dragon-lands.md

The Dragon-Lands

Denonym: Dragonal

The Dragon-Lands is a region characterized by a predominantly ignan population, worship of Victaral, and constantly feuding mini-states led by dragons. The local priests of Victaral practice a ritual of sacrifice: they cut the beating heart out of a victim and replace it with a gilded jade egg. This process is universally fatal, but if the priests are sufficiently quick and precise, then a sufficiently resilient victim who remains conscious long enough to recite a (brief) invocation to Victaral will be rewarded by being struck by lightning. This will finish killing the victim, who will be re-born from the egg as a dragon hatchling. Dragons have an automatic right to rule ("imperium") under the customary law of the dragon-lands, so despite the overwhelming mortality of sacrificial victims, there are always a few willing to try their luck. Those approaching the ends of their natural lives are another cohort with little to lose and much to gain. Only the highest-status priests are taught the secrets of the ritual.

Being a dragon is hardly safe. The most brash declare their own states immediately. More devious dragons enter the service of more powerful dragons until a good chance to take over presents itself. Dragons see each other as rivals that can sometimes be temporarily used as tools. They murder each over with disturbing regularity to seize control, create new openings for advancement, or to preempt others from murdering the murderer. Consequently, while dragons are known to be able to live at least a thousand years, most don't make it past their first century and no dragon is known to have ever died of old age. The map of the dragon-lands is constantly in flux, with new states popping up and old ones being absorbed into others every few years.

Besides warfare, slavery is the other constant factor in dragonal life. Criminals, prisoners taken in war, and the inhabitants of captured lands are inevitably sold into slavery. There is no escape from slavery for the enslaved (except by rebirth as a dragon), but those born into slavery are automatically freed upon their 16th birthdays. Slaves are property of their owners and live or die by their whims, but the one thing that slaves may not be required to do is fight to defend their masters or states, so at least their status protects them from the worst dangers of the region's warfare. Paradoxically, slaves are safer in the midst of an active war than they are at peace. Of course, being captured in war resets the status of a born-slave to an enslaved, so families in regularly-exchanged lands may remain slaves for generations.

Owing to the lack of internecine warfare within the dragon-lands during Ivar's rule, the supply of slaves dropped precipitously. In order to maintain his economy, Ivar instituted increasingly harsh measures to preserve the slave population. Execution of slaves for petty crimes was greatly curtailed, but inherited generations of slavery were introduced as punishment for an increasing number of petty crimes and offenses. A slave that spoke out of turn or allowed its shadow to fall on its master would see its children, including those yet unborn, given the status of enslaved at birth. These penalties added up, so multiple offenses could result in the descendants of the offender being enslaved for many generations. This system perversely made unruly slaves more valuable than meek ones.

There is a complicated set of rules for determine who a slave child's father is for the purpose of calculating inherited penalties. Slave status and inheritable penalties are recorded in tattoos, usually on the faces and chests of slaves; the back is left clear so as to not be obscured by whip scars.

Since Ivar's death, the resumption of internecine warfare has increased the supply of slaves and the use of inheritable slavery declined as a result. However, it was seen as too valuable to discard entirely.

Dragonal society has the following social classes:

1. Dragons
2. Clergy. They select their own members and are exempt from warfare, slavery, and draconic imperium. Religions other than Victaral are usually tolerated but their clergy are subject to strict limits ever since a group of clerics of god tried to ordain the entire slave population of state.
3. Soldiers. Any free person who can obtain the necessary weapons and equipment can join the soldier class; there is almost always someone recruiting soldiers. Non-dragons working for dragonal governments are considered part of the soldier class even if their normal duties do not involve bearing arms.
4. Free farmers and craftsmen. This class is identified as those who produce things of value. They are traditionally seen as the source of soldiers, but they are being squeezed by slave- worked plantations and factories owned by lower-status merchants.
5. Free labourers. Usually poor, they hire themselves out to farmers, craftsmen, or merchants who either cannot afford slaves, do not have sufficient slaves, or need jobs done that cannot be entrusted to slaves.
6. Merchants. Merchants are seen as producing nothing of value, but yet are often able to build sufficient wealth that far more slaves are owned by merchants than by farmers and craftsmen. The ruling class sees merchants as a source of funds and levies arbitrary taxes against them. Merchants can become farmers by acquiring the necessary land, craftsmen by obtaining the necessary skills, or soldiers.
7. Slaves

It is death to disobey the orders of a dragon. Soldiers are only bound to obey the dragon(s) to whom they are sworn (and to their designated representatives) and clergy are technically not subject to dragons, but everyone else is bound to any dragon within earshot. However, even a dragon cannot change someone's social class without providing the requisite tools, property, and skills.

Current major factions:

• TKTK: Possibly the only person alive who met Ivar, Kalvrathotar was a low-ranking soldier who was re-born a few months before Ivar's death. He was stationed in a town directly in Thule's invasion path, and seeing the writing on the wall, ordered the garrison to open the town gates but deny that any dragons were present. The town was forced to pay tribute but avoided a ruinous sacking and he escaped detection. He then spent the next couple decades in hiding, until the enemy armies had returned home and he felt strong enough to declare himself publicly. The weakest of the handful of dragons who survived the fall of Ivar's empire, he proved more tenacious than the others and is now the oldest dragon known to live.

• TKTK: Maorieva is a rarity, a female dragon. She is younger and weaker than many of her rivals, but has the advantage of being able to hatch dragon children (though only one of her mates is known to have actually consented to the affair, and she murdered him as soon as her clutch hatched). Her children have, so far, proven far more loyal and reliable than the unrelated draconic servants who her rivals must rely upon, allowing her to run a more efficient and stable government than most of her rivals. Time will tell if this arrangement can last.

• TKTK: Lanogorathan was once a senior priest of Victaral, a level 11 cleric, before being reborn. Being relatively high level and having the ability to cast sixth-level spells as a hatchling made him much stronger than most prospective rivals, allowing him to seize control of a substantial empire within his first year. Still relatively young, he has proved himself someone not to be underestimated.

• TKTK: a non-ignan dragon?

Inspirations: Sengoku Japan, the Goa'uld from "Stargate: SG-1"