History of a Continent

Campaign: Trek to the Aquapolis

Chapter 7 / 4-1

History of a Continent

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The Water Trap Gauntlet

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A Watery Grave

Summary

The Davian Wetlands were an ancient battleground from an age of perpetual war between man and dragons. Mym offers a bleak warning that, should humans pursue higher technology, such an age might come again.

Dialogue

This place is no mere swamp. That much is certain. We're surrounded by half-sunken ruins. It seems these wetlands really were a battleground. And the ones doing the battling weren't holding back. It may have been fun to cut loose like that, but the results are anything but pretty. You can tell at a glance who's responsible. Oh? I assumed it was humans who built these structures and humans who destroyed them in turn. I'm surprised you haven't noticed, Cleo. Take a closer look at that building there. You'll find clawmarks and gashes by the hundreds. ...You're right. Then this is the work of— Of dragons, yes. My fun-loving brothers and sisters had a wild time of it. But even a small number of dragons couldn't wreak havoc on this scale. No, it would have been a massive pack— enough to blot out the sun itself. Mankind building all of this would have been treated as a great affront to them. I'm sure they were furious. Did these structures pose some threat to dragonkind? Perhaps not, but look there. See those metal cogs and wheels lying about? Such things disrupt the flow of mana. Dragons are avatars of nature itself, and don't take kindly to humanity's tinkering. Especially not in the past, when relations between our people were rocky at best. You can see their anger in how thoroughly they tore this place apart. But humanity and the sylvans have always treated dragonkind with deference, have they not? Since you were born, at least. Not that I'm old enough to tell too many tales first-hand, mind. But I know things weren't always as they are now. There was a time it was man versus dragon, nature versus civilization— and never the twain shall meet. Then how did peace come about? A lot happened back then between Ilia and Elysium, the leader of the dragons— or so the legend goes. Of course, some also say Ilia herself was a partisan for mankind and civilization. At least at first. In any case, peace only happened because the dragons got fed up and tore it all to shreds. I assume the humans gave up once everything they'd built was destroyed. And that meant there was nothing left to disrupt the flow of mana, so the dragons were happy. Peace only came after your kind gave up on what you'd call "progress." I had no idea such a bloody chapter had been excised from history. After hearing all that, these ruins are a chilling sight indeed. It's almost as if you can hear the lamentations of a lost era rise from them. This place is a graveyard of humanity's aspirations. What fate awaits them if they should dare reach so high again? You'd see lines drawn very quickly. It would lead to war all over again. Inter-species friendship is a fragile thing. It's like a romance—beautiful until it turns terribly ugly. The way I see it, the whole world's been locked in one long, tawdry lover's spat since the whole thing started. We get together, we split apart, we get together again... It's an enjoyable little flirtation—so long as neither of us wipes the other out.