Part 11.5

Following the end of the Age of Chaos, there was no one left to claim the world. Any civilization, if it existed back then, has long since been destroyed and it was left to young races to make their claims on the world. The first ones to do so were the dragons. Slow-breeding and having long lifespans, they first started discovering the world 8 centuries after the end of Age of Chaos. Slowly, but surely, they have took over the northern continents of Asseria and Scardona. Having no natural opponents to stop them, they have exerted their influence across the land. With no reason to continue evolving and expanding, they eventually started falling into rut as the problems of long lifespans started to show. For years, all they were doing was petty conflicts amongst themselves as nothing else interested them. Neither technology development nor magic beyond rudimentary means. That all changed with a surprising discovery.

Homeland of the dragons, Cardia Isles, is situated between Asseria and Feinan, more specifically the Feinan Head region. Due to the wealth of resources and space in Asseria and lack of it in the Feinan Head region as well as the lack of information on the true size of the continent, Feinan was considered worthless by most dragons and it was rarely investigated. That is why the discovery of the humans by the dragon Grandine shocked everyone. Until then, they believed that only animals roamed the land and had limited to no intelligence. To discover there was another race capable of building civilization was unimaginable. Many dragons rushed south to confirm this. After the news went around, it seemed that a much needed spark of inspiration was lit. The humans were something many dragons thought they needed so they started inviting tribes living in Northern Feinan to settle in their lands. This led to advancement of civilization of both races. Fir humans, they learned about combat, culture, science, magic and all matter of things. They even replaced the barter system with monetary one. Even in the modern times, gil is still used as the main currency. In exchange, it gave the dragons a reason not only to survive, but to thrive. It gave them goals to achieve such as having the most populous realm or the most richest. They had the freedom to guide the humans in whatever way they wanted. And so the human realms flourished across the northern continents. Two interesting facts have been discovered about this time. Among the human tribes that took the offer and moved north, there were several dwarven ones. Due to lack of knowledge on humans, as well as the fact that there was no cultural distinction between dwarves and humans, distiction that only rose up much later, dwarves were mistaken for a sub-race of humans that were shorter, but stronger and could live longer. Even with this mistake, the population in Northern Feinan quickly declined to the point where the only tribes that remained were those that refused the offer. In the last ditch effort to increase the population of their realms, a group of dragons had succeeded in creation and cloning magic and using that they were able to create populations up to their standards. The Age of Dragons lasted for centuries before it ended in an unprecedented cataclysm.

Dragon politics, once as simple as two dragon talking it out, became more complex as dragons became more invested in their realms. Alliances, treachery and wars became more common. The human-dragon society, something that was considered as great blessing in the first days, became a powder keg that would eventually blow, and when it did, it would leave permanent mark on the land. The cause to the Great Dragon War has been lost to the history, but its result was clear. Massive deserts were left behind in the centre of the two continents where the most powerful realms used to exist. The devastation was so massive the black cloud covered the northern hemisphere for months by the end of it. Poverty and misery was so great even the Goddess herself couldn't watch this continuing anymore. She chose her champion, the dragon by the name of Bahamut, and forced all surviving dragons to a meeting amongst themselves. There, while using her blessing on Bahamut to force all dragons into submission, she demanded the war to end at once for all. Finally realizing that their ambition and desire for power had corrupted them, dragons had accepted the truce. As form of self repentance, they chose to adopt a new, smaller form using the same magic that was used to create and clone humans and get rid most of their power. While still taller when compared to humans and retaining their wings, most dragons were only shadows of their former selves. Only Bahamut, now crowned as the Dragon King, still could access to his old form. As 697 years had passed since this so-called "Divine Accord", the dragons have went into isolation and never again have they influenced the world. Though now with history in hindsight, the question has been if they had went too far with this isolation.

The human realms, now free of dragons' influence, but still at war, had no idea what to do after the Divine Accord was issued. For so long they lived in symbiotic relationship with dragons. This sudden change meant that the realms were left in chaos as they were left clueless on who or what to follow. Any semblance of order collapsed over night and the so-called Dark Ages ushered in. Between the chaos of the war, the dark clouds that still blocked the sun and now the free reign of monsters that were no longer intimidated into submission, most realms and even the cities had collapses and were reclaimed by nature. The only two kingdoms that survived the Dark Ages were the Sky Kingdom hovering above Scardona and the Kingdom of Granbelos on the eastern coast of Asseria. As fate would reveal it though, their fall was only delayed.

