The Red World planet was different than the others in one key way. While all the planets were spherical, the Red World had some unique features. The first of these is the Fires of Passage. At approximately the equator, and for a few degrees in both directions, great fires burn, coming from the center of the earth. These fires are true flames, but also serve as the main entry/exit point between worlds. Surviving the flames is difficult though, so only the great ones can get trough that way.
On the one side of the Fires of Passage is what is called the "Upper Red World." This is the side inhabited by men and dragons. On the other side is what is called simply, The Shadow Realm. It was here that Aerykun first built his base of operations, as did all the demon lords that followed after him.
Connecting these two is a large cavern, called The Deep Fog. It has a few entry points in the Upper Red World, and a an unknown number in the Shadow Realm. Transit between the two sides is generally one-way, from the Shadow Realm up, because it is very rare that anyone above would want to go below.

For the first generation after the worlds divided, only dragons inhabited the Red World. Then vaeances (see my post in the Bestiary) came on the scene. These lived in peace for years on end. As the third generation of dragons came to maturity, men entered the Red World. They were led by Anereach I, second son of the King of Men in the Green World. The method of their transit is still unknown, though I suspect it was by way of the Deep Fog, which spans worlds. These men established the first cities in the hills of the North.

The dragons lived principally in the South. When they heard of the coming of men, the held council in the Halls of Iorin, the greatest dragon of all time. There they argued as to their course. Iorin the first generation Star dragon, and Kion the third generation fire dragon, said that the dragons and vaeances must seek to exterminate men before they could grow strong. Blurin, the second generation water dragon, argued that they should be allowed to survive, and refused to abide by the decision of the council. He led his dragons and vaeances away to settle in the sea islands.

The assault on the North began. Vaeances, though, fly much faster than dragons, and as they flew northward the vaeances grew ahead. Iorin and Kion told them to wait for the dragons to catch-up before attacking the men, but Fealin, a rebellious vaeance, refused the order and struck the unsuspecting men. Though the battle was close, the men rallied and fought the vaeance off, with high casualties for both sides.

The dragons arrived one day after, but in that time the men had fortified their settlements and honed their weapons. The great flying beasts sought again to exterminate men, but were repulsed worse than before, and Kion's father as well as many other dragons perished. Men would survive for a while yet. The earth dragons fled to the mountains.

The dragons retreated to the South. The air dragons and vaeances, led by Fealin, decided to request of Blurin that they might settle with him in the islands. When they arrived with their petition, Blurin, who had turned to evil, had an idea. He told Fealin and the wind vaeances that they could join him, if they killed every last one of the air dragons. They attempted this, but about three air dragons escaped. Because of this Blurin said the wind vaeances might settle on a nearby island, but were always held in servitude to the water species.

The North Nation of men soon divided as well. Some pressed further to the South, ultimately founding the Seven Cities of Men right near the dragon borders, which precipitated wars in the future. As demons began to come out of the Shadow Realm and attack the north kingdom, some, out of fear, fled into the mountains, and finding a pass, went into the hidden lands East of the main mountains. [I will have to post a map of this sometime]. Others went into the western desert, and both of these groups passed out of memory.

This. Is. Awesome. I just read both of your threads and really liked the history. Your writing style reminds me of Tolkien's--in a really good way. I love the division of the six kingdoms and the planet--all of it. But how can the seven cities of men be near the dragons if there are several miles of fire there?

eruheran

The map I just posted in the Geography section might help with this. The Fires burn essentially where the map stops. That leaves plenty of space for cities all over the place. The only three of the Seven Cities which were made-up at that point are Tomfie, Okthin, and Thyron. I have since created another on the coast of the Southern Ocean: Furth, which would be SE of Thyron.

OK--that makes sense. The map did help a lot, thanks!

eruheran

It sounds great except Blurin's descent into evil seemed kind of sudden. I was thinking he was good because he didn't want to destroy the men. And why would he want to destroy the air dragons?

And is the Red King on the Red World, or is he somewhere else with Narok?

Blurin's descent was fairly sudden. The main reason that not wanting to destroy men was wrong was because it was disobeying the will of the counsel. That, however, was not his main flaw. When he went off to his own island and forsook the dragons of other kinds he also began working in evil magic. The agents of that magic, wyrms, corrupted his will so that he hated even the other dragons, and when he saw a chance the wyrms worked through him to have the air dragons eliminated.

As to the Red King, Aerykun, he resided in the Red World for some time, but has since been banished out (see section IV in the Chronicles) into, I think, the orange world.

So were the men evil? It seems wrong to destroy them without them doing anything wrong, merely because the dragons decided they didn't like them.

The dragons were the only sentient beings in the world, excepting the spirits. That said, they considered themselves the rightful rulers of the whole Red World. They felt that the men were invading when they came. So it could be considered a defensive war. The dragons just didn't want men around, because they have a natural and instinctive distaste for men. The readers are supposed to think the dragons were doing "the right thing" or even to sympathize with them.

So where did the men come from? And why would they invade a world of dragons?

The men sailed over from the Green World. They left because there was a feud between two sons of one of their greatest kings, and while not intending to sail away from their world they were driven off course and arrived in the Red World. Unable to return and believing that fate brought them thither, they settled and populated the Red World.

I do realize the idea of sailing between worlds seems impossible given the division of the worlds into planets that I mentioned earlier. That idea has since been struck down and now each world is a continent on a big globe about the size of Earth.

It seems wrong for the council to be held so high in morals that Blurin's going against it would cause him to fall into evil, yet the council would destroy an innocent band of humans merely seeking to escape war.

Disobedience to the council wasn't the issue really. That is a stickler that I am still working on, but what got him was his using evil forms of magic. When he began working with the shadows and wyrms, then his heart was bent towards evil.

Do you have a map of this planet yet? I love maps...

eruheran