The Blight Wars

The Conflict

Prelude

For generations the Ascora lived, thrived, and made the most out of life through the creative arts and the unlocking of magic's secrets. This magic was conferred by boons from Aurum to his chosen children with supplication and faith.
It is by the teachings as recorded from ancient Ascoran hieroglyphs that the creator god, Aurum, prized order and law. These ideals made up the key tenets of the first faith: The Golden Path. By following the ideals of their god, the Ascora were gifted not with material reward, but with words. These original god-words are believed to hold the power of creation, and the shadows of some of them can be heard today though they are now known simply as "words of power."
The Ascora's society developed with their utilization of these words of power. Though they began simply as carefree beings of energy and light, they would become driven by the power and prosperity that the words of Aurum promised, and committed themselves fully to discovering the secrets of the universe and creation. They did this always with humility, never questioning their benevolent lord for whom they loved and idolized in their incredible art in bas reliefs, statues, and great stone monoliths.
That is until an Ascora questioned the verisimilitude of Aurum's generosity. This creature was called Namoran, and in the coming years his name would be spoken in equal parts vilification and adoration. History has long since forgotten his name, but even thousands of years afterwards, the world is still reeling from the actions of The First Betrayer .
Powerful and difficult ideas sparked conflict and debate among the Ascora. It was unprecedented that Aurum's will be questioned, for the Ascora had only known health, peace, and prosperity. All the while, Aurum provided little answers. His servants, however, the dragons, attempted to mediate the conflicts with their vast wisdom and experience, but to no avail.
Whispers of the first bloody conflict since the rise of their civilization shook the hearts of the fragile Ascora who had no concept of war or strife. New ideas of allegiance, battle preparations, and the development of weapons overtook other topics of conversation all across the world-spanning Eternum.
Namoran, recognized as the leader of those who wished to hold Aurum accountable and fight for the continued prosperity of his people, represented the side of the dissenters whose numbers continued to grow. They theorized that if Aurum could provide these gifts by supplication, who is to say he is doing everything he can as a guide and protector? What if he were to rescind these gifts of magic that the Ascora had utilized at such a fundamental level in all aspects of their civilization.
Small disagreements began to divide communities, households, fraternities. They grew into larger ones gradually over time, until the threat of a dissenter in the midst of the faithful created enough paranoia that the energies of the Ascora's minds and bodies began to suffer. These powerful negative emotions and ideas would consume them before long, turning them into something else, so strict rules and laws were put into place, and warriors installed and trained to defend those laws. The dragons saw this as an affront to the laws of their lord who they deemed above all others, but whenever they attempted to intervene, the chiefest of the dragons of Sun and Moon forbade it. Conflicted, the dragons knew their responsibility was to the protection of the Ascora, but they may not protect Aurum's people from themselves lest they turn to tyranny. The division of dragonkind, however, is a tale for another time.

Start Date

-859

Ending Date

0