"As it turns out, there was a tome in the Library of Oppara where I would often go while on duty. What I found out about Mengkare was fanscinating... so I committed most of it to memory. Let me see if I can find it..." Taking a moment to stare into the near distance, Thomas begins as if reading straight from the page of a book...
"More than 150 years ago, the gold dragon Mengkare grew fed up with humanity. For generations, he had watched members of squabbling nations and religions swarm over each other like ants, fighting and loving and dying in an endless series of poor decisions, always refusing to realize their natural potential. Yet even as he deplored their lack of foresight, he was fascinated by their dogged resilience—he saw how easily, with a little guidance, they could be prodded and shaped into something truly worthwhile. A magnanimous, high- minded creature by nature, he decided to make the perfection of the human race his personal mission. Mengkare immediately relocated to an uninhabited island in the southern Steaming Sea, where his experiment could go forward without fear of contamination. He then began soliciting volunteers from among humanity’s best and brightest to participate in what he dubbed “the Glorious Endeavor,” a utopian dream that began with the founding of the island’s only city, Promise. Here, safe from warfare and ideological struggle, these paragons of the human race could perfect their arts and bodies, making each successive generation healthier, smarter, and more talented than the one before it. Under the dragon’s careful (and unchallenged) guidance, the small population has grown and thrived. Life is easy and fulfilling in Hermea— or so its ambassadors claim.
On Hermea, the government is a massive, sprawling meritocracy, with practically every citizen wielding some sort of official power depending on her area of expertise. While Mengkare alone has final say over every decision made within his nation’s borders, the dragon is wise enough to allow his subjects to govern themselves in all but the most crucial matters, and to this end he formed the Council of Enlightenment. The 13 elected members of the Council handle most of the daily duties of governance, gathering information and advising the dragon on important matters. The shores and skies of Hermea are heavily defended by strong magics, and outsiders are only rarely allowed access beyond the carefully regulated trading docks in Promise. Immigration is strictly controlled by Mengkare himself, and the only way for an outsider to become a citizen is to be recruited by one of the nation’s traveling undercover scouts, who follow the exploits of every nation’s heroes and report back to the Council of Enlightenment, delivering invitations to those foreign notables deemed worthy. These invitees are granted a one-time offer to join the nation’s slow march toward perfection and live a life of comfort and security. All that’s required in return is for the applicant to cede all personal authority to Mengkare, agreeing to abide by the dragon’s considerable wisdom in all matters. Children born in Hermea are given every advantage—educated in magic, art, science, and the martial disciplines according to their interests—until they are 16 years of age. At that point, they are tested by the Council and frequently offered the chance to become citizens. Children who refuse or are deemed unworthy are sent away and never permitted to make contact with Hermea again. Mating and partnering among citizens is encouraged, but the courtship process is long and frequently guided by government officials in charge of helping to naturally breed beneficial traits. While the island is primarily populated by humans, Mengkare occasionally allows in members of other humanoid races if they distinguish themselves adequately in a given field, or if he feels they could be an asset to the community’s genetic pool. Adding the occasional elf, for instance, tends to ensure a long-lived and physically attractive population. While Hermea’s few dealings with the outside world are always fair and polite, if standoffish, not everyone agrees with the country’s goals. To many, the idea of breeding humans like horses or dogs is inherently distasteful, and several major religions have condemned the nation’s mission, though their ire may be more inflamed by Mengkare’s staunch refusal to allow any form of organized religion on the island. Yet for Hermea’s residents, the nation remains a shining bastion of virtue, humanity’s best hope of transcending its petty conflicts and achieving lasting greatness. Every decision in the country is made for the greater good, as determined by Mengkare, who genuinely believes in his goal and therefore remains righteous and pure, even when forced to order distasteful actions such as the termination of citizens who prove disappointing or threaten to disrupt the system. The dragon strives to give his subjects as much free will as he feels they can handle— after all, he’s picked the best and brightest, and believes they ought to be allowed to follow their passions toward greatness—but he has no problem enforcing absolute law when the need arises. What’s more, since all who accept an invitation to join Hermea are required to sign a contract ceding all free will to him before they’re allowed to enter, Mengkare knows his authority is just and legal, and