The Draconic Invasion

"Soldiers, in formation, now! Messengers, I want you to go back to the Cities - let them know about this! Don't stop until you reach another guard member - preferably Commander Richard. Tell him about this, as fast as you can. So go, get out of here! This is going to be one heck of a fight, and lightning strike me for saying it, but I don't think we have much chance of winning. Go, now! As fast as your wings will carry you! May the wind be with you. Soldiers! Quickly, now! We have to stop him! Fight for your homes, and your families. Fight for the sky!"

-a Sergeant in the Intercity Guard

Prelude

There was no building up to the Draconic Invasion. It simply wouldn't be an invasion if there was an introduction - not really, at least. Well, technically there was a build-up, but not many people knew about it. Just the royal family and a few of their chosen scholars. Recent reports from Charters told of activity in the Fallwater mountain range - specifically Smoke Mountain, which they had kept a careful track of due to its pull on their compasses (similar to the Snowroosts). Not days later, there was a terrible eruption from the mountain which covered half of its continent in ash.

Not many people knew about this incident. The eruption, occurring in the Outer Realm, had no effect on the Cities, and though maybe a couple of articles were printed by bored newspapers that had run dry, the general populace went about their daily lives, and after a week with no developments, the royal family and the Charters moved on.

That was before huge, house-sized (not double or triple car sized - house sized) dragons plundered all the treasures from the Intercity Cartography Station, decimated a patrol of the Intercity Guard, and almost burnt down the Noblelore library. Then the 'Draconic Invasion' was dubbed a sky-wide emergency, and people scrambled to deal with it.

First Attack

"The sky was a disaster. Trails of smoke drifted off from the top of the cloud, and dazed Skydwellers tottered around, muttering to themselves. Flashes of fear and astonishment were in everyone's eyes. A dragon with green scales was talking to a group of people dressed in uniforms of the Intercity Guard. Their voices seemed empty after the shouts and the roars that had echoed just minutes before."

Such was the scene that had been left after the first wave of the Draconic Invasion. Huge dragons with rough, dull scales and exposed underbellies had swooped out from nowhere, catching the Skydwellers off guard. Though the dragons had been driven off, the Cities were left in total chaos. The initial skirmish was estimated to have ended in over a hundred casualties and seventeen deaths.

As one might imagine, the people were deeply upset about this. Who had the dragons been? Why were they so aggressive? What could they do to stop the? Protests broke out among the people, and many important leaders (including King Altair himself, as well as his two sons) spent sleepless days trying to calm them down, recuperate after the disaster, and regroup to figure out what to do next. They dubbed the incident the 'Draconic Invasion', and the name stuck. The situation was dubbed a skywide emergency - schools were canceled, businesses closed, and everybody stayed in their homes (or locked up inside the pocket dimension), most likely organizing food storage and worrying about the fact that literally every building in their civilization was very, very flammable.

Retaliation

"Now, soldiers, I want you all to get into your squads. You'll have to be on almost constant patrol until we can recruit some auxiliary to take shifts, too - but at this point, we're all tired. Luckily, it's just been one attack - and I want to keep it that way. Now, I'm going to assign you all districts to protect, and you'll protect them; I don't care if you have family in one district that you want to watch over, or you're not assigned to your home City - I've heard that's been an issue lately, and I'll clear it up right now. This is the Intercity Guard. All of us here believe in working past our differences, in trusting each other. Because we are all highly trained, and are all excellent soldiers. So. get out there, and go do your job."

-Commander Richard Anwir

Crest of the Auxiliary Guard

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Meanwhile, the Assembly of the Intercity Guard had formed patrols around the Cities, and this seemed to keep the other dragons (who were soon referred to as wyrms - not for the literal meaning of the word, but mostly because it was a term for dragon that sounded like worm) at bay, at least for the moment. They worked almost tireless shifts as their leaders tried to track the movements of the wyrms, and possible strategies for fighting (or negotiating, possibly??) with them. A few in the logistics team were also sent to rally up the people to go through a quick initiatory training and become part of the Auxiliary Guard.

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Royal scholars also worked around the clock, trying to pinpoint the source of the wyrms. Where did they come from? No one's exactly sure who made the connection first, but eventually they decided to send Charters out to investigate Smoke Mountain. That was where they found it - an archway that was unbroken and untainted by the ash and rubble all around it, carved with symbols not unlike the portal that led to the Dragon Kingdom dimension.

It was concluded that this archway, though too small for even a Skydweller dragon to fit through, must have been the opening to a portal that the wyrms had come from. How and why this happened, Skydwellers still don't know today. However, it was decided that the wyrms were not of this world, and this led to the search for all mentioning of dragons in ground dweller literature, hastily collected by the Monitors.

Image of Smoke Mountain after its eruption.

Curiously, the ground dwellers were also greatly impacted by the explosion. Fifty-seven people were killed, and a couple of books were later written about it.

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Air

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Perhaps the sky was not ready for it. Perhaps we were meant to fail. Perhaps it was some grand scheme of the stars and the wind, sent to test us in our newfound unity, technology, and resolve. Perhaps it was our own forgetfulness that brought it all about. For whatever reason, we are now facing one of the greatest threats to the peace of the world. We must work together - we must triumph. And we must stay true to our fundamental values in all of it. Principles of discovery, charity, and kinship.

