Tanes

First came Fire, the heat of the mighty flames, the flares of pure energy drawing forth her brethren, even as the flames decayed, then came her brother, Entropy, to renew that energy eternal but to guide it to expand, to change, to evolve and be reborn. Next, came Air, with his knowledge and understanding of events long past, ever learning of them in the future, able to help guide. From the light of the flame came flickering Shadow, his shroud protecting the world in its infancy from the all consuming Void. From that darkness and cold of came the twins of Water, the twin sisters providing the rawest necessity of life itself. From that lifeblood, Nature grew, her touch spreading amongst the depths first, plants and animals becoming as natural to the realm as the very fires that began it. Finally came Earth, whom would add a solid core and structure to the mass, providing true stability for the things that lived within, and creating land for which all things could spread. As they did, and as plants and animals grew and changed, finally came Spirit, and with her loving kiss, she blessed Valerick to grow, blessed this realm with the first seeds of sapience. And thus did the mighty Primordials forge the world. And Thus did the first beings eventually come to pass. The Tanes, the builders and caretakers of this realm. Though they would not last, the folly of their creators seeing them wiped out when the Sundering began, we remember them as they were, mighty and impressive beings who's very lives were dedicated to insuring the growth, safety and strength of this world, our humble home.

An Author's Foreward

It is important to get that bit out of the way, the religious bit, before we discuss at all what Tanes actually were. Tanes were indeed intelligent, complex, and impressive beings, truly. They were the first children. Their closest descendents are the rarest of the rare, the known draconids of the world today, the drakes and wyverns, and even the kobolds and their reptilian ilk. We also know why they exist here no longer, why they are functionally extinct. They were beings of manna in the truest sense, not like a magister, whom is merely a conduit. They weren't connected or bonded to the manna of one primordial force, they were of it and that is an important distinction to understand when discussing their end. The Draconic wars were the beginning of the Sundering, and what little we do know, the wars began because the Void and its entities and its evil tainted and twisted the very nature of at least half of the Tanes on Valerick in the initial beginnings of the crisis, and as those that remained would find out over the course of the war, the rest of them were thus infected, but just didn't fall immediately. By this point many sapient species existed, far more than we acknowledge today, but just as many fell to this darkness and corruption as the tanes did. The Fae, Greenskins, Beastmen, the Mer, the Draika (dark elves), most if not all the Scaled ones, all of them fell, the very essence of their genetics altered and warped at a spiritual and physiological level by the taint.

We know little of the Sundering, or how long the Draconic Wars lasted. All we know is by the end, no more Tanes would be found or have been found on Valerick. We know they ceased to be. Or at least we did know that until recently. 3 years ago, a band of plucky adventurers known as the Sentinels faced down not one, but Two Tanes in the course of a year and slew them both. The first, an Opal Tane, was falling to the corruption of the Void, but managed to keep control long enough to offer this band of Exemplari a bit of knowledge of the ancient past. Much of it can be viewed and heard in Dagangaror, a place I recommend anyone interested in such ancient times and history visit, however key to this document is the great being's explanation that Tanes were in fact not extinct, merely fighting in the realms above, in the Aether and on other worlds, for they could not resist the taint of the Void here. Any Tane that tired to return here would eventually fall to this corruption. We also learned the origin of the idea of Exemplari, those a Tane would honor in a ritualistic duel, those it believed could save its eternal essence from this world by releasing it from its body. It seems that if they are forced back to our realm, they cannot willingly leave. All of this is to say, what we know of these ancient beings is precious little. Little enough that for a very long time we even misunderstood what they were when represented in ancient cultural artworks, or from skeletal remains, thinking of them as some ancient terrifying lizard creature, we gave them the name Dragons. Only in the last two centuries or so with a few key discoveries of rare surviving written works, have we come to understand our mistake. To call them Dragons, mere Terror lizards, is a grave insult and an unfair depiction of the beings whom we owe for the existence of our homes and our very lives.

