Kingdom
Name:- The Dragon Isles
Capital: Drekabaer
A series of islands off the cost of a continent.
The people are lethargic. Nothing very exciting ever happens.
They are a bit of a backwater but there seems to be no good reason for it.
Any fashions and new trends brought by travellers are either ignored or accepted in lukewarm fashion before being dropped.
This malaise means that the Isles lag well behind other countries
Because of regional politics elsewhere, the Dragon Isles don't need much in the way of standing armies.
All the dukes maintain a militia and a guard. The royal guard is trained to a reasonable standard but the rank and file have a tendency to be a bit thuggish.
Currency
Dragon's Tears; commonly called 'Tears' - gold coins of about 1 ounce. Very rarely seen by the commoners. Apocryphally so called because they are as rare as a dragon's tears
Dragon's Teeth; commonly called 'Teeth/Tooth' - silver coins of about 1/2 an ounce - 200 make up 1 tooth.
Dragon's Scales commonly called 'Scales' - copper coins of about 1/2 an ounce - 200 make up 1 scale. An unskilled labourer could expect to earn 24 scales a day.
Prices
A quart of ale - 2 scales
A small pie - 2 scales
Local kingdoms
The Pirate Isles
Capital: Riettenborg
200 miles north of the Dragon Isles
Naval power broken in a war with Gathos 20 years ago
Gathos
Capital:Oskari
Areetan
Capital:Coraxi
North-east of the Dragon isles
Larger than Gathos
The country is moribund.
Zigadenus, the emperor is a dragon
Ambassador to the isles is Amanita - definitely part dragon, possibly a full dragon. Certainly a skilled mage
The Dragon Spine mountains
East of the Plains
Main home to the dragons
South-eastern Kingdom Areetan and the Northern tip of the Dragonspine form the only known place where dragons and human civilization overlap.
That area is reputed to be the range of a very old male dragon who brooks nothing disturbing his peace.
The Plains/The Barren Plains
East of the Dragon Isles, south of Areetan
Populated by nomads and herds of wild cattle and wolves. No-one lays claim to them.
The plains form the main feeding area for dragons and they aren't keen on humans disrupting it. The nomads are tolerated and may even be in the employ of some dragons.
Any dragon that harbours delusions of taking control of the plains, is rapidly and brutally squashed by the more senior dragons.
Human colonisation/civilisation has been 'discouraged' by the dragons
Islands
Invasion risk is historic, as the pirates' power has been broken, but gives an idea of the culture, architecture and general military readiness of the various islands.
Emera
Capital: Drekabaer
Invasion risk: high (Dragons)
Ruler: Duke Ryker (King)
Spouse:
Children: Vann
Major Port:Gades
Largest of the islands. produces timber, iron, cattle, gold and grain
Also the location of Gades which is the major port/ship building facility of the Isles
Most of the weapons used in the country are forged here
Palace
Surrounded on two sides by walls
the north wall has a gate out to the noble quarter
the eastern wall has a gate out to the Armourer's square and the commoners quarter
The original building was three main halls
The northern hall, which is now the throne room
Doors out into the rest of the palace
The southern hall, which is now the home of the Dragon's guard
Doors out into
the men's barracks,
the refectory
The armoury
The archives/library
The Lady's hall
The Lady's hall. Originally a cave in the mountain side - doors into both the other halls
doors out into
the northern hall
the southern hall
Contains other rooms for the valkyrs
The southern hall, the lady's hall and the cloister garden are all protected from scrying
Main commercial centre is the minstrels square
Farrenreed
Capital: Tradgard
Invasion risk: high
Invasion risk: medium to high
Ruler: Duchess Nikkla
Spouse: Duke (O)Leander
Children: a daughter, Skadi, and a son, Jemryn. (Half dragons)
Tradgard is a bustling port town and receives ships from all over the known world.
As such, petty crime is commonplace and the ducal guard is more numerous, better equipped and drilled than many of the other islands.
The duchy is one of the wealthiest, but traditionally wields economic power rather than political or military.
Skadi is going to be a master trader
Nikkla is a sharp trader and a renowned gardener but a bit ditsy where her son is concerned
Nikkla inherited Farrenreed from her father.
Officially Leander is the second son of the old duke of Iskander. Most people believe that it is duke and consort, but technically it's duchess and consort. He travels a good deal and Nikkla divides her time between court and the castle in Farrenreed.
Actually Oleander is a dragon, hunting for the jewel of the isles - He persuaded the old duke of Iskander to recognise him as a son but this is a well concealed fact
The marriage was arranged but the bond is genuine at least on Nikkla's part - Oleander - who knows.
