Hatefire Calamity

Your seas will boil. Your mountains break. The continent and all its wretched cities shall quake. All will wither and burn under the shadow of my wings!

— Asgan, Flame of Ruin

If there is one flaw within the Children of the Gods, it is their inability to fully grasp the vengeful fury that fuels the Children of the Fallen and the lengths they will go to survive and accomplish their ultimate goal. Following the Age of Discord, the civilized world came under assault time and time again. And none would be more devastating than the wrath of the winged abominations, the reign of Dragons...

Embers of the Past

For over a thousand years, the world thought the Fallen's Children extinct, wiped out at the very end of the Age of Discord. The Tarakan eventually proved that a lie, but it was to the great relief of most that the fearsome Adjari did not reemerge as well. This proved a false hope, however. For the vile Dragons had survived in the most ancient corners of the world and slowly regained their power and numbers. Many millennia after their fall, the winged beasts of nightmare rose into the skies once again to bring doom upon their ancestral foe...

Burning Skies

by Albert Ramon Puig

And emerged into a changed world. The Atenarri had long since lost their ancient home to the ceaseless Tarakan onslaught and sought refuge behind Dvergar's iron walls. Under Dvergari protection they had flourished, creating a number of Kingdoms among the land's fertile plains.
Not all was well, power struggles, strife between Elf and Dwarf and betrayals of the vilest sort threatened to end the New Order itself. War with the Roje seemed eternal, few days passing peacfully along Dvergar's northern border.
It was into this world that the Adjari came with the fury of a thunderstorm. How they had found Dvergar is unknown, be it instinct or sheer malice that drew them in. But all the civilized world cried in shock and horror as a thousand winged Dragons struck from the skies. Fire rained from the heavens, turning entire cities to ash in minutes. Night turned to day as a continent was lit aflame. Then Dvergar struck back.
Hidden strongholds in the mountains unleashed storms of steel to cleanse the skies. Censor Taran alone is said to have downed over sixty Dragons out of an attacking swarm one hundred strong. But as they saw that that alone would not be enough, they prepared to turn the very earth against the attacker. Seven days after the war had begun, the Dwarven Mages unleashed a storm unlike ever seen before or after. Towering lightning and cutting winds tore the winged beast out of the skies and any flying to close to the ground were pierced by rising spikes of earth or drowned in erupting rivers.

When the skies cleared, no Adjari dared show their face. We thought the war won. Our enemy dead once again. We should never have been so foolish.

— Armur Scalebreaker, High Mage of Dvergar

Simmering Danger

Only a handful of Dragons survived and fled once again to remote corners of the world. Hidden from sight they changed and adapted, stewing in darker emotions to grow in power. For the winged beast were born from the dying breaths of their tortured God. They thrive on hatred and the wounds given to them by the Dvergari only served to push them to ever more monstrous heights.

Slow Recovery

Short the Dragon attack may have been, but the devastation it caused cannot be denied. Large swaths of Lithian and Hebara lay in ashes. Many of the largest cities of Dvergar, such as Amaris and Cedura had been reduced to mere rubble. The Seafolk was driven off the Tolganri and many a forest temple of the Faye was turned to cinder. Even the mighty Dwarves had not escaped unscathed, with over five dozen of their strongholds destroyed, their mages exhausted and their magic depleted. The lands to the north had largely been spared by the attack and many an eye was gazing south with interest. With the threat of Orc Invasion now looming greater than ever, Dvergar began the long road toward recovery.

Silent Cunning

Rather than assault the High Kingdom once again, an action they all knew would be suicidal at best, the remaining Dragons began to act through proxies instead. Adjari can easily manipulate those of weaker will and soon poisoned words sowed chaos all over the world. Orc attacks became ever more ferocious. Trolls and Giants raged among the mountains. Out on the Ostmaar, the Seafolk turned increasingly to piracy in the face of starvation. And the Atenarri realms were rife with noble schemes and peasant rebellion. Their desperate attempt to keep the New Order alive forced the Dvergari to fight on a hundred fronts. Step by step, Dvergar died under a thousand dagger strikes.

by Börkur Eiríksson

Dvergar entered a period now called the Second Dark Age. Without magic, the Dvergari were forced to rely on their technology and military prowess. And while a Dwarf is a powerful foe with or without magic, he is decidedly more vulnerable without. It didn't help that when compared to the whole population of the land, the Dwarves are but a drop in an ocean of life.
Over a century of war bled the Dvergari armies dry and with each day their reach shrunk until the High Kingdom consisted only of a handful of lands outside of the Dwarven holds themselves. Seeing their prey sufficiently weakened, the Adjari reemerged from hiding to claim the void left by the High Kingdom.

Reign of Fire

When speaking of a Dragon Kingdom people often mean very different things. From organized states in the manner of the Elves or Dwarves to mere hunting grounds comprised of ashen wastelands.

Ashen Heath

Largest example of the latter type was the domain of Isgal and her brood. From their nest in the ruins of Vianis the Adjari scoured the land for anything that could sate their hunger. All they left was a grey wasteland, where anything left alive moved in the shadows to escape the doom from the skies. In time, this wasteland encompassed all of southern Hebara.

