Draconian paracosm
The Draconian paracosm was Tom's personal paracosm (fantasy world inside his head) from 2014 to 2017, later contributing a significant volume of material to Maisraln and the first millennium of the timeline. Tom did not highlight the Draconian paracosm's relevance to Maisraln until 2019. He suggested that by analogy with the Oburron and Jenner paracosm, it should be included in the canon rather than treated as an outside influence on the mythology, and Kerry agreed. Robert argued against this, saying that it had only really influenced Tom's characters and that its narrative was more removed from Maisraln than Oburron and Jenner's had been from BHH.
The main characters of the paracosm were Fallard, Valcor, Lefwen, Gawyn, and Belkarter. Its narrative was divided into three distinct arcs called Ancient History, Dragonhearted, and the Great Saga, all set in the realm of Aranilya. Ancient History explains that magic was created by four dragon-kings, then stolen by a human warlord called Maethum, who was then overthrown by a powerful dragon, the Ancient One. Dragonhearted tells the story of the adventurer Gawyn, who fled society because he was part of a persecuted minority of humans with dragon blood, the dragonhearted, then helped end the War of Dragons and Humans. The Great Saga begins with Fallard and Valcor's attempt to kill the dragon Zalaefor, which evolves into them working with Lefwen and Zalaefor's children to kill a resurrected Maethum. Once Maethum is killed, the dragon Belkarter rules over Aranilya.
Narrative[edit | edit source]
Ancient History[edit | edit source]
The paracosm's narrative begins with the four legendary dragons Garuga, Inilgos, Syrilth, and Erisdar witnessing a great meteor crash far out in the ocean. When they go to investigate the crash site, they find a large island in previously empty water. On this island they discovered the mineral atherium, the source of all magic. They each took some of this mineral and created the four sources of magic: Garuga created the source of fire; Inilgos, the source of air; Syrilth, the source of water; and Erisdar, the source of earth. They returned to the island, which they named Maringolë, meaning 'home of magic', and with their new power built the Kingdom Under the Heavens—Aranilya.
The four dragon kings ruled their kingdom for many prosperous centuries. At this time dragons were the dominant species, while humans lived in small isolated communities, an inverse of the dynamic of later times. The secret of magic remained hidden from humans and many dragons, the four dragons only giving it to a select few of their own kind, but those who knew it used it to the benefit of both species. Many were content with this but dissent rose among some humans that the dragons were keeping magic from them out of spite in order to control them. The most prominent of these rebels was Varin, who declared he would sail to Maringolë and take the secret of magic, by force if necessary. After being denied magic by the dragon kings, Varin made his way to the atherium wells and stole some of the magical crystal. With it he created the fifth source, the source of dark magic and thereafter took the name Maethum—Lord of Darkness.
With his magic, Maethum created the castle of Vordramornë and raised an army of formless monsters, known as mists, with which he made war upon Kelara. He spread his power for many years, conquering and enslaving lands intending to make himself tyrant over all; he also captured and tortured many dragons, twisting them with dark magic in mindless beasts, given the name darklings. The four dragons fought against Maethum and slowly pushed him back until they reached Vordramornë and entered to face Maethum, and were never seen again. With the dragon kings gone, Maethum was unopposed in his conquest and many feared his power was unstoppable, until a legendary dragon known as nothing more than the Ancient One, as old as time and the size of a mountain, rose to fight him. After a great battle of magic, Maethum fell and the Ancient One returned to hiding. After the Great War of Magic, dragons were few in number and Kelara passed into the dominion of humans.
Dragonhearted[edit | edit source]
The rise of humanity eventually lead to the establishment of the Great Human Empire (which was never given an official name), a political entity unifying the species across the known world. As the ancient history of the War of Magic was forgotten and dragons decreased in number, magic too faded out of public awareness. In the years leading up to Dragonhearted, the Great Empire grew increasingly resentful towards dragons. Eventually, the First Order of Dragonslayers was established as an elite order of knights ideologically driven to eradicate dragons from Kelara. The Dragonslayers had access to a collection of magical artefacts called the dragons-bane stones, which could magically harm any dragon in their proximity. These stones were originally created by Maethum and in some versions of the narrative Maethum was responsible for the growing anti-dragon sentiment and the resurgence of the stones.
Many dragons held similar sentiments towards humans as humans held towards them and the persecution of dragons by the Dragonslayers lead to open war between the two species. In order to escape, some dragons shape-shifted into the forms of humans and hid among them. Some of these dragons went on to have children–humans with dragon blood–known as dragonhearts. When this was discovered, dragonhearts, which were always extremely few in number, were hunted to near extinction.
