Sunrunners of Goddess Keep

The Sunrunners of Goddess Keep are characters in Melanie Rawn's fantasy novels of the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.
These Sunrunners have all been trained at Goddess Keep or have spent most of their lives at the Keep. Members of the hierarchy can be either faradh'im or diarmadh'im, though the latter's existence was only discovered, or rather rediscovered, in 719.
For a list of faradh'im see . For a complete list of characters see Melanie Rawn's official site.
Lord/Lady of Goddess Keep
*Chayla of Whitecliff, Lady of Goddess Keep: Daughter of Maarken and Hollis, twin of Rohannon, and the Lady of Goddess Keep after 737.
Andrade
Andrade of Catha Freehold, Lady of Goddess Keep was born in 649 and was the twin of Milar. She and her sister were from Catha Freehold, a truly free holding that bowed to no Prince. When she was young, she looked into the Fire and saw 's face, hard and cruel. She rejected him and the future the vision had shown her, taking it to have been a warning from the Goddess. Instead, Andrade became the Lady of Goddess Keep in 677. Andrade got the idea for faradhi Princes either from that vision or from a later one, which depicted a peaceful world ruled by Sunrunners. She sought a Sunrunner Prince from the marriage of her sister and Prince Zehava of the Desert, whom she'd proded together, but that failed. The Sunrunner abilities appeared in Princess Tobin instead. Years later, a young girl came to Andrade, asking her about what she had seen in the Fire; that girl was Sioned. She had seen Rohan, Andrade's nephew. From that day on Andrade planned for the two to marry, and sought her Sunrunner Prince from them. They did not entirely cooperate with her plans. Though they did fall madly in love and marry, they resented being manipulated by her. Sioned, after being captured and having her rings stolen, refused Andrade's offer to replace them; she would wear no ring except Rohan's emerald. The message was clear and one Andrade did not appreciate: Sioned was no longer ruled by Goddess Keep or its Lady.
Instead of sending their son, Pol, to Goddess Keep, he was trained as a knight and a prince. Andrade declared her great-nephew, Andry, Lord of Goddess Keep upon her death. She was killed by sorcery in 719.
Andry
Andry, Lord of Goddess Keep , was the son of Lord Chaynal and Princess Tobin. He was the twin of Sorin, and was Rohan's nephew. He became Lord of Goddess Keep in 719 after Lady Andrade died by sorcery; he was twenty years of age. He had been Andrade and Urival's only choice as his power and potential far outshown everyone else at Goddess Keep. During his reign as Lord, many of the traditions of Goddess Keep were changed, as were the perceptions of Sunrunners on the Continent. One of Andry's changes included the reordering of faradhi ranks, others were the use of sorcery and the creation of the Devr'im, or 'Lords of Light,' who used the stars as well as the sun and moons.
Master
*Evarin, Master Physician: Born in 716, he attended the Physicians School in Gilad, but left before receiving his certification as he felt the physicians there were incompetent. Evarin believed that only Sunrunners should be physicians as they could see and feel the connection of the Healing Arts to the Elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. He went to Goddess Keep in 735, where he trained under Lord Andry. It was due to Evarin that the eighth became reserved for Master Physician and not just a Master Sunrunner. Evarin became the first Master Physician. The devr'im, who all wore nine rings, either trained to become Master Physicians or did not wear their eighth rings. Evarin worked with the devr'im and Andry to discover the secrets of sorcery. One of the secrets he discovered was how to 'shape-change.' He later travelled with Andry to Skybowl to offer his aid as a physician. He tended to Chayla after she had been attacked and kept her secret. He also taught her more about the Healing Arts.
*Morwenna: Born in 684, she was one of Pol's Sunrunner trainers, and the one who tutored him in the Man-making ritual. She was killed in the Vellant'im attack on Stronghold. She wore eight rings.