Farrenreed is least affected by the kingdom's malaise, partly because its a major trading hub for the islands and has frequent contact with other countries.
Traders and artisans producing small items - pottery, jewellery, small metal items.
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Skarran
Capital: Fnykhofn
Ruler: Duke
Spouse:
Children: A daughter Nia
Specialises in fishing.
Something of a penal colony
Benduil
Capital: Fiallabae
Invasion risk: medium
Ruler: Duke
Spouse:
Children: A daughter Adeline
A big mountainous island, produces lots of timber and sheep.
Watermills convert timber into usable planks.
The island builds most of the ships used by the country.
Prospectors pan the mountain streams for gold.
Exports timber, bullion
Imports grain
Blackrock
Svartzbeer
Ruler:
Spouse: Duchess Vaalea big imposing woman, tends to be fierce but impulsive
Children: A daughter Camryn
Invasion risk: very low
A big mountainous island
Very little of the coastline is safe to approach with ships, which limits fishing
Svartzbeer is the main port and has been built out into the sea. It accommodates deep water ships but can't cope with large numbers of small boats. The other known places that a ship/boat can come ashore are all known and fortified.
Surprisingly not a martial population as the invasion risk is very low.
Specialises in refining/smithing metal - Blackrock refers to the coal that they mine and coke.
silica sand is used to make a small amount of high quality glassware
Exports mainly iron, but some copper and small amounts of silver and gemstones.
Imports grain, fish
Iskander
Capital: Vínberjabeer
Invasion risk: low
Ruler: Duke Dalmar
Spouse:
Children: A son Hrafn
Someway to the south of most of the rest of the archipelago.
Twinned with Lulnun
rolling hills with chalky soil
Protected from pirates by distance and shielded by the other islands.
Main exports are cheese, wine, dried fruit, honey, spice
Main Imports: spice
Lulnun
Capital: Krydd
Invasion risk: low
Twinned with Iskander
Ruler:
Spouse:
Children:
Secretive island - trades almost exclusively with Iskander. The Farrenreed noble house have a factor here (of course)
Most of the food and meat consumed is produced locally or on Iskander
It's a garden island and produces rare and valuable spices
Most people on the northern isles treat it as a semi-mythical place of riches.
The nobility know better but are in no hurry to let the rest of the world know as it generates a lot of money for the kingdom as a whole.
It doesn't typically appear on maps and charts.
Exports: fine wine, nutmeg, chillies, pepper, saffron, coffee and other rare ingredients. Also reputed to make exotic poisons.
Golniabar
Capital: Soolapann This is a fortified port city with a castle. There are areas of the port with fortified walls that just contain warehouses stuffed with salt.
Invasion risk: medium to high
Ruler: Markur
Spouse:
Children: A son Davorin
The people tend to be very suspicious of outsiders, although further inland, they are more welcoming.
In the past, there have been numerous pirate raids to try and steal shipments of salt.
A tall mountain peak surrounded by low lying ground
Around the coast are huge salt pans which take in sea water and then evaporated by the constant wind
Inland is a farming culture.
Main export: salt - most of the salt in the archipelago and the neighbouring kingdoms is produced here.
Pohjola
Capital:
Invasion risk: High to very high
Ruler: Duke Raimo
Spouse:
Children:
Known for its military prowess, This island is the most northern isle and closest to the pirates.
The Centre and west are fairly mountainous, but the rest is flat and good arable land growing a range of grains and root crops.
The weather can be fairly grim, and the people take after the weather. Not much music or art is found here.
The nobles have been convicted of some fairly serious crimes in the past and the Preceptor has hanged at least one duke for slaving.
The current duke is competent if not outstanding as an administrator. He's not a fan of the Dragon's Guard but is alone amongst the nobles of the kingdom in having seen a dragon hunting and is far more aware of the risks they pose than anyone outside the guard.
Main exports: grain, soldiers
King
Name:- Ryker
Titles
The Dragon of the isles
The King of the Isles
Commander of the Dragon’s guard.
Duke of Emera (seldom-used; most common people on Emera wouldn't know who you meant; on the other islands where Emera is held in some contempt, it’s a derogatory comment for the King.)
Aware that the kingdom has a malaise but is unsure of the source.
Pragmatic and would like to be more ruthless, but is thwarted.
Sees the Dragon's guard as an anachronism but can't quite bring himself to disband it.
Loathes the Loremaster, but can't put his finger on why.
