The First Journeys
Long ago, the two Great Ancestors of Day and Night created the first world. Sol, the Day dragon, created the elements of Light, Fire, Jungle, Thunder, and Earth. Luna, the Night dragon, created the elements of Ocean, Storm, Wind, Metal, and Dark. Together, these elements made up the positive and negative of the world. Neither Luna nor Sol were pure or evil—they shared their power and their duties equally. All was well in their world.
However, the planet that they created became filled with Life. They marveled at this surprise…up until the point that the little planet became too small for that Life. As the creatures of the world explored areas beyond their little planet, the Great Ancestors set about making places for them to explore. They used their boundless power to create an entire universe. They made laws so that the world would be infinite and impossible for their children to completely discover.
Still their creation surprised them. The many forms of Life that had popped into existence found a realm beyond even the Ancestors’ knowledge. This world was called Chronoscape, for it was a place between space and time itself. It started as a desolate wasteland that stretched into infinity. Its expanses touched on places within the known universe and created passages, allowing Life to quickly navigate the universe without so much as a spacecraft to guide them or a method to break the rules that the Ancestors had toiled to make.
As Life moved about Chronoscape, they began to flourish in that strange realm as well. It soon became clear that Life had power which rivaled their own. Still, the Ancestors were delighted to have such companions in their ventures. The challenge to their strength only made them more eager to test their own limits. Armed with the knowledge that Life would inevitably catch up to their antics, they set about procuring puzzles and laws for Life to break. They bent the world of Chronoscape so that Life would quickly become lost in its wastes. Anticipating the return of Life to the Chronoscape, the Ancestor Dragons began to craft entirely new universes for them to explore and created new doors to them throughout the realm.
And return they did…with their very first dragons. The little dragons were a curious sight for the Ancestors to behold. Despite never interacting with Life directly, the little creatures resembled them in small ways. A set of wings there, a starry marking there, perhaps even a hint of true sight for some of them. They bore elemental powers akin to their own, though on a much smaller scale. These powers could twist space in ways that confounded even the Ancestors.
Most peculiar to them was that these little dragons could navigate Chronoscape with ease. This ability to move through space and time effortlessly had only been their own up until this point. Life named this ability Chronocompass—for it guided them true in even the strangest of realms. With their hindrance gone, Life set about exploring the new universes.
This is how we live now. The Ancestors scurry to put the worlds before us while we explore just behind them, always coming closer, finding new homes in the endless expanse.
The Chronocompass
Fate exists even beyond the realm of the Ancestors. The dragons lead where their Chronocompass points, and for the early settlers of Shérok and Eredia, that was how they landed there. The two planets rested in the same system, making passing between them a matter of a few hours’ walk through the Chronoscape and an even faster flight. The two planets grew together, prospered together, and even made a name for themselves among the inhabitants of Chronoscape. They use the same currency—a simple silver coin named Silvence, treasured far more than gold in their region of the world. Many generations rose and fell as they lived on these newfound planets.
Eredia was a world of strange magic. Something about it caused the human inhabitants to change. They were human nonetheless, but far closer to nature than their Shéar counterparts. The planet was an expanse of water with islands scattered throughout. Many Riders found their home here, though why their dragons felt inclined to roost here, they couldn’t guess.
Shérok, on the other hand, was almost completely land. A single ocean surrounded a large continent. The humans there were content to live nomadic lifestyles, enjoying the bounty of this world. They received visitors who would return to Chronoscape with tales of a wide paradise. When an entire planet was destroyed, the survivors were welcomed with open arms onto the planet of Shérok. Their dragons, too, guided them there through the ability of their Chronocompass.
It has been five hundred years since those unfortunate planet dwellers arrived to Shérok. The land is full of strife, and still the dragons keep their Chronocompasses true to the land. Many have forgotten the worlds they once traveled. Those that do find the troubles of their present world much too distracting to pursue that realm. Visitors drawn here by their dragons find their feet too weary to wander again, even when their species and appearance are far different than the humans that reside on these planets. The compass points them all here, straight to their fates. But just what fate is that?
It’s your story to decide.
Arrival of the Abrendese
Roughly 500 years ago, Shérok was a major kingdom in a continent made of six different countries. The planet itself was simply referred to as Mother. The land was split like so:
They were not technologically advanced and most of them practiced nomadic lifestyles. Nonetheless, they all had mastery over different types of magic. According to them, their magic was derived from the planet itself. As members of the same solar system, they were also on close terms with Eredia.
When the Abrendese arrived, they were particularly interested in learning about magic and how to harness it for scientific purposes. Most of the countries kept their magic close to their countrymen. However, the Shéar were comfortable sharing what they knew.
The king had two sons, both dragon riders. When they initially gained their dragons, the eldest received a glittering silver wind dragon, while the youngest received a frail dark dragon with dull scales. When it seemed that the youngest would reject his dragon, the eldest formed a bond with it and allowed his own silver dragon to act as his brother’s. This was the first time that a bond had been transferred from one Rider to the next. This knowledge was kept within the confines of the royal family, since it reflected poorly on the young prince.
The king tested the skill of his two sons by putting them in charge of negotiations. They both provided shelter to the Abrendese, materials to build a city, and shared common magic knowledge with them. The eldest son was careful to establish laws and boundaries regarding research, while the youngest was carefree with information and overlooked transgressions.
When the Abrendese offered the young prince a life of luxury in exchange for his country, he took it eagerly. They initiated the coup by unleashing monstrous chimeras in the south, far away from the capital. The eldest brother took his followers to quell the strange beasts while the youngest stayed behind. He assassinated his own father, took the kingdom for his own, and then negotiated a transfer of powers with the Abrendese. A new currency was founded called Silvence, which bore the likeness of his dragon.
This obviously infuriated the Shéar. When the source of the chimeras became apparent, and their threat quelled, the eldest prince returned with a small army. By now, it was nothing compared to the strength of the Abrendese Militia. The militia quashed their resistance and began to take over the other kingdoms from their place of power.
What was now labeled as the Shéar Rebellion retreated to the southern deserts. The silver dragon, which had long tolerated the youngest prince out of respect for its true Rider, went with him. People from all kingdoms joined them and shared their magic with one another, even ones that were formerly restricted to leaders. They left behind charms and curses that rendered many areas uninhabitable to people without magic. It was said that the Mother–the planet which housed them–regarded them as the true owners of the land. This is why Irrit wanderers can always find water or places to hide in the sands.
As the Abrendese expanded, the planet came to be known as Shérok, and the other countries as ‘united’ provinces (or pradeshes). They began their research in earnest.