The Castoff

The arrival of the Elder Dragons in Vad had many reactions. For those in the Drakar Highlands, there was reverence. For those who would establish Hemfjellnyr, there was trepidation. For those in the Carapace Steppe, there was excitement. And for those in the southeastern parts of Vad, far from where the Elder Dragons first called home when they arrived, there was hatred. The people of the Skyless, as the area was known at the time, had always had a tenuous relationship with dragonkind. Their neighbors to the west of the Hills of Hollow in the Carapace Steppe had always used dragons to exemplify their might. The people of Skyless have a violent and ferocious history of combat, a fervor akin to an untamed beast, but they despised the reliance on dragons for conquest. Unfortunately, this pride made it so they could never stand toe-to-toe with the clans in the Carapace Steppe. But then the Elder Dragons arrived.

The generations of disgust with the use of draconic might over the belief in one's own strength lead to the very obvious reaction from the people of Skyless: they wanted nothing to do with the new draconic overlords. And in the same way Embergore saw Nemesis and knew he must conquer it to prove his power, Esperwake saw the pride of the Skyless people and knew she had to break them, and for no other reason than it brought her joy to see it so.

Before Esperwake's arrival, the Skyless lands were so called due to the massive fauna that grew there. Platta trees, if they could be called trees, with wide, village-spanning, tops grew everywhere, blotting out the sky itself, earning the area its name. Their root systems grew above ground, creating twisting structures that housed entire, beautiful ecosystems. It was a land of myriad species of animals and plants, a world unto itself, as gorgeous as it was perfect in its ability to sustain life. And then Esperwake used her power to raise Frusning.

Seemingly overnight the entire Skyless region became flooded as the ice citadel continually melted and refroze by the power of Esperwake, the water running from the newly formed mountain of Frusning into the flat lands below. The water came torrentially and without ceasing. After months, the Skyless region began to see the waters find their way to ocean, but by then the damage had been done. Where once there was a thriving ecosystem, now there was water. Where once villages and towns nestled safely beneath the platta trees, now there was water. Where once there were people and animals living together, now there was water. Esperwake reveled in her victory, and as she did, the Skyless people narrowed their collective eyes and looked towards Frusning.

It has been generations since the Flood of Frusning took those lands from those people, but the people did not die off, nor did they leave. They adapted, as they had always done when met with a challenge. They built boats. They learned the ways of the water. They became riverfolk and created new homes in what became known as the Castoff. And though they changed in many ways, one thing remained the same. Their hatred of dragons. It is ingrained in them, and after all these many years, they still keep that hatred burning.

The people of the Castoff have not yet the strength to destroy Esperwake or even bring down Frusning, her citadel. But they have the platta trees to protect them from winged creatures above, the waters of the Castoff to give them life from below, and the fire inside their hearts, to give them purpose.