Dragonkin Shapeshifters

Dragonkin Shapeshifters are one of the most unique species of Shapeshifters in Hysal. They have a very unique history, even compared to other shifters, as well as a rich culture, present across multiple continents. This culture was shaped both by their unique abilities, which they inherit from their Dragons Ikshai, but also by their many historical struggles, and isolation from, humans and other mages alike.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Human Form

Most of the time, especialy during and around the time of month when Veos enters its new moon faze, Dragonkin are able to retain their human forms. While in this form, they mostly have the appearance of a normal human, except for a couple of minor details, such as them having slitted pupils instead of round one and slightly pointed ears. These tend to get more prominent as they get older, while the younger ones, especialy children who haven't yet entered puberty, will generaly have a completly human appearance.

Hybrid Form

Like with other Shapeshifters kins, their retain a mostly human anatomy, but with some key changes. For one, their body as a whole grows bigger, both in height and weight, either from fat or muscles, depending on a variety of factors. This makes them taller and heavier than the vast majority of humans. Their stance change from plantigrade to digitigrade as their heels rise and they stand on their toes, instead of standing on the sole of their foot like humans. This change affects the rest of the legs, which radicaly change shape while also becoming more muscular to accomodate the new posture. This makes them stand taller and allows them to run at much faster speeds than in their human form.
A long, dexterious and scaly tail helps them maintain their balance despite the change in stance, which is especialy helpful to them while they run and fly. Depending on the sub-species, this tail can also grow sharp bone blades along its lenght. A pair of large wings on their backs allows them to take flight simply by using their powerful legs to jump off the ground while flapping their wings a couple of time. While retracted, they are large enough to cover most of their backs and down to most of their legs. When deployed during flight, the lenght of their wing span is about 1.5 times larger than their arm span. Each wings are made of a thin but very resiliant membrane of the same colour as their scales and a series of big and small bones, called phalanges, which are tipped with claws and talons and connected with strong and lean muscles.
Horns, of different shapes and sizes adorn their heads, protruding from their forehead, or from the side, and grow as much as 15 cm long, depending on the age and the subspecies of an individual. Older Dragonkin usualy have larger horns. A talon appears on the heel their feet while sharp claws tip their hands and feet. Unlike their feet, their hands do not undergo much physical change, as they only grow a bit bigger to match the rest of their body, and they still remain most of their dexterity, though Water Dragonkin hands do become webbed. The ears, which were already hardly human-shaped, become long and thin, with a pointy tip that points up and towards the back of their head. Finaly, the face itself changes slightly as the jaw pushes out slightly and the nose flattens, creating a short muzzle. The teeth becomes larger to fill the extra space in their mouth and their tongues becomes forked. The eyes change colour and the pupil becomes slitted and diamond shaped. However, the person's face is still recongnisable despite all those changes.

Hybrid sub-species

Fire Dragonkin

Scales:
Most of the body is covered in hard, glossy beige to red coloured scales. On the front of their body, including the belly, chest, under arms and neck, the scales are of a creamy beige colour. This colour gradualy transitions to a bright red, and then a dark red colour on their backs, tails and face.
Horns:
They have two pairs of horns on their head. The first and largest pair grows out of the front of the forehead and can be up to 15 cm in lenght. They curve back, following the shape of their head. The 2nd, slightly smaller pair is located near the first one, where each horn grows on either side of the first pair. Both pairs are beige to dark grey in colour.
Eyes:
Fire Dragonkin have red irises surrounded by a pale yellow sclera. Out of all subspecies of Dragonkin, they have the worst vision, though it is still many times stronger than that of a normal human, particulary in dark environments, as is the case with all Dragonkin sub-species.

Water Dragonkin

Scales:
The scales of the water dragonkin are of a pale blueish colour while they are almost white on the belly and chest area. Darker scales of a turquoise colour can appear on the shoulders, elbow and knees as well as sometimes in the face.
Horns:
They only have a single pair of horns, which do not grow past an inch or two on top of their forehead. In fact, they have the smallest horn size among the 4 sub-species. These are white and beige in colour and curves slightly to the back.
Eyes:
Water Dragonkin have turquoise/Aquamarine irises, surounded by a white coloured sclera. Unique to their subspecies, they also have a third, translucent eyelid, which protects their eyes from the water they regulary find themselves in, and dust on land.
Wings and tail:
They have the smallest wing size out of all dragonkin sub-species, which largely prevents them from taking flight, like the others can, though they can still use them to glide through the air. The small size of their wings, combined with their long, powerful, fin-tipped tail in addition to their webbed feet and hands does allows them to be the best swimmers of their species.

Stone Dragonkin

Fur and Scales:
Stone dragonkin have the hardest scales of all subspecies, just like their Dragon counter-part. These are of a greyish colour, paler on the front and darker, almost black along their backside, and especialy along their tail and the top of their head. Greyish-white fur grows along their backs, but not along the top of their tail or head, like Ice Dragonkin.
Horns:
They have 2 pairs of horn. The first one, longer and larger, grows out from just above the temples and curves back, while the second pair grows from the side of the head, under the first pair, over the top of the jawbone. They also point towards the back, growing smaller and stubier than the first pair. Both pairs of horns are dark grey.
Eyes:
Stone Dragonkin have orange coloured irises surounded in a pale grey sclera. They have very good eyesight in low light environments.

