Dragonreign

The Dragonreign was a catastrophe that occurred in the region of Volodaria between the years of 297 IF and 301 IF. It involved the temporary occupation of the region around the Wary Eye by the green Dragon Zuddrem, and marks the blackest chapter in the history of the Wildwatch.
In the early months of 297 IF, Sentinel-Corporal Lenira, regional commander of the Watchmen operating along the border of the Alari Desert, went missing on a routine patrol into the great wasteland. After a week without his return, Lenira's wife and children were informed, and a funeral was held. While deaths were uncommon in the Watch, they were not unheard of, and so few paused to wonder on Lenira's fate.
Lenira was not dead, however. A far worse fate had befallen him. Lenira had been ambushed by a group of kobolds just shy of the Alari mountain range. He was taken, and imprisoned at the behest of the kobold's Dragonlord - a green dragon named Zuddrem. For three months, Lenira was subjected to terrible torments, essentially becoming the dragon's plaything. Zuddrem learned much from Lenira - the Sentinel-Corporal revealed the Watch's patrol patterns, as well as the location of their fortresses. And during his ministrations, Zuddrem grew more and more ambitious.
Zuddrem had already driven out his rivals in the Alari Desert, and united the kobolds under his rule. Still not content, Zuddrem sought to expand his rule further, and had turned his eyes towards the lands of the Empire of Nara Tok. Zuddrem began to hatch a plan - to forge his own kingdom in the northern reaches of Volodaria, and take the citizens of the Empire as his slaves.
Four months after Lenira's supposed death, a great host of kobolds marched south from the desert, and began a series of raids across Volodaria's eastern-most reaches - all the way to the Dagger, which marks the border between the Empire and the Halfling Crews. The Watch reorganised their forces, sending most of their forces east to try and contain the marauding kobolds. A week after the host had marched, over four hundred Watchmen had been placed on active duty, leaving the west only lightly guarded. The Sentinel-General also sent requests for aid to the Exarchs in Selucia and Astria, but their response was slow.
The second stage of Zuddrem's plan began a week after the initial invasion had begun. While the Watch focussed on containing Zuddrem's kobold host, Zuddrem himself flew directly for the Wary Eye itself, destroying many towns on the way to slow news of his approach. Ninety-seven Watchmen were garrisoned in the tower at the time, including a large portion of their leadership, who had gathered to coordinate their defences. None survived Zuddrem's attack.
Bereft of their most experienced leaders, and faced with large koboldic hosts, the Watch fell to just a hundred members, and were forced to abandon the northern reaches, setting up a new headquarters in Astria. Supported by Exarchal soldiers, the Watchmen were employed to guard a new border, conceding many northern townsteads to Zuddrem's rule.
The Dragonreign had begun. Zuddrem ruled his kingdom from his new roost, atop the Wary Eye, and set to establishing his regime. He began to employ his kobold followers as intimidators, forcing the northern townsmen to supply him with gold and cattle. The Selucian Exarch made several attempts at freeing these townsteads, but they were poorly managed - in the winter of 297 IF, a host of eleven hundred Redcloak soldiers met their ends in a doomed attack on Zuddrem's roost. While not a true kingdom, the northern reaches were de facto subject to the Dragonlord's rule.
It wasn't until 301 IF that the Empire was able to reclaim its territories. The cooperation of the Astrian and Selucian Exarchs allowed for a joint force of two thousand Redcloak soldiers, backed by a cadre of twelve Circle mages. Zuddrem's lair came under assault once again, but with the aid of powerful spellcasters, the imperial soldiers were protected from Zuddrem's poisonous breath. Zuddrem was eventually slain within his roost, thanks to bolts from mobile ballistae. Zuddrem's death wail is recorded as being heard across his realm, setting his koboldic followers in a state of mad grief. They were easily picked apart during the resulting chaos, with only very few escaping to their desert home. The northern reaches were once again returned to the Dual-Exarchy, and the Watch reinstated in the Wary Eye, to begin the task of rebuilding.
The Dragonreign had a terrible effect on the region's population, especially along the borderlands of the north, which even now remain fairly sparse. In order to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again, one of the Circle Mages, one Garic Baelson, volunteered to stay with the Watch, employing his expertise in divination magic to watch over the ancient denizens of the Drakkenpeaks, and assure that their machinations could be observed. He was the first to fill the role of Dragonspeaker, a post which has continued to be filled ever since. In media, the period was the source of many tales and sagas that are popular throughout the Empire, while Zuddrem's Death and the Massacre at the Wary Eye are the subject of many artistic depictions.