For now, the Empire of Dragons setting
focuses on the titular empire—but what else shares its world? What powers can
possibly compete with the might of the Dragons?
The Dwarves
Many a Dragon makes
their home in the cavernous ruins of the old dwarven kingdoms. Within the
Empire’s borders, the dwarves have long since been chased out of their former
homes underground. Now, the few dwarves that live in the Empire dwell on the
surface alongside the more abundant humanoids. There are rumors of
long-forgotten dwarf kingdoms, deep beneath
the Empire, waiting for the right moment to return and reclaim their
ancestral halls, but most consider this to be nothing more than legend.
The last great kingdom
of mountain dwarves lies in the rugged mountains north of the Empire. In
Draconic they are called the Mountains of Exile. The dwarves who live there
call them the King’s Halls. The dwarves here are reclusive, jealously guarding
the treasure of the mountains. They have almost no contact with the Empire of
Dragons, and little more with the other powers in the world.
Occasionally, a Dragon
will try to carve out a little fiefdom for themselves on the southern slopes of
the Mountains of Exile. They tend to
disappear, and whatever followers they had managed to gather up in their
ill-fated endeavor quickly abandon the mountains after that.
No one is sure how the
dwarves protect their homeland. Some claim they are merely servants of the
mountains themselves, while others say they survive by making bargains with
strange, terrible creatures that live far beneath the earth. Other legends say
that the god of the dwarves, called the All-Father (perhaps an aspect or a
creation of Tiamat the Artificer) was imprisoned by Io deep beneath the
Mountains of Exile, giving them their name. There is power in the All-Father
yet, but only within those mountains. The dwarves have worked tirelessly for
generations, digging their tunnels ever deeper in order to free him and take
revenge on the Dragon God.
The Orcs
To the north of the
Mountains of Exile is a vast territory consisting mostly of temperate forest
and grassland. Stretching all the way to the frozen tundra of the north, the
Dragons call this country Orcland. In truth, much of this land is also claimed
by the dwarves, whose tunnels run far north of their mountain home. But the
orcs do not mine for the treasures of the earth, and so they are considered
welcome guests, free to hunt and farm on the surface of the dwarven land.
Mostly, the orcs are
peaceful, living in small agrarian villages or subsisting as nomadic
hunter-gatherers. They have a few cities, mostly on the coasts or near the
entrances to the dwarven kingdom, where they sell food and textiles in exchange
for baubles from the dwarves’ mines. They mingle freely with the humans and
elves in their land.
The Orcland is home to
the Orc King, a warrior so powerful he was blessed with immortality and
sovereignty over his people (or so it is said). He claims to rule over all
orcs, even those outside their ancestral homeland, and nearly all orcs—even those
living within the Empire—pledge loyalty to the Orc King.
It is generally
believed that, were the Mountains of Exile not in the way, the Orclands could
be easily conquered by the Empire of Dragons—however, even within the Empire,
the Orc King is spoken of with respect. He remains hidden away in his fortress
in the far north, ruling only through his viziers. Legends tell of him felling
an entire army singlehandedly, or calling on legions of ancestor-spirits to
fight at his side. And even if the orcs could be conquered, there is little
that would be gained from taking their land, since the dwarves lay claim to the
valuable resources beneath it.
The Elves
The elves are a
scattered, seafaring people, living in a loose alliance of islands, protected
by powerful magic. The Empire covets these islands, as they hold untold magical
secrets in libraries older than the Empire. The few remaining doorways to
Faerie are also hidden in the elvish islands.
Barring the few
ill-fated attempts on the dwarven homeland, the past few centuries’ worth of
military history in the Empire of Dragons has consisted of slowly conquering
these scattered islands. The conquered elves usually assimilate into the Empire
fairly easily. A Dragon is appointed to rule over their island, but life goes
on as normal provided the elves allow the Dragons free access to their magical
libraries.
It is a source of
constant frustration to the Empire that not all of the elves’ secrets are
contained in their libraries. Many of the islands rely on the magic of the land
itself, and when the land’s protection fails and the Dragons conquer it, the
island dies. Try as they might, the Dragons have been unable to access the
elves’ nature magic.
The Goblins
There is another
continent, across the ocean. Called the Western Land by the Dragons, it is home
to the Goblin Empire. The Goblins and the Dragons have thus far avoided total
war, and for most of their history have been content with a long and uneasy
peace. The Goblins are masters of arcane magic, which they use in the service
of their rigidly hierarchical, militaristic society. Reports from their clashes
with the Dragons tell of huge airships that blast magical energy at their foes,
and foot soldiers clad in indestructible armor that is lighter than silk. The
Goblins’ army is said to have terrible monsters in its ranks, created by transforming
prisoners into unthinking, unstoppable killing machines.
Like the Dragons, the
Goblin Empire craves the magical knowledge that the elves hide. When the two
great empires battle, it is usually over these islands. When the Goblins
conquer an elvish island, however, they raid them for anything usable and then
demolish everything that is left. The inhabitants are shipped to secret bases
on the mainland. Those with magical knowledge are put to work developing new
superweapons for the war effort. Everyone else is “processed”—transformed into
monstrous soldiers for use in their next campaign.
Many of its subjects
despise the brutality of the Goblin Empire, and they often flee to the shores
of the elvish isles, the Orclands, and the Empire of Dragons. They find welcome
enough in the Orclands—though few manage to reach those far northern shores.
Most goblin refugees eke out a meager existence in elf and Dragon territory,
where they come under immediate suspicion of being spies. A goblin can bargain
for their freedom in exchange for secrets from their homeland, although even
then they are rarely trusted, and must eke out a meager existence as servants
and laborers.
From these refugees,
the Dragon Empire knows that the Goblins have been gearing up for an all-out
attack on the Dragons for generations. Conquest unites the goblins, and as long
as they have a common enemy, their empire will remain intact.
Others
There are secondhand
reports from the mountain dwarves that the long-forgotten drow are returning to
the world, from doorways to Faerie hidden deep underground. Some say they
are coming at the behest of their brethren,
the elves who, trapped between two unstoppable empires, must turn to their old
enemies for aid.
There are those who say
that the other doorways to Faerie, the ones hidden throughout the world, never
really disappeared as most believe they did. It is whispered that the elves
await the opening of these gateways, when their fey allies will swarm into the
mortal world and destroy the two empires that have plagued them for years.
Some speak of other
foes, strange alien creatures that hide in the depths of the earth and long to
conquer it. They are hideous beings wrought of pure madness, and though they
are few in number and hidden far from the surface, they are infinitely patient.
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