Fiction Sacred Spawing

[Warden]

​

Sacred Spawning


It had been only eight-and-twenty cycles of Chotec since the temple-city of Xahutec had fallen.

The temple-city of Mutal had been under siege for over a century. Each night, as soon as the chaos moon appeared on the Lustrian horizon, the daemons would arrive and throw themselves at the magical shield surrounding the city. Most were vaporized instantaneously upon contact with the ethereal barrier. Occasionally a daemon penetrated the shield, but they never made it far thanks to the legions of saurus standing guard at the city limits.

Throughout the day the skinks were haunted by ghostly voices, chattering daemonic chants, and otherworldly, laughing cackles. Each night the daemonic attempts to breach the cities worsened, forcing the Slann to devote additional energy and magical power to maintain the barrier. Despite this the lowly Lizardmen never lost hope, for they trusted the Slann to reassert their power over the geomantic web, push the daemons back to the polar gates from which the originated, and then again make contact with their silent masters.

The mood changed when Xahutec fell.

Unlike Mutal, Xahutec was a major temple-city, which occupied a key location within the world-spanning magical geomantic defense grid. The besiegers were overwhelmed in a single night, when a rift within the city’s magical defenses appeared, spewing uncountable thousands of daemons into the unprotected streets. The daemons cut their way through the legions of saurus guarding the city, and climbed their way to the central temple, brutally slaughtering the city’s Slann Mage-priests. The psychic shock was felt throughout the rest of the geomantic network.

Since the fall of Xahutec, panic spread through the skinks communities. The saurus showed no outward sign of fear (as was their nature), but even they were uneasy. When word arrived that Huatl also fell, followed by Tlax only a few days later, the saurus prepared themselves for a glorious death in battle and readied themselves for the last stand of the city. Rumors that a deadly disease was spreading through Chaqua, as well as the deadly weapons used against other besieged sites were rampant.

Xiugu the skink remembered how stunned he was when the order was given by the Slann Mage-priests, just days after Xahutec had been destroyed:

Mutal was to be evacuated.

The Slann were to go to Itza, along with the saurus legions, to help defend the Capitol City.

Never before had Xiugu witnessed such a stunning spectacle. The exodus of the armies of even a minor temple-city were a vast sight to behold; no spectacle of this scale had been witnessed since the original migration that founded this city a millennia ago. Thousands of temple guard, resplendent in their armor and gilded halberds, formed an impenetrable perimeter around the palanquins of the Slann. Surrounding them were the vast saurus legions, lining up in marching order to undertake the massive expedition through the jungles to the Capitol City.

The formations of the skinks meanwhile were not nearly so orderly. The skink cohorts scurried ahead of the column to scout the way through the jungle, while terradon riders flocked into the skies to attempt to provide aerial coverage for the army. The skink priests, terrified of being left behind, were unable to gather any of the innumerable artifacts, scrolls, or bark books now left behind and strewn throughout the temple where Xiugu worked. The priests scrambled to gather what they could and abandoned the rest, hurrying to catch up to the relentless columns of the Slann and saurus as they marched away, leaving the rest of the city’s population to its fate.

All the military orders of the city had departed with the last vestiges of the marching column many hours ago. In their single-minded haste to evacuate the city, no order was given to the working classes of the lizardmen on what to do. Many fled, terrified of being left without a purpose, and struck off into the jungle to follow the military column.

Xiugu was one of the many skinks who were left behind. He was of the Caretaker Caste, one of the multitudes of skinks spawned to serve the grand Central Temple. He knew that tonight, when the chaos-moon rose again above the jungle canopy, the daemons would attack the marching column. The Slann would defend themselves, and the saurus would fight, but the trail of refugee skinks would be left behind; a sad sacrifice to ensure the survival of the holy First Spawned. He also knew that without the protection of the saurus legions, the city would easily fall, and his Temple and his fellow skinks along with it.

Xiugu, like the other skinks, was terrified. He knew the dangers that were about to explode upon the serenity of the twilight jungle. All his life he had worked as one of the temple’s caretakers. He knew no other existence, no meaning outside the temple and its hallowed spawning-halls of the saurus legions. This was his home, he knew the shame he would feel abandoning it would stronger than the terror now gripping his heart, growing with every daemonic cackle that echoed through the temple’s halls as he descended deeper into its sacred chambers.

