A Timeline of the Midland Wars

After a couple of weeks describing the Midland Wars – six decades of war which ravaged the Midlands of Airthai – I’m now posting a timeline to show how everything fits together – and a link to the page where all the Midland Wars posts can be read together.

Click here for larger version

Click here for larger version

Some more maps and other Airthai-goodies can be seen at this Pinterest board.

WIP: The Last Dragon Seeker
Spoiler alert! First go and read A Dragon’s Freedom and Price of Freedom before continuing if you don’t want to see any details.

I’m hard at work on the new WIP which takes place during the last years of these Wars and I’m really excited at the whole new world opening up. The main character in this WIP is Nasja’s granddaughter who is one of the Dragon Seekers. She ventures even farther north than her grandfather and I hope to give this short story/novella the epic scope it deserves.

Worldbuilding Wednesday – Making Maps

Many of the fantasy world maps available on the net are beautiful computer renditions of the worlds. Mine, alas, is not. Well, not yet. One reason is that I don’t have mapmaking software. The more important reason is that I enjoy drawing them by hand. And while I’ve posted a few maps, I also make maps as I go along to map out certain places, cities or, in the case below, the site of the Battle of the Shadow Plain. This one was made in a notebook while I was plotting out the Midland Wars.

The map I refer to on this page is this one – three maps showing the Midland Wars:

The Battle of the Shadow Plain
And so it was that, in the fifty-fifth year of the Midland Wars, King Maeldra of Guldargan met the forces of Ikaira on Argavér, the Shadow Plain. The battle was terrible, but Ikaira was victorious and took up the crown of Guldargan. Maeldra was killed during that battle and the Fáll retreated into the Great Wood. A semblance of peace fell upon Guldargan for a short time and the skirmishes with the surrounding kingdoms petered out and many diplomatic missions were sent to the surrounding kingdoms. By Ikaira’s request, the Keepers of Théotriewe and Holt Haliern helped to bring peace to the north of the Midlands and secure what little was left of Guldargan.

But this was not the end of the Fáll, for they crowned Maeldra’s young son Markus their king and believed him the one true king of Guldargan as he was a direct descendant of King Gile. They built a great fortress on the blood drenched plain of Argavér and secured much of the land around it for themselves through their dark magic. Soon all the land under the Fáll’s control was called Argavér or the Shadow Lands.

Links to previous Midland Wars posts:
Part 1: First Strike
Part 2: Sanctuaries
Part 3: The Rise of the Fáll
Part 4: The Southern Lands during the Midland Wars
Part 5: The Dragons and Guardians’ New Home
Part 6: The Oath Breakers

To read more about Nasja and the other Guardians, read “A Dragon’s Freedom” or “The Price of Freedom” by clicking on the links.

The Midland Wars: The Oath Breakers

Sorry for the late Worldbuilding post this week, but better late than never!


The Dragon Guardians and Seekers are Betrayed
It is an unfortunate fact that one great downfall of fallen mortals is their greed. A greed for money, a greed for fame or a greed for power. After the Diminishing in Airthai, this greed became more and more apparent. For a time people were easily delineated into those who follow the Light and those who rather chose to follow the Shadow. Soon, however, this was no longer so. Betrayals to the Light could come from anywhere. Peoples drifted apart, became new nations, drenched the fields and plains of Airthai with blood and at last cried out for help. And so the Great Sundering of the Lands took place. But still some of those who followed the Shadow remained on the Continent. Keeping their blood vows, the Werlea did the work of the Lewjan and won many to their side. The darkness slowly crept across the Continent once more, leaving no kingdom untouched in however small a way.

After the return of Nasja to the city of Diuzisborg it became known to all that even some of the Dragon Guardians had fallen to the Shadow. Shunned by their dragons and by the Guardians, many sought their revenge by spreading rumours, but a few also set out on the road. One went to the Khallahna, where he was turned away by the Elders who still remembered the oath of the Dragon Guardians all too well. They would have nothing to do with the oath breaker and sent him away. This was before the Khallahna wars, when the House of Khallahna split into the Khalné, who followed the Light, and the Khalvér, who followed the Shadow. Not knowing where to turn, he set out further eastward to Trelkanor and then, towards the coast and the kingdom of Sëarë. It was to be his last journey, as he was set upon by robbers on the road to the Trelkanorian city of Ahrlëa, and slain for what little he had – a few coins, a coat of velvet and the Dragon’s Gift stone he still carried. Here his story ended, though that of the Dragon’s Gift he carried would still go on.

