Background
The realms of Chronar are a land that prides itself on its mighty and formidable protectors, the Time Dragon and its children. The dragons can wield and manipulate time magic but only use their abilities to maintain the space-time continuum. Until recently, their interference has been minimal, and the realms of Chronar have enjoyed peace and stability in their monster-free world. But one day, the Time Dragon disappeared. The people of the kingdom did not care much at first, as everything seemed unchanged. But only for a moment… The dragons sometimes choose people who can communicate with them, ride them, and use their magic. These people are called Dragon Riders and are the most respected inhabitants of the realms. Until recently, their role was to help the dragons maintain stability by looking for time warps and killing the few monsters that managed to get through them. The riders are politically neutral, and their presence also prevents major military conflicts from happening, as no ruler wants to face a dragon's wrath.
The realms are permeated with magic, the source of which is the five elements: water, fire, earth, light, and darkness. Above elemental magic is time magic, which for a long time was unwieldable and uncontrollable by mortals. Time magic grants its owner complete immortality and allows them to manipulate events in the space-time continuum. Trying to control this power is extremely difficult and draining, as it is fickle and can drive the weak-minded into darkness and even cause the collapse of alternate realities upon each other. Only the dragons dared – and most importantly, knew how – to manipulate time magic. The people of the kingdom, if they are gifted with sensitivity to magic, usually dedicate their lives to one of the elements. They master it and, in extreme cases, become so imbued by it that they take on a physical form that resembles the element.
As mentioned above, until recently, only the dragons dared to manipulate time magic. Mortals accepted the fact that this power was too dangerous for them. However, in the most recent century, a new Mages’ Guild appeared in the kingdom. Unlike other guilds, they shunned people and kept their deeds hidden from the eyes of the public. The members of the guild lived in solitude, locked in high towers or hiding in caves and dungeons. After a while, the dragons became restless. They bestowed a prophecy upon a sun priestess from Ayotia, the capital city. The prophecy was as follows:
The day has come when stars fall from the sky, the time of the end and the end of time.
When the greedy reach for the treasure of lies, the worlds and gods on that day will collide.
And only the Herald, the Dragon's son, shall find alone the Ancient one.
Possessing the power of the fiery sun to revive the realm and thy kingdom come.
Soon after the prophecy, towns and villages became targets of mysterious attacks. Various monsters, led by notorious adventurers of the Chronar realms, plundered the poorly defended settlements, attacked merchant bands, and threatened nobles in their homes. The King and the Mage Council gathered to decide where the source of the problem lay. The grand archmage, Uthar, revealed his recent discovery – the mysterious mages had been tinkering with time magic to grant themselves immortality. As a result, they went mad and lost control of space-time. Alternate realities started collapsing, and monsters began appearing in vast numbers, as did alternate versions of the realms. The doppelgangers, as they started calling them, were often evil and mischievous. However, some of them turned out to be like-minded and wanted to help to restore space-time stability so they could return to their own realities. Soon, another problem arose. The Dragon Herald, the target of the prophecy – who was he? Dragon Riders threw themselves into the fight with monsters and doppelgangers to prove their might and show themselves worthy of the title. Some of them gathered in guilds to compete with other Dragon Riders. The dragons were not very eager to help them – it seemed that they themselves did not know who the Dragon Herald was.
As mentioned above, monsters were creatures from other, more evil dimensions. When many realities collapsed upon each other, multiple paths opened, allowing them to flood the Chronar realms..
Apart from monsters, many alternate versions of cherished Chronar heroes found their way into this realm. A great number of them turned out to be evil and wanted to seize the opportunity and group together with monsters to take over the Chronar realms.
Some of these doppelgangers turned out to be good-natured and eager to help the Dragon Riders. Together with the original Chronar heroes (who quickly became indistinguishable from their doppelgangers), they started grouping up to help Dragon Riders in their quest to save the fabric of reality.
Dragon Riders are people chosen by dragons to coexist and work together. For a person to become a Dragon Rider, it is necessary to defeat the dragon so the dragon will allow itself to be touched and ridden. One Dragon Rider can ride multiple dragons.
Dragon Riders are respected by most Chronar inhabitants. There are, however, some people that treat them with some suspicion, if not to say hostility. These include orcs and kobolds.
Not all Dragon Riders are morally good. Many of them seek only the power promised by the prophecy to fulfill their selfish desires. Soon, the Dragon Riders started distrusting each other. They started forming alliances to prove themselves superior to other Dragon Riders and show once and for all which ones had the potential to be called Dragon Heralds. Dragons seem to value their competition and often offer the best guilds valuable Artifacts.
The dragons actively seek their riders and choose the ones who dare to fight them and prove their strength of combat and character. Once they choose their Dragon Rider, they form a close magical and emotional relationship with them. They allow the rider to wield the dragon’s magic and make use of its abilities. The dragon also takes over some of the character traits of its companion. When a Dragon Rider becomes cruel or evil, the dragon behaves accordingly. The dragon will follow the rider almost blindly. That is why, after the prophecy, it was common for two Dragon Riders to fight each other, and the dragons would attack each other's teams. Dragons seem as eager as humans to find the Herald.
Last modified 4mo ago