Drazgor

The Drazgor as a race are the offspring of the Drazgorra, the name Drazgor means Dragon Soul in draconic. The differences between these two are both small but important and will be touched on further in. Both races are the true soldiers of the empire, terrifying creatures by most standards they are well respected within the empire as honorable defenders. They also are more than simple warriors bred to fight and die they have in their number great artisans who pour their passion and skill into their craft. They each have varied appearance and abilities but share common themes, their appearances often reflect the birth sign that they are born with, however, none of the Drazgor species have wings but all have tails, however, the Shadow variant has a more dexterous and longer tails.
The Drazgor are hatched with a Dragon birthmark of the aspects, these give the Drazgor a direction in life as with the Dragons these marks while lesser than a true Dragon’s bestow skills or even memories of previous members of the clan of the aspect. Color of scales has no definition as to the type of breath weapon they command or their alignment. A red Drazgor can be every bit as noble as a gold scaled Drazgor and could use ice as their breath weapon, though such wild opposites are rare. Drazgor are incredibly proud and hold very particular beliefs on what are acceptable roles for one of their kind. This includes a strong stance on the practice of magic, all Drazgor have dragon blood in them, and so Sorcerers are very common mages as are bards, but this is also due to cultural reasons, clerics, paladins, and druids are all possible. It would take a very powerful reason for a Drazgor to become a wizard, forsaking the dragon blood to use a book and formulas that harm the Arcane is antithetical to the beliefs of the Draz Tyran who choose to immerse themselves deeply into the Arcane. As another reason, the Drazgor are not plagued by the Terrorgheist phenomena instead having what they refer to as ‘Muldraz’ roughly translating to inner dragon makes it even less appealing to forsake the such gifts of magic. Should such a Drazgor exist, they will be exiled and possibly imprisoned or worse if they are caught by their fellow Drazgor.

In combat

The Drazgor, in general, are very upfront up their style of fighting, preferring a glorious charge into the fray, however, they are not stupid. They will use ambushes, feints and other advanced military tactics. However, once they have a force surrounded the leader of the Drazgor will invariably (unless they have an order from a direct superior) issue a challenge to the leader of the enemy force. A one on one match will determine the fate of the battle, both sides are then ordered to watch only as the two fight if the opposing side cheats (because the Drazgor will not) then the battle takes its course as they are proven to be dishonorable. Should the Drazgor win, the others are captured as prisoners of war to be ransomed back to their commanders, the Drazgor would prefer if these prisoners respected such but will disarm and force the prisoners into submission if they must. If the opposing force wins, the Drazgor collect their fallen and let them continue to their next meeting. While some might critique this style of warfare it works out in their favor often. A Drazgor is a born and bred fighting machine, they are aware of their abilities and often just want to see if the opposing force is honorable and accept such a challenge even if they are outmatched. The Drazgor often spare enemies who were no match for them, issuing them the challenge of becoming stronger and will only kill those who put up a worthy fight or if they are ordered to.
Drazgor prefer to use heavy armor, great weapons, great picks, and chained hooks to draw people in. Their jaws and breath weapons make up the favored weapons. It is rare to see one focused on shields but the ones that are can be akin to mobile fortresses .

In peace

The Drazgor might seem like they would have a hard time adjusting to being without combat given that they seem devoted to war and only that, this couldn't be further from the truth. The true nature of the Drazgor is one of people who seek to refine themselves and their chosen crafts, skills, or pursuits over their long lives, combat just happens to be one of those pursuits. The Singers represent some of the greatest examples of the artistic nature of the Drazgor, these are the poets, the storytellers, and musicians of the Drazgor.
Their music tends to revolve around operas both sung on the spot, and in large performances combined with their favorite instruments, drums. Drazgor love the bass of drums and are known to have massive drum sets within their communities and often within places of importance, such as a flight leaders court, ritual sites, and the Balvah rings. Painters tend to be a rare pursuit for a Drazgor to focus on exclusively and many are capable of such putting temporary patterns onto the scales of others or themselves. Sculptors, blacksmiths, and even carpenters are more common as something for them to dedicate themselves.
Hunting is another common occupation for Drazgor and while they do of course hunt the more mundane creatures including predators, it is the monstrous and exotic creatures that are worth a hunt and a trophy claimed. If the monster is edible, they will hold a feast made of that creature, otherwise they will hunt other game in either case there will be a grand telling of the tale. Drazgor celebrations could be described as intense they are loud, rowdy, telling stories, often enjoying the more carnal activities to celebrate all too deep drums and sometimes other music.
In short, the Drazgor take a 'work hard, play hard' style to their lives and often showing their skills off is a great source of enjoyment for them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Drazgor look like a larger version of kobolds having horn crests draconic eyes, jaws, scales and connection to magic. They also gain a draconic birth sign which is shown on the top of their skull between their eyes. They lack the frail body and often weigh in around 400 pounds, nearly all of that being muscle and dense bones. Standing at eight feet in height on the average they make for truly intimidating sights. They have large tails that they can use in combat, but most prefer not to put their tails at risk as they do help in balance. Their legs are digitigrade with their feet ending in three large toes capped with sharp talons, as well as a dewclaw off the back of the ankle with a rear-facing talon that can be used to grab with if needed but the back toe helps their balance. Most would find them to be a walking nightmare, they are highly trained in combat and aside from Dragons themselves are the best soldiers the Draz Tyran has.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The Drazgor, in general, are a heavily honor based people they know from their hatching what their role in the world is, and they love it. The Drazgor even more than the dragons love to struggle and fight both among themselves and against their enemies. They believe that it makes them stronger and a better being, their sense of devotion comes from their progenitors, the Drazgorra. The Drazgorra are beings that started off as another race, often kobolds hence the appearance of the races as very large kobolds, these beings through heroic and honorable deeds earned the favor of dragons and were given a most sacred gift; dragon blood. The process and steps needed for this are a closely guarded secret and only revealed to those taking the journey. However, what is known is that after the process they emerge as a Drazgorra, an even larger winged version of the Drazgor. They pride themselves on being descended from beings so noble and honorable that dragons blessed them has given rise to a culture that values bravery, honor, and strength. Each Drazgor seeks to earn glory not just for themselves but for their patron, their parents and their race. The Drazgor are rowdy and love to celebrate as hard as they fight through boasting, drinking, and other more carnal desires. They are a very in the moment race, however they have a tremendous respect for the past, and above fighting and celebrating they love hearing stories of the past told by the Skalds of the Drazgor.
Those given the birth sign of the Singer have a particularly valued spot among the Drazgor(ra) as they know the stories of past battles and glories, and like all singers can inscribe tattoos on the honorable that can be read by any singer to tell the story of the reason for the tattoo, complete with the emotions and danger of the moment.
The singers are in many ways the chaplains of the Drazgor, for they tell the stories and when a Drazgor dies it is a singer’s job to prepare the ‘litany of life’. A fallen Drazgor is prepared for their funeral pyre their armor and scales are cleaned and prepared to join the Heldamari, the Dead Legion. As their body is committed to the flames of Igzanar the singer recites the tale of their life in Imperial (high) Draconic, reading from the tattoos that were on their body before the fire was lit. They tell the honors they earned in life, the friends they had who they now go to join and those that shall join the fallen. It is somber but not sad at this phase, for a deep respect is held for the accomplishments and they enjoy hearing of the deeds of their kin. Once the telling is complete the attendees celebrate, telling their own more personal stories between those honors and how they knew them a time for feasting and drinking and a celebration of their life and the death that waits for them.

