Ockham's Dragons
Ockham's Dragons
When the Earth was young, cooled after chaos of creation, two intelligent species ascended from their own biblical beginning, the Saurians and the Dragons. The First Pantheon ruled over both with brutal terror and endless cruelty. They demanded frequent sacrifices of flesh and blood receiving both in excess. With what would seem to be the folly of all living emotional intelligent creatures, between that which is different and strange, the Saurians began a war against the Dragons.
Encouraged and guided by the wicked First Pantheon the first Great War was waged. The most ancient of gods, in ecstasy wallowed and engorged upon the chaos of the conflict. Like all wars, the search to fight them better fueled research and new ways of thinking. The two first races slavishly obeyed the will and commands of their deities, each god choosing their favored race.
Which species was truly the first to expand their conscious is unclear and forever lost to the half-life of time. It is known, that the dragons began to believe in a hidden singular creator. Any knowledge of a one god was secreted away by the First Pantheon out of jealously and to retain a measure of control over their slaved minions. The vengeful gods responded ruthlessly to the threatening beliefs, but the dragons turned away from Pantheon. The first Great War became the first Holy War and the dragons were almost hunted to extinction.
Not all of the First Pantheon was vilely corrupt. An incredible small minority, those backing the dragons, felt sorry for the race. They helped the dragons hiding them away from a near genocide of their race. In this eldritch sanctuary a new dragon society arose. While desiring peace, they knew it could never be attained while the First Pantheon ruled. A great leader of the dragons stepped forth, so enlightened she laid the foundation of their future society, one that would ironically never be achieved. What was more important was that the journey to the society. A desperate a public assassination of this great leader only strengthened the resolve of the trodden dragons. What happened to the gods that assisted the dragons remains forever lost. It is known they were hunted down and punished.
The dragons determined not to be ruled by false gods, fought back and striking hard. The Great Holy War which had been dwindling due to the elusive race was now in full swing. The First Pantheon shivered in rapture and grew in power from their Saurian followers. Unfortunately for them, Dragon society had turned inward finding greater focus with the universe and evolved mentally and spiritually. The war took an unforeseen turn to the dragons favor and it seemed the Saurians would be crushed. Faith wavered among the Saurians and the First Pantheon punished them brutally.
Requiring increasing blood and flesh sacrifices the Pantheon began manipulating the physical forms of their followers to turn them into better fighting creatures. This would only be mirrored by the brilliant and resolute dragons. The Dragon’s fierce beliefs held them to the Creator and even in Chaos they excelled with new heights in art, literature, and magic. Their society grew and even in defiance of the cruel gods they built massive cities. Dragons appeared to be a favored race of some greater being. This only enraged the First Pantheon even further forcing them to even drastic physical changes. The Great Holy War continued unabated.
Timed passed, where even the Saurian’s began to doubt the purpose of the Holy War.
Dragons flourished, returning completely from utter extinction and proving to be the better race. The First Pantheon had so twisted the Saurians race by its demands original race they were became extinct. They became a shadow of themselves and their children became the dinosaurs of the modern Earth. With the advent of the Titans and other Pantheons growing in strength the First felt ever greater pressure to fight battles in the heavens for there own divine survival. Still fighting the Holy War, it was undeniable the Dragons had won their right to their place on Earth. The battles of the Holy War diminished and time continued to march on.
With the war in the heavens going against them and desperate for a victory, they made one final attempt to destroy their hated enemy and once brood. The First Pantheon took physical form directly attacked the Dragons. The opening volley of this new assault brought about the first great mass extinctions on the Earth as the dragons unleashed all their powers to defend themselves. One they too would regret. The first causality of the battle was a Saurian deity. The First retreated to the Heavens to escape the hell on Earth. The Dragon lost millions and clawed their way from the bottomless pit of extinction, this time by their own hands, a lesson never to be forgotten by their children.
The spark of life wavered, but continued to burn and the dragons scratched out a meager existence. In time they restored themselves to their former glory, but not without notice. Other pantheons tried to force the dragons to worship them only to find themselves at war. With the Great Holy War considered over these new threats were taken very seriously. Another great dragon leader arose and decided they would not take a passive response to the new threats. Using their vast knowledge of magic they attacked all the pantheons in the Heavens themselves. Now the dragons showed that they were the greatest threat to all of the gods, young and old. A new war waged across countless eons, battles and times of peace expanding generations at a time. Then came the humans, and the gods rejoiced.
