• Cunaxa — orange
  • Merida ~ brown/yellow
• The Desert — blue (banner ~ gold dragon on blue field)
  • Tuath — desert blue/orange
  • Tiglath — desert blue/golden yellow
  • Skybowl — desert blue/brown
  • Feruche — desert blue/black
  • Elktrap Manor — desert blue/green
  • Remagev — desert blue/white
  • Radzyn Keep — red/white (banner ~ red field bound in white, silver sword on red field-entire thing bound in desert blue)
• Dorval — pale blue (banner ~ white ship on blue field)
• Fessenden — sea green (banner ~ silver fleece on green field)
• Firon — black (banner ~ red seashell edged in gold on black field)
  • Snowcoves — white/pale yellow
• Gilad — blushing pink (banner ~ 3 silver moons on pink field)
• Goddess Keep — white
• Grib — red (banner ~ white candle on red field)
  • River Ussh — red/brown
  • Waes — red/yellow
• Kierst / Isel — scarlet/yellow (banner ~ scarlet bordered in yellow with silver flasks outlined in black)
• Meadowlord — light green (banner ~ leaping black deer on green field)
• Ossetia — dark green (banner ~ golden wheat sheaf on green field)
• Princemarch — violet (banner ~ violet bordered in gold with leaping brown deer)
  • Dragon’s Rest — violet/white (banner ~ white wreath on violet field)
  • Castle Crag — violet/blue
  • Einar — orange/yellow
• Syr — turquoise (banner ~ silver apple on turquoise field)

The Continent is the main setting of the Dragon Prince/Dragon Star series by Melanie Rawn. Divided into thirteen princedoms, the Continent is ruled by the High Prince from the princedom of Princemarch (during the time of High Prince Rohan it was ruled from the Desert keep of Stronghold). The princedoms are ruled by individual princes, who have the responsibility of ruling their own Athr’im (or Lords). The nobility of the keeps and cities ensures the prosperity, security and well-being of their peoples. Once every three years, they meet at a conference known as the Rialla. During the Rialla treaties, trade agreements, and marriages are made in order to keep peace, deepen alliances and familial ties, and to fulfill their obligations as the rulers of the continent.

The 13 princedoms, in alphabetical order, are:

• Cunaxa
• The Desert
• Dorval
• Fessenden
• Firon
• Gilad
• Grib
• Isel
• Kierst
• Meadowlord
• Ossetia
• Princemarch
• Syr

Integral to Melanie Rawn’s world is Goddess Keep, the home of the Sunrunners and ruled by the Lord or Lady of Goddess Keep, which is located in Ossetia (though it doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of Ossetia’s rule). It is held of the High Prince.

{Map by Marty Siegrist}

from the back cover ~

With her widely acclaimed fantasy trilogy, DRAGON PRINCE, Melanie Rawn opened an enchanted gateway to a spellbinding universe of Sunrunner’s magic and sorcerous evil, telling the tale of one man’s crusade to bring peace to a land divided into often warring kingdoms. In the first two novels of the best-selling DRAGON STAR trilogy, the peaceful reign of High Prince Rohan was shattered by a mysterious invasion force which began a devastating campaign against the people of the Desert and the Sunrunners. And now, SKYBOWL brings this magnificent epic work of fantasy to its dramatic close.

With High Prince Pol’s wife Meiglan held prisoner by the Warlord of the enemy, and Skybowl keep purposefully abandoned to this deadly foe, Pol’s mother Sioned leads a daring mission into the castle, using all her years of experience as High Princess in a cunning attempt to strike at the heart of the invasion force. And even as Sioned carries out this perilous plan, Pol and his cousin Andry, Lord of the Sunrunners of Goddess Keep, are forced into an uneasy alliance. For only if they can overcome their longtime rivalry and suspicions of one another and draw upon their combined powers of Sunrunning and Sorcery, do they stand any chance of defeating the invaders who have sworn to destroy the people of the Desert–down to the last newborn child….

First Printing: 1993

Cover art by Michael Whelan

from the back cover ~

A Time To Fight–

With her best-selling fantasy trilogy, DRAGON PRINCE, Melanie Rawn introduced us to Sunrunner’s magic and sorcerous evil, to a ruler striving to bring peace to warring kingdoms–and to her magnificent dragons.

In STRONGHOLD, the first novel in Melanie’s DRAGON STAR trilogy, the peace won by High Prince Rohan is shattered when a mysterious invasion force begins a devastating campaign against the people of the Desert.

Now, in THE DRAGON TOKEN, the time for retreat has come to an end as Rohan’s son and heir, Pol, rallies his forces in a desperate bid to halt the advance of the invaders. But ancient rivalries begin to weaken his alliance and only time will tell whether those loyal to the High Prince can defeat both the foreign invaders and the betrayers in their own ranks.

And even as Pol leads his troops forth, Andry, the Sunrunner Lord of Goddess Keep, is also determined to take the attack to this enemy force which has sworn to slay all workers of magic.

Yet the invaders have their own agenda of conquest, and they are even now readying to strike at the very heart of the Desert, stealing treasures which Pol and Andry would pay any price to reclaim–even if the price should prove to be their own lives….

First Printing: 1992

Cover art by Michael Whelan

from the back cover ~

The Land in Flames!

