This is expanded from a previous post
In the Second Age, the people of Dragon Pass (especially along the Creekstream River) learned that existence as illusion, validated by dragon power. The EWF’s Grand Ritual, rooted in the Second Age’s spirit of experimentation, aimed to transcend Time’s web, reinterpreting theistic cults as vehicles for draconic ascension. It is behind the audacity of the Third Council—a collective act to forge a new reality, blending storm, earth, and light into a draconic dream.
The leaders of the EWF began to see the gods as dreams to awaken. The ritual merges Orlanth’s Air, Ernalda’s Earth, and other divine essences into a draconic whole, akin to Dream Dragons’ temporary reality but aiming for eternity. There is a big movement to push boundaries, reimagining theistic roles as steps to transcendence.
The EWF’s early triumphs—expanding into Prax, conquering Dara Happa, and influencing distant lands—reflect the ritual’s growing power. Some humans wield draconic magic, and some transform into wyrms, proving the illusion can shift. Their power is staggering.
But they are too enmeshed in the illusion. Ambition, conquest, and power explains their downfall. They become enmeshed in Time’s web at the same time, and the whole dream crashes down.
In short, the EWF was a bold, flawed experiment where theistic zeal meets draconic truth, only to collapse under its own illusions. The Grand Ritual became a tragic pinnacle, a dream made real that couldn’t endure, echoing Dream Dragons’ fleeting power and the age’s ultimate lesson: innovation without balance leads to doom.
One thought on all that – this potentiality for experimentation, for forging a new reality, using the cults as vehicles for ascension, etc. – that’s still there, latent in the Orlanth cult and its close associates. Post the Dragonkill War, people were understandably reluctant to play around with the possibilities. But under threat from the Lunar Empire, leaders of the Orlanth cult (especially Argrath, but possibly your players as well), go all in.
That’s the Hero Wars in a nutshell.
In our narrative Argrath explained to me about EWF and their failings. Like all megalomaniacs he’s saying now they understand it’s failings in the past and they’re being more cautious and controlled with draconic magic. See I always find it difficult to say what a “megalomaniac” is in a setting where one really can wield divine power. One way is to say almost every Rune Lord and higher is a megalomaniac. Another way is to say that’s just an insult that we hurl at those heroes we don’t like.
So for example, was it megalomania for the Third Council to insist on being worshiped as gods? I guess, but that puts them into good company in Glorantha (Red Emperor, Jar-eel, Great Sister, Belintar, the list goes on and on). Or was their mistake one of entanglement rather than megalomania? I dunno but I think like lots of Gloranthan questions, it is not clear cut.
What effect did the EWF have on Esrolia? I’m not really interested at this point in looking at how things played out in specific places, but it probably is worth mentioning that Esrolia (and the rest of the Shadowlands) was not part of the core Empire of the Wyrms Friends area of experimentation. No doubt there were Esrolians who learned the Dragon Religion, and no doubt there was experimentation in the Ernalda cult – but given that Ernalda is about as grounded as a deity can be, I don’t think she was a primary vehicle for such experimentation.