Zerɮudō

The draconic race that lives as the primary dominant species on the planet. They have their own distinct psychology, physical traits, and history. They are one of only two remaining species on the planet with the ability of sorcery.
Their culture is entirely intellectual. They do not have opposable thumbs, and are thus incapable of creating structures with their hands. They can easily create them using their sorcerous abilities, but they tend to prefer to use those for making homes rather than physical works. Their art and traditions are oral and are passed down in this way. Other articles will be created to go in-depth into those areas.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The zerɮudō species is draconic and largely resemble European dragons- skeletal structure, organ systems, muscles, scales, wing structure, etc. There are several noted differences, however:

• More pointed, wolf-like snouts
• Raised nasal ridges
• Pointed, not forked, tongue
• Do not exclusively breathe fire
• Two horns on the top of the head, ranging from straight to curling
• Ears placed outside of horns on head, used to express emotion
• Chest plates are narrow, flexible, and run from under the chin to the tail
• Spinal ridges go down back, from tiny (between nostrils) to quite large (on back, by tail)
• Four legs; five claws on hind legs, four claws on forelegs
• Thick, tough, leathery, bat-like wings
• Tails are tipped in a variety of pointed arrow-head shapes
• Extra blood component that gives sorcerous abilities, takes place of platelets. Blood often dark red/black, if they are practising sorcerer

Biological Traits

Zerɮudō bodies with differing genitalia are very hormonally balanced. Androgens and estrogen are on a more equal level in all bodies, though there is still a noticeable difference; the most obvious being that of a more prominent spine between the nostrils of those with ovaries. Physically all zerɮudō are on a very similar level; much still depends on genetics and lifestyle.

Genetics and Reproduction

Sexual reproduction. Those with ovaries/womb have an oestrous cycle. Zerɮudō are born at a much slower rate than any other species, but they are born in egg clusters of anywhere from 3-8 at a time. Anything above or below that is very rare. They will usually only have one, sometimes two, clutches of eggs in their lifetime.

Growth Rate & Stages

Growth is rapid during the first hundred years of life, stretching them out and making them long and tall, somewhat lanky. After their 100 years, their growth slows, and they begin to fill out a bit. They never truly stop growing, which is why the most ancient are so enormous. Ability to reproduce tapers around 700 years.

Ecology and Habitats

They can live quite literally anywhere. Their bodies are excellent thermoregulators and their innate sorcerous abilities allow them to live quite comfortably in the most extreme habitats. They live all over the continent (and the world), including in the sea.
Zerɮudō live in harmony with wherever they are. They have no need of the structures of ɮudō people, and do not destroy nearly as much of their surrounding region when they settle. One can see the settlements of zerɮudō in the land as hollows/caves, raised mounds, or bowl-shaped piles of dirt/vegetation.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Primarily carnivores, but will eat mostly anything in a pinch.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Elders are more venerated, considered wiser and more trustworthy. The entire social structure of zerɮudō is based around age and seniority. Younger zerɮudō will always defer to their elders, though rebellion (small or large, backtalk or outright defiance) is known. Size is also a large factor in their society, with size being associated with age. It is neither patriarchal or matriarchal- a neutral gerontocracy.

Facial characteristics

Their faces are long and generally triangular. There is wide variation, from a boxier, wider jaw to a very narrow and almost linear one. Size and spacing of facial/body spines is genetic. Their eyes are almond-shaped, with vibrant irises and vertical pupils. Having bonier faces with fewer facial muscles, their ears are used to express emotions. Each can be moved independently. They range in shape from short and squarish to very long and fluted. There is even a small group that has a long fleshy tendril extending from the top tip of their ears; similar to the whiskers on Eastern Asian dragons.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Their senses are extraordinary. Think large cats, able to hear several times better than humanoids and able to see in the dark. They do not quite see the full range of colour that their ɮudō nieghbours do, though. Their vision is just as sharp as humans, but with fewer colours, not quite as intense.
Smell and taste, being so tightly linked, are far superior to ɮudō. They can pick out far subtler flavours, which are also more intense. Zerɮudō is so plain simply because adding spices and other flavouring to food can be too much for them. But this heightened sense of smell makes them excellent trackers and hunters; again, think large cats or wolves.
Touch is somewhat inhibited by their strong scales. On their faces and paws, where scales are smaller and thicker, sense of touch is much better. Their skin itself is very sensitive (mostly to temperature), but dampened by the scales over it.

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Their sorcerous abilities make them extra sensitive to the elements and the world around them. They are better at sensing temperature and humidity changes. They have a sort of "gut instinct" that helps them find, usually water, whatever element they are looking for. They can subconsciously sense the elemental planes interacting with and overlapping their world. Many zerɮudō nest and live in places in attunement with a certain element. This kind of energy sensing can become conscious, but it takes training.
Their extra sense and unconscious link to the world around them extends to each other. What we would call auras they would be able to sense. Emotions are more visible psychically and can greatly impact the world around them. A strong enough emotional release can leave an imprint on a place for weeks, months, even years. They can feel the bonds that tie together everything in the world.

