Draconids

*Due to the variance in size and abilities, the ability to use/play draconic creatures varies. Like objects, the different species will be listed with a [i] for event only and a + for approval.*

## Introduction

During creation, the sculptor had made many creatures with the help of his compatriots. These creatures ranged from the tiny, like ants and small bugs, to the astoundingly large, of whomst many creatures in size class were lost with the ages. One such of these astoundingly large creatures were the early draconids. Draconids, like their descendants, wyverns and dragons, were essentially flying lizards that had a unique set of organs allowing them to produce highly volatile substances and elements in their body and project it out of their throat. Unlike their descendants, Draconids were exceptionally large. They were so large as a matter of fact, that the gods often forbade them from going to the mortal realm as to prevent them from wreaking havoc with just their sheer size.

Another unique thing about them is their intellect. The draconids were said to be almost as wise as the gods, even going as far as knowing how to grant wishes and create new life. The gods feared but needed their power, as they made wonderful consultants and would often be brought onto counsel to resolve feuds between gods. It was because of this intelligence that led to their downfall. At the beginning of the Cataclysm, a Draconid who was especially close to Eirlhelm, had used the instability between the gods to escape while his kind was being slaughtered to make weapons and armor for the gods. His name was Shakl’tzun, the Wish Granter.

He had granted his own wish to escape the realm of the gods, formerly thought impossible to do, as a Draconid had never granted their own wish. With this, he had landed in a vast wasteland, far from any other life. There, he simply wished to be found, causing many people across the world to drop what they were doing and make a pilgrimage to his location. Many had died on their way there from the elements and poor preparations, but those who did had been the first to truly examine the grandeur of a Draconid. He then wished to have a city be built here, as he used a mighty paw to create a great river from the mountains to keep his new subjects happy. For years, his city, now named Drak’onir prospered under his rule, out of the scrying eye of the quarreling gods. He had turned a vast majority of the wasteland nto an oasis of knowledge and life, being one of the three great locations for magic and technological advancement in the world.

Alas, in Shakl’tzun’s hubris, he and his city had grown too big for the gods not to notice. The Day of Wishbreaking was upon them. A great spear made of his brothers and sisters had hurled down from the heavens and struck him in the heart, pinning him to where he lay. In his dying breath, as the legions of divine beings came to cleanse the god’s negligence, he had wished for one last thing; he had wished for his race to carry on without him. Though an incomplete wish, his descendants began to form out of the hundreds of statues dedicated to him and other Draconids. They were smaller, varying in shape and form, and less intelligent. They had ravaged the city just as much as the divine onslaught did, indiscriminately attacking veilborn and mortal alike. There was a clear winner, the newly born neo-draconids, who soon ate their predicessor’s corpse and left the now barren region. Hundreds of dragon and wyvern attacks ensued years later along the countryside.

It is said that within the remnants of Shakl’tzun, lies an unnamed penal colony, trying to carve out the bones and use the ruins as punishment for crimes they had committed. It is not known what kingdom employs this colony, but no one wishes to take it over, simply because the land is no longer desirable. Often those who live there go mad from the constant whispers of Shakl’tzun’s soul, only amplifying the closer you get to the weapon that struck him down. His bones make for exceptional weaponry and armor, but they eventually take control of the user, driving them mad and distracting any magic user who welds them, making it impossible to cast. It’s said that encasing the bones in silver is the only way to silence the whispers, but that is an expensive and tedious task to carry out, as it requires constant maintenance and complicated transmogrification rituals, else the metal becomes inert and the whispers continue.

Those born inside the penal colony are immune to its effects when in close proximity, along with the ability to use the items made of bone with a slower decline into madness, yet the effect stays the same overall. These people are called Wyrm Striders, who have been mutated by Shakl’tzun’s influence, leading to a speckling of scales around the body and the development of small horns. These people are taller, stockier, and tend to have webbed, clawed fingers. They are considered leaders in the penal colony, as they’re the only ones that can maintain sanity and even interpret Shakl’tzun’s whispers. More often than not, they’re only slightly stronger than an average human, but more durable due to their skin being similar to leather.

