Õndem

1. #1Size and Weightselective

   Keys: Drekir size

   The size and weight of a drek varies slightly on their breed so this will cover more of the broad averages of how big drekir get in terms of their height and their weight ranges.

   It is important to keep in mind that these are averages and not necessarily representative of each individual drek. Size: Drekir are relatively short compared to humans, the smallest of drekir may only stand around 3 1/2 feet and the largest breeds of drekir tend to be as tall as 6 feet. In metric measurements that would be 1.1-1.7 meters in height. Though your average and most common sized breeds of drek will only reach about as high as 4 1/2 feet on average, or around 1.4 meters.

   Weight: The smallest of drek breeds may on average weigh in at only 140 pounds and the heaviest largest breeds of drekir may weigh in around 350 pounds, or in metric measurements around 55-115 kilograms. Your average drek in the more common normally sized breeds may weigh in around 200 pounds, or around 90 Kilograms.

2. #2Sexual Dimorphismselective

   Keys: Sexual Dimorphism

   like the other intelligent draconic species known collectively as the Ẽldimor, drekir are not a heavily sexually dimorphic species with very few pronounced distinctions between males and females. The only practical distinctions between males and females relate to reproduction both physiologically and in reproductive behavior.

3. #3Food and Dietselective

   Keys: Drekir Food and Diet

   Drekir are Mesocarnivores and can subsist off of a mixed diet of meats, fruits, starches and vegetables. Drekir do require at least 50-70% of their diet to be some form of meat.

   This can be red meat, poultry, eggs, insect meat, blood, bones, or any other type of meat or meat product. Drekir are also lactose intolerant and are incapable of digesting cereal grains. Though they are able to digest tubers and starchy plants such as potatoes, roots, and squash. So generally most of the typical drek diet comes mostly from meat and products there of with a smaller amount of local fruits, vegetables and tubers.

   This can be any sort of meat however, red meat, poultry, eggs, insect meat, blood, bone marrow, any sort of meat product. Notably drekir can live off of a meat only diet, though cannot live without meat and meat must make a majority of their diet. The rest of a dreks diet tends to consist of a mix of vegetables and fruits. Drekir can also eat starches, though cannot process gluten, which limits their sources of starch to starchy roots, tubers, and pseudograins. So normally with respect to starch it is sometimes not eaten at all, and if it is it cannot serve drekir as a staple food, but rather a tertiary food. Likewise drekir are completely lactose intolerant… though so are all dragons.

   Õndem is a place inherently absent of lactose so nothing really can eat dairy products without becoming severely ill.

4. #4Drekir and Ectothermyselective

   Keys: Drekir Ectothermy

   Most drekir are ectothermic, or in other words cold blooded. Being cold blooded provides drekir a fair number of biological advantages and disadvantages in their day to day lives. There are only three breeds of drekir that are warm-blooded unlike the vast majority of drekir. Those breeds are Arctic and Alpine drekir, with the sole subspecies breed being the Highland Himir

   One of the larger advantages is that drekir do not have a constant metabolic rate such as humans do as they do not have a constant internal body temperature. As such drekir do not need to eat nearly as much as the average human, on a typical day a drek may only eat upwards of 700-1100 calories.

   Drekir can further reduce the amount of calories they burn through reducing their physical activity and staying warm. This makes drekir notably resistant to starvation, with the average drek being able to survive for over 60 days before succumbing to their starvation. Arid drekir are notably more resilient, capable of going without food for upwards of 3 months before dying of starvation.

   Drekir, thanks to their ectothermy and particularly strong digestive systems are also more tolerant of food that might be uncooked, rotten or bad. So raw meat and partially rotten meat, untreated water, and other sorts of foods that would easily make a human sick are generally safe(ish) for drekir to eat barring more intense rot in the food in question. So it is also quite normal for drekir to safely eat food in spite of it being past the point in which a human would not be able to safely eat it.

   However, cold blooded drekir are also very vulnerable to extreme heat or cold and inclement conditions can prove dangerous and even lethal. Drekir are particularly vulnerable to hypothermia. As a dreks body temperature drops their muscles begin to move slower and slower, their reflexes begin to slow, and the cognitive abilities of that drek will begin to decline. At freezing temperatures a cold blooded drek can lose consciousness within 20 minutes, it is typical for a drek that is not pulled from those cold temperatures to die shortly after within 5-10 minutes. Hyperthermia is also a larger threat to a drek than a human might appreciate. It is easy for drekir to overheat and if they are unable to cool down externally then they could easily suffer from heat sickness or a heatstroke. Prolonged exposure to temperatures that are above 85-110 degrees Fahrenheit or 32-45 degrees Celsius (varies by breed) can cause a decline of cognitive ability, physical sickness and dehydration, and eventually death over the course of 6-7 hours.

5. #5Baskingselective

   Keys: Basking

   To help combat their lack of a consistent internal body temperature and their vulnerabilities to extreme heat and cold conditions drekir have a variety of instinctive and developed cultural behaviors.

   But for now lets keep this focused on biological and instinctive behaviors, To deal with cold conditions Drekir are instinctively driven to bask (more on that below) and seek out external sources of heat to warm their bodies up. Consuming warm foods and liquids is also a common tactic. Drekir are also known to naturally shiver to try and warm their bodies up and to cluster together in cold conditions. To protect themselves from the heat drekir instinctively pant to help cool off. Drekir that are hot are also instinctively driven to consume cool foods and liquids, cool off in the shade or submerge themselves in cool water. In more desperate situations drekir might be roll in dirt or mud to try and cool themselves off.

6. #6Pheromonesselective

   Keys: Pheromones

   Drekir produce a lot of pheromones that help communicate with other drekir and different pheromones are secreted in different ways throughout the body. Some pheromones are secreted out of saliva, others are secreted from between the scales, etc.

   Pheromones communicate a lot of social and physical information about a drek. Everything from a dreks rough age group, if they are healthy, injured or ill, if they are pregnant, in a fertility period or receptive, if they are hungry or dehydrated etc. Additionally it can convey important social information. For example, if a drek is frightened then they will naturally secrete a pheromone signaling for other drekir to be alert for danger, and if a drek is sad it can influence other drekir emotionally.

   Drekir, as discussed on this site are very different creatures from humans and that extends to their physical abilities. In some ways they are stronger than humans and in some ways they are weaker than what I feel is a fitting comparison, humans.

7. #7Drekir Strengthselective

   Keys: Drekir Strength

   Drekir were designed by the sivilão to function very much like pack animals and so it is no surprise that their bodies reflect that. Most of a dreks core muscle groups are in their back and leg muscles which allows them to carry and pull many times their own body weight. In optimal situations a drek can pull up to 9x their own body weight and carry upwards of 6x their own body weight at the maximum.

   But while a dreks back and legs are incredibly powerful, they do not compare well to humans in regards to arm strength and upper body strength, with most healthy drekir comparing more to a 15 year old human boy in respects to arm strength. This is both due to smaller muscle growth in the arms relative to humans, the inability to utilize their whole body effectively in many applications, and thanks to how short their arms are. The exception is in situations where a drek can use their legs as the main driver of energy, in which they can at least match a humans capabilities.

8. #8Drekir Speedselective

   Keys: Drekir Speed

   Drekir are fast compared to humans, particularly when moving forward your average moderately fit drek can break 20mph and a well trained runner can break upwards of 30mph. A drek of most any state can almost always outrun a human.

   However their biggest problems come in regards to maneuverability, drekir are mostly designed to only go forward. While they can backpedal reasonably well it takes a drek a lot of space to try and turn, requiring them to slowly turn in a forward moving arc. This inability to turn efficiently often gives drekir notable problems in cramped or claustrophobic spaces.

9. #9Endurance and Cardioselective

   Keys: Endurance and Cardio

   Drekir and humans are both good with various types of endurance, though in different aspects. Humans have generally better stamina in physical activities such as long distance runs and sprints where as drekir are generally only capable of high speed but short bursts of exertion for running. By contrast drekir generally fare a lot better in regards to walking long distances and carrying heavy loads while doing it then what your average human might be able to handle. So overall the two species are relatively similar in regards to stamina just slightly better in different areas.

10. #10Primary Senses of the Drekirselective

    Keys: Primary Senses

    Drekir possess most of the same senses as humans do, sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste among the other various senses that we possess as humans. Though the way those senses interact with eachother and the world does vary slightly with drekir being more sensitive in some aspects and less sensitive than others.

    Drekir possess the same number of rods and cones as humans do and thus perceive a similar spectrum of colors, additionally their eyes aren’t particularly sharper at seeing than humans and are quite comparable. the main difference is the location, a dreks eyes are on the sides of their head which does result in a dramatically different field of vision compared to a human. Compared to a human, a dreks vision is almost panoramic in nature, with their eyes giving them a field of vision that is almost 260 degrees of vision. Generally this gives drekir a notably greater view of the area around them though they have minor problems in relation to depth perception.

    Drek hearing is notably more sensitive than humans and more comparable to that of a canine or cat. This more sensitive hearing allows them to better hear the world around them in addition to using their hearing to accurately locate the source of a sound.

    Drekir smelling is not necessarily better than humans, just more specifically tuned., mainly using their more sensitive smell to catch in on the pheromonal smells of other drekir. Though generally outside of that more specific sensitivity drekir smell isn’t much more sensitive than human sensitivity to smell would be.

    Drekir are notably less sensitive to tactile sensations than humans. Due to their thick scales and clawed hands means that they aren’t as attuned to changes of texture, temperature, sharpness, or other bits of information gained through touch. They can feel these sensations just, in a “duller” sense than humans.

    Drekir, while having a similar degree of taste as humans, often don’t make the most use of it due to how they eat and their inability to properly chew their foods. So while its not worse than a human they tend to utilize it less than a human overall.

11. #11Reproduction and Life Cycleselective

    Keys: Life Cycle

    Drekir are a sexually reproductive species and, more specifically, are a promiscuous R selective species. As drekir do not form pair bonds nor bond with any of their mates.

    So it’s natural behavior for drekir to mate with whoever they take a fancy to at any given moment, often bouncing from one mate to the next. Over decades with your average drek usually meets with hundreds of different mates throughout their life, most of whom they never see again after a single instance. This promiscuity happens both with denmates and with complete strangers. In other words, they get around. Pregnancy and the Egg

    Drekir are reproductively active year round. Adult female drekir are induced ovulators and, as such, tend to have a high fertility rate in comparison to other ëldimor species or humans. When combined with a generally higher libido between male and female drekir when compared to humans or other ëldimor species, it’s relatively common for drekir to engage in frequent sexual activity and, relatively often, that results in an egg.

    Upon successful fertilization a female will have a gestation period that lasts 19-24 days. Almost always a female will lay only one egg at a time. A females pregnancy does very little to directly impact or hinder them in their day to day functions and throughout most of a gestation period a female is generally able to and continues their day to day activities as normal. Though during the last few days of the gestation period a female is likely to become mildly affected by their gravid state, overall gravid drekir are generally unbothered and unhindered by their egg.

    Additionally, upon fertilization gravid female drekir will stop ovulating for between 28-41 days, both encompassing the entire gestation period and upwards of two weeks after laying the egg. While a drek may continue to be sexually active both while being gravid and after laying an egg they are exceptionally unlikely to produce another egg until anywhere from 4-14 days after laying their prior egg. In an average year most female drekir may lay 3-6 eggs. Though if pushed to extremes one could lay upwards of 8 eggs in a single year, though that is unusual.

