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What is DragonFall?
Dragon Territory
This should really be it's own article.
The average dragon with an overland flight speed of 200' can fly aprox 240 miles in one day comfortably. A dragon typically claims all the territory it can fly over within 1 day's flight from its lair, this is considered a minimum safety border from other dragons. Often a dragon will claim 2-3 times this territory or more depending on the power and prestige of the dragon in question.
This minimum average territory at the above given statistics is roughly 180,864 square miles. This is approximately half the size of the state of Texas (268,601 square miles). Two dragons could conceivably share the state of Texas, but they would likely feel cramped and edgy about a competetor being so close by. More likely only one dragon would lay claim to all of Texas and be satisfied with it - most likely a blue, copper or brass dragon.
The United States as a whole at 3.7 million square miles could conceivably support approximately 20 adult dragons with an overland flight speed of 200, all with only a minimum safety border of 1 day's flight. This is supremely cramped and border wars would be constant, especially considering a good portion of the US is desert and does not support enough life in general to feed a fully grown dragon... and we are not even considering offspring or the great ambition of these creatures to rule.
As a result, given that North America covers about 16% of Earth's total land mass (And Centropa is equivalently sized to the Earth), and the U.S. is approximately 1/3rd of the continent, then the math roughly equals 200 total dragons with a domain (or demesne) in Centropa. Additional dragons living within those territories are either family, poachers, squatters, or servants of the reigning lord.
DragonFall is a fictional/fantasy world for a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game setting. In this imaginary world exists Dragons, Elves, Dwarves, all of the mythological and fantastic creatures we have come to know and love throughout the fantasy and gaming genres. This world in particular focuses primarily upon the might and plight of Dragons in a mortal infested world, where the dragons are the first creatures of the world and whose power has over time been stripped and sundered by their own petty actions and the displeasure of their creators, beings similar to gods but not recognized by the mortal world.
Cosmology of DragonFall
Originally in my old high school campaign, the world was named Centropa. It was a conical shaped world with the majority of civilization living on the flat 'top' of the planet. Effectively, everyone believed it to be a flat earth. In truth, at the time, the elder gods of creation used the oddly shaped planet as a sort of clock to mark the passing of ages. The sun was in the outermost orbit of the system and each completed cycle of a year added a star to the heavens. The star system consisted of 7 other heavenly bodies besides the sun and centropa - each of them had names at one point, but those notes are now lost. Each of the heavenly bodies was representative of some natural force of the cosmos. One each for law, chaos, good, evil, balance, Centropa and its two moons. Each moon regulated the flows of magic and the elemental forces upon Centropa. During lunar and solar eclipses certain gates would open or close at random to elemental planes and certain types of magic increased or decreased in effectiveness. As a result, these were dangerous times for the mortal races.
These days I have revised the world to make it a bit easier to design, while keeping the spirit of the original creation. Centropa is a 'normal' planet equivalent in shape and size to planet Earth, perhaps a bit larger to allow for a slightly larger dragon population (see side bar below) with about half of the planet surface being landmass and the rest oceans, seas, lakes and rivers. The inside of the planet on the other hand is also populated, but not as a "middle earth" or "hollow world". It is riddled with caverns and portals to elemental and other planes of existence. If an explorer is not careful or prepared, he may find himself removed from the world entirely and unwittingly. A good number of dragons have also found themselves in this predicament but sometimes not knowing it for an age or two as they slumbered, grew, and explored the depths.
The other celestial bodies still are representative of the creative forces of the world and are in fact tied in some fashion to those forces such that they are sometimes worshiped themselves as a power of their own right, though nothing ever comes from such worship except from the mis-guided will of the worshippers.
The only other change to the original cosmology is that new stars are not created every year, and that the body respresenting entropy occupies the same orbit as the sun is a new addition instead of an original creation. See the mention of Krisus in the 2nd Great War below. This great void is a prison for the elder god. Please note that the term elder god is not to be confused with elder forces or powers which refers to the original creators of the cosmos. DragonFall gods did not create the world, they have only recently arisen to power over the dragons and help shape the world through their followers.
Intro to DragonFall - a brief history
The Dragons, much like the world itself, did not always appear as they do today. The 'First Ones' as some dragons still call themselves today were gigantic hulking masses of scale, claw, and muscle that would make the eldest dragons of today appear diminutive by comparison. That the world was full of them is nearly inconceivable. That each sought to forge the land into a terrain and clime of their own choosing, often at odds with each other is devastating to think of. The land still echoes the throes of power released in those ancient ages today in the portals and elemental pools still existent to this day and the flares of elemental activity at each lunar and solar eclipse. Fortunately for the lesser mortal races, the power of the First Ones is no longer. Here follows a brief history of how the world has settled over the ages.
The First Great Dragon War
Dragons of the DragonFall world were once immortal creatures of such vast power that they could literally raise mountains, move rivers, and alter the terrain as they willed. Mortal races rose, flourished and fell under the great changes wrought by dragons. Vast sweeping changes to the landscape often destroyed entire civilizations while giving rise to others for expansion and migration. New terrain types allowed lesser races to adapt and evolve to become entirely different creatures. New magics arose from new lands, and in every change there was a sort of balance. Until the dragons started fighting over territory. Their numbers grew too great for the land to support them. At first they simply raised more land, but this destroyed the seas and oceans, displacing great bodies of water to wash over the territories of other dragons who cried foul and made war. In this age a dragon's soul, power and body were all tied as one and could not be separated. The wars escalated, grew, spread beyond the boundaries of the contested borders until all dragons of the world were involved. The world shook terribly until the land itself was filled with the rage of the war that it almost broke itself apart. The shapers of the world would rather have destroyed it than share their power with their brethren. But no more. More ancient powers of the cosmos watched the dragons' petty squabbles and terrible war nearly destroy the world for which they were charged to shape and protect, and thus removed the gift of shaping from them.