Ice Dragonkin

Fur and scales:
This sub-species has the most amount of fur on their body. White in colour, it covers the back, especialy along the spines, from the tip of the tail, all the way to the top of their head, where it becomes a bit longer, like air. The fur is longer along the back of the neck while it is much shorther near the wings. The scales covering their bodies have two colours. White and light blue around their belly and chest, while the rest are various shades of dark blues.
Horns:
Ice dragonkins have a total of three horns. The first two are a pair of smaller horn growing from their temples. They both curves backwards. The third horn, which is much larger than the other two, grows from the top portion of the forehead, in front and in between the two others. It curves backwards like them, but at a less acute angle.
Eyes:
Their purple irises are surounded by a pale blue sclera. Ice Dragonkin, just like their Dragons counterpart, have the best vision out of all the 4 subspecies. Their vision is particulary good at detecting movement over great distance.
Wing and tail:
Ice dragonkin have the largest wings of the four subspecies, both in span and in sheer size. They also have a very long tail, mesuring up to two times their height.

Non-Existant Dragon Form

Despite their name, Dragonkin cannot in fact, shift into a full fledged animal form and transform into a real dragon. Many within the community have tried to acheive this using various rituals and consumables, but none of it worked. While some other species of shapeshifters have their particular quirks, such as jakalopes shifters, who can effectively shift into twp different animals, no other species cannot acheive their animal form, only the Dragonkin. Some speculate that the reason for this is that Dragons aren't normal animals, as they are elemental animals, and the only one to have a Shapeshifter counter-part. Some point to the writtings in Solianism, where it is implied that Dragons came from the celestial plain, meaning that Dragons aren't even Hysalian animals, but celestial beings.

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

Dragonkin individuals are very proud of their wings, and will often show them off to others. Their tails are subject to much admiration by other dragonkin, especialy potential lovers. Longer tails are viewed as an indicator of a partner's honesty and openess, while shorter tails can be viewed as the opposite. Longer tails aren't just important aestheticaly, but also very usefull during combat, and are usualy used for self defense in those scenarios. Larger and longer sets of horns are also admired. They invoque respect and admiration by the other members of the community. That is because longer horns are aquired by age, and age is traditionaly seen as a great indication of a person's wisdom and knowlegde.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

In many regions of the world, Dragonkin live fairly isolated from other people, especialy humans, which lead to them developing accents, dialects and even whole languages on their own. In Rumalia for example, dragonkins who live in the Dragon's Head region have a distinct accent from the rest of the country's population. In Osian, and particulary in Nan-Tao, Dragonkins are fully intergrated into the society at nearly every level, so they did not develop a unique accent and much less a distinct dialect. The complete opposite situation happened in the Vechor Islands, where many groups arrived on the islands from many different regions in Arros and Enask and over a long period of time. Vechorian was born from the mixing of many of those group's different languages, with numerous borrowed lone words and expressions borrowed from those langauges. To outsiders, Vechorian is largely unintelligible, which contributes to the cultural and political isolation and independance of the Archipelego and its inhabitants.

Common Dress Code

Human Form
The way Dragonkin individual dresses in their human forms is almost entirely dependant on the region and culture they live in and largely reflex what other people, Dragonkin or otherwise, also wear in that particular region.
Hybrid Form
Dragonkin usualy do not wear much clothing while in Hybrid form, as the scales covering their body make it pretty hard to put on and unconfortable to wear in many cases. Many also deem them unnessessary, since cold temperatures don't affect them much and their scales protect them better than any regular clothing could. In warmer regions, such as the Vechor Islands, only a loincloth is worn for decency's sake. In colder region, a sleeve-less tunic and a loose pair of shorts is commonly worn. The shorts have a hole in the back to let their tails pass through. Shoes are universaly hated and never worn while hats and shirts aren't really worn at all.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Human-Dragonkin relations:
In most of the world, Dragonkins are treated pretty badly and are often percecuted by human, just like other shapeshifters and regular contact between them are near non-existant in most regions. As for relationships with humans, it is very much discouraged thanks to it being very taboo in shapeshifter cultures in general. Some dragonkin clans even consider it an insult to them and their family if one of their members couples with a human and may be banished.
Other Shifterkin-Dragonkin relation:
Contact with other Shapeshifters are fairly common, depending on the region. They may help other Shapeshifter Clans in trade negociations with each other, and help defend from human incursions. Loving relationship with other Shapeshifters however is more complicated. It isn't directly forbidden, but isn't generaly encouraged either. In Rumalia, where many clans interact with each other, inter-kin couples are fairly common and somewhat accepted. Still, most Dragonkin vastly prefer for their kin to couple with their own.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Dragons
• Humans

Lifespan

115-130 years

Average Height

Human form 5-6 feet
Hybrid Form 7-8 feet

Average Length

Variable depending on the sub-species. From 3.5 to 5 metres from the top of the head to the tip of the tail.

