Dragon-Blooded

These are the champions of the five Elemental Dragons. For the last millennium and a half, they were the unquestioned rulers of Creation itself. Despite being the weakest Exalted in terms of raw power, the Terrestrial Exalts are the most numerous by far. Once the soldiers of the Exalted armies that fought the Primordials, the Terrestrials murdered the Solar Exalted at the behest of the Sidereals and took over the reins of Creation.

= History =

Origins
Terrestrial Exalts are not the Chosen of a god as other Exalts are; ultimately their power does not come from the gods at all. Gaia, a primordial, did not assist the war against her brethren directly, but rather allowed her fetish souls, the Elemental Dragons, to imbue large numbers of humans with power connecting them to the elements. The Dragon-blooded thus formed the foot soldiers in the war, serving under the Celestial heroes and commanders.

Because of this unique form of exaltation, Dragon-bloods can pass on their power to their children, an occurrence which is almost commonplace in the Realm, where millennia of breeding have strengthened the more powerful bloodlines.

The First Age
The Dragon-Blooded were initially divided into households known as Gentes. At the dawn of the First Age each of these was sworn to a specific Solar. This changed in the Thousand Struggles Era where warring among the Exalted host left many Gentes crippled, resorting in some being merged, splitting or changing allegiances.

= The Shogunate = At the close of the First Age, when the Sidereal Bronze Faction determined that the Solars must be deposed, they used the superior numbers and powerful teamwork abilities of the Dragon-blooded against their former masters. The Sidereals then hid themselves as the secret manipulators behind what would become the Shogunate, the last First Age civilization, in which Dragon-blooded noble families ruled Creation. A feudal society bound by tight rules of honor and duty, the Shogunate strove hard to live up to the legacy of the Solar Deliberative, and despite their own awareness of their failings they had a similar (though lesser) level of technology.

The Realm
The Shogunate fell during the Great Contagion and the subsequent invasion of Creation by the Fair Folk. During this time, the Scarlet Empress activated the first age defenses of the Imperial Manse and founded the Realm. With her accession to the throne, the Dragon Blooded can be divided into roughly three groups: the Terrestrial Exalted of the Scarlet Dynasty, the remainder of the Seventh Legion quartered in Lookshy and the remaining Outcastes scattered throughout the Threshold. It should be noted that from the perspective of the Realm, Lookshy is also filled with Outcastes.

In the modern era, Dynastic Dragon Blooded are the absolute masters of the Realm, at the pinnacle of both the political structure of The Realm and the theology of the Immaculate Philosophy. In the modern Realm, the Dragon Blooded are all ideally raised in one of the Great Houses, although given their passions and position, Lost Eggs regularly appear and are inducted into imperial society through other well-defined channels. While Dynastic Dragon-Blooded may initially appear decadent and lazy to an outsider (and a good number are decadent), they are still creatures of duty dedicated to the advancement of the Realm and their own personal goals.

With the return of the Solar Exalted and the rise of the Abyssal Exalted, the Dragon Blooded are coming to terms with the appearance of Anathema in a number unseen since the introduction of the Wyld Hunt. The Realm is on the brink of civil war, and Lookshy is on the cusp of greatness. The future of the Dragon-Blooded promises to be eventful.