The Tempest Order: History [Part 4]
The Tempest Order: History [Part 4]
The Immortal Era (present)
The Immortal Era
Following Athanasia’s violent return to power, the entire clan had its eyes on her, everyone holding their breath to see what she would do and whether or not she would hold to her promise of a better life.
After a tenuous few months of uneventful peace, the first true test of Athanasia’s leadership came in the form of one of its oldest foes: Breath Rot.
No matter what she and the clan tried, they couldn’t figure out what caused it to spread or how to prevent it. Their young continued to die before so much as leaving the nest — a devastatingly normal part of life in the Order by this point.
But one day, Captain Anthophilous was approached by Forsooth, a seer with a specialty in predicting deaths that will soon come to pass. She was frantic, explaining that several of the clan’s members had suddenly become aglow in their death auras.
The clan had many fears as to what was coming at the time — what would bring such death upon them? And so suddenly?
When the first fell sick, then the second, and the rest in swathes, they realized what had happened. A strain of breath rot had mutated, infecting adults with unforeseen aggression. An immediate quarantine went into place, but this only sparked the fires of infighting once again.
The infected dragons claimed Athanasia and the clan were leaving them for death — that they were trying to just push them to the side and let them die out of sight. They argued that it was not the rot that would kill them, but Athanasia’s negligence. Forsooth’s predictions had been wrong before, and they could be negated with enough preparation. There was still a chance, but everyone had already written them off as lost!
Those that hadn’t been infected were terrified though. No one wanted adult breath rot to become part of their lives — they were already dealing with losing their children! Many supported any measure to keep the sickness at bay to whatever extent the clan was able to understand its ability to spread.
Athanasia refused to lift the quarantine measures. In fact, the more resistance the infected showed, the harder she cracked down on cases of adult breath rot. Captain Internecine was sent to convince the infected dragons to comply, but only provoked their makeshift leader, Shatter, to attack.
Shatter slashed Internecine across the eye, leaving a black gash across her face to this day. She also attacked a dragon named Aconitum, who was known to be as close as a sister to Internecine. In defense, but moreover, rage, Internecine and the Immortal Guard slaughtered the infected dragons.
It was effective in eradicating the adult strain of breath rot, but sent a very clear message to the rest of the clan: Athanasia was still capable of great acts of violence, and so were her appointed Captains, especially if she believed it was in the clan’s best interests.
It was truly a chilling time to be a member of the Order. To make matters even murkier, the actual fatality of the adult strain of breath rot was never determined.
The clan had lost many of their number in this conflict, so an influx of new dragons was recruited to their ranks. One among them was a young Mirror named Fen.
She was quiet and curious, sharp as a tack but often lacking the confidence and quick thinking to prove it. Her strength came in planning — execution, not so much.
Seeing her new clan’s struggles, she began to draft up plans for something she felt would solve at least some of their problems. The original schematic was similar to other outposts the clan had in the area, but this post would need to be manned by permanent sedentary members, as it was intended to grow crops, livestock, and other food sources. It would not solve breath rot, but it could effectively give the clan a constant source of food for all of its members, which would make them strong again! Perhaps that strength would bring down the rates of the rot, considering it had only taken root due to prior famine and weakness.
Athanasia refused the idea outright. She was proud of the clan’s nomadic nature. They claimed domain over the entire desert — what need had they for a permanent outpost? Permanent territory? She had no desire to stay in one place for the rest of her life, and neither did many of the others in the clan.
Still, hunger was an ever-present and growing issue in the clan. They had lost several hunters, and the new ones would take time to train if they had any hope of providing for the rest of them all.
Disheartened, Fen brought the idea instead to another new member of the clan — an old Mirror by the name of Copperwing. He had been a redsmith in his previous clan, but also, perhaps, more importantly, something of a mafioso. He saw promise in Fen’s idea, and would once again bring it to Athanasia’s attention.
With no small amount of favors and string-pulling, Copperwing was able to gain Athanasia’s attention, and eventually even her approval. Successful negotiation paved the way for a small, cobbled-together outpost, which opened the horizons for dragons who didn’t fit into the traditional ranks of hunter, fighter, or seer.
