Out of all the lands west of the Claw Peak mountains none are as stained with conflict as the Warder Blood Pact. It is a land filled with large cities that stand testament to man's undying will to civilize the wilds. The history of this Empire stems long before these great cities such as Dragon's Knee, Ademere, Blood Port, and Hunter's Oath. It all bleeds back to the days of yore when Godwalkers fought fearsome dragons and communed with Gods. Read on you student of history as I regale you with tales of Dragon Slayers, Republic, and its fall.
When the great primordial Dragons of the days Dragon's Wrath took their great slumber, they did not take all of their number with them. The lands west of the Claw Peaks were home to the most ferocious fighting between the lawful metallic dragons and chaotic chromatic dragons. So when the Dragons took their slumber they left the old haggard warriors behind. These dragons had become feral with blind rage and bred the lesser dragons that still linger to this day. These beasts haunted the early God Walkers after Dragon's Slumber.
As legend describes early men and women rose up to slay these beasts to pave way for civilization. It is from this chaos the first ancestor of the Warder royal line is known. Ademar, a human man of humble origins, was born to a tribe of humans in the southwest. When the boy was only 17 years of age he killed his first dragon. The beast was an old black dragon who sat at the heart of a swamp and feasted on his tribe. With nothing, but a spear in hand he swam through the lake's murky depths to slay the beast. He charged on to shore and pierced the monster's scaly hide and became a legend. The island would later become the seat of the Capital of the Dragon Blood Pact.
Ademar made his way all across the continent slaying dragons. Although after he had slain a multi-headed chromatic dragon. He received a vision from the God Givesney. Givesney told him that he was the Overgod of the Gods of his ancestors and that Ademar along with other God Walkers would create a land free of the chaos of the Dragons and a land worthy of the Gods. From this point on Ademar would be known as Ademar the Seer. He was the Arch Cleric of the Gods and the only Godwalker since to represent all of Gods at once. He founded a temple dedicated to the Gods known as the First Temple. A city would sprawl up around it known as Ademere.
Ademar the Seer would meet up with other famous dragon hunters to bring the Gods' plan to reality. Hunters like Gorgina Earthblade of the dwarves, Glwaynbic of the gnomes, and Caradoc Brownlocke of the halflings. They met on the site of his first kill and founded the Dragon Blood Pact in the year 2500 D.S. They paved out a representative republic of all four races.
The government consisted of a legislative branch known as the Council of the Hunt where 100 elected officials would serve to best plan out the organization of new settlements. The executive branch called the Seat of the Hunt where all four Dragon hunters would serve under the title slayer for life. When they passed away their children would take up the mantle slayer. Slayer Ademar made the newly formed Temple of the Walkers serve as a justice system responsible for rooting out Dragon worship wherever it might be.
So for the next one hundred years, the people of the west lived in peace as cities rose and races started to develop unique cultures. The human Slayers lost their connection to the Gods after Ademar's passing in the year 2500 D.S. . The Human Slayers kept a close connection with the Temple they helped found.
This peace did not last. Trouble had been brewing in the Claw Peak mountains. Waring bands from the Brass Claw Empire and the Dragon Blood Pact were leading raiding parties into the other's territory. This led to the largest war known to Drakes the Blood Scale War in the year 2600 D.S. The Dragonborn warlords of east of the Claw peaks stood against everything the Pact stood for. So Slayers fought to maintain Ademar's vision.
The next 400 years would be nonstop violence. Slayers died leading valiant defenses as warlords charged deep into mountain passes. In the year 3056 D.S. a plot was hatched. The human Slayer Illias Warder accused the Dwarven Slayer Malgor Firebrander of betraying his human allies in trade for land grants in the east. So Slayer Illias marched into the Council of the Hunt and murdered all of the dwarven representatives in an event known as Warder's revenge.
This action led to the dissolution of the Dragon Blood Pact in the same year and to the founding of the Warder Blood Pact. Northmen from the cities of the Boa river claimed that Warder was a bloodthirsty tyrant and revolted against his rule. These people would go on to found The Greater Merchant Alliance of the Northern Seas.
The Blood Scale War ended when the Temple of the Walkers petrified the entire Brass Claw army into stone. The war officially came to a close in the year 3056 D.S. . The Warder Blood Pact spent the next millennia climbing back out of despair from centuries of war. The lands were scarred and halflings and gnomes abandoned their homes fearing persecution. Leaving cities like Dragon's Knee with only Human and Gnomish inhabitants.
The Warder Blood Pact had been blessed with a natural seaport of Blood Port. The 4000's would be marked by innovations in technology like the triangular sail and printing press. These inventions lead to easier communication with others. Then in the 4850 D.S. The Merchant Alliance captain Kels Margo Rotter made an amazing discovery. He discovered an Island chain unknown to any map and people who belonged to no known race. He named the land the "New Drakes" and its people Elves after the mysterious lost race from the creation myths.
The people of the Blood Pact would found the city of New Oath on the Island of Blood sands in the year 4895. This would quickly become one of the most populated cities in the New Drakes due to the vast amounts of sugar plantations. The conditions of these plantations were horrible and the Warder Blood Pact forced the native Elves to work on them in hopes of converting them away from their Pagan Dragon Gods.
In order to maintain the vast navel empire the Warder Blood Pact now held with easier trade to the East of the Claw Peaks. They had to create The Royal Blood Pact Navy. Loyal to their Warder (the new title for leaders of the Warder Blood Pact) the navy is known for its extralegal searching of merchant alliance vessels under the pretense of "contraband".
These contraband checks have led to atrocity after atrocity. Including the abduction of elven people, murder of entire crews, and the burning of native communities. These practices have led to a bloody reputation for the navy.
One day hopefully there will be a return to the days of the Dragon Blood Pact. That would have to take a new generation of good-minded Godwalkers.