Information and History

Elara is the southernmost region of the continent of Kore, and makes up about one-quarter of the continent. Much of the region is either desert-like or covered by rolling grassy plains, and the weather is often hot and dry. Winters are typically mild, and snowfall is extremely rare in the lowlands.

Elara is divided roughly in half by a tall mountain range known as the Spears. These mountains are thickly forested, with lush valleys and fertile slopes populated by large herds of mountain goats. The mountain valleys hold the only decent arable land in the region.

Magi Saar is the tallest of the mountains in Elara, and an active volcano. Magi Saar dominates the landscape throughout Elara, its flat summit and ashen plume visible from anywhere in the region. The most fertile farmland in all of Elara rests on Magi Saar's volcanic slopes. The volcano has smoked and rumbled as if about to erupt for as long as any man can remember, but Magi Saar has not erupted for more than five-thousand years. Dragons who live and hunt in Elara make their homes near Magi Saar, and it is they who keep the mountain's fiery temper in check. For millennia the dragons have kept their presence in Magi Saar a secret, lest humans lay siege to their mountain home.

Humans arrived on the continent of Kore about six-hundred years ago, traveling on tall ships from lands across the Endless Ocean. Over the course of four-hundred years, the new inhabitants of Kore built vast, impressive kingdoms stretching from the Endless Ocean to the west, all the way to the Sea of Sand to the east, from Glacier Point to the north, to the Great Plains to the south. Wizards plied their craft in guild halls; necromancers raised their hordes in dungeons. They even lived in relative peace with the native dragons for a time, with only occasional confrontations between headstrong adventurers or wayward drakes. But humans are so often fearful and greedy creatures, and this coexistence lasted but a short time.

Feared for their immense power and coveted for their magical and medicinal uses, dragons became the target of mercenaries and hunting expeditions. As the kingdoms grew more powerful the hunts became more widespread, until an all-out war erupted between the human kingdoms and the dragon colonies. Although the dragons were more powerful, the humans were more numerous and skilled in the ways of war. They drove the dragons into hiding, and for nearly two-hundred years, the great kingdoms enjoyed life free from the meddlings of scaly monsters.

Some said it was dragons that caused the calamity, as a last act of defiance. Others believed that the Gods were wroth with men and had sent the fire as punishment for some terrible sin. All that is known for sure is that one hot summer day, all across the land a terrible roar sounded from the earth, and the ground shook so violently that whole castles collapsed into ruin. Mile-long fissures opened up, and the blood of the earth came pouring forth in gouts of ash and fire. Forests turned to cinders, lakes to acid, and the sky itself was set ablaze. A few hundred people managed to escape their dying kingdom and fled south to Elara, the only region within reach that had remained untouched by the firestorm. Choked by ash and parched of thirst, many did not survive the exodus. Only the toughest and most determined made it to the safety of the Great Plains.

Once beyond the reach of the clouds of ash, the survivors poured into Mas Ka'ar, the one human settlement that survived the Collapse, and began the slow, painful process of building a new home and new lives. But tiny Mas Ka'ar couldn't hold all the refugees, leaving them to mill around the city in ramshackle slums. People from all walks of life -lords and knights, craftsmen and merchants, magicians, slavers, peasants and former slaves- now all live shoulder-to-shoulder on the outskirts of the town, with almost no separation of the classes. This has already caused trouble, especially between northern lords who think they are better suited to rule the town. Tensions are high, and no doubt they will climb higher as Mas Ka'ar strains to support so many newcomers.

Dragons have lived in Elara -and in the broader continent of Kore- for many thousands of years. The dragons initially coexisted fairly peacefully alongside humans, with only the occasional maiden or adventurer getting eaten. But the magical and medicinal value of dragon body parts was tremendous -a single dragon corpse might bring enough gold for a mansion- and as the kingdoms of Men grew more powerful, dragon hunts became increasingly popular. A terrible war ensued between the human kingdoms and the dragon colonies they sought to slaughter. Though dragons made for formidable opponents, they were hugely outnumbered and overwhelmed by the ingenuity of their human foes. After a few bloody years, the dragons retreated to Strongholds scattered across the continent. Most of these Strongholds were situated in high places like mountain tops or dangerous places like volcanoes, inaccessible to humans, and so the dragons there could live in relative peace. But the Strongholds have limited resources, and dragon populations have stagnated for centuries as a result.

The central mountain range in Elara is one such Stronghold, and the vast majority of the dragons in Elara make their homes there, either on the frozen peaks, the lush valleys, or within the great volcano Magi Saar. Generally, there are fewer than three hundred dragons in all Elara at any one time. Most dragons intelligent enough to use language can speak the common draconic tongue, E'vrayhom, and one or two local dialects from their homeland. Extremely few dragons understand human language, and even fewer speak it, but with help an intelligent dragon could learn it in a few weeks. Most dragon languages are completely unintelligible to humans.

Most dragons are solitary creatures by nature, preferring to live and think for themselves. The dragons of a Stronghold do not have kings or lords, but typically they will choose the strongest, boldest drake among them to be their 'Patriarch,' while choosing the oldest and wisest among them to be their 'Guide,' to advise the Patriarch. Matters that affect all dragons are brought before the Patriarch and the Guide, who debate the issue and decide what should be done about it. Usually the dragons of the Stronghold will obey their Patriarch, but dragons are fiercely independent creatures, and the Patriarch can only suggest, not command.

Once each year, all of the dragons in Elara gather within the heart of Magi Saar to perform the Binding, a magical ritual that connects the life-force of the dragons to that of the volcano so that their collective strength and willpower can keep the violent mountain from erupting. This ritual is absolutely essential to life in Elara; If the Binding is not performed each year, or if there are too few dragons to perform it, they will lose control of Magi Saar and the volcano could blow its top with millennia of pent-up fury.

Human and dragon cultures each have their own religions and deities. Some are widely known, others are obscure, and a few are even shared between the two races. Not all members of each race practice the same religion, and some even choose no religion at all. Some of the major deities for each race are listed here:

Kynethra

Mathos