Dragons who preferred to be stationary, or required it for their work, could now engage in trade skills and craftmanship while others stayed behind to handle the farming and ranching.
A pitiful number of guards were assigned to stay with them — most of the clan’s fighters being resistant to being sedentary, and Athanasia still having her reservations about this project.
Even setting up this outpost, the Agriden, was an undertaking, constantly requiring more funds from the clan treasury that Athanasia grew less and less willing to provide. At the time, the craftsmen and trade workers were considered part of the Cryptic Family, for little other reason than that they seemed to be in better hands with the seers than the hunters or fighters. However, it became increasingly clear that Captain Anthophilous did not understand their needs, nor was she able to consistently secure aid from Athanasia.
Banding together, they opted to form a fourth family — an unprecedented occurrence — and elected Copperwing as their leader. He was reluctant to take the position, but it seemed nothing would get done if he didn’t.
Predictably, this all didn’t go over well with Athanasia, who saw this as a slight to her and what she had created. Most, if not all of these dragons, were newer hires. They had not seen the depths of Athanasia’s cruelty. They did not know the potential wrath they were incurring.
However, she had grown to respect Copperwing. He was trying to do what was best for the clan, and they spoke a similar language thanks to his background. It is very likely that the only reason things did not turn to violence was that the group had him at their head.
Reluctantly, and somewhat bitterly, Athanasia accepted the fourth family into the clan, and it took the name Rusticaeris.
Finally properly represented, the Rusticaeris family got to work on the Agriden.
Only a few short months into the building of this outpost, a massive, violent sandstorm swept across the desert. It was unlike any Athanasia had ever seen, rivaled only by the storm that had separated her nest from her parents so long ago.
With winds so strong and visibility so low, the Order found itself scattered. Families and friends were separated, disorientated and some even picked up and blown away. The Agriden was not spared from this suffering either. Months of work were destroyed or lost in the storm.
As the dust settled, many of the Order’s members found themselves split off into small groups, with no clan in sight. Athanasia managed to retain a sizeable amount of her dragons but was devastated to realize her mate, Carnage, was among the missing.
Athanasia and Carnage’s relationship had never been one of love, per se, but their bond was still strong. They’d been through thick and thin together, and the clan couldn’t be where it was today without his support.
Her group had surfaced from the storm not far from the intended location of the Agriden. It was the only permanent bastion they had, so she decided the best course of action would be to bring her group of survivors there and hope that would make it easier for the others to find them again.
She had never been to the Agriden in the months of progress. The first time she saw it, it was already in ruins. Truth be told, many of the Rusticaeris were preparing themselves for Athanasia to officially cancel the endeavor now that it had been destroyed.
…but she didn’t. This now being their temporary home while they waited and searched for their lost members, the Agriden suddenly had all the attention and dragonpower it needed to rebuild and begin to flourish.
Over the course of the following month, the scattered members slowly filtered back in. Not everyone made it back — some were presumed to have died in the storm, while others simply took their opportunity to leave the clan. Those that returned carried tales of their journey back, each more harrowing than the last.
They told of how they had been blown off course, or had taken shelter, or had been saved by each other. Three warriors had successfully kept the nestwatchers and their charges — the clan’s hatchlings — safe the entire way back to the Agriden. Hunters had used their tracking skills to locate others and regroup with them. At long last, at the end of the month, Carnage returned, telling of how his group had suffered several injuries after being swept off the side of the Carrion Canyon and had been forced to navigate its length on foot in order to not leave anyone behind.
They had all made it back just in time for the clan’s anniversary. It was lackluster, but a warm occasion all the same, celebrating the families and friends that had been reunited.
More than anything, Athanasia was taken aback by the resilience of her clanmates. She had always known they were hardy, of course — they wouldn’t still be in the Order if they weren’t — but they had never been tested quite like that before.
She’d long held onto the idea, perhaps the fear, or perhaps even as a point of pride, that her clan could not survive without her. That they needed her direction and everything would fall apart without her. While this event didn’t entirely change that mindset, it did make her start to see them in a different light.
