History Literature / DraconisMemoria

** [[spoiler:The White is the rarest kind of drake, so rare that only three have been known to exist in the history of Arradsia. White drakes are even larger than blacks, and possess an incredible intelligence. Their most dangerous ability, however, is their power to [[MindControl dominate the minds of red, green and blue drakes]], even from entire continents away. This ability also expands to certain blood-blessed. The presence of a white drake has also been known to "spoil" humans, giving them physical deformities and subjugating them to the White's will.]]

* BloodMagic: The Blood-blessed are empowered by drinking (raw or distilled) drake blood. They make up 0.1% of the global population, and can be identified by the reaction their skin has when coming into contact with drake blood – while regular tissue is burned by the substance, a Blood-blessed’s skin will instead turn a pale white. The power of a Blood-blessed depend on their proficiency with different types of blood – most will only excel in one type of power, with very rare exceptions excel in all of them equally. Different kinds of drake blood will allow different powers to manifest:

* MadSeer: The most widespread religion in Mandinor is the Church of the Seer, centeredaround the figure of the Seer, a semi-legendary prophet granted visions of past and future. The Seer’s most important prophecies revolve around the Travail, an apocalyptic event when drakes are foretold to fall onto the earth from a tear in the sky to enthrall all of mankind to their will. In modern days, theories range about the origins of these theories, from being simply gibberish ramblings of a lunatic to being a particular form of Bluetrance unknown to later users. Nevertheless, the Seer’s teachings retain an ardent following even amidst the ascending "age of reason" around the world.

* TheSavageIndian: The Spoiled have shades of this, being the native inhabitants of Arradsia whose culture is practically Stone Age compared to anyone else, they are universally hostile to the foreign colonists and are known to commit unspeakable atrocities upon any poor bastard unlucky enough to be taken captive by them. The Syndicate also maintains a price on Spoiled heads, much how Native Americans had a price on their heads in many frontier communities. This is downplayed, however, by virtue of the spoiled being closer to [[{{Beastman}} beastmen]] than any humans in appearance and having no discernible form of culture or society.

* {{Steampunk}}: The setting of the series is roughly analogous to late nineteenth century Europe, with pre-modern firearms, steamship equivalents, massive corporations and large-scale colonization of unexplored continents. The differences lay primarily in the power source much of the worlds technology employs (blood-blessed powers) and, of course, with the creatures native to the exotic continent being dragons and primeval reptiles rather than elephants and lions.

# ''“The Waking Fire”'' (2016)
# ''“The Legion of Flame”'' (2017)
# ''“The Empire of Ash”'' (2018)

Set in a world at the height of its own Industrial Revolution, the technological breakthroughs achieved by humans here have been enabled by utilizing the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent drakes, fire-breathing reptilian beasts endemic to the long-hidden continent of Arradsia]]. The distilled blood of these creatures can be ingested by a select few humans, known as the "blood-blessed", granting them incredible powers and fundamentally altering human technology, economy and society as a result.

[[StreetUrchin Claydon Torcreek]] is a petty thief and an unregistered blood-blessed, who finds himself pressed into service by the protectorate and sent to wild, uncharted territories in search of a creature he believes is little more than legend. [[FemmeFataleSpy Lizanne Lethridge]] is a formidable spy and assassin, facing gravest danger on an espionage mission deep into the heart of enemy territory. And [[OfficerAndAGentleman Corrick Hilemore]] is the second lieutenant of the Syndicate’s finest ironship, whose pursuit of a band of ruthless pirates leads him to a far greater threat at the edge of the world…

