Prologue: Legends of the WarDrac

[Baphelocutis]

((Out of Character Note, OoCN: This second thread which shall continue to get periodic updates throughout this folder’s existence is labeled “STICKY” because it will eventually contain all the various descriptions, the creation and pre-adventuring history, and the adventuring history of Baphelocutis up thru the current timeline till the lair was established. This is purely for reading entertainment about the WarDrac’s past and is meant to keep separate from his current adventures on RhyDin in separate threads following the first two sticky threads. Also, this is the only thread in this folder that any mention of Dracoern or House Lathadoscia will be made and it will be kept to a minimum for only when necessary to reference to establish probably the history briefly of something else. Any questions or comments can be directed to me by email at the address of: “Baphelocutis [at] gmail [dot] com”. Listed in this first entry will be a list of each entry topic added to this thread and what it most details.))

1st Chapter – The present recalling the past to secure the future, the WarDrac’s pre-adventuring history
1. “Dragon Temple of Ixiom” – monastery on Dracoern right after Baphelocutis disappeared
2. “A faithful temple” – the elders choice to help their patron in his new life while preserving temple locally
3. “Tome of the WarDrac” – starting the tome of the history of the platinum draconian

[Baphelocutis]

There are a group of stars in the sword belt of the constellation Orion that many humans can see clearly in their night sky from a popular planet known as Earth. In the fourth orbit around one of these stars located in this Orion belt is a humanoid friendly habitable planet known as Dracoern. Dracoern is the home world of a powerful organization known as House Lathadoscia that rules many other worlds and parts of worlds from their capitol city of Lathadoscia Prime on Dracoern. Way across the planet of Dracoern on a small island continent nearly opposite the ends of the planet as it could be from Lathadoscia Prime is the WarDrac’s very long time lair before being trapped on RhyDin. Also on this small island continent are the followers of Ixiom who revered the WarDrac as much as the Pope is revered and so the equivalent to the Vatican could also be found here, the Dragon Temple of Ixiom. The Dragon Temple of Ixiom on Dracoern is a fantastic huge complex of monasteries, martial arts academies, worship amphitheaters, gardens, and more beautifully designed and built structures for all kind of uses. This small island continent is where many liberated draconians, dragon-kin, and true dragons that followed Baphelocutis and were converted to the ways of Ixiom also chose to make their lairs.

Baphelocutis for a long time was the champion of House Lathadoscia, including being the emperor of their entire land holdings for many decades until a few years ago. Not that Baphelocutis was in bad standing with the House, it was just that the drow elf Marilanna, daughter of the matriarch Arilanna of House Lathadoscia, was finally coming into her own as the anticipated heir. Mostly because with her accomplishments in securing victory in the Demon Wars, Arilanna simply began replacing his more important authority and responsibility into Marilanna’s hands for one day she would assume her mother’s role. Over the years since the platinum draconian got to pursue many interests that Marilanna had long been responsible for, including their favorite, magical research and development. While he missed the command of many forces with the thrill of combat and setting up new territories, he had longed to go play with trying to secure more divine or arcane artifacts and relics. Over the many decades of Baphelocutis’s adventuring in the name of House Lathadoscia he eventually had acquired his own following across the worlds he journeyed. And with that following, many Dragon Temples of Ixiom of a much smaller scale then the one found on Dracoern began to sprout in commonly frequented realms of the WarDrac. The beneficial result being of course that there was a vast network of eyes and ears throughout many worlds and many realms associated with the temples that had their own ways outside the networks of House Lathadoscia to communicate with each other. So many times the WarDrac would be gone away for many moons at a time but always there were tabs kept by the temple faith on general location and companions, but those at the temple on Dracoern knew something more had happen.