any subjects unwilling to lay down their lives for the cause should have read the invitation more closely. With its lofty goals and comfortable, progressive society, Hermean citizenship is coveted the world over, and many are the disappointed applicants who sail far across the ocean only to be politely but firmly turned away at Promise’s sandstone walls. Invitations to join the community are not issued lightly, and each year only a few men and women from across Golarion are welcomed to Hermea’s shores. Each of these is the result of careful study by agents of the Council of Enlightenment, who sometimes follow a prospective citizen for years before finally revealing themselves, often posing as cohorts, advisors, or bards seeking to chronicle a hero’s deeds. Once an invitation is issued, the recipient has as long as he or she desires to respond, but all decisions are final once made. Once an invitation is accepted, the new citizen is showered with gifts and transported at the nation’s expense to her new home, where she signs the infamous Contract of Citizenship in the presence of Mengkare himself, and is then set up in the city with everything she needs to begin her new life of enlightenment. Occasionally, for whatever reason, a citizen falls from grace or a child born on Hermea fails to pass the tests required to prove his exemplary status. When this happens, the Council does its best to work with the citizen to resolve any problems that might be leading to disenfranchisement or sub-par performance. If its efforts are not successful, the offending party is quietly sent away in disgrace, and the community does its best to move forward. Hermean society’s understanding in these cases is that the undesirables are returned to mainland Avistan with enough supplies to make their way in the world, and any charred corpses that wash up on the island’s shores are generally believed to be the work of pirates. Life in Hermea, whether in Promise proper or on one of the farms that support it (for agriculture has its innovators as well), is just as wonderful as the stories tell. And if those few sailors allowed to trade there whisper of an undercurrent of fear, of rebels hiding in the forests on the far side of the island or infiltrating the Council of Enlightenment itself, then they must surely be mistaken."
During the course of the conversation, Wong continues to twist his fingers in arcane patterns, as if working the castings of spells, but more often than not the efforts are fruitless. Finally some lights appear glowing softly at his fingertips, then fly off towards the cave ceiling. There they hang. "As with Divination, so goes Transmutation. Necromancy. Conjuration. All gone. Or at least those magiks cannot be accessed. The spells can be prepared, I know the words. I simply cannot summon those forces to do my bidding when I release the spell. From what I can tell, Abjuration, the magic of protection, and Evocation, the magic of energy, can still be manipulated. Perhaps Enchantment, though I am not familiar with any Enchantments, so I cannot test that. For now, that is what we know.”
ReplyDelete“I have certainly heard of Dragon Worship before, and even studied some of a notable dragon worshiper’s activity recently. Recall Nur Athemon, the Mud Sorcerer, I think he was called. But worshiping and killing them at the same time? Never heard of such a thing. Are you sure that translated right, Tala? The cultists both worship and seek to kill the dragons at the same time? Do the worship all the dragons? Or just some? Seek to kill all the dragons? Or just some?
ReplyDeleteAs for the draconic tattoos, we should recall that we have not seen the same color on more than one person. The blue tattoos on the man in the barroom brawl in Taldor. The red tattoos on the betraying woman who traveled with us, at the moment of her betrayal deep in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. The black tattoos that Tala just saw on her Abomination.”
Wong sighs, looking around at the Dragonknights. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, we live in interesting times. Some say that dragons often sleep for centuries; certainly when they grow ancient. The most ancient tend to wallow in their hordes, not willing to risk their lives in the open. What would make them come out in the open? The sole thing that the scaly ones value more than treasure is self-preservation"
"The Great White dragon said what? That we did not understand? Unfortunately, he proceeded to fighting before he said more. Even the Satyr said something, what was it?” Wong blinks. “Who called it by name? The villagers . . ?” Wong dives back into his pile of books, pulling out a familiar looking text. He flips pages furiously, stops, and begins to run his finger down a list, speaking words softly. “Nall . . . Quark . . . Niflholm . . . Sjohvor! He was the latest in the line of white dragons in the text that started all of this, about The Chromatics. And the village leader called the Great White by that name, yes?” Wong closes his eyes, tipping his head to one side. “The name used by the false black dragon in Belheim was Ateperax. That name was the second most recent in the text. However, it turned out to be a green named, what, Sanjee? But there is one more recent in the lineage of the blacks, Scryzilian.”
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