The pantheon not taking pleasure was the First. Licking wounds from the countless assaults from dragons and gods alike, their race of followers were now long gone, mutated and twisted into nothingness. This new race of humans only magnified that singular fact exposing their failure even more evidently. The First blamed the dragons. Since their followers were long dead they decided to wage a war of suicidal genocide against the humans to prevent the other gods from expanding their power base. The event also marked the first time the First felt their mortality. A new era of war raged on Earth.
The dragons, evolving into near immortality, became celestial with a renewed union from magic. Now eldritch in nature, imbuing them with a True Name, they were near ascending their physical form to higher planes of existence and greater dimensions of thought. While some of their kind had done so individually, the race as a whole was collectively approaching this new level of existence. With the new campaign of the ancient Saurian gods, the dragons took pity on the young race of humans and decided to help. Again the blood flowed. Dragons fought against any pantheon that tried to force its will upon the humans. So skilled were the Dragons that they could now kill the gods themselves. Not being as blood thirsty as the First Pantheon, the dragons were willing to negotiate terms of non-interference among the different pantheons, even allying with individual deities to achieve ultimate victory.
The First Pantheon, now suffering the loss of some of its own sphere, finally set out to singularly wipe the dragons from eternity. They came up with a magical virus to corrupt the physical and mental condition of their mortal enemies. It was immediately released. The last great leader of the dragons, only known to humans as Grendel, witnessed the last days of his kind. Those that could ascend did. Those afflicted by the virus were twisted into vile corruptions, shadows of devolved ancient Saurians, some taking the form of lizard-like creatures.
The centuries prior to the end, working with the humans so closely, some dragons and humans intermixed. The intelligent and celestial Dragons marveled at Humanity and saw themselves at the brink millions of years ago. It was then half-human half-dragon, or drakes began walking the Earth. This new race was well suited as serving as emissaries between the gods and humans during the war. The numbers of drakes grew, even serving in the dragon battles against the gods. The greatest even slaying gods single-handedly. It was a human that stole the heart of Grendel, and his new bride gave birth to a son who would become known to modern society as Occam’s Razar. Foretold by dragon seers, the newborn would see the restoration of dragon memory and the values to Earth and instill their greatness in the human race.
In one last epic battle, Grendel led the biggest army every assembled. Humans, drakes, and dragons stood side by side in this final conflict against the First. It is this battle that the First twisted Beowulf, against Grendel, costing the dragon leader his life. At the end only one deity remained, only to be chased down by Grendel’s son, who sacrificed his life to destroy the last of the First Pantheon. But that death was simply the beginning for the young drake.
Grendel’s death sent many remaining dragons not affected by the Saurian curse to ascend their physical form to save themselves. Only a handful stayed behind to search for a cure for their lost brethren lost to the disease and to act as caretakers until they too succumbed to the curse. This exodus left the human’s at the mercy of the remaining pantheons, and the human race entered a Darker Age. One far worse then what humanity itself would call the Dark Age many ten’s of thousands of years later. Time erased all evidence of the original form of the dragons from human memory. Only a handful of stories told and retold through the countless eons survived. Human society degenerated and the story of Beowulf’s betrayal survived albeit twisted by age.
Those Dragons affected by the Saurian curse descended through the ages coming into contact with humans and causing many of the legends that modern society finds in their myth and legend. Those drakes left behind suffered as well. Some were also twisted in form and mind becoming monsters. Others found their human ancestry gave them immunity to the curse. A few attempted to watch over their twisted brethren and eventually faded away in death. Several assisted humans in their ongoing fight against the gods only to be killed themselves. It is without a doubt that they continued to interbreed with humans thinning out the dragon bloodline. The one saving grace of the descendants was they inherited a genetic memory from their dragon-kin going back to dragon’s celestial consciousness. These memories guided them.
In the modern era, .01% of all mutants displaying superhuman powers are in fact drakes of natural origin. They are direct descendants of dragons. Throughout history some reports of alternate lives were actually individuals tapping into their genetic memory and experiencing reality from their ancestors perspective, even all the way back to their ancestor’s first eldritch awakening.
