A/N: Huh. This blew up. Not huge, but yeah, cool. This one's another 'codex entry.' I wouldn't say I'm on a roll, but I wanted to get this out there to try and explain the dragons a little better. It was tricky putting the two lores together, but I think there was enough time and distance to make up a reason for the whole giant flying lizards vs literal demigods thing. The next actual will likely be out by next month earliest. Right now I'm swamped with school work and with only three weeks left in the semester, and this guy's ready to graduate.
Also reviews:
Reviews:
LeviathanFall: Well, it's been nearly a year and a half since I last updated, and a lot of other fanfics have been churned out (some pretty good ones too), and update on a regular schedule, unlike me, so… thanks, I'll try my best.
NightlyRowenTree: Your welcome. I'm trying to make it regular and not sporadic.
JosephLeeCollins: Jon Umber (the Greatjon) I feel is a hypocrite (a lot of the current generation of northerners are in fact and the only ones who aren't are the ones we hate most) His dismissiveness of warrior women stems from something I recall him saying to Catelyn in ASOS. I can't remember which chapter exactly, though he may have been referring to ladies like Catelyn herself, now that I think about it, and Rickard Karstark said something similar before that in AGOT, to which Catelyn coolly replied, "Give me Cersei Lannister, Lord Karstark, and you would see how gentle a woman can be," but Jon Umber also sees Bear Islander women as an exception, I mean Maege Mormont's daughter Dacey (and yes, Maege would have smacked the Greatjon upside the head. With her mace.) was part of Robb's personal guard, with his son the Smalljon. We also need to remember that the Greatjon is also the kind of guy that will piss on your life no matter who or what the hell you are until you put him in his place, then he'll suddenly be willing to give you the shirt off his back, something that will happen in an altercation with Alycia in the next real chapter. Hope you like it.
Artaeum Archives: Entry II
Dragons
"Dov wahlaan fah rel. We were made to dominate. The will to power is in our blood. You feel it in yourself, do you not?"
Powerful, destructive, majestic, proud, immortal. Dragons have long been an integral part of world. Sometimes referred as 'fragments of time,' or 'fire made flesh,' a dragon can be capable of far more than simply breathing fire. They are believed to be the children of Akatosh, the Dragon-God of Time, or perhaps even Anu, the dov have long been associated with the concept of time itself yet exist outside of its constrictions.
Characteristics:
Dragons are theorized to lie in a state of existence between the et'Ada and mortal races and animals; this renders them ageless and immortal, their souls enduring beyond physical death, yet they mate and breed as animals and mortals do, the eggs laid more akin to stone than the brittle shells of other reptiles. How they hatch is relatively unknown, only that they do hatch, one way or another. The dragons largely protect their secrets, but it is hypothesized that if a dragon hatchling is not 'raised properly' they will grow into what the dragons refer to as a 'drake'; little better than a 'dog who breathes fire.' This was in reference to the dragons seen in the continents of Westeros and Essos, tamed, and flown by the Valyrian Freehold, and members of the Targaryen Dynasty. But a dragon's soul is ageless and enduring, so that even if a hatchling grows into a drake, their soul remains dormant, waiting to be awakened. This was the case with two drakes that hailed from the continent of Westeros. Known as the Sheepstealer and the Cannibal, these two dragons made their way to Tamriel in the late Fourth Era, where they would fall in battle during the Second Dominion War, only to be purportedly resurrected by the ancient dragon Paarthurnax, Master of the Greybeards. According to the Last Dragonborn, Sheepstealer and Cannibal underwent a rebirth as opposed to a resurrection, their dormant souls awakening for the first time. Becoming full dov, Paarthurnax renamed the two former Targaryen drakes Faalgrahin and Jiidvennah. The two dragons continued to fight in the war and have remained in Tamriel ever since.