Wind fail us all if we stoop below our enemy to achieve victory. We have not yet, but I believe that this is the time to remember it. The time to remember who we are - yes, we should have pride in our splendor. But also humility in our growth. Confidence in our abilities, but the wisdom to bless others with what we've been given. Faith in our leaders, and the sense of justice, mercy, diligence and conviction to do what is right should they fail.

That is the true legacy of the sky. May the stars bless us in our efforts, the sun shine upon our endeavors, and the wind carry us to victory.

Related:

Effects Industry: Use of metals in swords, spears, and Edges led to both the starting of the Swordsman's league and an increased use of metals in manufacturing. Thin insulation around piping, small metal buttons as signs of wealth, and further study on the making of bellstaffs were all results of this metallic revolution. Use of metal also helped crafters study how to better work with dragon scales in their creations. Research: To ensure that such an invasion never happened again, careful studies were devoted to monitoring all natural disasters on the ground. Specifically volcanic eruptions, but it was soon devoted to earthquakes, dust storms, tsunamis, hurricanes, and even fires - especially ones with strange magical activity. Chartership: The death of many Charters following the Draconic Invasion led to an even fewer portion of the population studying Chartership. Careful tracking of air currents, magical activity, expedition whereabouts, and bases also became much more popular. Despite all this, the Outer Realm became almost wilder, and many attribute this to the hideout of the rebels who struck not ten years after the end of the Invasion, leading to the death of even more Charters.

Daily Life

"They've turned down all our efforts to settle a treaty, insisting that we accept them as their leaders, hand over all our treasure, and allow them to feast on humans and eggs - our eggs - whenever they desire. This cannot be allowed. I'm afraid we will simply have to fight them off."

-Rastaban Noblewing, son of the current king

Even during the constant stress of the Invasion, life eventually settled into a new normal. Guarded school discussions were held on clouds much closer to the Cities. Businesses operated under new, shorter hours. New carriers and deliverers became part of a fast-growing delivery business (though it would quickly recede when the Invasion ended). But the most carefully guarded locations were the crops and ranches - the food sources. That and all the libraries, bookstores, and general keepers of information. Even in the Outer Realm, Charters were warned to keep an eye on all the exotic prizes they had collected, as the wyrms seemed to be obsessed with treasure, riches, and everything shiny.
As more and more enlisted into the Auxiliary Guard, Intercity Guards felt the pressure on them lessened somewhat. There was still around-the-clock patrolling and protection of the Cities, but with a strict and near-flawless shift schedule, most of their jobs returned to normal, except for the occasional skirmishes. Despite the size, rough scales, and quick fire of the wyrms, they had a major weakness - that of a soft underbelly, and soon the patrols became a constant deterrent of the foe. However, a few cohorts of the Guard found themselves with a much more dangerous task; that of seeking out the wyrms, spying on them, finding out more about their life, position, and tactics. These reports were used to refine better strategies of attacking and fighting the wyrms.

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Curiously, a new skill was becoming more and more popular with the Guards - swordsmanship. With dragons to spew their breath weapons at, maneuver around, and generally disorient the wyrms, it became almost too easy to use a long sword to finish the job, and in their free time, many human Guards held quick duels with their peers. This habit quickly fell out of practice after the Invasion, but many retired Guards still hold their swords as a prized possession. A sword denoted high rank and skill, especially considering the effort that it took to procure the metal. More common among the lower-ranking Guards were spears, and with the dragons, sharp points were attached to the ends of their tails.

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"And don't forget us Monitors! Seriously, do you know how hard it was to try explaining away the bursts of fire in the sky, or the bodies of the wyrms that were discovered in the woods? And the clean-up! I mean, I was glad that our people were being protected, but it was horrible! Such a mess!

-a retired Monitor

Resolution

Though the initial attack of the wyrms caused utter chaos, a quick and logical response by competent leaders had everybody fairly relaxed by the time three months had gone by. There was still some tension, considering the occasional civilian or Guard's death - fighting dragons is not easy. But there was only a matter of time before the wyrms saw that they couldn't win - too effective of a strategy had been developed to kill them.
Or, so the Guards thought. In almost desperation (and still refusing the long-standing offer for communication and peace) the wyrms changed tactics, switching to short, brutal attacks and wiping out huge fields of food. The skies went back into an emergency lock-down, and despite the low morale, a wave of brave new recruits joined the Auxiliary Guard. But no matter how many wyrms fell, two seemed to be there to take their place.

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Eventually, increasingly desperate scholars sent another group of Charters back down to Smoke Mountain - oops, nevermind, they were found and killed. Send another one? Same result. No one wanted to be part of the next group that went to investigate the mountain's supposed portal - and for good reason, as it took three more groups before a successful mission was completed. The returning Charters confirmed that the archway had turned back into a portal, and yes, wyrms were emerging from it, though they seemed to be increasingly older (or significantly younger) in age. And not all of the dragons were immediately coming up to the sky anymore. Many of them were plundering the ground dweller's cities and museums, destroying much of the land. Luckily, considering that the ground dwellers were all waging war on each other, the distant shapes of the wyrms were written off as fighter jets.

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Eventually there was a great deal of blah blah blah, listen to this historian gab; I mean come on, we get it! Okay, just hop on over to the section labeled Author's Notes, and you'll get the scoop on a dirty little secret that isn't really that important - would you expect me to give up all my dignity? I don't think so. This was all just a sort of dare, anyway. And thus, the Draconic Invasion came to an end.