Pausing on the stairway, he reached down and picked up a calendar-journal on the floor. The scroll was a catalogue of the recent and tragic events of civilization, detailed in the careful annotated glyphs of the Calendar. It had obviously been abandoned by one of the Scribe Caste in their haste to hurry after the priests.


1.0.0.0.0.0. 10Ajaw, 13 Yaxk’in.

Piktun Era Celebration ends in tragedy. The Polar Gates collapse, SlannMage-Priests communication with the Ancient Ones cease.

1.0.11.11.9.3. 10 Ak’bal, 16 Mak.

All Lustria is besieged by daemonic forces.

1.0.11.15.10.16. 1 Kib’, 9 K’ank’in.

Slann recall all saurus legions to the temple cities and sites of power. Great wards are enacted on the borders of each temple-city to protect it from daemonic energy.

The armies left outside of Lustria are considered lost.

1.0.18.2.0.1. 6 Imix, 9 Mol.

A rift breaks open the warding around the temple-city of Xahutec. Daemons swarm through the cities defenses, slaughtering the cities’ Slann Mage-Priests.

1.0.18.0.2.13 5 Ben, 1 Ch’en.

The temple-city of Huatl falls to daemonic forces.

1.0.18.2.0.19. 11 Kawak, 7 Ch’en.

The temple-city of Tlax falls to daemonic forces.

1.0.18.2.1.2. 1 Ik’, 10 Ch’en.

The temple-city of Xhotl falls.

Before the city is overwhelmed, the priests of the city send emergency warnings to all other cities of the weaknesses of the temple-city defense grids. Due to the loss of so many important temple cities, the geomantic network begins to falter as daemons swarm through the breaches.

1.0.18.2.1.9. 8 Muluk, 17 Ch’en.

The minor temple-city of Mutal is abandoned. The Slann and saurus legions conduct an orderly retreat through the Lustrian jungles to augment the defenses of Itza




Orderly retreat? The saurus maybe, not us. Not the skinks.

Xiugu scoffed silently to himself as he discarded the abandoned journal and continued down the passageways into the depths of the temple. The codex was just another example of an item left behind in the haste of the evacuating temple-city denizens.

Usually so vibrant and full of life, the deserted halls of the Grand Temple of Tzunki seemed eerily silent, save for the ethereal screams randomly echoing through the walls. Most frightening were the conspicuous lack of the temple guards at their regular posts. Silent as statues, the immovable temple guard seemed hardly noticeable on normal days, despite their conspicuous size and ornate armor they seemed almost part of the temple itself. Now the realization that they were gone, marching many miles away to defend their Slann charges, and many hours away from protecting these ancient temple halls, filled Xiugu with dread. It sent a clear message: they were now on their own.

He finally reached the deepest recesses beneath the deserted barracks of the saurus legions, down in the lowest levels of the cave-systems beneath the temple. This is where he worked: alongside his spawnbrothers of the Caretaker Caste, those skinks whose sacred duty it was to greet and serve the newest saurus warriors as they first breached the surface of the sacred spawning pools.

The normal subdued and reverent countenance of his fellow caretaker skinks had been abandoned. In a flurry of several hours of activity, the skinks had built a makeshift barrier of stone and wood around the entrance of the stairs, in order to defend themselves at the site of the sacred spawning pools when the final invasion began. As the most senior member of the Caretakers still within the temple, it fell to him to give the order to the kroxigor servants to seal the doors. With great regret he prepared to give the instructions to his fellow skinks to make their last stand.

A cry of alarm shocked him out of his forlorn revere.

For a terrified instant he thought the chaos moon had risen unpredictably early, and the onset of the daemonic incursion through the barriers of the mortal-realm had finally been breached. Hurrying to the other side of the spawning pool chambers, he found a cluster of the caretaker skinks surrounding one of the pools.

“Master Xiugu!” cried one of the skink attendants as he approached, pointing wildly at the water at his feet, “a spawning commences!”

The spawning pool was glowing: vibrant green-yellow, the color all the sacred pools of Tzunki glow, to signal the impending approach of a new saurus about to rise. The signs were unmistakable; Xiugu himself had seen them too many times to interpret them for anything else.

There was no spawning predicted for today! How is this possible???

Frantically the skink checked the tables and calendrical scrolls before him. All the portents were wrong. The date was wrong. Nothing in his writings prepared him and his fellow caretakers for this event, as they stood wordlessly around the pool as the water continued to churn with even greater speed.

