon for strength, and the hand for justice.

### The Beginning:

A few years after the creation of the world of Ilistrus, two groups of nomads settled at either end of the bank of a river. The leaders of these nomads, Hauser of the Albrecht tribe and Geno of the Yamano tribe, kept relations cordial, and though no fighting ever broke out between the two, a sort of rivalry developed between them, with the two leaders always looking to out do the other somehow. As time passed, both tribes developed their settlements, and eventually they grew to be small cities.

### Wrath of the Black Drake:

A short time passed, and the tribes experienced relative peace and prosperity, but in a brand new land unknown to them, no peace lasts forever. Rumors of a fire drake with scales as black as obsidian and thick as a hundred-year-old oak began to spread across the world. It was said that he had slumbered beneath the mountains in the North, and was awoken by dwarves who dug too deep into the ground. From his cavernous home, he emerged, seeking to bring chaos and destruction to the people of Ilistrus. You see, dragons value gold and power above all else, and it is for this reason that the dragon, known by historians as Azerkaban the Black, tore across the world, wreaking havoc in search of the ancient Lightsworn artifact: the legendary warhammer known as Justicar. His ire eventually banks of the river the two tribes called home, and his dragonfire tore through the blossoming cities. In ages past, dragons were common and dragonsteel was made from their blood, allowing ancient civilizations to adequately defend against dragon attacks. As the great dragons of old began to go dormant or die out, many of the smiths who knew how to forge dragonsteel weapons died with them. Thankfully, some of these smiths passed their knowledge on to the generations that followed, and though neither tribe had smiths with the knowledge to craft dragonsteel weapons, Hauser had met a traveling merchant by the name of Roland, who appeared humanoid, but had dragonlike scales all across his body. The merchant brought with him four dragonsteel spears, among other things, and Hauser bought them with the intent to give to scholars in his tribe to study and perhaps relearn the ancient art of forging dragonsteel in an effort to finally surpass his rival Geno. This would never come to pass, though, as the spears were needed to try and take down Azerkaban. With the spears prepared, the best fighters of the tribes banded together to form the Dragonslayer Order. For weeks, they tracked the dragon, and when the time was right, they found him, and baited Azerkaban deep into a cavern where the Dragonslayer Order placed the artifact Azerkaban was seeking, the holy warhammer Justicar. When Azerkaban arrived, he saw only Hauser standing at the back of the cavern, adorned in his armor, with the irradiant Justicar in his hands. Azerkaban barreled through the cavern, shattering huge stalactites as he tramped across the cold stone. When he got close enough, Hauser raised Justicar to the air, and a blinding light erupted from the hammer’s face. Azerkaban roared with anguish, and Hauser had bought Geno and the other fighters enough time to spring their ambush. Four ballistae had been brought into the cavern and drawn extra taut for the maximum force of impact. Onto these four ballistae, the men loaded the dragonsteel spears and shot them into the less protected underbelly of Azerkaban. The great drake reared and lashed its sharp claws out, raking Hauser across the helmet, shattering it and giving him the large, claw-mark scar that he is now so recognizable by. In one final effort to destroy his enemies, Azerkaban whipped his tail around, destroying three of the ballistae and sending Geno and five of the other fighters into the cavern wall. The fighters sustained a variety of broken bones but no deaths, and after hitting his head against the wall, Geno lost sight in one of his eyes, with it turning blood red shortly after. Though the ballistae were destroyed, it was too late. The damage was already done; the effects of the dragonsteel took hold, and the great Azerkaban the Black collapsed to the cavern floor. With the dragon killed, Geno and Hauser had much rebuilding to do, and decided that they would finally unite their two tribes under the same banner and put their rivalry to rest. After some diplomatic discussions, the two decided to form a diarchy, and thus was born the Consulate of Seligard. Geno and Hauser would then go on to develop Seligard together, and look to further expand the tribes and establish themselves in the vast and everchanging world of Ilistrus.