Drake

Drakes are one of the three main intelligent races on Halse. They are tall, horned humanoids with reptilian wings and pointed ears.

Creation and ancient history
The Unity created dragons in the Blossoming, the rise of intelligent creatures in the primordial world of Halse's infancy. Dragons, in contrast to their more delicate sibling races, were towering scaly beasts whose footsteps shook the ground, with tearing claws, deadly fire-breath, and lethal magics. But they proved to be just as rational and clever as the rest, and more so in some cases because of their extraordinarily long lives. They quickly rose to prominence thanks to their great physical and magical strength. But as they grew in influence, they became jealous of the Fae, the favorites of the gods, and coveted their divinely-gifted wings. Their immense pride in their own abilities prevented them from devoting themselves to the gods as the faeries did, however.

Instead, the renowned sages of dragonkind toiled for centuries, scouring the land for the holy mysteries hidden in its very fabric. Eventually they discovered the secret life-giving magic of the gods, and learned to use it themselves. The sages began anointing their brethren with wings, and from then on the Fae were not the only rulers of the sky.

Upon learning of the dragons' transgression, the Unity had mixed reactions. Some of the gods wanted to punish their insolence, while the others were fascinated with their creations' willpower and ingenuity. The latter group successfully convinced the rest to have mercy on their own children, and dragons were made second only to the Fae in importance to the gods.

When the Cosmic War began, the Unity fought among themselves to take control of the dragons. What was formerly a proudly united race was torn apart by new religious loyalties. The gods directed them against their targets, like living weapons, and left utter ruination and death in their wake, more than any other species. The eleventh god of the Unity was distressed by the senseless destruction caused by its family, and took it upon itself to end the war by any means necessary. It unveiled a calamitous spell that struck down its sibling deities in one swoop, and nearly ended life on Halse in what became known as the Cataclysm.

Many dragons died in the Cataclysm. The survivors found themselves greatly changed, and not for the better - Their charisms were mutilated by the storm of magic, and were no longer capable of casting the potent spells they were once known for. Most devastating, however, was that they were reduced to a weaker, softer bipedal form, only retaining certain components of their original bodies. The Cataclysm had drained their treasured strength as insurance against another Cosmic War.

Anatomy and physiology
Despite their weakened status in modern times, drakes remain the most physically impressive people. Drakes are the tallest of the three races, usually between 6'-8' ft (183-248 cm) in height. They have a broad-shouldered, solid stature with a fair amount of muscle. As with phrinu, males have more upper body strength and females have more lower body strength. Due to their larger size and greater physical strength, they require more food and sleep than other races. Drake anatomy can change drastically depending on the subspecies, which is based on their original dragon forms.

Drakes tend to move in a centered, sinuous, deliberate way, with little extraneous movement. They are elegant in the sense that a tiger stalking the forest is, all power and control. Their most significant movements come from the chest and upper body, because of their proud, confident bearing.

Drake skin is legendarily tough despite its normal appearance and elasticity, with heightened resistance to the elements and physical injury. The leathery character of the skin can be a problem for surgical or otherwise medical purposes, since cutting it open takes more physical pressure than it would on a phrin or faerie. Many drakes are more or less fireproof, only suffering pain from extremely high or prolonged temperatures. Colder environments are less hospitable for most subspecies, although some thrive in them.

Their wings take the appearance of their original forms. They almost always have a scaly reptilian texture, and wingspans are larger than that of faeries. The wings are strong and capable of propelling the average drake into the air from a standing position over very long distances, although they are better suited for gliding or flying straight than hovering as the Fae do, and in general are less able to make sharp turns and acrobatic displays without training.

While their natural resting position is with visible wings, drakes can magically retract their wings entirely into their bodies for protection, mobility, or other reasons, giving them a more phrin-like appearance while remaining the same weight. They can do this indefinitely, but are unable to fly in this form. Some remain retracted to blend in with Starborn society.

They can also have claw-like fingers or humanoid blunt ones.

Horns, the most unique part of a drake's anatomy, are made of a bony center and keratin outer shell. The majority of drake horns are not hollow. They are a separate structure from the drake's hair, which grows around the horns on the skull. Depending on their shape and subspecies, they have a variety of uses, including mating display and defense, which tend to be considered vestigial in the modern era.

Drake eyes may have humanoid or reptilian pupils. Their ears can be pointed upwards or round like a phrin's. Unlike faeries, they do not have increased hearing ability.

They also usually have carnivorous teeth, which can protrude from their mouths in some subspecies.

A drake's nose is considered their best sense organ. While drakes are not telepathic like faeries, they have a powerful sense of smell that can tell them many things about their environment. Some subspecies use chemicals like pheromones to communicate non-verbally.

Life cycle
Drakes reproduce sexually and lay eggs. Females generally lay only 1-2 eggs at a time; more is quite rare for most species. The eggs have a range of fantastical shapes and colors, and may be sought after by phrinus for their metal or gemstone-like exterior. Eggs take anywhere from several months to five years to hatch, and must be incubated in a hot environment. Some dragon species do require other methods of incubation not involving heat.