Suddenly a spiked head burst forth from the bubbling pool. A reptilian form crashed through the surface of the water with a tremendous roar.

The new saurus appeared as all other saurus when they first emerge from the spawning pools: his reptilian hide was dark, his claws were sharp, and his tail was strong and swift. He rose from the depths, shaking the slime from his scales as he stood at the edge of the pool, surveying the skinks around him in silence with an unblinking stare.

The sight of the unexpected and newly-spawned saurus, standing alone in the center of the pool, held the raptured attention of the assembled caretakers for only a moment. Their asphyxiating fear forgotten, the skinks robotically sprang into action to carry out their duties.

Like well-rehearsed automatons, two of the Cleaners waded into the pool, removing the residue of spawn-water from his scaled hide. Then two Decorators affixed gold amulets to his calf and arm, a third to his tail, and a fourth to his head-crest. The Weapon-bearers brought forward between them a great spiked mace, wrought in jade, along with a heavy red-scaled shield. The Intoner spoke the praises to the lost Old Ones, chanting blessings in the name of Tzunki, while at last Xiugu the Prime-Namer, reached forward to his calendrical chart to speak the Rite of Naming:

“You are born of the Pool of the World Crocodile. You are Yax Nuunayiin, First of your Spawning. You are spawned to fight in the name of your Temple and your Slann. Blessings to the Gods, blessings to Tzunki, Holy be his Name.”

“Itzakaitecahtzin!” the skinks around him echoed the formal response.

Blessed be the Ancient Ones.

The caretakers completed their ceremonial tasks, then scampered out of the way as their charge climbed out of the spawning pool. The saurus looked at his weapons, testing the strength of his mace, and feeling the weight of the shield on his arm. He appeared satisfied, calm as the water behind him, which since his exit had returned to its original clear and tranquil state. He ignored cries of the cackling daemon-kin echoing in the distance far above the chamber, as he continued to calmly inspect his new weapons and surroundings. Xiugu, along with the rest of the skinks, stood in awe.

The saurus then abruptly spoke in the formal tongue, surveying the dumbstruck skinks around him. His eyes were hard, with an intelligence that was at once both young and experienced far beyond his age.

“Kahoun hach-loqoq.”

The City is in danger.

The sentence was a question, but rhetorical in tone, as if the saurus had an innate and instinctual understanding of the perils now ravaging on the doorsteps of his home. The words were terse and brief, spoken by a being who had never spoken before.

At this point a number of the attendants lost the silent composure as they immediately began talking at once to answer their charge.

“The Slann are gone!”

“The armies go to Itza!”

“The barriers are down! We are defenseless!”

“The daemons will come once the chaos moon is ascendant in the sky!”

The skinks fell silent as the saurus barked a simple word of command, almost a grunt, but clear in its purpose. Too many voices.

The saurus pointed with his weapon, directly at Xiugu, who stood at the center of the assembled crowd of caretakers, and spoke a solitary word of command.

“Tenx-i.”

Speak.

The saurus towered over Xiugu, who could not help but feel very small next to the looming giant of sinew and scale as he relayed the story of their predicament. The yellow eyes of the creature were fixed upon him, demanding and cruel, but like all of the saurus species they betrayed no fear.

“We are besieged by the Dark Powers,” Xiugu began, “The Slann have ordered the armies of Mutal, our Temple-city, to be evacuated. They go to bolster the defenses of Holy Itza, the First City. That is where the Slann will make their stand. We are to hold here, and endure, to protect, and to die with the city and its temples.”

As he spoke, Xiugu realized for the first time how desperate their situation truly was. Any moment now they would be overrun as the chaos moon appeared over the horizon, signaling the ravening hordes of daemonic creatures to descend upon them.

What hope could a lone saurus have against the multitudes that were about to pour through the nexus-cracks and stream through the canals and city streets? He took a deep breath and continued, bowing his head and staring at the saurus’ clawed feet as he did so.

“But we have no army, no defenders to hold back the forces of the Other World. The saurus are gone, we are alone.”

“Ma’hun,” the saurus responded abruptly.

Not alone.

The green-scaled saurus turned, looking back over the spiked scales of his shoulders towards the spawning pool behind him, then to the other pools throughout the cave chambers as he roared out a new command.

“Tzauraz, Quetli-Kahoun!”