As such Tanes are a complex subject, each of the eight subspecies perhaps needing their own entire thesis and research paper. However to be able to discuss such things in depth, one must first become familiar with them on a basic level, which is what the following introductory chapter will seek to allow. One of the key things that will need to be understood, is the image at the opening of this chapter, whilst a fantastical, beautiful, and evocative depiction of the Draconic Wars in an artistic sense, is taking massive liberities with what we know they looked like. And that will be what the basics here cover in this fundamental chapter. The bare basics and bare fundamentals of the eight subspeices of Tane. So let us begin.

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Ruby Tanes

The first of the types of Tane to discuss are Ruby Tanes. These creatures right away throw away the concept of 'dragons' right away, with their lack of wings. These creatures, like all Tanes as far as we can tell were massive. Nearly incomprehensibly so. Our best guesses from what few fossil records we have, they could be near 40 feet in length and almost 10 feet tall at the shoulder, weighing in at around 2000 to 3500 pounds. This doesn't sound massive, yet, it truly is for take most draconids today and remove their lightweight but impressive wings, they suddenly look a lot smaller. Ruby Tanes had a hollow bone structure, seemingly normally across all the subspecies, with but one exception. From what limited records we have about these creatures from ancient texts, artwork and other such findings, we believe they were fast, deadly fast, and of course they could control fire and breath fire, though their breath is oft also described as ever-burning, and as if the grip of the sun. It is the common theory that this breath may be more similar to Roharan Fire, that is the compound that seems to grip and grab onto whatever the flames lick, spreading in a liquid like fashion. They could swim through magma and lava, and were capable of jumping extreme distances, with one story claiming they could leap several hundred feet horizontally. However it is generally believed that this would be exaggeration, and given the bone structure we are aware of and the imagery and ancient artwork finds we have, we conclude that given their volcanic nature, and the nature of Doitean as a manna source, we do believe that they likely could, utilizing that raw energy, on occassion just leap a great distance by basically letting all that energy burn within their muscle structure, allowing them to just overwork those muscles well beyond what they should be capable of. Their tails were like a whiplash, strong and vicious weapons all in their own right, and their claws could tear through rock and stone. Deserts and volcanic areas and other extremely warm climates such as this would likely have been their domain.

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Next come the Amethyst Tanes, and they are a strange lot indeed. Their skeletal structure, such that we have uncovered remains of, does suggest they had wings, or at least the necessary bone structure for wings along their back. However most ancient artwork depictions ever discovered predict them without wings as seen here, and with a notably bulbous structure all about their midsection. However written works, the ever scant few we have, do suggest, at least in stories passed down, that they would have wings when needed, for otherwise they are a waste of energy. Entropy is the energy of renewal and rebirth, so some theorize that an Amethyst Tane, being not just a conduit or channel for Lobhadh, but were intimately tied to the very primordial essence that is Entropy, perhaps only have wings when they need them. Perhaps the depictions of a more bulbous and seemingly swollen or 'lumpy' nature is because parts of their body are consistently decaying and being reborn, and that the creature can innately alter or downright change what the new energies born of this cycle at the moment of renewal, will do for the temporary time they are present before decaying rapidly and rejoining the Tane's stored essence. They were said to cause decay where-ever they strode, or laired, but in truth it would seem more likely they just sensed such cycles beginning and was drawn to them. They were said to breath a purple hazy substance that would 'eat' at any organic material, rotting and decaying it. What few fossils we have, placing them in a context and comparison to their cousin the Ruby Tane, our best theories place Amethyst Tanes as likely being slightly larger, topping off at about the same length, but easily being taller, more like 14 feet or so tall at the shoulder, and likely weighing between 3500-4000 lbs. One ancient work recovered even tells the story of one such beast taking up residence in a very large graveyard, seeming to find the place, surrounded by so much death and decay, comforting, empowering even. One might think that before they went extinct, you could expect to find such creatures deep in bogs and moors, places rife with lots of decaying plant life.

