SCROLL OF BALPHERUS:
[This is a fragment of an eye witness account, taken from a soldier by
name of Assemon, in the year 196 Before the Binding.  It was recorded by the
scribe Vetch Crabhand, company of the Gilded Horn, in the Company records of
that year.  The original manuscript is in the Library of Opal]

'the elite guard was coming up from the flank, armor of dragon hide plate as
black as the ash that was settling over everything.  The bodies must have
been ten deep at my post, most of the lance had died in the first assault.
We didn't have a hope of retreating, the press of dead and dieing was too
great.  Most of the second and third battalions had fled, but been cut off
by Nightwings troops coming in from the south.

I couldn't see my way forwards or back, with all the smoke, and the
screaming was like I reckon hell must be.  So I laid me down, with my spear
in hand, under the charred bodies of what had been my mates and brothers in
arms, and I waited and hoped to live or else die clean and quick.

An' that's when I seen him, for there was no mistaken him.  He wore armor of
dragon scale like the elites, and on his head a helm in the likeness of a
dragon's head.  Must have been 7 foot tall, thin and kind of similar in some
ways to an elf.  He walked right past me, over the bodies of the dead,
crunchin' their bones under his heels, while the elites moved on, making an
art of their butchery.  I saw him clear.  Face kind of proud, but with the
scales of a dragon covering it like armor, and his eyes slitted like a
snakes, all golden.  And his tongue, when he issues a quiet order, I swear
to gods , it were like forked like a snakes..

'It were him, it were the 10th and last of them, that they called Balpherus'
 


The book of the Dragon, chapter 2

With valor of Kings and Princes, the Dragon Lords raised their banners and
forged within the Realms armies to do combat with the false Trinity. Mighty
were men in those days, , and the armies of the Dragon Lords were such that
the Gods were sore afraid.

The false gods knew that they had treated the people of the realms as
slaves, requiring of them harsh and unfair tribute. Never had they thought
that the Dragon Lords, long gone from the Realms, would lend their aid.
From their city of Morv Senath, the Dragon Lords flew, to all parts of the
Realms, uniting the people and leading them to confront those who chose to
stand in service to the false gods.

From their armies, the Dragon Lords chose generals, to act for the people of
the Realm and ensure that all understood the great sacrifices to be made.
These generals became known as the Hero Generals, such was their valor and
fame! In all there were 6, for the elves still refused their aid and at
this time the race known as Marshwiggles still lived in their squallid
savagery, only acknowledged as sentient by the new Gods.

Each of these generals was representative of their race, and all remained
loyal to the Dragon Lords they had sworn to follow, unto the very end,
except for he who is known as the Traitor General, Glenstorm.



The book of Lords

You open the book to the first, creamy page, and see a list of names,
written in pitch black ink that almost seems to leap from the page:

Blessing
Orefons
Lucien
Regalis
Azzrefael
Smoke
Gem
Erland
Clearbrook
Tangent

Blessing was one of the first of the Ten, rising up in what is now known
as Eastern Tallis. Her powers were esentially those of a servant of the
Trinity. She is considered to have been one of the 'pacifist' Lords of
Light, her binding believed to have been a weak but necessary part of the
whole required to bind a dragonlord.
She is believed to have returned to the marsh areas of Eastern Tallis
around 6 AB, and to have died there, old and honored by many grandchildren
in 66 AB.

Orefons joined the Ten Lords around 90 BB, a noble from the far north
whose family had served Balpherus for generations. He was slow to gain the
trus of the other Lords, but his power was undoubted. He is considered to
have been a genius in creating magical energies, barriers of pure mana. He
does not appear in the histories after 26 AB

A humble bard by appearance, Lucien suffered persecution for his defiant
songs regarding the Dragonlords and fled their wrath to the isle of Opal in
117 BB. He became one of the Lords of Light in 110 BB. His craft was that
of weaving illusions through songs, his skills that of singer and healer.
It is believed to have caused great controversy that he was made a Lord of
Light and admitted to the councils of Arcana. His binding was extremely
effective however, and the whole could not have stood without it. He became
one of the strongest forces for good following the binding of the tenth
dragonlord, remaining in Opal until his death in AB 25.

