We have covered the less known dragon wars, so now, let’s learn all about the most famous dragon war, the Third Dragon War with Huma and Magius! Buy Wings of Fury: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/216832/wings-of-fury-saga?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
Deathfyre began this Third Dragon War, but Huma would end it.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the Third Dragon War. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing Wings of Fury, The Dragonlance Campaign Setting and Dragons of Krynn sourcebooks for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
Deathfyre would remain below the Lords of Doom for twelve hundred years before being awakened by the Queen of Darkness. When he awoke he was the greatest dragon on Krynn since Crematia before him. He desired one thing above all, revenge. He had learned of the good dragon’s mastery of Krynn through ogre scouts and knew that if he was to destroy his enemies it had to be through subtlety and careful planning. He changed into the form of a dwarf and hired dwarven miners to dig up the perfect chromatic dragon eggs that the bakali had hid in the mountains after the Second Dragon Wars’ end. He would pay for their labor with his and Crematia’s massive hoard and then traveled all across Ansalon selling these treasures to the wealthiest and most influential mortals. In the years after taking ownership of the dragon eggs, the eggs would hatch and most would consume their owners, wreaking havoc across Ansalon. Then Deathfyre called out to them, and as they were under a hundred years old, they were still small, but the might of Takhisis infused them as they returned to the Lords of Doom and they grew rapidly in power and size.
While the dragons were growing, Deathfyre resumed leadership of the ogre tribes, and the Bakali too rejoined their forces. Under the command of the ogre Garic Drakar, the bakali and ogres became unified, and the dark army was ten thousand strong with more than one hundred chromatic dragons ready for war. With ruthless efficiency this force captured all lands north, east and south of the Lords of Doom, leaving the sickly Silvanesti Nation in isolation. It seems Deathfyre learned from his predecessors. The vast distance and the speed and efficiency of the domination prevented anything more than rumor to reach Solamnia about this terrible foe. Mercenaries began arriving with support personnel and their forces grew exponentially, growing to tens of thousands in number. It was time to focus their eyes west on Solamnia.
The campaigns raged day and night and while the Solamnics in the plains fought valiantly, the sheer numbers were too great against them. Deathfyre’s forces left thousands in their wake as they swarmed west. But the good dragons learned of this as they were active in the world, and joined in resistance against the seemingly insurmountable odds. From Tarsis to Palanthas the knights and dragons fought side by side, sometimes gaining but most often losing ground. The death of the Metallics always came at a great price by the Dragon Army, but they paid it willingly. It was around this time the Orders of High Sorcery gathered in Palanthas and decided to make the Dragon Orbs. They gave one to the Knights of Solamnia who retrofitted their High Clerist’s Tower with it as a trap. The Knights of Solamnia and Wizards of High Sorcery employed these Dragon Orbs against the Chromatics, but it wasn’t until the Dragonlance was forged that the tide seemed to shift.
It is here that we should mention the established history for forty years has been altered by the novel The Legend of Huma by Richard A. Knaak, and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman in their Destinies trilogy, and will likely be changed more in their upcoming Legacies trilogy. What follows is from existing history. Huma became friends with a minotaur Kaz after freeing him from torture and together they met a silver dragon names Heart. Huma fell in love with the human Gwyneth who was the silver dragon Heart and they were offered an opportunity to forsake the war and be together in love, or face the war, knowing they would likely fall, but they would bear a weapon that could turn the tide of the war. I have episodes on Huma and Magius if you are interested in details of their exploits. But ultimately Heart and Huma decided to bring the Dragonlance’s to bear against the Dark Queen’s forces.
Huma may have been the first dragonrider and the Dragonlance’s decimated their foes. In response, Deathfyre ordered the evil dragons to bring riders to bear against them, and even with this terrific new weapon, the numbers could not be overcome. The Dark Queen began to sense victory and her presence grew to be tangible on Ansalon. Knowing that defeat was imminent, Heart bore Huma directly into the goddess of evil, making the ultimate sacrifice. Fire and lightning lashed at her, but her resolve was greater than the suffering the Dark Queen inflicted, and Huma buried the dragonlance into the Queen. This was a death blow, and in the end the Dark Queen made a pledge to the dying knight. So great was the pain inflicted upon her by this instrument of Paladine that she agreed to draw her chromatics from Krynn, if he would remove the lance. Part of this bargain was that the metallics would also depart Ansalon. In agreement, Huma removed the lance and died. The Dark Queen and most of her chromatics flew to the Lords of Doom and the Abyss.
Ever deceitful, the Dark Queen left Tombfyre, the mighty son of Deathfyre behind, so that in time she could return. The metallic dragons retreated to the Dragon Isles with the other mystical, now lost races of Krynn, and the mortals would inherit the world. Empires would rise, the Cataclysm would come and the Dark Queen would seize on the opportunity, drawing the Temple of Istar into the Abyss. Thus the seed was planted for the War of the Lance. Huma and Heart’s sacrifice would become legend, as the knowledge of dragons would become stories to frighten children, little more than myth.
Every dragon war at its core began with Takhisis’ desire to corrupt and control. From the initial creation of dragonkind to her ultimate death. The gods would actively work against her efforts by providing dragonstones, magic and eventually the dragonlance themselves in an effort to try and stop the Dark Queen. Countless mortals and thousands of dragons were killed in these dragon wars all for the greed of one dark goddess. Proving out the foundation that Krynn was built upon, the Law of Consequence. I think upon reflection that this is why I love Dragonlance so much. There is order, and forces join to overcome an imbalance, unlike our world which is seemingly ruled by coincidence and chaos. The Fifth Age of Krynn would prove that the mortals of Krynn were capable of enduring the loss of their creators and protectors as they suffered under the Dragon Overlords, and eventually defeated the Queen of Darkness with the aid of a lost goddess. But that is another tale.
Outro
And that is all the time I have to talk about the Third Dragon War. What do you think of Weis and Hickman changing up the lore? Did you enjoy the Destinies trilogy entering this era? And finally, would you ever play a one-shot adventure during the Third Dragon War? Leave a comment below.
I also want to take a second and let you all know about my new project! I have been developing a system agnostic, dark fantasy campaign setting called DireLands. You can learn more about it on my Eviliv3 Play youtube channel. The link is in the description below.
Also, please consider subscribing to this YouTube channel, ringing the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and clicking the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
You will live one life for every life your folly has brought to an end.
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