Dragonfriend
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Long ago, Dragons ruled the Island-World above the Cloudlands. But their Human slaves cast off the chains of Dragonish tyranny. Humans spread across the Islands in their flying Dragonships, colonising, building and warring. Now, the all-conquering Sylakians have defeated the last bastion of freedom–the Island-Kingdom of Immadia.
Evil has a new enemy. Aranya, Princess of Immadia. Dragon Shapeshifter.
Aranya
Shadow Dragon
Shapeshifter Dragon Legends: (Young Adult and older readers) A young Pygmy warrior is stolen from her jungle home and sold to a zoo, where she lives for seven years before being kidnapped by the Red Dragon Zardon. Now, the courage of the smallest will be tested to the utmost. For Pip is the Pygmy Dragon, and this is her tale.
The Pygmy Dragon
The IsleSong series: (Young Adult and older readers) A story for anyone who loves the ocean and its whales, salt water in their hair, and the gentle rasp of beach sand between their bare toes. This story will transport you to a beautiful, unspoiled ocean world where people have to rely on Whales to travel between the islands. A world where danger can, and does, lurk beneath any wave.
The Girl who Sang with Whales
The Shioni of Sheba series: (Middle Grades and older readers) Unique, bestselling African historical fantasy adventures set among the myths and legends of ancient Ethiopia. There are currently 4 books in this series:
The Enchanted Castle
The King’s Horse
The Mad Giant
The Sacred Lake
(Coming Soon) The Fiuri Realms
Epic fantasy (New Adult and Adult readers) Epic length tales of unique worlds and powers.
Feynard
The Legend of El Shashi
Appendix
The Island-World
Legend tells how a huge comet carrying the original Dragon eggs (the First Eggs) smashed into the world, creating a gigantic impact crater many thousands of leagues in diameter. The mountains surrounding the crater are 25 leagues high, a height far beyond Human or Dragon capability to overfly.
The Ancient Dragons, the mightiest of whom is the Black Dragon Fra’anior, raised the volcanic Islands out of the depths and set them above the toxic Cloudlands, forming the unique backdrop of a world where Dragons fly between league-high islands above the clouds, and Humans must use dirigible Dragonships to do the same. The world beneath the Cloudlands is a great mystery, but is said to be inhabited by mile-long Land Dragons, beasts who gnaw at the roots of the Islands.
Five moons battle for space in the night sky, making a moonless night a rare and special occasion, when the stars blaze in all their glory. The moons are Iridith the yellow, Jade the green, Blue, Mystic and White. Iridith will often fill half of the horizon, while White is the smallest and most distant of the moons. Eclipses of the twin suns are common due to the number of moons.
Distances
For converting between leagues, miles and kilometres:
1 league = 5.556 kilometres = 3.45 miles
1 mile = 5280 feet
Seeing distances from Mountaintops
The Human eye can see great distances under optimal optic conditions–unlike the Island-World, with its myriad active volcanoes, which contribute a great volume of particulate matter and gases to the atmosphere, creating for example the extraordinary volcanic sunsets of Fra’anior Cluster. This haze in the atmosphere effectively limits the distances a Human or Dragon is able to see.
How far could Hualiama see, for example, from her native Fra’anior Island across the caldera to Ha’athior? Assuming perfectly clear air, a world curvature the same as Earth’s, and both Islands being exactly 1 league (3.45 miles) above ‘sea’ level (the Cloudlands), and ignoring the effect of refraction–which varies depending on atmospheric conditions–Hualiama could technically see a distance of some 95 leagues (330 miles)–five times more than the 18 leagues (62 miles) to Ha’athior. (Data courtesy of: http://members.home.nl/7seas/radcalc.htm)
Lia wonders if anyone has ever seen the rim-wall mountains. If she were flying on Grandion’s back at a height of 2 leagues (6.9 miles) above the Cloudlands and looking to the mountains which are 25 leagues tall (86.25 miles), she could theoretically see them from a distance of some 307.4 leagues (1060 miles).
For a more detailed mathematical treatment of this issue, please see this page: http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/explain/atmos_refr/horizon.html by Andrew T Young.
Dragonship Technology
At Hualiama’s time Dragonship technology is relatively basic. Most Dragonships work like a hot air balloon, having a large oblong sack (shaped like a zeppelin) which is filled with hot air supplied by a wood-burning stove. While using turbines for propulsion, the prevalent system relies on the efforts of a crew of 5 to 50 persons to provide the thrust by taking turns to peddle a bicycle-like device fondly called the ‘back breaker’. At the time of Hualiama’s birth, the steam-powered turbine drive has just been invented, which provides superior thrust and lifting capability.
More advanced Dragonships have begun to use hydrogen gas for additional lifting power. Because of the explosion risk, the hydrogen system is kept separate from the hot air system. Hydrogen is produced by the process of dissolving hydrogen-bearing meriatite rock in an acid bath, giving off hydrogen gas which is pumped into a balloon or segment of a balloon. The meriatite furnace engine prevalent in Aranya’s time will only be invented 425 years later.
Nevertheless, Dragonship navigation remains a hazardous and exacting profession. Largely at the mercy of prevailing winds and atmospheric conditions, most Dragonships are piloted as close to the shores of Islands as possible. The Steersman keeps a weather eye out for storms and squalls, and truly long-range flights are relatively rare.