Dovah Hierarchy

A Western-pattern Dovah

Great in size and builders of great vessels, the Dragons of the **Dovah Hierarchy** are an ancient race and can trace their recorded history back hundreds of millions of years. They have been keeping an eye on the human race since ancient times (by human standards). There are many different types of dragons, but no population number has been provided to the greater galaxy. The Dragons are also a wise people and love teaching younger races things about the universe.

The Dragons have been spacefaring for untold millenia, ever since the ultra-intelligent species grew curious about the stars and decided to go to them. After they had done so, they looked after many younger species around the galaxy, inserting themselves into their myths and legends. They had taken special interest in humanity but had been distracted at the time the Ikuragans had come. The Dovah are deeply remorseful about this and have vowed to help any human colony repel the Ikuragans. They have had many battles with them to protect defenseless races from their hunger and have discouraged them so much that the Ikuragans no longer visited this corner of the galaxy until the destruction of the Anarch Commune.

## Homeworld

Bahamut, as it is called by most outsiders, or Strunmah Hofkiin in Dovahzul and translated as Mountain Home in English; was a mountainous world, full of mountain ranges of block, volcanic and folding in origin. It was the perfect world for the Dovah, or Dragons to be born upon. However it was also a lush world between the tropical lines, with great forests and plains filling the great valleys between mountain ranges. Dragons were widespread upon it, the many varieties of them and the toughness of a Dov's hide allowing for near 100% use of the planet's solid surface. In addition, the world was larger than the Terran average, perhaps 1.25 times the diameter of Earth, allowing a more numerous population. The world is 60% water and 40% solid.

The world is unmarred by the stain of unclean industry. Indeed, all production however advanced has been moved to orbit and the planet's surrounding space tens of millenia ago, allowing the Dovah to live in harmony with nature. Indeed the world is so enchantingly beautiful, a Dov can not stay away from it for too long. Every hundred years, a Dragon makes a pilgrimage to the place of their hatching or their ancestor's home on the great world, so as to not grow too distant from their roots. This even has occurred to Dov who have settled on other worlds. Strunmah Hofkiin is probably the most beautiful world in the known galaxy, and Dovah cruisers have charted most of it. The beauty of their world had not prevented them from exploring the stars around them. Dragons were very intelligent and their rise to space, once their base instincts had been subjugated, had been swift. Within a decade of their first space flight, Dov had settled an ice planet in the outer system. Iiz Peyt. Ice Flower in the human tongue, was a favorite of frost dragons and was a major research center these days and a large population center.

## History

And then the Dovah had discovered other Elder races, like the Hyur, Formians and Iconians, among others. The militarization of space had followed swiftly. Combat among them having been reduced to duels of honor and sports, the Dov had to learn how to build weapons that would work in space, for their Thu'um could not work without air. Eventually, the defense of the home system would be accomplished and the Dragons could expand safely, under the guns of their first city ships. And then they had encountered their first younger race. Contact was been friendly enough, but the disparity of firepower was obvious and fearing them, that younger race had asked the Dov to leave. Heartbroken by the distrust, The Dragons had left, but promised to keep the young race safe from predators, even if they had to do it in secret. And so policy had changed from friendly contact, to watch and protect. This often included the descent of Dov to the surfaces of worlds that had not advanced beyond the medieval age, to watch and assist in the development of the natives, becoming legends, both wise and powerful. There are records of Dragons advising kings and princes on policy and Dov Shouting Ikuragan City Destroyers out of skies of alien worlds.

Other times however, when contact is lost with the homeworld for whatever reason, unless they can keep their wits about them, Dragons often descend back to base instinct. There are legends from Earth of heros slaying dragons in ancient and early medieval times. These were survivors of a city ship that was so disabled that the crew had to scuttle and abandon ship. Some were later recovered, but most had been forced to live as they could, and that brought conflict. It was reasons like this that changed the policy to simple observation from afar aboard their great ships. This also resulted in other things changing, like the Dragons not using their own tongue among younger races and instead creating an entirely new tongue for use with them, reserving the use of their language to those who have gained the right, or among themselves.

## Society

The Dovah Hierarchy claims 12 home systems as well as two known distant outposts as its own. The Hierarchy is similar to an elective monarchy, with there being an election for the post of High Lord every time the Dovah in that position dies. The High Lord governs with the counsel of his High Ministers and the Lords of the Realm, a body of Dovah that is made up of all the dragons that reach a certain age group. The High Lord and his Ministers are usually members of this group. The older a Dov is, the more respect it has. The more respect, the more power. And the power, the more likely a Dov is to gain a seat in the Lords.

There are three primary subtypes of the Dovah race. Each for some reason are denoted by Old Terran terms. There is the Western type which in Earth lore hailed from Western Europe. It possesses a set of wings and four legs. This type can reach a length of 60 meters. The Wyvern type is the most common variety, having a set of wings and two hind legs. It can reach a size of 30 meters and it's type has been seen mostly in Tamriel and some places in Earth's Western Europe. Both the Western and the Wyvern have numerous subtypes that have adapted over time to live in extreme conditions, For example, the red-scaled Infernal type can live within lava and magma without harm.

The third primary type of Dovah is the Eastern type. Having no wings but somehow able to fly, these have been recorded to reach lengths in excess of 70 meters or more. Having small legs in proportion to the rest of their serpentine bodies, they prefer living in small bodies of water or the seaside. It is famed in the continent of Asia in the lands of China and Japan as a being of wisdom and protection. The Eastern type is known to live in the waters of the ringworld claimed and inhabited by the Celestial Empire, a human colony offshoot from the aforementioned China region.

The Eastern has a subtype that might be called a cousin by others. These are the 'World Serpents'. The Dovah are very rare and these days live exclusively in the Dovah core worlds. The greatest recorded size of a member of this subtype is 5 kilometers.The longest recorded life of any of the primary types is 1,000 years exactly, but the World Serpent defies this number somehow, as the greatest of them was recorded to have lived 5,000 years. Their great size prevents flight of any kind and they possess no legs, but they swim happily in the oceans of any world they inhabit. They also like to live in mountainous regions that have large bodies of water nearby. A famous member of this race is Jormungandr of Norse mythology.

Finally we come to the Dovmuz. These are not a natural subtype of the Dovah. Rather, they are a artificially created species that were made by a melding of Dovah and Human DNA. Topping out at 7 feet tall and having flight capable wings and a general appearance of Dovah, these bipeds are full members and citizens of Dovah society. They usually find themselves serving as industrialists, technicians and in other jobs that require finesse. Their larger cousins also hire them into their service as general helpers and assistants. They also make up a large portion of the Dovah ground forces.

## The Dovahzul

The Dovahzul is an ancient tongue and the original one spoken by the Dovah. It's alphabet is runic in nature and is incredibly difficult to translate, even with computer assistance. These days it is only spoken in the Dovah core worlds and outposts as well as by obscure orders in Tamriel. This language is a part of a Dov's very being and every member of the race, including the Dovmuz, can use it to form Thu'um or Shouts. This is called a magical art and one most difficult to learn. The Thu'um can form forces of immense power or subtle charms and anything in between. This is where the famed fire breathing of Dragons of lore comes from. The language is only used among Dovah or with powers and species that have gained their respect. For all their other interactions with outsiders, they have a trade language simply called Draconic.