It was an important shift because when the time came to leave, she was taken off guard by the number of dragons that wished to stay and help build the Agriden. Some she understood, if partially. The nestwatchers wished to set up a permanent nursery, in the hopes that the hatchlings would be safer. The clan’s treasurer couldn’t deny the allure of not having to transport the clan’s belongings and gold with them at all times.
Others caught her by complete surprise. Fighters and hunters she’d known since the clan’s origins all came to her, seeking her blessing to stay at the Agriden. Though miffed, she couldn’t deny how instrumental the Agriden had been in reuniting everyone. She gave her blessing, leaving with those that still wished to roam the desert.
It was a decision that was not easily made. There was little in the way of a power structure at the Agriden. Fen had no desire to lead the group, and Copperwing stayed with the traveling Mirrors so he could always get an audience with Athanasia if his Family needed it. It was mostly just a handful of miscellaneous ranks and a few guards to protect them. They would have to make do with getting checked in on only every few weeks.
Despite her fears, this turned out to be a very good decision.
As the Agriden grew, the ranks of the Rusticaeris Family swelled immensely, attracting new dragons with new skills and professions. The Order enjoyed a culture boom unlike any they’d seen before. Once every month, the traveling Mirrors would return to the Agriden to reconvene with their sedentary peers, and each time they did the outpost had grown more and more.
Somehow, though lacking formal leadership most of the time, they managed to thrive. And, just as promised, when food stores got low, there was almost always more at the Agriden.
Athanasia was forced to reckon with the idea that she had lost her way. That if she carried on how she had been before, she would leave no legacy other than a trail of blood across the desert, far too much of it spilled from her own clanmates.
The tipping point was the discovery that Captain Internecine, long considered one of her most loyal proteges, had broken the Myrmidonic Oath: she’d fallen in love, which violated the Oath to put no dragon above Athanasia. Though it would have broken her heart, Internecine was prepared to leave the clan with her beloved rather than stay and renounce their bond.
It was clear then, that if even Athanasia’s most trusted and loyal members were defying her, it was her own leadership that was the problem. A younger Athanasia would have driven them both out. She did no such thing. The Myrmidonic Oath has since been abolished.
Sentiments in the clan began to change as Athanasia did. She vowed to never use violence against her own clan again, redirecting those tendencies back outward at anyone that might dare hurt her clanmates. Captain Virion, her methods violent but effective, was forced to share Captainhood with a dragon named Newt, who was older, wiser, and capable of mercy. Under Newt’s guidance, the Immortassacre Family was given the opportunity to reform itself, creating guilds and having more freedoms as to what mercenary work they took and what they turned down.
With Athanasia’s blessing, Anthophilous stepped down from her position, becoming a farmer in the Agriden, while Cryptesthesia was re-appointed as the Family’s Captain. Internecine was at some point removed from the Immortal Guard so she could focus on running the Dejacurse Family, so Tenebrific took her place as the leader of the guards.
For the first time in a long while, things seemed to be getting better. It was a tenuous sort of happiness, at any moment expecting Athanasia to rip the rug out from under them all, but the moment never came.
It was frustrating for her, putting a great deal of work into gaining favor with her clanmates only for them to still fear her wrath, but it wasn’t as though they didn’t have reason to worry. Her wrath was familiar to them. Her cruelty was normal. It would take no small amount of time and effort before they became familiar with her kindness.
Regardless, her clan thrived once more.
For the first time in a very long time, Athanasia was confronted with the idea that after so many years of clawing for progress, they'd finally reached a point where she'd done enough that she didn't… really need to do anything more. The warriors she trained were training the new generations now. The Agriden required little to no supervision.
Little by little, she’d given up pieces of her power, allowing the creation of the fourth family, allowing the creation of the Agriden, allowing it room and funds to grow without her critical gaze upon it at all times. She’d gotten rid of the Myrmidonic Oath, and re-instated a dragon that had once betrayed her and once before that had been her friend. Each time, she’d waited for the decision to bite her. And yet, disseminating her power had actually helped.
The Order was far from a well-oiled machine, but it worked with or without her at the helm. Even the original Golden Age could not claim such a feat.