One of the many secrets to House Lathadoscia’s success across many worlds was their own built network of portal gates first enchanted into being by Marilanna. However, one of the drawbacks into having to make some quick alliances during the Demon Wars with other organizations you probably would never have dreamed of allying with before was they now knew about this network of portal gates. An asset turned into an Achilles heel not long after the Demon Wars ended and former allies attacked looking to exploit opportunity while they could with the main target being this portal gate network. While this did not completely cut House Lathadoscia off from a majority of their holdings it meant that they would have to rely on the mysterious tunnels in the Under Dark that got them from world to world originally back in the day and took a heck of a lot more time to travel for some destinations easily gated to before. It had been many moons since those attacks had been repelled, but the portal gate network had been ruined and was not going to be rebuilt for many more moons till certain things were worked out to better protect it in the future. Many messengers, couriers, patrols, and other subjects sent on tasks for various authorities within House Lathadoscia had been to every far reaching outpost of the empire and back a couple times at worst now and the most poorly kept secret in the empire over the many moons since the attack was the long absence of the WarDrac, Baphelocutis, from any known worlds that House Lathadoscia had contact with.

Somewhere within the complex that is the Dragon Temple of Ixiom on Dracoern amongst the monasteries is a stone circle meeting area for elder priests to informally discuss issues of the clergy without being in formal chambers meant for specific ordeals. The leading clerics, monks, and templars of their various specific orders gathered one clear night to quietly converse on the matter of the long absence of the WarDrac, may Ixiom bless his soul. Most of the faith knew that in recent years before the absence that Baphelocutis had ascended to a higher state of being in service to Ixiom, some believed to the rank of solar or planetar in abilities. Many of the elders had been warned by the WarDrac that he might be gone to places his followers could not know of on tasks none may ever realize for periods of time that may seem disconcerting to even the most loyal without even the higher ups of House Lathadoscia being clued in either. The official word from House Lathadoscia on the subject of the WarDrac’s absence even though it was a forbidden topic to bring up anyway, was that he was on a quest to procure some items that would help strengthen the empire’s future plan’s of retaliation against the former allies who betrayed them after the Demon Wars.

The heads and many levels of assistants immediately below the heads of the various orders of the Dragon Temple of Ixiom were all gathered on Dracoern for a yearly conference on matters such as promotions, decrees, trials, and exchange of personnel to strengthen the discipline across the faith on the many worlds. It had now been ten moons since the portal gate attack and the disappearance of the WarDrac, may Ixiom bless his soul. They had their own intelligence and own suspicions about the current whereabouts of the WarDrac. Tonight’s meeting was about deciding what to do with the intelligence and then how to proceed to execute a plan to further the temple’s strength within the empire.

[Baphelocutis]

While there was no animosity or tension between the faithful of Baphelocutis’s Dragon Temples of Ixiom and the drow elven House Lathadoscia and their ways of culture the elders of the temple knew that they should not do anything to jeopardize that balance. And in fact should come up with a way to make whatever plans they decide to execute seem to mesh with how House Lathadoscia was executing their plans for their agenda. If for any reason the House should decide the temples of the WarDrac were not only of no further use, but were also a hindrance or a potential internal threat to the empire, the faithful of Ixiom in the WarDrac’s name in the Dracoern empire would have a hard time withstanding the persecution for very long. Many drow elven warriors especially among the males had also become cultists of Ixiom and while many were concerned by the long absence of the WarDrac no one was panicking or assuming the worst yet. The respect and the leadership of the WarDrac over the decades throughout the empire was legendary and a good reason why most of the non drow elven races involved with House Lathadoscia worked with the House in the first place at all amicably. The temple elders knew some day the WarDrac might pass from the living and always felt confident they could maintain the faith for several generations in the empire afterwards. But it was clear at this annual conference with so many higher-level clergy folk, monks, and templars that a unified voice must be agreed upon and disseminated throughout the temples of Ixiom to insure this relationship with the empire and House remain so while hopefully being strengthened in the WarDrac’s absence.

The official statement from the church from now on in every district would be the same, that Baphelocutis was on an extra-planar quest guided by his faith and service to Ixiom, and that this quest would produce rewards to help the follows of Ixiom in the empire in future endeavors. The primary objective by local clerics and monks would be to help the faithful get through the WarDrac’s absence by recounting the past glories of the WarDrac and hopefully as well bring more followers in to the fold. That the local clergy folk should do more to work with the local bureaucrats of the empire and representatives in the House in keeping the morale and public opinions up among the common folk was made a priority too. As well they should do everything to quell any rumors about whether maybe the WarDrac did something to betray the House or perhaps the House did something to betray Baphelocutis that had begun to circulate among the common and not so common folk in different regions of the empire. While those rumors had circulated through some of the temple elders as well, recent intelligence confirmed that neither had happened fortunately, but the temple elders felt that the hierarchy of House Lathadoscia was still unsure themselves so for now it remained a church secret about their current intelligence. The elders had justified in keeping the secret of the WarDrac’s true last known location to insure not to indirectly jeopardize any plans the WarDrac had already set in to motion that may be related to whatever tasks he was executing.

