Age of Starlight
It was named after Izara Daoin, the founder of the Church of Starlight.
A Prince, A Pirate, a Pearl, and a Promise
Long, long ago, there was a Prince, heir to a vast and gleaming coastal kingdom. Although the prince was kind and caring he grew easily bored with the many duties and lessons due an heir, and would escape into the town for all manners of mischief. During one such excursion, he met an Urchin child, and although the two started out constantly trying to best each other in various scraps, races and other competitions, they grew to be thick as thieves.
As time went on, their fates tore them away from each other. The urchin, having lost touch with their friend, sought their fortune at sea and snuck aboard a ship, travelling from port to port and eventually coming into their own as the pirate captain of a small but loyal crew. One day while the crew was boarding another ship, it happened that the Pirate found themselves locked in a duel with the Prince! The two old friends did not recognize each other, for it had been many years. The Prince had grown into their responsibilities and now carried themselves in a regal manner much unlike the mischievous child they had once been, and the Pirate had found their true self at sea, and now lived life as a woman. However, through the clash of their blades, the two began to feel echos of their many scraps as children. On this suspicion, the Prince attempted a feint that had always caught the Pirate off guard as a child, and managed to catch her off guard. His suspicions confirmed, the Prince threw his sword aside and embraced his hold friend. The Pirate called off her crew, and the two old friends began to inquire about the years they had had away from each other. The Pirate did not reveal too much, but happily listened to her friends many tales of her old home.
The Prince insisted their old friend journey back with him to their home town to take part in the festival of the Oceans Gift, where the cities most treasured artifact, an ancient magical Pearl gifted to the city long ago by a Great Dragon Turtle, would be use in the Ritual of Prosperity to ensure a century of bountiful harvest, calm waters and peace across the kingdom. Although the Pirate was hesitant, she could not say no to her friend and agreed to come along.
Once they arrived, the Prince gave a royal promise to the Pirate and her crew that they would have safe passage, adding “as long as they in turn promised to at least mostly behave” with a glint in his eye. The Pirate rolled her eyes and curtsied, replying “You have my word my Lord”.
Still the Pirate kept on the outskirt at festivities, her skin crawling at the looks of the court. She knew she did not belong, and took the first chance to sneak out of there. On her way out however, she was apprehended by the guard. The Pearl had been stolen, and the witnesses claimed they had seen the Pirate take it! Her arguments for her innocence feel on deaf ears of the courts, and she was about the sentenced to hang when the Prince spoke up and invoked the rite of Promise Bearing. With the trust placed in the promises the two had exchanged upon the Pirates return, she would be allowed to leave to prove her innocence by returning the Pearl, but if she instead fled and did not return, the Prince would hanged in her stead.
The Pirate set out on a series of adventures to try and find the Pearl, eventually coming upon a dark ominous whirlpool from which ash like particles rose on strange winds. Steering her crew and vessel into the heart of the whirlpool, they all found themselves transported into the Shadowfell. there the Pirate found the Pearls thief; A dark and twisted reflection of herself, concerned only with personal gain. The two battled and were evenly matched. It was only through remembering the feint that the Prince had used on her that she was finally able to claim victory.
The Pirate returned with the Pearl, and although she was hailed as a hero and offered knighthood, the adventures on the sea had reminded her that her true home would always lie among the waves. Still she promised the Prince that the oceans winds would always bring her to his side if he was ever in need. So the two parted ways again, but no longer were their fates torn apart, but instead forever intertwined.
Dragons
Not much is known about dragons today, as they have been extinct for almost 500 years. Their downfall came from Hunter Erridge, then king of Lanark. He began the mass-hunting of dragons that would eventually wipe them out, later called the Dragon Purge.
Dragon Lore
Dragons turn to stone when they die and become statues. The only way to kill a dragon is to strike it with an Adamantine weapon during the fight (Adamantine is native to the Plane of Fire). Dragoons fought alongside them and against them throughout history.
The last five dragons were all chromatics, and a dragoon named Yona Esfir helped defeat them.
Ring of Kairos
The Ring of Kairos is a gang of five chromatic dragons that were the last to be killed in the Dragon Purge.
Salazar & the Treasure
Salazar was one of three men who survived, and they all decided to wait before spending the gold. The three hauled it off to some nearby sea caves that you could only reach when the tide was low. After they hid their treasure, the three parted ways and agreed to meet up here again in 5 years time.
5 years passed, and Salazar returned to the caves. In that time he had grown into a rattled and paranoid man, constantly looking over his shoulder out of fear someone would catch him as the thief who stole the King’s ransom. Despite this, he knew his old friends could be trusted, and so he waited on the beach for them. Soon the day came and passed, then another came and went, then a week, then two weeks.
Salazar grew impatient and his nerves got the best of him, so he sailed out to the caves. Inside, he found all the treasure, exactly as he’d left it. But his friends were nowhere to be seen.
Convinced this was a trap set up to catch him, Salazar fled and went into hiding. He began to move from town to town, never staying anywhere for long. Paranoia kept him awake at night and gnawed at him during the days, but he wouldn’t go back to the caves.
In later years to try and ease his consciousness he started writing a journal. In it, Salazar confessed to his misadventures with the bandits, the King’s ransom, the mysterious sea caves, and his life in hiding. It brought the old man some semblance of peace, that his story would not go completely unknown in this world.
One day after many years of travel, Salazar heard news of what had happened to his friends – they had been killed in a highway robbery a few months before their rendezvous. Suddenly some of the fog lifted from Salazar’s sight, and he decided it was time to return to the caves. As he made his trip out to the coast, something else dawned on Salazar. It had been many years since his days as a highway bandit – many, many years. Though he fought with all his might, Salazar never made it out to the coast. Time had taken it’s toll, and one morning he was found in the room of an inn, after he had passed away in his sleep.
From there the story gets fuzzy – there are slight variations about who transformed his journal into the well known story today. The actual story remains the same across all versions, with the most important clue staying in tact – the clue to the location of the sea caves!
Salazar was very careful never to mention the names of any of the places he visited in his journal, but as it went on he slipped up, and later chose to leave it as a hint.
Between the places I have named, there you will find the map to the sea caves.
The only two places named in the journal were Weslister (Caslyre today) and Aseror (Talonford today). The coastline has been scoured, and every sea cave known to fishers there searched, but to no avail.
The most shocking part of the story may be that the highway robbery did happen! King Lynell of county Talsett was kidnapped and meant to be rescued with the gold that Salazar and the bandits stole. King Lynell was killed, and through a butterfly effect, his county fell and eventually became part of the Empire today.