The story officially named Dragonhearted began with the family of a dragonheart named Gawyn being attacked by a Dragonslayer and Gawyn being forced into exile. Gawyn lives in Drahihm Forest until he met another dragonheart and the two together found a group of rebels striving for peace. An old prophecy had stated that a dragonheart will end the war, and the rebels believed one of the two dragonhearts is the one referred to by the prophecy.
The two dragonhearts travelled around on various fantastical adventures, while the rebellion continued to endeavour to end the war. Eventually the two dragonhearts met a man with a phoenix who had rediscovered magic. This man taught them to use magic and they in turn brought it to the rebellion. The dragonslayer who originally killed Gawyn's family joined the rebellion; he then lead a coup against the Emperor under a banner of dragonhearts and successfully seized the throne. Meanwhile, the rebellion managed to quell the dragons, though due to changes in the narrative the manner of this was unspecified at the time of the Cycle's abandonment.
The two dragonhearts were summoned to the imperial capital to fulfil the prophecy. They refused the throne and dissolved the Great Empire, Gawyn appointed the dragonslayer who led the rebellion to the throne of one the Empire's successor kingdoms, and the two races signed the Magicpact and Belkarter was chosen to be the first guardian of the Pact.
The Great Saga[edit | edit source]
The Great Saga began an unspecified length of time after Dragonhearted, although long enough that the events of Dragonhearted had become legend in a similar way to how the Ancient History had become legend in Dragonhearted. The Saga took place without the continental Great Empire or the world-spanning events of the Dragon-Human War, instead focussing only on a single country–Dragonia–which was one of the successor kingdoms to the Great Empire. The narrative primarily revolves around the children of Herould, although the scope increases with time.
The Saga begins with the quest of Fallard and Valcor, Herould's sons, to slay the dragon Zalaefor. Zalaefor attacked and burnt Fallard and Valcor's village, leading to Valcor being lost, presumed dead. Fallard received several telepathic messages from Belkarter that Zalaefor was trapped in what amounted to a pocket dimension (presumably Zalaefor could either leave for short periods to attack villages or wasn't the one to actually carry out the attack) and that Fallard and Valcor had to journey to this dimension and vanquish him. Belkarter trained Fallard to use magic, as Herould and his children are dragonhearts, Fallard reunited with Valcor, and the two meet Belkarter on Lonaoiisil. Fallard and Valcor then sought out and successfully vanquished Zalaefor.
Zalaefor's children then endeavoured to resurrect him through some ambiguous magic. Fallard and Valcor embarked to prevent this but are unable to do so and Zalaefor is resurrected. Zalaefor then abandoned his children and began pursuing his own ends and wrecking havoc. In response, Zalaefor's children switched sides and resolved to aid Fallard and Valcor in stopping Zalaefor. They once again defeat Zalaefor and end his threat for good. Some time later, Herould returned to Fallard and Valcor after a long journey. They discovered that the dragonkin Sierida was their mother and that they had a sister, Lefwen, who has been hiding in Drahihm Forest for some time. The six of them (including Sierida's kin, Askara) ended up on a quest to defeat the evil sorcerer Maethum. In the process of this defeat they liberate a dragon named Galzra whom Maethum had enslaved.
Maethum escaped their attack and returned to his old castle of Vordramornë to properly regrow his power. As Maethum began to extend his influence, Belkarter realised he was the ancient sorcerer who ended the reign of the Dragon Kings. Herould and his family then travelled to the court of Anselus, King of Dragonia, to urge him to fight against Maethum before he can return to full strength. Anselus lead a war against Maethum and he was defeated. In the ruins of Maethum's castle they found the Four Dragon Kings, who had been held in stasis. The Dragon Kings used their magic to rebuild Aranilya and appointed Belkarter its king, then departed from the world.
Belkarter restored the kingdom of Aranilya and ruled in peace until the formation of the Second Order of Dragonslayers. The Second Order was formed in secret and began growing its strength in preparation for an assault upon Aranilya, including searching for the dragons-bane stones. Herould and his family sought out the Second Order and discovered it was lead by Raullin, a personal enemy of Herould's. Herould dragged Raullin into a magical battle and the dragonslayers set out for Aranilya. Belkarter ultimately prevented the assault with the help of Herould's children, Sierida and Askara and Herould defeated Raullin. Under Belkarter's rule, Aranilya flourished and the line of dragon kings began anew.