    Once laid, an egg will take around 4-5 months before it properly hatches into a hatchling. Eggs themselves are vulnerable to temperature changes and environmental changes that might delay the hatching of the egg or lead to the death of the embryo, creating a dead egg. Typically 20-40% of the eggs laid within a year will never hatch. The Hatchling Period

    A drek hatchling is incredibly small upon hatching, often being smaller than a foot long and weighing in at under 8 pounds. The egg tooth a hatchling breaks from the egg with will stay with them until adolescence. During the next 7 years a hatchling will begin to grow and develop rapidly. Due to a lack of strong paternal care hatchlings are hard wired with powerful survival instincts and are generally capable of finding food and water themselves. These powerful instincts tend to cover up their early leaps and bounds in cognitive development. The Youngling Period

    The youngling period is roughly in the prepubescent stage of life from 8-14 years of age. This, like the previous period is a stage of rapid growth.

    Secondary breed traits such as horns, fur, feathers, wing membranes, etc. tend to begin to grow and it is during this period that a dreks scales begin to change into a become fuller in color. It is during this period that a dreks powerful hatchling survival instincts begin also to wear off. So during this period you often start to see drekir begin talking and showing the cognitive development that had previously been veiled under their powerful, overriding instincts. The Adolescent Period

    The Adolescent period is a brief period from around 15-19 years of age and is, as the name would suggest, when a child begins to fully mature into an adult. It is commonly signaled by the falling out of the egg tooth, replaced by a more usable set of teeth. During this period a drek will undergo their final rapid growth spurt into an adult, and become biologically and physically mature. The Young Adult Period

    The Young Adult period generally refers to the period of roughly 20-50 years of age, during which a drek is mostly at their prime of health and youth. This period is generally when a drek is at their most physically able and mentally sharp and is the most significant period of their life before later declines. It is hard to tell the difference between drekir who may be decades apart in age during this period, often with a 20 year old and a 38 year old not looking noticeably different from a basic glance, with pheromones often being the key tool for drekir to distinguish age in this period. Though as a drek hits their mid to late 40s you would begin to see the first signs of darkening scales. The Midlife Period

    The Midlife period refers to the period roughly from 50-80 years of age, This is when a drek begins to have their aging become more apparent. The most notable trait is the blackening of scales and, if applicable, the silvering of fur or feathers.

    While signs of medical decline may be apparent as early as a dreks late 40s they will gradually become more pronounced during this period. The ability of a drek to recover from physical problems begins to diminish as well. While a drek is clearly beginning to age during this period they are still generally very able and overall well. The Elder Period

    The Elder period is the last stage of life for a drek and lasts from 80 years until their death and is a marked period of general physical and/or mental decline as the drek ages further. This period is marked by the prevalence of pitch blackened scales and silver or fallen out feathers or fur when applicable. It is generally rare for drekir to live this far in the early awakening period though of course, many have regardless hit this old age.

    The average maximum lifespan of the drekir tends to reach as high as 105 years, with a few drekir having made it to as old as 120 years.

12. #12Drek Familyselective

    Keys: Drek Family

    Drekir are a R-selective, promiscuous species and inevitably make a lot of children. They do not particularly bond with any of their own children either, with the average parent not recognizing their children in a hatching generation of new drekir. Rather, both male and female drekir have a very light parental drive for children in general. They do not have a parental drive to protect their children in particular but rather, they have a light parental drive to protect children generally regardless of parent.

    Drekir show no bond to eggs. Broken eggs, be it on purpose, accidental, or for whatever reason, don’t phase drekir who often break their own eggs regularly for pragmatic reasons, such as avoiding overpopulation, and for cultural, religious, and ceremonial reasons.

    Drekir are also not very intense parents when it comes to hatchlings and younglings either.

    This parental drive is very light though when compared to human parenthood. Drekir by no means will allow a child to die neglected and they will care for their children. However, while the death of a child is a sad matter for the drekir, it isn’t a world shattering tragedy, it happens. As long as the overall health of the hatchling den they are raising is good then the death of one or two is sad, but not the end of the world. More will be laid anyways.

    Compared to humans, this leads to a very hands off method of parenting in which children are almost always raised communally and often separate from the adult dens within the community, often left to their own devices for most of the days and weeks of their upbringing. Almost always the adult drekir of a community lend a very light hand in supporting a growing den, providing shelter and safety, food and water, and an often limited education that often takes the form of a apprenticeship like relationship to teach a young drek/drekir important skills and knowledge for their coming adult life.

    Moreover drekir are aromantic. They don’t have a concept of romantic love in the same way humans do and do not form long term pair bonds. Their sexual behavior is driven by lust specifically and they are generally very promiscuous, mating with friend and stranger alike, whomever suits their fancy in that moment. Due to this, drekir cultures never have a true concept of a “marriage” between individuals, be it a monogamous or polygamous marriage. So you will never see drekir form ideas of spouses nor spousal relationships.

    In either case it should be no surprise to say that drekir do not form the anthropological concept of the nuclear family as you see across the world of human social interactions and familial systems. Instead of a lineal family like you often see with humans, drekir have a different type of social group that forms the core of their societies, that being the Den.

13. #13Drek Denselective

    Keys: Drek Den

    Drekir dens are generationally distinct groups of non-genetically related drekir that may have grown up together, or had formed later on, most commonly a mix of both. Drekir of a den develop a deep and intensely close bond, being intensely platonically and playfully friendly and lustful. Drekir see their fellow denmates as a sort of “found family”, as fixtures of their life, as trusted companions and close compatriots, social, economic, and social support, as mates and casual sexual partners, and as generally the most important group of people in their life.

    Drekir dens are generally large, with most dens ranging around 30 drekir. Though dens can sometimes number over 50 drekir, and some smaller dens may number as low as 20 individuals. Drekir dens are usually egalitarian in social organization and don’t have formalized leaders with each individual of the den generally being socially equal, aside from pragmatic and informal specializations in trades and skills.

    Dens are also generally relatively loose in regards to membership, with all members of a drek den being of a similar age range and generation. Most members of a den had likely grown up together in the same hatchery and in the same general generation. Moreover, drekir dens will often integrate new members into their den of a similar age group as their own den. So within any given den the majority of the members of that den will all share a similar age, with an average age range between most members of any given drek den being between 1-3 years of eachother.

    Packs are also worth a mention here. A drek pack is a group of drekir that numbers under 20 individuals, but shares a similar tight close bond and sense of platonic and playful love to a den. Some packs are traveling offshoots of larger dens, such as trader caravans, whereas others are wholly independent groups. These smaller social groups are similar to dens though, just otherwise too small to be considered a true den.

14. #14Non Linear Models of Social Organization and the Drekirselective

    Keys: social organization

    As far as social organization is concerned, drekir dens are the closest (even if not at all similar) structure to human families and, as such, tend to be the most basic social unit that builds up into more socially complex societies such as drekir tribes, chiefdoms, and other states of social organization.

    Generally the 3 Non Linear Models of Social Organization are a mechanism of understanding very broad models of social organization that occur in Human societies. In spite of popular belief these are non evolutionary and non linear, so one does not progress one into the other but rather these sorts of models arise in response to different environmental, cultural, economic and social factors that are unique to a specific culture. This page is going to discuss a lot of the distinct differences that these models of organization take commonly with drekir. Just like humans drekir societies have a massive variety of societies that take different routes on how they socially organize.

    Moreover as tribal societies are the the most common social model seen in the Quiet Age generally speaking, a lot of this segment is going to be focused on the nuances of Tribal Societies. Though there will be a good bit of information on Den Bands and Chiefdom societies in the context of the Drekir Species.

15. #15Band Societiesselective

    Keys: Band Societies

    Band societies are the smallest type of drek society and are simply a society that is made up of a single, generally socially independent pack or den. Band societies do not form complex political,

    economic or social bonds with other dens and functions primarily for the survival of it’s own denmates. Band Cultures typically feature a very low population density and may interact with other bands within their culture, but they do not share a broader political unity or social organization.

    Bands are generally den exclusive (more on that below) though membership can often be relatively fluid with many den bands, with these den bands often taking in new members. Band societies also never possess any sort of strict hierarchy and are purely egalitarian. Though as each den is effectively functioning on it’s own, there are few social institutions or practices that are practiced between dens. Bands might be sedentary, semi nomadic, or nomadic and almost universally have a foraging economy, though there are a few rare pastoralist bands. Populations of Band societies are always very low, often with only a few hundred drekir existing in a culture.

16. #16Tribal Societiesselective

    Keys: Tribal Societies

    Tribal societies are the most common form of drekir social organization and most cultures and people live in some type or variation of a tribal society. Tribal societies are a series of many dens that, while often autonomous and economically self sufficient, are united by loose and informal political, social and economic institutions. These dens are generally united by a shared culture, history, and language and organize into decentralized, but united Clans, that then can organize on a further and likewise informal level into Tribes. See the chart below for an example!

    Tribal economies vary heavily by regions and cultures and strategies. Most tribal societies have some element of foraging in their economies, though often will also incorporate other strategies such as pastoralism or horticulture into their economies. In terms of lifestyle you see all the varieties of sedentary, nomadic, and seminomadic lifestyles. Populations of tribal societies are often low to medium, with most tribal societies being home to between 400 to 1500 drekir. There are a few factors to mention here in Tribal societies with various forms of adult den residency (den inclusive and den exclusive societies) and the types of Den Clans that occur (Generational and Geographical Den Clans)

17. #17Den Clans and Den Clan types: Generational Den Clans and Geographic Den Clans.selective

    Keys: Den Clan types

    A Den clan is a group of dens that cooperate together informally as a larger political and social group. These den clans are often closely tied through economic trade, social events and cooperation. A tribal society may be made of just a single den clan or may be made of multiple den clans that form a larger informal network of people. The dens of a clan usually (but not always) get along with one another, but tend to support one another socially, often reinforcing the relations between dens through economic and social mutual aid as well as through close cultural ties.

    Generally while clans are an important aspect of political and social life in tribal societies, different cultures have different systems of who comprises a clan and how clanship is determined. These fall into the categories of Generational Den Clans and Geographic Den Clans.

    Generational Den Clans are den clans which form amongst drekir of a similar broad age range and generally feature a larger range of ages between the dens of a clan than the denmates within each specific den. This may take the form of a generation of dens with an age range between 20-35, or 40-60, etc. It sometimes occurs that generational dens also move to live in the same geographic area together, though this is not universal and not necessary for a den to be a generational den. Generational den clans are far more common amongst nomadic and seminomadic drekir though also occur from time to time in sedentary cultures.

    Geographic Den Clans are den clans that form amongst drekir that share the same geographic area. It might be a series of drekir dens that live along the same stretch of river, around or on a specific mountain or within a certain valley or a series of drekir dens that share a similar nomadic range. Unlike generational dens these den clans are often made up of den clans that vary wildly in age, from adolescent to elder dens, that all work together and unite based on a shared land. While it is common for geographic den clans to also be den inclusive societies, with each den of the clan living within the same larger settlement, this is not universal. Geographic dens are also usually more often sedentary communities though there are a few nomadic examples that exist.

18. #18Den Inclusive and Den Exclusive Tribesselective

    There are broadly two systems of broad tribal locality which separates how the individual communities of a broader tribal society are organized, while there are variations in these patterns there are two very broad patterns which are generally understood as “Den Inclusive” and “Den Exclusive” societies.

