Chambers of Astinus

The Dragonarmies

During the early stages of the Age of Despair, Takhisis still seethed at being defeated by Huma and those dragonriders who effectively wielded dragonlances against her long ago. She hatched a plan where she would ally her chromatic dragons with human riders, and form vast armies to conquer Ansalon once and for all. Thus the concept of the Dragonarmies were born. She set about waking her sleeping dragons and telling them to wait for the day when she would choose generals to lead her armies. In 332 AC, a warrior known as Ariakas discovers Takhisis and swears to join her banner. This one warrior would soon become the driving factor behind the formation of the Dragonarmies themselves. In these early days under Ariakas, he saw Takhisis' faithful create the draconians, who also swore to serve in her armies. Ariakas founded and led the formative forces, whilst continually recruiting warriors and dragons for his armies. In a short time, five armies comprised the Dragonarmies: Red, Blue, Green, Black and White. In a few short years the Dragonarmies were a sizable force, and Takhisis declared that her chosen generals were to lead each force. The general of each army was known as a Dragon Highlord, answerable only to Takhisis herself.

The Dragon Highlords

Takhisis nominated several champions, who would become the first Dragon Highlords to support each army. Some of the Highlords were replaced in the years before the war, and even fiercer warlords stepped into their positions of power. Each chief Highlord also had a number of Highmasters, who served as their lieutenants and aides. The Highmasters often led each army's wing division, as well as commanding in a Highlord's absence. The Highmasters were also responsible for controlling and bonding with the chromatic dragons in each army, as well as directing ground troops.

Red Dragonarmy: Highlord Ariakas created this army first during the formation of the Dragonarmies, and selected Phair Caron as his first Highlord of the Red Wing. When Phair perished in the Silvanesti conflict, Highmaster Verminaard was promoted to the role, as the new Highlord of the Red Wing. Verminaard's demise in 351 left a hole in the ranks, which was briefly filled by the warrior Rugoheras, and then later by the fierce Karalas who ruled the remnant Red Dragonarmy for a time.

Blue Dragonarmy: In the beginning of the Dragonarmies creation, Takhisis selected the warrior Merinsaard to serve as Highlord of the Blue Dragonarmy. With his early demise, Kartilann of Khur became his successor, and was an effective leader in the first days of the war. The sudden death of Kartilann led to the promotion of Highmaster Kitara Uth Matar, who became the fierce new Highlord of the Blue Dragonarmy, and served in this role for the rest of the war.

Black Dragonarmy: In the formation of the Dragonarmies, the warlord Maldeev was assigned control of the Black Dragonarmy. However Maldeev perished at the black dragon Khisanth's claws in the early days and was replaced by Lucien of Takar. Highlord Lucien ran the Black Wing for the duration of the war, but suffered assassination at the hands of his own remnant forces, after the Dragonarmies' defeat in the war.

Green Dragonarmy: After the deaths of superiors, Salah-Khan was chosen as the Highlord of the Green Dragonarmy. Salah-Khan ran the Green Dragonarmy for the entire war, and only fell in later years after the war against Solamnic forces. The remnant Green Dragonarmy was then taken over by Hullek Skullsmasher until it's ultimate demise.

White Dragonarmy: The dark elf Feal-Thas was selected as Highlord of the White Dragonarmy during the formation of the armies, and remained in the position until his death by the Heroes of the Lance in 351 AC. He was briefly replaced by Lord Toede, who himself was killed by kender, and then the warrior Barbarossa claimed the title and ruled the remnant White Dragonarmy forces for the next few years after the War of the Lance, until the army was completely routed.

Dragonarmy Organisation

The Dragonarmies were a massive joining of many different races, therefore having any kind of universal ranking structure proved to be rather difficult. Instead the Dragonarmies implemented a standard hierarchy near the top of the armies, and the lower rank and file consisted of standard mercenary rankings.

All soldiers reported to their unit officers, each unit officer reported to their regiment commander, who in turn reported to their army commander. The army commander would then report to their Dragon Highmaster, who answered directly to their Dragon Highlord. The exception in the reporting structure were the fewmasters. These special agents reported directly to the Highlord on important business, and did not need to answer to higher-ranked officers, other than the Highlords themselves. All Dragonarmies had only one Dragon Highlord at any given time, who ruled as head of the entire Dragonarmy. In each Dragonarmy there was also anywhere from one to five Dragon Highmasters, and usually a handful of army commanders, who controlled different sections of the armies.

The basic ranking system for the Dragonarmies went like this:

1. Soldiers (Regiment/Cavalry/Regulars/Archers)
2. Elite Draconian Regiments
3. Regiment Officers
4. Fewmasters
5. Wing Dragons
6. Dragonarmy Officers
7. Regimental Commanders
8. Army Commanders
9. Dragon Highmasters
10. Dragon Highlords (normally 5)
11. Emperor of the Dragon Empire**

**This position was never actually held, but was the seat of power which was destined for Ariakas, and was the title for the mortal leader of all of the Dragonarmies.

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