Chapter 2: People Under the Shadow
Vanguard by Lukasz Jaskolski
Humans: Being the most populous of Ansalon's major races, humans can be found in most lands to varying degrees. The shattered landscapes and political upheaval wrought by the Cataclysm saw the rise, fall, and displacement of many human cultures, and the continent-wide conflicts of the Dark Queen's War saw a repeat of this, albeit to a lesser extent. One common effect was the muddying between the lines of the so-called "civilized/nomadic" divide, where war and oppression turned many once-sedentary populations into transient refugees. Many people in central and eastern Ansalon who fought the Dragonarmies fled west, living in tent-cities outside the walls of major population centers. Knights and like-minded warriors once sworn to now-dead dynasties became wandering sellswords, formed governments-in-exile, or hung up their weapons and put their past behind them.
In the Dragon Empire, humanity has a rather privileged position. A disproportionate number of Dragonarmy officers and Highlords are human or have human heritage, and barring certain exceptions it is easier for humans to scale the ranks than other races. During the early years of the Dark Queen's War, the latter two races in particular were treated as expendable infantry, often placed under the command of human officers rather than being led by those of their own race. After the formation of the Whitestone Army and the forces of Good gaining major victories in western Ansalon, the Dragonarmies began deploying more humans from the relatively pacified east to the front lines. Forced to travel hundreds of miles away from their hometowns, they brought their languages and traditions into the occupied lands. While fighting alongside different races and cultures helped forge bonds between otherwise disparate peoples, there is still significant racial tension among the Dragonarmy ranks. To the point that some army camps are heavily segregated, and crossing into the "wrong shade of tents" can see an unlucky soldier jumped.
Humans join resistance movements for all manner of reasons, with motivations of justice and vengeance against Imperial oppression, particularly common ones. Regions and kingdoms that are hotbeds of rebel activity, such as Khur and Solamnia, often see ethnic conflicts intensify between groups who chose to throw their lot in with the Dragonarmies and those who are supposedly pacified but still bear simmering resentment against their new rulers. Even those who hate the Empire may not be so welcoming to rebels, given that the Dragonarmies use their existence and insurgencies as increased justification for oppression.
Draconians: Artificially created under the city of Sanction via an unholy ritual using metallic dragon eggs, the draconians are the youngest race of Ansalon and the iconic image many people hold when they think of a Dragonarmy soldier. As the process for their creation is a closely-guarded secret, even to the draconians themselves, ample speculation and conspiracy theories swirl over where and how the Dark Queen's forces obtained them. One popular theory is that they are the reincarnated souls of wicked mortals plucked from the afterlife. Another theory claims that an alliance of Imperial wizards turn recruits and conscripts of other races into draconians. Depending on the speaker, this is either a reward for service by being given a stronger form than their original species, or punishment via transformation into a monstrous form.
After seeing so many pushed to the front lines by officers, many outside observers think that the Dragon Empire cares little for the fates of the draconians. On a lesser scale this is largely true, but on a big-picture level the Empire's leadership is aware of how valuable an asset they provide and takes great pains to keep them under control. As Takhisis' creation of draconians is in violation of the Oath with the metallic dragons, newly-born draconians are swiftly spirited away to other facilities in which to be raised. Their caretakers are clerics of Takhisis, taught that the goddess birthed them to serve her by bringing glory to her name in battle and conquest. Draconians who had natural talent for arcane magic due to their dragon ancestry, most notably the bozaks, are taught that their magic is a divine gift from the goddess, their spells different from that of traditional clerics due to their familial connection to Takhisis.
While most draconians continue to serve as soldiers in the Dragon Empire, there are some who broke away from service. Oftentimes this desertion comes from loss of morale and disillusionment of their superior officers, usually due to racism and general poor treatment. A rarer yet increasingly common cause is due to inevitable existential questions that form among the draconians as to their origins. The Dragonarmies take pains to only hatch eggs assigned male upon embryo inspection in order to prevent draconians from naturally reproducing, thus allowing the Empire to control their numbers. Most hatched draconians have sex drives, which gives rise to questions of why they were made that way when lust is seen as a distraction to put into an artificially-created race of soldiers. While such talk is banned openly, many draconians have privately caught on to the idea that they may be more "natural" than previously thought, and that the women of their species are being kept hidden somewhere. General Kang, a notable bozak and founding member of the Brazen Horn, is aware of this and hopes to find the location of the unhatched eggs to ensure his people's propagation.
