Lelerough, Destroyer of Worlds

Daisy Marion Lelerough, of the Arkash Grim Flight, out of Luciola, by Rememnkem, was a "dragon" sorceress who ruled The Dragonlands for a period of 441 years, from B.G.A. 1315 to 901. Though she was an absolute monarch, she never took a formal title herself, and appointed numerous kings and dukes to administrate her domain. She ruled with an iron fist, but was still greatly loved and revered. Under her command, dragon magic was combined with human agriculture to create a massive surplus of food known as "The Great Plenty" and insured that none of her dragon subjects or human slaves ever starved. The surviving humans who escaped the destruction of The Dragonlands would continue to revere her, eventually raising her to the status of a deity some two thousand years later.

Birth

Lelerough was not full-blooded dragon, she was actually one-quarter human. She is the only-known incidence of a very unique interaction of dragon/human couplings. Her father was a full-blooded dragon, her mother a dragon-half by a human mother. Whiel her mother had the ability to transform, her "most comfortable" form was human, so she conceived and gave birth to a daughter in that shape. Thus, Lelerough was born in a human-shape, but was only one-quarter human.

Though such a being has never been observed, studies of dragon-form dragons who are one-quarter human give much insight into what Lelerough must have been like. Her DNA was a blend of dragon and human, unlike full-bloods or halfs, she probably lacked a distinct set of either genetic material, and likely was unable to transform.

The historical account supports this, as she is always described as having been a human of "unnecessary beauty"(in the language of The Dragonlands, this was considered the highest of all possible compliments). She is also described as having arrived everywhere on the back of a dragon, further indicating an inability to transform.

Early Life

Nothing at all is known about Lelerough's early life, though she was believed to be around fourteen when she came to power. Historians speculate that she may have had some experience with starvation or at least experienced inadequite food during her youth(or that she was exposed to others that did), because of the high-emphasis her reign placed on the availability of food. Herbert Patric Galactis speculated that she was raised by dragons and grew up in an eerie, where she would have lived side-by-side with other juvenile dragons. In early years, it is common for the adults tending the hatchlings to feed them very little, letting the clutch fight over food in order to teach them early combat skills. As a small and comparatively frail human, Lelerough would have been unable to join these fights, and may have experienced a great deal of hunger. This theory is only supported by a modern understanding of dragon child-rearing techniques and an account of Lelerough when she first ascended to power that described her as very thin.

As was his way, Galactis also offered a second, completely contradictory theory of Lelerough's childhood: that she grew up amidst plenty and had a very happy, very prosperous childhood. This had such a profoundly positive impact on her, that she only desired to provide the same to everyone under her rule, be they human or dragon. Yet another theory postulated that food was used to keep the human population in line--not by depriving them of it, but by providing such an over-abundance that they could not ask for more. The "over-abundance" notion is supported in the language, where a word that translates to "unnecessary" was used to describe having much more of something than you needed(Lelerough's "unnecessary beauty" essentially meant that she was so much more beautiful than she had to be).

Ascension to Power

Lelerough's exact age is unknown, but assuming she appeared as a human and aged at a normal human rate, she is thought to have been fourteen at the time of her ascension to power. However, it is also thought she may have aged much slower, and therefor ascended at perhaps the age of thirty or forty. Regaurdless, she looks to be in her early teens in surviving depictions of her forming the empire.

A sorceress of unmatched power, Lelerough was perhaps the most powerful that ever lived. Though, if she is to be considered a dragon, she must be compared to the likes of Draco and Hrethrel Jusenkyou, both full-blooded dragons. Draco lived to be nearly 10,000 years old and created the Slayer Dragons. Lelerough nearly wiped out the Marcon Alliance. Honestly, its a toss-up.

In B.G.A. 1314, Lelerough brought together an alliance of nine dragon flights, who together commanded a sizable portion of the Greater Continent. Lelerough then strengthened the alliance by arranging pairings between all the different flights, effectively uniting them into a single flight(though each maintained a separate identity and multiple eeries).