Saurus, Defend your City!

All around him, the spawning pools began to glow.

First the pool of the World Crocodile, bubbling and expectant, radiantly green. Then the jade-blue pool of Rain Serpent began to shimmer. Suddenly all the spawning pools gave the sacred signs: the pool of the Sacred Quetzal, the Luminous Firefly, the Centipede Scepter, and the Jaguar of the Sky. Every single spawning pool awoke from its silence in a blast of primordial activity.

More saurus began to rise from the surrounding pools, as strong and powerful as the First, their reptilian roars echoing through the chambers to announce their arrival into this world. Quickly the skinks darted about the chambers, fitting the ornaments and weapons while the chants were spoken in a reverent chirping of skink voices, their fear now filled with the slightest glimmer of hope.

“Itzakaitecahtzin,” whispered Xiugu under his breath as he witnessed the scene unfold before him.

Blessed be the Ancient Ones.

Without another word the saurus chief Yax Nuunayiin strode forward, parting the caretakers as he moved to climb the carved staircase and exit the spawning caves, followed by his new army.

 

[Warden]

Link to the January-February 2017 Short Story Competition!

Author’s Notes

I was inspired to write this story after I constructed the Lizardmen history timeline. In making the timeline I started populating the calendar with the events of my own temple-city of Mutal, and wanted to see where it fit within the greater timeline. That got me thinking of when the city of Mutal would have been abandoned the first time. Why did the Slann decide to leave and abandon their city?

Specifically I wanted to depict the moment of hopelessness when the Lizardmen realized they were loosing.

Based on my reading of the old fluff, this point would most likely have been when news reached the masses of the temple-cities beginning to fall, and the slann being killed. As much as the Old Ones disappearance would have sent shockwaves through the Slann network, in my opinion that event would not have changed much of the day-to-day happenings for the individual skinks or saurus. Unlike the Slann, who deal in a magical and mystical realm, as well as running the Old One’s kingdom, the masses are more interested in dealing the common tasks of exterminating the chaff (fimir, orcs/orks, other blemishes to the Old Ones plan), or running the daily duties of the temple cities.

What would shock them is the death of the Slann, who are a visible representation of the Old Ones, and the destruction and loss of a fellow temple-city? No saurus or skink ever was in the presence of the Old Ones themselves, so they probably existed as distant concepts to the average Lizardmen, rather than a visible boss like the Slann. And the fall of a major temple city like Xahutec, one of the first temple cities ever created, would have been something similar to the fall of Paris in WWII, causing a ripple effect of fear throughout the countries and shocking the rest of the Western World into finally realizing the threat of the approaching enemy (I am grossly summarizing, I apologize to the other history nerds out there).

Also I wanted to include the Mayan/Lizardmen dates in the original story, but I had to cut them in view of mighty Scalenex’s word limit. I definitely went over the limit on my first draft, so during the contest I wound up cutting out the part of the story that the rest was built around! I am sad to say that even though it inspired the story, it didn’t add much to the overall plot, it just provide fun details that I enjoyed creating. I have added this tiny piece to this thread for your viewing (consider it a deleted scene that didn’t make the final cut).

The two has two main characters. Yax Nuunayiin, a saurus scar-veteran I actually have a model for, and who I already touched upon in my fluff thread. When I started working on this time period I was sure I wanted to depict the spawning of my saurus hero, and was partially inspired by the photo from the 6th edition army book:



What are the skinks doing in this photo? Well they have several jobs, and the second (technically the first) main character Xiugu is one of them! As the Prime Namer, it is he who greets each saurus when they are spawned and gives them their name, tells them what date it is, tells them when to show up to next formation… whatever. It was fun to write the part, and to give jobs to the rest of the skink orderlies who work around the spawning pools. Cleaners, Decorators, Weapon-Bearers, and Intoners, all bred specifically to take care of the saurus as they are first spawned out of their spawning pools.

 

[Warden]

Comments and Critiques

7. Sacred Spawning

Score: 8/10

Reasoning: It is interesting to read Saurian in a piece, and I liked that, as much as I liked most of this story. There's not a whole lot I can find wrong with it. It's paced well, the writing is well done, and I like the setting and the current events that are happening. The only issue I have, is that the main character seems slightly detached. At least until the Spawning, where he really animates and is able to be compared and work off of the Saurus. This story works into the theme, though for the longest while it was Lost Hope, but it did turn itself around in the end, bringing Hope and a furious Vengeance.