Facial characteristics
The patterns of scales on the face, especialy around the eyes, are unique for each individual dragonkin. The rest of the scales on the body are disposed in a predictable pattern which is similar across all 4 sub-species.
Average Physique
Dragonkin are generaly larger and taller than most humans as well as being very physicaly strong since they naturaly possess muscular bodies. The scales covering their bodies act like natural armour, which is able to resist some sword blows and deflect many arrow hits. These scales are hardest along the back, shoulders, and along the tail and forearms, while they are softer over their belly and face.
Elemental Abilities
Around 5-10% of all Dragonkin possess some kind of elemental ability. These are generaly much weaker than that of actual elemental mages and always manifest in accordance with what sub-species of Dragonkin they are. Therefore, those ability are limited to Ice, Stone, Water and Fire elements. Curiously, these abilities are at their strongest when Veos is in or around its new moon phase. The possible reasons for this are subject to much debate and speculation by the dragonkin themselves and scholars.
Social Structure
Dragonkins in the Vechor Islands and the Dragon's Head region, located within the Confederation of Ru'mensh are grouped into semi-independant Shapeshifter Clans, like most other types of Shapeshifters. In Osian, the dragonkins are generaly integrated into the wider societies, much more than other kins and receive special treatement and often find themselves in high positions in the governments and armies of the region.
Major Organisations

• On the island of Vechor, the Dragonknights fight for the independance of the Archipelego from the Kingdom of Nhaggoria. The Kingdom's forces actively hunt down members of the group, but they are still going strong and even gaining ground in some islands.
  

• The Halserat of Skagos, located in the Dragon's Head region of Rumalia, is one of 11 principalities of the Confederation of Ru'mensh. A large portion of the population there are native born dragonkin, mostly of the Ice and Stone sub-species. It isn't the most important principality of the confederation by any means, but it is the one that controls the City of Hos and the The Ice temple on the Island of Haiska, which are very important locations for them and the rest of the confederacy.
  

Geographic Destribution

• Scholars estimates that the Kingdom of Nan-Tao hold up to a third of the Dragonkin population worldwide. The Continent of Osian is estimated to contain 2/3 of the world's dragonkin population.

• The Vechor Islands are the only place in Arros and one of the few in the world where Dragonkin form the majority of the population. The archipelego also contains the largest amount of Dragonkin in Arros. 

• Some principalities within the Confederation of Ru'mensh, paricularly in the eastern region of the Dragon's Head have a high population of dragonkin. The Halserat of Skagos is home to the second largest amount of Dragonkin in Arros outside the Vechor Islands.

• The Kingdom of Tomboraan hosts the largest population of Dragonkin outside of the Continent of Osian or the Continent of Arros as well as within the Continent of Mahador.

History

For many years during the end of the Long winter and the start of the Second Age, Dragonkins were the only species of Shapeshifters present in Hysal. In fact, the second species to appear, Wolfkin, did not do so for almost a century into the Second Age. This fact, combined with their very low numbers and the fact that they were spread out into small groups isolated into many regions meant that their existant remained partialy seen as a myth. That is, until the Wolfkin started appearing in some regions of Enaskia Enask and Arros Arros, which confirmed the existance of shifters in general.

Both kins suffered the brunt of early human percecution. However, the wolfkin population was larger and more regionaly concentrated. Because of this, they were able to fight back and even start to establish Clans to govern themselves, while the small dispersed Dragonkin population could not, which resulted in themwere slowly killed off in many regions of the world. As a result, Enask and Samaria Samaria were almost completly depopulated of Dragonkin by the early Second Age. Most of them were killed off or had to forcebly migrate to other regions. Many went to Arros, particulary in Shorai and Paxolia, while others went to the Continent of Osian.

Most countries in Osian had a favorable view of dragonkin and many other shifters, and so accepted many Dragonkin refugies. Them, and the local population of Dragonkin have since become and very important part of many society in the region, especialy in the Kingdom of Nan-Tao. In some regions of Arros, Dragonkins were also able to establish themselves quite easely. The principalities making up the Confederation of Ru'mensh, located in northern Arros, had always been welcoming to all shapeshifters, including Dragonkin, since their inception and continue to be to this day. They have the second largest population of Dragonkin on the continent.

Around the year 1000BC, the last major population of Dragonkin in Enaks was forcibly expelled of the City of Lylos. They found their new home in the Vechor Islands, and have since formed a very large and strong dragonkin society. This archepelego currently constitutes the largest Dragonkin-majority region in the world. By the time of the The Essanian Empire.'s rise, most of Enask, Samaria and Western Arros were already devoid of any significant Dragonkin populations as well as most other shifter species. As a result, many foreign shifters, including Dragonkin, were employed as mercenaries in the Empire, yet they did not really settled in Imperial territory, mostly out of their own volition. As a result, these regions remained largely devoid of Dragonkin, a situation that has remained largely the same even after the Empire's fall and up to this day.