Chapter Text
Once Upon a Time, a long time ago—shortly after the Witches had arrived on EarthBread, in historical terms, but long enough for them to have gotten quite comfortable in their new home—there were only two other kinds of beings present: Dragons and Cookies.
The first, the Dragons, were creatures of incredible strength and power, considered by many, Cookie and Dragon alike (although generally the less humble Dragons, it must be said), to be the rulers of the world and all within it. Though some of both Cookie and Dragonkind disagreed, and no Witch would bear to consider any but themselves their new world's rulers, which says something about the kind of Witches these were and whether you would like to be ruled by them—or indeed, even have them as neighbours—in the first place. There was nothing these beings, these Dragons, couldn't do: they could soar effortlessly through the skies, destroy entire mountains in fits of anger, grow a forest from a desert…. The shadow of a Dragon heralded hope or despair, such was their power. Some would even come to call them 'Gods'.
Besides the Dragons (and, of course, the Witches themselves), were the Cookies, born from the Witches' terrible Ovens. Through cleverness and cunning and teamwork, they escaped from their intended fate as nothing more than delicious treats. They had none of the Dragons’ fearsome power, but were more than capable when working together enough to avoid extinction. Eventually, they became the most numerous species on EarthBread, far outnumbering both their Witch creators and the Dragons that reshaped the landscape with their mere existence.
As often happens, the two peoples clashed over various things. As happens somewhat less often, those disagreements eventually escalated into full-scale war, with an obvious—and some would say inevitable —victory for the Dragons.
What happened next depended on each Dragon's character: some allowed themselves to be worshipped as Gods, others were battle-thirsty enough to allow Cookies to challenge them, finding amusement and occasionally even challenge in the smaller warriors, others were more humble and chose to help their new subjects prosper, while still others used them as snacks, dooming them to the fate that Cookiekind had gone to such efforts to escape at the Witches' hands. However it went, the two species gradually became more and more intertwined—until, on one otherwise unimportant day, a miracle occurred.
The spawn of a Dragon and a Cookie, the miracle child was a being that would become known as a Half-Dragon. Shaped like a Cookie, yes, but with scales, wings, a tail, and not least a portion of that parent's power, but also able to conceal that aspect of themself. Their very existence threw the world into uproar. Nobody thought such a union was possible, not even the most accomplished scholars—they cast their quills aside and boggled. Dozens, if not hundreds, of theories were put forth, but none could explain it. Eventually, it was decided to accept the child as the miracle they were, and love and raise them as both Cookie and Dragon. From that day, more and more Half-Dragons appeared, of all the various elements and powers, bringing a wholly new kind of being into the world: one that could walk in both the Dragon and Cookie worlds, bringing the two peoples even closer together, their individual fates now forever one, a new union of people looking towards a prosperous future!
Or so they thought.
You must remember that the Witches, despite being latecomers to EarthBread, each considered themselves the natural ruler of the world. Unluckily for all others, they were willing to set their differences aside long enough to establish Witches generally as the pre-eminent power, and only then get down to the nitty-gritty of which Witch would be the ruler almighty. So, seeing the Dragons as an affront to everything they believed, the Witches waged war. Or, to hear the Witches tell it: the Dragons, unprovoked and driven by fear of what might happen, declared war against them, leaving them no choice but to defend themselves. Regardless, the inevitable conflict between the two occurred; that is not in dispute.
And when it did, despite or perhaps because of the incredible power of each individual dragon, none of them were especially good at working with others. Oh, they had managed it in their war against the Cookies, but the brief unity brought by that conflict had rapidly broken down after. And unfortunately for Dragonkind, the Witches had watched, and learned. They sowed discord between the Dragons with magic, everything from illusions to mind magic to false messengers or messengers whose message they were entrusted with—whether written down or memorised—replaced with an insult, even to the point of hiding nearby and amplifying the emotions of their draconic foes such that they could not stay calm during a discussion and fought each other to exhaustion only for Witches hiding nearby to finish them off. The war ended with the near-total extinction of Dragonkind.
Only five Dragons remained, but the Witches retreated to their realms, satisfied that the remnants of that proud people were no threat to them. They had broken the Dragons completely! Or, well, so they thought. The Dragons' heritage is still carried on by the descendants of the original Half-Dragons, and even normal Cookies may manage to become one by complete chance... whether by curse, blessing, or scientific mutation...