Of Water and Dragons started out as a fantasy
romance. Later, I decided to turn it into a historical fantasy romance. I chose
Roman Britain as the setting and referenced real historical accounts.
One problem I had was that Romans wrote all of the
historical references. The Celts were an oral society, so I had nothing in
writing from them to use as a reference. Of course the Romans made themselves
look good. They called the Celts barbarians, but archaeological evidence
doesn’t support this claim.
The Celts lived with the land, and they were fierce
warriors. Like the Romans, they worshipped many gods and goddesses. They even
invented chain mail and were superior iron workers. Soap was another Celtic
invention. Their druids were a priestly caste of doctors, lawyers, astronomers,
story keepers, and political advisors. Not barbarian traits in my opinion.
The one weakness they had, however, was inter-tribal
fighting. They were no match for Rome’s legions because they refused to join
together to fight the one true enemy. This would be their downfall, at least in
Briton and most of the world. In what is now called Scotland, Rome was unable
to defeat the Celtic tribes there. Possibly because the rougher terrain made it
easy for native warriors to ambush a marching army.
I did my research and found a major battle fought in
Caledonia (now Scotland) between the Roman legions and the Celts. The Battle of
Mons Graupius took place in 83 or 84 AD, but the exact location is a mystery. I
set the battle near the Grampian Mountains, one of the possible locations.
Though the Roman army was outnumbered, they managed to defeat the Celts and
sent them scattering into the forests.
This is how my hero, a Roman soldier, meets the heroine, a
half-Fae, half human who lives in the thick woodlands of the Grampian
Mountains. She has a dark past involving Roman legions and shies away from
human contact, but she decides to help this wounded Roman soldier. He has been
taught that the Celtic tribes are barbaric and deserve to be conquered. She
opens his eyes. Still, many obstacles stand in the way of any kind of
relationship developing between them.
Roman Britain thrived until the Roman legions pulled out in
about 383 AD. Despite the way Rome conquered and ruled over the Celtic tribes,
they did bring law and order to the land. They brought advanced engineering to
Briton like heated bathhouses and sanitation through aqueducts that provided
clean water and added drains to keep the streets clean. I wanted to show the
differences between how Romans and Roman Celts lived versus the free tribes of
Caledonia.
Another historical account I touched on was the
disappearance of the Ninth Legion in Caledonia. They virtually disappeared from
Rome’s accounts, possibly because having one of their greatest legions defeated
by barbaric tribes was a huge disgrace for Rome. Nobody knows what really
happened. It’s possible they were transferred to another country to fight for
Rome, but as there are no records to verify this, it’s up for debate. My
creative version involves dragon magic. Who’s to say it wasn’t druid or Fae
magic that made the Ninth Legion disappear?
By mixing history with fantasy, I was able to create a love story
that touches on the realities of life in Roman Britain and in the wild lands of
Caledonia while also integrating the magic of these people who lived with the
land and believed every living creature and everything in nature had a soul. To
them the trees were just as alive with pulsing energy as the living creatures
with blood and oxygen rushing through their bodies. Beyond the safety of their
campfires, the Celts believed there lived unknown beings capable of
unbelievable powers, some benevolent, some not. This was a time of magic.
Anything was possible.
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