Dragons have powerful jaws, rowed and serrated teeth, sharp claws, leathery wings, and long necks and tails, often with horns on their heads—though there are a handful that spend more time underwater, having a more serpentine appearance. Some can have four eyes clustered together within their sockets. Their scales vary in color while stronger and larger dragons also having plates as thick and hard as stone, making them resistant to more effective artillery and magic. They also generally have four limbs: two wings, used as forelegs in a manner similar to bats, and two rear legs. Only two types of dragons are the exception to this: The Blue-Eyes White Dragons and the Red-Eyes Black Dragons, both having six limbs: four legs and a detached pair of wings. Dragon bones are incredibly dense, with the average skull weighing twice that of a loaded trebuchet. Some smiths have used dragonbone in making powerful weapons, including the complex and strong dragonsteel. In addition to breathing either fire or frost, dragons also possess their own magic and language, called Dovahzul, and the powerful art known as the Thu'um, making them powerful engines of destruction.
Originally, it was believed that a dragon, provided it is given adequate space and food, never stops growing. However, at the time of the Dragon Crisis in 4E 201, many different dragons of different sizes appeared in Skyrim, yet were thousands of years old, and within ten years all were surpassed in size by the white dragon Zosiilviing, the first dovah born in over two thousand years. It is not known whether they continue grow after one hundred years, or if the strength of their Thu'um plays a role in their final size.
History:
Ancient
The first dragons are purported to be Alduin the World-Eater (Destroyer Devour Master), and Kiisahrah the World-Shaper (Ash Phantom God). According to legends, Alduin, the first and most powerful Red-Eyes Black Dragon, would bring the end times and destroy the world, and Kiisahrah, the first Blue-Eyes White Dragon, sang a great song that created the next world from the ashes that remained. It is said that they are both aspects of Akatosh, who is also depicted as a dragon, or even Anu himself. Whatever the case may be, they are both instrumental to the cycle of destruction and creation.
While their precise origin is unknown, in ancient times, dragons were believed to have been native to the continent of Akavir, warring constantly with the Tsaesci and Ka Po'Tun. Some records dating as far back as the late Dawn or early Merethic Era speak of a temporary alliance, but against what, no one can say. Eventually, they left the continent and spread in different directions. Most migrated to Tamriel, while a smaller group may have first settled in Westeros before moving further east into Essos, ultimately landing in the Shadow Lands.
Tamriel
In Tamriel, the dragons would encounter Ysgramor and his Atmoran settlers, who brought a faith that worshipped animal gods, with the dragon being the most powerful. Dragons embraced their role as man's god-kings. In their eyes, they were clearly superior to the tiny, frail, and short-lived beings that worshiped them. To dragons, power is equal to truth, and their power over men was indisputable evidence of their superiority. In exchange for the obedience of their priests, the dragons granted tiny amounts of power to them, bestowing magical masks upon their most favored priests. In turn, the dragon priests ruled over men, wielding authority equal to the kings.
In Atmora, where Ysgramor and his people came from, the dragon priests demanded tribute and created laws which kept the peace between dragon and man. In Tamriel, their rule was quite different. A dragon priest called Miraak rose in power, claiming to have the power of the dragons, and openly rebelled against his overlords in a bid to usurp their power. He tamed and consumed many dragons, carving a kingdom for himself on the peninsula of Solstheim before the dragons responded in force, invading with a large army led by the priest Vahlok. The battle lasted many months, shattering the peninsula and transforming it into an island, Miraak fleeing deeper into his temple and escaped into Apocrypha with the aid of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. With Miraak's uprising crushed, the dragon priests lived in fear of another and began to rule over Skyrim with an iron fist, enslaving the rest of the population.
When the populace rebelled, the dragon priests retaliated. Eventually, they failed to collect tribute and their control over the masses began to slip. The dragons' response was swift and brutal, beginning the Dragon War. At first, men died by the thousands. Alduin forsook his true role as the World Eater and became a tyrant, engaging his twin Kiisahrah in a titanic battle that shattered the Eastmarch mountains and somehow defeating her. With this act, Kyne intervened, and instructed Paarthurnax to assist mankind. Paarthurnax, originally the first lieutenant of Alduin, had become disillusioned with Alduin when the latter proclaimed himself a god, and turned completely when he defeated the World Shaper. As a result, Paarthurnax betrayed his former master and taught the power of the Voice to mankind.
