A little history on the Elves of The Draken Trilogy

Little known to most people, the Elves are actually of five different races.  While they all share the similar characteristics, such as being tall and having a very slim build, rarely does one weigh in at over 120 pounds.  At the same time, they have some distinct differences.

The elves of the forest a very agile and usually have a slightly greenish cast to their hair and eyes.  Their magic is generally focused on growth and healing, as they constantly try and repair the damage done to our world in the past.  They are healers first and foremost, but very dangerous enemies if you upset them, being that they can poison entire armies with just a few berries.  Although, seeing their eyes flash like bright emeralds when you upset them is almost worth the trouble.

The elves of the sea are excellent swimmers and in general have a blue tint to their hair and vibrant blue eyes (looking into the eyes of their princess, was like looking into the ocean depths). The sea elves have the ability to see magic, whether it is an illusion, or a spell cast on a person or item.  They also have the ability to manipulate spells that are cast in their direction, woe to those who think a simple fireball will hurt one of them.  Interestingly enough they don't appear to have any offensive magic, but if they are in the water you can be sure there is some sort of underwater monster there to protect them.

The elves of the mountains are the heaviest of the elves and the best warriors amongst the Elvin people.  In general they have brownish blonde hair and brown eyes, and almost always are wearing armor (which is quite fetching on some of the young women).  These elves have an amazing power over weapons and armor, they can make it do almost anything they wish it to, from being the lightest weight chain armor in the world, it can be altered to withstand the breath of the most fearsome dragon.  Swords made by these elves are amazingly sharp and their shields can stop almost any weapon.  The draw back is that the magic only works when an elf is using the equipment, unless it is specifically made for another race.  Just a warning to young men out there, just because you may face a woman on the field doesn't mean you are going to win.

The elves of the desert are the most volatile of all the elves, with their red hair and bloodshot eyes, you just know they are crazy.  The flicker of a candle flame reflected in those eyes is all you see when they cast a spell your way.  Their magic is focused in flame, and can be very destructive.  Granted it can also be used for quite a bit of good as well, they made a great roast using magic to cook it after all.  I must warn you though, these elves are extremely temperamental, so please try not to upset them or you may find yourself looking for a bank of snow in the middle of a desert.

The last of the Elvin races are very different than the others, they are called the Lost Ones, as they have lost their path to their goddess.  These elves have nearly black hair and cold dead eyes.  Their magic is that of the soul and when they turned their back on their goddess it turned into death magic.  Granted some of them are in the process of returning to their goddess and are once again using their magic for the greater good.  These elves have a power over souls, guiding the souls from the dead to the realm of their goddess, or in the case of those that still do not see her, trapping the souls in the skeletal remains as a servant for all eternity.  I regret I did not get too close to these elves as they are more aggressive than any of the others and i did not want to become a slave.

Now you know a bit more about the elves than you did before you read my memoirs, but let me take a moment here to apologize to any of the elves I may have offended while researching their races for this report, as I am not sure if this report in and of itself will offend them.  Thankfully I am recovering nicely from all of the injuries inflicted upon me in my duels with various elves and I must thank them for teaching me the consequences for my transgressions of their honor.  I hope the mountain elves will be kind enough to allow me to return to their home and the young woman I fell in love with.

Sincerely,

*the signature is illegible and has a few drops of blood at the end leaving us historians to believe the original writer was killed when he finished this report*

The great cats and their place in the story

"What's that son?  You just saw a cat the size of a horse?

I can't tell you how many time I have heard people unfamiliar with the mountains make those statements.  Let me start by explaining about the the forest cats, we can build up to the larger cousins the hill cats and mountain cats as we go along.

Forest cats area beautiful race of cats, sleek of fur and shiny black.  They are a bit slimmer than your hunting dog, but almost of a size.  The amazing part is that they weigh a good bit more than your hunting dog, and in some cases twice as much.  They come up about mid thigh on the average man when on all fours and are a holy terror when defending themselves.  The cats are fairly intelligent or so I have heard, but thankfully have never witnessed.  One of the most beautiful sights described to me by a hunter was of the sleek black cat darting between the tree trunks in the forest.

