Dragonkin
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Dragonkin is a sentient species native to northern Europe, but has been sighted in many other parts of the world.
Contents |
Origin
The actual origins of the dragonkin are unknown. One theory that has been proposed is that they were the result of a magical experiment, but with the large variety of dragonkin and their culture dating back around 11,000 years, this seems unlikely. Another theory states that they're the results of dragons breeding with humans (highly unlikely, but with the lack of data available on older breeds of dragons, might be possible). More radical theories include dimensional travelers or just simply that the species evolved on its own unaided. What is known for sure is their contempt for outsiders and their violent nature.
Most information on dragonkin come from the Scandinavian mountain tribes.
Life Cycle
Dragonkin are more mammalian than reptilian, with a birth cycle that is almost identical to humans. Pregnancy lasts about seven months, with a fairly high infant mortality rate. An estimated 95% of dragonkin births are female, which is skewed even further by the tendency of males to inherit hemophilia and die within a month or two. As a result of the very low number of males surviving to puberty, dragonkin tribes are exclusively matriarchal.
Dragonkin are born looking more or less human. There is nothing to distinguish them from a human infant, which has often led to dragonkin getting taken into human societies when their tribal homes are raided. Dragonkin go through two stages of puberty, one at age four and another at age sixteen. In their first stage, they start to develop their wings, tail, and horns. The wings and tail appear to be flesh colored, with some soft, undeveloped scales occasionally appearing on them (always falling off within a week). The second stage is more substantial, including both the usual sexual development of humans as well as their horns, wings, and tail getting considerably more developed. Wings and tail become entirely coated with scales, which are either green, red, or black. About 90% of dragonkin are green, with less than 1% being black.
Dragonkin have a very long life expectancy, but due to their religion, they rarely live past age 50. Their religion states that a dragonkin must choose between either joining with their patron god on their 50th birthday or forsaking their afterlife duties. The former almost always wins out, with dragonkin that choose the latter being exiled and marked for death if they try to return. With the constant raiding and pillaging of dragonkin tribes both by outsiders and by themselves, it's uncommon for dragonkin to live even to age 50.
Society
Dragonkin society is matriarchal, with the vast majority of dragonkin being women. Women do nearly everything in the tribe, with no exception provided. Male dragonkin do not do any of the labor, instead getting trained to be shamans starting from when they can speak. When they finish their second puberty, they are officially ordained as a shaman and are expected to partake both in leading ceremonies and in mating with all the women of the tribe. Every healthy tribe has at least one male, sometimes having as many as four or five. Any tribe that doesn't have a male will go to war with the other tribes and attempt to capture one of their males. While males are given a very important position and are revered as gods, they have almost no freedom and are almost never allowed out of their temple. Although extremely rare, any male that attempts to rebel against their duties will have their religious position revoked and be chained down in their bed chambers, where they will remain until they die getting raped by the women of the clan. Sterile males are still kept by the tribe, but are revoked of their religious status and used almost exclusively for recreation.
Dragonkin are a strength based society, with a strong emphasis on strength and duty. All dragonkin undergo martial training starting immediately after their first puberty, with any dragonkin physically unable being exiled. The training is brutal and harsh, with a good number of them dying. Any dragonkin that cannot complete their training will be exiled. By age sixteen, they are expected to participate in all the hunts and wars. They are not considered a full tribe member until they have successfully killed in battle.
About one in five Dragonkin have a magical affinity. The limits to this is unknown, but dragonkin that have been documented so far have had abilities to manipulate ice, fire, electricity, darkness, pure energy, and psionics, with applications having an extremely wide variety. Despite their affinity, they are largely unaware of magical application techniques, with nearly everything being learned from experience. These dragonkin often become the frontline of the tribe's military.
Dragonkin above the age of 30 are retired from active military service and are required to stay at home crafting and building. They are still allowed to participate in battle should their home grounds be invaded, but they do not go out of their territory. They will spend the rest of their lives in this stage, with the vast majority doing a ritual suicide at age 50 due to their belief that nobody should join their patron deity unable to do the tasks they are given in the afterlife.
Dragonkin tribes have two to four clans within them, each with their own focus and their own leader. The tribe leader is also the leader of one of the clans and earns their position by being the strongest. Anyone can challenge the leader for supremacy of the clan and while the clan leader isn't required to kill them (but usually does), the challenger is required to kill the clan leader and bathe in her blood to take the position. The clan leader must always be above the age of 30, a rule that was put forth due to lots of in fighting that would be caused when the clan leader died in battle.
Dragonkin culture is very simple, with a Norwegian origin language that only has about 300 words. They have folk stories and music, but their adherence to traditions and a disdain towards creativity has stagnated the culture over time. One thing that every dragonkin tribe shares is an utter loathing of humanity. They view humanity as being lower than insects, with a kill on sight policy if any wander near them. Anyone that willingly chooses not to attack or kill a human will be killed themselves. Even showing any tolerance for humanity is grounds for exile.
Player Template
Dragonkin are almost exclusively villainous. While any that make it to the Rogue Isles show at least some tolerance for humanity, they are still extremely vicious and unmerciful. Barring the most extreme (and as yet undocumented) examples, any dragonkin that take a heroic path were not raised in a traditional dragonkin tribe. While there are no restrictions on what archetype a dragonkin might belong to, tribal dragonkin are almost never stalkers or masterminds. The former is because their military background frowns heavily on stealth combat while the latter is because dragonkin almost never work with humans beyond getting missions from them. Dragonkin also tend to disfavor the use of weapons, tending towards either bare fist fighting or their inherent magic. Dragonkin are also almost exclusively female. Male dragonkin that were raised within a tribe are non-existent. The following are the required options to make a proper dragonkin character:
Skin color: any of the six darker skin tones are fine. Dragonkin are never any color besides flesh. Hair: Tribal dragonkin don't stylize their hair beyond cutting it. Any hair style that is not something that requires work to maintain is fine. Long layers, glam, gamine, etc.
Face: Any clean human face is fine. They all have the Spots face marking, with the color being second row, first column.
Head Detail: Lil' Devil on females, with some shade of white that can end in a natural dark shade if preferred. Males are Devil Horns.
Chest: Reptilian. While tribal dragonkin might have tatoos all over their body, they are always some abstract art instead of a specific construct.
Hands: Monstrous Reptilian.
Belt: Reptile Tail. This will be a shade of either green, red, or black.
Bottom: Reptilian.
Feet: Flat Reptilian.
Back: Draconic wings. This will be the same shade as the tail, with the option of a dark yellow for the secondary color instead of the same color as the tail.
Dragonkin may or may not choose to wear clothing. Dragonkin tribes don't wear clothing for coverage, but instead have trophy items such as necklaces, bracelets, anklets, scarfs, etc. Nudity isn't a concept in dragonkin society, but it's assumed that most dragonkin that leave their society will adopt the bare minimum to conform to humanity (plus it keeps the player complaints to a minimum). Tribal dragonkin will never wear full coverage outfits willingly.