With new powers, the rebellion against the priests, dragons were slaughtered in large numbers. Those that survived chose to live in remote places away from men. Alduin himself was banished by a group of Nord heroes on the peak of Skyrim's Throat of the World, where they used an Elder Scroll to send him into another time. While the Nord warriors hoped that Alduin would be lost in time forever, he would eventually return to terrorize Skyrim again in the Fourth Era. The Dragon Cult itself, however, survived. They built the dragon mounds, entombing the remains of dragons that fell in the war, believing that one day the dragons would rise again and reward the faithful.
Dragons began to recede from Tamriel, with the last known sightings during the time of Tiber Septim. He made a pact with the few remaining dragons, swearing to protect them if they would serve him. Despite his promise, dragons were still hunted and slain by his own personal guard, the Order of Blades, descendants of the Akaviri Dragonguard. It's not clear if the last ones fled Tamriel or if they were exterminated prior to the Fourth Era.
Valyria
On the other side of the world, the dragons flourished. The small group that settled in the Shadow Lands would leave behind clutches of eggs before heeding Alduin's call to Tamriel. These eggs would later hatch and become the first drakes, dragons with dormant souls, who would roam Essos for thousands of years before being tamed by the Valyrians.
The Valyrians mastered the art of taming dragons and used them as weapons of war to carve out their own empire in Essos just as the Dragon War was in full swing. Any mention of how the Valyrians were able to tame dragons was lost when the Freehold was destroyed, however, they used them to first conquer the Old Empire of Ghis in a series of five consecutive wars that eliminated one of the three major empires of Essos, the other two being Yi Ti and Rhoyne. Eventually, the Dragonlords would use their dragons to expand further into western Essos, establishing many cities along the coast and enslaving many people. The last major conflict was the Second Spice War, resulting in the Rhoynar's mass exodus to Westeros. With no more rivals to their power, the Valyrians would come to dominate much of western Essos. The Dragonlords would eventually establish a single colony in Westeros called Dragonstone, which become a refuge for a lower house when the Doom came.
As the Septim Dynasty reached the zenith of its power, the Fourteen Flames suddenly went into a super eruption that shattered the Valyrian peninsula, wiping out most of the Dragonlords and their dragons, tearing the land into separate islands and formed the Smoking Sea. Hundreds of dragons were killed, thousands of eggs lost, generations of knowledge lost, it was a great disaster. The many free cities outside of the Freehold quickly fell into chaos and were either abandoned or razed to the ground in the ensuing Century of Blood. However, one Dragonlord family was able to escape the Doom due to prophetic vision: House Targaryen.
Fire and Blood
Twelve years before the Doom, the Targaryen lord received a prophetic vision from his daughter of Valyria's coming destruction. In response, he quickly gathered his family, their possessions, wealth and slaves, their five dragons, sold his estates, and fled to Dragonstone in Westeros, seen as cowardly by the other Dragonlords. Little did they know that it would be Aenar having the last laugh. After the Doom, it was believed the Targaryens were the only dragonriders of Valyria to survive. One hundred years later, Aenar's descendant, Aegon, would use the three remaining dragons to conquer and unify the Seven Kingdoms under his banner, establishing a golden age of prosperity and power to Westeros held together largely due to the dragons themselves, even using Balerion's black-red flames to forge a thousand swords into the Iron Throne that Aegon and his successors would reign from. For one-hundred and fifty years, the Targaryens rode their dragons as the symbol of their power, many bowing quickly at the sight of them, as what happened with the last King in the North, Torrhen Stark.
Though not all was handled as easily, even with dragons, as Aegon the Conqueror would quickly discover in the First Dornish War. After their victories in the Reach, the North, the Westerlands, the Stormlands, and the Riverlands, the Targaryens turned their sights on the Dorne, the new home to their ancestral enemy, the Rhoynar. At the time of the war, there was only Balerion the Dread, Vhagar, and Meraxes. By the war's end, Meraxes and her rider, Queen Rhaenys Targaryen, had fallen to a Dornish scorpion, indicating that they were not invincible. As time would tell however, the greatest threat to the dragons of House Targaryen was not their enemies, but lost knowledge, and themselves. During Aegon I's reign, less than a dozen hatchlings were born on Dragonstone. One of these, Quicksilver, would later be killed by Balerion along with his rider, Prince Aegon, in one of the first clashes for the Iron Throne. Even though eggs that were either laid or already kept at Dragonstone continued to hatch, the Targaryens lacked full knowledge on how to get them to do so, and what little they did know continued to dwindle as generations went by. To make matters worse, not every hatchling lived to maturity.