'The Elf Lord', Regalis was driven from his throne by the Dragonlord's in
466 BB, when he refused to sign the Pact of Negation, giving the
Dragonlord's full authority over the elven people. There ensued a push to
decimate the elves completely, which saw them hunted and bounty placed upon
them. Regalis, also known
As the Blind King, emerges in Opal in 275 BB, and becomes one of the Ten
Lords of Light by 273 BB. His binding is thought to have been one that
robbed the dragonlords of sight. It is not known if Regalis still lives, he
was last reported, unreliably, in 727 AB.

Lord of Drow Magics, this feared Lord of Light was also known as the
Butcher of Xersia, for he worked there as Malvena's lieutenant and committed
terrible atrocities. In 120BB, he fled the North West after attacking the
Dragonlord Darzia Nightwing, throwing his lot in with Arcana in exchange for
valuable information regarding the nature of the Dragonlords. Azzrefael's
barrier, or binding, was considered to be one of the most feared, creating
agonies of pain. Azzrefael was one of the first Lords after the Binding of
the Tenth Dragonlord to turn upon Arcana, claiming he was being victimised
for his crimes before joining the council. He left Opal in AB 2, and was
killed in a spell storm on the Azure Plains soon after.

Smoke
His history remains as intangible as his name. It is not known where he
came from, or where he went. It is known he left the Lords of Light on the
evening after the final binding was in place. Some historians claim he was
an Avatar of Brynn, trying to restore what the God had done. Known as
prankster, trickster, madman, folk lore suggests that his puzzle, which
constitutes one of the ten bindings required for each dragon, can not be
solved by a sane mind.

Branded by her people as a witch and a traitor for her spell craft and
opposition of the dragonlords, Gem joined the Lords of Light in 104BB and
died in 09AB. Her contribution to the binding is obscure. '3 signs of
favor' is all that is known of it. She was considered a wise woman and
healer, and claimed she was an Avatar of the Gods, which brought her into
considerable conflict with the other Lords of Light, particularly Tangent.

Erland was a soldier of the Mortavian armies, who rose to prominence when
he led a group of elite soldiers from the battlefield and straight to Opal,
where theypromptly became the Opal Elite Army. Erland joined the Lords of
Light in 75BB, pledging to defend the council with his life and the lives of
his cohort. His life was extended up until the final binding, following
which he simply vanishes from histories page. Folk lore says that he died
performing his binding upon Balpherus.

A woman of the marshwiggle race, Clearbrook's tribe was 'cleansed' when
she refused to aid the dragonlords domination of her race. This occured,
aproximately, 295 BB. She fled to Opal, there to join Tangent. At the
time, the marshwiggle were barely considered sentient, yet Clearbrook's
magical talent was immense, though gentle. Her binding consisted of a
command upon each dragonlord to sleep, in such a fashion that the hot blood
of the dragons was cooled. She died in 21 AB, loved and honored by her
race.

Founder of the Lords of Light, Tangent is known to have been a man of
violence and passion, whose dedication, while unquestioned, was so fanatical
that even his fellow Lords fell to quarrelling with him about his
atrocities. He was born around 300BB, somewhere in later day Southern
Zepherus and was of half human, half elven origin. His parents were
crucified, it is believed, during one of the many 'cleansings' which were a
result of the refusal of Regalis to sign the Pact of Negation in 466 BB.
Tangent's answer to this was to establish firm resistance to the Dragonlords
and to gather mages, scholars and fighters about him. His character is said
to have been charismatic, ruthless, inspired. He was also dominating,
obstinant and ready to take any measures to ensure that the Lords of Light
remained true to their goal: binding of the dragonlords.
Tangent's binding caused division and anger in the council but was never the
less used, as the final necessary binding on a lord. He left Arcana within
weeks of the binding of the Tenth Dragonlord, and nothing is known of him
since.

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