* ActionPrologue: The first book opens with an official recollection of an incident during which a Black drake set to be drained of blood escaped its confines and went on a rampage across town, killing forty-three people and injuring dozens more. The battle against it also serves to showcase several blood-blessed powers early on.
* BloodMagic: The blood-blessed are empowered by drinking (raw or distilled) drake blood. They make up 0.1% of the global population, and can be identified by the reaction their skin has when coming into contact with drake blood – while regular tissue is burned by the substance, a blood-blessed’s skin will instead turn a pale white. The power of a blood-blessed depend on their proficiency with different types of blood – most will only excel in one type of power, with very rare exceptions excel in all of them equally. Different kinds of drake blood will allow different powers to manifest:
** Drinking Green blood heightens the [[SuperEmpowering physical abilities]] of blood-blessed to superhuman levels and stimulates their natural healing process. Small doses can be consumed by normal humans as panaceum and have been used to help cure numerous illnesses previously fatal to humanity.
** Drinking Red blood grants [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinetic abilities]], and not of the fireball variety – a blood-blessed full of Red can instantly ignite a liberally-hot inferno anywhere within their field of vision. This power, while useful in a fight, has found its greatest usage in fuelling the new "thermoplasmic" reactors used to propel ironships at incredible speeds.
** Drinking Blue blood grants the blood-blessed access to a state called [[{{Telepathy}} "Bluetrance"]], in which they can telepathically communicate with other blood-blessed over massive distances, as well as recall and share their memories with almost photographical precision. However, this state also leaves their physical bodies completely defenceless and allows more experienced users to forcefully pry secrets from less practiced users.
** Drinking Black blood grants the blood-blessed [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]], which is rightly considered by many the most feared and valuable of the powers. Far from merely grabbing objects, Black can be used to completely immobilize other beings, reach into them to crush their organs or unleash waves of force which hit everything within a radius. The only downside to Black is that it drains from a blood-blessed the fastest of all blood types.
* BoldExplorer: A part of what the contractors, the men and women tasked with capturing and hunting the drakes, are meant to be. Arradsia is a sparsely-settled and highly-hostile continent, meaning only the bravest (and most well-armed) of travellers dare venture into the areas still blank on official maps.

* CloakAndDagger: With the war between the Ironship Syndicate and the Corvantine Empire drawing closer, both sides scheme to undermine and rob the other to gain an edge in the seemingly inevitable conflict. The Exceptional Initiatives and Cadre both engage in espionage, sabotage and assassination on a regular basis, not to mention all the other minor factions, such as the Co-respondent Brotherhood, enacting their own schemes.

* DragonsAreDivine: [[spoiler:Preacher theorizes that the Spoiled voluntarily fed themselves to the infant White drake in a form of HumanSacrifice, seeing it as divine.]] [[spoiler:As it turns out, he is RightForTheWrongReasons – the Spoiled are enslaved to the will of a White, but in times past, the non-Spoiled ancient Arradsians worshipped ''Black'' drakes instead.]]

* TheEmpire: The Corvantine Empire is the last sovereign state in existence, surviving in a world of corporate rule through the merciless, totalitarian absolutism of their Emperor and his many enforcers, be it the Imperial Legions or the Cadre and its blood-blessed agents. Most Corvantines are shown to be highly elitist, classist, stagnant and corrupt, with massive purges of dissidents, brutal massacres of insurrectionists and constant assassinations by the Cadre being a regular occurrence. They are also the other major world power besides the Syndicate, ruling over the better part of a continent and having the second largest number of colonies across Arradsia.

* MegaCorp: The Ironship Trading Syndicate is the largest and richest private company in the known world. It pretty much corners the market when it comes to procuring drake blood, possesses the largest and most modern navy in existence, is on the razor’s edge of the world’s technological innovation, has access to a vast network of trained operatives through Exceptional Initiatives and basically runs much of the Mandinorian continent through the so-called Ironship Protectorate, governing entire regions as no more than factory hubs. Small wonder that the only power able to challenge it in any capacity is literally TheEmpire of the setting.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Drakes are native to the Arradsian continent (and ''only'' Arradsia - taking them off the continent causes them to drop dead), but are more remarkable for their blood, which can be used to empower a small number of humans. There are four subspecies of drake, Red, Green, Blue and Black. Drinking blood directly from the heart is [[spoiler:usually]] lethal even to blood-blessed.

* SecretPolice: The Cadre, the elite intelligence agency of the Corvantine Empire, are very much this, executing traitors, suspected traitors and anyone associated with either with equal amounts of callousness and zeal. They are the main opponents of the Syndicate’s Exceptional Initiatives and employ almost as many blood-blessed as the former, though their approach tends to be considerably more blunt and violent. When in uniform, their members even don the stereotypical [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat "dark coat and fedora"]] outfit for bonus intimidation factor.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Contractors, aside from being drake hunters and explorers, are also the main military force the Syndicate calls upon in times of armed conflict, constantly waging a low-level war with Corvantine-aligned forces known literally as the "Mercenary Wars".
* SecretPolice: The Cadre, the elite intelligence agency of the Corvantine Empire, are very much this, executing traitors, suspected traitors and anyone associated with either with equal amounts of callousness and zeal. They are the main opponents of the Syndicate’s Exceptional Initiatives and employ almost as many blood-blessed as the former, though their approach tends to be considerably more blunt and violent. When in uniform, their members even employ the stereotypical “dark coat and fedora” outfit for intimidation.
* SettlingTheFrontier: The continent of Arradsia was only discovered about two hundred years prior to the start of the story due to a sudden opening of a naval passage through the surrounding archipelago. Thus, it remains a largely untamed and unmapped land, possessed of only a handful of colonial outposts with only their bravest and foolhardiest inhabitants ever daring to venture into the depths of its interior.
* {{Steampunk}}: The setting of the series is roughly analogous to late nineteenth century Europe, with pre-modern firearms, steamship equivalents, massive corporations and large-scale colonization of unexplored continents. The differences lay primarily in the power source much of the worlds technology employs (blood-blessed powers) and, of course, with the creatures native to the exotic continent being dragons and primeval reptiles instead of elephants and lions.