While they cannot naturally reproduce with non-draconians, the fear of draconians "breeding out of control" was still a persistent fear, causing many Dragonarmy officers to more strictly control their sex lives in comparison to other races. Many draconians resent this treatment, and their attempts at defying these orders are a weak link that many rebel forces exploit. One notable riot in Sanction was nicknamed the Whore Wars, arising from an unpopular decree banning all draconians from the city's brothels.
Draconians come in ten breeds, depending upon the clan of their dragon progenitor. Most draconians come from metallic dragon eggs, but a smaller number come from chromatic eggs which later became known as "noble" draconians. The later years of the Dark Queen's War, and the post-war subjugation of Ansalon, caused the Dragon Empire to turn to using chromatic eggs for the ritual process as more and more traditional draconian casualties mounted. To preserve the Balance, the Gods of Light made it so that all chromatic-derived draconians were innately of Good alignment.* Given the relative rarity of noble draconians, this wasn't immediately noticed, but after several incidents of such draconians eventually turning against the Empire, the program was indefinitely shelved. Many noble draconians who didn't meet an early death eventually found their way into various rebel groups, especially the Brazen Horn.
*Traditional draconians, by contrast, were more autonomous in their moral development.
Dragons: After Huma Dragonbane and the silver dragon Heart drove Takhisis out of Krynn during the end of the Second Age, the dragons retreated from greater society. When the chromatic clans accompanied the Dark Queen's forces in conquering Ansalon, their presence appeared like that of old legends coming to life. Beyond their impressive power and morale-crushing dragonfear, their natural flight and the use of flying citadels cemented the Dragon Empire as the only power bloc on Ansalon with an actual air force. The metallic clans predominantly live on the hidden Dragon Isles, forced to stay out of the war, as Takhisis' minions stole their eggs and held them hostage to force an Oath of Neutrality out of them. Although two dragons attempted to find and rescue them (the silver dragon D'Argent and the copper dragon Cymbol with the aid of the elf Gilthanas), they were killed by Blue Dragon Highlord Kitiara, and Takhisis' betrayal of the Oath via the creation of draconians remains unknown to this day.
Dragons in Ansalon are few in number, with most being adults serving the Dragonarmies of their respective colors. They fight as part of their own special military units or as an individual partnership with a Dragon Highlord. While they are intelligent and most adults are multilingual, the average Ansalonian has no significant contact with them, so the popular image of dragons is as cunning and powerful beasts rather than intelligent entities. Dragons who join resistance movements are at once great and valued assets but also in more danger than ever. Chromatic dragons are hunted down as traitors, while metallic dragons face a similar fate from their peers who view their interference as risking the lives of their eggs supposedly being held hostage.
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Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons provides a new dragon race and class with 45 unique ancestries, designed to be balanced in line with non-draconic characters.
Dragonflight is similar but fully embraces their powerful status, with the balance of power being suited either for all-dragon parties or 1-on-1 play.
Dwarves: Unlike the elves, gnomes, or kender, the dwarves have weathered the Dragon Empire's ascendancy better than the other Good-inclined people of Ansalon. The dwarves of Zhakar were one of the Empire's earliest allies, providing them with metalwork and engineering in exchange for healing magic. The kingdom of Thorbardin is one of the few places unclaimed by the Dragonarmies, as Verminaard and the Red Dragonarmy's major losses during the Dark Queen's War forced them into a stalemate. The Empire works through dark dwarven clans of the Theiwar and Daegar to destabilize the kingdom, as the innumerable tunnels and subterranean fortresses prove impractical for dragons and those who didn't grow up underground to navigate. The kingdom of Kayolin isn't so lucky: in being more open to and reliant on outside trade than Thorbardin, being cut off from greater Solamnia has put a burden on their resources. The Blue Dragonarmy is hoping to starve them into submission, and unless they can find a new avenue of trade they may not be able to effectively resist when their lands are annexed.
The Neidar dwarves suffer the worst of the Dragon Empire's subjugation, as most live aboveground and traditionally allied with Solamnic kingdoms in fighting the Dragonarmies. It's become common for traveling dwarves to pass themselves off as coming from Zhakar in order to avoid harassment and arbitrary arrests. All these factors give dwarves many reasons to join resistance movements, and many gravitate to the Old Kings due to that faction being funded by Thorbardin's Council of Thanes along with various other pre-war noble dynasties.
