Dragonbond: Valerna: An Introduction

Valerna

Rhaava is a young world—a primal world, shaped by the innate magic that flows through all things: Vaala. Through the threefold power of Dream, Will, and Source, Vaala provides the potential for all things to evolve, to change. Driven by Vaala, empires rise and fall, monsters rampage through wondrous landscapes, and armies march to war beneath a tumultuous sky.

Valerna, the largest continent on Rhaava, is contested by its greatest realms: Allaria, Tyveria, Nahuac and Ysval. Across several kingdoms, humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, beasts and monsters make war upon their rivals. Sorcerers bombard their foes with pyrotechnic cavalcades, sky-ships rain fire upon foot soldiers, and giants hurl rocks against besieged fortifications. From the fey realm of the Fell, capricious creatures mock the petty struggles of mortals, while in the eternal dark of the Hollowdepths lurk noisome, dangerous things, awaiting their chance to claim the world for their own.

And then, once every twenty-seven years, the Red Moon rises, and the dragons descend upon the world of mortals…

In the face of the draconic threat, the squabbles of mortals are nothing. Only the mightiest heroes can stand against them. And those heroes, when circumstances are right, can win the respect of their dragon adversaries like no other. When this happens, the two become as one—dual beings, known as Dragonbonded.

The Dragonbonded are needed now more than ever. For a dark power awakens—a power that poses the ultimate threat to mortal and dragon alike. The Null, the antithesis of Vaala, seeps into the world. Where once it was sealed away by the mightiest champions of Valerna, now the seals are breaking. If the Null bleeds into the domain of mortals, all magic, all potential, will be gone forever—washed away, leaving only infinite emptiness and stagnation.

Into this world, you must carve your own legacy. Whether for Rhaava or for the Red Moon Drakha, you must answer the call. Your story begins here—if you have the Dream, the Source, and the Will to write it…

The Realms

Allaria

“Honor your dream.”

The Dragon Kingdom of Allaria is one of the mightiest realms in Valerna, ruled by an ancestral dynasty of half-elven kings that base their power on a rigid system of laws, castes, and hierarchies. It is a marvelous realm of dualities, of artistry and rigid discipline. The realm contains the greatest spellcasters, artists, and inventors of Valerna, with a culture built upon the assumption that half-elves, called the allai (honor elves), are wiser than either elves or humans and are, therefore, uniquely suited to rule. Only recently have Allarians begun to challenge this dogma, leading to an ongoing, and sometimes violent, overhaul of their society.

Tyveria

“Unleash your legacy.”

At the center of Valerna lies the Blood Empire of Tyveria. As corrupt as it is powerful, Tyveria is the continent’s political, cultural, and military core, and the only rival to Allaria for dominance over the other realms. Ruled over by the haughty, enigmatic maghyri, blood sorcerers with the vampiric ability to consume and manipulate the blood of other creatures, Tyveria is a conflicted empire of the greatest individual freedoms and the cruelest tyrannies. As the great maghyr houses rule the empire, their ennobled enforcers, the vampyri, control the majority human populace. Tyverians are famed for their ruthlessness, their thirst for power, and their disregard for what other peoples know as tact or diplomacy.

Nahuac

“Weave a worthy life.”

The oldest realm of Valerna, Nahuac is a vast coalition of free states, finding commonality in their deep respect for nature, life, and death. The Náhuinn people believe in upholding their proud traditions, and they observe a philosophy of cooperation, working in harmony with each other and the forces of nature that surround them.

Ysval

“Kindle the light together.”

A hardy, pious community, the Holy Alliance of Ysval is a light in the darkness of the snow-swept north. But this strong-hearted community had the darkest of beginnings. The youngest realm of Valerna, Ysval was formed only a few decades after the First Null War, when the defeated acolytes of the Null took refuge in the northern wilds. Their broken forces repented their dark ways, turning to worshipping the Light, finding renewed purpose in the frozen tundra and dark forests.

Want to know more about Valerna, more realms and the Dragons of the Red Moon?