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helpmeimblorboing · 1 day ago

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Dragons are actually amazing blacksmiths and pyrographers. They’ve spent their whole lives learning how to control their inner flame and how they externalise it, after all

The Dwarven Blacksmith industry, which held a monopoly over all forged items before dragoncraft became more widely accepted, hates how the recent surge in popularity of the Draconic Smithing Confederation has started to cut into their profits, and so started spreading rumours about how dragons are actually these super evil, super greedy, creatures

The human monarchies, who had always been in need of an external enemy to distract from the fact that they were monarchies and thus inherently repressive, willingly bought into and began peddling this lie, picking fights with local dragon kingdoms and using their retaliatory attacks as excuses to further demonise their race in their propaganda pieces

Because of discriminatory actions such as these, certain species of Dragon - most notably the solid-colour dragons, who were not only less marketable than their metallic cousins, but also worshipped a different, more primal, god - were driven to form a coalition with the Demons, who had undergone a similar pogrom in the past and had thus been driven from their homes on the surface down into their ancestral homeland of Hell

This, of course, resulted in more hateful propaganda being churned out against them, with several Metallic Dragon rulers jumping at the chance to condemn their Tiamat-worshipping “heathen” brethren

The Drow, a species of elves who had undergone a similar religious schism as the Metallic and Solid -Color Dragons (with them worshipping Lolth, a god of grace and deceit from the polytheistic elven pantheon before the human-made religion of the Pelori, who worship the Dawnfather and his kin, took over most High Elven kingdoms ), began getting nervous on seeing this, rightfully fearing that their High cousins would start to get ideas on how they could deal with the Drow

So, jumping the gun, they joined the Condemned Coalition, and earned themselves a blackened reputation for it

Over time, more and more minority and marginalised races would come to join the Coalition, including the orcish followers of Gruumsh One-Eye “the Ruiner”, an orc prophet who preached against the growing idolisation of human and elven aesthetics in orc communities, and pushed for a return to the polytheistic and self-sufficient days of orc society, for which he was branded an extremist and a terrorist.

Goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, who had for centuries worshipped Bane, the god of war, suddenly found themselves under attack from the elves, who used Bane’s mythical enmity with the High Elven god Corellon (a member of the Pelori pantheon) to instigate a series of reforms that further marginalised goblinoid communities, already unwelcome in circles that saw them as inherently untrustworthy.

This, unbeknownst to them, was in part because of the Drows’ defection to the Condemned Coalition, as the High and Wood Elves, eager to seem League-friendly in the fallout of their cousins opposing the League, began cracking down on “mistrusted” races like the goblinoids to earn favor on the Council

Thus, they, along with the yuan-ti, whose god Zehir was undergoing similar oppression, joined the Coalition

Artefacts from the SDSC (the Solid-Color branch of the DSC) and the demonic smitheries (originally founded by the demon King Asmodeus, whose wars against human and elven encroachment got him branded a villain) still exist, and still circulate, but are now seen as “demon’s wear” and “lewd and corruptive”

Meanwhile, the MDSC has formed a cartel with the DBI to monopolise the industries of smithery and Artifact-creation. With the exception of ludicrously expensive wizard and elven artisanal crafts, the average adventurer is usually kitted out in MDSC or DBI wear (sometimes, to inflate their sales, the SDSC and demon smitheries will attempt to pass their creations off as MDSC or DBI make, but as this provides the League of Light with ample ammo against the dragons and demons, most dragon and demon leaders have instituted a ban on such acts, as set out in the Condemned Charter)

In addition, the spread of the Pelori faith has led to it’s splintering, the formerly monotheistic, Dawnfather-dedicated, faith transforming organically into something more polytheistic, as aristocratic High Elven families and rich DBI families lobbied for their racial gods - ones like Corellon and Moradin - to be placed on equal status with Pelor the Dawnfather

This has led to a schism within the Pelori, between the Archists - who follow the “arch” teachings of “Pelor above all gods” - and the Polytheists, who accept other gods beside Pelor.

This has negatively affected the so far human-led Wizardic and Clerical Institutes, however, as all races and all religions have now been given a free pass to challenge human supremacy in these jobs, the study of clerichood no longer requiring submission to Pelor, and the study of wizardry no longer requiring that you be either an Archist Pelori or unassociated with the hagiographic (as Corellon and other non-human gods were so far considered solely saints) sects of Pelori

This has, predictably, led to controversy

Far more controversial, however, is the recent New Age fad of humans, elves and dwarves worshipping Condemned gods like Lolth, Zehir, Asmodeus or Gruumsh (Asmodeus and Gruumsh having been deified by their home race after their deaths, and diablified by the League of Light).

In addition, there is a push for reclamation among members of “border races”, still marginalised but accepted by the League, like the Metallic Dragons, the High Elves, and the more human-looking Tieflings, to reclaim the gods of the Pelori pantheon who were assimilated from older pantheons

(For instance, Corellon was once part of the same pantheon (the Seldarine) as the orc god Baghtru, later conflated with Gruumsh, as well as the goblinoid gods Maghlubiyet and Bane, and was often seen as the counterpart to the Drow god Lolth. However, as his cults made up most of High Elf aristocracy, when Pelori swept into the Elvenlands, it was easy for him to claim a place in the Pelori pantheon. Similar things happened to Bahamut, Moradin, and most of the non-Pelor parts of the Pelori pantheon)

Known as the Reformists, there are suspicions amongst the League’s top members that these groups - mostly anarchist and progressive in nature - are covertly providing aid to the exiled Condemned. However, as their entire power base rests on looking benevolent and gracious, they cannot crack down on them without probably cause

This has, predictably, not stopped certain settlements from banning the worship of the Condemned gods entirely, leading to them being branded “fundamentalists” and being disavowed from the League.

