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A History of Ismene & the Lost DragonLands
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Contact the Ismene Admin: Raemonda Carris
This has been modified from the DragonLands World Guide.
A long time ago, shifting of the magical boundaries isolated the Westernmost group of warrens in the DragonLands from the others. No one knows how long ago this occurred; however, within each group of warrens and landbound settlements of the known DragonLands, no records of the other group survived to the present day. Thus, until a chance encounter in 2999, the two groups were totally unaware of the other's existence.
In many respects, the Lost DragonLands resemble the DragonLands Proper. The dragons and riders of the warrens protect the landbound within their territories, and are in turn supplied by the landbound. Each warren is run by a Warrenlady, who in turn reports to the Dragonlady Vignette at Ismene Warren.
However, there are important differences as well. When the DragonLands magic receded from the Lost DragonLands, it left behind a cluster of magical "pockets," within which the magic remained. No one knows just how many such pockets there are, as most are quite small. Only five large pockets exist; each of these contains a warren, in addition to landbound towns and cities. Beyond the pockets are the wastes; thus, while joined dragons and riders may teleport between the magical pockets, this is more difficult and dangerous than in the DragonLands Proper because the teleports take them across areas of the Wastes' chaotic magic. In fact, direct teleports between widely separated warrens such as Geode and Xylian are not always possible, requiring intermediate stops at other pockets that lie in between.
Wraiths and wild dragons can be found in certain areas between the pockets, where the magic of the DragonLands is still sufficiently strong to sustain them; thus, while landbound humans may cross the gaps between the pockets, this is done only at extreme risk.
There is no single Landbound Nation within the Lost DragonLands because of the difficulty of communications between the pockets. Thus, each of the major pockets has its own Landbound Nation. There is no king, and the landbound of each pocket are ruled by one or more independent lords.
Commerce does go on between the pockets, but it is a risky undertaking. Lacking the protection of the dragonriders in the spaces between the magic pockets, merchants have been forced to adopt a "convoy" system under which many wagons travel together under the protection of soldiers or mercenaries. Even the most heavily armed and armored convoy, however, cannot fend off determined attacks by wraiths or wild dragons; thus, some convoys get through to their destinations, while others do not. Therefore, the Landbound within each pocket must be relatively self-sufficient. The Guilds exist within the Lost DragonLands, but like all other institutions within these lands, are rather decentralized.
Ismene warren is the home of the DragonLady of the Lost DragonLands, Vignette, and her Empress Dragon, Darath. It is the largest warren of the Lost DragonLands; home for over 300 Dragon-Human pairs. Roughly Eighty percent of the Dragons are combat Dragons, divided into 3 fighting Wings: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Ismene also houses approximately 300 unjoined warren dwellers.
The warren is located within a mountain range in the North-Central region of the Lost DragonLands. The Dragonrider apartments are cut into the southern face of a mountain, which is a sheer cliff-face. The stone homes and cliff-side apartments of the unjoined warrenfolk are scattered at the foot of the mountain. There is also a Hatching Cavern: a vast, mostly natural cave that has been adapted for the incubation of Dragon eggs. Just to the south of the cliff is a relatively flat expanse land, where grass grows (though not too tall-- there is a thin layer of soil on top of the rock) called the Green. Gatherings of Humans and Dragons, combat practice, and training of new dragonriders is performed on the Green.
Stretching to the South away from the warren are the farm and pasture lands. The Valley is fairly protected by the mountains that ring it in on all but the East side. However, from the East odd and terrible creatures, including wraiths, have been known to come in out of the wastes that lie between Ismene domain and the Original DragonLands.
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