W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

are preparing for whatever comes next. Because theyknow, no matter how many times the cycle turns, theywill be there to witness it.To witness. And to remember.The Age of KingsWhen dinosaurs walked the Earth in great numbers,the greatest among the reptiles were the Lizard Kings.They were the emperors of lands that time forgot. Thefirst great saurian kings. Shapeshifters blessed by theEarth Mother.No one Mokolé remembers this era perfectly. Theircollective memories of the Age of Kings are reflectionsof a thousand Things that thrived, Things that died,and Things that became something more. Dreaming asdragons do, Those-Who-Remember recall creatures thatwalked on two legs, or four, or six. Beings that fashionedobjects with dexterous claws, feathered paws, prehensiletails, and scaled appendages. Sun-worshipers whoreverently raised towers of mud and stone — or meatand bone — to the golden sky. Monsters in the night,enacting strange, shamanistic rites round unlit menhirs,to appease an inconstant moon.Like the Mokolé’s true forms, these memories arepatchwork abominations, blending things that were,things that could not be, and things that never shouldhave been. What truly was is uncertain, and each Mokolébelieves differently about where the lines of Dreammemoryand Dream-illusion lie. Still, some Dreams occurso often that they have become accepted more than othersas possible — if not probable — truth. These Dreamsmake up the legendary tales of past Ages.According to these legends, Gaia created each ofthe first Mokolé with Her own hands, fashioning themfrom the Dreams of her lover, Helios, and the soft, wet,earthy flesh of her own body. She gave them each threeforms, mirroring those of the Triat: the Suchid Devisorshape, the Archid Dissolver shape, and the Drachidshape of the Designer.They did not have a Homid form — humans didnot yet exist. But in her infinite creativity, She createda thousand thousand different shapes: some with no legs,some with many, some with wings or tails or articulatetalons. Great and small, lumbering and lightning-quick,as Gaia created them, so they grew until they coveredthe world with their diversity and their splendor.For millennia, Gaia’s first and favored children ruledthe earth, the seas, the air, and all of existence. Followingin their Creator’s footsteps, the Mokolé took the clay of theearth and the heat of the sun, and from it they fashionedthe first tools, the first weapons, the first villages, the firstcivilizations — and the first war. Kingdoms grew up andwent to battle to prove their superiority. Each faction138CHANGING BREEDSstruggled to destroy all of its evolutionary rivals, until theLizard Kings arose from the wastelands of carrion that wasall that was left of their enemies. They ruled the earthmercilessly, with wit and wrath, with spear and razor-sharptooth. It was the time of the Mokolé, the Age of Kings,and none dared challenge their superiority.But nothing lasts forever, and with the changing ofages, even the greatest empires can crumble.The Age of SleepNo one knows exactly why the Mokolé’s civilizationfell. Perhaps the tyrannical Lizard Kings grew too proud,and were cut down for their hubris. Possibly, as is happeningin current days, the Dissolver grew strong enough tostrike low those who opposed it. Maybe Gaia’s attention(and protection) was drawn away by more warm-bloodedworshipers. It’s even possible (albeit unlikely, in a realityfull of near-omnipotent spirits and supernatural beings)that the end of this era was nothing more than a twistof fate — the unforeseen and unavoidable collision of acelestial body and a piece of space effluvia. But whetherthe why was ill fortune or the hand of fate, the how is clear.The end came in the form of a global-level disaster, andit struck down the Lizard Kings in all their terrible glory.A few young Mokolé have dreamed Mnesis-visions ofa time before the Wonder-Work. Late in the Lizard Kings’reign, however, early man evolved from his ape-progenitorsand gained enough sentience to serve and worship theLizard Kings as his lords and masters. Early humans wereused as slave labor, as servants — and as breeding stock.By integrating human genetics with their own, Mokoléeventually developed a human form to complementtheir three original ones. But, Homid was viewed as lessuseful (and attractive) than Drachid, and their humanKinfolk were never seen as equals. Half-breed offspringfrom both humans and reptiles did serve as their Kinfolk,however, and when the End came, these Kin preserved thelegacy of the Mokolé — somehow escaping the destructionthat befell the Lizard Kings themselves. The vastmajority of Mokolé know that man appeared millions ofyears after the Wonder-Work. They wonder what forcehas tainted the Mnesis of their young — whether it isthe Dissolver, or one too many fantasy novels.Generations after the Wonder-Work destroyed theircivilization, new Mokolé began to be born (and hatched).The Lizard Kings’ fall had cost the Breed, however. Noneof the new generation could take the Drachid form thathad allowed their ancestors to build their empire anddominate the pre-Event earth. Limited to three forms(Homid, Suchid, and Archid) these new Mokolé had toforge a different path than their progenitors had used —and they faced a challenge the Lizard Kings never hadto contend with.