Recession of the House of the Dragon
On the eve of the civil war between Aegon II and Rhaenyra Targaryen, there were roughly twenty-three living dragons, including three wild ones. Most of these would die during the Dance of the Dragons, beginning in 129 AC/4E 176, coinciding with the Aldmeri-Redguard War. By the end of the Dance, only four dragons remained alive: Sheepstealer, who had fled east with his rider Nettles, escaping to Tamriel, the Cannibal who remained wild would eventually fly east as well, Silverwing who became untamable, flying to Red Lake in the Reach, and Morning, which had hatched during the war. Many eggs were left, with at least one hatching, but the last of the Targaryen dragons reportedly died in 153 AC/4E 201. With the loss of their dragons, House Targaryen was left with the unprecedented reality of losing their greatest asset. In the years that followed, there would be many attempts to revive dragons, all of them failing miserably and embarrassingly such as Baelor I's attempt of praying over one, Aegon IV commissioning siege weapons that resembled dragons but spewed wildfire. But none were as destructive as the Tragedy at Summerhall, where Aegon V tried to hatch a clutch of eggs that resulted in his death and half of his family in a great fire that destroyed the Targaryens' summer castle.
However, whether through sheer coincidence or an ironic twist fate, where one ember fades away, another bursts into a raging inferno, as the death of the last Targaryen 'drake' coincided with the return the dragons in Tamriel.
And the Scrolls have foretold
In Skyrim on the 16th of Midyear, 4E 201, the walled town of Helgen was destroyed by a dragon that seemed to have come from nowhere. Within weeks hundreds of other dragons began to appear all over the Nordic province, already undergoing strife with the ongoing civil war.
Going back to the Dragon War, when Alduin's defeat came when he was banished through time with the power of an Elder Scroll. However, rather than be lost forever, the Scroll merely created a Dragon Break that sent him thousands of years into the future where he emerged in the Fourth Era, immediately destroying the mountain town which coincidentally interrupted the execution several prominent figures, including Ulfric Stormcloak, and the missing Aldmeri princess, Alycia Starlight. Alduin then began resurrecting dozens of dragons from the burial mounds left behind by the Akaviri and the ancient Nords, all of them wreaking havoc across Skyrim.
Other dragons who had been in hiding for millennia also began to flock to Skyrim, including the last Targaryen drakes, Cannibal and Sheepstealer. Sheepstealer, already having a reputation in Tamriel as the reason the Aldmeri Dominion was forced to put its efforts in Hammerfell on hold, arrived with his new rider, Daena Stone, daughter of the previous rider Nettles.
The two would find themselves in battle with the dragon Mirmulnir at Whiterun, who demonstrated to them for the first time what a real dragon was capable of. Luckily, there was also a sizable regiment on the ground providing support in any way possible. Eventually, Mirmulnir was felled by Alycia Starlight, who used a scorpion to fire a single bolt into the dragon's left wing while it grappled with Sheepstealer, sending him to the ground. The half breed then plunged her steel sword through his eye killing him. The battle in turn revealed that Starlight was in fact a Dragonborn, a legendary warrior with the body of a mortal, but the soul and blood of a dragon. Upon returning to Whiterun to report their success, Starlight was called upon by the Greybeards to their monastery of High Hrothgar for training.
After being named a Thane of Whiterun, Alycia Aldmeri first traveled to Eastmarch, visiting the Eldergleam Sanctuary on an apparent errand run for the Temple of Kynareth in Whiterun, emerging with a tree sapling for the temple, and a blue streaked snow-white dragon egg, discovered beneath the trunk of the Eldergleam.
On the way from Whiterun, the Dragonborn also encountered Daena Stone's twin Jason, who was a Companion, and aided him in taming the recently arrived Cannibal, before finally reaching the village of Ivarstead and ascended the Seven Thousand Steps up the Throat of the World, reaching the millennia old monastery. The Greybeards would conduct various training exercises with Starlight to train her in the ways of the Voice, telling her of their history and locations of other Words of Power for her to seek out, some of which led her to ancient ruins across Skyrim, where she confronted the reawakened Dragon Cult.
