Myths speak of the birth of the dragonborn, though they differ in the telling. Tales, awe-inspiring and terrifying, tell of the rise and fall of dragonborn empires, the greatest among them lost to a war that is still remembered. And modern dragonborn live according to their heritage, more than one aiming to carve an eternal story into the world’s chronicles. Several legends say that Io, the greatest dragon god, shaped the dragonborn as servants to dragons at the same time he created the first dragons. Elemental essence and astral spirit went into the making, as with all worldly creatures, but like their greater kin, dragonborn were given a balance favoring the elemental.
Other tales claim that Io died in the clashes
between the gods and the primordials. The draconic
gods Tiamat and Bahamut emerged from the halves
of Io’s sundered corpse. Dragonborn sprang, ready to
serve dragons, from Io’s spilled blood.
Timing of dragonborn genesis aside, Tiamat and
Bahamut were instantly at odds. As soon as the war
against the primordials ended in the gods’ favor,
these siblings began a struggle for dominance over
dragonkind that has lasted into the present age. Many
dragons and dragonborn took sides. Some turned to
Tiamat’s ways, others to Bahamut’s, but a plurality
walked a path between the two extremes.
Dragonborn families formed clans, extended
groups unified by geographic proximity and similar
temperaments. A large number of clans dedicated
themselves to serving dragons. Many of these dragons
belonged to bloodlines on one side or the other of
the war between Bahamut and Tiamat. Others were
autonomous wyrms who guided and nurtured their
dragonborn followers. And still other dragonborn
families, sometimes after the loss of a dragon patron,
formed clan ties independent of dragons. These unified
clans had military discipline in common, which
was a trait needed in ongoing war or for mere defense
in the elder world.
From within this clan structure, the dragonborn
and their dragon lords formed centralized, cooperative
states. They developed codified laws, as well as
civic and religious institutions. War and diplomacy
further unified realms. Dragonborn nations waxed
and waned. All along, the conflict between the
dragon gods did the same.
Historians, dragonborn and otherwise, differ on
the subject of the outcome of the draconic conflict.
A few claim that Bahamut’s forces won in that early
age. More say that moderate dragonborn came to the
fore, forcing divine agendas into a secondary position
related to worldly matters. The likeliest scenario is
that the unaligned among the dragonborn showed a
preference for heroic and kindly values, as common
folk often do. This esteem placed Bahamut’s followers
in an advantageous position, allowing them to persevere
over their adversaries. At the same time, the
needs of mortal creatures took precedence over the
machinations of immortals.
Regardless of the truth of the matter, after numerous
dragonborn kingdoms had passed into forgotten
history, a unified array of dragonborn city-states
formed the storied empire of Arkhosia. Dragon
nobles integrated under a dragon emperor, mythically
dubbed the Golden One. A dragonborn bureaucracy
supported the nobles, protected by a military headed
at first by the general Surina Moonscale. The Golden
One and mighty Moonscale held Bahamut in highest
regard among the gods, and this faith helped establish
central principles for the empire.
Imperial priests also held strongly to the tenets of
Erathis, Ioun, and Kord. The empire expanded its territory
with a goal of bringing civilization, knowledge,
and safety to untamed places and ignorant peoples.
It gained land as much through word, trade, and
decency as it did through battle. Within mere
centuries, Arkhosia ruled large portions of the
known realms.
Arkhosia seemed to be an unstoppable taming
force that would eventually span the world, bringing
progress and a measure of uprightness with it.
Even Tiamat’s worship was outlawed and forced
into secrecy. But evil other than Tiamat’s had risen
to power in lands distant from Arkhosia’s central
regions. Eventually, the expanding borders of the
fiendish kingdom of Bael Turath, ruled by tieflings
and devils, collided with those of Arkhosia.
Ideology, culture, and ambition smashed together
as well. No common ground could be found between
the two empires. For one to succeed, the other had
to fall. War was inescapable. It came swiftly and
brutally, and it spanned hundreds of years.
Both sides suffered internal strife, mirroring the
surface conflict. Tiamat’s cult wormed away inside
Arkhosia, weakening it. The desire of common folk
to be free of infernal shackles poisoned Bael Turath’s
well of power. Bane’s cult worked both sides, stoking
the war hotter, while extremists loyal to Melora
aimed to bring both empires down. Bitterness
strengthened the utter incompatibility of ethos
between the two nations.