About seven hundred years ago, the land where the sprawling city of Draconeum stands now used to be nothing but a small fishing community along the Agrigean sea. Not much beyond that is known from those years. Historians have speculated that at some point, the village has been sacked and razed for unknown reasons.

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Fifteen years later, a new group of people decided to settle down near the site of whatever remained of the first village. They were mostly comprised of men that for a reason or another were banished from a group of villages from the nearby area. Allegedly on grounds of high treason against the local lords and councils for attempting a coup that would have brought about the birth of a league under a new form of government. Those who were banished are believed to have been local instigators who owed their survival to their nobility.

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After a period of eight months, the new and unnamed village's populace went through its very first crisis. If their wish to grow as a community was to be fulfilled, they needed to have children of their own. One of the towns that banished them which went by the name of Meridium sent out a few warriors in order to disrupt the townsfolk but were repeatedly repelled. They also held many of the mens wives captive.

 

This fuelled the locals hatred for the council of elders of Meridium. The men had enough  of being persecuted and formed a small warband that set forth to take revenge on their hostile neighbours. They came in the dark of the night and launched their raid first, killing most of the defenders as well as the entirety of the council of elders and liberated the women there. Meridium was subsequently sacked and razed to the ground.

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The weeks that followed the raid were rather uneventful, this was until one fateful night that the mountain that was towering over the village suddenly seemed to awake. Much to the disbelief of the villagers, a copper dragon flew from a cave which was at the summit.

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The creature quickly introduced itself as Arrchus, the dragon had followed the progression the small group and was rather impressed by their exploits. He told them of the fate that befell the fishing community that once stood there and that an other large band of bandits were heading their way. Arrchus explained that they were most likely to go for his lair first and ransack their village next, should the dragon fail and perish.

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The copper dragon struck a deal with the folks who still could not believe that a dragon would come and not just kill them like old folk tales used to tell. In exchange for their assistance with defending his lair as well as giving him tribute every now and then, Arrchus would provide the people of the village eternal protection and even a helping claw in their next conquests as well as keeping more aggressive dragons away.

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Not only have their collaboration proven successful in outright destroying the band of brigands that sought to lay waste to the settlement, but the humans kept to their word as well. Time passed and Arrchus, along with the five families of humans became a local legend. In order to further honour their new-found protector, the locals eventually gave their town a name, Draconeum, the city of the dragon.

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This had the effect of attracting not only a lot of new human settlers, but also more dragons that saw eye-to-eye with the copper. They eventually formed a flight which elected residence within the mountain. Under Arrchus' rule, each of the dragons of the flight swore to protect and bless the Draconeans with their guidance in exchange for tribute. These dragons were soon to be treated as deities and the Draconeans wasted no time in erecting temples to their glory. And here began the cult of the dragon-gods.

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Time came to pass. Years became decades, decades became centuries and centuries brought its lot of conquests, wars, alliances and betrayals. Their most valuable allies were the Ptergylian league to the south and the brave Argolonians to the north. They however began to hit hard times and suffered their greatest defeats against the elven tribes to the east. Which forced the republic to sign the Pax Draconeana, a non-aggression treaty which prevented either side from engaging in a military conflict against one another.

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Such was not to the taste of all of the Draconean nobility, the loudest voices that arose in the senate against the treaty undeniably were those from the Gens Guilerminia. They saw the negotiations as a sign of weakness and that those who signed it will ultimately come to regret it.

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Later that year, on August 1st, during the Ludi Draconei (Draconean fesvital) which celebrated the birth of the bonding between dragonkind and mankind, an incident happened involving Publius Guillerminius Varo, the head of the Gens Guillerminia which was said to be a bad omen. The man took great offense and publicly accused Arrchus himself and the other families to have staged the incident in order to make his family seem like the source of all the problems that befell the city in recent history.

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In a fit of rage, Publius cast a spell against Arrchus in front of a horrified crowd. Luckily, the spell was too weak to kill the copper dragon, however, it forever left a mark on him and severely reduced his lifespan. The man was immediately arrested and thrown into jail in spite of the protestations coming from his family members.

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The dragon flight sought revenge and reparation for this insolent assault. And so, from this point on, humans were hereby forbidden to use magic, except for those who have been ''gifted'' it by one of the dragon-gods, those rare few were to become priests.

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The fate of Publius Guillerminius Varo was met with swift justice. He was first tortured and then hurled from the Tharpean rock and fell to his death as witnessed by a cheering crowd. This punishment became the standard for the heretical fools who would ever attempt to slay a dragon again.

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Demetrus Guillerminus Celer, the grandson of Publius was prompt to condemn the act and publicly opposed the senate and the draconic pantheon. He proceeded in hiring all sorts of brutes and misfits to stir chaos into the capital. Most people at this point thought that he would either die an angry man or see himself live long enough to turn wise and end his nonsensical crusade against those who wronged his family.

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Twenty years passed and Arrchus reached the time of his twilight, he eventually gave his own shape to the summit of the mountain. However, the other dragons seemed to have disappeared. This event stuck fear and panic in the hearts of all. Demetrus awaited this moment his entire life and along with a few of his followers and swords-for-hire stormed the senate floor in the middle of the meeting in an attempt to take over. His attempt was met with swords and blood as he was subsequently forced out of the senate and was forced to leave the city all together.

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Nothing was heard about him for the month that followed. Up until elven horns and campfires lit up the horizon at the borders, this was the beginning of the elven incursions and their violation of the Pax Draconeana. The newly united tribes, going by the name of Vox Natura attacked on grounds that they have been told that Draconeum was planning on conquering them and destroy their holly forest.

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The war lasted for five years, and the situation seemed desperate for the now fragile republic, the capital has been besieged and the defenders won the battle by a very thin thread at the cost of severe casualties on both sides.

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In a desperate attempt of swaying their allies to help them, one of the three consuls, Quintus Arrius Scapula sailed off to seek help from the Ptergylian league. However, his ship was met with a sudden and devastating storm and he was not heard from for three months. All thought he had met an untimely death when his first scrolls managed to make its way back to Draconean land. He washed ashore on a mysterious and uncharted island and tried to secure an alliance there. About a year later, another scroll came, this was a plea to send out the fleet immediately in order to ferry refugees from the now doomed island into the safety and protection of the republic.

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The ships returned, along with the consul, his friend and proconsul Gaius Monnerius Merula and a miracle. Dragons. Does it mean that the tide has turned? Only time will tell...