Eventually, the Greybeards sent her on a mission to retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, located in Ustengrav, an ancient Nordic burial crypt. However, the Horn had already been taken by another party, leading Starlight back to the town of Riverwood.
As this was happening, the civil war in Skyrim was still raging, only this time the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloak Rebellion found themselves under constant attack from the dragons, forcing the war into a stalemate, and the belligerent forces falling back to fortify the cities they controlled. The Stone riders, Jason and Daena found themselves hounded by both sides of the conflict for their support, while evading the dragons hunting them. The two generally stuck together, managing to kill a dragon that had been hunting them at one point, only to watch Alduin resurrect it before their eyes. Fleeing with their drakes, they would later hear rumors of a warrior who has been killing dragons regularly, and absorbing their souls, being called Dragonborn. They determine it to be Alycia Aldmeri and resolve to join her in the fight.
Back in Riverwood, Alycia contacted the thief who stole the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, revealed to be the town's innkeeper, Delphine. Initially, they are distrustful of each other because Delphine immediately identified Starlight as the missing Aldmeri princess, and Alycia deduced that she is one of the last Blades. Begrudgingly, they agree to work together, if only to prove Alycia is Dragonborn. Delphine explained to Starlight that she had knowledge of several dragon burial sites located across Skyrim, some of which had been found empty. She believed that the dragons were coming back to life and that the next resurrection would happen at the small settlement of Kynesgrove, and thus requested that the Alycia follow her there to gain further information and avert any attack.
Arriving at Kynesgrove, Alduin was observed hovering over the burial site, speaking in the ancient Dragon Language, as another dragon, Sahloknir, rose out of the earth. Alduin then ordered Sahloknir to "slay the mortals" and flew away. Sahloknir began to attack Delphine and Starlight, only for Sheepstealer and the Cannibal, and their riders to join in. Described as a literal dance of fire and magic by the people of Kynesgrove, the two drakes together held their own against the much more powerful elder dragon as the Dragonborn Shouted from the ground. Working together, they were able bring down Sahloknir and Starlight absorbed his soul, proving that she is Dragonborn.
With that proof before her, Delphine admits that she is one of the last members of the Blades, wanting to be sure of it but still doesn't understand why the Dragonborn of all people was the daughter of the most ruthless man in Tamriel. She reveals her suspicions of the Thalmor being responsible for the recent dragon uprising, believing that they have much to gain from their sudden return. However, Alycia quickly disputes that theory, arguing that her father and his circle know almost nothing about dragons and were more concerned with studying the Towers, only harboring deep resentments for the winged beasts, the wounds still fresh from their defeat at the hands of Nettles and Sheepstealer. Delphine is unconvinced, claiming that the only way to be sure was to infiltrate a party being hosted by Ambassador Elenwen Aldmeri at the Thalmor Embassy and retrieve her intelligence documents, which Alycia vehemently refuses to do. Ultimately, Starlight's companions, Lydia Wayfarer and Serana Volkihar volunteer to be the ones to infiltrate the party.
As preparations are made, the Dragonborn returns to High Hrothgar with their founder's horn, and upon completion of her training, they greet her in the dragon tongue. However, as Starlight withstands the force of the Greybeards Thu'um, the stone egg she had been carrying with her began to stir. A blue comet soared beneath a starry night as the ceremony ended with the stone egg disintegrating, leaving behind a white hatchling with sparkling sapphire eyes. The Greybeards call this a miracle as it is the first dragon born in countless millennia, proclaiming Alycia Aldmeri Saavik, Dragon of the South. For a time, Starlight does not name the hatchling carrying it with her as she descended the mountain.
Back in the world, Lydia and Serana successfully infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy and confirm Starlight's doubts; the Thalmor were seeking answers just as they were, namely by tracking down another Blade, the archivist Esbern. The group reached him first and led him back to Delphine. Esbern explained his knowledge on the dragons' return and additional information on ways to fight them. Delphine, Esbern, Starlight, the Stones, and their other companions then traveled to an ancient Blades stronghold, Sky Haven Temple, where they discovered Alduin's Wall. Through the wall, they deciphered that the Ancient Nord warriors used, in conjunction with an Elder Scroll, a Shout to defeat Alduin.
