The Treaty of a Thousand Years ends

[Dragonryders]

Months earlier.

 

"Our scout has returned", said the general. "He found a little town. He suspects some citizens spotted him, but wasn't sure."

 

"Good." replied the prince. "Then we know where we can contact them. Summon my advisors and the Treatykeeper. The ceremony will be soon."

 

The general smiled. At last, the Treaty was about to expire. The Dragonryders would finally be ridden of their shame.

 

Almost a thousand years ago, the Empire of Dragonryders was forced to sign a non-contact treaty and was no longer allowed to have any borders. The Dragonryders kept their promise. The soil could sustain the population, but no real technological advances were made. There was no iron there, no underground deposits they could use. But the Dragonryders survived because of their excellent organization.

 

A couple of hours later, the counsil was complete. The prince stood up.

 

"Wise members of this counsil,

 

As you all know, the Treaty will expire very soon. We have all lived forward to this moment. All the preperations for the ceremony have been made over the last months. Next week, there shall be huge feasts in the Five Cities. After that, we shall all prepare for every scenario that might unfold at the borders."

 

Borders. At that word, some of the advisors briefly cheered or clapped.

 

"We do not know whether they will greet us with open arms or at arms. We shall send out more scouts, but we shall be prepared. There will be palisade walls at tactical points and our entire army will be stand by. After one thousand years, we cannot afford a mistake."

 

And so it happened. The entire population of Dragonryders feasted and worked and waited in anticipation.

 

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"AT LAST!" shouted the prince. He sat on his dragon, high in the sky. The horizon slowly produced a tiny stripe of red. He rushed down, closely followed by his general and some other advisors.

 

As soon as his dragon touched the ground with the tips of it's claws, the prince jumped off. Some women hurried towards him to re-adjust his ceremonial outfit. As soon as they were done, they hurried away again. The prince looked left of him, where his general stood with a big smile on his proud face, a package in one arm and a torch in the other. Then, he looked right, at the Treatykeeper, who held the Container with the Treaty.

 

He looked in front of him, at the beautiful entrance to the temple in the center of the capitol city, of which he was the governor. The large opening was flanked by the governors of the other four cities. The prince nodded and began to slowly progress inside. He entered the temple with it's beautiful ornaments. Left and right stood the highest priests and the most important advisors.

 

He walked on to the exact centre of the round temple complex. Only the Treatykeeper was usually allowed in that small dome. The prince had expected a beautiful room, surpassing the splendor of the temple, but instead, he found a dark, empty hall with only a large stone in the middle, the closed door through which they had entered and a tiny hole up in the wall.

 

On that stone, the last emperor signed the dreaded Treaty, which would now be declared fulfilled on the very same stone.

 

The entire ceremony happened without words. The Treatykeeper opened the Container and unrolled the old scroll unto the stone. Then they waited for a beam of light to shine through the hole in the wall. As soon as that happened, the general stepped forward and lit the scroll. He then handed the package to the prince after which the Keeper and the general left the dome.

 

The package contained the new Emperor's Robes. He pulled them on, straightened his back, lifted up his chin and walked out the dome and into the light as the Emperor of Dragonryders. Everybody in the temple cheered and clapped, but the Emperor could not stay for long.

 

He walked outside, where even more people were cheering. An assistant handed the Emperor a large branch. The emperor walked forward, where a man was waiting.

 

"Upon accepting this branch, you accept the position and responsibilities of Governor of the capital and you shall govern N'Vava wisely", said the Emperor and handed the man the branch. The man accepted the branch, bowed and stepped aside.

 

The emperor continued his path to where his dragon was. He mounted it, bowed his head to the Governors, waved to his people and took off to the west. The general followed.

 

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At dusk they landed in the new western outpost, near the town that had been discovered months earlier.

 

"The Emperor has arrived!" shouted the general.

 

The soldiers cheered. When the noise was down again, the Emperor said: "The treaty has expired. Send a messenger to the town and patrols around our borders. We shall feast tonight, for this is the Empire of Dragonryders!"

 

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The messenger arrived in the dark. The dragon landed in the middle of the road and he jumped off. It was a quiet town. In fact, it seemed dead... If nothing happened, they would have to find another town somewhere.

 

(OOC: This town is either a Mongol Swede or Akiiryan town. Respond as you please... Remember: you cannot send telegraphs, for all of Dragonryder's technologies are dating from about 1000/1100 AD. Other nations may join, but only if they have a good reason. Keep in mind that the Dragonryders have been isolated and forgotten for a long time.)

[Akiiryu]

OOC: Still no rushed on the idea of dragons, but hey...

[Orioni]

OOC @ DR: A great post! Listen, do your spit fire? Can they talk? Just so we know.