Now the hill cats are about twice the size of their forest cousins, and have grey fur.  These cats are very agile, and appear to have a very high pain tolerance.  One of the hunters once said that it took three men to take one of these large cats down, and even then only on man survived.  They are amazingly quick and strong.  Their primary source of food in the hills are the wild sheep, although I have heard that on occasion one will wander into a small village or a farmstead and take a child or two.

The mountain cats, now that is an interesting cat.  They are the size of a horse, and can eat an entire horse at one sitting.  I have noticed that amongst the mountain cats, there is no consistent fur color, it varies from cat to cat. Interesting part is that in the southern mountains there is a tribe of people that have actually trained the cats like we train our horses, and as such they ride them from place to place.

Out of all three cats, the mountain cats are the least aggressive for some reason, while the forest cats are the most aggressive. If I didn't know any better I would say that their size determines how likely they are to attack you, at the same time I would walk up to a mountain cat and try to put it."

Author Unknown, found on a scrap of cloth in a cave in the northern foothills.
Items found with note: Bones, apparently human
                                  A Broken Spear
                                  A bent sword
                                  What appears to have once been the hide of a hill cat
I do believe he was the third hunter to face the hill cat and apparently he did not survive.
   Sir Malaross Head Lore Seeker

A bit about dragons

So, you want to know about dragons huh?  Well, where do we begin?  They're big, vicious and very cunning, at least that is what the ignorant will tell you.

The truth is, dragons are great people.  Once you have befriended one, you have a very good friend who will make certain you are safe to the best of his ability.  

The tales are true about their size though, even hatchlings are big, standing almost six feet at the shoulder.  They start out a bright flame red in color when they are first born, and the scales get darker with age, until they appear black.  Once the scales have reached their darkest color, they start to develop white around the edges.  Eventually they will turn all white if the dragon lives long enough.  To date I have only heard of one dragon that has lived that long, and nobody knows where he has disappeared to.

Dragonfire, one of the most dangerous weapons in the world, it is actually a form of liquid.  To this day we are not sure exactly what produces it, but we do know that the dragon can choose how hot it is when he breathes it. We also know that it can melt metal and stone when the dragon desires it.  The dragons teeth and claws are amazing, able to slice through steel and stone with great ease, they make for very valuable weapons, although most dragon hunters fail to survive long enough to acquire one.  Most people don't know that young dragons will lose their teeth when they are around 150 years old, and it is these teeth that are most often given to close friends of the dragons.  The scales too are prized amongst man, for they offer some protection from fire and can turn most blades aside, if properly made into a suit of armor.  Man has discovered though that the scales of older dragons do not work as well as the scales from young dragons.  (this may have something to do with the size and thickness of the scales though)  Dragon scales can be dyed, but it does take a special type of dye to change it's color.

How does a dragon fly?  

Oh, that's an easy one, they have a form of magic that allows their body weight to diminish when their wings are spread.  This magic is tied into their nature, which is magical to begin with.  Some dragons fly in the manner of large birds, while others appear to swim through the skies.  You should see the water dragons when they are in the air, they resemble overgrown snakes with wispy wings.  

Dragons are like humans in a lot of ways, they are highly intelligent, have individual personalities, and you never know if they will side with you or against you, although a dragon is not likely to stab you in the back like a human would.

What you may not know is that the numbers of dragons dropped dramatically many years ago, and now we only have around a hundred of these great creatures left in this world.  For some reason they appear to be gathering in the mountains outside of our kingdom, there have been over a dozen different dragons spotted over the mountains.  A few months ago a hunter reported seeing a group of them flying together, I wonder just what is going on.

I hope this answers your questions about the dragons, if not feel free to ask me for more.

Sincerely,

Valarious