The Oath Breakers
The other guardians who left their home kingdom of Reiaghy took the merchant road northwards towards the Death Plain, Dumál, Treddian and, at last, Guldargan. Here, in the Midlands, they found the lands embroiled in war. Rumours of the wild dragons reached them and they made their way to the ruined Dragon Hall. Soon they found King Gile and told him that they could teach him how to tame the wild dragons and bend them to his will.  Gile jumped at the chance of learning the secrets of the dragons. Together, the shunned Guardians set out to the northwest to search for the dragons in the swamps north of the Great Wood, accompanied by a few of Gile’s guards.
But, while the shunned guardians – those who came to be known as the Oath Breakers – headed towards the swamps, one made his way back to Gile in the dead of night. Kneeling in front of the king of Guldargan and swearing his very life to him.
“I will teach you to speak to the dragon, to bind it to your will. When the others return with the dragon, you will be ready to slay your enemies and rebuild the empire your forefathers had seen in their dreams.”
Gile smiled at this and instated Lewja – for this is what the oathbreaker called himself in his arrogance – as his personal tutor and advisor. Lewja also had the mark of the black dragon tattooed on his face like the king. Some even said that they swore a blood oath to the Shadow.
Those who went to find the dragons; were faced with such wild beasts, that they could not control them. Their minds had turned to shadow, and even the words of Nasja had all but been forgotten. The dragons attacked the men who tried to speak to them and to bind them, slaying them and the guards. Their bloodlust were fuelled and it was after this that attacks on towns and cities started.
Gile and Lewja soon realised that none of the others were returning with a dragon and Lewja started to fear for his life. But Gile continued to learn as much as he could of the dragon’s tongue. However, when he had learned all that he could, he had Lewja slain. This was five years before Gile’s death. Gile would, in turn, teach his son, Galdra, all he could of the dragon’s tongue.

Links to previous Midland Wars posts:
Part 1: First Strike
Part 2: Sanctuaries
Part 3: The Rise of the Fáll
Part 4: The Southern Lands during the Midland Wars
Part 5: The Dragons and Guardians’ New Home

To read more about Nasja and the other Guardians, read “A Dragon’s Freedom” or “The Price of Freedom” by clicking on the links.

Worldbuilding Wednesday – The Dragons and Guardians’ New Home

In the previous weeks I have given a sweeping view over the history of the Midland Wars in Airthai. From the outbreak of the war between Guldargan and its neighbouring countries, to the Sanctuaries formed by the Keepers of Éamidtheo, Théotriewe and Holt Haliern, the vast change in the borders of the Midland countries and the rise of the Fáll. Then I turned my view southward once more to the Dragon City of the south and what happened to the dragons and their guardians and left the history with Guardians setting out to search for a new home among the Western Isles.

The Midland Wars – The Dragons and Guardians’ New Home

The ship the Dragon Claw left the harbour of Diuzisborg at dawn, accompanied by four Dragon Guardians – Nasja, Mairejath, Helagh and Nahshon – and the dragon Thayrla. Using the established trade routes, they travelled northwards along the coast before setting out towards the Western Isles from Black Harbour.  Six times they saw the enormous shapes of the Sea Dragons, but not once did they attack and the ship reached the Western Isle, which was called Aer Lharna*, or Moon Isle, safely.
On the shore was gathered a group of nine people. All were dressed in brown, white and green and each held a carved wooden staff. The staffs were all decorated with finely-wrought patterns in silver and green dragon tears were set into the wood. Upon their brows they wore the red dragon tears the Guardians called Dragon Gifts. The women among them wore long veils of such fine golden beadwork over their hair that it seemed as if their hair was of spun gold. All bore markings on their faces and arms, traced in green, unlike the black patterns seen on the continent.

Caythan told them how these were not permanent markings, but worn during times of trouble or when they fasted or mourned. Permanent marking – like those the Werlea (or Gile) had were shunned by them as they said that nothing in the world is permanent and therefore no permanent mark shall be placed on their bodies as all things will pass away before the final ending of the world.

These folk, the Dréothér, met the Guardians with saddened faces, saying that they had been shown this event in a dream. One, wearing many traces of green upon his face, chest and arms, spoke in the Dragon Tongue: “I saw great fields of golden grass burning; I saw a great many people suffer and I saw red dragons. Then I saw a ship bearing four lanterns being drawn to shore by a blue dragon. It has been very long since a blue dragon has visited our shores, let alone the Dragon Guardians of the Continent.”
The Guardians marvelled at the dream that had been given to these people and told them why they had come and of the wars raging in the Midlands of the Continent.

