This entry delves into a corner of Ezora, a fragment of my world’s lore that you can adapt to your game if you find it inspiring. Use this adaptable lore to enrich the story, characters, or themes of your own game world.
At the heart of the Archipelago of Jade and Silk, where cherry blossoms paint the landscape and lung dragons once ruled as gods, rise the Dragon Isles. This is the home of the drache, a people whose history is woven with threads of elemental magic, political ambition, and an intimate connection with legendary creatures. Their culture, inspired by Eastern traditions, is a crucible of elegance and brutality, where honor coexists with opportunism. In this article, we will explore the drache’s background, their relationship with dragons, and the conflicts threatening to tear their society apart.
A People Between Dragons and Conflicts
The drache are expert navigators, formidable warriors, and shrewd merchants, but their identity goes beyond these skills. Their society has been profoundly shaped by the presence of the lung dragons, winged beings of intelligence and quasi-divine power. For centuries, the drache lived under the patronage of these dragons, who granted them protection in exchange for loyalty. However, the absence of the last dragon-emperor, Saarungutranak, has left a power vacuum that threatens to plunge the archipelago into civil war.
Drache history is marked by cycles of unity and fragmentation. In the beginning, the drache were divided into four kingdoms, each ruled by a dragon king. It was Saarung, a visionary celestial dragon, who unified the archipelago under his rule. With his ethical code, The Path of Honor, he promoted values such as duty, excellence, and loyalty, attracting thousands of drache who abandoned their former clans to follow him. However, his deep meditation, which has gone uninterrupted for centuries, has left the drache in a state of uncertainty.
Society and Culture: Between Honor and Opportunism
Drache society is a reflection of its environment—vibrant, dynamic, and full of contrasts. On one hand, they are masters of navigation and trade, with fast and deadly ships that dominate the seas. Silk, jade, and opium are economic pillars, though many resort to piracy to ensure their survival. On the other hand, their connection to elemental magic is as strong as the dragons they name their homeland after. The drache wu-jen are feared throughout Ezora for their mastery of the elements.
However, the traditions that once defined the drache are in decline. The Dragon Cult and the Way of the Samurai, once pillars of their society, now survive only among the elders and nostalgic few. The new generations have embraced a fierce pragmatism, where court intrigue, espionage, and sabotage are common tools in the struggle for power.
The Dragon Clans
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| The Art of Rising Sun, by Adrian Smith, was a tonal inspiration for Drachia in its early stages. |
In this uncertain landscape, the drache clans emerge as the main actors in the struggle for control of the archipelago. Each clan has its own strengths, weaknesses, and ambitions, and their interactions shape Drachia’s political landscape. Below are three of the most representative clans in the conflict shaking drache society:
The Kagezu, led by the cunning Miyuki Kagezu, are masters of intrigue and espionage. Their island, Hanakage, is a paradise of cherry trees and hot springs that hides spy academies and tea houses where conspiracies are woven. Although their wealth partly comes from the opium trade, they are also patrons of the arts, earning them the affection of many of their subjects.
The Mizuchi, on the other hand, are innovators of the sea, led by the young and bold Yoshi Mizuchi. Their island, Uminami, is home to the archipelago’s largest port and advanced shipyards where the most modern vessels are built. However, Yoshi’s audacity worries the more conservative members of his clan, who fear his recklessness may lead them to disaster.
The Ryujin are guardians of a lost past. Their connection to dragon worship and their exquisite craftsmanship have made them symbols of an era that no longer exists. Led by the elderly Takeshi Ryujin, they struggle to maintain their relevance in a world that sees them as relics.
An Archipelago on the Brink of Chaos
In the year 3,213 CA, Drachia is a powder keg. The daimyos hoard resources, spies sell secrets to the highest bidder, and families seek allies for the war that everyone knows is inevitable. Meanwhile, Saarung remains in his slumber, and many question whether he will awaken to restore order or if his era has ended forever.
The competition between the Kagezu and the Corsair Alliance for control of the opium trade, the generational tensions within the Mizuchi, and the resentment toward the Ryujin are just some of the conflicts threatening to tear the archipelago apart. In this scenario, the drache face a crossroads: will they uphold their traditions and honor, or succumb to pragmatism and ambition?
A World of Living Legends
The drache embody the duality between tradition and change, between honor and survival. Their archipelago, rich in magic and danger, offers a perfect setting for stories of epic betrayals, fragile alliances, and battles where dragons, though absent, still shape their people’s fate.
Will you dare to sail its treacherous waters or walk the shadows of its courts? The Dragon Isles await, ready to reveal their secrets… to those prepared to pay the price.
Inspiration and References
- Chinese and, above all, Japanese cultures were the historical inspiration for the drache. To be clear, I have never aimed for an accurate representation of these cultures. I have simply drawn inspiration from their architecture and art in a very free manner.
- Mu-Pan, by John Stater, described in NOD Magazine 8-10, explores the idea of dragon patronage over humans.
- From The Kingless Land, a saga of novels by Ed Greenwood, I took the idea of a land engulfed in internal strife with a legendary sleeping king.
- Dragon Empires Gazetteer presents an Eastern-inspired civilization guided toward a utopia by a dragon, which inspired Saarung as the driving force behind drache unity.
- A curious yet important reference is Skyrim, despite its obvious tonal differences as a Nordic setting. However, it has that idea of a distant past where dragons ruled over humans by force, which inspires the entire history of pre-Saarung Drachia, as well as the presence of the Dragon Cult among the more traditionalist clans of Drachia.
- Elements from Yoon-Suin can be found here, particularly in themes like the struggle for control of tea and opium trade. I still need to incorporate more aspects, such as evocative slug-men and enslaved crab-men.
- I have also consulted other sources, including Flower Liches, Kwantoom, Land of the Ninja (RuneQuest), and other manuals that have sprinkled ideas here and there.
- Notably absent from my list of references is Legend of the Five Rings, from which I have only taken some artwork. In fact, whenever I have run games in Drachia, I have had to clarify multiple times that Drachia has nothing to do with Rokugan in tone. Samurai honor is almost nonexistent here, it's a thing from the past; the setting is far more about ruthless guerrilla warfare between daimyos.
And that’s all from me. Which clan would you choose to venture into Drachia? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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