Book of Lore: The Downfall of the Drac'san (November) (Patreon)

“The fall of the once proud Drac’san nation is a tale often ignored due to racial tensions between neighbouring peoples and the reformed “Coalition of Blood” that now rules the Drac’san territory, but it is an important part of the Aether’s history and future as the Sun Sect and the Coalition of Blood continue to battle for hold over Valkyrie land.

“The Drac’san originated as a tribal race that had survived the infamous Blight, which consumed their natural habitat entirely, but slowly grew into a proud yet seclusive race. They colonised and terraformed an entire continent to suit their needs and to escape the hostile Blighted Plains. They built gigantic cities carved from mountains and mile long bridges to transport goods and resources between colonies, the Ashen isles were a safe haven for this new culture to thrive in. All this in an area of the Aether no other race knew of, even the Valkyries had never ventured far into the continent’s outer islands, thinking it a wasteland devoid of life.

“Within the Drac’san upper ranks, a pursuit of knowledge started to take hold. Similar to the Angels of Veradex, the Drac’san wanted to understand where they came from and the world around them. This led to extensive research into the Blight, the same parasitic mutagen that created their race. Eventually through decades of unregulated experimentation, the Drac’san developed a way to harness the Blight with selective mutations, the Drac’san could now design their own biology.

“Initial implementations on more basic animals yielded positive results; the mutations did not require offspring to take hold and instead were enacted on the initial host, creatures subjected to this new mutagen rapidly developed desirable traits. The Drac’san were pleased with this and thought it time to start experimenting on their own species.

“The traits the Drac’san wanted to develop were that of defensive and traversal ability, in an attempt to ready them for colonisation outside the Ashen isles, as well as removing the Blight’s inherent weakness to sunlight. To ensure the mutations did not ruin the highly developed brains of the Drac’san adults, the mutagen was applied to five eggs instead. The results were initially impressive, but had some startling side effects...

“The newborn Drac’san were dubbed “The Red Children” due to the discolouration of their plating and lack of the signature Drac’san golden glow. These children were shown to indeed be incredibly agile and possessed an ability to at will physically change their own skeletal structure, giving them incredible running speed and the ability to glide in the air. 

“Deemed an incredibly successful experiment, the Drac’san were ready to start subjecting more eggs to the mutagen, until they realised some startling behaviour: At first they had observed that the mutagen was still active within the children's blood, and could actually be transmitted through their fangs. But before the researchers could test and isolate this trait, three of the Red Children began to savage livestock, running rampantly through the Castles they were trained and tested in and had to be put down to protect the researchers looking over them.

“This development halted further application of the mutagen, but the Drac’san still attempted to further their colonisation efforts, reaching out into the Highlands to the North of their territory, which is where they encountered the Valkyries. Shocked by the discovery of a new sentient species in such a harsh area, several Valkyrie Legionnaires were accompanied by the Drac’san colonists to their central cities. Here they established the first Valkyrie outposts within the Ashen Isles

“Several decades passed, and the remaining two Red Drac’san had continued to sustain normal behaviour and had become active members of Drac’san society, they were given names based on their preferred jobs. The larger of the two had become a master blacksmith, and helped develop  new weaponry for the Drac’san colonisation and hunting efforts, he was named Vam’ka Ironclaw. His brother, the smaller and faster Drac’san, became a scout and archery instructor, and took the name Iriteth Fareye. Vam’ka and Iriteth considered themselves brothers, and often worked closely with the Drac’san Kings in colonisation efforts. Life was good for them, until the accident.

“The remaining Red Drac’san were often called back to visit the researchers that created them to check on their physical attributes and social standings, after the failures of the other three they were apprehensive about letting two grown Drac’san adults suddenly develop savage tendencies, and were forbidden from infecting others with the mutagen due to the unknown long-term effects of the treatment.

“At around the age of 50, the brothers were called back as usual, but this time there was something different; the Valkyries were present as well. It seemed the Legionnaires had learned of the other three Red Children and wanted to see for themselves that Vam’ka and Iriteth posed no threat to wider society. And so usual testing was resumed under Valkyrie watch until, by complete accident, a Valkyrie opened one of the cages housing a previously mutated animal subject. The creature was so startled by the Valkyries’ shouts and orders that it flew into rage and killed several of the Legionnaires. It was only stopped as Vam’ka stepped in and ripped the creature apart with his bare hands, which is when the researchers discovered what sent the other three Red Children into rage...the taste of blood.

“Vam’ka went berserk and started to kill Valkyries himself, injuring the researchers around him and feeding on the Valkyrie corpses that littered the ground around him. What is unique about the Valkyries though is their immunity to the Blight. It has been discovered that this is in part due to a chemical in their blood that continuously regenerates their cells, giving them their supernatural strength, endurance and healing factor. This chemical appeared to root itself into Vam’ka, giving him tremendous physical strength and a red aura. What happened after the incident remains unclear, as all the Valkyries who could have witnessed the events have subsequently died. But what is known is that Vam’ka managed to infect several of the Drac’san and lower creatures in the facility with the mutagen.

“This created a horde of Red Drac’san, all mad with rage and a thirst for blood, quickly either killing off or infecting a swathes of the population within the central cities. Society within the cities crumbled fast, leaving only ruin, flame and blood. The Valkyrie outposts were destroyed and the infection of the Red Drac’san could not be contained by any force. Mysteriously though, Iriteth was never witnessed in the killing, and has since been presumed dead.

“The outer cities and colonies took much longer to fall, but fall they did. The Red Drac’san with their enhanced defensive and traversal traits made it impossible for even a large group of Drac’san to fend them off. Within ten years, the Drac’san colonies had all been wiped out, leaving the new Red Drac’san in their place.

“The old Drac’san still survive to this day as refugees in Gruegar and Angel villages and towns, but recent conflicts between the Red Drac’san and the Sun Sect have disuaded the old Drac’san from seeking refuge in their cities. Fear of the Drac’san is very real even if these citizens have nothing to do with the Red Drac’san that now hold the Ashen isles.

“These survivors are now referred to as the “Greys”, and survive mostly in exclusive communities within other settlements, only appearing at night due to their weakness to sunlight, living in fear of discrimination from those who believe them to be spies or undercover agents for the Coalition of Blood, the new government that the Red Drac’san formed in the ruins of the Ashen Isles.

“The future of the Greys remains uncertain, their numbers diminish every year, leading more and more people to believe they are going extinct, both through lack of mating partners and by hate crimes either driving them out of civilized areas or simply by murdering them in the streets.”