When the war started, not every dragon wanted to be a part of it. As it escalated, it became clear that this would eventually reach their realms sooner or later. Realizing this, they went for desperate gamble. Devising the magic of levitation and creating levistones, they wanted to escape the war by making their land beyond the reach. On the final day of preparations, a large group of dragons attempted to stop this plan. In what became one of the most savage battles of the war, all the defending dragons died protecting the chosen land, the Kingdom of Lufenia. Their sacrifice paid off as the land rose above the ashen cloud that was starting to cover the land, therefore making it impossible for anyone to reach it. Being grateful for the sacrifice of their protectors, the kingdom denounced the war and its people became the champions of peace. Due to their new location, the name of Lufenia became less used and instead the kingdom was simply referred to as the Sky Kingdom and its people the Sky People. Using the newly created airships as their main vehicle for transportation, the kingdom was able to develop in peace as it had undisputed reach across Scardona. Some legends even say that a powerful weapon was developed in order to ward off anyone foolish enough to attack the kingdom. Unfortunately, that might have saved the kingdom if it was true. As the first one to awake from her slumber, the Fiend of Air Tiamat took her throne in the Sky Kingdom. Unaccustomed in ways of war, no resistance was able to able to stop her as kingdom's citizens became just a fodder for her army. The downfall of the kingdom and the apocalypse for its citizens truly begun when Tiamat reached the central fortress where the main source of energy that was powering the land, the Wind Crystal, was located. As soon as she started feeding on its power, the levistones that were keeping the land in the air started shutting down and the land itself started falling down from the sky. By the time it was over, very few citizens survived as they used airships to scatter around the world and assimilate among the local population. To this day no known nation claims to be the true successor of the Sky Kingdom. As for Tiamat, to this day she remains in the central fortress, the only piece of land that remained floating, and seemingly waits for someone or something.

It wasn't just dragons who were trying to escape the horrors of war. In a rare show of human independence from the Age of Dragons, several mage orders were situated in the floating city of Onrac, trying to find a guaranteed way to survive the upcoming calamity. Their time ran out as another group of dragons, hearing about this, wanted to show the humans who truly rule the land. During the ferocious fighting, a light suddenly blinded the both sides. Angry at the strength of the resistance and with this feeble attempt to stop, the dragons regrouped and then destroyed the city's base, sinking most of it into the sea. Believing their job was done, they returned home, unaware of the exact events that transpired in the city. Belonging to one of the mage orders that operated in the city, the female mage order Raven Sisters under Franca Korvin was involved in the experiments to save the city. When the dragons attacked, believing their time was up, Franca unleashed one last experiment to save the citizens and the light was the result of it. Unaware if it had succeeded or not, her experiment was put up to the ultimate test when the ground beneath the city collapsed and most of the city fell into the ground. A large part of the city's population died in the attack. Some from dragons' attacks, some from getting crushed in the rubble and some from drowning. For others, however, there was a surprise. As soon as adrenaline went away and they were no longer panicking, they realised the massive changes that happened to their bodies. Instead of wearing their clothes, they were surprised to see that their bodies were covered in green scale skin from armpits to what used to be their legs and now it was a tail. After a proper body inspection, they also noticed that now they had gills on their necks. Confused on what was going on, the survivors went to resurface to the only part of the city that remained standing, the city's shrine, where they finally learned what happened. As it turned out, Franca's last ditch effort paid off. A brand new race was created out of the city's population, the mermaids, that could survive in the ocean. Unfortunately it came at a tragic cost. It is unknown how this had happened, the lack of experiments, failure in magic casting or something else, but the only population affected by the spell was the female one. The only male survivors were those that were lucky enough to be in the shrine before the city's collapse. This horrible situation would prove to lead to some decisive events down the line.

After the Divine Accord was signed and the war ended, the city's survivors finally made contact with the neighbouring kingdom of Granbelos that was collapsing without its dragon's protection. Using the small port of Lucas that was used to trade between Onrac and Granbelos, female mages under Franca stabilized the situation enough for the society to recover. Thus, the kingdom was reborn into matriarchy with Franca Korvin as the first queen of the new dynasty. Lucas would grow so much, it would become a new capital and inherit the name if the fallen city. As for the new race, the city would become renowned for the new race as well as have a unique status as the only nation left in Asseria. Unfortunately, this would not last as the awakening of Fiend of Water Kraken would spell the doom for the kingdom. The monster attack that he led annihilated the Royal Guard around the Shrine of Onrac, now the royal castle of the Korvin dynasty and seemingly end the dynasty. Any attempt to help from the coast failed and, after a month of constant fighting and pushing the monsters away, Granbelos was no more capable of achieving anything and so it collapsed. To this day the records around this event are scarce and don't explain the circumstances entirely. For instance, somehow the entire race of mermaids disappeared during this, a surprising fact. As nearly 500 years of records showed, no male mermaids, or mermen as they were known, had ever appeared. Meanwhile any daughter born from the mermaid mother would inherit the ability herself. So to see the entire race disappear is unexplainable. It could be why constant reports about mermaid sightings keep coming from Onrac despite no official conformations. As for the city itself, it had survived the collapse of the kingdom as shell of its former self while most of its surrounding returned to nature. It currently operates as a city state and is mostly populated by adventurers seeking treasures across the land. Despite no appearance from Kraken for 200 years, remnants of his army continue to harass the ships, making any large scale trade impossible.

The story of the northern continents continues to be that of tragedies. As north floundered, south flourished. Great human, dwarven and elven civilizations lay across the Feinan. However, the change is coming across the world. As two recently awakened Fiends have been defeated, the ancient remnant of the Sky Kingdom has been uncovered in the south. It is now carrying the new heroes chosen by Goddess trying to save the world.