The court
Early mediaeval and boisterous, verging on a Norse long house, just in posher surroundings.
Access to the king is not particularly restricted. Commoners can and do bring complaints to the royal court.
Dragons
Intelligent, magic using, fire breathing, armoured - just with a tendency not to be nice.
Solitary reptiles - incredibly long lived and absorb light, mainly through their wings. Grow throughout their lives.
They are quite keen on treasure - gold and jewels, but many also value knowledge and have extensive libraries, laboratories and workshops.
Young
Don't play well with other creatures, even their own kind
can be cannibals.
Adult
Age brings some wisdom
older dragons tend to co-operate or at least avoid conflict.
Very old
tend to be extremely cautious
avoid conflict unless extremely angry or there is no other alternative
can be huge
They are subtle and may set plans in motion that will take decades or even centuries to come to fruition.
Shapeshifting
Known but not common knowledge.
They can't significantly change their eyes, e.g. colour, pupil shape and so-on. Their eye colour usually, but not always, matches their scale colour
Unless they make a mistake such as changing in front of someone, it’s impossible to detect a shape-changed dragon unless they do something to give it away.
Magic
Breathing fire - this is usually the discharge of raw magic - they try to avoid it as it takes a while to recharge.
As they get older, they learn to be more focussed and it's less of drain, so they can breathe fire more.
Total magic reserves seem to be directly related to the dragon's body weight even if they are shape shifted.
Absorption rate is directly related to the total surface area of their current form.
Small dragons charge to full faster than large ones, but large dragons charge faster than small dragons.
Colour
Colour signifies nothing
They can be any colour, red, green and brown are common, white and grey are rare. Blue and Purple are the rarest.
Their wings are always black.
Healing and death
Dragons heal fast.
About the only way to kill them is to chop their wings off - depriving them of light and food for protracted periods,
chop their heads off or other significant trauma.
Lesser injuries completely will heal in hours as long as they have either plenty of light or are well charged.
Breeding
Breeding flights happen in clusters with long intervals between. an interval is usually about 300 years but the cluster may last for 20 or 30 years
A clutch of around 10 eggs is laid and can take a year to hatch
Mothers will provide protection for the eggs and look after the dragonlets to a certain extent for a couple of year after
Once they leave, there is no family bond. Parents may often kill their children
Males
tend to be a bit smaller than females, but with slightly bigger wings
tend to be better at arial combat.
Have 2 horns
Females
Tend to be better at ground combat
Have 4 horns
Female dragons are rare and tend to be a bit larger than males of a similar age. Only about 5% of the total population are female.
Shape-changed dragons can breed with humans (and presumably other creatures), producing humans with significantly higher magical abilities.
Offspring that are at least half-dragon can go on to develop enough power and knowledge to shape-change into become full dragons. Jemryn is likely to, his sister will not be driven enough.
Known dragons
Living
* Gloriosa (Gloria, Rosa) - Giant Blue
* Oleander - Grey
* Daucus - Brown
* Zigadenus - Purple
Dead
* Ranunculus
* Celosia
* Galanthus
Missing
* Abrus - Daucus' father
Half Dragons
* Jemryn
* Skadi
Suspected Dragons
* Amanita
Other Sentient races
Elves - forest weavers, insular
Dwarves - short, bearded, insular
Goblins/Orcs - short, fertile, aggressive, brutal society
Giants - Tall, aggressive, brutal society
Loremaster
Name:- Ranunculus
Ancient male dragon - runt - mad as a fish
He is about 4 feet high at the shoulder, 20 feet long and with a fifty foot wing span
Forced to use his brain to avoid being killed and eaten by his peers when young and is probably the best spell caster going - do more with less
Desperate to take over Gloria's kingdom and rule.
Cast a spell on Gloriosa that traps a dragon into a shifted shape (human). Eating food will break the spell. Life is maintained by absorbing light.
Caught in his own spell, he loathes humans but realises he can't break the enchantment over himself without
1. risking breaking the enchantment over Gloriosa
2. being killed by the dragon's guard
He will still cast some minor spells, mostly illusions but won't do anything spectacular because his surface area is too small to absorb enough light to recharge.
He suspects the Preceptor is smarter than he looks and thinks a change of Preceptor is overdue.
He has built a parabolic mirror in the top floor of the library to focus light. He spends a lot of time sitting in front of it charging himself up.
He caused the pools that fed light into the Lady's hall to be filled in to try and kill Gloriosa by starving her of light.
He believes that she has died; the fact that she hasn't burst out of the lady's hall and the girls haven't mentioned her has convinced him.
