Before the world was fractured, before the monstrous roars became the new song of the wildlands, humanity lived in complacent ignorance. We built our cities, soared through our skies, and believed we were the undisputed masters of Earth.
That illusion shattered barely a century ago, a blink in the eye of geologic time, but an eternity for the generations that have known nothing but the transformed world.
It began subtly, then catastrophically, approximately eighty years ago. Across the globe, without warning or discernible pattern, tears appeared in the very fabric of reality. These were the Spatial Rifts, shimmering, unstable wounds that pulsed with alien light and hummed with a sound that clawed at the mind.
From these gaping apertures, a tide of nightmares poured forth. These were the Monsters – creatures of impossible forms, of chitinous armor and razor-sharp limbs, of unholy appetites and terrifying, unnatural abilities. They were not of Earth, and their sudden arrival brought a swift, brutal end to the old world.
Humanity, armed with conventional weapons, was overwhelmed. Tanks were crushed, jets torn from the sky, and cities crumbled into ghost towns under the onslaught. We were outmatched, outnumbered, and on the brink of annihilation. Survival, in those early, desperate years, was a gamble. But even as our numbers dwindled, a new, unforeseen path emerged.
It was not through brute force, nor through advanced technology, that humanity found its foothold. It was through a strange, nascent connection. A rare few individuals, often those who had survived the most harrowing encounters, found they possessed an innate, almost instinctive ability to Resonate with certain monsters.
This wasn't magic as the old stories told it; it was a deep, primal understanding, a bridge built between species. They found they could sense the creatures' intentions, soothe their aggression, and even, remarkably, direct their formidable power.
These were the First Tamers.
Their abilities were raw, untamed, and often dangerous even to themselves, but they were the key to humanity's continued existence. Instead of fighting every monstrous threat, humanity learned to harness some of them.
Small, agile scouts became companions, brute force behemoths became guardians, and aerial predators became transports. The remnants of human civilization retreated into fortified Enclaves, vast, self-sufficient communities protected by walls of salvaged steel and, more importantly, by their Tamed Beasts.
The world outside the Enclaves became a treacherous, wild expanse, reshaped by the constant flow of otherworldly energy and the ceaseless battles.
New, hybrid flora choked old highways, and strange, luminescent fungi illuminated forgotten ruins. Yet, even in this dangerous new reality, a hierarchy of power quickly established itself.
At the very apex of this new ecosystem, rarely seen but universally feared and revered, were the Dragons. They were not mere monsters that stumbled from a rift; they were colossal, elemental beings, often appearing to be the literal embodiments of the rifts' raw power.
They moved like living storms, breathed fire or ice or crackling lightning, and their ancient, calculating eyes held a terrifying intelligence.
Attempts to tame them were universally catastrophic, often ending in the fiery obliteration of the Tamer and their entire retinue. They were the ultimate untamed, the unchallenged rulers of the skies and the untamed wilds.
For the past five decades, humanity has existed in this fragile balance: surviving within their fortified havens, expanding their reach with the aid of their tamed monsters, but always, always living under the shadow of the colossal, unassailable power of the Dragons. No human had ever truly approached one, let alone attempted to bend one to their will. The very idea was lunacy.
Yet, as the decades passed, the legend of the "First Dragon Tamer" began to whisper through the Enclaves – a fool's hope, a desperate prayer. Someone who could bridge the impossible chasm between man and dragon. Someone who could finally challenge the undisputed lords of this new, terrifyingly beautiful world.