I see your point. Not much happens at the start of the story, its mostly a description because I was having more fun writing about the era and not about the characters. I remember reading on one of these threads that a good mix of dialogue versus description, I tend to lean heavily to the description side of things.

7. Sacred Spawning

I like how this is another left behind story, similar to story two, set in a different time period though, and this time, given a choice to stay behind in their home, or trail along as a refugee, doomed to die along the trail. The suspense and atmosphere of this story is brilliant. Just the description of the different feel of the temple without the temple guard present really sets an amazing tone. When the surprise spawning starts to appear, the shock to all present is felt, and then the skinks snap right back to duty. The great hope, a born leader saurus, and a full crew spawning right then and there, ready to fight the influx of daemons. Yax Nuun Ayiin is the name of 2 rulers of the Mayan site of Tikal, Xiugu, a bit harder to find, the only thing I pull up is the Chinese word for armband, or Japanese for “what do you mean late?” The Japanese one is much funnier, and if I am guessing author, I am going to say this was from @Warden. Fantastic atmosphere, great description, and the spawning pools coming through in the end.

Thanks Lord @Bowser! You definitely figured out it was me, I will attempt to cover my tracks better next time.

Yax Nuun Ahiin I was the name-inspiration for my saurus leader. The real-world Mayan king was a ruler of Tikal, known as “Curl-Snout” from the look of his name glyph. Roughly translates to First Green Crocodile

The fact that you discovered the term Xiugu means “What do you mean late” in Japanese is hilarious. The name actually doesn’t have a direct Mayan translation. I took inspiration for the name from the Xiu Tribe (sometimes the Tutul-Xiu), the rulers of Mayapan, who defeated the confederacy of Chichen Itza prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, and just added an extra syllable when I added it to the story. Hilarious translation though, that had me chuckling when I first read it.

sacred spawning
Wow


Beautifully written. I forgot I was reading an amateur story there and just got lost in it. Again, no big issues were tackled. But it as a very well written and enjoyable story. I will most likely vote for it.

Thank you for the compliments!

7 Sacred Spawning

It reads more like a history. I think the distinction is that a history is a story about events, rather than about characters - some people love that (me). That said, the panic of the evacuation was palpable, and the description of the glows in the unique spawning chamber was beaut. There were lovely English word choices (calendrical) and well chosen, but not overdone saurian phrases. For the translation guide, go here.

My favorite aspect of Sacred Spawning? The brilliant detail about the different roles and casts in society.

On the gripe side, it really stood out that this kahoun (minor city) wasn’t given a name, while other cities were freely named. A history that gives a date, but not a location feels weird. As for word choices, there can sometimes be a bit too much thesaurus. Like the sentence that was “terse and brief” (and redundant). And it should have been “a millenium ago”.

Author Guesses: The society is complex enough to be from @Scalenex , @pendrake or @Warden, but proof read errors are not typical of any of them. (except for Scalenex, he’s hopeless.)

The second person to basically discover my secret identity during the comp.

I specifically didn’t add the minor-city’s name (Mutal) during the story to keep my identity not obvious. My original draft had it though, and I have edited this thread to contain the original version.

I do struggle with my thesaurus sometimes. I love using thesaurus.com and dictionary.com to find better word choices, but I agree with your assessment. I hate reusing the same words or phrases more than once, it always trips me up when I reread my own work.

Sacred Spawning:


Vote number 4. The author of this piece has a great eye for detail and description. He/She leaves no stone unturned when setting the scene for this tale and I found myself more immersed the second reading. If I were to really critique it, I did notice a few word repeats, some minor grammar errors, but nothing that couldn’t be weeded out with a fine tooth comb. I think this author is very talented and has a way with words that makes me a bit envious. I have always found myself writing more about a character than spending time setting the scene. Kuddos to you! Well written.

Thank you @lordkingcrow . More proofreads are in order next time. I appreciate compliments coming from a published author (and congrats on winning the comp!)

Sacred Spawning

So much despair, and so much hope! the images and the rituals tied to the spawning pools are intriguing and fascinating, and the final crescendo is epic. Wonderful. Of course, the army that left the temple-city was formed by thousands of temple guards (and we're talking about just the elite) that would have been wiped away, so even some hundreds of new warriors from the pools won't make any difference for the city, but who cares?