Set in a world at the height of its own Industrial Revolution, the technological breakthroughs achieved by humans here have been enabled by utilizing the blood of drakes, fire-breathing reptilian beasts endemic to the long-hidden continent of Arradsia. The distilled blood of these creatures can be ingested by a select few humans, known as the “blood-blessed”, granting them incredible powers and fundamentally altering human technology, economy and society as a result.

However, after centuries of harvesting the drakes of Arradsia, the Ironship Trade Syndicate, the most powerful MegaCorp in the world, comes to a frightening conclusion – drakeblood has been steadily losing its potency, and will be rendered wholly powerless after a few generations. Not only does this weaken the company in the face of a resurgent and vengeful [[TheEmpire Corvantine Empire]], it threatens to wholly overturn the existing world order, undermining the foundation of the new human society. The Syndicate's last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it.

** Drinking Red blood grants [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinetic abilities]], and not of the fireball variety – a blood-blessed full of Red can instantly ignite a liberally-hot inferno anywhere within their field of vision. This power, while useful in a fight, has found its greatest usage in fuelling the new “thermoplasmic” reactors used to propel ironships at incredible speeds.

** Drinking Blue blood grants the blood-blessed access to a state called [[{{Telepathy}} “Bluetrance”]], in which they can telepathically communicate with other blood-blessed over massive distances, as well as recall and share their memories with almost photographical precision. However, this state also leaves their physical bodies completely defenceless and allows more experienced users to forcefully pry secrets from less practiced users.

* TheDon: Keyvine, the King of Blades and Whores, rules over the Blinds slums with an iron fist and has complete control over all organized crime in Carvenport. Which means trying to screw him over is asking for major trouble – something Clay ''really'' should have known…

* FirearmsAreRevolutionary: The presence of fairly advanced firearms, such as silenced pistols, six-shooter revolvers, repeating carbines and breech-loading rifles, means that drake-hunting and killing is much easier and safer, and also provides Contractors with a much-needed counter to the overwhelming numbers of the native Spoiled.

* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Several decades prior to the start of the story, a massive economic crisis known as the “Blood Bubble” caused most of the world’s governments to lose much of their power to private trading corporations, who alone provided a source of stable employment and social security. Eventually, the companies became powerful enough to straight-up abolish their governing monarchies, ending the “Age of Nations” and entering into the “Corporate Age”. The former Kingdom of Mandinor is now known as the Ironship Protectorate, governed only to secure the profits of the Ironship Syndicate and its shareholders.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Contractors, aside from being drake hunters and explorers, are also the main military force the Syndicate calls upon in times of armed conflict, constantly waging a low-level war with Corvantine-aligned forces known literally as the “Mercenary Wars”.

* DarkestAfrica: Arradsia is very much portrayed this way, being a (rather small) continent possessed of multiple exotic biomes, such as lush jungles, deserts of red sand and volcanic mountain peaks, all inhabited by endemic and unusual creatures. A relatively small number of foreign colonists operate out of coastal or river-based strongholds, while the interior belongs to the highly aggressive wildlife and even more hostile natives.
* DragonsAreDivine: [[spoiler:Preacher theorizes that the Spoiled voluntarily fed themselves to the infant White drake in a form of HumanSacrifice, seeing it as divine.]] [[spoiler:As it turns out, he is RightForTheWrongReasons – the Spoiled are enslaved to the will of a White, but in ancient times, the non-Spoiled ancient Arradsians worshipped Black drakes instead.]]

* TheDon: Keyvine, the King of Blades and Whores, rules over the Blinds slums with an iron fist and has complete control over all organized crime in Carvenport. Which means trying to screw him over is asking for major trouble – something Clay really should have known…

* MegaCorp: The Ironship Trading Syndicate is the largest and richest private company in the known world. It pretty much corners the market when it comes to procuring drake blood, possesses the largest and most modern navy in existence, is on the razor’s edge of the world’s technological innovation, has access to a vast network of trained operatives through Exceptional Initiatives and basically runs much of the Mandinorian continent through the so-called Ironship Protectorate, governing entire regions as no more than product hubs. Small wonder that the only power able to challenge in any capacity is literally TheEmpire of the setting.