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Opal Tanes, the archaelogical records, such as they are, depict these creatures as beautiful almost crystalline looking creatures, their scales and hue very much befitting their name, the subtle multicolors shimmer of the name sake gem clearly evident. They are the first type we are discussing that had permanent wings and approaches the look of something close to the sort of creature that our myths, legends and societies have come to recognize as 'dragons'. However again, an Opal Tane was and is so much more. They are referenced in mythologies across Valerick as bringers of relief, heralds of storms, and masters of wind and cloud. It would seem to suggest they perhaps had some level of innate connection to the weather patterns and air currents of the world, perhaps even controlling and caretaking them. The wings are most odd to consider as well, as in a few recovered pieces of ancient artwork, Opal Tanes in flight are depicted not as they are in this reference image, but with a more rigid looking wing, one that would seem to suggest that they may simply always be extended, or that instead of folding inwards and tightly, that the shoulder joint itself would allow rotation, so as to drap the wing open, but flat, across the back when not in use. Another curious part of this depiction is in all three of these pieces, the wings, while in flight, are depicted as crackling and coursing with electrical energy. Could this indicate that they flew not by lift, not by flapping their wings as we consider flight for most creatures requiring, but by an entirely different means? It is of course possible. Like all Tanes, we assume this creature would have had a level of possessed a notable level of power wielded over the elemental energies of Air, and what legends persist do suggest like all their cousins, the Opal Tane was capable of unleashing a devastating breath weapon in the form of a storm of electrical energy. They seem to be of a more slender and aerodynamic build than their ruby or amethyst cousins, which is unsurprising, estimated to get to a length between 30-40 feet, and a height at the shoulder of some 8-10 feet. Their monstrous wing span, based on the few wing bones we have discovered and the scant archaelogical artwork examples we have discovered, we estimate to perhaps be 20-25 feet tip to tip. Given they were capable of flight, we generally assume they were of a much more slender build than their Ruby or Amethyst cousins, and believe these creatures likely could not have weighed more than perhaps 2000 lbs.

Show spoiler

A revelation!!! Just 3 years ago, in the deep north of Suranth, an adventuring group calling themselves the Sentinels in fact did battle with and vanquished a corrupted Opal Tane, being able to confirm many suspicions about the species, dispelling one or two, as well as confirming their story is far more complex than just extinction, and that they are beings almost beyond our comprehension, merely forced into such magnificent physical forms when they interact with our reality. It is a fascinating discovery, one that deserves its own coverage, so I shan't babble on about it here any further.

by Keon Croucher (discord name, drizzt103) was the input operator, Midjourney AI took those inputs and put the image together.

Onyx Tanes are a unique beast in a few ways. They were the hardest to identify from any skeletal remains, as it seems even their bones might have been somewhat pliable. We have found all manner of lengths, shapes and skull types, as well as teeth types. The only component, the component that seems to identify them all as the same creature, is the vertebrae. Every other bone seems to have been some amount of malleable. In archaelogical artworks that reference such mighty beasts, they are spoken of with a unique reverence, and depicted as above, the blurring and strange streaking of the tail and back quite purposeful, as they are spoken of as shape takers and shape changers, shadows upon wing, twisting and changing with how much or how little light was upon them. Because of this, it is quite hard such creatures size and weight, as what tales, artwork and fossil evidence we have seems to suggest a creature far beyond our understanding biologically. Another unique trait that is suspected of Onyx Tanes, and the first of two on our list to have such a trait, is that they gave live birth. This is backed up by a relatively intact torso having been found, of what is suspected to be a female, with the fossil remains of what can only be described as a baby within it, and not churned up or disjointed as one might expect if cannibalism was the culprit, but intact. The myths and legends of these Tanes speak of their ability to alter perception, and some cultures maintain this, their stories claiming an Onyx Tane had control over the realms of the mind, of perception, and breathed out an hallucingenic gas as a sort of defense mechanism, or perhaps a hunting technique. They are the sub-species we truly know the least about, but the one that fascinates me the most on principle.

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Sapphire Tanes are again quite unique, given their dominion over water, but also temperature in a fashion. They are reptilian by all available understanding we have, yet they lived in the ocean. Shaped like a crocodilian, but of completely monstrous proportions, Sapphire Tanes are believed to have been capable of growing to be close to 40 feet long, though only about 8 feet tall at the shoulder. They have a very crocodilian like build and structure, stout and thick legs, hefty bones. It is unlikely this species could spend much time on land as their bulk, even with their powerful legs and body, they are just to big. Weighing in likely near 3-4 tonnes out of water, though they can sprint quickly, according to the stories and what little artwork reference from archaelogical sites seen to imply, it is likely they could not maintain presence above the ocean for very long if at all. What little oral mythology of such a creature has been passed down oft suggests they could control the ocean or lake itself, such as the currents or waves and things of that ilk, along with having a breath weapon comparable only to the most frigid of winter days in Suranth.