The truly faithful of the temples inspired by Baphelocutis knew that part of what enhanced the WarDrac’s divine and arcane abilities especially in dealing with extra-planar situations that the amounts of followers, their devotion and prayer, as well as their own individual strengths augmented the power of his force of will in conflicts. Only the truly faithful sworn followers of the higher echelons of the church also knew of his desire to one day anonymously retire away from the existence of the empire and House Lathadoscia though many knew the majority of the church would have to remain behind. One of Baphelocutis’s tactics of acquiring more territory was to use the Dragon Temple to send religious missions to settled areas as scouts for information who could also create an insurgency so that assimilation into the empire was often a lot less bloodier than outright hostile takeovers. The main temple on Dracoern therefore had many maps and survey reports of many worlds and regions on worlds that the empire bordered or had contact with so that there were many outlets for more missions to be undertaken still. The higher-leveled elders with the temple on Dracoern had already recently even worked with the Empress Marilanna and Matriarch Arilanna on regions of interest to the empire and House in conjunction with phases of long terms plans set in motion after the Demon Wars ended a few years ago. The ranks of the military, including templars and warrior monks from the Dragon Temple of Ixiom had filled out fully again for the empire’s army.

The church was overflowing at many locations with many different clergy folk of varying degrees of ability level and experience. Most of the middle-aged that were still alive from the Demon Wars were perhaps too well experienced and initiated in some powers. Those that were currently assigned to the military were as fresh off the training academies as the church could get away with at the various positions, and filled with members of the church who seemed to have more loyalty to the House. The irony is the list had been supplied by the House hierarchy at their not so subtle request that the majority of it not be objected to so a little protestation was made with as straight a face as possible. A lot of the missions that were sent out that seem to coincide with specific interests of the empire and House but the church knew would not in the long term of the faith help them if the WarDrac was indeed relocated to retirement were only allocated the barest minimum of personnel that were competent and important, but were deemed the most expendable if cut off from because of unfriendly circumstances in the empire. Missions to other worlds where the House only had some minority influence were bolstered with some of the church’s best new fresh and most loyal faces, sprinkled in with grizzled experienced veterans of darker times also laden with the better resources to travel far and establish solidly places where the faithful might find refuge should they wish to evacuate the empire. A few missions that traveled mingled with other missions for a while to help make the others seem fuller were bolstered with the most numbers that included the most faithful and loyal of many experiences and levels that were going to far away specific places that might become new homes for the followers of the WarDrac that could lead them closer to his true location now one day without the empire or House on their heels.

Over the span of the next several moons after the annual conference the majority of the followers of Ixiom through the Dragon Temples found throughout the empire supported by House Lathadoscia would all be shuffled out of the empire down to the most basic skeleton crews that could be afforded to maintain proper administration of all church facilities being the only left behind. And the majority of these positions were either staffed by the very venerable or the very fresh of the local faces, the last of the flock left in the local pasture, the true blind sheep to maintain the faith in the empire. The excuse being the majority of the followers of the WarDrac in service to the Dragon Temples of Ixiom were on religious missions as forerunners for future empire expansion that was all apart of the long term phased plans being executed throughout the House and its projects. The WarDrac would maintain his power of will elsewhere while the truly faithful were preparing to help maintain that power in alternative ways if necessary. The discipline of daily routines and prayers was strictly enforced during this time to keep everyone’s focus and skills sharp, but to keep the divine strength of the WarDrac energy strong wherever he may be, may Ixiom bless his soul, so that one day he could return to his flock.