Elves: As the self-proclaimed favored Children of Light belonging to the most magically adept civilizations on Ansalon, the Dragon Empire seeks nothing less than their utter destruction. Capitalizing on generations of racial resentment and paranoia, the Dragonarmies undertook an extensive program of transporting all elves in Imperial territory to the region of Silvanesti. As most elves were either native to or fled to Southern Ergoth, the White Dragonarmy in particular was tasked with this objective, forcefully marching entire villages and towns across the Plains of Dust to the borders of Silvanesti. The wild, nightmarish magic wrought by the Dragon Orb still persists, making resettlement in the forest kingdom a death sentence for many, to say nothing of the elves who perished along the way or resisted resettlement. Once forced far enough into the Nightmare, the Dragonarmies leave the elves to their own devices. An increasingly disparate and growing group of elves are brought together under the leadership of Alhana Starbreeze, the reigning monarch of the Silvanesti people.
As to why the Dragonarmies don't simply slaughter elves as soon as they're found and captured, the reasons for this are manyfold. First off, by moving elves out of the places in which they live, this can engender an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality among non-elven locals, as many people don't understand the extent to how bad things are in Silvanesti. Additionally, straightforward slaughter of elves in non-elven territory results in mass graves, which can engender sympathy among non-elves and makes the Empire's crimes harder to hide.
Secondly, the Dragon Highlords justify it as an ironic "returning them to their native lands," pointing out long-standing policies of elven isolationism as supposed justice for their "arrogance to resettle in our lands." Thirdly, it is done out of both vulgar cruelty and an intimidation factor. The Dragonarmies don't want to give the elves a clean, honorable defeat in straightforward warfare, they want to extend their suffering by forcing them to die in the shattered remains of their ancestral homeland. And the genocide serves as an intimidation factor to the other civilizations, of what could happen to them if they resist too much. Other races bearing elvish heritage, such as the iconic pointed ears, have also been targeted for imprisonment in Lorac's Nightmare. This led to many people cutting the points off their ears, and there's a brisk trade of magic items to disguise one's heritage across Ansalon.
Barring quislings such as the late Feal-Thas, the majority of elves and elvish-blooded people have been forced into collaborating with various rebel groups out of necessity. Out of the more organized resistance movement, the Elven Underground and Sylvan Guard counts the most elven people among them due to being based out of Silvanesti, although the Old Kings count a few members among the elves who managed to elude capture in Southern Ergoth.
Gnome Tinkerer by arthard on Reddit
Gnomes: The gnomes are one of the more heavily-persecuted races in the Dragon Empire. The main reason comes from most gnomes hailing from Mount Nevermind, which was a long-standing ally of the Knights of Solamnia. When the Blue and Red Dragonarmies invaded the Island of Sancrist, the gnomes of Mount Nevermind set off various destructive failsafes to collapse portions of their city to prevent the enemy from claiming their resources. The surviving gnomes fled in vast fleets of clockwork ships in a diaspora across Ansalon; there's a standing bounty for the capture of these gnomish refugees.
The powerful yet unpredictable inventions and machinery of gnomes have potential military applications, which causes the Dragonarmies to seek their subjugation rather than outright destruction. Typically, occupied regions with a significant gnomish population have the latter group placed in guarded work camps, where they're given quotas for building war machines. The treatment of gnomish prisoners is brutal, where they are forced to work dawn to dusk and failing to meet quotas subject them to myriad punishments. The chaotic nature of gnomish technology means that many gnomes suffer dearly, as officers and prison wardens don't usually care to separate intentional sabotage from unintentional incompetence and "setbacks in the scientific process." Individual families of gnomes in occupied territories might fare better, as the expenses for setting up a prison-camp for a handful of individuals is inefficient. Such gnomes are instead placed under house arrest, where as long as they build and supply what the local Dragonarmy garrison needs, they can live with a relative degree of autonomy, albeit being watched at all times.
Due to its early occupation by the Red Dragonarmy, the land of Nordmaar is home to one of the first prison-camps for gnomes: the settlement of Picket is deep in the southeastern swamps, originally founded by a gnomish research expedition cataloguing the local wildlife. Picket's population and industry has rapidly expanded, becoming known as the City of Alchemy for producing many of the Empire's deadliest poisons and mutated beasts of war.