After seven days it was decided that the Dragon Guardians could come to join the green dragons and the Dréothér – or People of the Dragon – on the isle. But, it was added, some Guardians needed to remain behind in order to help the ship cross the ocean safely.
“It would be wrong to leave the coast so unprotected,” they rightly argued, “especially after being saved from the Sundered Lands and gifted the great house in Diuzisborg.” They also told of their worries about the wild dragons that now lived in the Midlands. The Dréothér spoke of text written even before the Sundering that told of how dragons were turned back to the light during the wars with the Shadow’s creatures.

At their return to Diuzisborg, Nasja told the Dragon Elder Lasnith what the Dréothér had told them. “If we do not have the texts they speak of,” he said, “the library of Holt Haliern will contain it in its vast libraries. There are many texts which have been forgotten by the world outside its walls and many date from before the Sundering.”
“You have seen them?” Lasnith asked.
“I have, though I never read them. The Keepers showed me much of the history of Airthai and the Midlands in the short time I was with them.”

After days of searching, Lasnith wrote a letter to the Wíslic of Holt Haliern with a heavy heart and Nasja and Mairejath took leave before Nasja set out to Holt Haliern. Nasja did find the text of which the Dréothér had spoken in the Sanctuary’s library and it was painstakingly copied as it had been many times before. But even with the care of the Keepers of Holt Haliern, a part of the book had gotten lost over the centuries and none of the earliest text still existed from which the information could be gleaned. So it was that Nasja returned to Diuzisborg with the text after many months. The text – which he had already studied as it was being copied – contained much information that would help them to save the dragons of the Midlands. But he also knew that he would not be able to do the work alone.

Those who studied this text and learned both how dragons could be brought back to the Light or turned towards the Shadow became known as the Dragon Seekers. Vowing only to help those dragons who had fallen or turned wild become themselves again, they set out to the Midlands when they were needed, often staying with the Keepers of Holt Haliern for long periods of time.

It was, however, also during this time that the Dragon Guardians and the dragons left their house and the shores of the Southern Lands for the Isles. Soon only a few were left who trained what few Guardians could be found among the people of the city and who travelled with the ships up and down the coast. Weary and saddened, they travelled to their new home. Within a few generations, even the Dragon Seekers would have left the Continent, leaving stories of the dragons to become little more than legends in the Midlands.

After the death of the dragon Skáhag many centuries later, the true majesty of these creatures were forgotten, replaced with the few tales of the wild dragons that was still told in the Midlands. Only on the Southern Coast did a few remember how the dragons had once kept them safe from the Fallen.

Next Week: The Seekers are Betrayed

Links to previous Midland Wars posts:
Part 1: First Strike
Part 2: Sanctuaries
Part 3: The Rise of the Fáll
Part 4: The Southern Lands during the Midland Wars

To read more about Nasja and the other Guardians, read “A Dragon’s Freedom” or “The Price of Freedom” by clicking on the links.

*For more about the moon and lunar folklore in Airthai, click here.

Photos courtesy of www.sxc.hu

Worldbuilding Wednesday: The Southern Lands during the Midland Wars

Welcome to another Worldbuilding Wednesday. I’ve spent these last few Wednesdays looking at the Midland Wars – links to these posts can be found at the end of this post. Just because things has been happening in the Midlands, doesn’t mean the rest of the kingdoms and stories of Airthai has stood still, though. So, this week I’m looking at what happened to the Dragon Keepers and the dragons while the Midland Wars were raging.

The Midland Wars (Part 4) – The Southern Lands during the Midland Wars

While war ravaged the Midlands of the Continent, the Dragon Guardians of Reiaghy faced a difficult choice. After the attack on the dragons, told of in the story called “The Price of Freedom”, all eyes were on the dragons and their Guardians. Memories of the night in which the dragons had attacked the city twelve years before were still well remembered and another night of fire was feared even after the Guardians assured the people of the city that the dragons would not attack.

The eggs which had been stowed away by the Guardians were returned to the dragons’ nests and the bodies of the slain dragons and guardians were given proper burials. Much had been lost, but the Guardians also realised the grave danger that they had been in and were thankful that so many had been spared. Even so, much had changed between the Guardians and the City Elders. Where once the Guardians were the pride of the city and held in high esteem, they now were more feared than before and looked down upon by City Elders and common citizens alike.

