Extract from Annals of the Dragon War by Granelan Pohl:

Our people have always been scholars, recording their lore so that it may be passed down, but our keeping of such records is imperfect.

When our ancestors first arrived to reclaim these ancient lands, they found signs of the Wyrm in many places. At that time, little was known about such creatures, the marks were treated with caution, but then ignored. There was no knowledge amongst our forebears in how years are treated by Dragonkind. The abandoned nests and broken bones were cleared and the first settlements established, some twenty thousand brave explorers living on the coastline of the northwest.

The first winters were harsh. Disease and sickness spread rapidly amongst the people, who could do little in the cold and hundreds perished unused to the weather. The ships that had brought them were torn up to make crude shelters and gradually these clusters of broken buildings became the towns of Wisimir and Parth.

In the earliest records, we find the writings of Balakar the Walker. In an expedition to the north, searching for provisions, he discovered the remains of an abandoned city. In its' centre stood a huge stone monument.

"And I gaze upon a stone so true, thrown down from Heaven in the strife of the Gods."

During the worst of the early winters, many moved here for shelter and began rebuilding it. They named it Caraen; meaning in the old tongue Monument City.

Two hundred years later and Caraen had become a thriving city, drawing more people from the outlying towns on the coast. Wisimir and Parth also remained populous. Wisimir for its good grazing lands and Parth for its iron and silver mines. As our ancestors sought more resources from the land, they had turned to mining in the great caves and further inland in the mountains.

It was here in their ignorance they made a mistake and somehow awoke the Wyrm.

The Dragonsleep is a long hibernation, lasting through the centuries. The creatures nest in vast catacombs beneath the ground, burying themselves. It takes a great deal of effort to disturb a slumbering dragon, but such was the need for ore, our ancestors pushed too deep into the rock and found their vast ancient nests.

The precise moment of awakening is lost to us, but the destruction meted out by the first dragons laid waste to village and town alike in the Keralos. The creatures quickly descended upon Parth; the nearest city and bathed it in flame, then turned south, towards Wisimir.

In those days, our forebears held great stock in the power of the Gods, believing they had been delivered them during the crossing. When the skies turned to fire, they turned to their prayers, asking for deliverance.

No answer came.

For more than a decade, the Dragons ruled the skies. Only the hardiest stone remained proof to their fire and so the cities of Parth and Caraen, built from stone, endured. The city of Wismir fared worse. The farms and cattle markets were easy prey for the creatures, and the wooden ships and port, burned day and night as Dragons feasted on the populace. In those early years, it seemed nothing could defeat them, and the situation was hopeless.

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The Wisimir Tales continue in:

The Dragon of Wisimir

The Lord of Wisimir

You can also find more short stories set in the same world in A Bag of Bedtime Tales.

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https://www.facebook.com/Wisimir

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