Draconica

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Draconica is a land of dragons and magic, with all manner of strange beasts as well. Dragons come in two varieties, Greater and Lesser. Other than size and naming conventions, there is little difference between them. Due to their highly adaptable nature and inherent magic, no two dragons look alike. A hatchling resembles a legless salamander, as they grow and molt, they adapt to their environment and level of food available; a dragon who lives in a food-rich environment will often develop extra limbs and ornamentation, while a dragon who lives in a more hostile environment will only develop anatomy that helps them survive, and will typically have very little ornamentation. Sometimes dragons referred to as "Aberrants" appear, they typically develop due to outside, magical influence or through adapting to very strange, magically unstable environments. While standard dragons are already rather diverse in appearance, Aberrant dragons are even more so. Secondary bodies, heads made of negative space, nothing is off-limits to an Aberrant dragon.

Lesser dragons only have a single name, it may be two words put together (e.g. Silverwing) or less commonly, one single word (e.g. Verdigris). Greater dragons have two parts to their name, the first part is a word that describes them in some way (e.g. Tempest or Slavering), while the second part works the same as in Lesser dragons

Dragon societies come in two general categories: territory and colony. Territories are more common, they are larger and the dragon population is more spread out and mostly do their own thing. The hierarchy that is common in colonies is not present in territories and they do not have any specific professions, draconic constructions are also rarer and not as large, as the kinds of construction found in colonies require hundreds of dragons working together. Dragon colonies, however, are smaller and much more dense in population. Colonies are primarily based around a large landmark, which is typically carved into a sort of central "hub" of the area with nests, hoards, and more. Some colonies construct arenas where dragons may fight, and in order to prevent accidental deaths, especially powerful dragons work together create things called Revivification Crystals, any dragon that is killed within its range will regenerate near it. Dragons who do not die in the arena but are injured will go to the colony's infirmary where they are healed by powerful magics. These crystals are uncommon in territories due to the lack of dragons who use healing magic.

In dragon colonies, the more ornamentation, limbs, and other appendages a dragon has, the higher it is in the hierarchy. High-ranking dragons get higher quality food, greater choice in mates, better living spaces, and can choose special professions. Low-ranking dragons typically eat what they personally hunt (if they are unable to hunt, they can pick out food from the reserve without judgement), mates are determined by an in-depth survey that pairs dragons based on preference, personality, and more, living space is typically found or built by the dragons themselves, and professions are pretty basic.


Professions that can be chosen by any dragon include: nest-tender, egg-carer, hunter/food-gatherer, arena-fighter, colony-guard, colony-carver, healer, merchant, colony advisor, and documenter (may document colony history, surrounding life, human society, and more).

Professions that can be chosen by high-ranking dragons only include: oracle, crystal-maker, diplomat, grand huntmaster (one who leads a group of hunters to take down dangerous prey), and colony director (only twelve exist at a time, works alongside colony advisors to determine what to work on in the colony, if other dragons are unhappy with one of the directors, they can be expelled from the position).