    Den Exclusive societies are the more common of the two and are marked by adult dens of drekir living separate from eachother. Each individual den has it’s own nomadic range, it’s own homestead, or otherwise lives with a degree of autonomy and independence from the other dens within its tribe and/or clan. Usually once a youngling den hits adolescence or adulthood they are sent out to either inherit the territory/land of an old den that now lays empty or are sent to inhabit a new piece of land and territory. While these dens still cooperate it provides each individual den a great degree of solitude and independence.

    Den Inclusive societies are the opposite, where clans of multiple separate dens live together in a single, larger community. Often each den is seen as its own political group while also sharing a close tie to the broader clan due to them quite literally sharing a nomadic range, settlement, or other such tangible land or area together.

19. #19Residence of drekir densselective

    Generally another layer of variation comes in regards to where new up and coming adult dens from the adolescent generation of drekir in the region. These tend to be categorized as locality or residence. With a few general types

    Neolocality is the most common form of locality amongst the drekir, in which an adolescent den leaves the community of their parental den to live somewhere else. The most common form of this is found in den exclusive societies in which the up and coming dens are sent to establish new communities or to inherit the communities of older, dying dens. In den inclusive societies this is most commonly found with adolescent dens moving into new communities, particularly to move into den inclusive societies that are defined by generational dens so that all of the new young adult dens can establish a multiden community together.Linealocality Is mostly seen in Geographic den clan sedentary den inclusive societies, in which the grown up offspring of a drekir community continue to live within that community. This creates communities defined by multiple generations living together, usually in a linear organization of an Elder den, Midlife Den, one or more Adult and Young Adult dens, and one or more up and coming adolescent dens, youngling, and hatchling dens.

20. #20Tribal Politicsselective

    Keys: Tribal Politics

    All the drekir of all the dens and clans of a tribe generally have a lot to work on and negotiate with one another. Things like regional land use and management, economy and trade, commitments of mutual defense and/or aid in crisis situations, as well as resolutions to prior disagreements between these communities of drekir that are generally done informally.

    In tribal societies, there aren’t official organizations or institutions that are referred to but rather, tribal societies are negotiated by informal institutions, traditions, expectations, and general rules that help drekir individually and as larger groups navigate the political situations within their community and to other communities.

    In this informal environment, one of the most important aspects of political life is Reciprocity.. Reciprocity is the culmination of desired or needed acts of trade, gifts, goodwill and trust exchanged through a variety of favors and actions. If a community helps another in building a hatchery then they might get some friendly aid in return.

    Neighbors help neighbors and it is the long term culmination of these tokens of goodwill, hospitality, and generosity that becomes the informal social economy of a community of drekir dens that binds them together. Generally drekir are willing to negotiate things like land use with their neighbors because they are on good terms with their neighbors and understand that their generosity will lead to a favorable return of generosity down the line. Its these systems of mutual trust, aid, and cooperation that bind den clans together and that bind whole tribes of people together just as they have done for human societies.If everyone is willing to do favors for everyone and everyone is willing to return reciprocity for favors, then everyone tends to get along. But also its when these notions of reciprocity are not returned when conflicts arise.

    Just as positive reciprocity unifies people, negative reciprocity splits them apart. A Den taking more favors than they are receiving in the eyes of the other folks, a clan acting flippant and disagreeable about trade plans or land use within the broader region that are thought to be reasonable, or a den not pulling their own in a crisis situation. Lots of things can put a den in a bad light relative to the broader clan or tribe and these conflicts may resolve themselves informally between the parties in disagreement. Sometimes they warrant larger political intervention by other dens, clans, or even other tribes to resolve these built up disputes. Sometimes they build up to a point in which informal cultural conflict resolution takes place in the form of things like Ritual warfare to resolve conflicts definitively with as little blood spilled as possible. Sometimes relations get so bad as to warrant complete and violent confrontations to force the issue to a close. More often though, many of the political disagreements between drekir dens and clans are resolved through negotiations between the disagreeing parties and others within councils and conflict is negated by threats of denial of aid and cooperation.

    Tribes are united on the expectations of reciprocity and on maintaining a good reputation and relations! You are what you do with the broader people, as a den helps and supports others they too are helped and supported and they build up a sort of social currency for working out political and economic matters. As a den doesn’t help or doesn’t contribute however then the less others help them and the more disagreements and conflicts may arise. But generally drekir of differing dens get along well and each pulls their own respective weight in their own respective way.

21. #21Chiefdom Societiesselective

    Keys: Chiefdom Societies

    Chiefdom societies are the largest common societies that drekir go on to build in many contexts across the Quiet Age. While chiefdom isn’t necessarily the best word to describe these societies, as few if any chiefdoms are led by a single chief or individual leader, they do follow a similar basic description as human Chiefdoms. Chiefdoms are societies that are comprised of one or more tribal groups that are united under a concrete aristocratic leadership within a stratified society.

    So, whereas a tribe of drekir is a more decentralized society constructed of multiple clans, each made of multiple dens that work together via systems of kinship and reciprocity binding them together, a Chiefdom is comprised of multiple tribes united under an aristocracy. Additionally is the stratification of chiefdom societies compared to the generally egalitarian tribal societies of drekir. Chiefdoms are often a series of united settlements with a defined political class of drekir who makes decisions that affect the other communities under their leadership. In chiefdoms you find multiple social classes and in the most basic sense you have the aristocracy who leads the chiefdom and everyone else, though it is common to see several social classes that exist within a chiefdom. All chiefdoms are sedentary societies with generally higher population densities than tribes or bands. While there is a usually plenty of foraging and pastoralism in chiefdoms, their economies are primarily fueled by intensive insect farming, aquaculture, limited agriculture etc.

    Here I will cover two broad, varying systems of governance in how a chiefdoms aristocratic class is formed. Just like with the above mentioned tribal society structures and systems, there is broad variation with these practices and some societies do not follow these structures at all. But these two broad systems of aristocratic structure are Denarchs and Amalgamate Dens.

22. #22Denarchsselective

    Keys: Denarchs

    Generally chiefdom societies are lead by a single group of drekir, usually a den of some sort and structure that functions as a ruling class. How these dens are constructed, how long they rule, and how leadership is inherited varies culturally and by the particulars of that chiefdom.

    Denarchs are leader dens that had inherited their position as chosen by a prior denarch or were elevated to the position through some political process. Denarchs independently make decisions on policy, economy, and organization of the other communities under their rule, often without any other powers in check, in a lot of ways you can compare them to a oligarchy. In addition to managing the chiefdom it is often the job of this denarch to manage diplomacy, rally militias and/or the warrior class of their society and generally protect the territory of the chiefdom. This den functions as the upper class and also receives a larger portion of the wealth of a society, usually through a form of tribute by the various communities that make up the chiefdom. Typically a denarch rules for the full lifespan of the den, from when they first inherit the “throne” to when the last of the drekir in the den breathes their last breath. the den that will inherit the denarch may be determined through various means. In some cases the heir is chosen of the adolescent and adult dens within the chiefdom, usually of the other, non leadership upper class dens of drekir within the chiefdom. In other cases it comes down to a democratic vote across the entire population of the chiefdom, in addition to other various systems of selecting an heir.

    Amalgamate Aristocracies are artificial dens that are constructed from members of multiple dens who form a political den that functions as the leader den of a chiefdom. In this system one or multiple drekir from various dens leave their natal den and join into one or more artificial dens that function as the group that organizes policy, division of labor, and control of resources. In some cases all the dens of a society must provide at least one drek from their den to join the amalgamate den, and in other cases drekir are selected from a more restrictive set of upper class dens within the chiefdom. In this system the ruling body never technically dies, needing to be replaced. Rather as older drekir pass away and are replaced by drekir from the younger dens the ruling body of an Amalgamate Aristocratic chiefdom is always gradually morphing and transitioning with the changes of the people around them. So instead of a structured system of inheritance that occurs all at once, the body is always in transition.

23. #23Knapped Stoneselective

    Keys: Knapped Stone

    Perhaps one of the most widespread, next to copper metallurgy, is the creation of lithic tools and jewelry through the process of knapping. Stones such as Chert, Obsidian, Chalcedony, Basalt, Agate, Glass, Quartzite, Flint, etc. As well as mana based spellithics such as manachert, spellglass, etc.

    Most all drekir, be they survivors of the initial sivilão scattering or the humans turned awakening drekir 100 years later, are generally not folks with much if any knapping experience, let alone generations of flintknapping tradition.

    So most of the knapped lithic industries that develop tend to begin in the early experimentation of knapped lithics by drekir survivors, desperate to make blades that wind up discovering and producing opportunistic flakes. Knapping relies on fine grained, high silica stones that fracture conchoidally producing microscopically thin feather fractures that are extremely sharp. These fractures can be somewhat predictable and the razor edges these fractures produce can create very effective tools. Most people may imagine Biface technology when they think of a lithic arrowhead, knife, etc. Though the lithic technologies of the drekir are often notably different. And so these often will begin to develop into more intricate flake and core technologies. Where drekir construct tools off of the razor sharp flakes they strike off of a variety of different cores. There are generally 4 broad types of flintknapping cores that are created by drekir to produce favorable flakes.

    Opportunistic cores Are generally where early survivors start, simply you find a rock, you break a rock without much preparation or forethought. The sharp flakes you get are what you get. Conchoidal/Bifacial cores Are simple in which the knapper selects a core and strikes off a flake, the core is then flipped over to the other side and that prior flake scare is used as the platform to knock off another large flake, that flake is removed, you flip the core over and repeat that process. Over time producing a self sustaining core that will produce a varied array of reasonably large flakes. This is a simple process that gives a knapper some light control in the flakes they produce and allows for a variety of flakes that can be turned into cutting blades, projectile points, scrapers, drills, burins, etc. In many drekir cultures, these cores are converted into simple bifacial tools such as handaxes, more on those later.Levallois prepared cores Are more intricate, in which the core is prepared through shaping to preferentially produce a specific shape or type of flake. This can be done to make the core solely for a single optimal flake, or it may be designed to produce multiple flakes.

    Unlike non prepared cores and their flakes, these flakes are often more precise triangular, rounded, or squared shapes that are also easily hafted, allowing for the construction of projectile points, knives, spears, wood chopping tools, amongst many other flake tools either without a lot of further modification to the flake. Prismatic Blade prepared cores Are also intricate prepared cores in which the core is shaped into a long, cylindrical form with a flat top, optimal for producing long, reasonably straight, often pointed double edged flakes that are very effective for making knives, points, drills, burins and many other sorts of tools.

    Generally these flake/core strategies are the more common forms of flintknapping rather than the far more familiar bifacial styles of flintknapping we commonly associate with flintknapping.

    Bifaces do still appear though, With many bifacial cores being turned into larger tools such as achulean handaxes and bifaced choppers, though there are cultures that make more of the commonly understood bifaced projectile points, knife points, woodworking tools etc.

24. #24Spellithicsselective

    Keys: Spellithics

    Spellithics Are also of course a family of simple mana technology that can be made either purely from mana or stabilized via the addition of various powdered silica minerals. Both Spellglass and Manachert are made by compressing pure mana under an intense amount of pressure, often this is done (as most of these) by compressing mana for a prolonged period in a simple press with a heavy amount of rocks.