*Torien, Chief Steward of Goddess Keep: Born in 697, he became the Chief Steward of Goddess Keep in 723. He was also one of Devri. He was married to Jolan, another Devri (and one of the few not to have had Andry's child). Torien was a diarmadhi. He was left in charge of Goddess Keep, when Andry travelled to the Desert during the Vellanti war. He tried to defend the Keep as Andry had, using the ros'salath, but he did not have the skill that Andry possessed. He reached out to his Lord, who took control of the weaving and used it to kill at Skybowl. Eventually Pol took control of the weaving, stopped the killing, and nstead rendered all the Vellant'im unconscious. The war was won, but Torien and many others had died at Goddess Keep.
*Valeda: Born in 700, she was a Devri and also bore Andry a daughter named Chayly. She travelled to the Desert to find the High Princess and . She was killed by the .
Urival
Urival, Chief Steward of Goddess Keep , was born in 653, he was made Chief Steward of Goddess Keep in 681. He trained Sioned well beyond her Sunrunner rings and had been the one to go to her for her Woman-making night, just as Andrade had been the one to go to him. He accompanied his Lady to the Rialla of 698 and bore witness to Rohan's rescue of Sioned from Roelstra. In fact Urival had helped Rohan enter the High Prince's camp by scaring off the guards with his nine faradhi rings. Six years later, during the war between Princemarch and the Desert, Urival again accompanied his Lady, this time in a disguised escape from Goddess Keep. He, Andrade, , and were going to lend their aid to the Desert, but Pandsala ran to her father, Roelstra. The rest of their party took cover in River Run, the home of Lord Davvi, Sioned's older brother. They were again surrounded by Roelstra's troops, but this time they sought the aid of Llyen's sailors, who sneaked into the Keep and then impersonated Roelstra's men. At long last Andrade and Urival caught up with Rohan and the Desert army. He and the Lady witnessed the duel between Roelstra and Rohan and were both caught up in Sioned's starweave - something that shocked them both. Urival had loved Andrade, but knew that she was busy fulfilling the Goddess's - and her own - plans for the future. Near death, she realized what his feelings were and that hers were the same. Years later, Urival trained Andry after the young man had been made Lord of Goddess Keep. Urival also travelled to Stronghold in order to train Pol. Urival was in fact a diarmadhi.
Sunrunner
*Antoun: He was one of the Sunrunners to escort Sioned to Stronghold in 698. Unlike the others of her entourage, he stayed at Goddess Keep. He later acted as a spy for her under Andry's rule.
*Hollis, Lady of Whitecliff: Maarken's wife, she helped Andry dichiper the Star Scrolls.
*Kleve: Born in 681, he was an itinerant Sunrunner. He was in Tiglath, when Rohan was captured by Ianthe, and was the first to reach Walvis and Feylin to hear the news. He was also the one to tell Sioned and warn her that the northern Desert would soon be under attack from the Merida. Kleve worked as the sole Sunrunner for the northern Desert during the oncoming war. Afterward, he continued travelling the Continent. In 719 he heard of the supposed heir of Roelstra and found out as much information as he could, which he passed on to Riyan. He was murdered due to this information by Masul, the pretender. Masul had cut off each of his fingers using an iron blade. The compound shock of the iron killed him.
*Meath: Born in 763 to a Giladan metalsmith and a fisherman's daughter, he was a friend of Sioned and was with her on her trip across the Desert in 698. Meath acted as her silent protector during that journey and through the Rialla. He also guarded Rohan's person, and saved the Prince from a Merida attack. Later he became the second Court Sunrunner of Greypearl, where he discovered the Star Scrolls in 719. Unbeknownst to Sioned until he lay dying by Vellanti hands, Meath had also loved her.
