The Draco Holy Wars were a series of civil wars fought among dragonkind during the Time of Dragons over philosophical differences between the different religious dogmas of the draconic pantheon. The dragons of the time were devout followers of their gods, and such devotion sparked intense wars among them. These wars were fought not only between different species but also within species as well.[1][2]
History[]
The most violent wars started because of the debate over Asgorath's alignment and nature. Every species of dragon believed Asgorath represented the pinnacle of their particular race. While silver dragons could grudgingly accept the gold dragons' insistence that Asgorath was a lawful good gold dragon, neither could tolerate the red dragons' claim that Asgorath was a chaotic evil red. At one time, the resulting wars threatened the entire dragon race with extinction.[3]
An example of civil war within the species was one related to the growing faith of Bahamut, which divided the usually monolithic gold dragon culture. As the precepts of Bahamut became more popular, the younger golds began to forsake the worship of Lendys and Tamara, the traditional gods of their race, as they regarded them as old-fashioned and inconsistent, to embrace the faith of the Platinum Dragon;[1] an attitude that put them at odds with older gold dragons, who worshiped those two dragon gods with fanatical devotion. Although this conflict never degenerated into outright violence, religious intolerance became quite widespread among gold dragons, something that had no precedent until that time and never happened ever since.[3]
Perhaps the most well known of these conflicts to modern scholars is the Dragonfall War, fought between the followers of Bahamut and Tiamat. It began around −30,000 DR, when followers of Bahamut slew Nagamat, a wyrm-general of Tiamat.[2][4] During the ensuing battles, Tiamat unleashed all sorts of dragon-like beings, aberrant entities that became known as the Spawn of Tiamat.[2][5] To counter them, Bahamut created his own agents, the dragonborn, to act as his knights and soldiers.[6]
Over time, draconic philosophers came to the conclusion that all of the fighting was wasteful and that gods who allowed such behavior were not worthy of their worship.[2] Some believe this behavior was influenced by the god Zorquan as a way to stop the dragon wars.[3] Others believe some dragons feared that if they continued battling each other in such conflicts, they would eventually face extinction.[7]
Aftermath[]
Those dragons that were worried about their survival, came up with a solution: Instead of battling each other, dominance among them would be established by status. To determine this, they developed the xorvintaal game.[7]
Eventually most dragons turned away from the war and from religion in general. This started the dragon's apathy toward their gods, which lasted for thousands of years.[2] It was speculated that several members of the original draconic pantheon just died and vanished from the multiverse due to the lack of worship.[8] Only the followers of Bahamut and Tiamat didn't lose their faith toward their gods, and continued fighting the Dragonfall War.[2]
Legacy[]
It was prophesied among the few remaining worshipers of the draconic gods that a "Turning of the Great Cycle" would foretell the return of religious fervor among dragonkind.[8][9] This "turning" happened in 1373 DR, after the last Rage of Dragons decimated most of the draconic population in Faerûn and this realization sparked the need of dragons to look for the help of their gods.[9]
The dragon gods who survived the long years without worshipers received a great influx of power from their new draconic followers. However, this also threatened Faerûn with the possibility of a new battle in the Dragonfall War.[9]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nigel Findley, et al. (October 1990). Draconomicon. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), p. 28. ISBN 0-8803-8876-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 7. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Nigel Findley, et al. (October 1990). Draconomicon. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 29–30. ISBN 0-8803-8876-5.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Kolja Raven Liquette (2006). Races of the Dragon. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 5. ISBN 0-7869-3913-3.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 126. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Richard Lee Byers (June 7th, 2011). The Spectral Blaze. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 15–19. ISBN 0786957980.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Nigel Findley, et al. (October 1990). Draconomicon. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), p. 30. ISBN 0-8803-8876-5.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 10. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.