magic in DRAGONTIARNA
Reader Edward has some questions about magic in the Dragontiarna series. Mild spoilers follow:
“When Calliande and Antenora went through the portal to Tyrcamber’s world in Dragontiarna Knights, why do they immediately start to become dragons? The Malison from what little I understand should only affect people who use the magic of the Frankish world. Neither woman used magic on the Frankish world. Also can beings from Tyrcamber’s world use more magic on Ridmark’s world since there is no Malison to fear? Or is the Malison already inside of them and they will transform either way once they exhaust themselves with using magic.”
For Calliande and Antenora, it’s something like an immune system. Everyone who is born on Tyrcamber’s world is born with magical ability, and do develop at least some resistance to the Malison. Obviously, it’s possible to overcome that resistance and trigger the Dragon Curse (as many people in the MALISON series learned the hard way), but people born on Tyrcamber’s world do have some resistance to it. But for Calliande and Antenora, it was the first time they had encountered the Malison, so it was like they had been exposed to a new disease for the first time and their immune systems had no defenses for it.
By contrast, someone from Tyrcamber’s world who comes to Andomhaim would not be at risk from the Malison. However, they wouldn’t be able to use magic as effectively or as quickly, because the magic of Andomhaim is a lot weaker than that of Tyrcamber’s world. There’s also a subtle danger for wizards from Tyrcamber’s world who come to Andomhaim. Because the magic in Tyrcamber’s world is so much more powerful, wizards there tend to be “sloppier” with their spells, burning through more power than necessary to create the same effects. Trying to do that in Andomhaim means they’ll run through their power and stamina more quickly, and would need to rest before they recovered their power.
-JM
I also noticed that there appear to be few of the skilled and knowledgeable human wizards in the Frankish Empire that you find in Andomheim among the Magistri and the Arcanium Knights. Is this because we have mostly encountered warrior-wizards in the Malison novels, and not enough specialized scholar-wizards or healer-wizards, or is it because the two-edged sword of the danger of the Malison and the plentiful power it offers discourages humans from delving too deply into the study of magic? The necromancers of the Fallen Order would appear to be the exception, but as I understand it, like the Xiatami priests, they draw power from death and blood to avoid the Malison.
It would be a twofold answer. 1.) It is dangerous to experiment too much with magic in the Frankish Empire, because of the risk of the Malison. Learning magic in Andomhaim/Owyllain is dangerous, but with absolutely zero risk of accidentally turning into a dragon. 2.) Everyone in the Frankish Empire can use magic, but not to the same degree of skill or training. It’s like how almost everyone can run, but some people can run 10 miles, and others can barely run to the end of the driveway. All the really skilled or talented human wizards tend to wind up joining one of the Imperial Orders, so the most powerful human wizards are generally among the five Orders.
But blood magic/necromancy is immune to the Malison, so human necromancers and xiatami Conciliators can become hideously powerful if they live long enough.
I find it strange that apparently ridmark and Accolon can go to the world of the frankish empire with no consequences because they can’t use magic, but all of the original, colonists shall we say, from earth couldn’t either and yet they all gained the ability to use magic. How come The two swordbearers didn’t?
They had soulblades, which protected them.
I always thought that caliande and antenora couldn’t stand the malison because they are magic themself. Too explain: The frankish empire had no magicians/wizards of their own seeing as this isnt normal on old earth. But Caliande and Antenora are, making it so they passively pull magic into themselfs from around them even though they are not casting magic. This would explain why the malison took hold immidiatly. Just my thoughts(and excuse my english)