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In the Shadow of the Dragons
The Dragon Lords
Mythology
According to the mythology of Taera, there exists a great Creator god whom they call Raemaca-Finnae. Literally, this means "Giver of Life", although in certain contexts, it may also mean "Taker of Life". In the beginning, 11 millennia ago, Raemaca-Finnae created four Elemental races. These were:
- M'Lari, Elementals of Water
- Hellira, Elementals of Air
- Reshani, Elementals of Fire
- Children of Daela, Elementals of Earth (I should probably point out at this time that Daela is a PLACE and NOT a person)
For a time, all the forces were in balance. But then the M'Lari grew jealous of the powers of Raemaca-Finnae, and decided to create their own child race. They called this race the Ishada. But the Ishada were cold and evil in their hearts, and they wished more power for themselves. The Ishada called themselves the Elementals of Ice and wished to have power over this "Element" from the Creator. They were refused, and so they killed their own creators, the M'Lari and claimed their power of the Element of Water. The other Elementals feared that they would be next. The Hellira and Reshani merged to become the Dragons, a dual Elemental being they thought would be better able to stand against the Ishada. (However, this merger is unstable in some basic sense. Even small wounds can cause the two Elements to dissociate.) The Ishada turned on the Children of Daela. (I'll leave the reason out here, and you'll just have to read Book IV of the series, The Dragon's Rival, to learn their real motivations.) The Children of Daela, hoping to protect themselves from destruction, made a pact with the Dragons for each to defend the other and hold off the renegade Ishada. Raemaca-Finnae could not watch his children destroy themselves, and withdrew, never to be heard from again (it is for this reason that when Children of Daela die, their "souls" are said to go off in search of Raemaca-Finnae, though I strongly suspect that they don't believe that mere humans have souls). Despite this pact with the Dragons, the Children of Daela remain the most vulnerable and so the Ishada have attempted to destroy them for the last seven millennia in order to gain their power, from within and from without. Their most successful strategy has been by enticing individual Children of Daela, who desire power as the Ishada do, to turn on their own people by offering to share with them the increased power of being a double-Elemental. The Ishada almost succeeded more than a millennia ago by plunging the Children of Daela into a long and bloody civil war, known among them as the Draedishad, which lasted from S.Rh. 428 to S.Rh. 2405.
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Last updated: 2005 August 23