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Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons

The novel cover, showing Karin, a girl with light and wavy hair, smiling and leaning against the cheeks of Bleu, a white dragon with blue wing membranes. Bleu is twice her height, but has his head down to lean close to hers.

Shining Force - Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons (シャイニング・フォース―神竜の血脈) is an official spin-off novel involving characters and elements from both Shining Force and Shining Force II. It is written by Sami Shinosaki (who has also worked on Fire Emblem novels such as Mystery of the Emblem), illustrated by SUEZEN (the character designer of Shining Force II), and published by Kadokawa.

Back cover summary:

After that war, Bleu lived alone in Dragonia. But his destiny as a Sacred Dragon calls him to the battlefield once more. A survivor of a shipwreck, Camallia, washes up in the shores of the harbor, claiming to be seeking the Manual of Secrets to save the Sacred Dragons of Parmecia. Searching for the Manual, Bleu and his friends are off to adventure! Monsters come to attack them from the distant land of Parmecia. What is their true goal… A new Shining Force is born, running across the two continents of Rune and Parmecia. An original side story.

Navigation

My Preface
Illustrations
Maps
Chapter Index

My Preface

A follower at Tumblr has kindly offered to scan the novel for me, and I am eternally grateful.

Also, the pages were scanned with only a phone camera, so I did some editing to smooth over some stuff and enhance contrast. You might notice the smell of digital print but don’t worry about it, the contents are unchanged. I made a folder with the scans, as well as other illustration scans I’ve found across the internet.

Update Feb 15 2024: The novel is now scanned in better quality at the Internet Archive. I'll be using both sources now as I see fit.

Now, let's enjoy the book together.

Spoiler warning: This section contains mild spoilers on the story and the characters that will be appearing. If you wish to experience the story completely unspoiled, click here to skip to the Chapter Index.

Unlike the text itself, illustration scans have been in the web for a while, so I've included multiple sources for some of pics due to different scan quality. I have also included scans from SUEZEN's "Eternal" artbook, as some illustrations featured there are from this book. (Note: the artbook versions have some absolute nonsense english captions. Don't ask me what's up with those lmao)

Click the pictures for full size.

The novel's cover illustration. Text at the bottom says, 'To fight aloud, is very brave- But gallanter, I know, who charge within the bosom. The Cavalry of Woe-' An image of Karin up to her waist. She's a young girl with wavy, long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She wears a red vest somewhat tight on her breasts, over a loose white blouse with puffy sleeves up to her elbows. A bit of her mauve skirt can be seen. She smiles gently, and the background behind her is all green leaves. Another scan of the same illustration of Karin, this time less saturated and yellowed.'
Cover illustration (artbook version). Illustration of Karin from the opening pages. Illustration of Karin from the opening pages.
Scan from sugar-youloute (deactivated) Scan from Old Anime Fashion (tumblr) Scan from Internet Archive
Another scan of the same illustration of Karin, this time less saturated. There's also text below this one, saying 'Her dripping, shining locks, they would become an elf. Who in a beaded coat does gayly go.' Illustration of Odd Eye and Cameela. Cameela is in the right, a splot of black in the background behind her. She's a devil with blue skin, fuchsia hair, pointy ears, and a big circular gem on her forehead from where two big golden horns spread out to the sides, and then upwards after covering the whole forehead. She also has yellow sclera, green eyes, red eyeshadow and red lips curved in a wicked grin. Odd Eye is to the left over a red splot in the background, their art blending into each other in the middle. He looks like a regular man with eyes closed, and short hair very volumous in the front, covering all of his forehead. His hair is also colored similar to his skin color in this art as opposed to the usual purple. Both him and Cameela fade out at the top of the drawing, giving way to a bigger blue splot in the background with two featureless golden eyes. The title of the novel is in the bottom. Same illustration of the devils, with slightly paler colors.
Illustration of Karin (artbook version). Illustration of Oddeye and Cameela from the opening pages. Illustration of Oddeye and Cameela from the opening pages.
Scan from sugar-youloute (deactivated) Scan from Shining Force Central Scan from Internet Archive
Double spread illustration of a battle. Karna, a priest with purple hair, pointy ears and white and gold robes, looks angrily to her right, glowing light within her hands. Randolf, a dwarf with orange eyes wearing a red handkerchief on his head, jumps atop a robot, aiming his axe at it. In the background, surrounded by smoke, Cameela, a devil with blue skin, fuchsia hair and red clothes, swings an iron ball at two robots, which explode into massive clouds of fire and smoke. Tyrin, a wizard with brown cape and hat, is even further in the background, back turned to the others. Same illustration in another scan that has lost a few details due to being brighter and more saturated. In this one however the middle part is smooth, while in the other the page divide can be seen. Same illustration less saturated.
Illustration of Karna, Randolf, Cameela and Tyrin fighting robots in the opening pages. Illustration of Karna, Randolf, Cameela and Tyrin fighting robots in the opening pages. Illustration of Karna, Randolf, Cameela and Tyrin fighting robots in the opening pages.
Scan from Shining Force Central Scan from Video Games Densetsu (tumblr) Scan from Internet Archive
Illustration of Bleu flying towards the ship at open sea. From this angle it's possible to see how spikes run through all of Bleu's spine, from the neck down to the tail tip. The ship below him has the sails in tatters, and even from a distance, cracks and holes can be seen through its hull. Many bats fly near the sails. Another scan of the Bleu illustration, yellowed and with the paper straighter. Illustration of Camallia lounging by the ship's deck, her elbows resting along the wall and her head raised upwards with a tranquil smile, her dark hair cascading down.
Illustration of Bleu and the shipwreck, from page 33 (Chapter 1-2). Illustration of Bleu and the shipwreck, from page 33 (Chapter 1-2). Illustration of Camallia, from page 53 (Chapter 1-5).
Scan by Neri, cleanup and upload by me Scan from Internet Archive Scan from Shining Force Central
Another scan of the Camallia illustration, bigger and yellowed. Illustration of Zylo's sillhouette cutting down a lizardmen's chest with both his giant claws. A close up of his face, with serious furrowed eyebrows, appears at the top of the page, with speed lines showing his fast movement. Another scan of the Zylo illustration, in lower resolution but less yellowed.
Illustration of Camallia, from page 53 (Chapter 1-5). Illustration of Zylo, from page 119 (Chapter 2-7). Illustration of Zylo, from page 119 (Chapter 2-7).
Scan from Internet Archive Scan from Internet Archive Scan from Shining Force Central
Illustration of Karna singing with a smile and playing the harp. Tyrin listen on with closed eyes and a pleased smile, while Guntz and Randolf face each other, Guntz smiling and Randolf with a serious look. Another scan of the lyre illustration, in lower resolution but less yellowed.
Illustration of Karna playing the lyre to Tyrin, Randolf and Guntz, from page 145 (Chapter 3-2). Illustration of Karna playing the lyre to Tyrin, Randolf and Guntz, from page 145 (Chapter 3-2).
Scan from Internet Archive Scan from Shining Force Central

