Dragon Sun Empire

Overview

The Dragon Sun Empire was a nation some time ago in Koria. Its reign was only fivehundred years long and it crumbled under the influence of wrong councellors, war and too much decadence.

Rise of an Empire

The Dragon Sun Empire was founded within the forced meeting of the Dragon Sun Clan, a clan which worshiped the Dragons and - to a degree - the Dragonborn. Their weapons were gruesome and feared throughout the clans, based on the burning dragonflames, so they used their position to press the clans and tribes together, giving them purpose and status.

At first nobody was thrilled with his designated position except for the two hundred people chosen to be nobility and the royal family. They were given a name and a position by the old council and tasked with producing heirs. The first - and fastest - ones were the parents of Malina and Abbath, so both got married. Abbath fulfilled his role as a fierce warrior king, and Malina becamec a Queen who supported knowledge and scholarship. She became a patreon of the scholars of the Rising Sun Library, declaring the Library would have a portion of the palaces budgets. That was a significant investment by the Queen.

They had eight children together, all of them in important positions and so it was Siegfrey and Wherda who found the lair of the Library Dragon, an unique female Brown Dragon whose purpose and only will was to collect, hoard, categorise and preserve knowledge, in all its forms be they tomes, scrolls, crystals or books. Befriended her, they built the Rising Sun Library, and established her as the leader, a position she holds to this day, seeing the end of the Dragon Sun Empire.

The children of Malina and Abbath formed the Dragon Sun Empire to their liking, carefully crafting rules and traditions overlooked by their parents and the Golden Sun Council. Most of their set of rules and traditions survived the fall of the empire, transitioning into the nation of Hulwar.

Structure

There were five classes: royal, noble, military, religious and citizens.
Since the Golden Sun Bloodline did not make any difference between rich merchants and poor farmers they were all citizens, so they were at the bottom of the classes.

Religious and military people were one class above the citizens and equally to another. Regarding to the law a military couldn't give a priest orders and vice versa, but in their distinct fields they have the right of order say a priest has to research something and needs military aid. But normally the priests and Dragon Priests could command the military since they were all - or at least most of them - in good faith to the Church.

The nobility of the Dragon Sun Empire consists of those who where not deemed worthy of royality. There is still the chance of getting married to royality, but most of them were satisfied with their position and crafted their own small empires such as clothings, cloth, glass and stones.

Religious Views

The people of the Dragon Sun Empire believes that the Dragons are fragments of the Sun and the Moon. They can survive in nearly every environment be it burning hot like a volcano or freezing cold like the Northern Realms.

And they do believe that they are all small sparks, tiny embers from the sun, distant relatives to the Dragons which were there from the beginning of the Existence. So it is the duty of the Dragon Sun Empire citizens to enhance the spark, give them to their children, so they might strengthen their fire or ice.

They also believe that the fire and the ice in their blood has to be given back on a regular basis to strengthen the sun, the moon and the dragons so they held rituals on every crescent moon.

Additional to this they believe that they are the superior race, even amongst the humans. It is strictly forbidden to kill a fellow citizen of the Dragon Sun Empire, it would be blasphemy of the highest order; it would be the same as someone would soil one of the Dragon statues or destroyed one. With this belief it is allowed to kill a foreigner on Dragon Sun Empire grounds, be it to protect a fellow citizen/the Empire or to sacrifice them in a ritual to the Dragon gods.

The beliefs in the Golden Dragons (as in the Sun) and in the Silver Dragons (as in the Moon) are represented in numerous statues and temples where the priests hold their rituals, to speak with the Dragons if they rested on the roof of the temple (or towers) to contemplate and transfer wise words to the believers.

Those meetings and contemplations created a lot of beautiful art, be it oil paintings or statues. It was mostly marble statues, showing priests and Dragons alike. The same references to the Dragons, their fire, their thoughts and words and their wisdom trickled down into their clothes, jeweleries and everyday objects.

In every house and appartment in the smaller communities there is a small altar, dedicated to the Golden and Silver Dragons. Every citizen has at least a small statue with both Dragons in his chamber, be it poor or rich.

And the last belief besides being the descendants from the Dragons and the best race of all time is that Koria, the world itself, is a sleeping Dragon, entombed by the old races, so they could live in harmony. The citizens of the Dragon Sun Empire are destined to become one with the Sleeping One, the Worldwyrm. It is not really known if the Worldwyrm is a friend or a foe, there are two different views on this. It trickled down the ladder into the beliefs and the customs of the believers, depending if they think he is a friend or a foe, destined to be the salvation or the doom of the Dragon Sun Empire and the world.