 

OOC @ Akiiryu: True, but I can live with the fact that this nation has large flying animals. It doesn't always have to be RL. My own nation has a "pink fluffy dinosaur", so I could live with DR having dragons... Just as long as they don't breed and spread all over the place.

 

---

The Liberty Space Agency, based in Mongol-Swedes, started picking up some blieps on their low-altitude radar. It was nothing they could identify.

[Dragonryders]

OOC.RE.Orioni: thanks.

 

{EDIT: see my next post for image.}

A sketch I plucked off the internet (added some background to it) to approach what the dragons look like.

 

They do not spit fire and cannot talk. They are omnivorous. (flying pigs! only different.)

Their maximum speed is about 70 mph (for the topquality dragons). They are used for the military, transportation for the wealthy and lifting cargo/(building)materials.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Dragonryders (see edit history)

[Akiiryu]

OOC: Ah, good, slow and easy to shoot down. LOL.

[Ide Jima]

ooc: Dragons are fine by me!

 

-----

 

On board an IJAF Beriev-A-50+ Mainstay - 200 Miles north of Aldoville - on routine patrol...

 

Systems Operator: "We're picking something up in the neutral territories..."

 

Flight Commander: "Let me see... whats our source?..."

 

Systems Operator: "It's a satellite feed..."

 

FC: "How do you know it's not just shadow?"

 

SO: "Long range radar reports from the northern patrol back it up."

 

FC: "Looks big... what do you say?..."

 

SO: "It's massive... just smaller than a Lancer bomber... but what's it doing just sitting in grassland?"

 

FC: "An SPA jet may have crash landed?...*taps something on a computer*... no- there are no such reports around, we may have to have a closer look at this..."

[Orioni]

OOC @ Ide Jima: According to our satellite imagery it looks something like this.

[Dragonryders]

OOC: Oi, I see I've made a big mistake in my hurry. I used the wrong background. I also added a dude for some extra measurement.

 

You can see here that the dragon's about twice as big as a human.

 

@Ide: There is a small, new, military outpost in the middle of the grassland.

 

Sorry for the inconvenience... I will be more vigilant next time I'm in a hurry.

[Dragonryders]

The scout had three choices: return to report, wait for any occupants of the town to appear or search for another town.

 

He decided to wait one day to explore the town and then, if he found noone, return to the outpost.

 

There were about 20 strange houses. They didn't look like they had been abandonned for a long time.

 

He saw all kinds of strange objects and things. Poles with wires between them for instance. He thought about them for a while. Maybe they were just ornamental?

 

He decided to go inside one of the houses, but when he tried to open the door, he couldn't. The door with the strange knob that felt cold and reflected light was locked. He tried some more doors, but none was open.

 

It was getting late and he needed some sleep. He looked around for the highest flat roof that he could sleep on, protected from any dangerous wildlife that might be here. When he found one, he went there, ate some bread and went to sleep while his dragon slept on the lawn.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Dragonryders (see edit history)

[Mongol-Swedes]

After a long hunting trip in the wilderness of the frontier of The Tribelands, the proud citizens of Salina, a relatively small village in the borderlands with the Dragonryders, route-stepped into town. As they moved down the main boulevard of Salina, they noticed a creature they had only seen before once on the news, some time ago. A friggen dragon?!? But the latest word from The Tribal Tribunal indicated they were an isolationist regime(not to insinuate the negative connotations one conjures from hearing such a term).

 

As many of the citizens here were veterans of the Revolution, they were quick to act, as they moved to secure their homes, with their appointed 'chieftain' and a few citizens to approach the home that was, at present, under occupation by these foreigners. Curiously enough, this very home, inconspicuous amongst the rest, happened to be the chieftain's very own residence. Reaching out with his walking stick, the chieftan cautiously prodded the foreign beast, potentially putting himself at risk(no end to Newton's Law).

[Dragonryders]

The scout woke up. He heard people talking and shouting. He looked over the edge towards his dragon, which was surrounded by strangers, who all watched intrigued and pointed at his posession. The animal seemed a bit irritated by those who woke it up, but wasn't uncomfortable. It was used to humans even if they dressed so odd.

 

Among the admirers was an important looking man with a stick. They seemed a peaceful bunch, for they did not have any swords with them.

 

The scout stood up and hailed at the group of people below. "The Dragonryders have come to re-establish contacts, since our treaty has been ended. The Emperor invites your tribe's chief to his table in the Western Outpost." he said in a loud voice.

 

OOC: I assume English is being spoken by all Europan Nations. The language of Dragonryders is a medieval dialect of that. A good listener should be able to 'translate' it.