Sorcery

Their sorcery is that of The Elements, or of the other/aether. They most acutely can feel the veins of energy running through the world, and can shape and manipulate it. They can summon the elements of fire, air, water, earth, and ice, and most importantly the shadows. They are a people of the physical world and they bring their visions into reality before them.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Names carry weight and connotation. Zerɮudō go through two names: their "young" name and their "adult" name. Those who live to become clan elders take on another name, their "elder" name. Names have no gender.
Young names are based off of the scale colours of the young zerɮudō. It goes body colour-accent colour. So, a hatchling with purple scales and green wings, etc would be named PurpleGreen. This is done not to trivialise the younglings or depersonalise them- zerɮudō believe a name should reflect who you are. It should be a representation of that which you are, not that which your community and parents think you might be. But in the beginning, zerɮudō are so young, all one really knows about them is what they look like. Thus the "young" name.
Once they reach (depending on the region) adulthood, they receive their adult name. Adulthood is usually a younger age in the harsher climates and later in the more temperate climates; 75-100 in the former, 100-150 in the latter. The siblings, usually all hatched on the same day, are named together. If any one sibling hatched a day earlier or later, the whole hatch group waits until the hatch date of their youngest sibling. The ceremony usually takes place at the time of the setting sun, symbolising the setting of their youth. Then there is the ceremony itself. It is a ceremony to prove their maturity, to show that they are prepared to enter the society as adults, to take their new names. The ceremony varies widely from clan to clan. It can be a physical trial, a mental one, or a sorcerous one. The elders choose the task. It is designed to push the zerɮudō, but not push them so far that they break. It is supposed to be a day of celebration!
At the rising sun, the siblings gather once again to receive their adult names. This symbolises the rising of their adulthood. These names have been debated and considered all night by the elders. The parents have no/little say. The siblings stand together, proud of themselves, and the elders go down the line. The most common way this is done is "YoungName, this is your name no more. You have proven yourself wise and strong and [strong in sorcery]. You are become an adult. Your name is AdultName."
Adult names are based off of personality and skills. They will almost always include a certain element, one the person has a particular affinity with. The name can be somewhat long, depending on what the elders believe is necessary to understand the new adult they are naming. It can be anything from Proud Ice to Air that Dances in Search of Freedom. Young names are still sometimes used in a family or between friends, as a kind of nickname.
Elder names are only given to those five eldest in a clan. One for each element, all coming together to form their Dark or Shadow Council. They do not replace an adult name, they are added as a name before the adult name. It is somewhat of an honorific title more than a name, as in some regions the elder names are themselves passed down as titles rather than a new one given to each elder.

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Clan names are based on wherever the zerɮudō was born. If they were born in the middling hills, they have the clan name of those in the middling hills. If they were born in the southeast mountains, same there. It is quite beneficial that eggs can be laid and then carried to wherever the parents want them to be born, thus ensuring their clan name. Clan names are rarely used except when with outsiders. Sometimes they choose not to use them at all when interacting.
Clan names are often long and detail the history of the one who began the clan. There are a few who simply use the name of their long-ago ancestor as their clan name. But most are a few words long at minimum, talking about the desire of their ancestor to begin the clan, why they did so, and/or how it came to be so. The frequent length of clan names obviously makes them cumbersome to use outside of very formal situations.

Major Organizations

The clans are the largest groups.

Beauty Ideals

Balance and proportion are considered desirable. The brighter/more vibrant scale colours are more beautiful, as are larger wing hooks, horns, and tail tips. But again, balance is most desired.

Gender Ideals

None! The zerɮudō almost nonexistence idea of gender leads to almost no gender roles or stereotypes. Males, females, and neuter can do anything and be anything. No one is ever looked down upon for doing anything because of their gender, and indeed practically nothing is gender coded. IE, raising the young is not for women, and hunting is not for men. It is for all.

Courtship Ideals

Zerɮudō believe in simplicity and intimacy when it comes to love. Not like the ɮudō, with their gifts and posturing. Love is about finding the person that feels natural to be with. It is about feeling safe with another person. It is about finding the person that you connect with so naturally, the one that feels like home no matter where you are.
Being such an intellectual society, they value anything that shows of one's mental skills. Debates, poetry, and other such endeavours are common between courting zerɮudō. They seek to find their equal, and maybe even their superior- someone who challenges them, pushes them beyond what they thought they could do. You are committing the rest of your very long life to this person. You have to make sure that you can keep up with each other without anyone getting left behind.

Relationship Ideals

Due to a lack of gender ideals, basically anyone is allowed to be with anyone. A relationship is about finding the person that you work with best, the person that you can flow with and at the same time contradict without fearing criticism or rebuke.
As stated above, the zerɮudō society is entirely intellectual and oral, and this is reflected in their ideals for a relationship. In this way people seek to balance themselves in ideas, finding a partner that they are on a similar intellectual level with but may have differing opinions. The idea is that collaboration is key. Through the discussion of different ideas, and the joining of minds as one, more can come out of it than anyone could alone. This is the person that you will hold in your heart for the centuries to come.
See Zerɮudō Matings for mating rituals.

