Dragons and the Dragonkin

A long, long time ago, sightings of dragons, these large flying lizards, used to be far more common. They used to command wonder and respect amongst the human populaton of the first age. Their large wings and strong scalled bodies used to cast immense shadows upon the land below as they dominated the skies above. However, all of this was before the Long Winter, and when the sun came back when the Second Age started, they didnt follow, leaving many to wonder where they had gone, and if they would ever come back.

Scatered reports

Some travellers and adventurers claim to have seen dragons in some of the most remote places in Hysal. Reports from the Thiber Plateau, the Viuzhian Grasslands and even the inhospitable Island of Haiska are well known by Scholars. Some adventurers have even brought back shedded scales to scholars as proofs of their continued existance. However, most of them haven't been confirmed to be from dragons. However, the ones that did get confirmed serve as proof to many that although they still exist in Hysal, either that their numbers are very low or that they simply do not wish to be seen by humans.

Elemental powers

Just like mages, Dragons are also bestowed with the ability to control the elements that make up the world Hysal. They can produce and control the elements, though it seems that most of them seemed to simply use Nexurium, creating occasional lighting and thunder as they flew around in the skies of the First age. While Fire dragons, water Dragons and Ice Dragons have also been seen before, no other type of elemental dragons have been sighted since the first age, leading most scholars to atribute this fact with the possiblity that dragons that control the 5 other elements must be rarer, or have simply died off during the Long Winter.

Dragon Shapeshifters

As humanity crawled out of the Long winter and entered the Second Age, Soulmages, and specificaly Shapeshifters began to appear around the world. The first kind that appeared and in fact, the only kind of shapeshifter that existed for many years, were Dragon Shapeshifter, more commonly known and referred to as the Dragonkin.

Abilities

Although they are considered to be just another type of shapeshifter by many, there are many differences between them and other shapeshifter. The most important distinction between regular shapeshifters and dragonkin is that they cannot control the form that their body takes as it is entirely dependant on the Veosian lunar cycle. During the days leading up from the Veosian new moon to the veosian full moon, their bodies will shift from a completly normal human appearance to a Hybrid form that resemble other shapeshfter's Hybrd form, only with Dragon like features instead, such as patches of scales on their bodies and a tail, which in some Dragonkin culture, holds a lot of significance. Then in the days following the Veosian full moon and leading to the new moon, these features will gradualy melt away until their bodies become human once again for the duration of a single day, the day of the new moon.

Missed potential

Dragonkin have no real control over their transformation, but they can slow it down somewhat at the cost of great pain and discomfort. This practice is seen as taboo within their community as the other members see that as the person trying to deny what they really are. Because of their innability to control how their bodies change, they cannot shift into what would be their full-fleadged dragon form, ever. Some say it is for this reason that dragonkin do not possess elemental magic abilites, like their non-shapeshifting counterpart. Others say its simply because they are only soulmages, and the only people who can have access to both Soulbound and earthbound abilities are Allmages.

Different, but similar

Appart form these differences, they are similar to other shapeshifters and other soulmages. Their senses grow sharper and more accute the further along their body are in its hybrid form, while just like every soulmage, their body and soul are connected to The Ether, although they do not have nearly as much control over that link as other shapeshifters or soulmages.

History of the Dragonkin

For decades following the end of the Long Winter, the dragonkins were the only shapeshifters that existed. This, combined with the fact that at the time, they were very few in numbers meant that they, along with the other Soulmages present at the time, were the ones who bore the brunt of the widespread percecutions and harassement directed at shapeshfiters that was all too common during the early Second Age.

Percecution and near-exinction

In Enask and Samaria especialy, the local population, which was largely Solianic, compared the flightless dragonkin to the Wyverns, these large dragon-like creatures who, according to Solian mythology, had been banished out of the Celestial plane and forced to roam the surface of Hysal for their betrayal of Saol in his war against Uxal. However, this percecution did not just come from solianic believers, but also from other magic folks, such as many elemnetal mages, who viewed Soulbound magic as dark and fearful, like many people at the time and actively participated in the percecution which often lead to dragonkins being killed or chased out of their place of living.

Diaspora

As a result of all of this widespread anti-dragonkin sentiment in Enask and later in Arros, most fleed these lands, creating one of the first large mage diaspora. Over the course of the second age, there would be many more, but by the time of the rise of the Essanian empire, during the mid-second age, Enask and Western Arros were already mostly devoid of Dragonkin, to the point that some living in those regions started to doubt of their existence, just like they did towards real dragons. In fact, scholars estimate that nearly 2/3 of the population of dragonkin today live on the Continent of Osian, particulary in the Kingdom of Nan-Tao, who took in many refugies from Enask and Samaria. The kingdom of Nan-tao, or Osian in general did not have a large dragonkin population originaly, but the ones they had where considered to be holy beings, in accordance with their religion, which revolved heavely around dragons. The last third is dispersed very unevely all over the world. Some larger pockets can be found in eastern Arros, particulary in the Vechor Islands as well as in Mahador, most notably in the Kingdom of Tomboraan. In fact, the population of dragonkin in Tomboraan was composed of the last holdouts in Enask, who lived somewhat isolated in the Sarkanian hills during the first part of the second age. They fleed south to Mahador when the 2nd of a series of 5 devastating wars started between the kingdom of Kinvalia and the Kingdom of Darnia that devastated the Sarkanian hills. They are acredited as the ones who brought Choranism from Sarkania to the kingdom of Tomboraan and constitute the largest population of Dragonkin outside of Osian.