WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0011 0011
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Chapter 1: ONE WORLD AMONG MANY
The Dragon Kings were unified in their function as
caretakers. That function gave them the absolute and
unblemished allegiance of Khitus’s peoples. Once in
power, the Dragon Kings became caretakers of their fragile world and its young cultures. History credits no single
figure with that concept or with gathering consensus to
make it a reality. Regardless, soon after their near-concurrent rise as the planet’s most magically astute mortals,
the Dragon Kings divided the world geographically and,
in unison, assumed the mantle of responsibility.
The Dragon Kings allowed their subject peoples to
learn and grow at their own pace, like parents watching children strive and sometimes stumble. For the
most part, they allowed each kingdom to rule itself and
each people to make its own decisions. The Dragon
Kings primarily stepped in to depose despots and quell
prolonged, destructive wars. The former they allowed
to attain power and show themselves to be despicable,
self-serving rulers before striking them down. This was
their terrifying lesson to those who allowed such ascendance. The Dragon Kings allowed prolonged conflicts as a means of carrying out state policy, only drawing unnecessarily destructive campaigns under the
shadows of their powerful wings before entire peoples
or civilizations were wiped from Khitus’s face.
Is it any wonder those of the Classic Age revered the
Dragon Kings so, or that they are sorely missed and held
in such reverence today? By removing despotism and
genocide from their world, they nurtured the young
Khitan civilizations as surely as a gardener nurtures her
plants, and with as much care. They offered guidance to
the ambitious and counsel to the wise, but had little direct involvement in peoples’ lives. They walked among
their peoples at times, visiting and encouraging but intervening rarely, even reluctantly, in common or state
affairs. Their relationship was one of reciprocated love.
The Dragon Kings truly loved their people, and it pained
them deeply to see their children ever falter.
The Classic Age
Khitus flourished beneath the guidance of the Dragon
Kings. Unfettered by the worst their own natures might
unleash on one another, every sapient race prospered,
especially with regard to intellectual pursuits like the
arts, literature, architecture and philosophy. Curiosity
and reason impelled people in the Classic Age, not the
darker drives of fear or pain.
Twilight of the Gods
The ancient gods faced a world that no longer needed them, its people rejecting both their tyranny and
that of their priests. The gods served no purpose and
no one, as none served those gods any longer. Temples
fell into ruin or served new, more positive purposes for
their peoples. Under the Dragon Kings’ tutelage, mortal
worshipers no longer feared the darkness, for they carried candles of reason wherever they went to light their
paths. Those few ancient gods that retained their power
dared not visit it upon Khitus or its people, as legends
tell of at least one god falling prey to the wrath of one or
more Dragon Kings. The ancient gods abandoned Khitus for the distant, wandering planets short centuries
after the rise of the Dragon Kings.
Civilization’s Rise
Races and tribes fanned out across the world-garden, taking root in verdant vales and green prairies all
around the globe. Pachyaur—intelligent, six-limbed
mammoths—found league and kin with the elephants
and their colossadant cousins they encountered in the
warmest, wettest equatorial regions. Human tribes—the
Attites, Chindi, Makadan, and others—spread across the
land on every continent. The Penmai likewise made
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