Quill and Compass, Entry 5: The Age of Divergence

The brilliance of the El’koryn was unquestionable, yet their long lives and endless debates left the Realm gasping for renewal. So Ikozra shaped a counterpoint: the Dweorgas. Stout in form, swift of hand, and driven to act where others pondered, they were meant to restore the heartbeat of the Realm.

Where an El’koryn might spend half a century debating whether to plant a single tree, a Dweorgas would already have carved a fortress into the hillside, stocked the larders, and brewed a fine ale for their neighbors. They were industry incarnate. And their arrival rattled the El’koryn like a cracked mirror.
Some of the El’koryn sought to guide them, others simply chose to ignore them, and some sought to crush them outright. Conflict followed, as it always does when two proud peoples eye the same land. The El’koryn clung to their verdant heartlands—modern day Sylandaria, Troxoganii, and Cressillia—while pushing the Dweorgas into harsher and far less forgiving lands. The mountains of modern day Montara and Khalaluum, the high deserts of Angredel and Velethari—these became Dweorgas homes, and in time, they adapted and their kingdoms thrived. Through the bloody conflicts that followed, Troxoganii, once El’koryn, would be claimed by the Dweorgas before borders were fully drawn and an uneasy truce reached.
I have walked the ruins of Troxoganii’s first walls, where El’koryn stone meets Dweorgan carving. You can see their struggle in the mortar itself —precision against pragmatism, artistry against urgency, and vision against necessity. Even their bricks argued.

The Dweorgas certainly helped slow Gaiaxia’s decay, but even their tireless hands could not turn the tide. The Realm still weakened, and so Ikozra tried once more: this time with the wildest gamble yet—the Humans. Their lives were but a fraction of an El'koryn's or even a Dweorgas'—so brief, in fact, that they barely had time to ponder mortality before rushing headlong into ambition. Short-lived as they were, Human lives burned far brighter than both El'koryn and Dweorgas combined, giving even Solis healthy competition. They fought harder, loved fiercer, moved faster, and reached heights thought impossible in such short spans of time. It was from Humans that we, and Ikozra, learned that a life well lived to its fullest extent, no matter how short, nourished the Spirit so exceptionally well that when their time came to return that energy to Gaiaxia, it didn't just recover, it began to thrive.

With the death of the Realm curtailed, its people flourished, multiplied, and diversified. Humans intermingled with all others, producing a host of hybrids, and before long, carved out their own empire. Cressillia rose with such vigor that it pushed the El’koryn from its lands entirely. It was also in this Age that Dragons themselves, curious about their ever-growing mortal neighbors, mingled more directly through their ability to alter their forms at will. With time—and no small measure of curiosity, daring, and perhaps a dash of folly—Dragons would form unions with the variety of mortals, thus creating the Dragonborn and Dragonkin; hybrids who bore scales, power, and will tempered with mortal drive. Giants, too, lent their blood—though whether by accident, design, or tragedy is left to debate—and so the Giantkin were born from each of the four Giants.
I once played a lute beside a Silver Dragonborn who sang in three tones at once, his voice vibrating the strings before I even touched them. If I were any other Bard, I would've reconsidered my career choice. (Rule 8: always share the spotlight—even when you are hopelessly outshone.)

Change bred change, and Gaiaxia swelled with peoples never before imagined. In this Age, two figures rose among the divine. Vunos, the Dweorgas appointed god of Justice and Balance, stood as shield for the oppressed, often against the cruelty of the El’koryn who despised losing their supremacy. And Sedros, the Human sage and wanderer, became god of Wisdom and Change. He taught that change is not to be feared, but embraced—for that is the lifeblood of Gaiaxia itself (variety being the sweetest spice of life).

By the Age’s end, none were as they began. The El’koryn split into Elves and Orcs, their unity long sundered. The Dweorgas branched into Dwarves, Gnomes, and, unbeknownst even to themselves at the time, Goblins. Humans thrived. Hybrids walked openly. Giants and Dragons became kin to mortals. And for the first time, the world felt crowded.

This was Divergence: the flowering of peoples, cultures, and conflicts beyond counting. It lasted more than seven thousand years, and it left Gaiaxia restless, humming with new voices, and teeming with countless possibilities. But with so many voices came chaos, and chaos requires order. Thus, at the closing of this Age, Ikozra appointed more gods than ever before, weaving them into the grand design of The Cycle.
And it was with The Cycle consecrated that a new Age dawned, radiant with promise and brimming with opportunity—the Age of Resplendence, a tale most grand for my next entry!

Penned with ink and flair most necessary (rule 10),
Yours, ever truly,
— Tobias Elanor, Bard, Scholar, Explorer Extraordinaire

© DracTheDrake

Hello hello!

If you couldn't tell already, we love to pull from mythology and folklore for inspiration. Enter the Dweorgas, straight from Germanic and Norse folklore, with our own twists, of course. We wanted them to be another ancestral species and a foil to the El'koryn so that when both species later evolve and diverge (ha...) into their modern day variants, the differences would be more defined and visible. We also wanted to group the different "small" species together and craft an origin that makes sense to us, since we have Elves and Orcs sharing the common ancestor in the El'koryn.

I had a bit of cheeky fun when naming the El'koryn and their descendants, as previously mentioned, with Elves taking the first portion of the name (El being the Draconic word for Mind) and Orcs taking the second portion and evolving it with time (Kor being the Draconic word for Heart, and evolving into Ork, then modernizing into Orc).

Dragonborn and Dragonkin have been some of our most influential characters in our D&D game and are especially one of Lilly's favorite species; she's actually playing a Gold Dragonkin Bard who has read some of Tobias' work (yes, we have a lot of meta fun, makes for a great time at the table!).

Thank you so much for reading through Entry 5, I'm excited for you to read Entry 6! Things get interesting and spicy with the creation and consecration of The Cycle, which leads to some very interesting stories down the road.