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In stark contrast to the leviathans of the deep that are their Sapphire cousins, Emerald Tanes are by comparison of their brethren we've briefly discussed thus far, small. They had no wings, and grew only to a height of perhaps 6-7 feet tall at the shoulder, and mayhaps 15-20 feet in length, weighing in likely no more than 1200-1500 pounds. We suspect they were nimble, given the bits of oral tradition still passed along today, and what little writing and cultural artifacts have ever been discovered in regions they lived. They were partially aboreal in the ancient heartwoods, and were masterful climbers. Very lizard-like, though with a prehensile tail, if the bone structure is anything to go on. This would make sense if they were aboreal creatures. Some depictions that have been discovered of them suggests they may have roamed in small groups or teams of three or four, and one famous piece shows what seems to be an Emerald Tane emitting some sort of gaseous cloud from its scales. Most myths and legends that are still spun today imply they could breath clouds of such gas, as well as having, as with all Tanes, a level of seemingly magickal control over its elemental force, though it is unclear in the case of something like Nature what that would mean. However, something we can be relatively sure of, due to the unique injector like structure of their front four teeth on both jaws, is that they were likely venomous as well. They are also the other subspecies we are pretty sure gave live birth, as we have skeletal evidence from a site deep in the Wastonian Jungle, a fully fossilized and complete skeleton of what we can only assume was a pregnant mother, with twins. This specimen, dubbed the Rysaka Specimen for Gabriella Rysaka, the explorer and treasure seeker whom uncovered it six years ago, is to date the most complete and intact skeleton we have of any Tane.

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From the smallest, we now move on to what we can only infer, from relic artwork, passed down myth and legend, a few fossilized footprints, and a scant few fossilized remains, were the largest of all tanes. Best guesses have them towering in at some 15-20 feet tall at the shoulder, and perhaps reaching lengths of 40-50 feet, and weighing in around 6.5-7.5 tonnes, being bulky and dense like rock. Topaz Tanes, those of stone and earth. These absolute behemoths are the source of legends from earthquakes to the births of mountain ranges. In some cultures it is said that though Opal Tanes controlled the wind and lightning, the boom and crack of the thunder, the reflection of sound, that was the domain of the Topaz Tanes. In other myths, it is said their steps would cause localized earthquakes, their presence making flight near impossible, almost as if they had their own gravity like pull. Their roar a breath like weapon in its own right, capable of cracking stone, shattering glass and rupturing ear drums and, according to at least one dwarven myth, organs. Their claws capable of rending metal and stone alike, and their hide's like the toughest granite one can imagine.

by Keon Croucher (discord name, drizzt103) was the input operator, Midjourney AI took those inputs and put the image together.

The last of the mighty Tanes, the Diamond Tanes, great winged serpents, though the wings seem superficial, they are not at all proportionate to the body sizes depicted. These Tanes we believe existed, but they left no evidence, no fossils, no remains, but for the myths, legends, and archaelogical evidence in bits of written work and artwork. Yet given the others, perhaps we just have not found fossils yet. This would make a lot of sense especially if they were in fact basically giant serpents flying admist the clouds, for this would likely suggest the amount of solid bone in their body, the stuff that would not rot away, would be a much smaller amount than their body size. However because of this lack of physical remains, we have no real good guesses as to their size, and the surviving cultural stories and myths are wildly varied, suggesting lengths from a modest 40 or so feet to things as ridiculous as 130 feet. They are oft portrayed as lacking complete physical form, as if perhaps they were not entirely corpreal. Legends speak of them as life bringers, some cultures even having ancient stories of them delivering children via the Radiant Breath of Life. One account suggests they could unleash a radiance almost like a pure beam of sunlight from within themselves in some fashion, a blinding and searing weapon. These are all mere stories and myths however, for of all eight subspecies, this is the one with no physical evidence as of the time of this writing to back up its existence.