Va'sha

## Overview

The Va’sha, also referred to as ‘Kobolds’ in more archaic tongues, are a race of reptilian humanoid creatures of various differing ethnicities, resembling many reptiles of modern-day earth, as well as some prehistoric creatures. The Va’sha stand at around 2-3 feet, depending on the ethnicity, and have a wide range of physical features developed in their convergent evolution. These features can range from the mundane, such as having small horns, to the exotic, like having a single serpentine tail instead of legs, or having venomous fangs. The Va’sha are by nature pack creatures, forming close-knit social bonds with other Va’sha, and as such have developed a rather communal lifestyle within their packs, helping each other out as an effective family unit. This pack structure tends to only work up to a point, however, and usually doesn't naturally encompass more than 200 members past this number and they tend to be split into multiple packs, larger packs are possible, but they usually require special conditions to form and grow to that level.

## Historical Dragons

The Va’sha are claimed to be descended from an extinct race of titanic fire-breathing reptiles called ‘dragons’ though this claim is only partially substantiated by modern science. Creatures matching the description of dragons do appear in the fossil record a significant number of times, and there are legends of similar creatures in cultures all over the planet, dating back far before they had contact with one another. However, despite all this apparent connection, there hasn't been a positive genetic link found between the Va’sha and Dragons, and it appears that the connection is superficial. The primary counterargument is that of the arcane, near-universally Dragons are depicted in stories and art, even dating back to ancestral cave paintings, as having some high levels of arcane potency, breathing fire and casting magic being the primary ones. However, despite this, there has not been any evidence of the Dragons having any physical mechanisms to perform such feats, therefore supporters of the theory believe that there is some arcane mechanism that we haven't discovered, that would allow them to create the Va’sha race, as many cultures have records of Va’sha acting subservient to Dragons.

## Modern History & Social Structure

Due to the Va’sha’s innate love of gold, mercantile traditions were known to have been a part of Va’sha for effectively all of recorded history, with some of the oldest pieces of writing known to have been records of exchanges between merchants. This of course eventually evolved as a society did into a corporate structure with large centralized corporations wielding large amounts of money and resources in furtherance of their goals; The ancestor of Flameborne Solutions, a blacksmithing firm founded around the late medieval period, was also formed in this Nascent period for capitalism. These corporations persist into the modern day and generally wield equal power to governments, however, despite this, due to the general communal nature of Va’sha, Corporations generally work with regulators rather than against them, forming the basis for the current governmental system that is most. The Va’sha achieved unity fairly late into their history, only after their entire solar system had been conquered, there were various disputes between warring nations before that, and wars against the corporations, but eventually a unifying ideology took over, allowing the the Va’sha to know internal peace throughout their system. The government that is left behind is a form of capitalistic social democracy, where corporations act as modern-day nations or states do, with the leader of each corporation being the product of an internal company vote, that is run every 10 years, and that corporation head is treated as their representative and voice, on top of being in charge of running the internal affairs of the corporation itself. The heads of these corporations then convene to vote on various issues, doing what they think is best for their people and their company. These corporations are overseen by a council of elected officials originating on the homeworld of the Va’sha, are required by law to be unaffiliated with any corporation, and are unable to accept any lobbying or any other thing of value that might sway them. This council does not have any direct lawmaking abilities, however, it acts as a set of checks and balances to the Corporations, ensuring that their decisions are for the betterment of the people, and do not breach any laws. Generally, this system has worked for the betterment of Va’sha, as their communal nature pushes them to make decisions in furtherance of social policies and regulations that help the consumer, making the Va’sha’s civilization into a welfare state, with a high base quality of living. Despite this, wealth disparity is still an issue that is a natural byproduct of society, with the richest being astronomically more wealthy than the poorest, however, the robust social protections prevent this fact from causing more than minor unrest, and life for the average Va’sha is quite comfortable.