* SecretPolice: The Cadre, the elite intelligence agency of the Corvantine Empire, are very much this, executing traitors, suspected traitors and anyone associated with either with equal amounts of callousness and zeal. They are the main opponents of the Syndicate’s Exceptional Initiatives and employ almost as many blood-blessed as the former, though their approach tends to be considerably more blunt and violent. When in uniform, their members even employ the stereotypical “dark coast and fedora” outfit for intimidation.

* BloodMagic: The blood-blessed are empowered by drinking (raw or distilled) drake blood. They make up less than one percent of the global population, and can be identified by the reaction their skin has when coming into contact with drake blood – while regular tissue is burned by the substance, a blood-blessed’s skin will instead turn pale white. The power of a blood-blessed depend on their proficiency with different types of blood – most will only excel in one type of power, with very rare exceptions excel in all of them equally. Different kinds of drake blood will allow different powers to manifest:

* FantasticRacism: Everyone sees the Spoiled as basically subhuman, and not entirely without good reason. Foxbine especially absolutely loathes them and insists they are not people, being disturbingly gleeful every chance she gets to kill them. The Spoiled themselves, of course, respond in kind, with dividends.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Drakes are native to the Arradsian continent (and ''only'' Arradsia - taking them off the continent causes them to drop dead), but are more remarkable for their blood. While their blood is usually corrosive when in contact with human skin, certain select individuals (known as Bloodblessed, roughly 0.1% of the population) can safely drink the blood and gain fabulous powers from it. There are four subspecies of drake, Red, Green, Blue and Black. Drinking blood directly from the heart is [[spoiler:usually]] lethal even to bloodblessed.

* DragonsAreDivine: [[spoiler:Preacher theorizes that the Spoiled voluntarily fed themselves to the infant White drake in a form of HumanSacrifice, seeing it as divine]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he is RightForTheWrongReasons – the Spoiled are enslaved to the will of a White, but in ancient times, the non-Spoiled ancient Arradsians worshipped Black drakes instead]].

CorporateSamurai: Or rather, Corporate Shinobi. Lizanne is as skilled in spying, burgling and infiltrating as she is in fighting, shooting and blowing things up (though she usually prefers to work quietly and avoid killing), and she is but out of thousands of Exceptional Initiatives operatives, all working to secure their shareholders’ profit .

* Mutants: The Spoiled, the native inhabitants of Arradsia, are twisted, misshapen mockeries of mankind. Extremely primitive and almost animalistic in their behaviour, their bones are gnarled and mangled from birth and their flesh is marred by numerous scales, horns and spikes randomly growing from them. It is eventually revealed their ancestors were warped into being this way by their contact with a White drake.

** [[spoiler:The White is the rarest kind of drake, so rare that only three have been known to exist in the history of Arradsia. White drakes are even larger than blacks, and possess an incredible intelligence. Their most dangerous ability, however, is their power to [[MindControl dominate the minds of red, green and blue drakes]], even from entire continents away. This ability also expands to certain blood-blessed. The presence of a white drake has also been known to "spoil" humans, giving them physical deformities and subjugating them to the White's will.]]

** [[spoiler:The White is the rarest kind of drake, so rare that only three has been known in the history of Arradsia. White drakes are even larger than blacks, and possess an incredible intelligence. Their most dangerous ability, however, is their power to dominate the minds of red, green and blue drakes, even from entire continents away. This ability also expands to certain bloodblessed. The presence of a white drake has also been known to "spoil" humans, giving them physical deformities and subjugating them to the White's will.]]

** Drinking Blue blood grants the blood-blessed access to a state called [[Telepathy “Bluetrance”]], in which they can telepathically communicate with other blood-blessed over massive distances, as well as recall and share their memories with almost photographical precision, although the state also leaves their physical bodies completely defenceless and allows more experienced users to forcefully pry secrets from undisciplined users.

** Drinking Black blood grants the blood-blessed [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]], which is rightly considered by many the most feared and valuable of the powers. Far from merely grabbing objects, Black can be used to completely immobilize other beings, reach into them to crush their organs or unleash waves of force which hitting everything within a radius. The only downside to Black is that it drains from a blood-blessed the fastest of all blood types.