    Spellglass is a potent, intensely sharp glass like material comparable to materials like obsidian or well, glass, presenting extremely sharp edges upon fracturing. Is also very potent in exuding elemental energy meaning it can be elementized to exude intense amount of elemental energy, making it very useful for producing extremely and continuously hot, acidic, or electrified edges in addition to the unelementized, but still very sharp normal edges. However, due to spellglass not being stabilized it is known to sublimate into manafog as a form of rapid corrosion, with most fresh, sharp edges becoming unusable and dull within a week from their forming. This short life tends to limit the use of spellglass to disposable flake tools rather than long term tools.

    Manachert is the stabilized type of spellithic, when a source of finely powdered silica is added to the mana (sand, clay, knappable powdered stone, etc.), that silica contains and stabilizes the compressed mana within it creating a sort of seal to keep the mana from sublimating. Manachert, while not as sharp or elementally potent as spellglass, Still can produce razor sharp edges and exudes some degree of elemental energy. It is more comparable to stones like Quartzite, Chert, or Basalt, with varying grades depending on the quality of manufacture that could range from unworkable and grainy to waxy and glass like.

25. #25Ground Stoneselective

    Keys: Ground Stone

    There are a wide variety of stones that, while not suitable for knapping, can be formed into a variety of shapes, objects, tools and forms through a process of grinding. This is often done through a process of shaping the stone via pecking and breaking before grinding it against an abrasive stone to eventually reach a final shape. While this is a long and painstaking process, it can be done with almost any stone to make beautiful jewelry and decorative objects as well as tools. But the grinding and fine polishing of stone is often more done for decoration rather than for tools as the ease of making knapped manalithics means that having to turn to grounded tools as seen in the prehistory of humanity is not as necessary if natural quality stone cannot be sourced. Moreover many stones that can be polished to beautiful states for jewelry are either not useful as ground stone tools, or rare and seen as too valuable for that. Though there are niche yet also widespread forms of ground stone tools that appear. These are often made for very specific sets of tasks as, depending on the desired tool, a wide variety of common stones can be ground to suit the purpose of that application.

    Ground Stone Chisels and Celts are a great example of a widespread form of ground stone tool. With stones such as Granite, Basalt, Jade, Slate, Shale, and other various stones that are painstakingly pecked and shaped, ground, polished, and formed into stout woodworking tools with strong dullish edges that allow for a high degree of force concentration, breaking wood fibers. Various groundstone adzes, axes and chisels are seen throughout Õndem for tree felling and woodworking

    Cutting tools made of polished stone are uncommon, mostly adopted in regions where there is both a lack of quality knapping stone and also a lack of mana intensity due to low plant life, mostly meaning extremely cold arctic tundras and ice sheets. But stones such as Shale and Slate can be ground into workably sharp blades that are often made as a means of keeping limited knappable stones and spellithic stocks for more specific uses.

26. #26Drekir Metallurgyselective

    Keys: Drekir Metallurgy

    Metallurgy is widespread though rarely is seen on the scale of other technologies. General, more familiar metals that we may associate with metallurgy such as Iron and Steel are both usually unavailable in a native state and require long, intricate processes to smelt and hammer to form usually outpacing the reasonable expectations of the small populations of drekir who themselves possess limited, if any, knowledge of such metallurgy.

    But there are many metals that are effective, require less infrastructure to work, and are both easy to begin working and allow for a high expression of skill. The most common metal for tools, wares, and jewelry in the whole of the Õndem is Copper and particularly native, pure copper that is either scavenged as melted nuggets from ruins, quarried from native copper trapped in rock formations and caves, or more uncommonly smelted copper ore. But due to its widespread and varied use as a metal in many cultures of drekir I wanted to cover it in depth as it becomes the defacto utiliarian metal of the The Quiet Age, even if it does not see as universal use as lithic and bone implements.

    Generally it is shaped into a variety of tools, such as utilitarian knives, blades, projectile points, spearpoints, chisels, adzes, axes, fishing hooks, awls and needles etc. As well as wares such as pots, pans, skillets, bowls, and cups. Finally it is very commonly worked into a variety of artistic mediums such as decorative plates, jewelry and piercings of all sorts, amongst many other utilitarian and decorative tasks.

    There are two general methods of shaping copper that are done in the The Quiet Age, cold hammering and smelting/casting. Though of those two cold hammering is far more common.

    Cold hammering is the the act of hammering a metal at room temperature and, thanks to coppers softness, allows one to easily (though laboriously) shape it with a hammerstone and a stone anvil via hammering it into shape. Though due to coppers work hardening eventually making it too brittle to work without breaking, it is generally annealed in a moderately hot source of heat such as a general wood fire, cooled off and then hammered again.

    This process is repeated until a general shape is achieved.

    There is variation in this process as well, some cultures will hammer a native nugget into a rectangular ‘ingot’ and then hammer that ingot into a final shape. Others hammer the copper into a somewhat flat sheet from which desired shapes are broken out of via sawing with stone (or preferably acidic chert) implements, chiseled out via bone or stone implements, or simply broken via stressing the metal. Once the general tool shape is finished it will usually be ground into a more refined shape and sharpened if needed.

    Some cultures will often due Hot hammering (hammering a hot piece of metal), though this is less common due to the difficulty of making tongs that can stand up to prolonged use without very heat resistant metals. There are two general methods for separating metals from ores and, if desired, alloying them together. There is smelting and casting as well as the far more magical method of Sundering and Merging. Before getting into either remember that in the Quiet Age, alloying metals is not the most common thing, though does happen, rather most metal smelting is done in the pursuit of pure metals.

    Sundering and Merging are metaphysical processes used to split certain base elements from from stone such as Copper, Aluminum, Arsenic, Tin, Silica, and many other various materials from ores and compound materials. This can be done not just to mineral ores but organic materials such as meat and plant materials. This process, as described above, relies on trapping and amplifying resonance within a resonant resilient container. Mana is poured into a sturdy ceramic or metal container, sealed with rubber or hide, this container is then heated on a wood fire and then struck with a mallet. This excites the mana, which begins to distort reality in the container, though whereas normally that mana would dissipate when excited, its metaphysical sound instead bounces back on itself, amplifying the effect. This can, when done properly, push materials that resonate with reality out of compounds and coalesce them together. The means in which it coalesces together can vary from solid plates to long rods, strips, etc. all depending on the material of the container and the material of the mallet and how the vessel is struck in the process. For the purposes of metallurgy, this is a method of “smelting” metals that requires no charcoal nor complex metalworking equipment, rather all one needs is a high quality vessel made of ceramic or metal, something to seal it with, a woodfire and the knowledge to sunder correctly. With the resulting metal being easily cold hammered and worked into a final shape without casting into a mold.

    While far rarer, this technique can also be used in a more complex form known as Merging, which can be used to push metals together, thus making unevenly alloyed plates of two or more metals that can then be coldhammered and shaped into final tools without smelting and casting into a mold.

    This method is far less infra structurally intensive than smelting and casting, it requires less time, resources, and preparation to do properly, and the metals resulting from the process can then be worked into shape with simple hammers, stones, and simple cold hammering techniques. Which allows a small group to make metal tools far more easily than otherwise. However hammering bars and plates of copper and other metals can just as much be highly limiting. It is simply impossible to make the sockets and complex shapes possible by smelting and casting, so cultures that rely solely on sundering metals instead of melting and casting those metals into molds is far more limited in the complexity of shapes and objects they can make.

    Smelting and Casting is the act of smelting a copper ore to extract the copper from within it and of course can be done to native copper as well. This is done by producing extreme amounts of heat such as with a charcoal or firemana forge, both of which pumped with air via some sort of bellow system, with some sort of crucible to hold and from which to pour the molten copper. A mold of stone, clay, claysand, sand, etc. is prepared with a desired shape imprinted into the mold that is filled with the molten metal that is then left to cool. After it has cooled the shape must be further refined via cold hammering, grinding, and other sharpening/polishing to achieve the final desired shape.

    While this method can allow both unfavorably sized pieces of native copper and otherwise useless copper ores to be turned into copper shapes and forms, it does usually take a larger amount of effort, infrastructure, and preperation which tends to make it less common. This also allows for Bronzes: Such as Tin Bronze, Arsenical Bronze, Aluminum Bronze and other bronzes to be made for a variety of functions! While Bronze objects, tools, weapons, wares, etc. are not as common as copper in the DragonScape, they are highly present in a variety of alloys and styles. But as those can be read about far more readily than most other things, I will hold off here.

27. #27Stalndão Copperselective

    Keys: Stalndão Copper

    Stalndão Copper Is one of the earliest stabilized manametals to appear in most every plana of Õndem and is technically an alloy between a small amount of the manametal stãl, less than 3%, with the remainder being copper. It can vary in color from a slightly redder shade of copper to a vibrant red or violet tone depending on how it was made and with what amount of mana.

    It is made simply by annealing copper in fire mana repeatedly for several cycles of cold hammering and annealing, through this process the fire mana may resonate a small amount into the metal, stabilizing and alloying with the copper without smelting. Alternatively, stãl can simply be smelted into the copper in the same process as making stãlbronze.

    It’s general advantage is in its slightly increased hardness via work hardening and in its ability to be lightly elementized, giving it mild but beneficial magical properties.

28. #28Stãlbronzeselective

    Keys: Stãlbronze

    Stãlbronze is simply a copper alloy involving the compressed mana metal Stãl, and copper! While stãl does not smelt by fire, due to the resonant properties of copper it is known to disperse and mix into molten copper effectively. The copper in turn stabilizes the stãl, preventing it from sublimating out of reality (due to being mana.)

    Stãlbronze, while losing the extremely supernatural qualities of pure stãl, does present a very effective bronze that is comparable to aluminum bronze in it’s qualities. It can also be far more logistically straightforward than any other bronze since stãl can be made off of mana alone, but due to the inconsistent manifestation of mana, which comes and goes through reality almost at random, someone looking to make stãlbronze must exploit a mana pool very quickly as, within a few weeks time that mana may well be gone. This problem is compounded by the immense mana cost in making stãl, which may take the valuable resource away from other, more mana efficient crafts such as alchemy.

    While simple stãlbronze involves just copper and stãl, over time more intricate and complex alloys would begin to see spread and use, mixing other metals such as tin, nickel, lead, aluminum, amongst other metals to create different metals for different practical or aesthetic or symbolic uses.

29. #29Bone, Chitin, Shellsselective

    Keys: Bone, Chitin, Shells

    Organics sourced from animals are a universal and common tool material. Drekir are mesocarnivores and as such eat a lot of meat and, due to that, are left with a lot of animal bones, large plates of insect chitin, and shells in their day to day subsistence in varying amounts.

    Combined with the ease of making jewelry and tools out of these materials means that they often appear more commonly than other materials listed as general tool and decorative materials, most commonly piercings for bone and chitin and small cooking vessels for a variety of shells. Bone

    Bone is very useful for making pointed tools such as sewing needles, awls, fishing hooks, spear and projectile points, and as tips for digging sticks as well as edged tools such as knives and scraping tools Chitin

    Chitin, specifically from the exoskeletons of the many varied giant insects and crustaceans of the Õndem does make a suitable material for making different decorative and utilitarian objects, wares, tools, etc. Often chitin comes in in thin plates and takes an edge well, leading to the most common tools made of it being cutting tools such as knives and blades, projectile and spear points, and types of saws suited for wood.

    It can also be molded via heat treating to construct a variety of containers such as buckets, baskets, bowls, trays, and other containers for objects that are not hot. Much like bone it is also a popular medium for making jewelry as well as decorative plates.