Very true, there is a good chance that after this scene all the saurus were going to be slaughtered. After all they were brand new, their scales barely had time to harden into a 5+ save prior to walking up the stairs to fight the daemons. I would HOPE that they won (in the spirit of the comp of course!)

I am not sure what direction the future of this story would take. The original title of this work was 28 K’in Later, a direct Mayanized/Lizardized pun on the zombie movie 28 Days Later. I liked the idea of dealing with a post-daemonic invasion apocalypse that probably happened when the polar gates fell, and the geomantic network of the Lizardmen came crashing down, unleashing hordes of daemonic gribblies into Lustria. How would the Lizardmen survive?

If I were to make a sequel, it would probably be 28 Winal Later (the next order of measurement in the calendar system, a bit more than a week, closer to a short month, but close enough).

Story Seven: Sacred Spawning: Epic setting and build up. I wanted to know more about the characters and I felt my tension rise as the characters’ tensions rose. The setting was well described. I could picture all the buildings, the bubbling pools, and the assembled crowds clearly in my head.


This read as an introduction to me, not a complete story. Granted there was a conflict (the impeding Chaos hordes) and a resolution (several simultaneous spawnings), but we still don’t know if the new spawnings turned the tide or not. For all we know, the spawnings could be tainted. This was clearly a cliffhanger. Cliffhanger endings can be fun sometimes, but I feel this is incomplete. In my opinion, a short story cliffhanger should suggest to reader the likely outcome and this one leaves me hanging too much.

It is definitely an introduction to a setting, not the final story. When I come up with a good ending for what happens at the edge of the cliff I will start working on the sequel, for now it will have to keep hanging.

Story Seven: Wow.

To be fair, I could (and indeed I have) say this about a great many of these entries. Though this one did ring quite a bell with me with the handling of the given themes. The aura of doom upon the city was very potent and the tension as it approached was executed marvelously. The pacing was perhaps a tad on the slow side, but I think anything faster would have lost the effect that this gave to the story.

The twist with the last minute spawning was truly great and the use of Saurian was a very nice touch (I prefer Queekish of course). I have my doubts whether they would beat back the forces of darkness, but mayhaps I should have more hope.

Hraak Grilsrid, an Avid: Why did it have to cut off there? I wanted to see the last stand...

I heartily enjoyed experimenting with High Saurian during this story. My objective was to show the stark differences between the way the skinks and the saurus communicated. The Skinks were emotional and talkative, quick to give details, while the saurus was curt and to the point, formal and simple. Very fun combining words from the tutorial with old Yucatec!

Agreed good last stand would be an epic conclusion.

7 Sacred Spawning: Never stop Spawning

At the controls of the rapidly departing skyship, Tzunki was snickering to himself. This caught the attention of a superior officer.

“Tzunki? What have you done now?”

“Heh heh heh. Nothing, Tepok.”

“Common, show me.”

“I... maaaay have fiddled with the spawning pool controls. Just a little,” said the god, looking sheepish.

“Tzunki! We’ve talked about this!”

“Aw man it was totally worth it! Imagine the looks on their faces when all the pools turned on at the same time for no reason - after they’d already abandoned the city!” Subsequent utterances became indistinguishable as he descended into uncontrollable laughter. Tepok narrowed his eyes.

“You think it’s funny, do you? After we just left those poor bastards to be devoured by chaos? And what about our fuel supplies? Did you even stop to consider that? It’s not free to make new lizardmen!”

“It was only a few dozen, honestly,” said Tzunki, sobering a little. “Enough to seem like a miracle - but it’s not exactly going to do anything against the endless hordes of the nether realms, is it?”

Tepok sighed. “This is why no one likes us, Tzunki. I’m revoking your spawning privileges.”

Very funny potential ending from the point of view of the Old Ones’ themselves! I do find the idea of a broken spawning pool entertaining: what would happen if new Lizardmen continuously spawned out of a pool under a temple? Eventually the Lizard cities supplies would dry up, and they would probably start fighting each other for the remainder, break off into warring factions, turn to cannibalism… sounds like another potential fate of the Dragon Isles to me!

Too bad the skinks forget how the spawning controls work, now they won’t be able to fix them…



Thank you for all your critiques! I learned a lot during this competition from reading both your critiques of my work and the other great stories that were present. Looking forward to the next one.