The Age of Scale

You say, ‘Hail, The Dragon Sage’

The Dragon Sage appears to fade in and out. The ghostly figure seems to stare through you, as though he is not aware of your presence. ‘Do you know who I am?’, he asks, as if he is inquiring for his own benefit.

You say, ‘Who are you?’

The Dragon Sage begins to smile. ‘It has come back to me, just now’, he says. ‘I am the Dragon Sage. I lived in the once great elven city of Takish Hiz, where I studied the dragons of Norrath.’ The figure appears to be concentrating on something in the distance. His image begins to fade as he says, ‘If I am among the world of the living again, then Norrath must be in great danger.’

You say, ‘what danger?’

The Dragon Sage says ‘Thousands of years ago, Veeshan, the Mother of All Wurms, made her mark upon the face of a young world called Norrath. She struck the planet with her godly might, laying her claim to the world, and created the beings known as dragons. This began the Age of Scale.

You say, ‘what is the age of scale?’

Forward: This volume is a copy of the oldest tome within our library. This was a chronicle of the first visit of the Sage of Ages, when our order was founded. As time has passed, we now know the full significance of his words during these visits. The Sage of Ages, or Sages as the case may be, has observed Norrath for time immemorial. This story is a glimpse into just one of the many viewpoints of unrecorded history.

There were no ages before the Ages of Scale. Norrath was, but it was not as it is known now. It was fresh and pristine. It was untouched by thoughts or life, turmoil or war. Time passed but nothing existed to note its passage. It is hard to explain how everything was but was not at the same moment. The clear separation would only become evident when the Marking was placed.

A manifestation of all that is physical would place the Marking. The Marking would be the divider of all things. It divided time from non-time. It divided being from non-being. The claw of Veeshan scraped across the world and this is when all things began. With the Marking, she who is Veeshan would place her children upon Norrath, beginning the Age of Scale.

The Dragons, as she would name her children, were not only given life but were granted an even greater gift - Norrath. This world would be theirs. She would mark the world a second time, creating smaller companions so that the Dragons did not grow restless or lonely. These small dragons, Drakota, would exist to remind the Dragons of the Mother's gift to the kings of the world. With that, the Mother would leave, vowing to return one day.

Dragons were gifted with a touch of the powers of creation that Veeshan had used to bring them into being. With this power, they created magic. Seeing that this was a good creation and the Mother would be pleased, they next created society. This was even greater than magic. Enthralled with the perfection of their second creation, they stopped creating anything more from there, never making the third.

The Drakota, trying to imitate their betters, began to create as well. They created fury and liked it. Then they created rampage, and this they liked too. But before they could create a third time, the Dragons looked at the small ones and chose to stop them. Using their two creations, Magic and Society, they created once again. They created the Ring.

The Ring merged both magic and society together into one. All Dragons were of the Ring for they were one and the same. And as the Ring of Scale, they became even greater than they already were. And as the Ring they chastised the Drakota as a parent would an unruly child. And as good parents, they sent the Drakota to their "rooms" for a long, long time.