    Chitin, like other organics is often alchemically treated, this can be done to make it a more effective spring, or to make it heavier, denser, harder or more brittle to make it more suitable for other tools and objects. In many regions it often joins bone as a substitute for metal, with alchemically treated chitin being a specialized minority in a tool industry. Shells

    Shells are often more niche than bones and chitin but nonetheless can be found amongst many coastal people who rely on shellfish as a core part of their subsistence and is often used in very distinct ways. Shells can be used without modification as small vessels for heating things over a fire, for melting glues or cooking small amounts of food and things inbetween. It is also common to grind shells into a gravel or sand for use in construction projects or for stabilizing spellithics. It is sometimes also used for making tools by grinding the shell into shape and/or grinding an edge or point into it. This is often done to make simple cutting tools, scrapers, fishing hooks, points, and other things.

    Unlike bone and chitin, seashells tend to not take well to alchemical treatment and tend to not be used in that manner.

    . Many larger bones have been worked into smaller woodworking adzes and chisels as well. Bone is also a very suitable, pointy material for making a variety of piercings with bone being perhaps one of the most popular materials for piercing generally speaking. It is also popular for making percussive and wind musical instruments thanks to many bones offering a hollow, tube shape.

    Ivory from teeth and tusks from a variety of animals is worth a mention here as, while Antler is not much of a thing in the Õndemic reality, ivory is and is very useful in making very stalwart impact tools such as chisels, soft hammers for knapping, and punches while also being quite vibrant when polished.

    Horn Also deserves a mention due to its unique qualities, while it is often made into various containers, projectile points, and decorative objects. It can be shaped through boiling and forming and is a popular material for the construction of drekir short bows due to its ability to build up elastic energy. When combined with the sometimes large horns of many creatures makes it one of the best materials aside from wood for bow construction.

    Bone can also be Alchemically treated to change is qualities, with many tool treatments making bone denser and heavier, making it more suitable for long cutting tools and heftier chopping tools. Though alchemical treatment of bone is done more to achieve these specific tasks as a substitute for knapped lithics or metallurgy as generally its more time and labor effective to use bone as is. It’s already quite effective!

30. #30Wood and Bambooselective

    Keys: Wood, Bamboo

    For tool usage its obvious that wood and bamboo would see use for things like hafting. But what about as tool materials in of themselves? In fact for the construction of specific tools using entirely wood or bamboo is a very efficient idea! Though these applications tend to be more niche.

    Likewise in many cases these materials are embraced sometimes as much for their abundance and expediency as much or more as for their effectiveness.

    All sorts of woods have all sorts of uses, from tool hafting and construction to just, countless things. So this is less to talk about all the potential uses of woods and more to give credit to a few niche tools and applications.One of the most important tools made entirely of wood, and one of the most common, are sharpened digging sticks made of hardwoods.

    Simply sharpened, sometimes fire hardened, sticks that are used to displace sediment and soil. Though can serve a lot of uses as prying tools for uprooting edible vegetables or buried desired stones, metals, etc. For prying open large insect nests for harvesting food. They are also useful in generally digging and excavating by loosening up sediments and soils for gathering clay, digging hearths, and even preparing plots of land for agriculture.

    Digging sticks really are important

    Likewise wood of course is very good for making weapons for hunting or defense. Be it bow, atlatl or a wooden club or staff or be it a sharpened wooden spear, throwing stick, dart, arrow or other projectile, or other weapon for hunting, fishing or fighting. Even things as simple as sharpened wooden stakes, basic hand drills for making fire (or drilling), amongst countless other potential uses for moderately shaped or sharpened sticks. It could be used to make percussion tools like mallets and hammers, etc. Look wood is very useful even on its own.

    Though wood tends to not take to alchemical treatment due to its high mana content, it often will cause such a dangerous reaction in the wood as to cause it to explode which, may not be incredibly dangerous in the typical methods of alchemical treatment, does lead to a broken useless piece of wood. Bamboo

    Bamboo and its varieties such as river cane, see very common regular use across Õndemic planar in wherever they appear or where similar plant life appears. Presenting a practically shaped, easily worked and versatile medium for a variety of technologies. Bamboo can also be made extremely sharp which, while dulling quickly, enables a quick and easy to make edge for working soft materials such as meat and soft plant materials. Its also effective at making pointed tools making it effective for everything from stakes to projectiles and spears. With many being quite springy on top of that many are quite good candidates for tools such as bows and crossbow prods. And it coming in a straight, usually tubular line combined with its strong structural integrity makes it well suited towards pipes, structural posts and roofing tiles, as well as projectile shafts for atlatls, bows, and crossbows. It can even be used as containers for various materials, sometimes even as waterproof containers! Its useful stuff!

    More particular to the Õndemic reality, most bamboo and river cane are able to prevent mana from passing between the “rings” of bamboo. Combined with the hollowed tube shape most provide makes bamboo a highly effective material for making Fogmask filters to resist high mana concentrations.

31. #31Weaving and Ceramicsselective

    Keys: Weaving, Ceramics

    Last to mention of all of these tool traditions and industry materials are in regards to Baskets and Ceramics which are both widespread, even if not always universal, amongst drekir societies. Additionally these can and are made by a massive variety of materials and methods, as well as in shapes and forms amongst both utilitarian and artistic mediums. Ceramics

    Ceramics are varied across a variety of wares, structures, containers, jewelry and art. In addition to serving as an important ingredient in a variety of alchemicals. While ceramics are not a universal technology amongst the drekir, often even within planar and continents there is heavy variation in the use of ceramics, they are nonetheless common and used by many drekir societies.

    Local clay is often gathered, soaked and mixed before being formed. The most common manner of shaping it into more 3 dimensional shapes such as pots is by rolling it into ‘ropes’ of clay that are then stacked and smoothed on top of eachother until forming something more resembling a pot, bowl, etc. Pottery wheels are notably uncommon in the Quiet Age, only being present in a few of the larger urbanized societies in Õndem. These are then fired in a variety of ways. It is common to let a pot air dry and then to fire it in a conventional wood fire, but there are also a variety of kilns. Simple pit kilns and kilns of adobe or cob are not unheard of at all in the Quiet Age though are far from universal.

    Clay, being ever free form in what it may be shaped into, can be formed into countless useful shapes. Utilitarian container and storage vessels, cooking pots and eating wares, water containers and even as an ingredient for structural materials such as adobe. It can also be formed into artistic sculptures and decorative artworks, jewelry etc. With many generally utilitarian ceramics being heavily decorated in a variety of ways and methods! Clay and ceramic technology is far to broad to summarize here.

    Basketry Is likewise broad, through the process of weaving (but not always) a variety of storage vessels, eating and cookware, and other such tools can be made in a lot of ways that are all generally effective and exist with a wide variety of regional variation. Basket weaving is itself an even more common industry than ceramics! With many of cultures not making pottery, but indeed making a lot of baskets for various tasks.

    Woven baskets are the most familiar and may use a wide variety of materials, an immense variety of grasses, reeds, vines, tree bark and tree limbs, cloth, amongst other varied plant materials may be woven into a variety of baskets of a variety of shapes and purposes. With some woven baskets or “cooking baskets” That can hold water well enough to be used in cooking via the addition of hot rocks to boil said water!

    There are also a variety of sheet or bark baskets that are typically made of a variety of tree barks. These are then peeled off of the trees during favorable seasons and then cut, folded, and formed into different containers. This can also include watertight containers that can also be used as cooking baskets as said prior.

    Bundle baskets are also a common variety of woven basket that includes the use of cordage or things like pine needles that are bundled and/or braided together that are then wrapped and coiled around and over eachother to form a type of common basket.

32. #32Variation in Tool Tradition and Material Cultureselective

    Keys: Variation in Tool Tradition and Material Culture

    You may notice I am not going into wide general statements about how drekir use these materials to make the tools, jewelry, art, and objects that define their respective traditions and cultures. There are just too many drekir societies to possibly make any general statements beyond the broad and vague aspects of how these materials may be formed into different tools, be they magical or mundane. Each drekir society, each of the dens within a clan within a tribe etc. Are going to be faced with different environments, available resources, social and cultural preferences, and other factors that make differences in how drekir use these materials to construct different tools.

    A culture like the Broncens may be engaged heavily in metallurgy where as a culture like the Dragons’ve Paradise lacks metal and doesn’t use it, whereas a culture like the Seattlens have access to some metal but see it more as a luxury good rather than a thing to make tools out of. The Dorer of Logáu are heavily involved in ceramics but the Unjar don’t make any such thing and the Meché of the Americas rely heavily on treated bamboo as a substitute for ceramics. Some cultures make adzes and others chisels and others both. So on and so forth, the specific tools and material cultures of any specific drekir culture is best discussed relative to that one. This page is about generalizations, not about universal statements.

33. #33Éldimor Atavismselective

    This page mostly exists to explain why, all of a sudden, the drekir started growing fur, or at least the ones that weren’t already growing fur, feathers, wool, etc. That being the phenomena of Ëldimor Atavism! This page will also explain some of the traits of the drekir prior to the onset of Atavism. But all things are always shifting and that can best be seen with this phenomena. A Resurgence of what was Crushed

    As explained in other pages, the drekir along with their other cousins such as the ormer and mavõtur were all created from a single, now extinct progenitor species known by the sivilão as the ëldimor. With each species meant to accomplish a specific casted task in the service of the civilization machine. As such what remained of the original ëldimor were driven to extinction and the now three seperate ëldimor species were wholly subject under the sivilão. As such many of the traits the prejarngalmõk couldn’t forcefully breed or mutate out of the populations under their control were suppressed through the editing of natural resonance in Õndemic space. In doing so the drekir, ormer, and mavõtur of Õndemic space would exist perfectly in line with the vision of the powerful Prejarngalmõk.

    But, eventually, so passed the Pulse/Jãrsta and the once powerful Prejarngalmõk and its stranglehold on the physical folds of reality were shattered and, as it split into many, far weaker prejager in its cascading arguments, never again would any being actively control Õndemic reality so intensely. Ever since then the natural resonance of Õndemic reality has been spreading and stabilizing after tens of thousands of years of disruption and that has had a marked effect on much of the wildlife of the dragonscape, but none least of which as the ëldimor outside of sivilão society. The Non sivilão drekir, ormer, and mavõtur which, as time wears on, will begin seeing traits pop up and change in ways that don’t mirror, but vaguely resemble the lost progenitor ëldimor species. When does Ëldimor Atavism Begin?

    The onset of the phenomena varies region to region. While the prejager are not nearly as powerful as their prior form, they nonetheless do continue their efforts to suppress Ëldimor Atavism, successfully reversing it under their very limited and direct influence, but only slightly slowing it down outside of their direct influence. So the onset varies regionally on the amount of sivilão prejager that are around trying to (in vain) slow it down.

