Draconis (Series)/Part I

***Part I: The World Beyond*** is the first instalment of *Draconis* that will release in 2022. It will consist of eight episodes, and a second instalment is in development.

Set in the late eighth age of Pydwell's history, *Part I* follows the adventures of the Black Blade Company, a company of mercenaries led by Hermoor MacDuff, as they travel across Pydwell in search of work, only to become involved in a continent-wide conflict intertwined with all of their destinies.

## Plot

*In the vast land of Pydwell, realms collide thanks to intolerance and war. The Black Empire of the south marches towards the North, which buckles under the weight of its own independence. Peasants and rulers clash and scheme against their fellows. Monsters and madmen prowl the roads, feeding on travellers and backwater towns. Travelling these lands in search of work are mercenaries, warriors born and bred to thrive on Draconis in the aftermath of a great cataclysm. Through the eyes of mercenary Hermoor MacDuff and his loose band of allies, witness the beginning of a new age of violence.*

## Synopsis

### "The Pygmy Giant"

A young omen child, Adam, is purchased as a slave by Fernus de LeSarre, a duke of the Thalmonian Empire. Although he is treated cruelly, he forms a friendship with the daughter of a maid, Yen.

In the year 8:492, warden Hermoor MacDuff reunites with his friends Zolton, Isolde and George in southern Bohaem, reforming the Black Blade Company, and head north to join a mercenary unit at Raven's Crest, Norgard. Meanwhile, Minerva an Kett, heiress to Raven's Crest, arrives on the mainland with her father Brynjar an Kett to attend a ceremony hosted by her mother, Janna Raven's Crest. Shortly after the company's arrival, Raven's Crest is attacked by the Crimson Rite, a wildling raiding clan that commands blood magic. Minerva is shot through the throat with an arrow, and most of the town's inhabitants are slaughtered. Minerva repatriates before the company's eyes. In the Archipelago, Minerva's distant cousin, Arn Druwso, and his clan slaughter the royal Clan an Kett and seize the throne.

### "The Nithing"

Several years after their meeting, Adam and Yen are sent to Tír Miraak, home to the Circle of Magi, to hone Yen's magical abilities. Adam discovers he also possesses magical blood, but appears more proficient with forbidden arts such as blood magic. Adam and Yen fall in love and plan to marry once Adam completes his training as a professor, but he stumbles across an ancient text detailing body transformations. On the eve of his graduation, he enlists a fellow mage to conduct the ritual, destroying his deformaties and making him beautiful. As a side effect, however, he no longer feels any strong emotions, including love. Yen is revealed to be Isolde, Fernus' illegitimate daughter.

In the present, the company rescues Minerva from the smoldering ruins of Raven's Crest and head west, seeking a healer. Despite her ability to repatriate, Isolde detects no magical power in Minerva's blood. The company stumbles across the town of Aalesun, which is suffering from a nithing, a type of curse. MacDuff agrees to investigate the nithing in exchange for the assistance of an oneiromancer. Resting in the tavern, the company watch a musical performance by the Larks, a group of travelling bards, and MacDuff uncharacteristically shows affection towards the lead singer, Halina Julianus, the Nightingale of Harz.

In the morning, MacDuff begins his investigation; by following the runes carved into the nithing pole, he discovers the culprit, the town butcher, who is under some kind of trance. He is then attacked by other townspeople locked in a similar trance. Injured with a pitchfork, he rests at the tavern, where he bonds further with Halina. Once healed, MacDuff reveals that a certain property of the trance - pale skin and withering muscles - makes it indicative of a strzyga, a type of vampire that feeds on psychic energy. As he prepares the potions necessary to fight such a creature, MacDuff finds himself slipping into the same trance, causing him to fall asleep and enter his Beach, where he is tormented by visions of a witch clothed in red; unexpectedly, he comes across the soul of a sleeping Minerva, who is able to perceive the Beach, a talent unique to mages and wardens. MacDuff realizes that Minerva is a beachwalker, a rare person who can perceive the Beach without any magical power. Isolde returns them both to consciousness and accepts MacDuff's theory, revealing that beachwalkers fit the criteria to be called *Ælenishaff*, the elven title of the Hero of Mortals, a prophesied hero.

Guided by his nightmares, MacDuff and the company find the strzyga's lair, where they find Halina and the Larks' leader, Marzyciel, also investigating as most of their troop has been killed by the nithing. As they enter the beast's lair, MacDuff struggles to overcome its telepathic powers until Minerva approaches. Using her beachwalker powers, Minerva forces the creature onto its Beach, briefly incapacitating it and allowing MacDuff to slay the strzyga.

With the nithing broken, the surviving townspeople celebrates with the company as guests of honour. MacDuff excuses himself to rest and finds Halina in her room. They begin to kiss and undress; while doing so, MacDuff spots several snow-white strands in her blonde hair. MacDuff steps back and uses the Mark of Ymiir to cast a manipulation spell, only for Halina to prove immune. Next, he grabs and burns her arm; her skin remains untouched, except her skin is revealed to be dyed. Halina removes her disguise, revealing her snow-white hair and pale skin: she is a hollowborn, a person born with a soul and thus immune to all forms of magic. Halina reveals her true name to be Olga Farrowborne and explains the disguise was to hide from omenslayers, insane wandering warriors trained to mercilessly torture and kill omens. Uncaring, MacDuff continues to kiss her and the pair sleep together.

The next morning, Olga awakens to find MacDuff gone. On the town's outskirts, the Black Blade Company agree to care for Minerva until they find somewhere safe to leave her. As they leave, Marzyciel approaches on his horse, proclaiming the end of the Larks and seeking to write the ultimate ballad about the company's exploits. MacDuff hesitantly allows the skald - and Olga - to accompany them.

## Characters

### Main

* Hermoor MacDuff: a mercenary known as the "Black Blade", one of the last wardens and leader of the Black Blade Company
* Minerva an Kett: the orphaned heriess to the land of Raven's Crest who joins the Black Blade Company
* Isolde de LeSarre: a sorceress, former member of the mage supremacist group the Knot, and a member of the Black Blade Company
* Zolton Brievor: a giant of Hog afflicted with dwarfism and MacDuff's oldest friend
* Adam Stoneheart: a mage supremacist and leader of the Knot searching for a prophesied beachwalker
* Olga Farrowborne: a travelling troubador and hollowborn who forms a romance with Hermoor
* George Sain: a mercenary and member of the Black Blade Company
* Thorir: a skogarmaor cast out of his clan who roams the mainland and encounters the Black Blade Company
* Marzyciel: a troubador who leads the Larks on their travels across Pydwell
* Caradin: a warden that has pledged his allegiance to the Black Empire

### Recurring

* Coln: a werehog obsessed with the legend of the World Serpent
* Fiona Tenarb: a thief and archer who joins the Black Blade Company
* Hans of Gruber: a warden and MacDuff's brother-in-arms from Caer Blygoch
* Kiera Fenn: a member of the Knot who once tutored Isolde
* Logan Mac Terraes: a powerful conjuration mage allied with the Black Empire, later revealed to be a member of the Knot
* Awaer var Peron: the emperor of the Black Empire
* Rieva: the leader of the Crimson Rite, a militaristic cult that worships the Anathema
* Noone: a mysterious masked hermit with an enigmatic interest in events to come
* Red Woman: a powerful stringmaiden and MacDuff's mother