Rumours began to spread – first within the city and then beyond – that the Guardians used dark magic to control the dragons and not their Talent and the tongue gifted to them by the Light. Many of these rumours were purported to have been started by the Guardians whose dragons had shunned them after they had turning from the light.

Soon the Guardians realised that they were no longer safe or welcome in their city and even some of the ships ventured into the ocean without a dragon escort. Many were attacked by the sea dragons and many lives were lost without reason. Dragon Guardians, walking alone in the city were also attacked and two were killed. Their murderers were not found and soon, not only the Guardians, but also the dragons themselves were demanding justice to be done and their safety to be guaranteed. Dragons remained at the House of the Guardians to keep the house safe from attack and during this time an even greater bond was formed between the dragons and their guardians.

 At last the Dragon Elder Lasnith decided that they could wait no longer. He sent for Caythan, the captain of the merchant ship Dragon Claw and chose four of the Guardians to go to the greatest of the Western Isles where the Green Dragons lived and to request lands for the Dragon Guardians and the dragons of the Southern Lands.

Links to previous Midland Wars posts:
Part 1: First Strike
Part 2: Sanctuaries
Part 3: The Rise of the Fáll

To read more about Nasja and the other Guardians, read “A Dragon’s Freedom” or “The Price of Freedom” by clicking on the links. Enjoy!

For those readers who can understand Afrikaans – check out today’s post at Kammastories, or click here for the English version.

Photo: "Ocean" Courtesy of Timobalk at http://www.sxc.hu

Worldbuilding Wednesday – The Midland Wars

The ‘short story’ called “The Price of Freedom”, which was supposed to take place after the story “A Dragon’s Freedom” in order to move the overall story of Airthai forward a bit*, turned into more of a novel length work… but the stories of the kingdoms and peoples of the Southern and Midlands doesn’t end there.
After Gile received the crown some of his men decided that they could not longer follow him and the surrounding kingdoms saw an opportunity. And the paw-paw kind of hits the fan** for Gile – especially when he learns that he won’t be getting his hands on any more dragons and he only knows one order in their tongue (now quite useless, thanks to Ryger). This brings me to a time of great change in the kingdoms of the Midlands.

The Midland Wars – part 1:

First strike
The kingdoms of Ealdfesten and Guldargan already had a disputed border to the east of the capital city of Guldargan and when Ealdfesten learned that Guldargan no longer had any dragons, they were the first to launch small raids beyond their border.
When Marcus passed away and Gile became king, it was not even a fortnight before Ealdfesten attacked Guldargan with a large force of men and pushed their own border westward to the main city.

Through the next six decades various battles and wars were fought and the borders of the kingdoms of the midlands changed dramatically through these years. These wars are collectively known as the Midland Wars and would change not only the kingdoms and their people, but also the Keepers and their function in the Midlands for good.

After Ealdfesten’s attack, the kingdoms around Guldargan now took their chance and Aefterra – to the northeast of Guldargan and north of Ealdfesten – attacked Guldargan as well. While Treddian at first stayed an attack on Guldargan, they did attack when Ealdfesten had conquered all of the southern lands of Guldargan and had reached Treddians eastern border. The Keepers of Holt Haliern and Eamidthéo tried in vain to reach a compromise with Ealdfesten, but they would hear none of it and the bloodshed on the Southern Fields was great and the men from Ealdfesten burned a great swathe of the land as well. Because it was autumn and quite dry, the fire spread fast and many who were not soldiers lost their lives and many others their livelihoods. These people were both of Treddian and Guldargan (before Ealdfesten conquered the land), but with nowhere else to go, they made their way to the Keepers together to look for help.  

Next week: The Midland Wars, part 2 - Sanctuaries

*To get the “middle part” between “A Dragon’s Freedom” and “Yet untitled story” told… Stories just love getting out of hand!

**Yes, this is an accepted rendering of the “item + fan idiom”…

Worldbuilding Wednesday – Shape shifters: The Tellerassar

One of the races of Airthai is the Tellerassar of Heimfeie. They are shape shifters, who were given the Talent of being able to change into the form of an eagle and back into human form at will.

In Airthai, new races may be formed in certain circumstances - for instance, the Tellerassar were 'normal' humans before they fought and fled from the then ruler of Guldargan (a few centuries before “A Dragon’s Freedom”). Life was difficult and the ruler basically enslaved his people. His half brother stood up against him, supported by many followers. This half brother was Ikairi, the first of the Tellerassar (and mentioned in passing in “A Dragon’s Freedom”. A civil war broke out and Ikairi found himself and his followers cornered within a ravine, about to be slaughtered by Guldargan’s soldiers. He begged the Creator to save his people and the Creator then gave them a great gift the Talent to turn into the shape of an eagle and so they were able to escape. They also received their own language to set them aside from the other people of Guldargan.

