The Let's Play Archive

King of Dragon Pass

by Haifisch

Part 12: Empire of Wyrms Friends

Trihugger posted:

It was kind of glossed over in all the other dragon lore, but Cragspider has an enslaved True Dragon? I guess that's another reason you shouldn't screw with her.

Depending on where you look, Cragspider has either enslaved or befriended the Black Dragon, a (relatively small) True Dragon noted for being a trollfriend.

Now then! The Wyrms Friends! They started out here in Dragon Pass, the ancestral home of the dragonewts. People have trouble understanding the dragonewts, except the followers of the hero-cult of Drolgard, sister of Orlanth, who married Arangorf Talker Listener, an ancestral dragon. However, the wyrms begin to teach people the language, and it begins to spread. Further, the language brings magic with it - it gives insight and mystic power. Factions begin to spring up over what this means.

Eventually, a man named Vistikos Left-Eye, an Orlanthi who had converted to Malkionism, achieves an understanding that brings peace. He claims he has spoken with the Cosmic Dragon, who gave him wisdom. He forms some missionary groups that head out and use dance and drama to try and convert people to the new draconic religion. This is the beginning of the Empire of Wyrms Friends.

They invent the cult of Orlanth the Dragon, which reinterprets the Orlanthi myths and Storm Pantheon in the context of all of the gods actually being dragons. Those who resist this new religion are killed or exiled. Due to various events, they become very powerful. Their magic is dragon magic, taught by the dragonewts, and they have draconic allies, including the Dragon Sun, a dragon which took over the Dara Happan Empire of Yelm-worshippers.

There were problems, of course. The leaders of the Empire are increasingly cut off from the real, everyday world by their focus on the mystic consciousness of dragons, and as a result their people starved and froze in the long winters. On the other hand...well, dragon magic is extremely powerful, able to stand up even to God Learner sorcery.

But what was the big mystic goal? Well, you see, the Empire of Wyrms Friends were trying to build the Great Dragon, which Vistikos Left-Eye said would physically manifest from the earth. They literally wanted to turn Dragon Pass (and their entire empire) into a giant dragon.

And this is why the Dragonewts were worried. Many Dragonewts believed this goal would re-awaken Orxili, the monster slaughtered by the Cosmic Dragon to make the world. Others believed it would create something dragon-like, but not a true dragon. And whatever the case, the Inhuman Kings certainly spent quite a lot of time FutureQuesting to discover the truth.

And, in the year 1120, the dragonewts and the true dragons turned on the Empire of Wyrms Friends and slaughtered them all to the last man. I wonder what they saw in the future?