Editing Ishgard (section)

== History ==
Pushed out of central Aldenard by the first great wave of Hyuran migration from Ilsabard, the ancestors of the Ishgardian Elezen arrived in Coerthas, which was already inhabited by dragons. For ten years, the Elezen and dragons warred over territory, until an Elezen woman named Shiva attempted to parley. She befriended the dragon Hraesvelgr, and a bond of intellectual and spiritual love formed between them. So that Hraesvelgr would not have to see her grow old and die, Shiva bade him consume her, and by this act their bodies and souls were joined. The story of their love spread among the dragons and Elezen and eventually persuaded both factions to pursue peace. For the next two centuries, early Coerthan civilization developed with both Elezen and dragon input; great buildings, villages, and shrines were erected throughout Dravania, and the ancestors of Ishgardians rode on wyvernback to-and-fro from stations such as the Rookery in the Churning Mists.
However, in the time of the Elezen King Thordan, chatty dragon Ratatoskr revealed that the secret of the dragons' power lay in their eyes, from which a near-limitless wellspring of aether flows. Thordan and his twelve best knights lured Ratatoskr into a trap at Tharl Oom Khash, removing and devouring her eyes to gain immense power. Ratatoskr's brother Nidhogg first learned of her murder and set out to take vengeance, destroying every Elezen settlement in his path. Thordan and his knights eventually met Nidhogg and, with their supernatural strength, downed him as well, though the king and four knights died in the effort; Prince Haldrath and the remaining knights removed Nidhogg's eyes, allowing the dragon to limp away, barely clinging to life. Hraesvelgr learned of these events only when Nidhogg staggered before him. Nidhogg demanded Hraesvelgr give him one of his own eyes to allow Nidhogg to punish Thordan's descendants for eternity; whether out of a shared desire for vengeance or in order to save his brother's life, Hraesvelgr acquiesced, and with the power of only one of Hraesvelgr's eyes would Nidhogg lead his Horde in the Dragonsong War for the next thousand years.
Meanwhile, guilty over his part in Ratatoskr's demise, Prince Haldrath declined his father's throne, choosing instead to use Nidhogg's eyes to protect Ishgard from Nidhogg's wrath as a hunter of dragons, the first Azure Dragoon. Three of the surviving knights chose to fade into obscurity, one of them perhaps becoming a tavern keeper whose sword still hangs in the Forgotten Knight. The four knights that remained decided to become stewards of Ishgard's empty throne and founded the four High Houses of Ishgard. The High Houses worked together with the early Church to suppress the truth and promote instead the tale that would become the foundation of the orthodox history, the Ishgardian Orthodox Church eventually becoming the main vehicle of societal control in Ishgard, adding holy justifications to the Ishgardian side in the Dragonsong War.