• 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)

Tags: Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, Melanie Rawn, Places

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}

Tags: Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, Melanie Rawn, Places

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

Tags: Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn, Sunrunner's Fire

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…

Tags: Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn, Star Scroll

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

Tags: Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn

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

Tags: Author Bio, Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, Melanie Rawn