** Green drakes seem to be the most common, inhabitting the jungles, praries and rivers and varying in size from 7 feet (jungle greens) to 15 feet (river greens). They can breathe fire and have heightened resistance to fire, but cannot fly.
** Red drakes are wyverns, and can grow as large as twenty feet or larger. They live in massive swarms mainly in the Badlands and volcanic areas of the Arradsian interior, but hunt alone, leaving them vulnerable to harvesters. Reds can breathe fire and fly, albeit their wings are noted to be different from those of other flying species.
** Blue drakes inhabit the oceans east and south of Arradsia, and can grow to a massive 60 feet. They resemble giant sea serpents, and use their serpent bodies to coil around prey which they then kill with their white firebreath.
** Black drakes, the strongest and most majestic of drakes, are solitary hunters and the [[spoiler:second]] rarest kind. Black drakes are usually around 30 feet in length, with massive wingspans and tailends sharp and powerful enough to dismember humans and cut through stone. They are also possibly the most intelligent of drakes, roughly comparable to elephants or dolphins in intellect but not quite human in their thought process.

** Drinking Green blood heightens the physical abilities of blood-blessed to superhuman levels and stimulates their natural healing process. Small doses can be consumed by normal humans as panaceum and have been used to help cure numerous illnesses previously fatal to humanity.
** Drinking Red blood grants pyrokinetic abilities, and not of the fireball variety – a blood-blessed full of Red can instantly ignite a liberally-hot inferno anywhere within their field of vision. This power, while useful in a fight, has found its greatest usage in fuelling the new “thermoplasmic” reactors used to propel ironships at incredible speeds.
** Drinking Blue blood grants the blood-blessed access to a state called “Bluetrance”, in which they can telepathically communicate with other blood-blessed over massive distances, as well as recall and share their memories with almost photographical precision, although the state also leaves their physical bodies completely defenceless and allows more experienced users to forcefully pry secrets from undisciplined users.
** Drinking Black blood grants the blood-blessed telekinesis, which is rightly considered by many the most feared and valuable of the powers. Far from merely grabbing objects, Black can be used to completely immobilize other beings, reach into them to crush their organs or unleash waves of force which hitting everything within a radius. The only downside to Black is that it drains from a blood-blessed the fastest of all blood types.

# “The Waking Fire” (2016)
# “The Legion of Flame” (2017)
# “The Empire of Ash” (2018)

“The Waking Fire” (2016)

“The Legion of Flame” (2017)

“The Empire of Ash” (2018)

** Green drakes seem to be the most common, inhabitting the jungles, praries and rivers and varying in size from 7 feet (jungle greens) to 15 feet (river greens). They can breathe fire and have heightened resistance to fire, but cannot fly. Drinking their blood heightens the physical abilities of bloodblessed to superhuman levels and stimulates the healing process. Small doses can be consumed by normal humans as a panaceum.
** Red drakes are wyverns, and can grow as large as twenty feet or larger. They live in massive swarms mainly in the Badlands and volcanic areas of the Arradsian interior, but hunt alone. Reds can breathe fire and fly, and drinking their blood gives bloodblessed a form of pyrokinesis. Their blood is also used as a substitute for coal on so-called "Bloodburner" ships.
** Blue drakes inhabit the oceans east and south of Arradsia, and can grow to a massive 60 feet. They resemble giant sea serpents, and use their serpent bodies to coil around prey which they then kill with their white firebreath. Drinking the blood of blue drakes puts the bloodblessed in a state called Bluetrance, in which they can telepathically communicate over large distances and recall and share their memories with almost photographical precision.
** Black drakes, the strongest and most majestic of drakes, are solitary hunters and the [[spoiler:second]] rarest kind. Black drakes are usually around 30 feet in length, with massive wingspans and tailends sharp and powerful enough to dismember humans and cut through stone. They are also possibly the most intelligent of drakes. Drinking black drakeblood gives bloodblessed telekinetic powers.

[[foldercontrol]]

----
OurDragonsAreDifferent: Drakes are native to the Arradsian continent (and ''only'' Arradsia - taking them off the continent causes them to drop dead), but are more remarkable for their blood. While their blood is usually corrosive when in contact with human skin, certain select individuals (known as Bloodblessed, roughly 0.1% of the population) can safely drink the blood and gain fabulous powers from it. There are four subspecies of drake, Red, Green, Blue and Black. Drinking blood directly from the heart is [[spoiler:usually]] lethal even to bloodblessed.

----

However, after centuries of harvesting the drakes of Arradsia, the Ironship Trade Syndicate, the most powerful MegaCorp in the world, comes to a frightening conclusion – drakeblood has been steadily losing its potency, and will be rendered wholly powerless after a few generations. Not only does this weaken the company in the face of a resurgent and vengeful TheEmpire Corvantine Empire, it threatens to wholly overturn the existing world order, undermining the foundation of the new human society. The Syndicate's last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it.

Draconis Memoria is a LowFantasy {{Steampunk}} trilogy written by Anthony Ryan. The trilogy consists of: