Novascaena

## Society

The Novascaenan Dragons are a tightly-knit, self-sufficient culture steeped in tradition. They settled in their small, mountainous region roughly 1200 years ago. The culture itself is proto-Chinese that managed to escape the worst of the turmoil in the early West as it spread into the Orient. Dynastic struggles lost to history are the main reason for the having migrated, exacerbated by a prevailing culture of division and conflict among the subspecies (the "overcoming cycle"). Once a critical mass of dissent towards this way of life emerged, they left to settle in an area where they could live with each other and reinforce each others' natural strengths rather than abuse them for conquest.

They are quietly prosperous, work to adapt the natural environment to their needs where possible, and have a "Chi"-based approach to a form of natural magic innate to their kind (they can still use casty stuff, too). The nature of having distinct subspecies necessitates strong cooperation between the elements for all to maintain the quality of life they do. As such, everyone has distinct roles they're suited to based on their affinity and instincts, but no subspecies is considered better than the others, and they always have something to learn from each other.

The "official", Westernized name of the settlement/society is Novascaena ("Nova sky enna"), but their traditional/full name doesn't translate well ("Coalition of Change Agents"). It's a province the Southern end of real-world British Columbia, with a mix of valleys, lakes and mountains (where the majority of the populations live). Its population is in the hundreds of thousands, and isn't limited to just dragons, but 99.5% of the architecture isn't designed with flightless creatures in mind.

Similar to real-world Switzerland, all native Novascaenans are required to maintain a level of readiness for an area of conscription selected when they reach maturity. This is mostly due to the relatively small population and their tradition of self-sufficiency. Unlike Switzerland, however, military service isn't the only option. Almost all essential roles can be conscripted: infrastructure/maintenance, emergency medical, firefighting, and several others are equally valid choices. Conscripts are encouraged to utilize their natural Elemental arts in their duties, and must log their work as well as periodically demonstrate competence.

## Infrastructure and Logistics

Light cargo transport is handled by mass-altering devices that allow one to easily carry many times their weight in cargo while flying (because of the way they alter inertia, doing so to any creature with a circulatory system could be deadly). That capacity can be further increased with specialized Bags of Holding. For the really heavy stuff, there's a system of freight-type elevators. Due to how slow they are compared to person elevators, and the large number of levels a shaft has to cover, they aren't practical for use by people.

The semi-aquatic Water subspecies does NOT develop wings, but they still have rapid access to all tiers of the mountain settlements through column-like water channels bored into the rock that open up to each level through a membrane of enchantment-created surface tension.

Rather than building over their environment using artificial, processed materials, they directly adapt it to their needs. Even the deepest of their main caverns is warm, dry, well-lit by imitation sunlight, and has no trace of stale air. They harness thermal columns and geothermal energy for ventilation. Many of the living spaces are built just inside the face of the mountains, facing the view and giving an easy place to fly out of. In the valleys, many structures that are parts of the hills or grown out of trees themselves.

## Species Traits

All types are genetically compatible, but in most cases the mother's subspecies is dominant. Mutations are extremely rare, but the overall genetic factors usually make these mutations a complete difference in type rather than a hybrid.

All types have fins on the sides of their head, but only the Water type has an actual use for them. Inertia control, which gives them maneuverability and quick takeoff/landing, is also common to all types. For the Water type, using this ability also alters some fluid properties around them to decrease drag. It's not anywhere near what the comic book character Aquaman can do, but that gets the idea across.

### Earth/Yellow

Not very colorful, have dark brown skin with goldish horns. Strong natural affinity for manipulating crystalline formations and gravity, mass, and force in general. Natural tremorsense. Instincts and personality tend toward inner strength, steadiness, loyalty and patient persistence.

### Water/Blue

Semi-aquatic, but can live just fine in dry habitats. Colors and sizes vary. Especially nimble and agile. Strong natural affinity for manipulation of fluids including gases and dynamic/chaotic forces like turbulence. Natural fluid motion/disturbance sense. Instincts/personality tend toward being adaptive and indirect, somewhat subject to going with outside forces, and resilience.

### Wood/Green

Members of this type are usually small, with skin colors ranging from green to autumn shades. Strong natural affinity for guidance and manipulation of life processes, biochemistry and most forms of regular chemistry. Natural health/vitality sense. Instincts and personality tend towards extroversion, caring, and sensitivity. Very sensitive to unhealthy environments, either biologically or socially.

### Metal/White

Are usually some shade of grey, but some have a slight blue or yellow tint to their metallic sheen. Strong natural affinity for manipulation of metal, conducted energies and systems, and radiation. Natural magnetic/current sense. Instincts and personality tend towards rigidity, precision, and resilience under strong pressure (up to a dangerous snapping point).

### Fire/Red

As the most Western-looking of the types, their rough skin ranges from cinder black to bright red and all shades in between. Strong natural affinity for manipulation and limited evocation of chaotic energies and chemistry, or entropy in general. Natural temperature sense. Instincts and personality tend towards passion and volatility. Out of all types, Fire is the most known for traveling away from home often, which explains why most people think of this type when they think of dragons.

## Natural Magic/Elemental Affinities

In general, anything that affects the domain in question is going to be powered by Chi. In the case of Metal, this includes: coercing metal formations to rearrange themselves or become tighter or looser, or to alter how thermally or electrically conductive it is, or to fiddle with a variety of other parameters or manifest a related effect. The inertia control ability shared by all types also draws upon the user's Chi.

All types can learn other forms of magic such as arcane casting or bardic enchantment, but don't have a natural connection to elements other than their own. Although artifacts exist that can "convert" the energy of one element to another for a specific purpose, these devices are inefficient and limited in their precision/accuracy. Some effects can also be "charged" into rare crystals that can be activated and deactivated by non-dragons.

Each type naturally develops a natural resilience to their element and specialization, and can easily learn to dampen it. The energy required to dampen an effect can be a mere fraction of what's needed to manifest it, though that kind of efficiency only comes with a deep understanding of that effect.

There's another type of element resistance that can be learned that resembles a solid barrier/shell. It blocks energy in both directions, including the user's, and can even resist other types of energy. Their native element is much easier to resist than other types, but all can be blocked. The effect that creates these barriers is simple enough to charge into the crystals mentioned above, but the effect is finite.

In both the pre- and post-Coalition era, dragons have been known to pursue studies, arts and crafts related to their element. For example, Metal types have been known to go into arts like moving sculptures or jewelry; crafts such as weapon and armor forging, construction and steamwork/clockwork; and essential functions like coinage.