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Johann of Drakaër

"I have ridden a dragon. I will not pretend it did not change me."
— Attributed to Johann at his elevation, 843

One of Vanius's twenty-one lieutenants in the Dogs of War. Originally Johann of Alahan — a Barhan soldier of the Light who joined the company before the founding. Befriended the Cynwäll elves who watched the city's emergence from the ruined elven site and, in 843, was granted the honor of riding a dragon — a privilege almost never bestowed on a human. He changed his surname to Drakaër in commemoration and founded the noble lineage that holds the Drakaër fief to this day.

What the Sources Establish

  • A lieutenant of the Dogs of War. One of the twenty-one; received one of the arcana at the founding.
  • Originally of Alahan. A Barhan soldier — "Barhan" being Alahan's military culture-term. The Cadwë language preserves Barhan grammar partly because of the Dogs of War lieutenants who spoke it natively, Johann among them.
  • Granted the original "Pillars" fief at the post-founding allocation — the upper-city fief built around the feet of the Cynwäll Tower, then called simply "the Pillars" before it took the Drakaër name
  • 843 — the dragon-riding privilege. The Cynwäll, who watched the Dogs of War from their Tower and judged the new city's worthiness, granted Johann the right to ride a dragon — a privilege the Cynwäll reserve almost exclusively for their own. The Timeline records the year; the source records the act; the reason has never been published.
  • Changed his surname to Drakaër. "Drakaër" means "dragon-marked" in old Cadwë. He took it after the dragon-riding. The fief's name followed: the Pillars became Drakaër.
  • His Barhan moral values bred resentment. The Cadwë sources record (without quite saying it outright) that Johann's adherence to Barhan moral codes — discipline, honor-duels, Light-faith — annoyed his fellow Cadwës then and still annoys their descendants now. The Drakaër stigma traces straight to him.

Why the Cynwäll Chose Him

The dragon-rider question

The Cynwäll do not grant dragon-riding lightly. The standard reasons (great deeds, blood relation, magical accomplishment) don't fully fit Johann. He was a brave lieutenant of a successful campaign — but so were the other twenty Dogs of War lieutenants, none of whom received dragons. The granular truth, known to Dyrsin and to almost nobody else, is that Johann discovered something in the Cynwäll Ruins he didn't keep for himself. Specifically: an artifact, document, or piece of Cynwäll knowledge that the company could have used or sold, which Johann returned to the Cynwäll voluntarily. The dragon was the Cynwäll thank-you. What he found has never been publicly named.

The Founder's Legacy

The current Drakaër family inherits:

  • The dragon-riding tradition — a Drakaër who establishes the right relationship with the Cynwäll can still petition for dragon-rider status. None has been granted in two generations. Albanne's interest is publicly known.
  • The Cynwäll alliance — all Drakaër Peers honor the ancestral alliance with the Cynwäll. The Pillars were rebuilt with Cynwäll help after the [[The Great Flood|900 flood]]. Dyrsin's Tower is in their fief.
  • The Barhan moral streak — modern Drakaërs are still notably Barhan-disciplined; Albanne holds public Field-of-Honor duels in the Free District, an unusually Barhan civic gesture
  • The cavalry obsession — a horse-soldier tradition kept up in a vertical city of suspended bridges and airships. It would be ridiculous if it weren't so consistently effective.
  • One of the 22 arcana — Johann received one card at the founding. It is no longer in the family. The card was lost or sold during one of the family's lean centuries. Which card it was is not publicly known; the Drakaër archive's record was destroyed in a Crimson Dress fire two centuries ago, and the family has been quietly looking for it ever since.

Why He Still Matters

  • The dragon-riding privilege is dormant, not revoked. Albanne knows this. Silnus knows this. The Cynwäll know this. Whether to reactivate it is a current Drakaër family question.
  • The lost card haunts the family. The Drakaër lineage card is one of the 22, and the family has never stopped trying to recover it. Drahas does not currently hold it — the inventory of his collection is good enough to confirm that. But it could be anywhere on Aarklash.
  • The Drakaër stigma traces to him. Whenever a senior Cadwë wants to insult the family, the line is "they still think they're Alahan." Johann's Barhan values are the deep reason.

Relations

  • Vanius the Founder — captain; the man who let him keep what the Cynwäll gave him
  • Khaurik — fellow lieutenant; the two were close. The Drakaër-Khaurik Argam godfather tradition dates from Khaurik personally entrusting his eldest son to Johann's care.
  • The Cynwäll — his patrons; the people whose dragon he rode
  • Dyrsin — the only Cynwäll in Cadwallon today who personally knew Johann (in the Cynwäll way that elves remember founders)
  • Alahan — his birth nation; the source of his Barhan values; not in close diplomatic contact with the family today
  • The Drakaër lineage card — the missing piece

The Cynwäll testimony

A Drakaër historian (working for Silnus) approaches the party with a Cynwäll-witnessed account of Johann's original deed — the one that won him the dragon. The account is sealed by Cynwäll convention and can only be unsealed in the presence of a Cynwäll witness with dragon-riding standing. The only Cynwäll in Cadwallon with that standing is Dyrsin. Getting an audience with Dyrsin is the actual quest.

The lost card

A free league turns up a tarot card with the Drakaër founding sigil etched into the corner — handled, weathered, possibly traded across half of Aarklash since the family lost it. The card is one of the 22. Returning it to Albanne would be a service. Keeping it would be a power. Selling it to the Cynwäll might be… something else entirely.

See Also