Asganizzar

Asgan, self styled Flame of Ruin, forged himself an Empire from his throne at Amaris. His will could dominate all but the greatest of mortal creatures, Giants, Trolls, Orcs and Elves alike slaving to see his wishes fulfilled. Most cursed of all where the Dracari, Elves and Seafolk that served willingly, worshipping him in great pyramids of blackened stone.

Wandering Hell

Some Dragons choose to wander around Dvergar, taking possession of whatever stretch of land they happened upon. There they remained until the area had been wiped clean of sufficient prey and moved on. As the Dragons fed they increasingly began to spawn minor draconic creatures. In time, hordes of scaled monsters scoured the land for food.

Decades passed and the rule of Dragons continued, resistance, if any materialized, crushed without issue. But the calm was an illusion. Deep within their mountain holds, the Dvergari were focussing all their resources on crafting weapons and shields. What minor amount of magic had returned to them flowed into this work and from it came the first of the Agranikai, the Magitech Abominations for which the Dvergari are so feared today.
In remote corners of the world, people were gathering by the tens of thousands. With the Dragons content on their burned thrones and increasingly at odds with one another, the people of Dvergar had caught a break which they intended to make the most of. Led by Amur Scalebreaker, a mage turned warrior, a new army was growing to crush the ashen realms of the Adjari.

Curtain Call

by Darkseid

As the 14th century dawned, the Reign of Fire entered its final decades. Rivalry between the Adjari escalated into all-out conflict. Mysterious machines began to hunt them from the shadows. And even small skirmishes turned disastrous for the Dragons, even decisive victories only occurring at horrendous cost.
One by one, the Dragons fell. Their realms cleansed, every hoard and nest destroyed. Isga and her brood were driven into their caves under Vianis and the ruin collapsed on top of them. Bosgal, who had tormented southern Amanra for decades, drowned in the Ostmaar fleeing from a horde of Agranikai. Soon only Asgan remained.
When the Dvergari tried to end him, the Flame of Ruin proved his name worthy. In a storm of fire, he rose one last time, the land itself withering under his wings. One last time, the skies burned as Asgan raged across the land, melting armies and cities alike with his wrath. His rampage ended in the heart of the New Order itself, the Beast burning itself and nearly half of Dvergara to cinders.
But as all of Dvergar breathed freely for the first time in centuries, a message arrived from Quirok Ordin. The most southern Kingdom had closed itself off in the early 1200s, remaining silent ever since. But in 1331 NR, word from the south reached the High Kingdom. It was a desperate cry for help...

They will always return. No matter how many you kill. No matter how many of their armies you smash. They will return again and again and again. Until either, we or the world is nothing but ashes.

— Armur Scalebreaker

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

1101 NR

Ending Date

1327 NR

Conflict Result

New Order Victory. Adjari Decimated. Devastation of vast Swaths of Dvergar.

Location

Dvergar - The Land of Stone and Iron

by Greg Rutkowski

New Order

led by Amur Scalebreaker

400 Dvergari Mages

~ 300.000 Soldiers

Survive.

Severe Casualties.

Adjari Hordes

led by Ashgan, Flame of Ruin

~ 1000 Dragons

Beasts beyond Count

Annihilate All.

Unknown.

Maybe it is a twisted form of justice? Redemption by hellish fire for us who have fallen from faith, praying to the Stunties rather than the Eight who gave us life.

— Sigrion "the Damned"

by Darkseid

On Flying Lizards
While most people will picture Dragons when thinking of Adjari, the truth is that any ordinary lizard scurrying around is part of the group. The draconic variants are merely the largest of several hundred known.
A single Dragon, be it male or female, can spawn numerous minor draconic creatures. Be it through eggs, scales or mutation. Winged Dragons only emerge as the result of two Dragons mating.
The minor creatures will inevitably be drawn to a Winged Dragon, or flock of them, forming a Dragon Swarm. These will grow over time, the largest approaching 10.000+ creatures.
Even a small Dragon can escalate into a massive problem given enough time, conflict and prey. While officially the Calamity ended in 1327 NR, it was only in 1512 NR that the last hoard in Dvergar was destroyed.

The fools call us parasites and leeches. Is it not the right of the stong to use the weak? How is us scouring a city any different than them culling a flock of sheep?

— Asgan to Isgal

Scalebreaker
Following the Runestorm, Dvergar's mages were left powerless. They then retreated into a deep trance to recover. All except one that is.
Amur of Thenpike was the youngest mage in Dvergar's history at only 102. While the others reclused themselves, Amur threw himself into the ranks of warriors to restore order in the tormented High Kingdom. Over the centuries, he became one of the most prominent defenders of Dvergar, personally leading the assault that killed Isgal.
Scalebreaker found his end in the last battle against Ashgan, last seen atop the beast's head, hacking at it in cold fury shortly before the Flame of Ruin burst apart.

by Imad Awan

Roof of the World
One safe haven for those fleeing the Adjari were the high peaks of Dvergar's various mountains. Dragons hate the cold and rarely spend more time among the mountains than it takes to cross them.
With Dvergari aid, many Elves found a temporary home among snow and ice and some chose to stay permanently. These tribes eventually became known as the Ningani, the Snow Elves.

by Ahmet Can Kahraman