Island Rising
On the other side of the world, Earth and Fire smashed the landscape to pieces. Each broken mountain or fractured plain only riled the Earthshaker into deeper rage. With one great heave of his front leg, the entire planet wobbled in its orbit, and to this day has remained at an irregular tilt. Emboldened by the sudden disorientation, the Flamecaller beckoned several magma vents into existence, shattering the crust and spewing voluminous smoke billows into the atmosphere.
During the First Age, as rock and flame burst and shook Sornieth, not even the crust beneath the ocean was safe from the devastation. Volcanic eruptions on the ocean floor occurred countless times over, and with every clash between Flamecaller and Earthshaker, the layers of lava climbed ever higher with the she-dragon's fiery temper. At the end of the First Age, a seamount had formed just off the coast of what would become the Ashfall Waste, the seared sea studded with cooled remnants of the Flamecaller’s fury.
The majority of these seamounts never became more than the forgotten remains of elemental conflicts, but as they say, fire is persistent. Especially when it has been slowly building up below the water’s edge, gradually gaining momentum over the eons that stretched out over the Second Age and into the Third.
When the Shade was roused, the seamount had now become a small, nameless island, untouched by civilization. The shattering of the World Pillar sent chunks and slabs of rock all over Sornieth; from Dragonhome down into the seas, over the Windswept Plateau, to the Ashfall Waste, and even as far as the Southern Icefields. Unsurprisingly, the unknown island did not remain unscathed.
A piece of the pillar, still infused with some of the Flamecaller’s energies, struck the island and triggered a massive volcanic eruption. Lava scorched the rock that had collided, and it helped form the base of a much larger island, one that would become far more hospitable than its barren predecessor. The rich volcanic soil bore magnificent jungles, and the volcano at the heart of it all had begun to fall dormant once more, allowing the island to grow prosperous.
The first to arrive were the Talonok, more specifically it was the aggressive tribal Raptorik that first took to the island. A powerful, clever species, their scouts were strong enough to fly down from the Viridian Labyrinth to paradise hidden out there amidst the roiling seas. A highly adaptable race, they were able to withstand the wild environment and shape it to their liking. Their name for the island has been lost to the ages, but carved stone fragments of their civilizations here can be seen in the Sun-Claimed Ruins and in small burial chambers occasionally unearthed in search of minerals and precious gemstones.
During the First Age, as rock and flame burst and shook Sornieth, not even the crust beneath the ocean was safe from the devastation. Volcanic eruptions on the ocean floor occurred countless times over, and with every clash between Flamecaller and Earthshaker, the layers of lava climbed ever higher with the she-dragon's fiery temper. At the end of the First Age, a seamount had formed just off the coast of what would become the Ashfall Waste, the seared sea studded with cooled remnants of the Flamecaller’s fury.
The majority of these seamounts never became more than the forgotten remains of elemental conflicts, but as they say, fire is persistent. Especially when it has been slowly building up below the water’s edge, gradually gaining momentum over the eons that stretched out over the Second Age and into the Third.
When the Shade was roused, the seamount had now become a small, nameless island, untouched by civilization. The shattering of the World Pillar sent chunks and slabs of rock all over Sornieth; from Dragonhome down into the seas, over the Windswept Plateau, to the Ashfall Waste, and even as far as the Southern Icefields. Unsurprisingly, the unknown island did not remain unscathed.
A piece of the pillar, still infused with some of the Flamecaller’s energies, struck the island and triggered a massive volcanic eruption. Lava scorched the rock that had collided, and it helped form the base of a much larger island, one that would become far more hospitable than its barren predecessor. The rich volcanic soil bore magnificent jungles, and the volcano at the heart of it all had begun to fall dormant once more, allowing the island to grow prosperous.
The first to arrive were the Talonok, more specifically it was the aggressive tribal Raptorik that first took to the island. A powerful, clever species, their scouts were strong enough to fly down from the Viridian Labyrinth to paradise hidden out there amidst the roiling seas. A highly adaptable race, they were able to withstand the wild environment and shape it to their liking. Their name for the island has been lost to the ages, but carved stone fragments of their civilizations here can be seen in the Sun-Claimed Ruins and in small burial chambers occasionally unearthed in search of minerals and precious gemstones.
The First War
The prosperity enjoyed by the Talonok were not meant to last, however. As the Flamecaller roused her children to action, creating dragons in her likeness to fight against the Shade, the last burning vestiges of the fiery one’s essence coalesced into what would become the progenitor of an entire dragon clan.
WIP