Thousands of years ago when the World Tree was young and allkind roamed the land of Tirn freely, the Elder Dragons came from the skies and burned the world to cinders. Like a swarm of locusts, they descended upon the land and devoured all life on Ith, eating hungrily, greedily, mercilessly and then just as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished. Returning to the stars once again... but not all of them.
For the few who remained, they deigned to rule what was left of the world as gods. At first benevolently, uplifting those who survived their wrath and teaching them the ways of agriculture so that all that was consumed before might be replenished. Afterwards, none knew hunger ever again and with the world as their garden, the Elder Dragons were loved for a time, worshipped as living deities by the very people they once fed upon. Yet there were those who remembered the destruction they had wrought and demanded justice, and so the age of resistance began.
Time after time, the people of Tirn rose up in defiance and time after time, they were crushed. With each act of disobedience, the Elder Dragons became more cruel and oppressive in their ways, which only begat even more insurrections. Many times did the ancient tyrants purge their subjects to the brink of extinction, hoping to crush all hope among them, and many times did they fail for no matter how long it would take, whether a year or a hundred years, more would rise up to avenge the fallen.
For the longest time, it seemed an impossible battle. The Elder Dragons were powerful beyond reckoning and even after many centuries, not a single one could be slain, but all the lives lost against them paid for the knowledge that they could be hurt. They could bleed and that was more than enough to keep the hope of victory alive. In time, those who fought against the dragons became more organized. More refined in their tactics and strategies.
They used adamantium weapons, forged by the dwarves to pierce the scales and hide of their enemies. They used the power of magic, most potent among the humans, to enhance their martial prowess and combat techniques. They even used the dragons' own spawn against them, riding them into battle with the assistance of the elves and their empathic abilities.
Throughout the ages, these revolutionaries came to be known by many names. Slayers, defenders, reclaimers, dragoons, each generation scoring another wound upon the enemy before giving way to the next until finally, a hero emerged. The human Alaric, Paragon of his kind and the first being in all of Ith to slay an Elder Dragon. So the Dragonier came to be and with them a turning of the tide.
With this mighty deed, Alaric founded the nation of Kovosia upon the corpse of his kill and led the Dragonier to further victories across the land of Tirn, striking the fear of mortality into the hearts of the immortal dragons. After a lifetime of fighting, half the Elder Dragons on the continent were eventually slain and for all their efforts, it was not battle that eventually claimed the Paragon's life, but simply old age.
With the Paragon's passing and his life's purpose admirably fulfilled, the Elder Dragons no longer fought to dominate, but to survive. Their numbers being drastically reduced, they sought shelter in the furthest reaches of the world with some fleeing to the eastern continent of Vaim, only to be slain there by the orcs who had already cast down their draconic overlords. The rest hid among the highest peaks of the Stormwall Mountains, or the deserts of Fera or even the frozen north, surrounding themselves with those who yet remained loyal for protection.
Many times they sought to regroup and retake everything they had lost, and on few occasions they even came close, but each time the Dragonier would defeat them and though it would take another thousand years after the death of their founder, they would eventually succeed in hunting down the Elder Dragons to the last. However, it would be the people of Kovosia to finish the task.
High above the clouds where the air was cold and thin, it was among the Stormwall Mountains where the last stand of the Elder Dragons took place. By then, only 3 of them remained. The first was slain by the elven archmage, Sifa; an original member of the Dragonier who fought alongside Alaric and would later become high queen of Avalan. The second was slain by the orc Temuro Khan; a scion of the Yoltan Shokhanate who would later go on to serve as grandmaster of the Dragonier and continue to do so to the present day.
The third and last Elder Dragon fled wounded to the west, where it fell in Kovosia and drowned there in a sea of spears and swords. Slain not by the mighty Dragonier, the most powerful champions of Tirn, but mere men. Soldiers armed with steel and zealous wrath, who celebrated their victory by devouring the flesh of the dragon and drinking its blood before rendering its remains into trophies.
With the death of the last Elder Dragon, a new age of peace dawned upon the land of Tirn and its people, and allkind were finally free to live without fear of fire and fang. With their purpose fulfilled, the Dragonier transitioned from an order of dragon slayers to a force of peacekeepers, its members culled from all levels of each nation's society to foster relations and mutual respect.
Yet now, a mere 2 centuries after its beginning, fractures have begun to show throughout the age of peace. Vaimese warships frequently assault the shores of Yolta. Dragon cultists have begun espousing their beliefs to all who would listen among the beastfolk of Fera. The dwarves of the Deep Kingdoms have fallen into infighting and the men of Kovosia suffered the same with numerous pretenders and false Paragons vying for ownership of the nation before the genuine article appeared in Agememnar, returned from the defence of Yolta 30 years ago.
Named Warrior King for slaying or subduing all who challenged him, Agememnar abandoned his charge as Dragonier to unite his people and lead them south to conquer the elven nation of Avalan. It took only a month to fall despite being under the protection of high queen Sifa, whose current fate and whereabouts remains unknown.
Now with the armies of Kovosia marching upon the Stormwall Mountains, the Dragonier have sided with the eastern nations' Sunpeak Alliance to stop the advance of the Empire and further deterioration of the age of peace.
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