Camigwen
Camigwen was born in 676 and spent most of her life at Goddess Keep. She and Sioned became best friends and she fell in love with Ostvel, the Second Steward of Goddess Keep. Both Camigwen and Ostvel were among Sioned's escort to the Desert in 698, during which she, Sioned, and the rest of the Sunrunners fell violently ill as they had to not only cross a river, but survive a ferry capsizing. Cami and the rest of the Sunrunners were already on land, some unconscious, when the ferry line broke. As Sioned tried to reach floating friends, Cami unhinged the horses so that they could help pull people to land. Once the entourage reached Stronghold, Cami was aghast to discover that no welcome had ben made for her best friend. When she voiced her displeasure, however, Sioned snapped at her, saying she wasn't sure she would have the Desert Prince. Concerned though she was for Sioned's change in opinion, Cami soon was able to see that her friend and the Prince weren't as disinterested in each other as they would have everyone believe. On the journey to the Rialla, Prince Rohan put Cami and Ostvel in charge of the Desert camp, an honor they both enjoyed. They were even more pleased when Rohan asked them to live at Stronghold and run his household. During the Rialla Ostvel won carnelains for her wedding necklet, and Cami bought him a lute as he'd always wanted to learn how to play. During the Lastday celebrations she and Ostvel finally married, and a year later she bore their only child, Riyan. The Plague swept across the Continent in 701 and took Ostvel's beloved Camigwen with it. To honor her, Ostvel and his second wife, Alasen, named their first daughter after her: Camigwen of Castle Crag.
Crigo
Crigo was born in 665; he had been an arrogant, young Court Sunrunner travelling to his first post, when men of High Prince Roelstra took him aboard their ship to 'speed his journey.' They took him to Castle Crag, and addicted him to dranath in order to use him to spy on other Princedoms and holdings. He witnessed the Burning of Prince Zehava, during which an untrained faradhi was nearly lost to shadow. Crigo was later caught by Sioned, who confronted him in front of Andrade, Lady of Goddess Keep, while he was spying on a Desert banquet through the eyes of Stronghold's wine steward. Ashamed by how low he had fallen and that his Lady had seen him in such a state, Crigo cried out in apology and collapsed into unconsciousness. When he awoke he was aboard Roelstra's barage at the Rialla fair. He told Roelstra what he remembered of the Sunrunner who had caught him; he told Roelstra about Sioned. Most of the fair saw Crigo unconscious, deeply drugged with dranath. Palila, Roelstra's mistress, forced cups and cups of drugged wine down his throat, wanting him to warn Sioned away from the High Prince. In her urgency to secure her position as mistress, Palila had over drugged Crigo; he could feel it. Using the last of his strength, Crigo approached Andrade, his Lady, and told her of Roelstra's plan. He let himself be lost to the moonlight and died.
Other
* of Goddess Keep: Born in 724, he was Andry's son by Othanel and Tilal's squire and acting Sunrunner.
*Sioned, High Princess, Princess of the Desert: wife, High Princess, Princess of the Desert, and Sunrunner witch. She only wore Rohan's emerald, though at one time she had worn seven faradhi rings and had since earned an eighth and probably even the ninth.
* of Goddess Keep: Born in 725 to Andry and Rusina, she was later fostered to Whitecliff Manor under Hollis and Maarken's guidance.
Brenlis
Brenlis was born in 718 to a Syrene farmer, and was fostered at Stronghold in 730. Sioned quickly discovered that she could be a Sunrunner and possessed even more interesting gifts; Brenlis could see the future without conjuring or Fire. These visions from the Goddess depicted momentous events that affected many people and typically came only a few days before the events occurred. Sioned sent Brenlis to Andry at Goddess Keep, telling him in a letter that there was something special about the girl and that she reminded Sioned of herself. Andry felt an instant connection to Brenlis. He went to her on her Woman-making night - she saw through the Goddess' guise. Brenlis bore Andry his youngest daughter, Merisel. After the birth Brenlis and Andry continued to be together. He would read to her as she had never been able to learn, and she would sew clothes for their daughter. It soon became apparent that Brenlis was not highly gifted in the Sunrunner arts as she only earned two rings, but her visions more than made up for her lack of other talents. In 737 Brenlis travelled to her home, where she died in the Vellanti invasion.
Visions
*Violent storms - warned farmers and sailors of storms that could result in death or massive crop losses
*The death of Milosh of Fessenden's wife - Milosh had ridden off, grief striken, and disappeared. Pirro, Prince of Fessenden, called upon Andry for aid in finding his brother. Andry found Milosh a captive to diarmadh'im, whom he was able to eradicate without interference from Pol.
*The birth of Meig, son - as of yet unknown importance
*Brenlis standing on the cliffs of her family's farm - the beginning of the Vellanti invasion could be seen. This vision was different as she saw it at least six days before it would occur.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu