Category Archives: Dragonette

Here There Be Dragonettes

Gentle Reader journeys to the Enchanters of Sye world today. Let Lita make introductions. Please meet a wee charmer, the dragonette. These sentient magical creatures are the colors of the four magic types: Earthe, Mer, Aer, and Fyre.

This hatchling is an Earthe dragonette because of its brown color and is small enough to sit in an Enchanter’s palm. This talkative creature will grow into a five-foot wingspan.

A dragonette is a miniature five-pound dragon, typically 4’ long with wing span almost 5’ wide. Domesticated dragonettes are the pampered pets of magic workers and Enchanters.

Along with a basic omnivore diet of fish and fresh vegetables, dragonettes must also consume magical essence every day to stay alive. Because they eat magic, dragonette caretakers must acquire and register their dracons through the local Magic Guild.

Much more about Sye’s dragonettes…

Stories from the Enchanters of Sye fantasy world:

Lita’s Magic Show: Dire Secret and a Dragonette

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Dire Secret and a Dragonette

Welcome to the forest near Lita’s castle–a place where wandering wizards pull up their colorful carts and put on magic shows.

This is the first of a series of posts about the comings and goings of the folks at the ongoing magic faire outside of Lita’s castle. When dusk settles in, the mages gather and tell their stories around the campfire. They form images and sounds from the flames and smoke. Let’s pull up a stool and listen to the first tale:

“Glimpse dragons so tiny, they perch on their masters’ shoulders and coo like doves. Discover a magician’s secret that threatens all he holds dear.”

This mage whispers a cautionary tale about a dragonette and an Enchanter’s battle to keep his shameful spells out of the wrong hands.

Read how this story begins.

Next time, a wizard tells his story about Harsh Words and a Familiar.

Afterlife and Crypt Magic

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Tredan’s Bane explores the magical politics between two rival factions: the Enchanters and the Churchies.

In Sye, magical power has been formally split between the two camps. Enchanters create magical essence that all persons (and many creatures, such as dragonettes) need for survival. The Church magicians see to the matters of moral living, marriage magic, orphans, hospitals, ghosts, and the afterlife.

A Ghost’s Garden in the Fields of Yalu

The Fields of Yalu

In the fantasy world of Wrath and Tredan’s Bane, powerful wizards can visit the afterlife (called The Fields of Yalu), interact with the dead, and return intact to the living world of Sye. Marriage partners with a strong loving bond may unintentionally pull their willing spouse with them into the afterlife, especially if one of them dies traumatically.

The Fields of Yalu is a bright and beautiful city, but filled with perils for the living. The ghosts surround their homes with lush gardens, but no creatures inhabit the Fields of Yalu. A vast stony desert filled with puzzling gravel paths surround the city of the dead, and all paths lead to its borders. Tredan’s Bane describes one of the few ways to return.

Sciomancers Tend the Homes of the Dead in Sye’s Old Burial Yards

Ghosts and Sciomancers

The Church’s speciality magicians for crypt and ghost spells are Sciomancers. They can call ghosts at will and bind them to prepared niches in the catacombs, or hold them in bewitched amulets.

The Sciomancers, along with a town’s Priest, make sure that the deceased’s crypts are properly attended in the sprawling Burial Yards. Just like the gardens that surround the homes of the dead in the Fields of Yalu, lavish crypts huddle in the rich forests and manicured lawns of Sye’s Burial Yards. The oldest crypts fade from Sye and reappear in the Fields of Yalu. Enchanters returning from the city of the dead describe endless green hills filled with the dead’s relocated crypt homes.

Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead

Another Sciomancer magical talent is transcribing copies of the Book of the Dead–it is a tome containing poems, songs, and advice for the deceased in the Fields of Yalu. The book also has guidance for the living person on proper magical and moral conduct–this will keep their soul undammed for the Hall of Two Judgements.

Avoiding magical temptation is the biggest struggle. Enchanters, with their delicious-tasting magical essence that no one can survive without, are tempters and the greatest threat (according to the Church magicians) to a person’s soul.

Secret Names are Magical Keys

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There’s power in knowing the names of people, objects, and ideas. Secrets also have power. Combine these two elements in a fantasy like Tredan’s Bane, and a Secret Name becomes the key to a wizard’s magic.

How Name Magic Starts

The Secret Name is the closest-kept magic for an individual. A mother gives it to her newborn at birth and keeps it clandestine between them. The child’s maturing magical ability intertwines with its Secret Name.

