Blanket Disclaimer: We take credit for the characters Onyx Ishi, Kallisto

Valora Marcia Bronwyn, Aiden Sadi, Aalinar Yaslana, and the twins. The

plot is ours. Everything else was derived by the fabulous author, Anne

Bishop, from the books Daughter of the Blood, Heir of Shadows, and the

Queen of Darkness.

Jewels:

White

Yellow

Tiger Eye

Rose

Summer-sky

Purple Dusk

Opal

Green

Sapphire

Red

Grey

Ebon-Grey

Black

Opal is the dividing line between lighter and darker Jewels because it can be either.

When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel.

Blood Hierarchy/Castes:

Males-

Landen- non-Blood of any race

Blood male- a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who doesn't wear the jewels

Warlord- a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch

Prince- a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer

Warlord Prince- a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen.

Females-

Landen- non-Blood of any race

Blood female- a general term for all females of the Blood; also refers to any Blood female who doesn't wear the jewels

Witch- a Blood female who wears the Jewels but isn't one of the other

hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female

Healer- a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince.

Priestess- a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars;

witnesses hand fasts and marriages; performs offerings; equal in status to a

Healer and a Prince

Black Widow- a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in illusions and poisons

Queen- a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land's heart and the Blood's moral center; as such, she is the focal point of their society

Prologue:

"Long ago, when the Realms were young, there lived a race of dragons. Powerful, brilliant, and magical, they ruled all the lands and all the creatures in them. After hundreds of generations there came a day when they realized their race would be no more, and rather than have their knowledge and their gifts die with them they chose to give them to the other creatures, so that they could continue the Craft and care for the Realms.

"One by one, the dragons sought their lairs and embraced the Forever Twilight, becoming part of the Darkness. When only the Queen and her Prince, Lorn, were left, the Queen bid her Consort farewell. As she flew through the Realms her scales sprinkled down, and whatever creature her scales touched, whether it walked on two legs or four or danced in the air on wings, became blood of her blood- still part of the race it came from but also Other, remade to become caretaker and ruler. When the last scale fell from her, she vanished. Some stories say her body was transformed into some other shape, though it still contained a dragon's soul. Others say her body faded and she returned to the Darkness."

"This is the story my husband's grandfather has told countless times, of how the Blood came to be and what we were meant to be. He went on to explain a theory as to why the Blood were once all female, and why it wasn't still limited only to females."

"Since the Queen's scales gifted the Craft to other races, and since like calls to like, it seems reasonable that only the females were able to absorb the magic. They became bonded to the land, drawn by their own body rhythms to the ebb and flow of the natural world. They became the Blood."

"This, of course, left unattended, would have lasted one, glorious generation, but my grandfather insists all men are not stupid and, though doubtful, I'll go along with it, if only to complete his theory."

"Upon discovering that some of the women in their Territory suddenly had magical powers and skills, the best young warriors would offer themselves as mates and protectors."

"From those unions, children were born. The girls, because of gender, received the full gift. After several generations, the males became stronger. The first Queens probably appeared long before the first Warlord, let alone a male stronger than that. By then, the idea that males served and protected females would have been ingrained within them. In the end, what you have is the Blood society where Warlords are equal in status to witches, Princes are equal to Priestesses and Healers, and Black Widows only have to defer to Warlord Princes and Queens. Warlord Princes, who are considered a law unto themselves, are a step above the other castes and a step- a long step- beneath the Queens."

"From that stemmed an Age of Blood, as there had been an Age of Dragons before them. There are many stories, many histories, of the Blood and the impact they made in their world. Perhaps there would be none as great as the tale of Witch, Dreams Made Flesh, but that is another tale to be told by another teller. She did great things, the Queen of Ebon Askavi, Kaeleer's Heart. She rid the Blood of Dorothea's Taint, and brought the Kindred back among us, nurtured and cared for the Shadow Realm, as is the Queen's duty and calling."

"But, for a long while, the Light Realm, Dorothea's Domain, remained untended and uncared for. Wars sprung up in the sudden absence of their rulers, a garden ravaged and dying, the life being choked out by wild-growing weeds. The story I have to tell you is of another young Queen, one who danced to the tune of Light and Chaos, who heard the Light Realm's pleading, and rushed to its rescue. Those of you who will listen to this tale have it, on authority, that all I speak is the truth, for I was there. For she is the Heart of Light, and I the Will of Darkness."