Those are the three pillars of the religious beliefs of the Dragon Sun Empire and their priests.

Religious Structure

• First Dragon Priest
• Second Dragon Priest
• Golden Priest / Silver Priest
• Dragon Adept
• Wyrm Servants

Military & Science

The military departments and the science wing of the Rising Sun Library were working closely together. The military consists of infantry (including scouts), cavalry, supplies and the feared Redback Wyrms, the specialised troups which was feared throughout the lands because they wielded the horrendous Dragonsbreath.

The Dragonsbreath was a long and heavy iron pipe with movable elements, including up to twenty vials filled with a identical liquid to this which the Dragons can spit out of their glands. They could throw the flammable liquid up to twenty metres and set everything ablaze in their wake. They were the reasons that the Dragon Sun Empire had such tremendous power, the liquid was so strong, with a little bit of time it could melt stone. After the fall those powerful and really scary weapons got a new place in the fortifications of Hulwar, some at the front and some in the palace.

The only reason they could dominate everything from the western coast to the western borders of the Emerald Planes was the nearly unlimited creativity of the science wing of the Rising Sun Library, sometimes called "Volcano", because they spat out one more or less useful thing one after another. Not everything was useful in the military, most of the times it enhanced the life of the citizens or was disregared.

The Fall of an Empire

The Fall of the Dragon Sun Empire began in the Era of the Midnight Sky, where Svojo the Black sat on the throne where he started the first big festivities, some dedicated to his name or his family. Not a bad choice, until he began throwing coins around like candies. He wasn't the last one; his descendants continued with this tradition.

The Era of the Midnight Sky was called that way because Svojo started a war he couldn't win: he threw his forces against the dwarven clans of The Long Neck, deep inside their mines and fortresses under the earth and stone of the land. The Empire lost over two-thirds of its armies and half of their Redback Wyrms, giving the Dwarfs the advantage of a new fearsome weaponry and the possibility of reconstructing the Dragonsbreath.

The war nearly destroyed the Empire. Only their gold and heavy mercenary reinforcements kept them from vanishing, even as the elves wagered an alliance with the dwarves and the Northern Realms. It was a close win for the Empire, but a win nonetheless.

The Empire rebuild, stronger than before. They wagered a pact with some Dragons and Dragonborn so they could protect their borders, but it was the beginning of the end. The splendour and extravagance continued and the Era of the Rising Sun ended.

The next and penultimate war started in the Era of the Burning Sun where Agandru, third of his name, rebuilt the army in a way no one could have foreseen: he forced Dragons in his service and forced them to breed other Dragons, so they could attack with the Redback Wyrms & assassins on the ground and with the Dragons from the sky. The plan was good, but he died under strange circumstances: he choked on a grape.

His son, Junwai, married two women simultaneously, one from the freshly formed kingdom of Ganguk and one of their own royality. Both were beautiful and since they both had a knack for silver and gold. This era was called the Era of the Golden Moon, mostly by them, but no one would contradict them, at least not to their face. Junwai continued the work of his father, even with magic. Their fortifications were reinforced using magical runes to infuse the strength of Dragons into their walls and towers.

King Junwai died as he had intercourse with his two wives. He had made them pregnant a few weeks ago and died because he thought it was a good idea to ██████████, so he choked. Both women agreed that there could be only one queen, so Vasilia vanished, taking her child with her.

Queen Eleonore gave birth to a healthy boy and a beautiful girl. Her daughter Nuria vanished without a trace as she was old enough to cast her own spells. There were rumours that she was still roaming the Rising Sun Library where she was last seen.

The boy grew up like all kings before him: with splendour, gold, luxus and everything he wished for. Eleonore never re-married, but had some female companions. She killed the entire council one night with an icy knife and a burning heart so her son could reign as he wished.

And Merkurion did. He reign as he wished and drove his citizens away from the Empire without taking notice. His war against the Northern Realms ended in a grave defeat, debilitating his military.

Within a few years the Empire was nearly empty. No farms, no citizens, next to no merchants. The vaults filled with gold and no food. The royal family, mother and son, roamed the empty halls, screaming and laughing in madness. They died naked in each others arms. Archeologists assume two options here: they drank poison on purpose or thought they were drinking wine while it was actual poison. To this day nobody knows why they were naked. There was no sexual intention behind it. They were laying arm in arm as a mother would hold her beloved son while he was having a nightmare.

So the Dragon Sun Empire vanished, leaving behind the greatest religion, influencing the western world.