Zachariah Woundwort was, like his brother, Malachai, an influential Steam Drake in the city of Harkesh. However, unlike his brother, he was not warlike, and held no position in the city guard. Rather, he was considered somewhat as a sage. With his SEKBAN contingency of dragon-blooded humans, and his literate JAMBUKA slaves, he spent much time investigating the history of his land, listening intently to his human servants as they turned the pages of ancient texts and read out the stories and recollections held within those sacred tomes.

Long before the time of Mharot, these lands were populated by empires of free peoples – Caelmarans, Minotaurs; before that Ankeshelians, even Elves. Although many of these were powerful, wielding great magic and mighty weapons, their most potent power, in Zachariah’s opinion, was LITERATURE. The great ability to write and record. And in his brief life, Zachariah had made himself a master of this knowledge.

Human pages were difficult for him to turn, so he employed many servants and slaves to read, and many also to scribe. Even the great TIMARLI and URMANLI would come to Zachariah for information, and THEY would pay handsomely.

Recently Zachariah had stumbled on some scrolls from the time of the Minotaur civilization in the province of Mezar, and in particular, a great fortress in the Dragoncoil Mountains, and indeed of an ancient guarded library, wherein were kept THE BIBLIOTHECA OF ANKESHEL, three magical tomes from the ancient island of Ankesh. These he must have! But he dare not alert any of the great powers, particularly the undead MORZA, Ibbalan the Illustrious. Indeed, great stealth was needed. Indeed, brave JAMBUKA, possibly even KOBALDI were needed. For what drake could fit into the tiny passages devled by the delicate tools of these ancient humanoids?

And so, Zachariah had come to his brother, Malachai, with a proposal to find, excavate and extract these fabled gems of arcana, these glowing jewels of Mysteria. Surely, Zachariah must know a group that could serve the purpose of this noble brotherhood….

JAMBUKA – lowest ranks, unscaled races,
KOBALDI – kobolds,
SEKBAN – low ranking dragonkin, dragon-blooded humans,
EDJET – dragonkin swordmasters and elementalist wizards,
AKINJI – high ranking dragonkin and a few lesser drakes,
TIMARLI – minor nobles, mainly dragons, drakes or wyverns,
URMANLI – true dragons,
MORZA – supreme dragon rulers whose opinions weigh heavily on the Sultan.