Upon hatching, drakes are fully capable of walking and talking, but not flight. They learn to fly during their childhood under the instruction of their parents. Very young drakes are referred to as hatchlings or chicks, and older but still juvenile ones as drakonets.

Parenting duties are shared by the mother and father. Chicks of most subspecies stay in the care of their mother for at least a couple of decades after hatching, a leftover behavior from ancient times when dragons did not live in family units and fathers only guarded the nest and then left after they hatched. Modern parents are ideally involved heavily in the hatchling's upbringing until the chick becomes "teenaged" (see below), after which they begin treating the drakonet as a smaller adult with more challenging responsibilities. It is not uncommon for parents to begin spending long periods of time away from the drakonet at this point, allowing their offspring more freedom and learning opportunities.

Drakes grow slowly. Chicks are considered teenaged starting around age 70, and reach adulthood around the ages of 100 to 120. Once they are fully mature, their physical aging slows down even more. Life expectancy is about 500 for most drakes. Some have slightly shorter or longer lives depending on their subspecies and their mana reserves. The longest-lived drake in recent history died at the age of 844.

Diet
Drakes eat a wide range of foods, mostly animal and plant products. Faerie food is poisonous to them due to the unique properties of faerie mana, and even small amounts induce terrible food poisoning symptoms. Some processed phrini concoctions, especially baked goods, are also less agreeable to drake stomachs, though for more mundane physiological reasons.

Unlike phrinu and faeries, the average adult drake ideally consumes one large meal every several days, going without consuming anything except occasional liquids in between. As an artifact of their dragon biology, these single feedings are typically massive compared to what other races consume in one sitting. On days where they eat, drakes often spend most of the remaining time resting in order to digest the food. Therefore, the normally solitary drakes usually congregate in larger family or community groups when eating for better protection against enemies. These group meal days hold strong social and cultural importance, as they provide chances for families to exchange news and information, and to strengthen personal bonds. Drakes who have no close friends or family go into hiding or isolation instead.

Biological and structural variation
Of all the races of Halse, drakes possess the most physiological variations among the species. Marked differences in shape, horns, eyes, ears, teeth, and extremities abound. Rare subspecies even lack some of these features, such as the wingless wyrms and lungs, who refused to be turned into winged creatures when offered the opportunity by their fellows, distrusting their methods.

Language
The ancient dragons spoke several tongues, most of which were lost or altered after the Cataclysm. While they all sounded different, the dragon-tongues generally had a rich, softly sibilant sound, which carries over into the present-day languages. Modern drakes are stereotyped by phrinu and faeries as having deeper, gruffer voices than others, but this is only sometimes true. Their voices are frequently more resonant than that of phrinu.

As mentioned above, their olfactory sense is a necessary tool for communication, sometimes taking precedence over words because of the wealth of information that their senses can provide them about another individual.

Regarding non-verbal communication and body language, drakes tend not to make exaggerated facial expressions when speaking due to a species-wide preference for stoicism. Gesturing beyond what’s necessary for context in conversation is thought to be excessive and theatrical. Direct, prolonged eye contact is often considered hostile and therefore avoided.

Drakes also value their personal space because of their natural prickliness, and generally like to keep a healthy distance from strangers, acquaintances, and even loved ones on occasion. Excessive physical touch usually signifies the beginnings of hostilities in individuals who do not know each other well, regardless of body language. Much violence is avoided by taking careful stock of physical and olfactory cues in confrontations.

Gender roles
Roles in drake society are slightly more fluid than in phrinu and Fae populations because of the scarcity of individuals available to fill in positions. Still, females are considered the main parent in a family unit, a behavior preserved from ancient times when dragon mothers secluded themselves with their eggs in isolated places for protection during the long incubation period. Both males and females will have increasingly little to do with their children as they reach adulthood.

Outside of the family, gender roles vary depending on the subspecies culture.

Kinship
Drakes place less importance on extended family than do other mortals. Instead, they live mostly in nuclear family units

Society, government, and politics
Overall, drakes and their individualistic culture have adapted poorly to modern phrinu-led society in comparison to the Fae, whose natural gregariousness blends in more easily with their earth-bound neighbors.

Material culture and technology
After the Cosmic War, drakes turned to technology to supplement their weakened magic power.

Religion and spirituality
As a rule, drakes are irreligious. Because of their history with the Unity and Cataclysm, they see the gods as capricious beings who toy with their subjects at best and enact genocide at worst. Among drakes, the Cataclysm is a force of evil and destruction whose potential second coming is feared and reviled. They see Flareists as hostile to their own kind because of this.

Drakes with intense faith in the Coil do exist, such as drake spectropaths, but are rare. Such people are looked down upon by more traditional drakes.

Magic
Drakes infamously make poor mages because of their greatly-reduced capacity for mana manipulation. Still, drakes are not entirely without magic. They are capable of weak magic, usually in a single field.