On behalf of the Ice Dragons I welcome you to our annual Winter Solstice Ball.
The winter solstice is very significant to us Ice Dragons.
As you probably could already tell, the nights during the winter solstice are far longer here then they are anywhere else in the world. This phenomenon causes the temperature to plummet, and allows our precious Ice Crystal Trees to bear their ice crystals - the only things that allow us to survive in these harsh conditions, as there is no other sustainable resource here.
There is also another reason why the solstice is so dear to us, one rooted in the Mythology of how our race was born.
According to the Ancient Scrolls passed down to us, the time before the seven Holy Tribes were formed and the Moons were created, the Earth was a warm and humid place. There was never snow nor ice, and the nights were very short.
Each day the sun would rise, and would watch over the inhabitants of the Earth. Each day he longed to know them. He longed to be near them, but the closer he got, the more the inhabitants grew to hate him.
At first he was confused. He did not know why they hated him so much, and why they built places to escape his sight. It wasn't until he realized that his rays - the same rays that once warmed and comforted the people - now caused them pain. He watched in horror as the inhabitants suffered because of him. But try as he might, he could not control his power. Each day his rays grew stronger, and each day the inhabitants suffered even more and the land became more desolate.
Decades passed until one day, two moons passed before him and protected the Earth from his rays. For two centuries his sight was set on the two majestic bodies in front of him, and during that time the temperature dropped.
For the first time in Earth's history, it snowed. It snowed for weeks at a time, covering the Earth with a blanket of white.
A small band of nomadic humans made up of mainly sorcerers traveled to the North where they discovered the Ice Crystal Trees. They grew and cultivated this unique plant, harvesting their ice crystals during the winter months and used them as a power source for their magic. After a hundred years had passed, the band of nomads had grown into a large city led by their queen.
But the inhabitants of this city had changed drastically.
From years of using magic to modify their bodies they could now withstand the immense cold without having to wear bulky animal pelts, but like all good things this also came with a downside. Their bodies could no longer take anything above freezing without getting severely ill and with the Moons slowly moving away from the sun the temperatures began to rise.
The queen, aware of the danger that her people were in, pleaded with the moons to continue protecting them from the sun. It was then decided that the queen’s first born child would be bound to the spirits of the moons. Drawing energy from them, she could protect the tribe from the sun, so they decided to settle in this land of ice crystals.
A year after the moons had left the temperatures rose drastically, causing the world to swelter once more. Fearing for the people of the Earth, the sun pleaded with the Moons to return and continue to protect them from his power just as they protected the Ice Dragons.
The moons denied his request, saying they cannot return for another year and that he is the only one who can protect them.
Infuriated by what the moons had told him, he looked down upon the Earth trying desperately to figure out how to protect them, only to cause more harm.
He turned away from the Ice Dragons and saw something he could not believe.
A new race? No. They where descendants of the Fire Dragons, a race born centuries ago before the moons passed before the sun. Similarly to the Ice Dragons, they had modified their bodies so that they could withstand the extreme heat.
And there, looking down upon the Fire Dragons, he saw the son of the tribe leader and remembered the bond between the moons and the Ice Dragon Princess.
Realizing what that meant, he cast down part of his spirit onto the Fire Dragon Prince, which allowed him to finally control his power and bring balance to world.
Even though we do not know when the moons first passed in front of the Sun, we celebrate this event on the winter solstice because that is when both moons return and pass is front of the sun for an entire day. This is our way of showing our gratitude to the majestic moons who continue to protect our tribe to this day, and who protected the Earth from the sun by teaching him how to control his power in the same way that they share theirs.