Nearly all life was destroyed under the great tidal waves and sweeping earth changes. Very little remained to support an active dragon's voracious appetites. More than half the population fell into hibernation as was there way when too little food remained, and gave the land a chance to recover. Mortal races reappeared, growing, spreading, farming, creating cultures and cities now forgotten, until the dragons awoke again.
The 2nd Great Dragon War - aka The Gods' War
Many ages past and the dragons forgot the fury of their creators. They saw the mortal races bloom in the near static and stable lands which they could no longer shape. Dragons fought again, but this time for control of the mortal races as either livestock, slaves, or children of sorts. Again the world shook and trembled with the might of nations and magic too great to behold, for the dragons soon discovered the existence of the Gods. Many of the dragons of this age were older than the mortals Gods but still found a match for power. Some even found a way to harness the power of the Gods for themselves. Two dragons of this age claimed to have regained some of their shaping ability by eating one of the weaker gods. This was the start of the Gods' War. The more nefarious minded of the mortals and some dragons will also be quick to point out that the birth of many of the great demons and devils began in this war as well, a belief supported by the fact that the Demon's Gate first opened at this time from a portal previously known to open only onto the plane of elemental fire during solar eclipses. It is now guarded by divine and draconic forces, deemed to great a threat to the world to allow their own differences to get in the way since the gate can not be destroyed.
Dragons claimed that the divine beings stole their way to godhood by claiming the spent power of the dragons after the elder forces of the cosmos smote them down from the first Great War. The dragons as a whole were still immortal at this point, but that too was not to last. Many gods were destroyed in the war with the dragons, and the land was rent apart by arcane and divine might. Entire mortal races and civilizations perished, lands sundered or destroyed, new lands raised by both gods and 'ascended' dragons. The world shook a 2nd time under the terrible clashing powers. And again the elder forces of the cosmos smote the dragons for their hubris, separating them by clans and types so that the mortal races might better recognize good from evil. Gods also were affected by the cosmic retribution as many of the more chaotic and destructive forces were destroyed, and the rest were forced to submit to a higher authority of their own - an over-god to whom all surviving Gods made a contribution of divine essence as token of their recognition of its authority. It in turn answers directly to the mysterious elder cosmic forces.
Only one god, Krisus, survived the backlash of denying submittal to the over-god, but was in turn banished from the cosmos as a whole. Krisus was forced into a void of his own making from which he swore he would one day return, and the sign of his return would be the increase of entropy in the world and a new star that would suck the magic from the mortal realm. Following this the Gods also found they could no longer walk upon the mortal realm, assuming this was the over-god's assurance that Krisus could never fulfill his threat, and devised for themselves avatars and methods of indirectly leading the people from whom they drew power.
Mortals, Gods and Dragons alike discovered this was not the only change wrought by cosmic hands, as The First Dragon died by mortal magic. Dragons again recoiled from the horror of their lost power and more significantly their loss of life. As a result they formed a council of elders to govern the actions of the newly changed and separated draconic races, and only it could have the power to declare war in part or in whole against another clan, race or city. Ages past, many dragons died - most of old age, and the population numbers fell. Mortal villages and towns, while not technically cities, were becoming less at the mercy of dragons due to this drop in population and the mortal races flourished.
Now, again the population is on the rise and dragons have resumed their rightful place as rulers while the mortal races accustomed to their recent freedoms buckle under the weight of draconic law.
Present Time - the dawn of the 3rd Great Dragon War
For several hundred years time now, dragons have ruled with iron claws. Even the so called 'Metallic Dragons' who are generally good natured and more easily reasoned with than the 'Chromatic Dragons' who revel in evil are becoming more and more restless, ruthless, and dictatorial. And so it has come to pass that the first assassination of a dragon in a dragon's age has occurred, more to the woe of the mortal races because it was a goodly Silver Dragon - one of the better natured of them all - named Aramanthus. He ruled fairly and gave much to the mortal races in the way of wisdom, magic, leadership, and culture. By some foul means he was destroyed at the height of his prime during a high festival by his own mortal attendants, and not even the echo of his soul remains in the land. The dragons of the world took this betrayal to their council of elders and deliberated even while other dragons (both good and evil) have started to make silent wars against the mortal races and themselves. These are the current state of affairs in the world of Dragons and Mortals, yet one more thing remains on the horizon... the coming of the Krisis Star.
Great, How do I help create more of DragonFall?
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Just remember, DragonFall is my baby... contributions are subject to review and alteration or rejection (with what I hope is constructive criticism and/or editing notes.) Further, should DragonFall or any contributions to this project ever be published in any format (including this webpage) it will be copyright under my name with appropriate attributions given to contributors. The only exception being artwork contributed towards publication on this website or other format, where the creator will retain all copyright but gives implied permission for publication by submitting it to this site.