Maps

Click the maps for full size.

A map of the continent of Rune. It is two lands separated by the ocean, with an archipelago between both in the northern part.

The map of Rune is cool, but has nothing of note. While all locations from the game are pictured, only a few are labelled: Dragonia and Rudo Village in East Rune, and Rindo, Manarina, Bustoke, Pao Plains and Uranbatol in West Rune.
A map of the southwest of the continent of Parmecia. There's part of an island in the left top corner, with two kingdoms marked near rivers. The west coast of the main land is at the south, There's a big volcano surrounded by mountains to the right. A river runs from the east to it and then down all the way to the southern coast, near a town. West of this town is a thinner section of mountains and forest opening up to a triangular region of mountains in the end. This shape is meant to evoke a typical devil's tail. There's another big volcano amidst these mountains.

The map of Parmecia depicts only the southwest part. While the kingdoms of Granseal and Galam can be seen in Grans Island, the only label there is for the land itself, Ground Seal. Mt. Volcano is also labelled, along with Hassan at the southern coast, and finally, the triangle of mountains to the west, Fire Dragon’s Tail. It seems it is not yet known as Devil’s Tail. It also has a big volcano on it.

Worth noting, this map is quite squished to fit all of this in a single page. In the actual game, the path to Devil’s Tail looks a bit longer, and the same goes for the distance between Grans and the mainland. Devil’s Tail also has no sign of a volcano in the actual game, and has some desert ground within the mountains instead.

Also, there is a town here in the western coast of the mainland, but this is many years before SF2, so it can’t possibly be New Granseal.

Chapter Index

The chapters are divided into parts. I've chosen to put my translation notes at the end of every chapter so that people can read uninterrupted. If, however, you want to check the notes per part, click the '*' at the end of each part to see the notes for it (if they exist), and the '^' at the notes to proceed to the next part.

Also, click the '!' at the start of each part for content warnings when they exist.

Page of the book with the chapter index. An Old Tale7
Chapter 1: The white Sacred Dragon of Dragonia19
Chapter 2: Chasing the Manual...64
Chapter 3: Wind and Light crossing the plains136
Chapter 4: Sacred Continent191
Chapter 5: Origin of the Light245
Chapter 6: Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons330
Long, Long Ago338

Afterword339

The Opinion Zone

I'm not here just to translate, I'm a whole person! I've got opinions! Thoughts! So many thoughts. You have no idea how much of my brain is consumed by this novel at all times please help me

I will be writing the occasional review or analysis of some aspects of the novel at times, and you can check them all here.

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