The Land of the Shape-shifters

The small country of the Tellerassar is called Heimfeie and is a mountainous part of Airthai, just north of the Midlands. Here they live in houses built on the cliffs, keeping them safe from attack. (Other than just being really cool…) There are, however also some villages in the valleys where the Scría live. They use signals of smoke to alert the Tellerassar if they are in danger; burning a specific plant found in this area which gives of very dark smoke when burnt, making it easy to spot at a distance.

The Appearance of the Tellerassar

I love Fish Eagles and their unearthly call seemed perfect for the Tellerassar. And the idea of being able to shape-shift has a certain fascination. So, the Tellerassar “coincidentally” looks and sounds a lot like the Fish Eagles you get on Earth…

This is how a Fish Eagle looks:

Fish Eagle in flight

And you can listen to its distinctive callhere.

Worldbuilding Wednesday – Cities of promises and riches

Worldbuilding Wednesday & Behind the Story

In the next part of The Price of Freedom (to be posted next Monday), I return to one of the parts of Airthai I have only written one short piece about (that has seen the light of the blog). One of the flash pieces I wrote for NaShoStoMo earlier in the year, entitled “The City of Promise”, was set on route to one of the larger and richer cities of the Southern Lands – Marglóthborg.

City of Promise

While this piece started out with the quite cliché ‘young-man-with-father’s-sword-setting-out-to-big-city’, I wanted it specifically not to be epic or have the young man’s life influence a whole kingdom. He wasn’t going to overthrow an evil empire, dark lord or even gather great riches. He was simply a young man with an heirloom setting out to find work in a large city so that he could send money home to his family. I doubt there are many families on the whole of the earth that doesn’t have this story in some form or another in their family. His choice to become a guard for one of the rich families did mean, however, that he was able to send more money home than he would have if he had gone to work in the mines. I specifically wanted to write a fantasy piece where the hero of the story is simply a hero to his family because he could help care for them. Yet, he also makes a choice to go against his father’s wishes and becomes someone who earns his living with a sword.

Worldbuilding the Dry Bay – Marglóthborg and Black Harbour

Northwest of the lands of the Seafolk, after the Dragon Cliffs and Dhôr Mountains, lies a large, semi-desert bay area called Dry Bay. The land here is rich in minerals and metals and are known for its various kinds of mines as well as the extravagant lifestyle of the cities’ rich.

There are different kinds of mines in the parts situated around the Dry Bay. There are salt mines – some of the richest in Airthai and the salt of which is said to have health properties as well and are very costly and traded throughout the Continent. The most important mines, however, are those where dragon tears are mined – one of only two places in the whole of Airthai where this is done. The second is in Naeddre, where the tears of Skáhag is mined on a much smaller scale[1] and traded with the Northern Lands (the only time dragon tears have been mined where the name of the dragon is known). The dragon tears of Marglóthborg, however, have been laid down by generations of dragons before and right after the Great Sundering.

Black Harbour is named after the black rocks and sand found in the area – a reference of which is also made in “The City of Promise”. This is the most southerly part of the western coast of Airthai where this black ground and rocks are found and the harbour here is also the most southerly one from where ships can sail in relative safety around the Dragon Cliffs (accompanied by one of the southern dragons) to the harbour at Diuzisborg.

To read “The City of Promise”, click here.

A Map of Part of the Southern Lands

The Lands of Airthai after the Great Sundering

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[1] No pun intended.

Worldbuilding: Map of the Dragon City

I’ve almost finished a (proper) sketch of Duizisborg and its surrounds!

A Map of "The Dragon City of the South"

Unfortunately, there ended up not being enough space on this map to get all the names in, so I’ve reverted to using a numbered list.  I have yet to write them on the map, so here’s a separate list, for now:

1. The Northern Gate
2. The House of the Dragon Guardians
3. The Inner City (the richest part of the city)
4. The Eastern Gate
5. The Harbour
6. Lighthouse
7. Lighthouse
8. The Square/ Dragon Square
9. The Poor Quarter
10. The Watchtowers
11. Dragon Lake

The little triangles are the main fountains, as the city gets most of its water from an underground water network.

Read more about the city here, or read “The Price of Freedom” (part 1 to 5) here.