Several of the more belligerent monarchs of these repressive states were branded as “supporters of the Condemned”, their leaders put on trial for “trying to legitimate the exiles by purposefully persecuting them, that their lies against the League may seem as truth”.

Afterwards, they would be treated like any other noble on trial - depending on their standing with the central power of the League - the Sunlit Council - they were either freed or, in more extreme cases, where the League would benefit from it, they were exiled, their lands stripped from them and granted to League-supporting heirs who were allowed to rule on behalf of the Sunlit Council. If there was no such heir in the immediate family of the exile, the lands would be claim by the Council and assimilated into the lands of the nearest League aristocrat

Notably, such mechanics extended across the League’s lands - if you were the ruler of a state on bad terms with the Council, they wouldn’t usurp you openly, but should you die without a male biological heir to carry your line, the League would take over your lands “to defend it from invasion”, and eventually incorporate it fully into their own lands.

The lands of the Yuan-ti received an even heavier blow, as their religion - that of the serpent god Zehir, was demonised almost completely, with yuan-ti purebloods- common in human settlements - being recast as temptresses and manipulators, and the less humanlike yuan-ti being made to seem like monsters and abominations, nicknamed “the worms of the desert” by a high-ranking member of the Sunlit Council.

Through violence and threats, the more monstrous yuan-ti were driven into the wide desert that bound the Infernal Gates, while the more humanoid purebloods were often tolerated in League lands, if not accepted

The deserts that the yuan-ti fled to are known by two names - the yuan-ti call it the Zehirite Sands, where the serpent god crafted the first of their kind out of sand, poison, and shadow, and where the dunes still shift with his breath.

The Zehirite Sands are treated as one vast, natural temple—rituals are performed under open skies, and even the venomous creatures of the desert—serpents, scorpions, sand-striders—are considered sacred, their movements used for omens and auguries.

To the League, they are the Infernal Wastes, a vast stretch of barren land between them and the Infernal Gates that open into Hell, treated as a natural prison and romanticised as an exotic “testing ground” for heroes, and the birthplace of the still-marginalised, if tolerated, purebloods

However, as time passed, the purebloods, more willing to accept League rule and as a rule more humanoid than their monstrous brethren, began to be more and more accepted by the League and the Council, with them disavowing the “wicked” Zehir, and taking up the worship of the storm god Kord. For this, the non-human yuan-ti, who began calling themselves malisons, started to resent them

Things came to a head when the King of the human settlement of Rhell performed a pogrom on the purebloods (for which he was exiled by the Council. His entire bloodline was denied the crown, and Rhell was assimilated into the lands of the High Elven Councillor Venreal ), setting off a chain reaction of dominant races starting to propagandise against the purebloods, treating them as “monsters trying to be human”

Several purebloods attempted to return to the yuan-ti deserts of their ancestral origin to escape this, but, as they had been gone to the League’s lands for centuries, the malisons showed resistance to their presence, eventually erupting into open warfare

The League, however, wanting a League-loyal buffer state between the Gates and their lands, threw in its lot behind the pureblood armada, and, little by little, a pureblood state was carved out of the malison desert, much to the resentment of the Condemned.

Currently, the state of Kordson is bound on every side by malison kingdoms, even as it slowly pushes out the few malisons left within its own borders. With the League unwilling to step in to help defend it for fear of provoking the Condemned armadas, and the Condemned equally unwilling to aid the malison kingdoms, it exists in a perpetual Cold War scenario with it’s neighbours

Within its borders, however, it is a very different sight. To the purebloods, the Zehirite Sands, or as they call it, the Thundered Soils, is promised to them by right of their reverence for Kord. Thus, in their worldview, the malisons are outsiders who never belonged in the first place

Kordson’s special militia, the Thunder Cohort, has thus developed an unfortunate and sadistic quirk of sweeping into unarmed malison villages and proceeding to commit massacres, building up the pressure at Kordson’s borders by enraging local malison states

The malison resistance (or, as Kordson calls them, terrorist groups) - most commonly displayed in groups like the Zehirite Army and the Serpent’s Fangs - is supported by the Condemned, the same way the Cohort is supported by the League, making the malison-pureblood war essentially a proxy war between the two powers

More controversy has arisen due to the fact that Kordson has effectively captured the borders of the Zehirite holy site of the Sandstruck Rock - a vast standing stone said to mark the place Zehir first created the yuan-ti and Naga common ancestor.

They have historically used their control over the region to deny yuan-ti pilgrims the right to enter the Rock’s vicinity, though certain more liberal Kordsonite leaders lobbied to allow it. With all eyes on the Sands, people started whispering about the League allowing this religious suppression, causing the Sunlit Council to force Kordson’s hand by internationalising the Rock, declaring it “under the League protection”, and allowing Zehirite pilgrims in - for a tax, of course

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