The Despot War

*“Long ago, before mankind held any power, the Earth was quite different.  It was a dark and evil realm.  Inhabiting the shadows were several races of creatures who were known as the Darkbrands.  These were vile beings that existed only for their own pleasure.  After years of fighting and slaughtering, the Darkbrands united under the rule of a cruel and despicable warlord known as The Tyrant King.”*

*“At the same time, living in the mountains was a resilient race of creatures; the Clans of the Dragons. The Tyrant King sought to destroy the dragons because they offered harmony to the chaos of the world.  He sent many raiding parties to wipeout the dragon dens, who staunchly kept their independence from each other.  A great dragon parley was called when the Clan leaders realized it was in their best interest to unite against The Tyrant King and avoid extermination. There was among them, one dragon who through cunning took control and united the dragon clans.  He became known as The First, signifying that he was the first true leader of the dragons.  He was the original dragon lord.  However, The First possessed much ambition and sought power as well.  His desire was to eradicate the Darkbrands and to claim the entire realm for himself.  In order to accomplish his goal, The First decided to destroy the Darkbrand’s.  You see, all dragons, even The First, are born with incomplete hearts.  No dragon could ever reach his full potential unless bonded with another entity, completing its heart.  The First decided that if he could convince The Tyrant King to bond with him, then he could gain the power to exterminate him and supremacy over the Darkbrands. That would leave him to be the absolute ruler of the realm.”*

*“Little by little The First let it be known that he wanted peace with the Darkbrands. The dragon sent envoys to The Tyrant King asking for a consultation.  Spies of the king informed the ruler of The First’s desire for peace. The king saw this as a way to gain power over the dragon clans, so he agreed to an audience with The First. The Tyrant King would profess to also yearn for peace.  He would consent to the fulfillment of the dragon’s desire to bond, while hiding his own evil intentions which was to slay The First.  Since bonding of dragon and non-dragon hearts had never been done before, the rulers sent for The Mages of the First Order.  These magicians were charged with creating a ritual to unite the rulers.  The Great Synergy was fashioned, and since these enchanters held no allegiance to either being, it was pure in its intent and power.  The Great Synergy bound both entities to be forever linked by blood and spirit.”*

*“Neither The First nor The Tyrant King could wait to gain control over the other and become the solitary ruler of Earth.  As the ritual occurred, however, something unexpected happened.  The dragon ruler changed.  Not only did he gain his true powers, but also the pure magic of the rite filled his newly completed heart with goodness.  The First saw how evil he had become, and that his plan to rule the Earth was erroneous.  Only a just and compassionate being had the right to rule others.  As The First’s new heart became pure with the magic, The Tyrant King’s heart became ever darker.  In the next few years, he put his plan to enslave the dragon into motion.  But the power of the First was too great.  He and his dragons destroyed much of The Tyrant King’s army.  Since The First and The Tyrant King shared the same heart, the dragon realized he could not kill his bound brother.  The First knew he would need to detain The Tyrant King, so he banished him and his minions to The Void.  We do not know much about the realm in which, The Tyrant King and the Darkbrands were imprisoned.  No living human or dragon has ever ventured into The Void.  It was created in an era when magic was the ultimate law of the land.  Legend says that it is a place so vile that light refuses to shine.  The ground is so foul that nothing grows, and hope does not exist there. “*

*“It wasn’t long after the banishment that The First began to have waking dreams of The Tyrant King.  In these dreams, the dragon could see the banished ruler absorbing all the evil in his new realm and gaining power.  The Tyrant King was watching through The First’s mind for a time and place to re-enter our world.  This worried the dragon.  He could not allow The Tyrant King to find a weakness in the barrier between worlds. And so it was with a sad heart that The First decided on another plan.  The Dragon Lord would find a cave deep in the mountains and place himself into an eternal sleep thus keeping all knowledge of the world from the evil ruler. This would disable The Tyrant King as they were bound in heart and body.  His sentence demanded that he would never wake unless The Tyrant King somehow returned to Earth.  If that hallowed day ever happened, The First would again fight against the evil he had helped to create.”*

*“With both rulers incapacitated, and a balance cultivated between good and evil, the Earth flourished.  All the fairy tale creatures you read about in books thrived on the new Earth. Dragons became the dominant race, and the legend of The First faded into myth.  After many millennia, mankind made its claim on the planet.  They lived to the South away from the dragons and the mountains they guarded.  Both races were respectful of each other, but there was very little contact between them. “*

*“For hundreds of years the small blue planet lived in harmony, and many believed that evil had been vanquished from Earth forever, but that was not so.  Somehow a bridge was created leading from the dark realm back to the Earth.  Rumors of evil beings and deeds began to spread from the East.  When the first waves of Darkbrands launched attacks on the races of Earth, the two forces of good once again parleyed.  The most noble dragon clans sent representatives to the human capital of Camelot where the good King Arthur ruled his utopian society.  Both races agreed that the forces were growing rapidly and needed to be dealt with soon.  For years, both dragons and humans fought to protect the lands they loved so dearly, but the dark forces had gained too much power.  They were quickly turning the tide of war, and the return of The Tyrant King seemed all but inevitable. “*

*“It was on a quiet evening in Camelot when an unassuming stable boy sat with a young dragon pondering the means to fight the evil forces that something pivotal happened.  Somehow (this part is lost in the texts) the two re-created The Great Synergy that The First and The Tyrant King had performed eons ago.  The magical pact released the dormant powers of the dragon by sharing the portion of his heart he needed.  Together, bound by blood, these two young warriors led Earth’s forces in what would come to be called the Despot War.  The campaign quickly turned as more young knights performed The Great Synergy with the proudest and strongest dragons from the clans.  These human warriors became known as Synergist Knights and were revered throughout the kingdoms.  Soon, these valiant duos pushed back all of the evil forces and returned peace to the realm. “*

*“When the Despot War was over, the Synergist Knights and their Master Dragons lived happily together knowing that their shared heart meant a shared existence. However, with no war, there was not much for the knights and dragons to do.  Most of them became bounty hunters and soldiers of fortune.  The great goodness that the bond had created was forgotten with the ever increasing negative reputation of the dragons and knights.   Rumors among the humans began to spread about The Great Synergy ritual, and how perhaps this could open the bridge for The Tyrant King to return.  Man has always feared what he does not understand. The Good King Arthur had passed away years before, and Camelot was no longer the nirvana he had built.  With fear and envy in their hearts, humans began to condemn and hunt dragons.  Mankind’s numbers had grown so much during the time of peace that the dragons were simply outnumbered.  They had to flee into hiding for fear of persecution.  Mankind owned the Earth and kept constant vigil for attacks from the Darkbrands or the reemergence of dragons.”*

*“As time moved on, the remaining dragon clans hid in seclusion far away from the humans.  All six clans found refuge from the humans and faded into myth.  The ice dragons from the Den of Iglacia fled to the far South where it was too cold for humans to follow them.  The Den of Verdana, the forest dragons, hid deep in the primal forests where not even the bravest of woodcutters would venture.  The water dragons, which made up the Den of Oceania, swam to the deepest depths of the Earth’s aquatic seas.  The Den of Gaia, the earth dragons, dug deep underground where they would be safe from harm.  High up in the skies, the wind dragons from the Den of Tempestria sought solace from their human hunters.  And the last clan, known as the Den of Volcana, concealed themselves in the fiery mountains of the Far North.  Here, they stayed for hundreds of years, and eventually became storybook fodder as well. It is said that mankind spread its population to the mountains where the fire dragons lived and drove them out.  The dragons themselves were said to be exterminated, but some scholars believe they simply adapted their hiding techniques.”*