Most gnomes who join resistance groups are often escaped prisoners or veterans of the Dark Queen's War who fought on the Solamnic front. Sympathetic dwarves taught them methods to blend in as members of their race, as barring their thinner builds and beards not being as popular, many folk of Ansalon have difficulty telling apart the shorter races. Anti-intellectualism is a side effect of gnomish persecution, where artisans and scholars displaying obscure technical knowledge are presumed to have learned under or are in contact with gnomes in hiding. As the ones who carry out such anti-technologist edicts are rarely proficient in the particular fields, it's been used as an excuse for the Dragonarmies to crack down and censor the contents of libraries and universities.
Untitled work by Seaheff
Goblins: Along with humans, draconians, and ogres, the goblinoids serve as the foot-soldiers and workhorses of the Dragon Empire. While goblins are more likely than the other races to be anti-religious due to the perception of Krynn's pantheon letting others enslave and oppress them, hobgoblins and bugbears bear less of this bias and tend to rise to leadership positions via force of strength. The rise of the Dragonarmies intensified this hierarchy of dominance, with goblins most often relegated to spear fodder. The hobgoblin realm of Throt was one of the earliest political bodies to ally with the Dragonarmies, and their influence has grown across eastern Solamnia since war's end. The goblinoids of Sikket'hul, longtime allies of Ergoth, aren't as fond of their new government, as the Dragonarmies regularly round up the fittest young members of families for enlistment to far-off fronts and are rarely seen again.
Already a widespread group of people, goblinoids can be found across the Dragon Empire. Many serve the Dragonarmies, although the past decade has seen a growing number of discharged and "civilian goblins" pursuing other vocations. Such goblinoids often end up in positions of manual labor, usually indentured servitude. This is due to a common perception that they're weaker than the other races who traditionally serve in the Dragonarmies and thus make for lower-quality soldiers, and their history of being enslaved by others is used to reinforce prejudicial beliefs that they're naturally suited for thankless tasks. Ironically, this poor treatment has given rise to a larger than usual amount of goblinoids joining resistance movements, and even reaching out to deities other than Takhisis. Additionally, the Ergothian goblinoids of Sikket'hul can more easily blend in as Dragonarmy soldiers than other traditionally rebel-aligned races, making them valued assets for espionage.
Kender: Alongside elves and gnomes, the kender are hunted down wherever they are found. Their innately altruistic nature, plus their propensity for pranks, "borrowing," and wanderlust put them at odds with the Dragonarmies from day one. Unlike the organized resettlement of the elves, violence against kender is more immediate and arbitrary. Cutting off of hands and tongues is the most common form of punishment by the Dragonarmies for kender, as they're viewed as inherent thieves and gossipers who are too dangerous to be left free.
As kender leaving their homes to explore the world is an honored tradition, they formed an intricate information network among their kind for safe means of long-distance travel. Word of mouth, advice in the guestbooks of inns, and established friendships and favors with merchants, sailors, and other traveling folk helped kender adapt to the often-sudden changes of lands invaded and displaced by the Dragon Empire. Many resistance groups took advantage of this network themselves, and kender are eager to aid such rebels against the Empire. But the ingrained habits of kender often reserve them to particular duties and information, lest they become a liability.
Minotaurs: During the rise of the Dragon Empire, another Empire across the east took notice. Emperor Chot-Es Kalin initially allied with the Dragonarmies, supplying the White Dragonarmy with soldiers who were drawn from rival dynasties in order to get rid of significant opposition. Kalin's domestic enemies were no doubt aware of the self-serving goal behind his orders, but the opportunity to raid and plunder the continental mainland while being out of judicial reach of the islands of Mithas and Kothas was seen by enough of them as a worthy tradeoff. The reality of the situation set in when it became clear that the White Dragonarmy was the least prestigious of the Dragonarmies, holding most of their territory in the desolate Plains of Dust and Icereach. After White Dragon Highlord Feal-Thas' death at the hands of the Companions, he was replaced by the stupid, cowardly, and utterly selfish hobgoblin Highlord Toede. The White Dragonarmy sees the highest amount of desertion among the five Dragonarmies, with minotaurs making up a disproportionate number.
