As a last effort to avoid mass destruction, the gods sent the Thirteen Warnings, a series of signs meant to deter the kingpriest. Trees wept blood, fires raged unnaturally, and cyclones struck the gleaming Temple of the Kingpriest. The gods also warned a few chosen mortals, reasoning that if any of them reached Istar and prevented the ritual, the world might not be beyond redemption. But the messengers failed—the kingpriest and his followers dismissed the warnings as the work of evil and continued on their path. As the hour of the kingpriest’s ritual to attain godhood arrived, the gods whisked away their most devout followers and unleashed punishment on all who remained.

A mountain of fire fell from the sky, destroying Istar. The Blood Sea—a new ocean that split eastern Ansalon—consumed the empire. Coastlines shifted all over the world, sundering nations, drowning whole regions, and stranding ports miles from the sea. Though some lands escaped the worst of the destruction, none were spared divine wrath.

The gods and their blessings then faded from the world, and in time, even their names were all but forgotten.

The Cataclysm ushered in a period of chaos. During the next three centuries, known as the Time of Darkness, cultures and ecologies were radically altered, causing famine, plague, and mass migrations. The Knights of Solamnia, the champions who might’ve kept Ansalon united, were distrusted as former allies of Istar and persecuted across the continent, even in Solamnia.

The elven nations shut their borders. The dwarves of Thorbardin withdrew to their deep tunnels, refusing entrance to refugees from the surface. Many societies turned on one another or fell to disease and war. Nations of hobgoblins and ogres spread, capitalizing on humanity’s decline and claiming whole regions. Much that survived the Cataclysm was lost in darkness.

At length, the worst effects of the disaster waned. Though many elves and mountain dwarves remained reclusive, other cultures tentatively rebuilt. Explorers ventured forth to map the drastically altered continent. Societies reestablished bonds of trade that united and diversified them.

As the civilizations of Krynn rebuilt, and new societies arose, the world learned to live with a jarring truth: the gods were truly gone. Religion on Krynn was altered forever. True clerics, who once worked miracles on behalf of their gods, had vanished. While some people remained devout, many others turned to false religions in search of answers and comfort. Some of these new faiths were founded by charlatans, others by zealots. Some claimed the names of the gods, others dismissed them entirely. In this radically changed world bereft of immortal insight, truth became subject to conjecture, even among Krynn’s most dedicated scholars.

Even as Ansalon healed, a new threat grew. The Dragon Queen Takhisis—known as Tiamat on other worlds—was banished from Krynn over a thousand years ago. Since then, she had waited patiently, plotting her return. Unbeknownst to the other gods, she planted a piece of the kingpriest’s ruined temple at Neraka—hidden in the volcanic Taman Busuk region. There it grew into a baleful shadow of Istar’s greatest edifice. Though this allowed the Dragon Queen to influence the world through a portal opened there, a fragment of the temple’s foundation stone was missing, preventing her from fully returning to the world. She called on the evil dragons who served her, long withdrawn from the world, and began once more to plot the conquest of Krynn.

Chromatic dragons, acting on their god’s orders, stole the eggs of good metallic dragons. The metallic dragons reluctantly pledged to not interfere in the coming war in exchange for the promised safety of their abducted broods.

But the Dragon Queen’s servants secretly broke their promises. Takhisis taught her followers to corrupt the stolen eggs into monstrous warriors known as draconians, gambling that draconian armies will conquer Ansalon by the time the metallic dragons learn of this betrayal.

Unrivaled by gods or dragons, the Dragon Queen unleashes her forces upon a shattered world. In their god’s name, these Dragon Armies begin their conquest of Krynn.

The Dragon Queen’s forces are organized into five Dragon Armies. Draconians fill the ranks of each, though the armies’ numbers also include humans, goblins, hobgoblins, ogres, and others who seek wealth and a return to pre-Cataclysm glories. Each Dragon Army is supported by chromatic dragons and their smaller kin, such as dragonnels and wyverns. These winged terrors provide a staggering advantage not seen on battlefields for over a thousand years.

The Dragon Queen has elevated her five most cunning and devout followers to the rank of dragon highlord, each commanding one of her armies. The highlords all report to Takhisis’s champion, Duulket Ariakas, but there is no shortage of treachery between—and within—the Dragon Armies. The Dragon Queen encourages these conflicts, trusting them to bring the most ruthless and capable leaders to prominence.

The Red Dragon Army—the first, largest, and most powerful of Takhisis’s forces—is commanded by the fanatical Dragon Highlord Verminaard, but he has temporarily given control of many of its troops to his acolyte, Dragon Highmaster Kansaldi Fire-Eyes, tasking her with spearheading a daring attack on Solamnia. Meanwhile, Verminaard’s force follows whispers from the Dragon Queen into the southern lands of Abanasinia.

The ambitious Highlord Kitiara Uth Matar commands the Blue Dragon Army. Second in power among the Dragon Queen’s forces, the Blue Dragon Army prepares to join the Red Dragon Army’s multipronged invasion of Solamnia. The Green Dragon Army recently came under the command of Salah-Khan, a Khur leader who united the region’s nomads under Dragon Army rule. The half-ogre Lucien of Takar commands the Black Dragon Army, whose focused force supports the other armies and occupies the lands they conquer, including Nordmaar and Goodlund. Finally, the small White Dragon Army is led by Highlord Feal-Thas, a Silvanesti elf and black-robed member of the Mages of High Sorcery.