The Vale

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. At least not that mankind could remember. And who could blame them when their lives were so short compared to the lives of the many other species on the planet. Yet while their lives are fleeting, the marks they leave on the land are profound, perpetual, and pervasive. It seemed that the more they came to understand the world around them, the greater their worries and fears. How very small they must have felt to have desired dominion over lands and creatures that had never troubled them. Well, at least not in the beginning.

It's very difficult to abstain from harming the small fly that dares to enter your home, consume your food, and curse you with illness and death. And there are very many creatures who would consider humanity pests, or food even. But dragons are something else entirely. Higher order beings, more akin to deities than the world's other species. Their plans and machinations unfold over millennia, their dreams become prophecies, their bodies forge the truest items to be found in nature, and by their will, the world is either blessed or it burns.

Upon learning of their existence, and fearing all they know and have built may turn to ash in their lifetimes, humans conspired to bring an end to the dragon race with the help of six other great races. Though they were the youngest among them, the humans were very persuasive and in time they convinced the fairies, witches, vampires, werewolves, elves, and jinns to create a spell that would, through their continual efforts, put every dragon in seven realms to sleep. So long as the spell endured, the dragons would remain dormant. So long as each race's grand magus endured, the world would be free of the threat of death by dragon flame or ire.

And so, on the night of the Tamaran meteor shower, when the sky glittered around the globe with hundreds of thousands of flaming rocks just beyond the planet's pull, the grand magi of seven great races looked up to the sky and chanted. It is said that the roar or dragons could be heard throughout every forest, cave, and watery depth that eve, which later became known as The Downing. Some contend that it was in fact the volume of their collective yawns that were heard in every continent. Regardless, it was enough to terrify them all. What had they done? Why had they done it? All that the world could fathom was that what they had done could never be undone, less they face the wrath of the godlike beasts they had willfully provoked. Tensions rose with the growing stillness that followed their surreptitious deed and naturally, the great races began to turn on each other.

Myrissa, queen of the vampires cast blame on the werewolves who had been quick to agree to the humans' plans, like dogs eager to do their master's bidding. The werewolf alpha, Godfried, contended that the vampires were to blame, as they should have known humanity well enough to understand the foolishness of their plotting and the consequences of their ill-gotten gains. The jinns and the fairies cared very little as their kind were skilled at hiding and believed they would endure the longest among the races should the Dragons revive and take their vengeance.

Their nonchalance angered the elven lord, Darmadyn. Although they were just as good at hiding, their pride would not abide it. He accused the jinn king, Zafar and the fairy queen, Eilonwyn of cowardice, bewildered how they could bear the thought of being outsmarted by humans who had the most to gain and the least to lose in the pact. The witches were adamant in their defense of humanity, claiming that they had all agreed and shared equally the risk and any consequences. They understood that The Downing would cause a shift in the weight of the world's balance of power, and saw only how it might be used to their ends.

Through their communion with the six other races, the weak yet prolific human race had gained the knowledge of powerful spells, the least of which could prolong their lives and cure their ailments. They had learned the secrets of the other great races' strengths and weaknesses, and had felled the single greatest threat to their plans of conquest; the dragons, now defenseless in spelled slumber, whom they would immediately seek out to harvest for their fangs, scales, bones, hearts, and eyes. Or so they hoped.