    In the Americas, the initial onset of atavism outside of sivilão society is slow due to the high number of sivilão remnants on the continents and, as such, doesn’t start until 137 years after the Pulse (around 37PA). But in other planar such as Agõrl, the atavism begins to take effect far more quickly due to the lack of enough prejager to meaningfully effect the tides of resonance there. In some planar it happens even faster, such as in Logáu, due to the efforts of the ancient Sovardi to actively dispell the influence of the sivilão from the continent. In those cases the onset may begin as soon as in 4-20 years after Jãrsta, decades before the awakening. So at the soonest it could start to take effect within the first decade after the Dragonscapes creation, and at the latest it may happen 150 or so years after it, 50 years after the awakening. Sivilão Reversal of Atavistic Traits

    As said prior, the prejager are not powerful enough to stop atavism as a whole, but are capable of reversing its effects for anything under their limited, direct spheres of influence. So outside drekir who are fully atavised

    may see those traits gradually reverse if they are captured by the sivilão and brought into the õfuth and the prejags resonant manipulations of reality. As such their fur, feathers, wool, etc. will fall out and cease to regrow and a lot of the internal anatomical, social, biological and behavioral changes of atavism will gradually change more to how drekir were prior to atavism. Though if that drek were to escape the õfuth and the prejags influence, they will see a gradual new onset of ëldimor atavism, returning to their original state before the sivilão had taken them. The Drekir Prior to the Onset of Ëldimor Atavism

    The current biology and social behavior pages reflect the drekir as they would become after the heavy onset of Ëldimor Atavism! Due to the relatively small window of time in the whole timeline the drekir would exist prior to the onset of atavism.

    So consider this both an explanation of how drekir anatomy, biology, etc. had varied prior to the onset of ëldimor atavism, as well as how drekir are under the influence of a prejag. Anatomical and Biological Differences

    Some breeds of Drekir, even prior to the onset of atavism, do grow feathers, wool, or fur but that is generally due to more extreme environments such as Arctic, Tropical, and Alpine environments. For many drekir though they will be notably bald, no fur or other such “pelt” aside from their bare scales.

    The other primary biological distinction is tied to reproduction, with females having a gestation of 12-14 days. So as a result drekir that have not atavised tend to produce far more eggs far more quickly. Mostly due to the sivilão need to keep drekir populations high as attrition rates are often high within the õfuthar. Social Differences

    Drekir parenting is already light with drekir who do show atavistic traits, but they are even less driven to raise their offspring without it. Often non-atavistic drekir will show no bond towards their offspring and no emotional attachment whatsoever. In sivilão society its mostly to make it easier to seperate drekir from their eggs so that those offspring could be raised “properly”.

34. #34Draconic Lifewaysselective

    Keys: Draconic Lifeways

    Just about all draconic societies in the Quiet Age are subsistence communities whose economies are focused on the day to day goals of securing the food, water, and shelter to live, with the rest of their time spent in the day to day life of well, life! This page is meant to speak with as much detail as I can about a lot of the broad ways of life that dragons tend to live by, mostly drekir. Of course don’t see this as a detailed universal list of rules, there are billions of dragons and hundreds of thousands of cultures spread across hundreds of Planar who live in distinct environments. So as always, take this with a pinch of your own personal creativity or see the cultures depicted in the stories! Nomadic, Seminomadic, and Sedentary life!

    Before we talk about the ways dragons make a living, we need to talk about how they choose to settle and live. It is equally important to note that entire cultures don’t always live the same lifestyle, and in many cultures there may be dens or clans that live nomadic lives whilst others in their broader tribal network live sedentary lives. Lastly its important to remember that often the environmental conditions favor specific lifestyles and that patterns of subsistence aren’t limited in certain styles of life with perhaps only a few exceptions.

35. #35Nomadic lifeselective

    Keys: Nomadic life

    Nomadism is a pretty common way of life for many drekir and is generally define as a way of life in which a community does not stay in any one place for long, bur rather keeps on the move season to season, usually in a cyclical fashion. This highly mobile way of life allows a den of drekir to always maintain movement towards wherever food, water, and resources are. It also helps keep them from exhausting any particular region of its all. As with drekir being mesocarnivores that need a lot more meat than a human, it can be easy for even a den of 30 drekir to exhaust a region of its local wildlife, fish, and other natural resources. The life of a nomadic drek often involves arriving into a known region, setting up camp with ones den, and spending the next several weeks or couple of months hunting, foraging, and gathering resources to subsist and make the tools and shelter needed to live. Perhaps in their free time after a day of foraging may be spent in cultural practices, stories, gossip, entertainment and artistry. But eventually they must move on with the movements of wildlife, the changing of seasons, and with the ability of an area to sustain that den of drekir. Of course once they pack up and leave to the next campsite, their prior region will lay fallow and will recover and, in a few years time, those drekir may yet return to a campsite once again rich in the natural resources they need to keep living another day. Nomadism is a way of life generally, almost entirely, associated to the Drekir who often need a lot of meat and can afford to be far more mobile than their larger orm cousins.

36. #36Seminomadic lifeselective

    Keys: Seminomadic life

    Seminomadism is of course, very similar to nomadism though usually at a much slower pace, with a community living in the same area for months, a year, or even multiple years, before eventually moving along to another area to set up another settlement. Particularly in regions that are particularly abundant in natural resources, or in places in which dragons can engage in a wider variety of subsistence methods, dragons can settle down and build more established communities in the medium term before eventually moving along! Another form of seminomadism involves a long term sedentary settlement in which various dens regularly come and go throughout the years, spending months or years on the road before eventually returning to a shared, mutually shared settlement shared by the whole tribe. These more developed settlements tend to involve more long term structures, more common usages of things that may not survive the constant march of nomadic life such as pottery and ceramics, as well as a more culturally defined sense of space. A dreks life may involve moving into a region and gradually building it up with their den into a long term shelter that can withstand all the local weather has to throw at them, engaging in a variety of subsistence patterns, extracting valuable minerals and natural resources to make tools and wares, engaging in larger tribal politics, and enjoying their day to day life. Though eventually, perhaps after many months or even years of living in that area, with the land exhausted, they may eventually pack up and move on to the next piece of land to repeat the process.

37. #37Sedentary Lifeselective

    Keys: Sedentary Life

    Sedentism of course is the polar opposite of nomadism, in which a community will establish themselves and live in the same area for an extremely long time, perhaps even generations of time. In the day to day life of these communities, a whole den, or even multiple dens may live in a single village, engaging in subsisting, entertainment, as well as the use and maintenance of far more involved infrastructure for the village. From workshops to communal kitchens, often these more well established villages have the luxury of making and maintaining more heavy and unwieldy infrastructure. Of course the trickiest things with sedentary life is subsistence, sedentary life isn’t even possible in many areas that lack the natural resources or a lack of useful land and water. Moreover in many other places sedentism is possible, but requires certain specialized subsistence strategies. But even with all that said, there are sedentary communities that make life work with any and all subsistence strategies common to the drekir and ormer.

38. #38Subsistence Economiesselective

    Keys: Subsistence Economies

    Of course how dragons live, and for how long they stay in any one place is one thing, but they do have to make a living. They have to get the food, water, and resources to get by in the day to day and that, if anything heavily influences the lifestyles and lifeways of those dragons in their lives and broader culture and society. The environment they live in is important to cover, not every place can work for inseculture or agriculture and not every place can work for pastoralism. Some places are so rich in food that you may find completely sedentary hunter gatherer societies and other places may be so scarce in food and water that small dens of drekir must stay mobile just to find enough food to eat week to week. Other places may poor for foraging, but may be optimal for herding livestock across the landscape. So on, and so forth. The subsistence strategies that societies use to make a living for themselves will vary region to region and sometimes even within the same region! But all that said, lets get into some of the broad categories of subsistence.

39. #39Hunting and Gatheringselective

    Keys: Hunting, Gathering, Foraging

    Also known as Foraging, Hunting and Gathering is perhaps the most common method of subsistence of the Quiet Age and more broadly across the timeline of Shattered Õndem and is perhaps also the most varied amongst a lot of vague, broad categories. In a basic sense and as the name would suggest, Hunter Gatherers make a living by hunting and gathering from their surrounding environment to get the food, plants, water, and resources they need to survive and thrive. Its generally normal for hunter gatherers to exploit any and all potential food sources within their region. If there are animals to be hunted, they likely hunt them, if there are fish in the water, they are fished. If there are fruits and plants they can eat, they will likely eat be eating them. Any and every food source that those drekir can eat, they likely would eat in any given region. Of course Hunting and Gathering must also inevitably vary in it’s strategies and animals with the environment and ecosystem. Hunting and Gathering can take a lot of different appearances. It could be small dens moving through the brush of a savanna with slingshots, shooting skrimír out of the trees. It could also be a whole clan working together to run a herd of turtles off of a cliff, preserving as much of the food as possible, or it could be a hunting party attacking a truly titanic beast. It could also simply be a fishing village gathering shellfish and rowing into the waves to reel up whatever the seas or lakes may grant the people. But for most hunter gatherers, it is often a mix of hunting and foraging strategies and targets that may vary seasonally or even day by day. All sorts of people do hunting and gathering and, depending on the environment, it can be a very bountiful way of making a living. Thus you can find individual dens, tribes, and even large chiefdoms sustain themselves mainly off of hunting in gathering in some environments. Likewise hunting and gathering can even sustain large sedentary communities. Whereas in other places, hunting and gathering may be the only realistic option for a den of drekir to get enough food and water to get by day to day. As such hunter gatherer societies can range from fully nomadic to fully sedentary and everything inbetween. Its also something done by people who don’t entirely focus on hunting and gathering as their sole source of food. In fact horticulturalists, pastoralists, inseculturalists and aquaculturalists likewise often do hunt and gather, though to a lesser extent than the more common and more dedicated hunter gatherers. Last to mention is that ormer almost never live in hunter gatherer societies, as in most environments there simply is not enough food and calories to keep a den of ormer going. But ormer often get a lot of their meat from drek hunter gatherers!

40. #40Pastoralism and Livestock Herdingselective

    Keys: Pastoralism, Livestock Herding

    As animal domestication and semidomestication becomes more widespread, provided there are indeed domesticatable/semidomesticatable and herdable animals, It should be no surprise that drekir particularly take to livestock herding and pastoralism as a way of making a living. As they need meat to survive, raising animals who can be eaten for their meat as well as the other products they can provide can be a very lucrative way of making a living. Of course herded animals can vary wildly region to region and especially plana to plana. They could range from giant beetles to turtles, large snails or slugs, non flying wyrms or any other such creature. But it can also involve a more sedentary approach with animals like egg laying wyrms and insects, much like pens of chickens, can also be raised for their meat and eggs. The nature of the animals does of course dictate the nature of the society that raises them! Raising animals, be it a nomadic life on the range or the daily work of keeping a pen of juklir or rapsar healthy, it can prove to be very lucrative. Not just for the meat but for all the other materials one can get from these animals. Chitin, Bones, Horns, Hides, Blood, etc.

    Also important to note, not all animals are fully domesticated but rather semidomesticated, with the relationship being more that the pastoralists follow and support a semiwild herd of animals rather than raise them from egg to plate. Most pastoralist people tend to be more nomadic or seminomadic than sedentary. As such most pastoralist herdrakes you may find in the Quiet Age are likely to be communities of nomadic or seminomadic drekir. With more sedentary pastoralists usually only raising livestock part time as a supplementary food source to others, most commonly inseculture, fishing of aquaculture. Ormer are known to sometimes engage in livestock raising, though usually its more common for them to trade with drekir and for their animals.

41. #41Horticulture and Subsistence Agricultureselective

    Keys: Horticulture, Agriculture

    The cultivation of plants, be it on a small scale or a large scale, is not the most common amongst drekir, but is extremely common amongst ormer. But regardless both do it at least some of the time! But as far as plant cultivation goes we need to differentiate between Horticulture and Agriculture.

