#Lore24 – Entry #356 – Sci-Fi Month IV #21 – Following the Trail of the Dragons
Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum
AG: “…Are you suggesting that the dragons themselves in these creation stories are in fact the gods? Or…rather, that the gods as we know them are in fact, the dragons?”
RV: “See, I told you you’d get there. Yes, I am quite certain that the various deities that we know of, through whatever means they may have created their various child species or the loyal followers they have cultivated over time are indeed the dragons of legend. Aside from a handful of examples that we know of throughout history, based upon the standard Andyllion-centric views, there have been no encounters with living dragons, yet it seems our lives have been shaped by them consistently and seemingly at every turn as we delve deeper and deeper into our galaxy.
I’m not suggesting that all gods are dragons, far from it, for we have multiple examples of the lesser races ascending to that lofty realm, your own goddess for example. But I am saying that the majority of the gods as we understand them are or were, dragons. The dragons themselves are, in spite of everything we know of them, very alien to common understanding, so the methods they use and the reasons they do what they do are still very much uncertain, even to me. But in this, I am quite certain.”
AG: “Could you elucidate upon this, please? What have you learned that leads you to this conclusion?”
RV: “It’s a very long trail, a most convoluted web, but I will endeavor to be as succinct as possible. As I’ve said before, I realized fairly early in my existence that I was in fact different from the other elves, and began to search for others like myself that were…different. Through the long course of my research, I did indeed discover others like me, for when I first met them, I experienced a visceral, instinctive reaction like what I described feeling for Lila Darius. Though these individuals did not always possess the same understanding of the arcane as I did, they possessed certain other traits similar to my own: greater ambitions, exceptional drive to accumulate wealth, the ability to instill intense loyalty, that sort of thing. This is what would, at some points in history, be referred to as the “spark of rulership” or some such thing, that extra little something that made various rulers greater than others.
I likewise felt this when I first met Marcon Shadowmist, and again when I met his various children prior to the Age of Legends. Marcon aside, for he is an anomaly amongst anomalies, the reaction I felt inside me with his children was exactly the same as what I felt when I find myself thinking of Lila Darius, only slightly lesser, given our frequent clashes over time. The thing about Marcon…he is always testing you. Always. When he sought me out for assistance in correcting the demon incursion problem, it was a test. When we sat back and observed events during the Age of Legends, it was a test. Though I have not met him since before the Imperium War, I’m certain he still tests me.
And what is he testing for? Some would say character, others perhaps wisdom, or others simply how well one can maintain their manners. It’s hard to say exactly. But in this, I believe he was testing my awareness of myself and of my nature, for he knew what I was, though he never once hinted at my true nature. I suppose you could say he didn’t wish to spoil the surprise.
Once I became aware of this reaction, this resonance, with certain beings, I began my experiments, using the lesser beings, the ones who did not share my response to this resonance, as test subjects over the years. I noted particular changes in the nature of the resonance between beings, some more visceral, others more muted, others something I could describe as a sense of familiarity, and since I could find no physical traits that would account for this, I delved deeper, all the way to their very souls.
Of course, it wouldn’t be as simple as tearing down a soul. No, there would be plenty of vexations along the way.”