History of Tron Daurat

The Birth of the World

Even the ancient elves are not old enough to have seen the beginning of the world, and the eldest of dragons are too detached to explain it in the scope of lesser intelligences. Only through ages of study and contemplation have the elves pieced together an idea, somewhere between historical fact and religious faith, that describes the ten phases of creation.

In the beginning was infinity and formlessness, but not nothingness; rather, it was potential with consciousness behind it, an incomprehensible power like a muddled dream. From this came the first phase, the Crown (“Keter” in Draconic): the first primordial stirring in infinity was the desire to bring the world into being, and therefore Keter is considered to be the ultimate form of compassion. Wisdom (“Chokhmah”) followed, the spark of self-awareness, perhaps the soul, at the core of being and the boundless potential before it is given direction; only with Understanding (“Binah”) could its individual potentials be discerned and directed toward rational order.

Kindness (“Chesed”) began the act of creation, spreading these sparks far and wide by Understanding’s decree, only for Might (“Gevurah”) to bind them into the laws of nature and order. With the balancing hand of Beauty (“Tiferet”), the conflicting forces of Kindness and Might were harmonized and bloomed into the land, the seas, and the primordial life connected to creation itself. Such is the birth of the great dragons and the once-proud hecatonchieres, unbound as they are by the final laws of creation.

Once creation was given form, Eternity (“Netzach”) followed to imbue the power of leadership and endurance against inevitable entropy, Splendor (“Hod”) to find strength in the power of community and to break down barriers between creation, and Foundation (“Yesod”) to allow the energies of all things to pass from one to another. With the laws of reality and physicality in place, so came the final phase, Malkuth ("Kingdom"), the birth of the elves and all other biological life that would flourish of their own accord.

Such is the creation of the world in the eyes of the elves, one that places them as the closest civilization to creation itself. This would influence the growth of the elven empire for centuries to come.

The Dreamlands

It is not fully known why the lingering powers of creation reside only in Tron Daurat. Different theories have been proposed: the presence of the dragons seeping their primordial magic into the earth; a great spectral tree whose roots fill the exact boundaries of the nation; a meteor who carried with it creation's power, not unlike those that carried the Nightmare. Whatever the case, since the beginning, Tron Daurat's creatures have been reserves of that power in their own right, with the elves being no exception.

The first (and, to date, only) emperor of the elves was a master of manipulating this power thanks to his communion with the dragons, and so took it upon himself to guide his kin. Taking on the name of Malkuth to represent his role as the closest being in existence to creation itself, he crafted the elven citadel from raw potential and taught the elves how to control the energies suffused around and within them.

by Valentina Remenar

With Emperor Malkuth's knowledge, the elves truly wanted for nothing; whatever they wished for or needed, they could create, and if one did not have the expertise to craft more complex forms, they could collaborate or simply use manual skill once the component parts were made. Sometimes, even Tron Daurat itself would act on the wants and needs of its inhabitants, manifesting their subconscious wishes before them. Even death was little concern: age was meaningless to the elves, and in the rare case where one was taken by a violent monster or sudden accident, it was believed that they would become one with raw creation again and return in one form or another. Some would even choose to pass of thier own accord if they felt they had spent enough time in this world.

As the ages passed and less divine species came about outside of Tron Daurat's borders, Emperor Malkuth coaxed his people into believing that they and their utopia were superior to those beyond the mountains, that only the most worthy could encroach upon their domain and taste the bounties of the divine. Why should they, the most ancient, prosperous, and unified of all, not consider themselves the gods of this world? Why should they be responsible for solving the endless wars of Ogygia, the storm-wracked wastes of Ithara, or the monstrous tyrants of Azuma? Was the divine grace not theirs and theirs alone by right?

And so, in the world's infancy, a glamour of mist was cast over Tron Daurat, hiding it from the world. Only the rare sights of dragons cresting the snowy mountains or elves choosing to wander from their home could lend some truth to ancient tales of a land bathed in the sun's eternal rays, where gods lived without want. So would Tron Daurat remain hidden for countless ages, with only a few mortals earning a glimpse of the ancestral land.

by Menghan Liu

The Nightmare

None can say how long the elves' utopia remained untouched. With each passing age, their civilization developed to grander and more decadent displays. Grand castles and cathedrals, living servants of crystal and stone, armies mounted on hybrid creatures unseen in the wider world; it seemed that nothing would slow their development.

That was until, one fateful day, the placid sky broke with crimson meteors of ice and flame. They crashed across Tron Daurat, though many were focused on the towering mountain range that cradled the elven citadel. Wherever they fell, Tron Daurat's endless day turned to a night most elves had never before seen, plants withered and water turned noxious, and from their craters seeped a colorless fog.

Those who lived outside the citadel and away from the points of impact gradually learned what was happening to their home. The fog spawned horrors beyond imagination from thin air; the citadel was overrun, as those elves that did not flee or die became part of the terrible army; and, worst of all, all signs pointed to Emperor Malkuth as the one who brought this doom to Tron Daurat. This doom and the abominations spawned from it would collectively be known as the Nightmare.

The dukes and duchesses of the elves, so accustomed to deferring to the decree of the Emperor, scrambled to find stability in the growing chaos. As they did, a schism grew among the elves: one duchess claimed that the Nightmare was a direct consequence of the decadence and hubris the former Emperor encouraged, and to combat the demonic horde, the elves must reject their grand edifices and return to the wild. Claiming the name Sathariel ("moon of the divine" in Draconic), she led those who agreed with her into the eternal night caused by the Nightmare's incursion, rejecting the sun and the Emperor it symbolized. So were the elves split into the Moon Elves, who rejected the unnatural progress of their people, and the Sun Elves, who believed their glory and light were the only way to defeat the darkness.

With the Emperor's corruption and the elves' conflict, the shielding mists around Tron Daurat wavered, and for the first time in ages, the outside world glimpsed the grace and beauty of the ancient lands. That vision is a shadow of its former self, however, and should the Nightmare continue to spread, the golden rays of Tron Daurat may become no more than a distant memory.

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