Returning to the Greybeards, Alycia Aldmeri was permitted to meet their leader, the ancient dragon Paarthrunax, who revealed the true nature of the events regarding Alduin's defeat, sending the Dragonborn to the underground Dwemer city of Blackreach, where she retrieved the lost Elder Scroll. Returning to the Throat of the World, Starlight read before the time wound left behind by the ancient battle, and looked into the past, learning the Shout Dragonrend directly from the ancient Nordic Tongues themselves.
Alduin himself later arrived, resulting in the Duel atop the World, where Alycia would use Dragonrend and the sword Andúril to bring the World Eater to heel. Unfortunately, Alduin would escape to Sovngarde, the Nordic afterlife to try and regain his strength, go as far as to initiate the end times.
After mediating a temporary truce between the Imperials and Stormcloaks, Alycia Aldmeri convinced Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun to allow her the use of Dragonsreach to capture the red dragon Odahviing, Alduin's second in command. The plan goes wrong right from the start when the dovah immediately suspects the trap after he senses the dormant souls of Sheepstealer and Cannibal nearby. The ensuing battle destroys the Great Porch. Surprisingly, it is the vampire Serana who subdues the great dragon, managing to leap onto his head and threatening to plunge her sword through his eye. Fearing his soul being absorbed, Odahviing submits and strikes a deal with the Dragonborn, offering to carry the warrior to the gate of Sovngarde, located at Skuldafn, an impenetrable Nordic fortress, in exchange for his freedom. Leaving behind her companions, and her hatchling who was quickly growing, Alycia mounted Odahviing, and he flew her to Skuldafn, followed only by the Stones, and their drakes.
Upon reaching the fortress, the Dragonborn and her allies fought their way through Alduin's remaining forces blasting the fortress apart, but upon reaching the gate, only Alycia entered, reaching Sovngarde. Fighting alongside the legendary Tongues Hakon One-Eye, Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, and Felldir the Old, Alycia Aldmeri defeated Alduin, and he was reabsorbed by Akatosh himself, as was prophesized by the Elder Scrolls.
With Alduin's defeat, the dragons swore loyalty to the Last Dragonborn, witnessing her power before the World Eater. Paarthurnax stated his intention to bring the Way of the Voice to all dragonkind. The dragons then cease their attacks on Skyrim, ending their reign of terror.
The Second Dominion War and the Fifth Era
In the six months following Alduin's defeat, very little occurred in relation to the dragons, save for the incident with the First Dragonborn, Miraak, on the island of Solstheim. That would all change with the Second Dominion War, when the dragons were called upon to defend Tamriel from invasion by the Dragonborn's own homeland. Fighting in many enormous battles, the dragons were most famous for the intense aerial melees they waged with the Dominion's Faradrim Chevaliers, Sothori wyverns, and exterminated basilisks wherever they found them, as well as the Battle of the Direnni Tower and the Sundering of Hew's Bane. Proving to one of the main reasons the Thalmor were defeated, the dragons became widely recognized with greater respect and they began migrating outside of Skyrim.
Many new dragons would later be born in the following years, swelling their dangerously low numbers to almost pre-Dragon War levels by 5E 54.
While most if not all of the dragons would come to follow the Way of the Voice, they still recognize Alycia Aldmeri as their overlord; her dragon, the young Zosiilviing, already surpassing most of them in size.
That being said, they are also always ready for the next crisis to strike, coming to the Dragonborn's aid at the beginning of the Second Planemeld. Concentrated on the anchors that came down from Coldharbour, the dragons stemmed the flow of Daedric reinforcements, much to Molag Bal's chagrin. The fighting would last up to ten years, with many other Daedra and Aedra involving themselves, resulting in a great war between them that nearly destroyed Tamriel. A number of dragons would fall during this time, but most if not all, would be resurrected by the time the Planemeld ended.
Since then, it has been largely quiet, but they all know it is merely the calm before the next storm.