With her wide her widely acclaimed, best-selling fantasy trilogy, DRAGON PRINCE, Melanie Rawn opened an enchanted gateway to a spellbound universe of Sunrunner’s magic and sorcerous evil, of a ruler fighting to bring peace to a world of warring kingdoms, and of the dragons–deadly dangerous yet holding the secret to wealth beyond imagining.

Now, in STRONGHOLD, the first novel of Melanie’s new DRAGON STAR trilogy, there is a devastating new challenge to the power of both the High Prince Rohan and Andry, Lord of the Sunrunners at Goddess Keep, as a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable invasion force swarms across their lands. For Andry, it signals the start of a nightmare made real, the horrifying fulfillment of his long ago visions of his homeland in flames, and he will draw upon even the forbidden sorcerer’s magic in an attempt to destroy this enemy which is bent on the extermination of all Sunrunners.

Rohan and his son Pol will also fight the enemy with every weapon at their command–from their valiant warriors, to conjurations with sun, moons, and stars, to the terrifying presence of the dragons, to the unforgiving wrath of the Desert itself. Yet soon they begin to fear that this invasion may prove not only the end of their dream of an unbreakable peace but the beginning of the end of their entire world….

First Printing: 1990

Cover art by Michael Whelan

from the back cover~

It began with the discovery of the Star Scroll–

the last repository of forgotten spells of sorcery, the only surviving record of the ancient foe who in times past had nearly destroyed the Sunrunners and their magic. Now, as Andry, the new Sunrunner Lord of Goddess Keep, begins to master this potentially deadly knowledge, while Pol, son of High Prince Rohan, seeks to touch the minds of dragons, the long-vanquished enemy is mobilizing to strike again, drawing on forbidden lore to play an ever-shifting game of treachery and betrayal–and secretly infiltrating even the most strongly protected of citadels.

And soon, Pol, Andry, Rohan, his Sunrunner wife Sioned, and all whom they hold dear will find it hard to tell friend from foe as spell wars threaten to devastate the land–and dragons soar the skies, inexorably lured by magic’s fiery call…

First printing: 1990

Cover art by Michael Whelan

from the back cover ~

THE SPELL OF WAR

When Rohan was crowned High Prince and his Sunrunner wife Sioned became High Princess, they swore to keep the peace of the lands and preserve the secret of the dragons, and inheritance they would one day pass on to their only child, Pol, heir to both princely and Sunrunner powers.

But the evil influenced by the former High Prince Roelstra had not ended with his death at Rohan’s hands. And even as Pol gew to manhood, other young men were being trained in the ways of war, youths descended from Roelstra and claimed by Rohan’s enemies as willing pawns in what could become a bloody battle for succession.

Yet not all players in these games of power fought merely with words or swords. For now a foe vanquished by the Sunrunners ages ago was once again growing in strength, and enemy determined to destroy Sunrunners and High Prince alike. And the only hope of defeating these masters of dark sorcery lay in reclaiming the knowledge to carefully concealed in the long-lost Star Scroll . . .

First Printing: May 1989

Cover art by Michael Whelan

The Star Scroll held knowledge, a deep, intense, knowledge that stretched back through the generations. Back when sunlight and starlight were first made magic by the Sunrunners, ancestors of Sioned–beautiful, powerful, and in danger.

As she and Prince Rohan guide their people to a future of peace, mysterious forces gather at the margins of the world. Forces old and forgotten. Dark forces that threaten Sunrunner power.

But Sioned knew about the lost scroll. The Star Scroll that could save the world from destruction…

from the back cover~

THE DRAGON LORD

When Rohan became the new prince of the Desert, ruler of the kingdom granted his family for as long as the Long Sands spewed fire, he took the crown with two goals in mind. First and foremost, he sought to bring permanent peace to his world of divided princedoms, realms hovering always on the brink of war. And, in a land where dragon-slaying was a proof of manhood, Rohan was the sole champion of the dragons, fighting desperately to preserve the last remaining lords of the sky and with them a secret which might be the salvation of his people . . .

AND HIS SUNRUNNER WITCH–

Sioned, who was fated by Fire to be Rohan’s bride, had mastered the magic of sunlight and moonglow, catching hints of a yet to be formed pattern which could irrevocably affect the destinies of Sunrunners and ordinary mortals alike. Yet caught in the machinations of the Lady of Goddess Keep, and of Prince Rohan and his sword enemy, the treacherously cunning High Prince, could Sioned alter this crucial pattern to protect her lord from the menace of a war that threatened to set the land ablaze?

First Printing: December 1988

Cover art by Michael Whelan

Fantasy author Melanie Rawn, born in 1954, attended Scripps College where she received her B.A. in history. Prior to becoming a writer she worked as both an editor and teacher.

Her writing has earned her nominations for the Locus Award on three occasions:

• 1989 – Dragon Prince – First Novel category
• 1994 – Skybowl – Fantasy Novel category
• 1995 – Ruins of Ambrai – Fantasy Novel category

She also was nominated for the World’s Fantasy Best Novel in 1997 for The Golden Key. Currently, she lives outside Los Angeles.

Here at ImagineDome, I’ll be focusing on the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.

Dragon Prince trilogy Dragon Prince 1988 The Star Scroll, 1989 Sunrunner’s Fire, 1990

Dragon Star trilogy Stronghold, 1991 The Dragon Token, 1993 Skybowl, 1994

Relevant Links:

• EXILES: The Official Melanie Rawn website
• Interview with Melanie