Loremistress
Gloria, Rosa, Gloriosa - ancient female dragon
She is about 16 feet high at the shoulder, 80 feet long and with a 200 foot wing span
She weighs around 64 times as much as Ranunculus and is 16 times as strong physically
One of the very few dragons who ever openly shape-changed.
Male dragons were the first to call her the Jewel of the Isles which indicates her value and desirability.
Second best spell caster, but far more powerful than the lore master due to her huge wings/mass.
Trapped in a shifted shape by the loremaster. she cast a stasis spell to keep herself alive when the lights went out. This is the cause of the malaise in the kingdom.
The first dragon to recognise that humans could collaborate and that using them to create food rather eating them was a good move.
After some years she realised that teams of fighters, suitably armed, armoured and trained were more than a match for most solitary dragons
Over centuries of working with humans, she has learnt empathy from and twoards them and actually quite likes them.
She has the same problem as the loremaster - the dragon's guard will kill her if she breaks the spell unless she gains significant magic reserves.
Now she's awake, she's very very angry and intends to tear the loremaster apart - slowly, before retaking her domain
Knights
Intended to protect Gloriosa and fight marauding dragons but now mostly serve as justices of the peace for serious cases
Their armour is
powered by dragons blood, it need soaking in fresh blood to recharge
enchanted
to heal them very quickly
suppress "appetites", a side effect is that food seems bland
the visors can be seen through, even though they are opaque from the outside.
prevents mind or body control by outside influences
prevents the knight being tracked.
It's made of Gloriosa's shed scales and her blood (initially)
Gloriosa is the only being who knows how to make it.
the female knights are called valkyrs and have been known to use poisoned weapons
Preceptor
Full dragon
His real name is Daucus -
His mother was queen Karaliene, a descendant of Gloria
Abrus, his father was a dragon, interested in trying to find the jewel of the isles. He left the court abruptly and disappeared from history.
Daucus completed guard training but spent twenty years as the ambassador to the Areetan court. There he learnt to harness his power and turn into a dragon.
Predecessors Leif, Garth
He has retained his human emotions and loves his home, returning to join the guard when his half-brother took the throne to bolster their claim.
Appears to be a stuffy follower of military tradition but that’s just a facade
Previous, more overtly curious knights and preceptors have met a sticky end in strange circumstances.
The preceptor is well aware of the Loremaster "changing the truth" and that the kingdom has some kind of stasis affecting it.
He believes that the Loremaster is solely responsible and that forcing change, such as admitting women, may bring matters to a head.
He thinks a change of Loremaster is overdue.
He completely trusts his second in command, Sir Henrik.
He also keeps a diary, documenting the Loremaster.
Henrik
second in command
Blunt, ruthless, intelligent, loyal to the preceptor.
He knows that he isn't suited to be Preceptor but would step up if he has to.
He and the Preceptor often talk in the garden so he's well aware of the Preceptor's suspicions/theories and tends to agree with him.
Lars
dour and laconic
Anders
Joker
Garrulous
left for a while to train Camryn
Bern
left for a while to train Camryn
Bjarne
Big lad, but quiet.
Blevin
Allegedly a silly old fool and got murdered in a brothel before the story started.
His demise was plotted by the Loremaster because he was getting too close to the truth.
He was murdered while looking for more information and was tricked into removing his armor.
Actually a very clever and academic man who let his guard slip once.
+ 6 more
Candidates
Noblemen
Vann - crown prince
Intelligent and born to command. Is also aware of the malaise of the kingdom. He's observed that other courts are now far in advance of the isles.
Jemryn Farrenreed
Very intelligent but not interested in trade.
currently a page in the service of the knights
Davorin Golniabar
Hrafn Iskander
Dark haired and swarthy
Noblewomen
Bria - Royal Princess, the king's niece
Camryn Blackrock - impetuous, talkative, poisoned.
Adeline Benduil - quiet and competentent - a skilled outdoorswoman
Nia Skarran - nervous and shy but made of steel deep down
Guards
Ragni
From Emera
Son of a blacksmith
dead - poisoned by a poleaxe
Atli
From Golniabar
Followed his father into the guards
Heikki
From Blackrock
Son of a Mine Master
Tapani
From Lulnun
Son of a barber/surgeon but had dreams of glory so joined the guard.
Others
Karhu
Weapon smith and armourer - best described as a badly shaved bear.
Narfi
A scrawny whippet and a small time thief
Ulf
A scrawny whippet and a small time thief.