WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0013 0013
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Chapter 1: ONE WORLD AMONG MANY
their homes among the treetops on more than one continent. Dragon Kings encouraged competition through
trade and intellectual pursuits rather than by spears
and siege engines, and cultures flourished.
Many key organizations and groups yet extant today
trace their origins to these elated times. As should be
expected, these groups revere knowledge over power
and try to maintain some of the Classic Age on modern
Khitus even today.
• Gare Attessa: The revered chroniclers of the world’s
affairs and all who participate in it, have true records and histories that date back to the earliest
years after the rise of the Dragon Kings. Their oldest scrolls are delicate, prized items held in dark,
secure vaults (and some enemies whisper they may
hold secrets that would upset established history,
were those scrolls to be unrolled and read today).
• Trakeen: These disciples and virtual worshipers of
the Dragon Kings created their orders then. Unlike the priesthoods of old, the Trakeen were not
lawgivers or rulers, but priests, guides, and reminders of the Classic Age after the Dragon Kings
proved long absent.
• Magical Colleges: Just as old, too, are the foundations and cores of the principal magical colleges,
all built in the days when their access to magic was
less hindered. The oldest among there are those of
Dramidge, Rakar, and Nadalf, though some colleges rose and fell so far from modern times that no
ruins mark their passing and they only exist now
among the scrolls of history.
Power Corrupts
One lurking danger the Dragon Kings could not
change was the response of magic to its own unwanted
exploitation. Not even they controlled magic; presumably, they drew upon the same magical energies as any
other wielder of the dark craft does today. As the centuries of the Classic Age passed, magic became more and
more difficult to attain. The emergence of jealous consequences—the spiteful, often cruel penalties suffered
by wizards known as ‘sorcery’s wrath’—crept into the
accepted practices of spell casting. The gradual nature
of these changes forestalled immediate awareness, and
later defied any easy explanation. Even in these early
times, the sorcerous consciousness marked its line in the
sand, putting wizards on notice that they dabbled in its
reservoir at their own peril.
Expansion & Excess
Despite problems among the magical and learned, the
tribes grew seemingly without limit. Never before in any
recorded or oral history had the races known such unfettered development, and diversity reigned. Farms became
villages, then cities of wood, brick, and finally marble,
festooned with the banners of proud peoples enjoying the fruits of their labors beneath the guiding hands
of the Dragon Kings. Challengers, such as the semi-intelligent bugs and lizard folk, were easily kept at bay by
strong armies protecting the frontiers so the core cities
might further prosper. Certainly they could be forgiven
for thinking their times and ways of life would never end.
But the shadows of their cities and spires grew longer
while few took notice. The Dragon Kings gradually withdrew from worldly affairs. No warning or explanation of
their departure was given, so people invented a host of
speculative reasons and justifications. Once common
visitors among those they shepherded, they sequestered
themselves for long periods until few ever spoke with
them; even rulers might go decades without direct contact. Like slugs crawling from beneath stones, the darker
nature of some men emerged in their absence, and some
rose to power without the watchful Dragon Kings to check
them. The frontiers grew darker and more dangerous, the
virtuous less visible, the arrogant more prominent. In that
inexorable way, the Classic Age of Khitus faded so slowly
that almost no one noticed until it was far too late.
Decline & Abandonment
Without the Dragon Kings to marshal them, the peoples
of Khitus quickly descended into the morass of less-thaninspired self-governance. Some perverted the people’s innate respect for magical power to their own advantage. Thus,
many Khitans turned again for leadership to any who demonstrated spell mastery, no matter their temperament. Incompetent sovereigns who no longer had the sage counsel of
a Dragon King became insular, drawing their armies closer
to court to watch over the governed, allowing the frontiers
to fester unmonitored. Newly intelligent Krikis expanded
unchecked beyond the old borders of their Hivelands, and
Cold Skins ventured beyond their fens to challenge others for
dominance in places they had never dared before.
In too many ways, the benign Dragon Kings left the
mortal nations unprepared for the responsibilities of
statecraft. Diplomacy and cooperation were easily accomplished beneath their watchful eyes. Without them,
pettiness and self-interest ruled the day whenever stakes
became elevated. Distrust and hatred rose to the surface,
rather than cooperation or acceptance. Wars flared up
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