Dragonoid

Dragonoids are said to be humanoid dragons, hailing the popular belief of a union between man and dragon at some ancient time. All of them are covered in scales around areas that are most exposed to the surrounding. Their only difference with most of their reptilian cousins is their warm-blooded nature. Much like their ancestors themselves, their numbers are few and far spread apart in any world or dimension.

Appearance
Dragonoids are humanoid dragons, basically having a humanesque figure with scales that is said to resemble gems, and are just as unyielding. There are as many color variety as there are types of precious stone around in a region. These scales will shed at every growth or renewal phase, leaving them slightly weakened and vulnerable at that stage. As a dragonoid grows and matures, the scales will spread to cover more area, leaving only the belly, a part of their inner legs and arms uncovered.

Dragonoids can have any combination of horns, wings and tail, some dragonoids even lacking all three due to assimilation into other species, especially humans. Dragonoid's appearance can range from the wild types (can have horns, wings and tail, with dragon-jointed hind legs) all the way to the more 'assimilated' (may only have scales and slitted eyes). Females average around 6 ft 4 inches, while males can be around 7 ft.

A dragonoid's face can have scales or protrusions, usually more pronounced in the males, framed with pointed ears that have limited movement based on their emotions. Some males will also have more bestial features, more so resembling a dragon's head than a human's. While black claws and talons are the most common, the white variety can still be found. Their teeth are almost like those of humans (except for the more bestial ones, with a full row of fangs) but their fangs are more obvious, and most other teeth are sharpened as well. Their cat-like, slitted eyes can have a variety of hues, though the most common is yellow or amber. A prominent feature of dragonoids are their pointed ears with some form of movement to pick up sound, and the more assimilated ones are sometimes mistaken to be some form of feral elves.

History
The origin of the dragonoid, or dragon-kin, remains purely a speculation till this day. The mere coincidental look of a perfect blend of human and dragon brought up the theory of a bond between the two species at some early point in time, though the notion of such a union was deemed taboo and nigh impossible. A magical union? Perhaps even an evolution of dragon-kin, be it humans or elves taking up dragon forms, or dragons taking up human or elf forms. Whatever their origin may be, none of it can be found in the few books that do exist, and their history remains vague even to the dragonoids themselves.

An interesting notion is their origins being tightly linked with elements. Fire, ice, water, earth, poison, lightning, darkness, you name it all. The colors of their scales even reflect their elements, as with the powers they harness, naturally borne. Nobody knows how that can be so, as humans and elves need to actually learn to be able to master powers like that. This magic can be either internal or external depending on the kind of elements they are born with. If a dragonoid's parents are of different elements, its powers will take up either one of them, never a mix of both.

They have developed their own language among themselves. Phonetically, they consists mostly of clicks, rattles, growls, purrs, any animalistic sounds they can make, mixed in with the occasional letter sounds, and they can get really descriptive with words. Their writing is a completely opposite story, they consist of simple, pictographic symbols. Due to this lack of their own developed writing system, they tend to adopt other languages, especially those of humans and elves. Their learning capacity for spoken languages are superb, sadly that can't be said for their written languages.

Dragonoid numbers, while by far still surpass those of full Dragons, are still rather low by human standards. They are still widely dispersed and less concentrated in areas, compared with humans or elves who form settlements. You will never find a settlement of dragonoids, merely isolates who either live in the wild, or around the edges of civilization, and maybe within it on rare occasions.

Behavior
Dragonoids tend to be very territorial when it comes to their own kind. While they may seem alright with any other species within the area (as long as their niche do not overlap), the appearance of another dragonoid, especially of the same gender, in the same area may be a different story, especially when they go after the same resources such as hunting games, precious stones and metals, and mates.

Dragonoids are very predictable with their behaviour with precious metals (Gold, silver) and stones (Ruby, sapphire, emerald, amethyst, onyx, topaz, etc), and anything that glints and glimmer in the light. While some may not be as attached to the point of hoarding, they are attracted to them nevertheless.

Much like humans, their behaviour can range from one end of the spectrum to the other, depending on their upraising. Wild ones tend to be wandering isolates, with minimal contact with other, more advanced, species, including but not limited to, humans, elves and dwarves. Those who choose otherwise may interact with civilization, but still rather considered isolates by the civil species' standard.

Mating behaviour is yet another interesting aspect of the dragonoids. Males in the wild wander far in search of a female, and are never in one place for too long. Once they find a healthy, child-bearing female in heat, courtship initiates with the males offering precious stones and metals. Once the females accept, they will proceed with mating, but not without vicious clashes during the process. Males would have to be able to sustain much damage from the females and aim to bite their necks to 'tame' them. This can take anywhere from half a week, to 2 weeks, the males repeating this entire process of courting, fighting, taming and mating, if needed. Once done, the males will continue on with their wandering, leaving the female to bear the child alone, and her stocking up on sustenance before her frame becomes unfit for hunting. On rare occasions, the couple may choose to be much 'longer-term' partners, the male staying for a few more mating rituals and offspring throughout his life with the female. Females will bear one dragonoid child at a time, twins being very rare and usually leading to much difficulties for the females during livebirth.

Abilities
Physically, their muscles and bones are much denser than their human counterparts, providing enhanced strength, limited by their tolerance to pain. Those with wings have flight manoeuvrability despite their heavy frames, using this to their advantage when swooping, carrying prey or enemy and slamming them to the ground at G-force. Tails are equally deadly as well, mostly used to slam and constrict much like a snake. Presence of horns indicate thick skulls, and most dragonoids with those can ram with much force.

Gleaming scales are believed to be as unyielding as gemstones, and they can be used to protect against some physical attacks (eg. swiping of a knife), though the lack of scales mainly around the abdomen and inner legs and arms still leave them vulnerable. Their eyes are much like cats', the refractive nature of them allowing them to see much better in the dark. Their hearing are enhanced due to the slight ability to move their outer, pointed ears.

Dragonoids are immune to their own elemental powers, be it of physical or magical origin. As with full dragons, dragonoids have a certain degree of magical resistance within them, a shield against most common spells that might be thrown at them. Even though dragonoids do not use magic themselves aside from their own elemental abilities, their melee close-combat fighting makes up for that with no style in particular, merely clawing, flaying, snapping, ramming, etc as with animals.

Much like Dragons, dragonoids also have a love for gems, sometimes even ingesting them to fuel their powers. Preference for types of gems are based on their elemental powers (ie. ruby for fire/lava, sapphire for water, diamond for ice, topaz for lightning, emerald for poison, onyx for dark matters), though it is also possible for dragonoids to ingest gems not of their element should the need arise. It is believed that should a Dragonoid have a strong enough willpower, and with the help of a gem, they would be able to attain full Dragon form, though it'd severely put it out of commission for a long time due to the sheer energy expanded. But while in Dragon form, their magical resistance are almost nil impossible to break, their mastery of the element increases 10-fold. In a fire dragon's case, it could even produce lava. But of course like all mortal creatures, the Dragon would still be susceptible to strong enough physical attacks, even if it takes a lot to do much damage.

Racial Defects
Dragonoids are very instinct-driven, and this can pose a problem if one were to live among other civilizations, including humans. Most will not hold back when it comes to hunting games or when picking up the scent of blood. At a certain frequency and amplitude, loud or high-pitched noises can actually hurt a dragonoid's hearing due to their increased sensitivity towards sounds.

Known Dragonoids
Drashk

Saera

Saluka