Those who are Wyrm Striders are often considered to be afflicted with a disease spurred on by their close proximity to the draconian remains of their homeland. Those that reside within the ruins of the city often find themselves practically worshipping them as descendants of the Draconids and will vehemently protect them because of that. Many of these Wyrm Striders attempt to make pilgrimages to the outside world at least once in their life in order to hopefully bring people back on their way home. Some of the people who had encountered Wyrm Striders say that they have an aura of attraction around them, being able to sway weaker minded people extraordinarily easily. Thus, many small hamlets make stories of entire villages dropping everything and disappearing with a Wyrm Strider. These stories lead to a lot of ridicule and stigma against those afflicted, many hamlets even denying them entry.

## Dragons [i]

Dragons are the stockier, larger variants of the neo-draconids, being less intelligent and unable to perform higher thinking like their kin. They have a visage of a tiger, having a flatter snout and thicker, duller fangs compared to their intelligent counterparts. They often have two horns that grow longer, and thicker with age, often getting to the point that they look too thick for its head. They have four legs, and wings on their back, being covered in thick scales that vary in color depending on the element they breath. It’s said that dragons have Shakl’tzun’s visage, but not his intellect, only being as smart as a wild dog. They have a thick hide that makes them resistant to most attacks, but their belly is soft, so dragons are often seen getting low to protect their stomach. The only dragon to have a level of intelligence is Aer’vir, the King of Dragons, who even surpasses wyverns. It’s unclear as to why that happened, but there are many theories as to how he got his intellect.

## Wyverns [i]

Wyverns are much more fragile than Dragons, being sleeker, but at the same time much more mobile and highly intelligent. They have a much more bird-like appearance, having longer snouts, with feathers that are resistant to the element that the wyvern breathes, typically being white with a colored reflection resembling the element they breathe. Wyverns have hind legs, as their front legs are their wings, having large skin-like flaps akin to their Dragon brethren. Their flesh is not nearly as resistant as dragons, but they have intellect akin to a master scholar. It will often try to converse instead of fight, but suffers from the stigma their brethren have. Wyverns are almost always distrustful of lesser beings, even having an air of superiority to them. Wyverns have memories before their birth, remembering the time of their creator’s death, mourning them like a father. Due to their mourning, wyverns often have shrines dedicated to their lost leader. These shrines are often littered with valuable items that makes them desirable for plunder for mortals, yet most who try do not succeed due to the wyvern guarding it.

## Drakes +

Drakes are a rather peculiar breed of draconid, not being birthed from the death of Shakl’tzun, instead being created through the warping powers of rittic and ethir mixing in a specific way inside their body. Drakes cannot use breath or elemental attacks because of their mixture of conflicting magics. Drakes are akin to dragons in the fact that they are quadrupedal, but are smaller and lack wings. There are two types of drakes, being **Gully Drakes** and **Stone Drakes**. Gully Drakes are sleeker, smaller drakes, about the size of a horse. They often sport dark colors and long legs. Gully Drakes are named that because of where they live, often in rocky outcrops where their opposable paws allow them to grip rocks better and climb easier. Thanks to their relatively fast speeds, climbing abilities, and relative strength, travelers have learned to domesticate them to an extent, using them to traverse the landscape easier.

**Stone Drakes** are the stockier, lazier cousins of gully drakes, often residing in hot springs or even in natural underground water reservoirs. Their diet mainly consists of crystals, gaining all the nutrients from the mineral rich water and the crystals they eat. Stone drakes are often vibrant in color, and have an underbite that allows them to crush rocks easier. They’re also packed with considerably more fat, allowing them to keep their body temperature regulated easier, while the skin on their stomach is more durable to compensate for the dragging done by the animal moving (albeit seldomly). Stone drakes have a unique bodily function where days to possibly even weeks of being sedentary, along with their body excreting excess minerals allows for crystals to grow along its body. Stone drakes are often cultivated and raised on farms by wealthy crystal merchants in the mountains, selling the crystal for a profit.