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The Dragon Wars were a series of infighting conflicts over a period of three decades between various factions in the Drakonian Empire and those afflicted by a strange maddening illness that made them turn against everyone -- eventually, these conflicts would come to slowly but surely decimate Drakonia and leave it a burning heap which still radiates heat from these conflicts to this day.
Background and events leading up to the conflict
At the turning point of the Sixth Era in Drakonia, slavery was the primary form of work that backed the massive industry force in the empire. Fields were filled with Zaentovi slaves, slaves would be poorly-treated assistants in smithies and taverns, and in the entertainment circuit, pitfighting and gladiator bouts were popular forms of entertainment to put slaves into, with no Drakonian loss of life required on their part. It had grown to a point where so many slaves existed that they started being treated as little more than everyday objects. Slaves would be forgotten about and left to starve, and prices for them hit all-time lows.
It had been outlawed at the beginning of the Sixth Era to teach any slaves how to read or write, so as to not inspire rebellious ideas through writing, or having the ability to transmit their messages from afar to other likewise slaves. With the loss of value to slaves, this law fell out of practice and soon it was cared little what slaves did, or rather it was unseen. A gladiator, named Nosoled, was taught by his elder slaves how to read and write when he was young. Although a young man when he began his revolt in 548 AC, he ended it nearing his fifties and in charge of only 100,000 men to the 30 million slaves that existed just 18 years prior. Despite this, he had won freedom for them, and the victory that ensued ensured that no slave would ever work in Drakonia ever again. That war ended in the summer in 531 BC, in June. It would take less than ten months for the war that would end the greatest empire ever known to Drakonius to begin. Nosoled did not live to see the end of the Dragon War that would emerge as a result of the Gladiator War, which he had caused through revolution and escape. Although the economy was all but decimated in Drakonia, all parties were interested in restoring what was lost. Any freed slaves had the right to remain or leave following the Gladiator War, and some, feeling guilty of the destruction caused to Drakonia's integrity due to the slave rebellion, returned to services they once held as freemen in order to restore the balance. It was not immediately clear in many minds that another war, ten times as brutal as the last, was soon to break out, and it would be brought about by a mysterious force that can only be described as The Shadow.
Before long, a strange plague swept through Drakonia, starting on the easternmost part of Doras Edrossi and making its way west, where it eventually reached the city of Drakonia itself. This illness caused bouts of madness and aggressiveness, and turned men against each other. It also affected the dragons, of which Drakonians had plenty, and they too began to act erratically, even burning down structures and killing without provocation. The Dragon Wars began, in some way, once people made sense of the sides they were on; there was one side intent on trying to treat the illness and maintain the peace, while another was convinced that it was a curse and that they must leave to avoid its grasp.
The War
House Dragomyr, the ruling family at the time and typically seen as the foremost house in Drakonian politics due to their ancestor Aegor having built the city of Drakonia in myth and effectively found civilization on his own, had recently returned to power and was looking to exert their authority over those who wished to emigrate from Drakonia. The Dragomyrs were convinced that it required all hands on deck in order to save people from these ailments, and the other faction of houses, known as the Secessionists by both contemporaries and present-day historians, were barred from leaving the Drakonian Empire. This led to a war of three sides; the Dragomyr-led Dragonblooded faction who wished to try and salvage Drakonia, the Secessionists who wanted to leave and try to save themselves, and a third erratic faction of mindless men and drake which targeted indiscriminately and destroyed wholly. As the war went on and attempts to resolve the tension became more and more futile, the terrain of Drakonia became scarred with the weapons of war being employed, which were the finest anywhere on Drakonius and in great supply due to the sheer size of the Empire. Dragons were also a large help in this, and more dragons were affected by the plague as time went on, becoming as if they were feral, turning on their masters and even their High Drakonian peers, whom they share blood relations with.
Before long, the people in Drakonia were so hazed with conflict that lines seemed to blur. Former allegiances did not seem to matter after a point, and the Shadow had so imbued the Drakonian people during this time that it seemed the entire race had become bloodthirsty for not just themselves, but all of the Edrossian and Andorasi who might have tried to interfere in the fight. It was in vain, as no one could have stopped the Drakonians but the Drakonians themselves; and ultimately, this did not happen. 30 years is more than a generation for many, but for someone in the midst of the Dragon Wars it was described a blur of a slew of fights and skirmishes everywhere across the Empire. Those who were born into the conflict knew nothing else, and if they survived the carnage, were either only fit for battle or left cowering from their traumatic experiences.
It was the Dragon Wars which virtually destroyed Drakonia; there was nothing but smithereens when the war was called to a close, and the Drakonian Peninsula was covered in ash from the flames of war spreading throughout the region. Death was rampant and those who were afflicted by this maddening plague died soon after, with the population dwindling throughout the Empire. This was Drakonia at its weakest, and it soon fell apart. However, their quarrels were still not over -- a dark, mysterious force that was later surmised to have caused this began to land its cruelly deformed and mutated armies on the burnt shores of Drakonia, and thus began the War of the Shadow, which can only be described as a miracle that victory was achieved in.