Wedded couples exchange Secret Names as part of consummating their marriage. It signals the beginning of their joint lives and shared magic, reinforced by the Priest’s spells in the couple’s marriage rings.

A person also has a Common name used everyday by family and acquaintances. The world of Sye also stresses guild titles and honorifics, which recognizes a person’s stature in their profession.

Abusing a Secret Name can Break the Ability to Work Spells

Controlling Another Mage

Sharing Secret Names with a non-spouse is risky since it creates a vulnerable relationship between the persons involved. Magicians rarely share Secret Names because it can weaken their magic if entrusted to the wrong person. Abuse of a Secret Name can break a person’s ability to work spells, and in severe cases, harm their ability to use magical essence.

The flip side of this is that a magician gains stability, and usually power, with shared Secret Names.

Lanith “Stream Daughter” (A’edredohr)

Names are Not Made Up

All of the names in Wrath and Tredan’s Bane truly mean what the characters say they mean. The apostrophes are for decoration. For example, “Arnl’jhott” does mean “frightens eagles” for Lanith’s pet dragonette. Here are a few Secret Names for other characters:

Lanith “Stream Daughter” (A’edredohr)
Nyle “Dweller by the Dark Stream in the Raven Forest” (Daegal’hraefnscaga)
Eli “Small Spear of God” (Paavo’asgeir)
Abbent “Born in the Summer from the Ocean of Light” (Suma’ila’zara)
Penn “Lucky Man from the Church Village” (Wapi’kirkjabyr)

Next post: Afterlife and Crypt Magic

Why do Dragonettes Coo?

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Tredan’s Bane and Wrath feature dragonettes. They talk, of course, but why do they coo and sound like doves?

Mindy, shown here with her favorite book, suggested it. Her purr is a cooing lilt, just the way a dragonette would sound when happy.

I have to go pick up the cake for the party. I’m halfway through the post about Enchanter magic and Secret Names. Be back soon.

Dragonettes in Sye

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For anyone venturing into the fantasy world of Sye in the stories Wrath, Prequel to Tredan’s Bane, and Tredan’s Bane, here is a quick note for one of Sye’s sentient creatures: dragonette or dracon (informal names), Seri/Madam Drracon’el (formal titles).

A dragonette is a miniature five-pound dragon; typically 4’ long with wing span almost 5’ wide. Domesticated dragonettes are the pampered pets of powerful magicians and Enchanters. Along with a basic omnivore diet consisting of fish and fresh vegetables, dragonettes must also consume magical essence daily to stay alive. Because they eat magic, dracons must be acquired and registered through the local Magic Guild.

Living Arrangements and Friends

A typical living arrangement is a dragonette and two humans; one person is a magician and supplies the dracon with essence, the other is a non-Maji’ker and sees to the creature’s physical care. Dragonettes are empathic with their human caretakers, who are typically married couples with at least one of them a Magic Guild worker.

Dragonettes are especially fond of Enchanters and the rich magic fare they offer. Flocks of wild dragonettes have attacked unprotected Enchanters and mauled the magicians to death while eating magical essence from the helpless victims. Domesticated dracons are much more genteel and readily befriend Enchanters.

Colors, Fire and Dracon Scent

Dragonettes are the colors of the four magic types: Earthe, Mer, Aer, and Fyre. These are the dracon hues:

Earthe: Brown or Green
Mer: Blue or Blue-green
Aer: Silver
Fyre: Red or Orange

Dragonettes do NOT expel fire either naturally or by magic, even if they are a Fyre dracon. Their very slight body odor smells of magic, which resembles allspice and cinnamon. Their kisses taste like fruit to humans: strawberries, apples, blueberries, etc.

Dragonette Names

Just like their human caretakers, a dragonette has a common name, which it gives to itself when very young, plus it receives a magical Secret Name from its mother (the “dracon dama”) when just a hatchling. For example, in Tredan’s Bane, Lanith’s Mer dragonette has the common name of Arnl’jhott (“frightens eagles”) and magical Secret Name of Vatter’sang (“water song”).

Dracons as Companions

Dragonettes are sentient magical creatures. They converse with simple speech and are affectionate with their caretakers. Telepathic ability between dracons and humans is rare.

Long associations with their human Maji’kers (magicians) gives dragonettes the ability to recognize and do simple spells. Life-long companionship also trains the dracon to release its magical essence to its non-magician caretaker.