Lore

The Emerald Court is located in the far eastern reaches of the Windswept Plateau, in a fertile, roughly oval-shaped basin called the Valley of Spirits. This ancient land is surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides, and is only accessible on foot via a narrow pass to the south known as the Emerald Gate. The dense mists and raging winds that circle above it, which frequently spawn packs of gale wolves, make the valley difficult to find and surprisingly dangerous to descend into from above; only experienced flyers know the safest routes in and out. The climate here is temperate year round, but experiences periodic flooding that transforms the valley’s landscape considerably.

The dragons who live and work within the Valley of Spirits are ruled over by the Emerald Court, which makes its home in a great palace ruin piled against the northern cliff-face. Other smaller ruins lie scattered across the valley, including numerous mossy, crumbling statues of qiriq and bantam fangars (pictured above) lit from within by a mysterious green glow. These ruins predate the Emerald Court’s occupation, and their origins are unknown.


Population
The Emerald Court is a large clan, and the Valley of Spirits is home to several hundred inhabitants. Due to space constraints all but a handful of these dragons are smaller breeds, predominately skydancers, pearlcatchers, and spirals. There are no ridgebacks or guardians in the valley. The population works hard to support the court’s dozen or so royal Imperials, who consume more food than a score of pearlcatchers apiece and are accustomed to luxurious treatment.

While all of the valley’s inhabitants serve the court in some way or another, only a fraction of them actually live and work within the palace. Most dragons in the valley are are farmers, many of whom cultivate aquatic or amphibious plants and livestock in the valley’s lakes. They may also tend wisp fruit groves, breed reedcleft sparklers for lanterns, or raise and train domesticated war qiriq. Some skilled flyers range outside the Valley of Spirits to hunt wild game, a practice that is becoming increasingly necessary to support the palace’s decadent ways.

Domesticated flora and fauna
Bamboo (construction), grasslands trunker (food), day lily (food, decorative), reedcleft sparkler (food, lighting), sweet grass (food), wetland ghost (food), frilled eel (food), fire flower (food), wisp fruit (food), green shoots (food and paper), golden-laced rooster (food), golden milkweed (food), goliath beetle (food), lyretail puffer (decorative), crowntail wanderer (decorative), delta orchid (decorative), dreamwaker frog (medicine), golden ivy (medicine), feverfew (medicine), black swan (decorative), qiriq (warfare, companionship), baku (companionship), bantam fangar (companionship)

Important locations

Imperial Palace
Tower of the Eight Winds

Credits: All artwork, maps, etc in my lair drawn by me