[Baphelocutis]

The quiet patter of raindrops upon the windowsill was the only other sound in the abbey room besides a quill scrawling across a sheet of parchment. Shadows hide the size and the edges of the room in which only a handful of candles clustered together flicker any light in a chilly breeze. It was the kind of breeze that carries a chill from many days of rain upon the land with no sun to restore the warmth to damp surroundings. A little warmth was provided by a small cook fire in the hearth that had been recently stoked and refueled with only a couple of logs. Swinging from an iron hook a moderate little teapot dangles above the cook fire dispelling the aroma of herbs into the moist air. As lighting infrequently flashes across the sky it illuminates the window opening a meter wide and a couple high set in the middle of one wall. The view at the moment when lit up usually nothing more than the streaks of rain coming down and the surrounding forested hills the darker smudges below the sky. The room definitely does not appear to be a living space but rather a working space dedicated to scribes or archivists. Though a few rolled scrolls and random parchments are lying about on a table it seems clear that writings do not usually remain stored in this room for long.

Besides the one writing, a few other figures are sometimes silhouetted by the candlelight, or the occasional pull from a pipe, or the glare off the side of a metal mug as it is brought to another’s lips during a lighting strike. The one drinking from the metal mug of brew is a weathered old human man who is the recently retired general of the WarDrac’s personal army who rose from being Baphelocutis’s first squire at a very young orphaned age. The herbal aroma from the pulls off the pipe came from a middle-aged oriental elven man in the garbed robes of the Great Wyrm master of the monks who had taught the platinum draconian much of his fighting techniques. The young female drow elven woman sat in her chair very reverently, the former and recently retired Mistress of the Academy was also the first apprentice Baphelocutis took that used the combined power of divine and arcane magic to accomplish goals like he did as well. All of them watched the scribe quietly repeat their tales spoken into words written about their beloved master, may Ixiom bless his soul. The scribe was a mid-level monk who had been a templar during the Demon Wars who also happened to be a liberated and converted golden draconian rescued by the WarDrac from among Tiamat’s Last Batch.

The decision had been made that the complete history of the WarDrac, Baphelocutis, may Ixiom bless his soul, be consolidated into one telling describing how the influence of Ixiom and the development of his abilities came to be over the many years. And that in the telling at the relevant parts where appropriate in the history of when he learned different powers, that the different divine and arcane formulas would be written in the code Baphelocutis had created for the church to use in its scripture to enhance their power could also serve as a guide to the true believer to ascend in the Dragon Temple of Ixiom regardless of where the user of the Tome of the WarDrac might be in the multiverse. The one inscribing this tome would be the one to carry it to the WarDrac hopefully one day when it was completed. With the tome the insurance that the Dragon Temple of Ixiom would continue into the future in some fashion or another regardless of what happened here in the empire of House Lathadoscia was assured hopefully.

The three elders assembled here with this monk scribe had known Baphelocutis the longest having been some of the first to pledge their lives to him and survived in service with him for many decades and with each other to tell his tale best so it was preserved as best it could be for posterity. They had all been entrusted by the WarDrac to run various aspects of the church and those who served the church as well as to oversee their training to do it in a way the platinum draconian most desired achieved. The monk who had taught Baphelocutis how to fight using the martial arts trained all the warriors who fought in the name of the church or in the WarDrac’s name within the empire’s army. The human warrior had been the WarDrac’s right hand man on the battlefield or in charge of security on many quests throughout the decades and his leadership was the one the WarDrac showed to him in almost perfect carbon copy. The human warrior had traveled with him since the earliest time and most often on tasks into many extreme locations he usually cared not to remember, so he provided the eyewitness account of most adventures. The young drow woman knew and understood the most the semantics of how Baphelocutis existed from creation through till his recent ascension and what it all meant. She also knew how his powers all worked together and conflicted with each other sometimes and what the cumulative effect usually was to make him the most effective. The irony of the choice of the scribe is that he could not only help translate it from the point of view of someone who practiced all these disciplines like his master the WarDrac, but that he had the unique perspective of being a draconian and executing this lifestyle too.

The past working with the present to secure the future was the classic summary of this setting. No one was quite sure what had happened, though some suspected certain destinies were in motion and felt it prudent to prepare and assist their patron as best they could. And so the Tome of the WarDrac, affectionately referred to as the illustrated primer for a draconian, started at the beginning of his existence to a time before he was even hatched from an egg.