The Dragonlands

At the height of the Dynastic Period, The Dragonlands covered nearly a quarter of the Greater Continent. Despite being quite literally in the Marcon's backyard, the interior of the lands enjoyed great piece and prosperity.

Region

The Dragonlands were massive, but sparsely populated, owing mostly to the primary inhabitants: dragons. Nine flights, specifically, and as many as twenty-seven human city-states.

Geographically, the area was mostly rolling hills, wide valleys, and aspiring mountain peeks. Not the match for the High Mountains, but grand. It's position on the disk gave the region a mild climate and a very long growing period, further augmented by the use of dragon magics. This allowed for a an enormous surplus of food.

Demographics

Each city-state had a population of around one million, with another two or three times that living in smaller towns and villages. The dragon flights were considered very large by dragon-standards, typically reaching one to two thousand while the Dragonlands were at their zenith(A typical "large" dragonflight is only around five hundred).

The city-states were served by an intricate network of roads and canals that allowed for very fast travel and easy movement of goods. While trade was common, the bulk of the food resources were actually controlled by the dragons, who ensured a proper distribution. This meant that if a crop failed on one side of the empire, food could be brought from nearly anywhere and prevent a local famine.

The Dragonlands were so productive that a single acre of land could feed on average ten people, at a common Dragonland diet. The humans ate a great deal of meat, and had access to a wide array of spices and seasonings. Most survivng accounts of life in the Dragonlands speak at length of the "great plenty" and the fabulous feasts the dragons celebrated. While details on the exact average diet are scarce, it is estimated that the cropland was at least twenty times more productive than modern dirt-farming techniques developed by the Foundation over a millania later.

Dragonland humans had effectively no lower-class. While poverty may have existed, it is clear there was enough food to keep anyone from starving. The dragons also kept their humans busy with constant building projects and mining efforts, so work was just as plentiful. The dragons of the region also felt strongly that "no one should ever be allowed to starve amidst such plenty", so it was likely even those unable to work would be provided for.

Rule

The Dragonlands were controlled by the dragons, and the humans effectively kept as slaves. They were not dragon-worshipers like the earlier Aramayan civilization, and in fact most of their servitude to dragon-masters was used to improve their own life-quality. The dragons ensured their human populations never went hungry, and helped them in defense of the region.

The human slaves served two primary functions: mining gold, and defending the region. The dragons maintained a massive standing army of over three million, with another six in reserve. The city-states were usually built on or near gold mines. The rest of the human population worked both to support itself and to feed their dragon masters. The upper-class of human society fell into the human leaders and the mages. Each city-state was centered around a Mage Tower, and towers were built all along the borders and at strategic points throughout the land.

At any given time, at least thirty "Dragon Kings"(not to be confused with King Dragons) held title, or roughly three for each flight. These kings were responsible for the day-to-day rule of the empire. Each city-state also hosted a single ruling family of dragons, who held the title of Duke. This is an approximate translation, as the same title was used whether the dominant dragon was male or female.

For much of the reign of the empire, absolute power belonged to Lelerough, Destroyer of Worlds.

History

Exactly when the humans of The Dragonlands became bonded to their masters is unclear, but there is evidence of human/dragon cohabitation in the area as far back as the Intermediate Period. The Dragonlands solidified and became The Dragonlands when Lelerough came to power in B.G.A. 1315.

At the time, many of the city-states were still independant, and either held a tenuous peace with the dragons through a system of tributes, or were in fact at war with them. Lelerough conquered all of the city-states, some by direct conflict and others by simple intimidation. She then established the outer boarders of her new empire, and sent an envoy to the Marcon Alliance explaining which lands she had claimed for herself and that she would take no more so long as no attempt was made to take them from her. This "envoy" was sent in the form of a massive fireball wrapped in a cloak of lightning, which leveled a Marconian city and left only it's Mage Tower as witness. Out of the ashes, a vision of Lelerough appeared to explain what had just happened.

The Marcons, of course, immediately launched an army to conquer The Dragonlands. What followed was the Battle of Namastis Field, wherein the million-strong Marcon Force encountered approximately forty-five thousand humans backed by another thousand dragons. Despite being outnumbered over twenty-to-one, the defenders easily routed the Marcons, and slaughtered them in defeat. Fewer than ten thousand Marcon soldiers reported back. The Second Battle of Nasastis Field went even worse, with only thirteen hundred Marcons surviving, from a force of two and a half million. This was still considered the more successful of the two battles, as the Marcons killed "a total of eleven low-ranking soldiers and one dragon, maybe". This would remain the most successful battle for 414 years.

Lelerough split her focus between strengthening her empire's defenses and building up her infrastructure in the interior. Her subjects(both human and dragon, as she ruled both) combined dragon magic with human agriculture, to produce a bountiful surplus of food which would become known as "The Great Plenty". Within the space of a single generation, poverty and starvation were completely eliminated, and the entire empire united under Lelerough's banner.

For four hundred and fourteen years, Lelerough led her people and The Dragonlands enjoyed great prosperity. Although they were slaves, the humans of the Dragonlands held a great reverence for her, and some may have even worshiped her. Lelerough did not approve of such things, however, and while she allowed her subjects to practice any religion they chose freely, she would not allow them to bow to her.

Ultimately, this practice of religous freedom led to the destruction of The Dragonlands. In around 905 B.G.A., the Marcons, after having lost over a hundred million soldiers in four hundred years of failed attempts to take The Dragonlands by force, hit on a new strategy. Lone Marconians snuck through the boarder defenses disguised as refugees, carrying with them many copies of the Bravkar, the central book of the Marconian Religion. Acting as missionaries, these Marcons began spreading Marconian teachings and beliefs. Preying on insecurities and what little dissention agaisnt the dragons they could find, the missionaries won converts, and quickly began to attack the empire from within.

In B.G.A. 901, with the infrastructure in shambles and the army in disaray, The Dragonlands broke apart into a civil war. At this point, the Marcons unleashed stage two of their plan. From all over their empire, they had gathered an army of twenty thousand fallen or enslaved dragons, which attacked the nine flights of The Dragonlands. Expecting to only match them dragon-for-dragon, the Marconian army instead outnumbered the local dragons nearly two-to-one, as only around half of the Dragonland dragons were able warriors. With a civil war on the ground and the most massive dragon battle ever taking place in the air, the entirety of The Dragonlands were destroyed.

And Lelerough was furious. The curb-stomping that followed was enough to to leave her permantnly named "Lelerough: Destroyer of Worlds" and set the stage for the eventual defeat of the Marcon Alliance, six hundred years later, by the Gudersnipe Foundation.