Back over on the Blood Sea, relations have iced over between the Dragon and Minotaur Empires. With the former firmly entrenched in Ansalon and more powerful than ever, the latter knows it's only a matter of time until they set their sights towards the eastern islands, with the recent annexation of the island of Saifhum putting Red Dragonarmy ships on Mithas' doorstep. One advantage that the minotaurs have is a much more experienced navy, and the Maelstrom's strong currents swirl clockwise, which makes it easy to predict where incoming ships will arrive and when on particular islands. As for the Dragonarmies' aerial assets, only black dragons are capable of breathing underwater, and even then they're suited to freshwater environments. Most sea dragons live north of Ansalon and thus are far away from the Blood Sea, and many worship Zeboim instead of Takhisis. Lastly, the flying citadels are too few and costly to reliably encompass the Blood Sea's sailing routes without drawing them away from occupied territories. But this won't stop the Dragonarmies' ambitions, as their leadership and goddess hungers for ever more territory and riches.
Zeboim, the goddess of the sea and storms, has been quick to claim portions of Krynn's oceans for herself, and her faithful are a steadily growing presence among the Blood Sea cultures, minotaur and non-minotaur alike. The minotaur establishment only has room in their hearts for the deity Sargas, and thus the Sea Witch's worshipers are barely tolerated in ports and not allowed to proselytize in minotaur settlements. Sailors and islanders across eastern Ansalon know that a new war is brewing; the only question is when.
Ogres: When Takhisis' faithful began to gather in central Ansalon around the reclaimed Temple of Istar, their goddess reached out among the ogre clans as her earliest recruits. Many took little convincing to join the nascent Dragonarmies, either willingly out of eagerness for greed and revenge against the other races of Ansalon, or forced into compliance through magic and dragonfire. Their great size and strength made them valued soldiers, and rare breeds such as ogre mages, trolls, and hill giants brought with them special traits that gave them an edge against conventional opposition. Most ogres live in the lands of Blöde, Kern, and the Taman Busuk region, although their numbers spread out across Ansalon during the Dark Queen's War.
Ogre culture grew to be more zealous in promoting Takhisis' glory than goblinoids and humans, having passed down tales of their ancient empire from the Second Age where they were one of the three elder races and favored children of Takhisis. They view the Dragon Empire' ascension as a divine reward and golden age, payoff for surviving through earlier eras of suffering. Many ogres view the chromatic dragons with barely-concealed envy; while few would outright admit it, there's a feeling that Takhisis has chosen the dragons as her new favored children. Quite a number of prominent ogres plot ways to take dragons "down a peg" via various plots and schemes, although only the ogre mages really possess the power and foresight to be anything more than nuisances to the average chromatic adult.
The Irda ogres, by contrast, remain safely unnoticed by the rest of Ansalon. They are aware of Evil's rise outside their homeland, and most are content to stay on their hidden island. Even so, many Irda feel motivated to provide aid to the oppressed and suffering, visiting the mainland while disguised as humans. Many are knowledgeable in the arts of wizardry, which they use to great effect in providing magical aid to resistance groups.
Other Races: The less numerous and prominent peoples of Ansalon usually take one of two reactions to the Dragon Empire: they either join them for protection and prestige, or do everything they can to avoid their notice. Many kobold clans joined the Blue Dragonarmies, using their trapmaking skills to great effect in fortifying military bases. The reptilian bakali races (jarak-sinn, lizardfolk, and troglodytes) live in remote, little-desired territory, and barring black dragons hunting them for sport, most are beneath notice of the Dragonarmies. The shadowpeople beneath the city of Sanction allied with the Hidden Light resistance group operating in the Imperial heartland, giving their members access to their subterranean network for discrete movement. The thanoi remain mostly confined to Ansalon's extreme south, the former group largely allied with the White Dragonarmy. Being supplied with higher-quality weapons has allowed them to better encroach on the territory of the ursoi, their ancient enemies. Many ursoi are thus coming into greater contact with the outside world, particularly the Sylvan Guard whose druidic teachings line up well with their shamanistic teachings.
The khyrie remain uncontacted, most living on the Blood Sea islands with a preference for mountaintops. The return of the gods saw an increase of clerics and druids of Chislev among their number, which caused a major cultural renaissance among the race as they took advantage of the gifts of divine magic. The phaethons are similarly-isolated, living in small family units among mountains, although there's a growing movement among the younger and more religious members to fight the Dragonarmies. Part of this is motivated by anger at the elven genocide, knowing that their own elvish appearance and heritage will make them targets once discovered. Part of it is motivated by the return of the gods, and their people hold the Good-aligned Habbakuk in high regard as the creator of their race.