The exact reasons are unknown, but the dragons followed her unquestioningly. It was most likely her great power as a mage that commanded their respect--not through intimidation or brute force, but through sheer admiration. Once she had the flight's bound inseparably by matings, Lelerough tunred her attention to the humans living beneath their wings.

The Dragonlands

The Dragonlands were essentially formed through conquest, and by enslaving the human populations. ultimately, Lelerough considered humans to be a valuable natural resource, one that should be well-cared for and handled with dignity, but were effectively little more than livestock. Such an attitude was not uncommon among dragons, and Lelerough was not the first or the last dragon to enslave a human population.

Lelerough split her attentions at first between defense and strengthening her empire's interior. Under her direction, the dragons used their magic to make the land flourish, while the humans used their agriculture to grow bountiful crops and raise huge heards of livestock. This negated the dragon's need to hunt, as their food was provided by the humans. The humans, in turn, were still left with plenty for themselves, which freed many up to work on other things.

A system of roads and canals, much of which still survives and is even navicable today, was built all across The Dragonlands. Bridges crossed rivers, and damns controlled them. Life for the human slaves was considered quite good, and it was a high priority handed out personally by Lelerough that no human should ever be allowed to go hungry - this put the burden of ensuring a steady food supply on the dragons.

Lelerough also put into place a system of hospitals, where human doctors were trained in basic medicine, and dragons stayed to provide magical healing services. Later on, human mages took their place, and many people were trained in the art of healing. The Dragonlands is one of the few civilizations throughout history known to have developed magical cures for common diseases, not just injuries as is typical in most places. It is thought that the disciplin of Auromancy may have originated in The Dragonlands.

Lelerough never took an official title, but ruled The Dragonlands as an absolute monarch for a period of four hundred and fourteen years.

Later Life and Death

As a one-quarter human, Lelerough could not have lived a normal dragon lifespace(typically five to seven hundred years). As dragon-form one-quarter-humans live four hundred years at most, and dragons can live longer in human-form, Lelerough is thought to have lived a full life. Assuming the age of fourteen is accurate for her date of ascension, she lived to be about four hundred and thirty years old - a good lifespan for a one-quarter-human(for a dragon-form, living to be four hundred is the equivalent of a human living to be one hundred and twenty, it is basically the upper-limit of their lifespan).

Lelerough fought the Marcons with metal and magic for most of her life, but ultimately the Marcons used ideology to destroy what she had built. With her empire in ruins, she rose to the fight and slaughtered every last enemy dragon in her skies. She then personally laid waste to the invading Marcon armies, and cut a swath across the Marcon Alliance. Her attack on the captitol at [{Lake Bentika]] can still be seen in the deformations along the shore over 7,500 years later.

But there was only so much damage Lelerough could cause to the Marcons and remain on Arindell. At the time, the Marcons controlled a vast inter-dimensional empire, with their holdings on Arindell representing only a very small fraction of the over-all territory.

So Lelerough set out to attack just that.

Though records of the battle that followed are scarce, it is known that Lelerough fought for two years. Not that she waged a war that went on that long, but that she fought a single, unending battle. Alone.

Such was her rage that she destroyed entire planets - possibly even whole solar systems(if two or more planets are inhabited, its faster just to blow up the sun). She liberated dozens of slave worlds and destroyed hundreds more. Her attacks on the Marconian infrastructure were devastating. Within a day, she earned the title of "Much-Hated Blood Enemy", at the time the worst thing a person could be to the Marconds.

By the end of her fight, Lelerough had caused so much damage that the Marcons had actually begun to revere her as an awesome force of nature. They were the ones to name her Destroyer of Worlds, a name was not given as an insult, but as a symbol of respect. Eventually, she would be remembered as one of their heroes.

Now, the Marcon account tells of a heroic battle in which The Court personally came down out of their tower to fight Lelerough head-on, and by the sheer strength of their will, were able to defeat her. This