A journal: recounting my observations while exploring the valley.
The valley is ringed with nearly impassable mountains and has no other borders other than bands of orcs' roaming between vast cave systems. Traveling across the mountains into the valley, though difficult and fraught with danger, one will, with luck, come into a land of beauty shrouded in a light haze, a haze only seen at the periphery of sight. The mountains at your back may have instilled a sense of fear; fear no more, you are now entering a land and place where magic rules and all inhabitants are under its sway, even you. Every person and creature has its share of magic from the Shadow dragon’s to simple villagers.
The magic originates from the deep roots of the mountain range circling the valley, a magic not seen on our side of the high peaks. All the magic in the valley is drawn into the valley by powerful forces. The only denizens of the valley that would be capable of dealing with such elemental magic would be dragons in that dragons are born of magic thus capable of using it as naturally as we use, without thinking, our heart to pump life forces to the rest of our bodies. The valleys magic is a shadow of the real power at the roots of the mountains thus making dragons the pivot point.
Long ages ago early man found their way into the valley and after many generations some of the people developed various abilities to be able to use magic some had more talent than others a talent that had to be taught but there were no teachers in the beginning.
The use of magic comes, as a birthright to dragons while the rest of the valleys denizens wielding magic have to have a talent for it. Early on there were people who knew they were different and were drawn to seek out dragons. Dragons can be dangerous and have to be approached with caution and the person pursuing contact better have honorable intentions, a shadow dragon will know. However the early adventurers who sought out a dragon did not do so at will but were drawn to the dragon by the dragon. When shadow dragons realized that there were people in the valley capable of wielding magic they decided that proper instruction in its use was necessary. They did not want people with ability inadvertently learning to wield magic without knowing what they were dealing with. Only the people with great innate talents were summoned even though they thought they were doing so on there own freewill. These talents came from villagers to people who had large land holdings. The subject beholding a dragon at close range for the first time did not so much as have lessons from the dragon but the dragon imbued the knowledge into the subject at hand. They also made certain that the student would leave with a distinct respect for the power they had been given. These students left as mages' who became teachers for other adepts, dragons are not that fond of human contact so had little interest in ‘teaching’ others of less ability. After the dragons sent enough mages back into there own lands to teach they went back to there own wild ways and left the humans to there own ways. The dragons do keep an eye on the balance of the shadow magic in the valley used by those adept at magic.
I have mentioned the haze and if you have not guessed, the haze at ones periphery is the shadow magic used by peoples of the valley. This magic flows from the dragons into the valley, a magic that maintains the mysteries of the valley. Dragons are the balance between the two degrees of magic.
The haze, the visual manifestation of shadow magic, gives existence to the valley and makes the land a mysterious place to live. A villager or merchant may travel a hundred miles to a week long fair to sell goods and in the course of his travels pass through a dark dense forest with overhanging branches blocking out the sun and upon his return along the same road, find the forest less dense with plenty of light slanting down through the branches. The roads do maintain a proper bearing for the traveler, this being possible due to wizards constantly maintaining the various routes. A job fit for wizards who are the real travelers. Roads may be accurate between destinations except in one aspect; the one hundred miles may be accurate but the time to travel the road tends to change as the haze shifts and swirls just out of sight. Such changes are taken in stride by seasoned travelers.
The size of the valley is not known: the roads traveled within the valley may be accurate between village a and town b but as one travels closer to the mountains the haze exerts greater influence as it gets closer to the powerful elemental magic contained deep within the mountains. The most accurate maps detail the center of the valley and even then if one gets off the main roads to follow trails, distances do change and only those with a gift of direction in all conditions do well. Someone who became a hunter would be such a person with a gift of direction; others would be wielders of magic.
Denizens of the valley
Dragons in control of the most powerful magic;
Shadow dragons…
Are born of magic and are as real as you and I in that they are flesh and bone; their life force is the elemental magic. Dragons are as intelligent as humans while retaining their wild natures; it is the wild side that makes them dangerous. Dragons are by nature solitary creatures.
Shadow queen dragon…
Queen dragon’s eyes will glow when one looks directly into the queen’s eyes.
Shadow baby dragon…
Shadow forest dragon…
Have a preference for living in forests
-Wielders of shadow magic;-
Shadow mages…
Spend most their lives in their towers studying and compiling information gathered by wizards. Talented boys are trained in calligraphy and bookbinding then sent off to mages who are in needing people to create books containing the compiled information.
Shadow wizards…
Travel and explore the valley gathering information plus they are renowned for there story telling
Shadow forest wizard…
Has preference for wandering the vast forests in the valley
Shadow seers…
Have abilities to find recently lost items, apply remedies for common ailments for villagers and livestock, alike plus for weather forecasts.
Shadow blind seer…
No pupil; interpreter of dreams
Shadow merchants…
Travel the valley offering their wares or services to anyone with enough gold, silver or some other goods to barter. A merchant has a colorful shadowy cloak as a symbol of there trade. They generally have minor talents in the art of magic such as sharpening knives so that the edge last longer.
Shadow orc chieftain…
Wields enough magic to keep his tribe in line
Wizards apprentice…
Adepts who study under a wizard’s tutelage.
Artifacts;
Night stone…
Showing the phases of the moon as seen from the valley
Moon glow stone…
A handy item to have when a little light is needed
Lighthouse lens…
Lights the way for sailors and is used by captains to look into the near future while sailing across the great lakes in the valley. Are hand held except for a few that are large and set atop of a tower.
Shadow evil eye…
White or milky white iris with tapering red toward the back of the eye used as a protection to ward off possible bad effects of magic.
Other items;
Towers…
Serving a duel purpose as watchtowers and a place where a wizard maintains a home when not on the road. You will generally find a wizards apprentice on duty.
Shadow towers…
Are few and far apart. A mage spends most his time living in these spectacular towers studying information gathered by wizards.
Magic mushrooms…
A delicacy that grows in the forest and is hard to find but if you are brave enough…a wizards apprentice is generally the one designated to search them out. Thought to be good for ones health and general well being. So far there are only two types I know of.
People of the valley;
Villagers…
There are other people such as town folk, landed gentry and those who are up to no good. Villagers are noted most often because they are closest to the land and tend to be the ones with the best chance to possess the raw ability to wield magic. I have mentioned that all the people have their share of magic but that does not mean that they can overtly use it.
A note here may be helpful;
The valley people using magic have attached shadow to their designation even though the shadow magic comes from shadow dragons; seers, wizards and mages, and others add shadow to their title as if magic was there birthright, even orc chieftains who have very little ability with magic add the ‘shadow’ designation. Exceptions are the apprentices to wizards.
The original idea of wild dragons came to me in a dream or at least I thought so, as it turns out the dream came about because of some observations while visiting the valley, it was the sort of observation that is fleeting and not always remembered. On a recent visit I sought out a shadow dragon I have become acquainted with and learned as much as I could about the wild dragons.
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