    Horticulture is generally more common amongst Drekir than ormer and is the small scale cultivation of plants that are grown to supplement a source of staple food. It’s usually done somewhat passively and can be done in a variety of ways, but usually is done simply without fertilizer or crop rotation. Once the soil is exhausted it is usually left fallow so that it can rejuvenate and is sometimes helped via techniques like slash and burn agriculture to help replenish the soil while the horticulturalists are gone. Agriculture is a more focused, with it being the primary source of food for a community and of course is generally the most common form of subsistence for ormer. In which a variety of crops and land is carefully managed to cultivate and harvest a wide variety of staple crops, fruits and vegetables. With an intensive focus on crop rotation, fertilizer use, and very careful crop usage ensuring that the whole den has enough to eat. As for what plants dragons cultivate, the most common tend to be starchy tubers, as drekir nor ormer can process cereal grains, but they can digest starch. So starchy tubers that are or similar to real life plants like Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Cassava, or other such plants. But there is also often the cultivation of fruits and vegetables to help fill out any missing vitamins, minerals, and flavors that a community may want that are typically far more varied. Agriculture can also often include more specialized crops for the production of textiles, sugar, drugs, or other desired plant products. But for horticulturalists, it’s usually simply a starchy tuber that can go well with most anything, with the rest of their meat, fruits and vegetables coming from wild foraging and hunting or otherwise, some other source. With regards to lifestyles, Horticultural drekir are almost always seminomadic, as they need to both remain in one place long enough to cultivate their plants and be able to move onto another plot of land after their harvest to allow their prior settlements land to recuperate lost nutrients. By contrast intensive agriculture requires sedentism, it requires that a population stay in one place and farm a variety of crops year to year. Hence why most ormer communities, who are almost always intensive agriculturalists by necessity, are also almost always sedentary communities.

42. #42Insecultureselective

    Keys: Inseculture

    Really, this is not really too separate from livestock raising though I wanted to make a separate category. As it is the cultivation of semidomesticated and domesticated small insects that are raised in enclosures. This of course is also an umbrella term that can extend to things like: Grilloculture: For crickets, grasshoppers, stickbugs and similar animals Vermiculture: For beetles, cockroaches, maggots, earthworms, and other such animals Apiculture: Mostly for bees, but wasps and hornets as well in some contexts Hormiculture: For Ants and Termites Arachniculture: for Spiders and Arachnids

    The specific enclosures for different bugs and grubs will of course very wildly. Mealworms need dark containers and compost substrates. Crickets need their own fruits, tubers, grains and foods to eat, bees need their apiaries. Including insects native to õndem that may need their own even more specific enclosures and care to grow on their own. This is impossibly varied even trying to research insect farming on my own has really shown me just how diverse it can be.

    One common aspect however is the sheer amount of meat and biomass you can get from such insect farming techniques especially when compared to how much food or resources you put in. For the mesocarnivoric drekir who need at least half of their food to be meat if not more, this is effectively one of two of their only means of feeding larger, sedentary populations, especially when combined with the starchy plants that they can truly eat such as tubers that can be cultivated along with. Even further certain insects can be raised for different products or products along with their meat, with resources like chitin, honey, silk, fertilizer, and other useful products coming from a lot of insect cultivation. Though all of that said, inseculture is technically and logistically challenging and is one of the rarer sorts of subsistence strategies present in the Quiet Age. Usually insecultural communities are sedentary due to the need to diligently care for most insects. But in the case of apiculture a more seminomadic approach could be adopted.

43. #43Aquacultureselective

    Keys: Aquaculture

    Aquaculture is the deliberate cultivation and harvesting of aquatic life. Usually sealife and often shellfish such as barnacles, clams, mussels or shrimp, crab, even lobster. Particularly the shellfish can be relatively easily cultivated in natural or artificial tide pools provided the technical know how on how to build up the structures necessary for shellfish to latch onto. Aquaculture is often very fruitful, allowing for long term sedentism on the coasts, which usually is made even easier thanks to the potential abundance brought from fishing on the seas. Aquaculture is often practiced by both drekir and ormer, but almost always requires a sedentary lifestyle to be able to care for the fish or shellfish up into the point in which they are harvested.

44. #44The Casual, Often Public, Everyday Social Sex of the Drekirselective

    Keys: Social Sex

    While sex and perceptions around it vary culturally, Drekir were designed by the sivilão to breed often, in relatively large numbers and a lot of that is informed in the low consequence and constantly active sexuality of the drekir. Biologically and socially, drekir are R-Selective Promiscuous breeders, with the average drek being pansexual. In practice drekir often pursue sexual partners with any other consenting adult who they find appealing enough to bed with, usually with denmates and strangers alike being open to proposition for anything from a slow intimate session to a quickie behind some strangers hut. It is pretty common for drekir to have sex pretty frequently with most adults engaging in some sort of sexual act upwards of 3 times a week to as little as once a month, with the rare exceptions going above or below. Generally privacy also falls out of concern in many cultures, with a lot of drekir sexuality and explicit sex occurring in a variety of public or imprivate spaces from the middle of a den home to in a river with other villagers bathing, sometimes even the middle of the village as others are going about their day to day tasks. This publicity and frequency of sex tends to create cultures with an incredibly lax sense of sexuality, both in conversation and in sexual conduct that might strike many people as very upfront. Complimenting a drek sexually, propositioning a stranger for sex, and publicly bragging about ones sexual abilities is pretty typical in many drek societies.

45. #45Group Sex and Arousal Pheromones.selective

    Keys: Group Sex

    Both males and females, when aroused, produce and ejaculate strong arousal pheromones and, like most pheromones, they can affect the behavior of drekir. Often these pheromones signal and attract other drekir and usually get the hormones moving around the body and mind in a way that usually makes a drek more pliable and interested in joining into sex with those already having it. This effect isn’t impossible to resist for drekir, especially in smaller amounts where it might be felt more as a desire that can be resisted relatively easily. However in larger amounts the influence of drekir sex pheromones can become more intensely pleasurable, tempting and mind numbing.

    This can often result in a snowball effect where a handful of drekir start having sex, which attracts more drekir who join in, which then produces a stronger influence of pheromones that makes other drekir more easily attracted into joining in.

    In extreme cases in which upwards or more than a hundred drekir consolidate together, a session can become an uncontrollable orgy very quickly as the pheromones leave most of the drekir in that orgy lost in something of an arousal high that may not subside for a long time. Generally combined with the lax attitudes and public tendencies of drekir though, group sex is pretty common even when it’s not a larger orgy. While it is not unheard of to see a single pair of drekir having sex uninterrupted, it is equally typical to see other drekir involved in some sort of way whether it’s watching and commenting, masturbating or joining directly into the session. All of this combined with commonly lax attitudes cross culturally often means that sex is a group social activity more often than not.

46. #46Drekir Reproductive Anatomyselective

    Keys: Reproductive Anatomy

    Obviously, as drekir are a sexually reproducing species, you do need male and female sexual organs that are typically split between males and females. Males have a penis, and females a uterus, both tucked cleanly within the cloaca.

    Drekir penises are often long, internal soft organs that spend most of their time inside a cavity within the cloaca known as the “Penile Cavity”. During arousal blood is pumped into the organ, making it hard, pushing it out of the cloaca. The Length of the penis is usually on average 16-20 inches, most small breed drekir still have a 12-16 inch penis on average and larger breeds tend to have a penis of around 18-22 inches.

    The penis is so long as to allow a drek with both a large pubic boot and an inflexible torso to still effectively penetrate a mate. The head of the penis, in addition to being sensitive, is designed to “squeegie” out the arousal pheromones the male penis constantly ejaculates. The shaft is… a shaft. Behind the shaft sits a large, often active pheromonal gland that produces the pheromones a male will constantly ejaculate or “leak” while aroused and finally behind that lays the testes that often are active throughout arousal, often mixing small amounts of semen into their typical pheromonal ejaculate. Though the testes will produce a larger amount of semen than normal arousal up to and during the male orgasm.

    Often the large amount of blood needed to make such a large penis erect, combined with the influence of pheromones and physical stimulation will leave males in a rather unfocused state. While not impossible, its somewhat common for males to get lost in a state of low inhibitions and foggy mental state in sex, which makes it hard for them to remember to pull out. This often is seen as a sort of “Breeding haze” for males.

    As for females, when aroused, the cloacal tissue will swell and open up their cloaca wider than normal, often pushing out the interior walls. During arousal it is also normal for female pheromone glands within the cloaca to produce an arousal pheromone-mucus mix that both drips from the cloaca and, during penetration or stimulation, is ejaculated aggressively. The female cloaca is flexible and muscled and can clench, convulse, and squeeze on things that penetrate it through both voluntary and involuntary movements.

    It is common for female genitalia to squeeze down and grab onto whatever is penetrating them, be it a penis or some other object.

    During sex it is common for females to ejaculate pheromones multiple times and repeatedly clench around whatever may be penetrating them. Generally this normally ends in a climax orgasm in which the cloacal muscles clamp down around a penis (or whatever is penetrating them). This final orgasm in a lot of ways functions as a mating tie that tightly grabs a male penis, preventing it from being pulled out easily, particularly as the males head is often hard and wide (on top of it already a difficult task for drekir considering their anatomy). This clamping will only last for 2-3 minutes though, as it occurs only after prolonged stimulation and the intense stimulation it gives to a male it is common for a female orgasm to be followed by a male orgasm and the mating tie ensures that the male ejaculates into a female, mostly guaranteeing a pregnancy. This mating tie, combined with the influence of pheromones and the difficulty drekir have in quickly pulling out anyways makes it hard for male/female penetrative sex to not end without the male ejaculating into the female. A result of prolonged sivilão genetic and magical modification of the drekir as a species designed explicitly to reproduce reliably and quickly with a large volume of eggs.

    While males are very much affected by sex pheromones and arousal pheromones, females tend to be moreso affected by them, which combined with the physical stimulation of sex can lower their inhibitions greatly.

    Drekir females are also induced ovulators and, when aroused, will ovulate, though this induced ovulation doesn’t differentiate by sorts or types of sex. But as a result, a female having penetrative sex with a male has a very high chance of becoming impregnated from that male. Often the chance of a successful fertilization can be as high as 90% if not more. So the likelihood of becoming gravid is Just about guaranteed. But thankfully, being in a gravid state does not impact a female drek much in regards to her physical capabilities, with that pregnancy lasting roughly 3 weeks before laying their egg which, while large is an effortful but reasonably easy task. Moreover as a drek lays more eggs, it becomes easier to lay eggs.

    Usually by the time an adult drek is in their late 20s, laying eggs takes a matter of 2-3 minutes, can be done easily, and the drek can recover within seconds and return to what they were doing. Drekir were designed to lay a large number of large eggs and so it doesn’t stop most drekir to lay one every now and again.

    It is also normal for gravid female drekir to carry on with normal sexual behavior throughout a pregnancy and after they lay it. Can’t stop em suppose! Lastly, after becoming gravid, female drekir will not be able to ovulate throughout their pregnancy and for some time after laying their egg. This time can vary on individual and individual pregnancy though once a female is pregnant, they cannot get pregnant again for at least 3-12 days after laying their egg.

47. #47Drekir languageconstantselective

    Keys: Drekir language, Éla, Drekir

    Why are there so many accents in DragonScape names?

    You’ll notice a lot of proper nouns in DragonScape — Õndem, Mavõtur, Éldimor, etc. A lot of them carry accents or tildes (á, ã, õ, that sort of thing). The comics haven’t really sat down and walked through pronunciation rules, so let’s fix that.

    All of those names come from an in-lore language called Éla.

