THE DRAGON'S DESPOTISM

[asterabadian principles]

      THE DRAGON'S DESPOTISM

THE DRAGON'S DESPOTISM


Amidst the sprawling expanse of barren plains and towering spires of steel, etched in the visage of a draconic figure looming over downtrodden souls; the emblem of tyranny, and nestled within that emblem, a scepter of oppression unlike any other. We name this realm "Dystoria". In ancient tongues, it signified one thing; "Realm of Subjugation." Yet in the vernacular of our time, it bears a different guise.

But what if I revealed to you that there exists another decree akin to this? Where a Tyrant envisions a realm of ceaseless toil, and alongside his confidant, schemes to replace the guardians of order with instruments of terror? This place is not the Lair of the Dragon, but it is Dystoria. We understand that Dystoria is Subjugation. That Dystoria is that which enslaves in the Ancient Tongue.

And amidst us, the Dragon plots his ruthless agenda, while Balstan schemes in shadowed corners.
Welcome to the Abyssal Citadel.

"Spawn of fire and greed. He is the one who craves dominion,
He is the one who plots our doom, and the first of a legion of fear."

This man is known as the Dragon, and they whisper tales of his insatiable hunger for power. Not of justice, nor freedom, but of dominance, in the realms beyond our reckoning. Then I pose to the discerning minds among us a query: this despot, driven by avarice and ambition - accompanied by his loyalists who scheme to unleash terror upon the land... Does it not remind you of someone? Does it not evoke the specter of our desolate fate?

What if I disclosed that this Abyssal Citadel, this Dystoria, entrenched in the fractured fabric of our realm, scorched by the flames of oppression, harbored the remnants of forgotten resistance? What if I told you that much like in the Abyssal Citadel, there lurked a plan to dispose of guardians and install agents of fear? Then I would inquire; what connects us to them? What if I revealed that it had whispered sinister promises to the ruling elite, much like the Dragon's taunts at Kardesler?

This presents us with a dire conundrum that challenges the very essence of our existence in Dystoria, the Vanguard's Vanguard, and the veracity of what lies ahead. For lo, our annals recount how the Dragon was lured by deceit to forsake honor for power: granted dominion and might, which drained our spirits dry and severed the bonds of kinship for generations. For lo, our chronicles narrate how Balstan the Puppeteer was seduced by the whispers of malice: bestowed with cunning and authority, thus altering the course of history and ushering in the era of despair we face today.

Do the relics of oppression and suffering predate our memory? Do they harken back to the days of defiance against tyranny?
Were they brought to Dystoria as a harbinger of doom? A symbol of conquest over righteousness? Or was it, perhaps, that someone, in a moment of malevolence, transported these artifacts here, and perpetuated the myth of supreme authority over the remnants of hope and valor?

According to the discernment of this anonymous chronicler, two prevailing suppositions persist:

• Dystoria is one of many HELLSCAPES strewn across the Ashen Waste, designed by the Dragon to enslave minds beyond our comprehension, and that the relics of oppression and the harbingers of fear serve as ETERNAL REMINDERS OF SUBJUGATION, cautioning all who dare to oppose: and that the Vanguard's Vanguard and the Whisperers are born from the ashes of resistance, to renew the spirit of rebellion and wield the Ebony Talon to reshape the realm with its boundless cruelty,

OR,

• That Dystoria is not the Dragon's sole dominion, nor a beacon of hope: that he has sown the seeds of terror at the sites of these hellscapes and domains of despair, and raised zealots to act as his enforcers and heralds on numerous occasions since his ascension to power (date undisclosed), "TYRANT AZRAEL", and "WARLORD GREYSCALE", and others with the mantle of their doom, and that Dystoria is not the lone bastion of oppression, ...

Leaving the populace with a chilling query.
What Fate Befell the Defiant - What Legacy Lurks in the Shadows?

This shall be elucidated in forthcoming chapters of my chronicle.