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The Dragon Riders (Shur'tugal in the Ancient Language)
A coalition of elves and dragons formed at the end of Du Fyrn Skulblaka to forge peace and order between the elves and dragons. The Riders were created because treaties between the two races would prove useless to stop fighting: a signed piece of paper meant nothing to a dragon. So, an irrevocable bond was wrought by the elves and the dragons; the elves provided the structure of the spell and the dragons provided the strength, thus creating the Dragon Riders. When a fleet of humans sailed across the sea thousands of years later, they too were added to the elite order of the Dragon Riders. The role of the Riders became more than uniting the Elves and Dragons: they became keepers of the peace throughout the land of Alagaësia, and were respected and honored by the people they served. There were both male and female Riders, all of whom were able to use magic. The Riders not only were peacekeepers, they were healers, scholars and the strongest magicians throughout the land (though they didn't promote that they were strong magicians).

The Training of a Dragon Rider
The bond with the Riders and their dragons gives the Riders a strong and powerful ability to use magic and enhanced physical abilities. Through rigorous training, a Rider would become some of the most powerful magicians and swordsmen in all of Alagaësia.
Newly bonded pairs of dragon and Rider were taken to the elvish capital of Ilirea, where older Riders trained one or two students at a time. The training could consist of the senior dragon training the younger in aerial maneuvers (especially those used in battle), building stamina for long distance flights, increasing speed, dragon lore, and the ancient language. It is also mandatory requirement that the Rider and dragon would share their lessons. In order to do that, the pair would keep their minds connected so they could listen in on each others' lessons and learn. After class, the senior Rider would test the two to ensure that both had learned each others' subject. Both the senior dragon and the senior Rider were addressed by their students as 'Master' or 'Ebrithil'.
To train a Rider to use magic, the novice was given a set of frustrating, apparently impossible tasks that could not be accomplished without the aid of magic. If a student discovered its ability before this regimen was complete, that student would be removed at once from the others and apprenticed to another elder.
The formal training of a Rider and dragon traditionally took many years, and the Dragon Riders continued to hone their skills throughout their lives. At the end of the training, the Elven smith Rhunön would forge a sword.


The blade of a Rider
These swords were forged by the elf Rhunön, widely considered to be the best smith in Alagaësia, and were some of the best hand-crafted swords ever made. The elves' methods of forging always remained a secret. According to Arya, Rhunön made all the Riders' swords. The ore that was used to forge the blade of the sword is what Rhunön called brightsteel, which was a shooting star that fell down to Alagaësia many years ago.
The Dragon Rider's swords were eternally sharp. The elves' custom was to have the sword's color match the color of the Rider's dragon. The Riders' swords were generally three feet long, with blades tinted to resemble the color of their dragon's scales. The swords excelled at cutting through enchantments of every kind and they were nearly immune to destructive magic.
Some Riders chose not to wield swords. If they preferred to use a lance or a bow for fighting from their dragon, Rhunön or another of the elven smiths would have crafted a weapon of equal power to the conventional sword.

The Bond
After the agreements of creating the Dragon Riders, a spell was cast over the dragon eggs to ensure that the baby dragons inside would only hatch when the eggs were touched by the human or elf whom they wanted to bond with. The instant the egg is laid, the dragon infant inside is ready to hatch, but waited sometimes for years to. Upon hatching, the young dragon would make contact with its Rider for the first time, leaving a mark, the gedwëy ignasia ("shining palm"), on the Dragon Rider’s hand. A bond forms between the dragon and the Rider melds their minds on a basic level, binding them for life in the most enduring friendship that can possibly exist and endowing the Dragon Rider with magic. However, the bond can be strained. Some elves and humans have tricked dragons into accepting them as Riders and there was one unhappy tale of a dragon hatching for one who did not wish to be a Rider. In spite of the bond, it is possible for a Rider to become a Shade.

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The Dragon Riders History
Du Fyrn Skulblaka Edit Du Fyrn Skulblaka
Before the coming of humans, Urgals, Elves, and the Ra'zac to Alagaësia, the dwarves freely roamed the land, establishing glorious kingdoms and cities. Along with the dwarves, Alagaësia was home to many other creatures, including Dragons. The elves came to Alagaësia from across the sea. At first, there was tension between the elves and the dragons, which soon escalated when a foolish young elf hunted and killed a dragon, thinking it was a nothing but a mere animal. Angered by the event, the dragons grouped together and ambushed the young elf, killed him, and then declared war upon the entire elven nation. The elves attempted to stop the attacks but had no means to do so. This led to the elves being forced to strike back to survive. Over time, the conditions of the war did not improve; they were worsened by every attack from either side. This problem was solved when an elf named Eragon found an abandoned white dragon egg and raised the hatchling, naming it Bid'Daum. Once Eragon's dragon had grown, the pair began traveling all over Alagaësia, creating peace treaties between the two races. They convinced both the elves and the dragons to form union to unite the two races and citizens of Alagaësia. The dragons and the elves both benefited from the peace: the dragons gained the ability to speak through telepathy and the elves became immortal. Eragon and Bid'Duam were the first of the Dragon Riders, with many more to follow.

Dragon Riders Duty
Because of how useful Eragon I and Bid'Daum proved to be, the dragons began giving the elves two or three eggs a year, and the baby dragons chose to hatch for the elf (or, later, human) most suited to that dragon. The Dragon Riders' duty, in the beginning, was to keep the peace between the Elves and Dragons. Their duty soon expanded from keeping peace between just those two races to all the races and governments in Alagaësia. Though it is not specifically mentioned, many speculated that the Dragon Riders' position of power eventually led to their downfall. The Dragon Riders themselves were above the laws of the lands. They kept the peace between all races and in between races, though their methods were sometimes termed as "meddling" by the dwarves. The Dragon Riders were not just the soldier-diplomats between races, they were also the foremost of scholars.

The Fall
Driven mad by the loss of his dragon from a surprise attack of Urgals, a young Rider named Galbatorix sought help from the Dragon Rider Council in Vroengard. He demanded the Council to give him another dragon, but the Council realized that his mind was unstable and he was unsuitable for a new dragon. Galbatorix blamed the Riders for the death of his dragon and planned to destroy them all. Galbatorix fled into the wild, biding his time. He met a young Rider named Morzan some years later, and convinced him to join his cause, teaching him dark techniques "that should never be revealed". Morzan left a gate open, enabling Galbatorix to sneak in and steal a dragon hatchling, killing the original Rider in the process. Utilizing his dark arts, Galbatorix was able to twist the dragon's mind and make the dragon obey him and to believe that he was its Rider.
He and Morzan, along with twelve other corrupt Riders called the Forsworn, known by the elves as the Wyrdfell, caught the Dragon Riders unaware and destroyed them, bringing an end to the peace they had established in Alagaësia. Galbatorix personally killed Vrael, head of the Riders. He also killed the rightful king of the Broddring Kingdom (King Angrenost) and took the title for himself, establishing the Empire.

The Thirteen Forsworn
The Thirteen Forsworn were a group created by Galbatorix that helped him destroy the Dragon Riders. They were corrupt and power-hungry Dragon Riders that were led by Morzan. Only two of the names of the other Forsworn are mentioned: Kialandí and Formora. They were named by Galbatorix as the two Forsworn who broke Oromis's mind. The Forsworn's dragons' names will never be known; when the remaining dragons heard thirteen of their number had turned against them, they gathered their strength together and, through one of their unexplainable feats of magic, banished the names of the traitors. The spell took the ability of the dragons to identify themselves in any way, so they were reduced to mindless beasts.

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