Dragon War

*You are right here in your story. Don't skip ahead.*
Massie Burnson, *The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner*, p. 32
**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR *PRINCE LANDER & THE DRAGON WAR* ARE AHEAD; CAUTION IS ADVISED.**

## Event information

### Notable participants

Rabbits
Dragons

### Outcome

The dragons are sealed in the dragon tomb before being destroyed.

## Book information

### Occurs

•*The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner*
•*Prince Lander and the Dragon War*
•*Ember's End*

The **D****ragon War** was a conflict that occurred between the rabbits and dragons of Natalia. It began with the Trekkers under Whitson Mariner and his son Lander, who fought against the forces of the dragon king. Over a hundred years later, the conflict saw resolution in the actions of Smalden Joveson and Heather Longtreader against the dragon prince.

## History

### Beginnings

The Dragon War could be seen as having begun shortly after the dragons first arrived in the land that would become Natalia and found a number of rabbits living in the region. The dragons soon began terrorizing the rabbits, enslaving or killing some and forcing others to scatter across the land. The greatest number of survivors fled into the southwest and established a community that would eventually become known as Terralain. Meanwhile, the dragons established themselves as the dominant force in western Natalia, with Dragon Mountain and its six neighbors becoming their primary stronghold. They eventually killed all the rabbits who remained in their realms of influence, and were thus greatly interested by the arrival of the Trekkers in Natalia.

### *The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner*

In league with the crew of *Desolation*, traitorous rabbits led by Captain Grimble and his father Lord Grimble, the dragons plotted against Whitson Mariner and his loyal followers. The dragons aided the Grimbles in kidnapping Queen Lillie, and *Desolation* led *Vanguard* to be wrecked at Grimble Island. In exchange for the stranded rabbits, the dragons promised the Grimbles territory and an alliance. However, the Trekkers succeeded in rescuing Queen Lillie, and later defeated *Desolation* in battle.

In the course of Lillie's rescue, a number of dragons were killed, and a shrine of their dark cult was defiled. After wiping out all but one of a party led by Lord Grimble in punishment for their failure, the remaining dragons on the island left to rejoin the dragon king. The sole survivor was sent back to King Whitson to warn him of the dragons' intent to return.

### *Prince Lander and the Dragon War*

The dragons soon began attacking the Trekkers' newly established settlement of Lener's Crossroads and recruited the Grimble faction to assist them in their assaults. The Grimbles were given Grimble Island as a place of residence, and the dragons also assisted them in fighting off incursions by the Trekkers. Years passed as the opposing sides continued to battle, with Lord Grant and Davis Whitson being among the casualties on Whitson's side. However, in exchange for the dragons' favor, the Grimbles were forced to periodically offer up half of their younglings to the dragons.

After many engagements, including an attack led by Namoz Dragonking that resulted in the death of Prince Davis, King Whitson was diagnosed with a degenerative medical condition. Desperate to unite rabbitkind against the dragons, he sent messengers-including Massie Burnson-to Terralain and to Kingston, both of which had been established wholly or in part by the efforts of former members of Whitson's company. He also sought to reconcile with the Grimble faction, though he refused to tolerate Grimble's spies in his midst. Eventually, after a dragon scouting party badly injured Grant Whitson and the Trekkers repulsed an attack on their camp by Grimble's forces, Whitson agreed to meet with Grimble on Barren Point.

This meeting proved-as expected-to be a trap, with King Namoz enacting a scheme intended to cement both Grimble and Whitson as his minions. Whitson refused to submit to Namoz and was killed in the ensuing Battle of Barren Point, while Grimble became a rabbit-dragon hybrid. Lander, taking command of his father's forces, fought a desperate battle against a force of Namoz's dragons as Grimble's rabbits sailed across the River Fay to join the attack. However, the attackers were killed or driven off by the arrival of *Steadfast*, carrying with it part of Black Star Company from Kingston led by Fleck Blackstar and brought by Massie.

With his army now unified behind him and bolstered by the new arrivals, Lander decided to lead his rabbits in an attack on Dragon Mountain. Wielding the Stone Sword of Flint, Lander himself led the first attackers, initiating the Battle of Dragon Mountain. The dragons were soon pressed not only by Lander's forces but by the arriving Terralain army, though Namoz and his most elite forces didn't enter the battle until late in the engagement. Fortunately, Lander succeeded in slaying the dragon king, and his subjects and allies eliminated nearly all of the surviving dragons.

After the conclusion of the conflict between the Trekkers and the dragons, Prince Lander ordered the dragon seeds sealed within their hatchery, which he had converted into the Tomb of Lander's Dragons. He also ordered the creation of Lake Merle, which turned the hatchery mountain into Forbidden Island. Lander also expressed the intention to try and conceal the truth of the conflict, apparently hoping that the dragons would never return. As a precaution against this dreaded eventuality, however, he ordered the Stone Sword of Flint placed within the tomb as well.

### *Ember's End*

Over a hundred years later, the details of the Dragon War were thought by many to be a myth. However, Prince Smalden Joveson and Heather Longtreader found themselves in the tomb, and encountered the dragon prince. He claimed to be the latest dragon keeper, a position established in the treaty between Lander and the only adult dragon to survive the battles of over a century before. Since Lander's time, the rabbit monarchs of Natalia had each supposedly met with a dragon keeper as part of a recurring conference.

The prince later admitted to killing the last keeper and assuming his mantle in order to deceive the rabbits. He also revealed that he had broken the treaty established by Lander, hatching an army of his fellow dragons with the intent of unleashing them upon Natalia. With the unwitting aid of Heather and Smalls, he intended to escape through an entrance constructed by Lander. However, Smalls found the starsword, and he and Heather succeeded in collapsing the tomb, driving the dragons into extinction and bringing an end to the conflict at last.