Slaughter

Archivist’s Note: I continue to be swamped with statements and paperwork. I’ve barely been able to keep up with the influx, let alone look further into this supposed monster skydancer or the Lightners. At least that bounty hunter gave me more leads. And I’ve just found a piece of parchment misfiled among our statements—something about it seems important, even if it does appear to be beastclan propaganda. The script is—well its just legible. I’m transcribing it quickly on lunch break.

Transcription of parchment as follows:

Listen, my brethren. You are all my siblings. All that crawl, gallop, scurry, swim, fly, slither and more. All that called these lands home before the collapse. We may be as different as the colors of the rainbow, we may have warred and clashed, but now we face a threat beyond anything we have seen before.
Some of you are old enough to remember the tower. We did not know then what horrors had been sealed away within it, but now none of us remain untouched. I tell you this. We can not reason with such dark powers. They desire nothing but our subjugation and slaughter. They will not rest until every last one of us is dead, be it in body or in soul.
To this end they have fashioned such monsters as they call dragons. We all know their terrible claws and teeth, how they hunt us in our villages and suffer not even our children to live. It is true that some of us are spared. It is even true that some dragons can be taught to see reason. But ultimately they have been created with a savagery in their hearts.
Have you heard, my friends, of Exaltation? It is a ritual among these dragons, an honor of the highest sort. It is their birthright. The process is mysterious, and no one is sure precisely what it entails. But I have studied these creatures, and I know what it must be.
Remember that dragons are not like us. They are weapons fashioned to serve bloodthirsty gods. To this end those evil powers grant them a semblance of free will—for a time. It allows them to adapt, to spread—so efficiently that it makes up for those few who manage to break free, to rebel, to show kindness. But this free will is loaned. From evil a dragon arises, to evil it must return. Once a dragon has reaped enough energy from the world, energy stolen from the land and even from our bodies—it returns this power to its maker. The will so generously loaned is now stolen away, and the dragon becomes what it was always meant to be. A mindless monster born only to kill.
Many have seen them. A surge of teeth and claws that no longer have reason, who only exist to bring the dominion of evil to every corner of the world. We can only hope each day that these bloodthirsty masses ignore us and turn on one another—and they often do. Such terrible deities as theirs can not even make peace with each other, let alone us.
And that is their weakness, my friends. For while we differ greatly we have the capability to work together—and they do not. This is the only way we can survive.

Transcript Ends

Supplementary: Well. That was a waste of time. I should probably hide this, in case anyone thinks I actually believe this nonsense. Exaltation as stealing free will? Laughable.