But as was so often the case, things would not be perfect forever. This time though, the danger came not from within, but from below.
A call came from the other side of the continent: there was a massive dig being organized after dragons appeared to be going missing into the depths of an archeological ruin, and they needed all the supplies clans around the world could offer. After much debate, in the end, it came down to a decision between Mahara and Stubborn, the two heads of the clan’s runners — the group that would be in charge of delivering this cargo if they said yes.
They agreed.
Over a period of several months, the runners carried out several supply trips to the dig, contributing anything Athanasia would set aside from the clan's reserves. There, the runners met a trio of dragons from a different clan. They lived underground and were some of the few dragons that ever ventured to the surface. Similar to the disappearing dragons in Dragonhome, many of their numbers had started to vanish without a trace. They hoped that by helping out the dig site, they would discover what exactly was plaguing their home.
They were called Outrunners Elend, Teloran, and their apprentice Alala. They became good friends and traveling companions of the Order's runners, to the point that on one trip home, Stubborn invited them to spend the night at the Order's current campsite. The Outrunners still had some travel left to go to reach the entrance to their home, so they agreed to stay the night.
Little did the clan know, these Outrunners were from a clan known as the Warren, a subterranean monarchy that was as old as the hills.
To understand the Warren’s importance, we must first take a step back to talk about Carnage.
Though he bore the name proudly for most of his life, “Carnage” was not his given name. His given name was Konoran. Crown Prince Konoran, to be exact. His father was a king of cruel ambitions and pushed his limits until his subjects would have no more. A violet coup killed the Queen and chased the King and Crown Prince Konoran out of the Warren, to the surface. They had never seen him again and assumed they were both dead… until now.
It was Teloran that recognized Carnage as the once-prince, though Carnage did not recognize him. Teloran took this news back to the Warren, where news of his survival spread quickly.
The result of the dig did not solve the Warren's crisis, but that had all but fallen to the wayside as loyalist and revolutionary tensions rekindled anew. Unbeknownst to the Order, a war was brewing beneath their feet.
Though Teloran was a revolutionary — a member of the original coup that took out the old monarchy — Outrunner Elend and Alala were not. In fact, it was Elend that brought news of Prince Konoran's survival to the final few remaining members of the Kingsguard. They had gone into hiding after the coup, but now could hide no longer. They and many other loyalists defected from the Warren, arriving at the Order to swear their fealty to the true King.
Between this and Carnage's existence, the Warren saw no other choice than to finish what they started. They became intent on ending the original royal bloodline once and for all.
Meanwhile, Carnage was understandably taken aback by the sudden influx of dragons. He had never expected this part of his life to come up again, and yet here it was. Shoulder to shoulder with Athanasia, he made a solemn oath to protect them all as his own kin, and so they prepared for the brewing war.
It was a long and brutal conflict.
The Warren sabotaged the Agriden’s excavation plans and would send intercept parties to attack any lone members of the Order. The Order was accustomed to fighting over opened dunes, while the Warren contained expert tunnelers that knew how to make use of the small space. If the Warren’s troops were caught out in the open, they didn’t stand a chance. But, if the Order’s were caught in tight spaces and tunnels, they didn’t fare any better.
The loyalists and Kingsguard immediately got to work training the Order in close-quarters combat and tactics they had never seen before and showed their scouts what to look out for to avoid ambushes.
Everyone pulled double their weight keeping the clan running and its dragons alive.
Several years would pass of this before the Order made one last highly aggressive push and secured back the territory beneath their feet. The Warren finally retreated, though no formal military surrender was declared.
It is here that we find the Order currently — recovering from the war. Rebuilding their home and expanding slowly but surely into spaces they had lost. The clan is still wary of Athanasia, but her and Carnage’s effective leadership during the war strengthened many’s resolve and belief in them and the future of the clan.
Despite it all, the clan stands. Through pain and strife, still they endure. Against all odds, Athanasia reformed and created a clan that stood the test of war and time.
What yet lies in their future? No one knows. But whatever storms ahead will be met with the same grit and determination that got them this far, and with the knowledge that they’ve weathered far worse before.