Drakorian

The **Drakorian** race or **Drako** (Not to be confused with Drakonian) is an ancient race originating from north Rathnir.

Drakorians are a hybrid between humans and the now extinct species of *Drakanii*, cave-dwelling giants, peaceful in nature, natural blacksmiths and craftsmen that never surfaced from the ground. Thousand of years ago a group of humans discovered the entrance to the caves of the Drakanii. The humans at first observed the behaviour the giants for centuries, frequently sending scouts into the caves not knowing what to expect. Some of the scouts where caught by the *Drakanii*. Reports said that the giants tried to communicate with them but to no avail and such they freed them.

The humans soon discovered that the giants has a very long lifespan, some believed they were immortal, yet due to their fertility rates they would just number a few dozen. Some of the humans thought that through harnessing the power of the giants they could also become immortal. Word spread quickly and soon the humans gathered an army and slaughtered all of the *Drakanii* even though many were opposed to this idea. Dragging their bodies to the surface, and consuming their blood.

When exposed to the sunlight however the blood changed it structure, the humans that drank it became what we now know as Drakorians, smarter than most races, possessing great intellectual abilities and sometimes even wielding magic. They gained a long lifespan, longer than most creatures averaging between 600 to 800 years. Though they did gain a very big weakness, the change in blood had an adverse reaction when it came to their physical atributes. They were now weak, weaker than most humans, they reproduced slower but they also couldnt die of diseases and illnesses due to their amplified internal regeneration. While they couldnt die from them they were still able to contract and feel the pain caused by them, because of that many of them took their lives because they couldnt deal with the pain.

The Drakorians appearance is similar to the one of a human but their skin is of an unusual grey colour. Their eyes are predominantly green and are quite tall in stature averaging 6ft 9 in height (about 2 meters).

Over the course of thousands of years the Drakorians mainly stayed low, some being merchants, scholars, scientists and craftsmen. Few of them became nobles through doing favors to Kings and Emperors. In time the other races became increasingly hostile towards the Drakorians, calling them thieves, liars and crooks. Many of them were persecuted, killed and exiled. The nobles however were protected and always had the ear of their monarchs, some of the Drakorian nobles turned on their people to get the support of the other races, those actions lead ultimately to what is now known as the *Day of Black Skulls*, where almost all of the Drakorians were executed by the humans.

   Nowadays Drakorians number about 10.000 scattered through all of Rathnir. The most prominent members come from the **Austris** Family an old Noble family from north-east Rathnir with the current Patriarch of the family being Vexan Austris also known as "Shadowrunner". Vexan managed to bring an big portion of the living Drakorians into Drakovien after he became Governor of the Vedassa Province in northern Aurlûnor Velande, and as such about 2000 to 3000 of them live there.