The Owl's Bastard

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

This is the first volume of an epic-length multi-part story. Would you be willing to sacrifice what you are to save what you can? Once a cloistered student of the dark arts from a fabled school, Dragos now wanders the world, making his way as an outcast of society. Magic is reviled in the country of Calruthia, where superstition reigns supreme, and Dragos bears the features of one born cursed. His life was miserable enough as it was, struggling to try to earn money or even a place on the periphery of society. When a chance encounter with a monster complicates his already uncertain path, he embarks on a search for students left behind after their school's destruction. As each encounter darkens his soul, he moves towards that which he once left behind. To preserve and protect the one legacy he has, the knowledge of the Solomonari wizards, he will make choices that dictate the kind of man he is and what he will become. Will he become Calruthia's savior or its ruin? What to expect: *Dark Fantasy/Grimdark themes*Lesser-known Mythology*Powers come from the Solomonari and operate in folkloric ways, not gamelit ways, soft magic system.*Many tragic endings (but not all)*A few romantic situations (nothing graphic) at different times. No harem for Dragos.*Light progression, training, and development that intensifies. No numbers.*Naive protag begins with slightly greater than average skills, and Vol 1 ends with a few more spells and powers.Thatkind of progression speed.*Weird and uncanny obstacles.*Some violence that becomes more prevalent as the story goes on*The pacing is moderate, at times built for tension or reflection alongside the action.Many early readers have stated it has a Witcher-y vibe. Let me know what you think. Updates Wednesdays. Note: If you find this anywhere other than Royal Road or MY Patreon, it has been taken without consent/plagiarized. Support my work here:https://www.patreon.com/c/Ghostcat738 I can be found on Discord in various locations like Immersive Ink, Royal Road Writer's Guild, The Council of the Eternal Hiatus, Crowe's Nest of Royal Road, as well as deLongchamp's community server. I did the art for the painted cover. The rest are AI that I doctored up. I'm cycling through them because, why not. I have half a dozen, might as well keep using them.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Ghostcat

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 375
Views: 36,894

Chapters(68 total)

What readers say about The Owl's Bastard

“This story has a lot of potential, and its execution is among the best I've ever seen.The worldbuilding is deep and complex, and there isn't any lore dumps with the help of Drago's internal dialouge.The whole 'reluctant hero' type of thinking that Drago has…”
167fiveRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The Owl's Bastard is a touching story about an outcast who only wants to do the right thing but ends up wandering from tragedy to tragedy. Like hardly any other story on RoyalRoad, the author allows us to experience Dragos' emotions. Every experience shapes…”
CaelumThyzeRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

167fiveRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has a lot of potential, and its execution is among the best I've ever seen.The worldbuilding is deep and complex, and there isn't any lore dumps with the help of Drago's internal dialouge.The whole 'reluctant hero' type of thinking that Drago has helps separate him from other, more edgy characters that often come with these type of genres. The power scaling and system are all well thought out, which gives us such an interesting backstory for Drago.Overall, this story is something that is already great. I'll be looking forward to see how it'll improve.
CaelumThyzeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Owl's Bastard is a touching story about an outcast who only wants to do the right thing but ends up wandering from tragedy to tragedy.
Like hardly any other story on RoyalRoad, the author allows us to experience Dragos' emotions.
Every experience shapes Dragos and helps him grow. Every path Dragos takes seems to be important. These are not epic adventures, but they seem bigger and more important because you experience the character's development with every step.
TheLastDemiurgeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"The Owl's Bastard" is a dark fantasy story that follows the ever peculiar Dragos, a nomad like man who wonders the land peddling trinkets and selling wares. As he stumbles upon an abandoned baby known as a Cerel - a creature said to be the human form of the 'Children of the Sky'. We know not what that means or the implication of it, but Dragos knows such a child is not destined for an easy life. Everything in his being tells him to walk away, the newborn is not his responsibility but as a testament to the kind of man he is. He reluctantly takes on the obligation of looking after the child. In hopes of finding it a home.
This simple premise works well to pull you into the story, it is not meant to be complicated or reinvent the wheel in any shape or form. But it is a enough to spur you into finding out what comes next and how far one is willing to go to do good in a world that very rarely rewards it. The talent of the author is on full display through the first couple chapters I've read. Their cadence, flow and overall prose is easy to follow and enjoyable to read. The foreign language sprinkled throughout is a nice touch that further enhances the reading experience and creates another barrier of fantasy within the world. This helps add a layer of immersion that is often lacking in many dark fantasy stories that gloss over the world they are set in. I think it is wonderful here because as a reader it only makes you more desperate to want to know more about the inner workings of the world.
This was originally a short story but I am glad the author has decided to stick with it and fully embrace this beautiful and dark world they have created. I have no doubt this will quickly become one of the best dark fantasy stories on RR, high praise I know. But that is just how much belief I have in the authors skill and what I have read so far. You will not be disappointed.
ThistlemanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I absolutely love everything I have read so far!
The Owl's Bastard is an incredibly well assembled world, full of varied and fascinating characters.
Dragos is an excellent character, and despite the worlds hatred towards him and those touched by the Unspoken, he doesn't really give in to his hatred. Instead, he still finds himself trying to leave the world slightly better than he found it, despite his better judgement telling him to stay out of it.
Even so, the world still remains overwhelmingly dark and gritty, and you can really feel it with well-placed descriptions that add smell and sight and feel to every piece.
If you aren't giving this a read, you are really missing out on something special.
peppemallerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Its original and different from many stories on here in a good way. The Romanian mythology is very interesting, and you get used to the foreign words as the story progresses. So far it has very side quest-ish or monster-of-the-week feel, but the main story is picking up at this point I presume. It is also extremely dark, and a lot of Dragus fleeting connections does not end well, so beware. Grammar and pace is excellent
LTAndersonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Owl's Bastard is a curious tale that's a bit at odds with itself. It takes place in an ancient world inspired by what appears to be Romanian folklore. The story utilizes its setting to the fullest, combining various terms, creatures and locations into an almost fairy tale like mix. It also helpfully provides the definitions for those terms through hyperlinks right in the text, just like some RPGs do these days.Despite this RPG connection, the story itself can't be considered a LitRPG. It does feature progression elements and a well thought out magic system. Our protagonist here is an ex-student of Scholomance. Which isn't just a World of Warcraft dungeon, but a legendary Romanian school of dark magic that was actually used as the foundation for Dracula. So it's kind of like Hogwarts but with more impalings.But again, this isn't a magic school story. It's the story of a lone protagonist traveling the world that hates him on account of him being a mage. It's a grim kind of world where meadow plants try to eat passing shepherds, people feed their babies to the earth, and dragons roam the woods. And this brings us to the main incongruity. In this world populated primarily by bastards, our protagonist, actually described as the Owl's Bastard, is altruistic to a fault. This gets him into all sorts of trouble during his travels.The early chapters don't really address why our hero is so heroic, or how he'd managed to survive up until that point in his rough world. The story's synopsis compares it to The Witcher. I also found some parts of it tonally similar to Jack Vance's The Dying Earth stories. All of these have settings where acting too altruistic is a sure way to get yourself killed. But if you can overlook this tonal mismatch, or if you enjoy following noble heroes in grim settings, then there's a good chance The Owl's Bastard's dark fairy tale atmosphere will sweep you away.And what with a lot of care put into those unique terms and hyperlinks, the rest of the te
RandomGekkoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Might be a sin, but I’ve never played The Witcher games, nor have I watched the Netflix eps. That said, I do know the general story and some famous scenes from the game (cough cough…).
I thought I wouldn’t be into another similar type of story, but I was wrong. I enjoyed this blast of a start. Dragos, the main character, is competent and charismatic as of now (imo, with his own flaws). He got himself into the role of a babysitter, and the baby in the mud definitely reminded me of Berserk.
I blasted through the first few chapters—I can tell I'm in good hands. One thing I’m not familiar with is the folklore… actually, I'm not familiar with these entities/monsters at all, so it was a bit hard for me to keep up (this includes the in-story language). I’d say that’s something I could learn to get used to, but the pacing between detailed descriptions and internal monologue could drag me down just a little (to my taste).
Strong book nonetheless. Would definitely recommend fellows who are into folklore, The Witcher, maybe even God of War (jkjk) to give this a few chapters a crack.
SaucingtonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Oh, excellent. A reluctant hero. Not there for glory, not there to be edgy and ignore suffering, this guy is pragmatic and interferes because he's the one who knows how. Even though it's gonna cost him. I love that moment of "aw shit here we go again" when he goes from running away to pulling out the iron claws.
The box and the gloves are a great example of how to do exposition through props. There's no boring backstory here or voceover of "I was trained at a secret alchemy ninja school", we see the rattling box, the claws strapping on, and the vials getting thrown. Also, that added tension of not being able to latch it shut was a beautiful moment I assume you planned but I don't know how anyone could. That's astonishing writing.
You gave us two moments of showing us why we should care about this character: First with the shepherd boy, then later with the crying baby. He wants to run away, to be selfish, to escape, to be left alone, but his "shard of glass" (as we call a hero's internal wound or conflict) is his nature compels him to help the weak. So he has this marvelous friction between self-preservation and altruism. And I imagine that's how we're going to see him through the rest of the story.
Tropes: The albino thing. He's "other" and his appearance causes conflict. Even when he's doing good, protecting others they think he's a monster.
The meadow spirit monster: Not a generic goblin or orc, but this thing made of grass and wildflowers. This gives a really specific kind of geographic and cultural horror that feels fresh and still ancient and dangerous.
And finally, the "no good deed goes unpunished" theme. He uses potions and powders, and risks his life, only to be chased away by an angry mob. This injustice makes us cheer even harder for him.
Snake5431Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Author threatened to kill his own MC if people don’t rate the story.. so I’m rating the story.
In all seriousness, it’s incredibly high-quality writing—not just for un-edited work, but among edited work as well. The story is absolutely fantastic up until this point. Depending on how things develop, this is not unlikely to become a must-read. I will likely drop another review in the future.
mrcbooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I’ll start with what works well (plenty!), then offer a few light suggestions for polish.
What worked well:
Atmospheric World-Building: Rich folklore integration (Solomonari, iele/fâneaţăiele, strigoi elements) feels organic through action and Dragos's thoughts, painting a vivid, superstitious Calruthia without heavy exposition.
Protagonist Depth and Conflict: Dragos's altruism vs. isolation shines—his impulsive rescues, regret over risks, and cursed appearance create immediate sympathy and intrigue, hinting at a compelling backstory.
Tense Action and Sensory Details: Fights with the meadow spirit are dynamic and visceral (talon gloves, purple flame), blending brutality with primal magic; sensory immersion (grass rustle, blood, rain) heightens urgency.
Closing Hook: The baby's discovery echoes the opening journal and shepherd rescue, building thematic resonance around unwanted help and foundlings, ending on a poignant, mysterious note.
Light suggestions:
Tighten repetitive phrasing: Echoed ideas (e.g., hesitation before helping, hood/hair concealment) could be varied or consolidated for smoother flow.
Streamline some descriptions: Longer sentences in action (e.g., iele attacks) could mix shorter punches for heightened rhythm and immediacy.
Minor consistency polish: Small details (e.g., "fâneaţăiele" vs. "iele," boy aging from "boy" to "young man") would benefit from uniform clarity.
Enhance dialogue naturalness: A few lines (e.g., threats to the spirit) feel slightly stiff; subtle tweaks could amplify Dragos's ragged voice.
Overall: A captivating fantasy opener steeped in Eastern European-inspired mythos, with a brooding, reluctant hero whose kindness feels earned and costly. The blend of visceral encounters, internal turmoil, and folklore hooks deeply, promising a rich journey—strong, evocative start with atmospheric promise.