History of LAIOS

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This thread is going to be dedicated to the history/lore of LAIOS. Stay tuned!

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Long before the empires ever surfaced, the world was but an empty shell, baren and desolate of life. Each of the gods were given a world of their own to nourish but this solitary world had no divine protector. None of the 7 gods and goddess wanted to start from scratch with a wasteland. It was far easier to pick a planet that already had life populating its surface and mold little bits here and there and manipulate events rather than creation. The youngest of the divine, Lady Vail, saw this lonely planet and took pity on it and so she undertook the great task of molding each and every precious thing to make this world just as thriving and populace as those of her siblings. So Lady Vail seized the chance and held the world in her loving embrace as she blew life into the sand and deserts. With her touch, grass, and trees began to grow and grow until lush forests covered certain parts of the land. From her hair, water pooled to create the oceans, the lakes, rivers and ponds. She kept some of the tundras and deserts for she knew even these places had merit and with all her strength, raised up the mighty snow capped mountains. From her joy, the summers and warmer months nourished the developing world, and her sympathy and tears brought the winter to cool the rising heat and bring about new life.

When she was done with the landscape, she needed to create the animals that would thrive in her new world she had lovingly named Evelete, that which rises from ash. She developed the sea creatures, the birds, and the land dwelling animals, all of varying dispositions and characteristics. Some were truly monstrous in size such as the vicious dragons that devoured those smaller and weaker, then there were the tiny animals that favored speed and everything in between from furry critters to scaled lizards. It was a variety she enjoyed and she loved watching her creations interact with the world she had crafted or them. Her world had become more vibrant than those of her siblings and she often liked to boast about her sweet Evelete. Jealous of her creations, her siblings urged her to create new creatures, creatures like themselves that had minds of their own, could reason and think, build civilizations and evolve. They knew that these creations could bring love and joy but also destruction and hate but Lady Vail was sure that her creations would never destroy what she had given them, so she took up the task of making new reasoning creatures. Her siblings grinned as she took up the task, eager to see how her thinking creations would destroy each other.

The first race she created were the Beasts. It was an easier transition since the beasts had rational thought but also were driven by their animal counterparts. They were naturally in-tune with nature and the healing arts. They were gifted with the knowledge of intuition and were amazing at sensing bad situations. Lady Vail created the elves next to be the Beasts' kin. They were to be masters of the forest and naturally in-tuned to the world around them. They were great at stealth and were highly skilled with the bow. They were as graceful as the divines since to create beings that possessed thought, the divines must give them at least one thing that they themselves possessed. Next, Lady Vail created the Dwarfs, masters of everything below the ground. They were smaller, stockier, but strong. To them, Lady Vail gave the gift of architecture and were skilled at mining and creating all manners of things from homes to weapons and shields. No finer craftsman had the world seen. Lastly, Vail crafted the humans. They lived above ground and outside of the forests so the rest of the world was their's to mold. They did not have the grace of the elves nor the strength and creativity of the dwarfs, but Lady Vail had a gift for them as well. To her new creation, she gave the gift of versatility and endurance. They were built for many things and performed a variety of tasks and lived in environments that the other three races could not. Humans in turn were also quite creative since they traveled far more than the elves, beasts, and dwarfs. Lady Vail was very happy with all of her children and was excited to see them interacting with one another, sharing and learning.

Unfortunately, her siblings were also right. All four of the races didn't get along at all times. Humans began to use the beasts as companions and tried to treat them no better than regular beasts. The elves and dwarfs fought over territory and soon, everyone was trying to gain advantages over the others. The first great war nearly wiped out the beasts and the dwarfs secluded themselves into the earth to prosper. Elves and humans were constantly at odds over the Beasts and conquering land that didn't belong to them. Lady Vail was aghast at these developments and wept at the destruction they left in their wake. For days the world was devoured in tornadoes and hurricanes and razed many of the towns it touched. Hungry tsunamis to sought to devour the creatures that had burned what was created for them. Lady Vail's siblings laughed and told her it was only a matter of time before the world was a wasteland once more.

Lady Vail refused to give up. Maybe her children were squabbling because they didn't have direction and guidance. So, Vail decide a new creation was in order; a creation that held her wisdom and fearless protection. She divided herself into 6 beings; 6 mighty dragons. Each representing the 6 elements that were used to craft the world and held all her love, joy, sorrow, and grace.






There was the first dragon, the dragon of air that was the wisest and the leader of the other 5. His name was, Azgazzai or 'Divine Wind'. His counterpart was the dragon of the earth, Terezi or 'Everglade'. Then came Atssune, 'Shinning Light', the female dragon of light and Dassrai, the Guarding Shadow. They represented the balance of the world and brought about the cycle of sun and moon, day and night. They were also meant to be the main guardians and harbingers of justice. The last pair were the volatile twins sisters of water and fire. The slick serpent of the sea was Xialen or 'Maelstrom' and Kaffen, Calamity, the impulsive dragon of flame. Each of the dragons were to be the guardians of the frail two-legged creatures and were supposed to be teachers and parents to them as Lady Vail had been before them.

