| Sovereign Stone | |
| Books: | Well of Darkness (2000) Guardians of the Lost (2001) Journey into the Void (2003) |
| Author: | Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman |
| Cover Artist: | Larry Elmore |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Fantasy, Role-playing game |
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Pub Date: | 2000 – 2003 |
| Media Type: | |
| Number Of Books: | 3 |
The Sovereign Stone series is a trilogy of fantasy novels: Well of Darkness (2000), Guardians of the Lost (2001), and Journey into the Void (2003), set in the same universe of the Sovereign Stone Role-playing game. Both the books and the game were primarily written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
The first book is set during the reign of King Tamaros of Vinnengael, the most powerful Human kingdom. Tamaros is the father of Prince Helmos and his younger half-brother, Prince Dagnarus. The next two novels are set approximately 200 years later and follow Dagnarus in his bid to take over the world as well as the story of his allies and opponents.
There are four races on the main continent, Loerem, with two further races appearing in the second and third books, one from a distant world. The main four races are primarily dedicated to one of the four elements: the Humans are associated with earth/stone, the Elves with air/wind, the Orks with Water/the Sea, and the Dwarves with fire. The fifth race, the Taan, are associated with the void. The sixth race, the Pecwae, rely on earth magic drawn from stones such as turquoise. Each race's magic-users draw power primarily from their element, as well as occasionally from outside their racial element.
Each races have their own god(s). The Humans worship a pantheon always referred to as a group, "the gods", rather than individually. The Orks worship the gods who live in their holy mountain and follow the signs read by their shamans. The Elves worship the Father and Mother, and the Dwarves worship the Wolf. The Taan also have a pantheon of gods, but separate them as individuals with power over various events. The Pecwae refer to simply the gods, similar to humans. It is not made clear in the books if all the gods are one group or separate groups, but all the races were given the Sovereign Stone by their gods through the King of Vinnengael.
The gods had originally rewarded King Tamaros for his faith by giving him the power to create Dominion Lords, a group of holy warriors who were to promote peace and understanding among the four main races. As strife continued, the King went to the gods and asked them for something to help create peace among the races. They gave him the Sovereign Stone which could be split into four portions, each representing one of the four elements. The King gave one portion to each of the races so that they could create their own Dominion Lords. A fifth portion of the Stone that was unseen, save by the young Prince Dagnarus, was the Void. As a balance to the Sovereign Stone, a Void follower was able to accept the Dagger of the Vrykyl from the Void itself, which has similar powers to create the antithesis of the Dominion Lords.