I was thinking of a few things as I continue to write this story. For one, changing the title from Dragonaire to Dragonnaire. More closely to associate with the original term “Legonnaire”.
Second change, changing the main protagonist’s name from “Skye” to “Deryke”. Dunno, Skye seems a little… too weak as a main character’s name for me. And the name is moving it closer to the term ‘Dragons’.
I was looking through some weird ideas I had and was sorting through what to use and what I should chuck aside. For one, people in those sort of fantasy medieval times do not actually have surnames. Usually just their names with the place they were born placed behind or their profession. The world was not as populated back then. But I guess I can still change it in my story.
So maybe…. first names are given to them by whoever raised them. Second name (not surname) are given to those who sought a ‘Drane Sayer’. Drane is the common language of Draagterra. Drane Sayers are like… mystics? They bestow second names upon those whom they see fit, or those who can afford them. I guess this is to say that second names are sometimes seen as a way to distinguish those with wealth and those without. But Drane Sayers also travel the lands often and bestow many people with second names even without coin. In the end second names are not as important. Any further additional names are more ceremonial than anything. Those who are part of the Dragoon and Dragonnaire order will be bestowed a second name in the event they do not have one.
Well, mainly this is me being lazy as hell to change what I had written. Second names function similarly to family names, but they do not get passed down through the family. So a family of five may have 5 different second names. It is possible for people of the same blood to have the same second name, due to the ‘connection’ they hold to one another that the Drane Sayer ‘sees’.
Another thing to address is the manner of which the Order and the rest of the Kingdoms operate. The Order is made up of two main groups, the Dragonnaires and the Dragoons. The Dragoons were once Dragon hunters (something illegal and vile in Draagterra) who used ‘Resonance’ to boost their own abilities (resonance being the connection they can establish with Dragons). However a group of these Dragon hunters betrayed their own kind and joined up with the Dragonnaires, hunting the rest down. With that the Dragoon order came to be. Resonance comes in 3 levels.
The first is synchronising with a Dragon Soul (can be a Dragon, or a Dragonnaire but Fangs, personal Dragoons to Wings of the Dragonnaire Order, have strong resonance with their own Wings), in which they own physical abilities are boosted beyond normal limits. They can become as strong as Dragons. The second would be producing an ephemeral figure of a dragon behind them. So a physical manifestation of the resonance that takes the form of a Dragon around the Dragoon. Only Fangs should have this abilities, but several other high ranking Dragoons have it as well. The third and last would be fusion, in which the physical manifestation of that resonance no longer becomes ephemeral and solidifies into a physical and solid armour that the Dragoon wears. Almost no one, not even Fangs, can do this well, and is only speculated to exist.
The Dragoons and the Dragonnaires were envisioned to be pure fantasy based, so their armour and weapons are not really practical in a real world sense. However, the seven Kingdoms are more based around practicality and reality (besides the mixed fantasy races and the dragons).
The Red Kingdom is the largest and has the most numerous in terms of military strength due to the previous King’s military doctrine. Since his passing, his daughter had taken over and turned the Red Kingdom into a defensive one, which earned the respect from her people for the stoppage of war, but also earned the ire of those in the militaristic nobles, who want to further their expansion. They have become a more peaceful nation that strives to be more open to new ideas and accept in the dradrian races (though many still do not like them).
The Blue Kingdom is the kingdom of magic, the main homeland of the dwarves and the mines of magic crystals and minerals. The kingdom of blue is mainly characterised as being antagonistic to the Red Kingdom due to them being neighbouring kingdoms, as well as their strong affinity for magic (dwarves have their own brand of magic). The blue kingdom is quite protective of its magical mines and study of magic, and be seen as stingy or arrogant because of that.
The Green Kingdom is the kingdom of spirits and nature, homeland to the large clan of elves and located in the midst of the largest forest on the continent. They are somewhat Oriental Asian in design mixed in with naturalistic themes. They are attuned with nature and normally keep to themselves, with the thick forest they reside in being a natural protection from invasion. The current ruler is a relative to the Green Wing of the Dragonnaire Order.
The Yellow Kingdom is located on the mountain ranges, where a large number of flying races reside. This Kingdom enjoys a natural defensive structure of the mountains, but their offensive strategy focuses around speed rather than strength. The yellow Kingdom often attacks the Kingdom of Brown but in recent years has seen an internal struggle between the Queen regent, and the crown prince. Although being divided, they are still able to repel invading forces from the Brown Kingdom.
The Brown Kingdom is located on the edge of a desert by an Ocean. Holding onto a large naval fleet and being well versed in desert warfare, the Brown Kingdom is also a Kingdom that seeks knowledge no matter what shape or form. Prosperous in trade, and home to some of the best schools and scholars on the continent, the Brown Kingdom accepts all people who seeks knowledge, but detests those who seek to invade and will retaliate with full force (such as in the case of the Yellow Kingdom). Because of their trade and schools, the Brown Kingdom is home to many gnomes and gremlins, who love to tinker with machines.
The White Kingdom is the Kingdom of the white marble, a well sought after material for its strength and beauty. The White Kingdom is extremely religious (religion in Draagterra is mainly worshiping the Ancient Dragons, and the first few humans who were chosen by the Ancient ones to rule), and mimics the real life religious European area. They are very conservative and believes in purity of the races. So they hate the Dradrian races.As the White Kingdom is in the middle of the cloudless snow plains, it has an interesting mix of weather. The snow doesn’t melt even if the Sun is shining constantly. The White Kingdom has knights that specialise in healing magic and they have extremely strong defense in their armour (due to the white marble material they incorporate into their armour).
The Black Kingdom is the Kingdom of the ever night. While it isn’t always night, this Kingdom has longer nights than others, and is home to many rare herbs that flourish in the night. Located in a rather remote area, the Black Kingdom suffered during the first Dark war as the armies of the other Kingdoms could not reach them quickly enough to lend aid. Its remote area also made the miasma that remained after the war harder to dissipate. The Black Kingdom was an unusual Kingdom, since the people from there are known to exude a presence that made people trust them to a certain extent. The Black Kingdom is also home to an elite group of fighters known as ‘Dragon Blood’. The Dragon Blood are chosen by their blood, hence their name, but not in the same sense as how people would think. In the same sense as the Dragoons are chosen, the Dragon Blood are chosen by how well their blood reacts to certain herbs that the Black Kingdom rears, that boosts their strength. Since its downfall, the Black Kingdom has seen an influx of Dradrian refugees who ran away from prosecution of other kingdoms.
Dradrian races are references to the humanoid races who look human, but bear some characteristics of the different races (not like those who are different races but have minimal humnoid features, like standing on 2 legs and stuff). Dradrian is the term used for the humanoids who have some dragon features, like dragon wings, tail and horns (but other than that look human). Dradrians are respected, but the other dradrian races (Varmdradrian, Avaridradrian, Aiyledradrian etc.) are not, and considered unwanted, despite having the term ‘dradrian’ in their race name. Aiyle (elves) and Gwevalka (dwarves) are part of the ‘Delvas’ group together with humans, as they all look similar to one another. Aiyledradrian are basically half elves but still are looked down with disgust by other races.
The Order is special in that it does not hold any discrimination towards any race or Kingdom. They are meant to be a neutral organisation but there are still certain resentments at times.
The plan for this story has spiralled out of proportions in my head. It started out with just the first story about Deryke and his abilities as the twin souled. But then I started to write the second story, which details the Dragoon knight Theresea Langly, who is tasked with guarding Deryke. While Theresea was meant to be the Fang of the previous Black Wing, the previous Black Wing died in the first dark war without her able to fulfill her duty and now she has been tasked to guard the new black Wing, Deryke?
The second story is about Deryke trying to understand what is going on in the Black Kingdom after the war (he is tipped off by A Dragoon Lord that things might be dangerous for the entire Kingdom). Though the story is about Deryke’s journey, the main character is Theresea, and also Cync, a young girl Deryke and Theresea will meet in the Black Kingdom. Cync would be taken in to be a Dragoon and will be Deryke’s first Fang by the end of the second story. While Theresea will not be Deryke’s fang by the end of the second story, she is meant to be Deryke’s fang by the 4th story.
The third story would be focusing on a squire of the Red Kingdom and his aspirations to be a Dragon Knight. Together with his childhood friend, he will train hard to be accepted into the elite group of the Kingdom. But the Red Kingdom is still having conflicts with the Blue Kingdom and the internal strife between the pacifist and war factions make life in the army hard. The Dragon Knight would then be attached to guard the princess (she is not yet named Queen due to certain problems). While he is a guard, he gets to meet Deryke, Theresea and a Dragon Blood member from the Black Kingdom (by the end of the second story, Deryke would be ruling regent of Black Kingdom). Soon the red Kingdom is sent spiraling into chaos with the warring faction suddenly starting a coup. The Dragon Knight would need to flee with the princess. They seek a legendary Dragon Knight who was banished due to a taboo (she managed to drink from the Life River when it isn’t suppose to be possible). The legendary dragon knight (who is immortal and unaging due to that taboo), helps them get back the princess to safety and manages to chase out the warring faction from the main capital. Supposedly the Dragon knight is meant to die at the end of this story and the main character is revealled to be actually the immortal knight.
The fourth story would delve into the Black Blade, a group that appears throughout the previous stories that seems to be manipulating events behind the scenes, though will focus on the Freemen of Draagterra. In this story, I had planned to make Theresea finally become Deryke’s fang… but in way I don’t think I want to actually write it. I was thinking the ceremony of becoming a fang was to drink a drop of blood from the Dragonnaire. No, Deryke is not meant to die (he is central to the whole series), but Theresea is? To hold back the Black Blade while Deryke escapes, Theresea is suppose to exchange blood with Deryke through a kiss (?) thus establishing a fang pact between them in an unusual way. Theresea would sacrifice herself (though using the entirety of the resonance power in full form) and be able to hold the Black Blade long enough and be powerful enough to deal with a large number of Black Blade members, so much that the Black Blade higher ranking numbers comment that if Theresea was not injured prior, they may all died.
The whole series is meant to be written such that each sequel will be seeing the world of Draagterra through the eyes of a new character. The new character’s position would be talked about in the previous story (eg. in the first story, Dragoons were briefly talked about, in the second story, Dragon Knights are talked about etc.), and the main characters from the previous stories will appear in the later stories (I was thinking that Theresea should stay dead, but I drew her design and liked it a little too much… maybe bring her back somehow? Or just don’t kill her off?)
This series is meant to look at 7 different stories, since it has the 7 Kingdoms…. but I am slightly unsure if I want to write that many… I have basic plans for story 3 and 4. I am almost done with the first story (though I really really want to rewrite it), and currently focusing on the second story. The first story was meant to be submitted to a light novel writing competition that was easily accessible to Japanese people wanting to learn English, so the language, grammar and vocabulary used were suppose to be extremely simple… but since the competition is over without me submitting it, I have been wanting to change the format of the story to match the second story, which uses a lot more complex words and grammar style. Still… I am lazy to rewrite the first story… maybe just publish it as it is?
Imagination's fart 