Azgazzai led the other dragons down to Evelete and all the races before them marveled and feared these strange flying beasts. At first, both the humans and elves tried to fight the 6 dragons, thinking they were no more than the flying beats of the mountains but they were quickly subdued by Azgazai's pressing winds. Xialen then breathed her calming mist to cool the tempers of the other races and get them to listen. Azgazai then told them the story of Lady Vail and that they were there to protect and guide them. They were there to finally unite all of the races together the way they were meant to be from the start.

From that moment forward, Azgazzai took all creatures under his wing to guide and protect them in Lady Vail's stead. He fancied himself a father and wise instructor and loved sharing his knowledge with the others. Terezi was always by his side offering his wisdom and the gift of farming. He taught all creatures about irrigation and working with and around nature instead of razing it. Atssune and Dassrai maintained balance between everything and didn't often interact with the two-legged creatures unless they had to provide justice or return things to their right balance. Each was more active in the day or night, respectively, and Dassrai was much more often found deep beneath the earth and interacting with the dwarfs than the other two-legged children. Xialen and Kaffen were the most temperamental dragons and saw the two-legged beings as siblings more than anything and often caused more trouble than guidance though they to played their part in helping create new civilizations and open trade between everyone. It wasn't long before the five cities of the Kingdom of Verial developed. Laurel was the first city and as all the races worked together, larger and more elaborate cities were crafted. It wasn't long before the city of the lake, Vael (named in honor of Lady Vail) was populated. And humans with their durability, quickly learned how to create and live in the harshest of places; the tundra and the desert. Thus, the beautiful oasis of Auren, and Ventri, the snow wonderland. Lastly, with much collaboration with the dwarfs, the elegant city of Yelta was developed. Yelta became the cultural center of all the kingdom and the capital of commerce.

To honor the dragons for their help, Humans, Beasts, Elves, and Dwarfs decided that they would create temples of worship to each of them and to the Great One, Lady Vail. Using all of their knowledge and the magical aid of those they wished to honor, they crafted the temples. Each town had an altar for the dragons and one of the temples. Each race also picked one of the dragons to represent their culture. As the leader and the wisest of dragons, Azgazzai's temple was crafted for the sky and resides above the clouds. Only the altars in the towns are visible for him. In some places outside of the towns, such as forests and dungeons, other temples were erected. Each temple altar harbored a stone replica of the dragon it represented and worshipers could leave items there to honor the dragon and receiving blessings. Throughout the kingdom, solitary altars held a torch that upon touching released an elemental blessing on the person. The Torch of Azgazzai gave a wind boost to deflect a percentage of wind attacks an increase evasion. Terezi gave a defense boost against earth attacks and temporary life extension. Atssune's blessing was protection from light attacks and a boost in physical attack. Her counterpart Dassrai offered a guard from the shadows and increased defense. Xialen blessed worshipers with a boost in water defense and increased strength. And lastly, Xialen gave the protection of fire and increased magical attack.

All races worshiped Azgazzai as the embodiment of Lady Vail though truly all dragons were parts of her. Terezi was worshiped by the Beasts and Elves who had a closer calling to nature. His temple was crafted deep in the forest, in the vicinity of Laurel and this town was blessed with vibrant farming land. Atssune's temple could be found in the mountains of Yelta where the sun rises to cast its brilliant light over the town. Dassrai's temple is also in Yelta but his lies beneath the ground, in the caverns built by the dwarfs. Xialen favored the tundra so she was given a temple in Ventri and was often spotted playing in the snow though she did frequent the oceans of Vael. Her sister Kaffen chose the desert and made her home in the temple of Auren. Lasly, the temple of Lady Vail was erected in the sea fairing town of Vael.

Each temple had 5 servants known as the Dragon Priests. Those who aspired to be a priest would have to chose one of the temples and learn from the dragons and his predecessors. Those that proved themselves worthy would then be considered Dragon priests and given a staff that drew on the hidden magical abilities of the users. With these staffs, the Dragon Priests protected their towns and their temple and became the first mages. Anyone could be a Dragon Priest if they had the conviction and the determination that was required. The priests had to cast off their normal life and were to live in the temple for the rest of their lives though they were allowed out to interact with others. Since they had their magical staffs, they often were asked to provide blessings and were tasked to give them. In return, the people provided food, wine, and artifacts for the priests and their respective dragons. One didn't have to go to the specific temples since altars were crafted throughout the land and were accessible to anyone.

