Once, in the land of Wu, long ago, there was a dynasty of kings who ruled over a rich, productive valley known as Gold Valley. The people were content, the nobles were prosperous, trade extended to neighbors on all sides with little conflict. The mountains however were inhabited by fierce dragons. The dragons liked to have a clear view of the whole valley, so if the nobles built their houses too high, or covered too much of the land, the dragons would swoop down and destroy some buildings. Then the king would call out his archers and drive them back, when they tired, and the people would rebuild. The dragons however were also living in tunnels with rich gold deposits in the mountains, which they cared little for, and for which the valley got its name.
At some point, a group of ambitious nobles came to the king with a plan. The king was sceptical at first, but they appealled to him through flattery and clever words. The next day the king declared himself The Jade King. No longer was gold to be mined from the mountains, instead the people would deal in Jade. The nobles built palaces and courts higher than ever before. The dragons, aroused, swarmed over the kingdom, smashing everything. The Jade King assembled a huge army in response to this "emergency" and chased the dragons back to their homes, caving in the mines in which they slept. For a time, there would be a tunnel they missed here and there, and dragons would eventually grow bold and venture out, but when they did, it was not long before they were driven back into the mountain and the tunnel sealed off.
Meanwhile, the nobles built higher and higher. Their enormous palaces were sealed from the people, in fact, the nobles were scarcely aware of them except as a concept. The kingdom became despotic, trade slowed to a trickle of jade and jade alone, for wood and other essentials, but nothing more. The borders were walled and sealed off. The people worked harder and harder to produce more and more for the nobles and their Jade King. If there was any thought of rebellion, the vast Jade Army suppressed it. But by and large, people forgot that they had once lived in a place called the Gold Valley, or that they were once relatively lazy and prosperous... or that dragons were anything but a myth.
And so too did the nobles, and the generations of Jade Kings. Everyone knew that this way of life was for the best. Many people worked in the vast labyrinthine courts of the nobles, supplying them with this or that, and their life seemed well, compared to the workers in the fields, or the jade collectors. But they too lived a life of ceaseless toil, though with some comforts.
Nothing changed much for a long time... every year it was more of the same, the work was a bit more difficult, the palaces grew a bit larger, the current fashion in Jade Artifacts would change, but by and large it was endless repetition.
Then one day, some people in the fields looked up, and saw... a dragon. Then two. Then three.
They ran in panic, not knowing what else to do, trying to alert the nobles that there were Real Dragons flying around.
By then, the dragons had started to smash the palaces... the army was called out, but no one had fought dragons in a long long time. They didn't have any idea of how to stop them. But the dragons had learned how to rout the army and kept destroying, until there was nothing but charcoal and rubble left of the once mighty cities of the Jade Kingdom. Some time later, the neighbors of the Kingdom rushed in through the walls and took over, and the people were glad to have them. They even re-opened the gold mines eventually.
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