Dragonkin

Dragonkin refers to the various forms of creatures that can eventually grow into dragons. There are 4 different stages in a dragonkins life; the Lizardling stage, the Kobold stage, the Dragonborn stage, and the Dragon stage. The beginning and end of each creatures stage is marked by an egg in which they gestate, save for the Dragon, which is the highest form a dragonkin can attain.

## A four staged lifecycle

### Lizardlings

Lizardlings are tiny creatures, closely resembling common lizards. It would take a nature check of DC 20 to tell them apart from regular lizards. Even dragonkin often have trouble telling them apart. These lizardlings will scurry about in any lair that a dragonkin clan has taken residence in, eating bugs and scraps of discarded meat from their more evolved brethren. Following a month of successfully eating bugs, and not being eaten themselves, they will make an egg-like cocoon where they reside for 2 weeks, before emerging as a baby kobold.

Lizardlings are tiny creatures that understand draconic and have a moderate int of 4. As such, they know to hide if enemies are in their lair whether in plain sight as an ordinary lizard, or in the dark rocky crevices they are suited to.

### Kobolds

Kobolds are the second form of dragonkin. Following their birth, they grow quickly provided they have a ready food supply. Within two months, a kobold could be full grown. Once full grown, kobolds do their best to defend their lair, trapping it heavily, and hoarding food. Kobolds live for about 3 years before they will be able to advance to the next stage in the dragonkin cycle.

Kobolds are advanced to the next stage through one or two processes, depending on if a dragon or dragonborn is present in the clan. If no higher form is present, one kobold will attempt to lead the rest into supporting its change. If a higher form is present, it selects the kobold it thinks best suited to become a dragonborn. The actual process of a kobold becoming a dragonborn requires at least 10 kobolds present, as they spit a viscous slime on the kobold. Once it is fully covered, the kobold goes dormant as it begins the metamorphoses into a dragonborn. This takes three months, and the addition of more and more spit as the changing kobold grows and it gains its nutrients from the spit. At the end of three months, a dragonborn will rip itself free of the makeshift egg, and assume a leadership postition among the kobolds.

Kobolds speak both draconic and common.

### Dragonborn

Dragonborn are the third stage of the dragonkin cycle. Humanoid dragons, they are the first stage to be able to birth lizardlings. Dragonborn are natural leaders, and when born will adopt control of a clan of kobolds if there are no other dragonborn, or dragons. If there is a dragon, a dragonborn will often venture out to a new territory to make its own cult.

The process of becoming a dragonborn is not fault free however. In approximately 4% of changes, the dragonborn will awake an amnesiac. If there is not a kobold, dragonborn, or dragon around, it will wander away from the nest. Sometimes they die doing this, though most of the time they manage to make it into another civilization, mainly human, elven, dwarven, or Smallfolk. They have a natural aversion to giants and giantkin.

If a dragonborn is unlucky enough to wander into an orc or giantkin community, they are often tortured and killed, and then that community will head to the nest location they found out from the dragonborn to wipe it out. If a dragonborn is lucky enough to wander into a dwarven community, it finds itself exalted in a similar way to aasimar.

A dragonborn changes into the next stage whenever it feels ready. For some, this is never. For the amnesiacs, it is said that they have lost the ability, that they are sterile so to speak. Once a dragonborn is ready, it collects wealth, whether that is gold, gems, prized possessions, or other objects, so long as there is value it works. Following the gathering of ~5000 gp worth of items, it will create a shell around itself and the items using an innate magic ability. It stays in this egg for ~1 month until it hatches a young dragon.

### Dragons

Dragons are the final stage of the dragonkin. They will spend their time accumulating wealth, plotting against giants, and spreading lizardlings in good lairs they may find. There is no fault in a dragon being born, no amnesiacs.