We're a month past the release of Shepherds of Truth, the final book in the Thaumatropic Roots series, and this feels like a good time to share some of the deeper lore that exists beneath the surface of the story.

The kind of lore the characters themselves rarely understand completely.

If you haven't read the series yet, consider this your spoiler warning.

*************** [ HERE BE SPOILERS ] ***************

Long before the Breaking, before the elves fractured into isolated peoples and conflicting cultures, the Mother of Trees created the dragons for a purpose.

They were never meant to rule.

They were meant to teach.

Each dragon race was tied to one of the five elven peoples, guiding them in both magic and philosophy.

Green Dragons — Wood Elves​ Life, healing, growth, and preservation. The greens taught the Wood Elves to nurture rather than dominate — to see living systems as something interconnected and fragile.

Black Dragons — High Elves​ Masters of mind magic, discovery, memory, and enlightenment. The black dragons pushed the High Elves toward knowledge, experimentation, and understanding the hidden structures beneath reality itself.

Blue Dragons — Salts​ Wielders of water, and motion. The blues were meant to teach balance in chaos — peace even amidst violence, uncertainty, and the shifting tides of the world.

Red Dragons — Alluvium​ Fire, willpower, protection. The reds were defenders first. Their purpose was never destruction alone, but the strength required to stand between danger and those who could not fight for themselves.

White Dragons — Warders​ Truth, prophecy, Shields, and physical reality. The whites existed closest to the foundations of the world itself. They understood patterns, inevitability, and the dangerous weight of seeing too much.

But the world changed.

The Mother of Trees broke magic itself to contain something far worse.

And the dragons — once teachers — became trapped inside a dying system they no longer fully understood.

That decay echoes through the entire series:
through the dragons,
through the elves,
and through the Mother herself.

One of the hidden truths of Thaumatropic Roots is that the world is not merely wounded.

It is constrained.

And everyone alive is trying, in their own flawed way, to survive inside the cage.

Questions? Ask away.
I built a fun tool you can try if you're too shy to ask me directly: https://sjmorriswrites.com/grimoire <-- It's an AI system able to answer questions about my books. It doesn't get it all right, but I've found it helpful as I think through the next series.

​All books by Steven J. Morris​

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