Civilization and Culture

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Balvah

Balvah is a ritualized challenge that exists for all members of the Draz Tyran, but the Drazgor make the most use of it. While dragons are known to take their own duels into these spaces, largely to prevent collateral damage the Drazgor make use of them in what they feel combines the virtue of combat of body and mind. They fight a duel within the arcane realm adorned with only ceremonial equipment consisting of a headband, foot wraps, gloves, and a quarterstaff. The aim is to force an opponent out of a ring consisting of three smaller rings, ideally you want to remain in the center ring and force your opponent all the way out. You can strike, generally nonlethally, but the true test of skill is to make the battlefield fight for you by exerting your will on the battlefield to make it take shape. Even with the gear given most Drazgor find it hard to influence the field in major ways, at first anyway. The gear you are given consists of the following:
Scendo: A staff with holes bored through that makes distinct whistling noises as it is moved that grants a measure of control of the air within the Balvah combat space.
Aquar: A headband depicting a calm sea on one side and a turbulent sea on the other side, this band is often tied around horn crests, but can also be used as a blindfold. This provides a measure of control over water within the Balvah.
Tarras: The foot wraps are of fine material but appear as little more than foot wrappings of dirt and stone coloring. These foot wraps grant a measure of control of the earth within the Balvah.
Ignarri: These gloves are adorned with elaborate murals of fire stitched into the light leather; these gloves have a hole for the claws of the combatants but otherwise cover the hands of the user. These grant the ability to create and a measure of control over fire.
Sorcerers have their own category in these rings as they can exercise greater control shaping the field as they tend to have experience altering the physical world combined with being in the arcane realm. Dragons likewise have a higher category within those duels as well and it is generally not a good idea to challenge someone above your category. In both cases the combatants rarely request the use of the ceremonial gear and instead rely on their own ability to fight in the duel.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Kobolds are useful allies, producing weapons and arms for them as well as filling roles they are helpful to the front line Drazgor fighters. The two synergize well. Anrashan’s have a good reputation in battle amongst the Drazgor, while they fight in a very different way from them. The Drazgor respect their prowess and being allies to the Dragons. Lizard races are considered neutrally as they are not very prone to aiding the Dragons but have never tried to harm them. Basically, everything else is seen as one point or another a hostile. They train to fight any and all opponents. They do however possess a rather intense dislike for Dwarves above all else, they still know the tale of how they attacked Dragons first, as well as let the Halflings take the punishment meant for the Dwarves.

Alignment & Religion: They are as lawful as they are fiercely dedicated to the Tyrannus, however, some can develop a more chaotic methodology. They can go across the spectrum of good and evil. They generally worship the Tyrannus as a living God(ess) and venerate the honored dead, the Aspects of Dragonkind, and the dragon gods..
Adventurers: The Drazgor can lend themselves well to any role in a group, however, they almost never do so as their only true loyalty is to the Tyrannus and their will. However, if given permission to roam the world they are often eager to test themselves, to gather honors and trophies to bring back to their kin with grand stories of their feats. Drazgorra
The Drazgorra form the highest echelons of the Drazgor civilization, they are both the parents and leaders of the Drazgor. Drazgor cannot become the true Drazgorra with real wings, however they can earn the title and be equipped with a magical set of wings that allows flight in an often very flashy way with a membrane of flame, electricity or whatever element they are attuned to stretching between the Mithral 'bones'. The reason for this is Drazgor already have dragon blood in them, the addition of more has had a strange non-effect on them, whether 'true' or not a Drazgorra is a fearsome foe, a talented artisan, and a staunch ally and the Draz Tyran loves them for it. The only major difference in appearnce is the addition of large draconic wings, and sometimes another foot of height.