The Yasg Empire

[Tybalt]

I'm picturing that the Yasg Empire was originally a reptilian empire that had other creatures as subjects and slaves. The rulers were dragonbred and yuan-ti, the former being a warrior caste, the latter being a priestly caste. Other creatures, lizardfolk, troglodytes, kobolds and such (if anyone has other cool ideas for this please let me know) were variously of craft, hunter, farmer, miner castes.

Yasg is a human corruption of "Az-Kyaz-Yazg" which really ought to be said with a long drawn out shuddering hiss and essentially means "From the Great Egg". The values of the old empire were drawn not from the values of mammalian humanoids but rather from those who worshipped the great dragons of old and their values: cunning, strength, protection of the nest, wealth for the sake of its beauty, passion, magical power.

In ancient times the dragons were admired and taught skills to other races--for amusement or what other motives none can say. They at times blessed those they cared for with sexual favours and from these were born the dragonbred. Dragonbred were never really a race but rather those who were favoured by the dragons. A lineage of dragonbred would be proudest if it counted more than one dragon in its ancestry and a visible purity of dragon blood--visible scales, claws, wings, especially those that could actually be used to fly with, tails, and any vestige of dragon power was coveted. They imitated the fearlessness of dragons and sought to demonstrate a dragon's ability to cause dread by their mere appearance. Like dragons themselves they could also be arrogant and lazy.

The yuan-ti, the snake folk, proved to be their best advisors. They were both like and unlike the dragonbred; they too were a race that through reverence of creatures had bred with them by magical means. Unlike the dragonbred they did not value courage, seeing it as foolishness, though they cleverly flattered the dragonbred and used this to rise high in their councils. Often yuan ti would be slavemasters, treasurers, advisors and so on. As a priestly caste they did not so much command a state religion over the dragonbred who revered only the great dragons of old but rather the multitude of other races over whom they ultimately began to hold sway.

The other reptilian castes were not so much a race of subjugated folk as they simply those who acknowledged the power of the dragonbred and sought their protection against a wild congregation of mammalian humanoids who seemed savage and uncompromising. The only civilizations that rivaled that of the Yasg were: the Elves (who as the Tuatha-de-Danaan had begun to rule the northeastern continent) and the Sahuagin (who had a similar rule under the waves) The Yasg were not really bent on conquest though they were fierce in battle against any violating their borders.

The status of humanoids was generally considered to be that of beings fit only for being avoided or for destruction. They were seen as primitives--after all they either bred like monkeys and acted worse (goblins)or were just plain savages. (gnolls) Accordingly they were sometimes used as slave labour by the subject races, kept in menageries or simply killed for food now and then. The races of giants tended to live in far off wild places and were considered barbarians--fit opponents but little else. The wise race of cloud giants were respected only because they shrewdly paid tribute to the Yasg.

Then the humans came. They came in fire and earthquake, in shuddering tidal wave and storm, burning the very sky as they came. It was a cataclysm that shook even the world of the sahuagin. Entire regions were flooded and depopulated. Wildfire raged in forests and jungles.

(more to come, ideas most welcome)

[Numinous]

I've seen dragon-worship religions before, but this is fresh,a s usual.  You have a knack for keeping everything tame, but still entertaining, and this does not disappoint.

I would expand upon the "Great Egg", perhaps it is another realm entirely from which the dragons came first?  Also, it might be wise to alter your story in such a way that the snake-priests created the castes to maintain power, while the dragonbred went along with it because it seems like a good plan.  It keeps the manipulative edge on the clergy, and maybe the dragonbred even believe they are meant to rule by divine right(see ancient Japan).

I look forward to seeing more!

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Sounds good so far Tybalt.  Perhaps you could put in a sidebar explaining how this connects to New Edom.  The name seems familiar, but I've forgotten exactly how it's connected with the war (I could dig through your old thread, but not everyone's familiar with it probably).

I like that you give thought to the etymology of the name, too.  Nice touch.

Why where there earthquakes and so forth when the humans arrived?

Hearing dragons reward followers with sexual favors is vaguely disturbing.

I like Nat 20's idea of a dragon realm.  Another reality from which these beings originated, built up through religion to be seen as a kind of heaven or celestial realm.

I'm not fond of yuan-ti, partly because they're not OGC (not that I'm fond of snakes either ;))

Are the dragonbred meant to be like the Dragonborn in Races of the Dragon?

[Tybalt]

thanks guys

As far as the sexual favours thing goes--in a lot of mythology weird stuff like that happens. For instance you'll be reading some Central American myth and you hear about how a jaguar saw a beautiful maiden bathing in a pool and thinks, "wow, I wanna marry her" and you're thinking "Dude! That's just wrong!"

The Yasg Empire is at this point only vaguely connected with the war, however at some point my players will be accompanying envoys there to try to gain some ships for the Republic. It is possible as well that I will connect the tower of glass with the Yuan-Ti as well.

Humans in my campaign world came to be there from another dimension themselves. Their arrival caused a cataclysm. I'm still working on the details of that.

I like D20's ideas about the other realm for dragons and that being part of what the Great Egg refers to. The dragonbred are supposed to be kind of like the Dragonborn but again I'm working on the details.

What I've conceived for the present day Yasg Empire is that it has but remnants of the old reptilian empire. It has become decadent and many of the provinces and subject states run themselves but pay lip service to the Dragon Throne. Most of its people are human now and indeed some of the other creatures are now savage and living in remote areas or have degenerated and are kept as exotic pets or bodyguards. However there are those who dream of a resurgence of the old Dragon Empire and of the rule of the dragonbred.