The dragons also blessed their most devoted priest. If a priest had proven themselves worthy, the dragon would take the priest under their wing and essentially gave them a new life. The dragons would breath over their chosen priest and they would regress until they were a baby inside a dragon egg. The dragon would protect the egg until it was time for it to hatch. Upon leaving the egg, the former priest was now a Dresklin, 'Dragon's Child'. This later became translated to demon. The former priests would have the wings and horns of a dragon and gained the ability to fly. They were also the first non-dragon to have complete access to one elemental magic in their blood upon birth. They would obtain the element of their dragon parent and the dragons themselves raised the children.

Though most of the priests and many of the people of Verial thought this was a gift, there were those that saw it as something twisted and dark. It was monstrous and those that were changed were abominations. These new creatures didn't remember what it was like being human, or elf, or dwarf, or beast, whatever they had been before the change. Their lives were completely gone from their minds and this was the scariest thing to those that had known the person before the change. It was like the dragons had stolen away their loved ones and brainwashed them. What would the dragons do next? Would they eventually destroy them all in favor of their demons? They had to be stopped. These dragons weren't divine at all; they were manipulators, trying to force everyone down on their knees.

A rebellion began brewing in secret with people from all races represented. It wasn't long before this faction decided it was time to strike. Since Yelta harbored two dragon temples, they decided that Yelta would be the first to be free with one fell swoop. Some went beneath the earth to look for the sleeping Dassrai while the other group went to the temple of Light to catch Atssune unawares. Dassrai was the first to fall followed closely by a startled Atssune. The groups then fought their outraged priests and war broke out over the mountains and beneath the earth. Many fell that day and temples were razed and a pile of ruin were all that remained of the extravagant Dragon temples. Most of the priests had been slaughtered thanks to the ambush, but some managed to escape trying to warn the other temples of this rising tempest.

Upon hearing the blasphemy, the remaining dragons were outraged that those they had cared for and guided would turn against them. The hot headed and merciless dragon twins went on a rampage, calling upon hurricane and volcanoes to burn those that would turn against them. The rebels now had Dragon staffs however and they used those to their advantage. Some had managed to kill some of Xialen priests and so used the water staffs to put out the fires that Kaffen started and ultimately, used that same power to extinguish the dragon herself so that their archers and swordsmen could get in close and kill the weakened dragon. Xialen was harder to pin own and managed to escape my misting away into the waters. Afraid the two-legged creatures would kill the rest of them off, Azgazzai had the grieving Xialen join him at his sky temple where no one could reach them. He called to Terezi to do the same but the forest dragon refused to take to the air so far away from land. Instead, the great dragon escaped deeper into the forest before turning himself to stone and forced himself into slumber so he would never be found.

Azgazzai gathered up the dragon eggs he could to keep them safe and hidden away from those that would wish to destroy them. The eggs would hatch and become Dresklin and so it seemed the age of dragon gods had ended. Since Lady Vail had become the 6 dragons, the goddess of the world had only half of herself left. Her children had weakened her considerably and the remaining dragons slowly lost their will and their rationality, become more and more consumed with guarding their secrets than sharing. No longer were the other races their to protect and love. Lady Vail's mind was gone and so to her divine light. She seemed to cease to exist though she still had three parts parts of her left. The three dragons that had fallen had left behind three artifacts and if these three artifacts were returned to the sky temple, Lady Vail would be whole again and the dead dragons revived. These three artifacts were taken by the last loyal priests and hidden away in different dungeons. The legends say that the three artifacts but be presented together and a Dresklin be present for the resurrection to be complete. The magic and dragon blood in their veins would awaken the sleeping magic within the dead artifacts. It is not that simple however. It is never that simple.

The divine dragons have become feral and will attack any two-legged creature that disturbs them and rumor has it that each guard something precious. No one has heard of any of them since the revolt that left ruins in the mountains of Yelta and deep beneath the earth.To reach the temple, those that would revive the goddess must find Terezin and wake him from his slumber. Once awake, he will attack the company and they must subdue him enough to get him to listen to their plea. He is the only way up to the Sky Temple. The first artifact, a flaming dragon's eye, is protected by Xialen and she must be subdued or outsmarted to retrieve it. The second item is an ancient coin deep within the dwarven ruins of Auren. Beneath the light of the moon, half of it glows a pale gold and while the other takes on an azure blue. Wary to those that would seek it for this ruin is known as the Death Tomb and in each room lies a trap. The third and final artifact is a bright star. This is the Star of Veil and can be found in the dungeon of the Sky Temple. Upon finding this final piece, Azgazzai will appear and test those that wish entry into the temple. Once the final test is complete, the company is granted access into the temple and will present the items to the altar. Terezin, Azgazzai and Xialen will also appear around the altar and sing the ritual for the resurrection. Once all dragons are present, Lady Vail will breath again. Legend states that she will right all the wrongs of the world and bring order once more to the withering world and bless the saviors with the Celestial armor and weapons fitting their race and class. But until that day arrives, three living Divine Dragons rest in wait.