Family Values

Your clan is your family, and your family is your clan. You were born there and will most likely die there. Your clan is your siblings, your parents, their siblings and their children, your grandparents, and everyone else living in the same area as you. You would defer to your immediate family but wisdom from anyone in the clan is welcome. Most adults know a great deal of those outside their clan as well, and would welcome them into their home at any time. A clan is bound together by their ideas, their traditions, and their beliefs. People in a different clan may be welcome but they are not necessarily considered "family."
But sometimes, a tragedy occurs, and a clutch of eggs is left without parents. Sometimes- even worse- a clutch is found abandoned somewhere in the world. If the latter, every effort is made to find out the identity of the eggs. Once their home is found they are brought back into their clan ans cared for. Under all situations, if a clutch has no parents, a single zerɮudō or a couple will volunteer to raise the eggs and hatchlings. The clan name is given and they become a part of that family.
No one should be left without a clan beside them. To not have a clan name is to be abandoned, to be alone. So they make every effort to prevent that.

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There is no idea of matriarchy or patriarchy in a family. The leader of a family is the eldest member, and above them, the clan elders. All defer to these people, regardless of gender. The roles are divided equally between all members of the family and are largely based on skill. Anyone may work at anything that benefits the family and the community. See Gender Ideals above.
Parenting is evenly divided. Both parents, in theory, put an equal amount of effort into raising their child(ren). In practice, the job becomes more uneven as one parent works more than the other, but both are still very responsible for parenting. Again, refer back to Gender Ideals.
Children should respect their parents and parents should love and strive to understand their children. A family is based off of love and shared experiences. Everyone has the opportunity to learn from each other, regardless of age or experience. This idea binds together the zerɮudō people. Yes, much emphasis is placed on deference to elders, but they also recognise the inherent creativity of the young. Family is all the people that you will learn from and that will learn from you. The people you interact with most are your family, simply because you are closest together. In times of trouble, you come together and share what you can- be it knowledge or skill- to rise above the difficult times. In that time, you are not members of different lineages, or even members of different clans. You are one.

Average Technological Level

They live in a largely hunter-gatherer society. Their lack of opposable thumbs made creating artificial materials extremely difficult, and with the sorcery and strength they had, they simply adapted themselves to live with the world rather than the world to live with them.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The only true language does not have a name. It is only "the words we speak," and thus the ɮudō mistakenly thought that the zerɮudō language was actually named that. There are accents to be sure, but not very strong ones. The largest differences would be between those on the farthest north and south parts of the continent, as with east and west. The ability to travel so far so easily facilitated the unity of their language and the existence of only one.

Common Etiquette Rules

Always, always respect your elders. Defer to them at all times. There are certain phrases one must use in certain situations in the zerɮudō language that it would be incredibly rude to begin or end a conversation without. These are based on a simple system of age; if you are speaking with someone who is older than you, they speak first and use the more superior phrases, and then you speak using the deferential phrases. If you are the elder, it is reversed. If you are speaking with a peer, anyone may speak first (though usually the older person) and both use the same, equal phrases. Speaking with strangers, one defers to size to determine how to interact.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Their culture being almost entirely oral has led to an emphasis on intellectual ability. The ability to think, to survive, to thrive. To remember the ancient histories and tales, to be able to recount them flawlessly, and to pass them down to the next generation. Memory is highly prized. So is sorcerous ability, and finesse and creativity with it. Zerɮudō are so large and strong that to be able to create and do something requiring detail (and intellectual capability) is extremely valuable. They not only see the world, but seek to understand it, to better live in harmony with it.

History

TBA

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

They see themselves as above other creatures, but they still respect them. As a whole, they just want to coexist and live in the world, enjoying each other and reveling in what they can do as the largest, strongest, and most powerful species. They have a different kind of respect for ɮudō; they dislike how some of them destroy the natural land when they settle, but they respect them for what they can and have built. They understand that the ɮudō revere them and simply let it happen, but this again lowers them in the zerɮudō eyes. They also respect them for being the only other species with sorcerous abilities.

Scientific Name

Zerɮudō

Lifespan

500-1,000 years

Average Height

7.5m (24ft 8in) - 30m (98ft 5in)

Average Weight

7.5 tonnes (8.3 tons) - 40 tonnes (44 tons)

Average Length

15m (49ft 2in) - 60m (196ft 10in)

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Large range, covering the entire colour spectrum. Zerɮudō are usually vibrant colours. Their eyes have vertical pupils, and the iris colour will match the body scales. The wings, spine ridges, and chest plates are a different colour from those on the body, but are typically in the same range as the body. Claws, wing tips, and tails range from near white to yellowish tan to silvery grey.