Blackspine Mountains

The Blackspine Mountains is a location in The Crown & The Flame and The Royal Romance series. It is a mountain range that is often used to refer to the village where Sei, Dom, Anu, Anton, Idara, and all wielders of the flame reside and originate. It holds a village which houses fire magic users and their relatives, and is first seen in Book 2, Chapter 4.

The Crown & The Flame
The Blackspine Mountains are home to magic users with pyrokinesis, the command of fire and heat. They are situated northeast of the Ruins of Rajkur and Stormholt, and claim the northern portion of the mountain range it shares with Aurelia. From what can be seen, it has a river for water with a wooden bridge for passage, cottages made from bricks and hay, several pine trees, and a cliff with a rocky path. According to the loading screen trivia, it is also home to several active volcanoes.

Fifty years before the start of the story, Azura approached the Blackspine Mountains to ask the inhabitants for their surrender. Naturally, the inhabitants refused, and began attacking Azura and her soldiers, eventually forcing them to retreat; however they did so at the cost of several lives, as they were driven nearly to the point of extinction.

Fifty years later, the villagers were again oppressed, this time by a Technocrat, Hex, who captured several of them hoping to procure some magic users.

Inhabitants of the Blackspine Mountains have their own traditions. All wielders of the flame are branded a flame insignia by their mothers shortly after birth, which does not go away, and is used to distinguish a person originating from the village from other people, as Dom was told of his connection to his birthplace through his brand. They also practice a game played during courtship, called Fal Agnis, in which the loser obeys all the winner's commands.

Sei Rhuka mentioned that many inhabitants have died practicing control over their fire; training takes several months or even years until the user perfects his/her power of fire. The villagers' spiritual center, a volcano, is used as a medium for visiting the Spirit World, where they are to train to manipulate their fire in order to "find" their dragon. As such, there are tales of dragons living in the Mountains, where one man became known for "taming" them.

The power of fire is fueled by all emotions felt by the user, but is mostly seen in the series to be fueled by wrath. Fire users are immune to heat to a certain temperature; the hotter the heat, the harder it is to be resisted.

At the end of the series, Dom mentioned that the Blackspine Mountains and the inhibitions would likely be joining the Five Kingdoms as a sixth one. He wanted to act as ambassador to help make the transition go smoothly. The Five Kingdoms later became Cordonia.

Trivia

 * You can choose to climb up the cliff with Jake McKenzie in Endless Summer, Book 1, Chapter 3. You will see a similar landscape if you do so.
 * One of the stops during the Cordonian social season in The Royal Romance, Book 1 uses the same set in Chapter 13.
 * One of the filming locations in Red Carpet Diaries, Book 3 uses the Blackspine set.