The Pact of Elías is the founding act of the Archontean Empire of the World of Archontos: on the summit of Mount Ennio, Elías Ennio shared bloodied wine with seven ancient dragon princes and sealed an alliance. It opens the AEP calendar and must be renewed each generation.
| Type | Event |
| Date | Year 1 AEP |
| Parties | Elías Ennio (Ennius the First Lord); seven chromatic dragons |
| Spanish entry | Pacto de Elías |
The founding night
Also called the Pact of Enoch/Elías (oldest chanceries), the Pact of the Bloodied Wine (rural hymns) or the Pact (Orthodox liturgy). The Codex of Mount Ennio and the Decadian say that millennia ago, at the dawn of Archontos, Elías Ennio, the first great human leader, made the pact with the seven princes of the dragons. Its elements:
- The place: the summit, axis between human land and draconic sky.
- The liquid: wine with blood.
- The seven: one dragon per color — red, blue, green, white, black, gold, silver. The Empire’s order rests on this geometry; changing the list weakens the pact.
By the signatories’ order, the night was veiled in mist, later read as draconic modesty.
Terms
The dragons give: unification of the human tribes; defeat of enemies (goblins of Mithruin, beasts of the northern ranges, abyssal creatures of the great forest); aerial protection; counsel. The Empire gives: worship; ceremonial tribute of gold; safe places never to be settled. In the Decadian’s formula it is half political treaty, half mystical oath.
Consequences
The seven became guardians and, when asked, weapons of the archons. A green dragon destroyed the goblin fleets at the Battle of Verdant Bay; a red dragon flew as an omen over the founding of the capital, Archontos; blue dragons appear in coastal defenses and white ones in the northern ranges against the ancient Wiskin. They are individuals whose names the Orthodox clergy keep secret and invoke at renewals.
Renewal
Certain emperors renew the Pact in secret ceremonies, in draconic sanctuaries guarded by the Imperial Church, with bloodied wine from hereditary providers, holding the cup in person. Empress Juliana X Bellatrix (27th century AEP, about 2639 AEP), leader of the Reconquest, revived the alliances. Basileus Drusus IX relies on draconic counsel, alongside prophecies and selective iron rule; unnamed dragons advise him. A saying: “When the dragons fly with us, we shall fear nothing; when they fly far away, the Empire will fall.” Dragons seen over Irthuin in recent years, coinciding with Drusus IX’s accession, are read as the Pact reactivating.
The fear in Ardis Vala
A persistent rumor says the dragons demand the recovery of something kept in Ardis Vala: an ancestral egg in the Marsh of Sighs, south of the valley, outside the first-cycle routes of the Seekers; or a talisman of draconic dominion in the crypts under the temple of Set (Forum of Set), in the Mega-Dungeon, near where rubies activate the Mithric message of Priscus Pulcher. Recovering the pledge would fully reactivate the Pact; destroying it would end it. No first-cycle Seeker found it.
The AEP calendar
AEP means Year After the Pact of Enoch / Elías. “Enoch” is the older archival form; “Elías” the popular form and that of the Gazette. The Decadian holds them co-extensive: the First Lord is Elías Ennio, but tradition honors Enoch as the Pact’s preparer. Year 1 AEP is the night of the Pact (no year zero); 2993 AEP is the present cycle. See Calendar.
Conflicting accounts
- The blood was Elías’s own; or that of the seven enemy beasts; or the dragons’.
- Some chroniclers count eight dragons (adding bronze or copper); the Decadian keeps seven.
- Enoch and Elías are one man in some rural traditions, two figures in others.