[Written] A short Primer on Dragons

A short Primer on Dragons
By S. Maevers
Date: 998



The An’Drae’dar, or Dragons as we call them, began appearing on Phanterra during the Early Age roughly the same time the An’fae'dar appeared (You may know them as the Fae). It is thought that the An’Drae’dar came to Phanterra from another plane of existence. Which plane in particular and their reasons for leaving said plane are lost beyond the veil of time. It is known that the An’Drae’dar were unable to return to their plane of origin.



The early interactions between the peoples of Phanterra and the An’Drae’dar were few. They inhabited the remote and lofty mountainous regions that the indigenous races had no use for. When they did interact, the An’Drae’dar altered their appearance in order to seem less alien to those they were dealing with. According to the surviving accounts they appeared as “An’dar’vi of short stature with bright colored hair….eyes bright and shining as a cat’s lit by firelight.” The vast majority of accounts from the time depict these interactions as peaceful and mutually beneficial. The An’Drae’dar traded highly ornate crafted items ranging from armour to small sculptures. Their goods were unrivaled in quality and soon became items of prestige and wealth.

The interactions with the An’drae’dar ended with the start of the second great war between the An’dar and An’dar’vi. In order to avoid the conflict, the An’drae’dar retreated deeper into the mountains and caves they called home. Both the an’dar and an’dar’vi sought the aid of the an’drae’dar and both pleas were denied. The an’drae’dar had no interest in joining the war.




The an’dar’vi were driven into the mountains of the An’drae’dar at the end of the Second Great War. It is there that, according to dwarven legend, the two races interbred to form the race we now call the Dwarves. There is much evidence to support this legend especially on a physical level. The an’dar’vi were the same size as humans but with a broader more muscular frame. The An’drae’dar appeared to indigenous races as short an’dar’vi. It stands to reason that the offspring of the two races may indeed appear as the modern dwarf.
Regardless of the origins of the dwarven race, it is known that the an’dar’vi, the an’drae’dar, and the dwarves coexisted in the caverns and mountains of Phanterra during the age of myth. The an’dar’vi, who were few in number after the war, soon died a slow racial death similar to their enemy the an’dar.
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The disappearance of the Drae’an’dar from Phanterra is shrouded in mystery. The one thing that is known is that by the middle of the Age of Ancients, the Drae’an’dar no longer graced the mountains of Phanterra. The three dominate theories regarding this issue are that the Drae’an’dar found a way back to their plane of origin, that the race died off, and finally, perhaps most interesting of the theories, that they put themselves in stasis to avoid the cataclysm.

The opinions of the principle scholars within House Toevass are divided almost equally between the plane of origin theory and the racial death theory. The supporters of the theory that the Drae’an’dar left Phanterra for their plane of origin sight the lack of mortal remains as strong proof that they did not die a racial death. Others merely point to the fact that we do not necessarily know what the remains would look like or even if they would leave any remains behind after death. The supporters of the racial death theory point to the fate of the other ancient races (The an’dar and an’dar’vi) to prove their theories. Many also believe that the truth may actually be a combination of both theories.

The dwarven blood singers have a completely different theory that has been passed down for generations innumerable. Their legends tell of a great Drae’an’dar seer who foresaw the coming cataclysm and the subsequent splitting of magic into its current elemental form. Knowing that they could not survive in a world without the one true magic, the Drae’an’dar worked a spell to, as the blood singers put it, “Go into the rock”. The blood singers tell that the Drae’an’dar became what we call Mythril and wait for the day when they can once again return to a Phanterra governed by one magic. It is this legend that fuels their ferocious protection of Mythril and why they never mine it. The mythril they do use is found raw in small clumps. They say that these deposits of mythril are the remains of Drae’an’dar that died previous to the working of the spell.
Some theorize that the dwarven legend may hold a kernel of truth and should not be discounted outright. The thought of the Drae’an’dar going into the rock may actually be a mistranslated or mis-communicated description of a portal creation spell. The mythril itself could have been a conduit or component in that spell.

"We now can make the conjecture that the dwarven legends were correct. The dragons were actually in stasis as Mythril. It seems that perhaps they can still turn themselves into mythril. There is atleast one known spell that can turn dragon flesh into Mythril. –Garet Maevers 1055"