    Éla is the language of the Sivilão — the teal “steels” you see in the comics — who, like humanity, exist as a scattered diaspora across the endless skies of the Celeste and the countless connected planar realms. By the time Imua arrives in the DragonScape, “Éla” isn’t really a single, clean language anymore. It’s closer to a language family: branching dialects, regional variants, and full descendant languages, all still broadly recognizable as Éla.

    Almost every “proper word” in DragonScape is an Éla word or descended from it. Drekir, Ormer, Skrimír, Õfuthar, and so on — all Éla. Which is why Imua doesn’t automatically know her species is called “the Drekir.” That label wasn’t coined by her people, it was given to them in Éla.

    Now. Let’s talk about how this stuff is actually pronounced.

    Sounds humans can make, and sounds we fake

    Éla is not designed for human throats. Dragons, drekir, ormer — they produce sounds humans physically struggle with. Common features in Éla include rattles, yaps, clicks, deep throat flexes, and whistle-huffs. Some of these don’t map to human phonemes at all.

    So: what you see written in our alphabet is an approximation. In particular:

    L and R are often not literal “L” and “R.” They’re placeholders for vocal behaviors dragons use.

    Accented / tilde-marked vowels (ã, é, í, õ, ú, etc.) are marking a throat action, not just “fancy vowel.”

    We’ll break those down.

    We’ll start with the vowels, because those cause the most panic.

    The “Yohn” vowels (ã, é, í, õ, ú)

    Whenever you see a vowel with an accent or a tilde in Éla — like ã, é, í, õ, ú — you should assume there’s a leading “yuh” / “yu” glide in front of it.

    In other words: that mark is telling you “don’t say a plain vowel; start it with a throaty Y-sound.”

    Examples:

    ãel (a common affirmative/greeting, context-dependent) You don’t say “ah-el.” You say something closer to “yael” or “yuael-kch.” Written approximation: Yah-el with the Y jammed hard into the start of the vowel.

    õleduradir (“blessed voices unheard”) You don’t say “oh-leh-doo-rah-deer.” You push a Y in the throat first: Approximate: “yohl-eh-doo-radi(r)” (We’ll talk about that last “r” in a second.)

    This same rule applies whether the mark is a tilde (~) or an acute accent (´). The different marks exist because the in-universe script distinguishes several related throat flex patterns, but your keyboard doesn’t. So assume: accent = engage the Y-glide.

    Two more:

    Skrimír You don’t say “skrim-EER.” You say closer to “skreem-YU-eer.” That marked í at the end is not just “eer,” it’s “(y)eer,” with a quick Y-hook jammed in.

    Gulémgão Not “goo-LEM-gow.” More like “gukch-YU-em-giyu-ao.” You can see why we cheat with Roman letters.

    What’s actually happening in-species:

    Drekir and other draconics create that glide with a muscular flex deep in the throat, producing a thick, resonant “yuh,” almost like the booming gulp of a large bird (ostrich, cassowary) but more controlled.

    Drekir do it a little higher and quicker.

    Ormer do it lower, heavier, chesty.

    Humans can’t fully replicate that resonance, so “yuh” / “yu” is the closest practical stand-in.

    So: if you see ã, é, í, õ, ú, assume “start this vowel with a Y.”

    L isn’t really “L”

    In Éla spelling, L usually doesn’t mean a normal human L. It marks a throaty mouth-huff.

    This is a common draconic vocalization: a forced, phlegmy exhale pushed out through the mouth (not the nose). Think of it like a short, low, controlled cough-bark of air. The tongue posture at the start of that sound resembles the human “L” position — so scribes used L to represent it — but you’re not actually saying “luh.” You’re shaping that exhale.

    Example:

    Sivilão (the species/culture name) You don’t say “see-vee-LAU.” A closer human attempt would be “see-VEE-(throaty huff)-kch-YAO.” Another way to cheat-write it: “see-VEEƚ-kch-yao,” where that weird ƚ is you doing that hot, raspy mouth-push instead of a clean L.

    As a human: if you can’t produce the huff, just use a soft “l,” but know you’re sanding off meaning and tone.

    R isn’t “R,” it’s a rattle

    Finally, R.

    In Éla, R usually marks a rattle, not a plain consonant. Rattles are extremely important in draconic speech. They carry emotional tone, social cues, and grammar. You will still hear dragons add rattles when they’re speaking human languages, because for them it’s baked-in communication.

    What the rattle does:

    It can mark plurality.

    It can mark emphasis.

    It can mark emotional color (warning, sorrow, respect, contempt, etc.).

    It can carry context you’d normally need a whole extra clause for in a human language.

    Example:

    radir (“voices”) You wouldn’t actually hear clean “rah-deer.” You’d hear something closer to: (rattle) ah-di (rattle). The rattles bracket the core syllables and tell you mood and number.

    Humans can’t produce a proper crocodilian-style throat rattle. Closest we can get:

    Roll the R like a Spanish “rr,” but pull the tongue a little farther back than normal and drop the pitch.

    You’re not going to match it perfectly. That’s fine. You’re not a dragon. You’re meat.

    So: anytime you see R in Éla, assume “this spot wants a rattle,” not a clean English R.

    Putting it together

    Let’s rebuild one example using all of this:

    õleduradir

    õ → starts with that deep Y-glide (“yo/yu”)

    l → throaty mouth-huff, not an English L

    du → pretty much “doo”

    radir → core “ah-di,” wrapped in rattles

    So a rough human-safe attempt would be:

    “Yohl-(throat huff)-eh-doo-(rattle)ah-di(rattle)”

    Is that awkward to say? Yes. It should be. You are imitating something with different anatomy.

    Summary rules you can actually use

    Accented / tilde vowels (ã, é, í, õ, ú): Start the vowel with a thick “yu- / yuh-” glide. ã ≈ “ya,” õ ≈ “yo / yoh,” í ≈ “yee” but with a “yuh” punch in front, etc.

    L: Not a normal “l.” It marks a throaty mouth-huff. If you can’t do it, use a very soft “l” and know you’re faking it.

    R: Not a normal “r.” It marks a rattle. If you’re human, fake it with a rolled R pushed farther back in the mouth.

    These aren’t stylistic marks. The accents aren’t just “fantasy spice.” They’re telling you where the speaker is flexing their throat or rattling their skull to carry meaning that doesn’t exist in human languages.

    Imua not knowing “drekir”: That’s deliberate. “Drekir” is an Éla classification word. It’s an outsider label, not her own word for her own people. She wouldn’t recognize it at first because she wasn’t raised in Éla.

48. #48Juklirselective

    Keys: Juklir

    Juklir are a species of draconic mutant chickens. Due to their closeness to dragons (or dinosaurs, either or), they would mutate instead of going through õndemification. With the resultant species being named by the Sivilão as “Juklir”, so named for the sound they make. “Juk juk”. Juklir are generally pretty close to their pre õndemic existence, being omnivoric, feathered, six legged wyrms that are commonly domesticated for the prolific amount of eggs they lay.

    Juklir Breeds

    Arid Juklir are the most familiarly chickens, boasting bright feathers to keep the heat off their body and a sort of “canvas” of feathers on their back to help further with the sun. They are omnivores known to eat anything from a rotting corpse to grains and grass to bugs. They are also very water hardy and can last weeks without large amounts of water. Arid Juklir tend to stay an semi arid steppes and grasslands more than true deserts. Where they can graze on the vast plants and grasses and insects of those regions

    Arctic Juklir are known for their deep black feathers and wide feet hidden under their dense feathers.

    Their feet particularly are very well equipped for digging into snow or hard soil as a lot of their diet comes more from starchy roots, but again they will likely eat anything they come across. They are most known to be found in Tundras above all, where starchy tubers and bugs during the warm seasons are easily found. Though they are known to regularly migrate to warmer climates as the local seasons chill

    Tropical Juklir are a bit stranger, boasting a prehensile tail, no feathers, and very grabby gecko like hands that allow them to easily climb trees, with them living largely aboreal lives grazing tropical trees and pecking the wood for various tropical bugs and eggs that they can eat. Tropical juklir are most found in dense tropical forests and rainforests, as well as bamboo forests, where they tend to thrive

    and lastly Temperate Juklir are perhaps the most boring, Dense green feathers that help them blend in to temperate prairies and grasslands, they tend to be the fastest of all juklir and are also capable climbers! Temperate drekir are prairie wyrms, they tend to not like dense forests and can mostly be found amongst the open fields and meadows Juklir and Draconic Societies

    Juklir are a popularly domesticated animal as time continues on in the Quiet Age on the plana of the Americas, which is the only plana they are native to. Thanks to their generally versatile diets, hands off raising and rearing and high amount of eggs, drekir and ormer in the Americas would take to the animal as a means of providing a steady supply of meat and eggs to their diets. Particularly in Eastern North America, and Central South America, Juklir are a common source of food for sedentary communities both of ormer and drekir. Even amongst some sivilão õfuthar Juklir would be embraced simply due to how productive and prolific producers of egg and poultry they can be.

    As there are also wild Juklir in the Americas, they are also popularly hunted, with their nests being raided for eggs by hunter gatherer groups in regions which see juklir that have not been domesticated.

    Human colonial societies attempting to bring their own chickens into Suyu would of course see them mutate into Juklir, usually in a far more gradual manner than õndemification. With later rogue colonial outposts or outcasts often taking juklir with them into their new settlements and communities, spreading juklir even further into isolated communities around the end of the Awakening Period.

    In the far future of the Draconic Golden Age, when the Americas could communicate, trade, and interact with denizens of other planar such as Logáu and Agõrl, Juklir would see a brief burst of intercelestial trade. However the domestication of Juklir never grew popular in Logáu and Agõrl, where Rapsar would be far more dominant. By the time of the Thalmvar Juklir would be carried by many refugee filled celestial ships as they scattered from the Earthen expanse across Õndem, spreading the species far and wide.

49. #49The Celesteselective

    Keys: Celeste

    The Celeste is the õndemic version of “space”, even if that comparison may not be entirely fair as it is really far more akin to an eternal sky. The space between planar is in fact often (though not always) breathable, and filled with all sorts of signs of life. From localized fields of gravity, breathable atmospheres, and even solar system sized expanses of water known as celestial seas. It is a place where deep wind currents lightyears long slowly wind through the universe, spurring weather and climate onto the myriad planar. All that said however, there are areas, particularly further away from the planar where more dangerous anomalies, a lack of air, and extreme mana anomalies. So while it can be very hospitable in some places, it can be incredibly dangerous in others.

    A large portion of the celeste rotates forever around the two most powerful balãr of the setting, Sologa and Sila. Sologa being a great bal who functions as a sun itself the size of a solar system, both holding the planar in its orbit and warming them with its celestial light. While there are other star like entities made of other balãr, mana anomalies, or other magical sources of heat in light in the Celeste, many planar see their mornings and evenings thanks to the light of Sologa. Sila is a great bal from whom all celestial wind currents start, blowed forth from it’s nostrils across the celeste for eternity.

    For most of the history of the Quiet Age, traversing beyond ones planar through the celeste would be mostly impossible. The earliest expeditions would happen in the 8th millennia post awakening thanks to complex sailboats with void sails designed to propel vessels that could transport peoples through the celestial seas connecting planar. That simple manner being how the first contact between Suyun (American) and Logaún dragons would make their first acquaintance. Eventually during the Draconic Golden Age, Celestial sailboats, simply called Celestial Ships, would revolutionize travel throughout the Celeste. Even in the massive technological decline in the aftermath of the Human-Thalmvaric war and the onset of the Thalmvaric Age, Dragonkind would still traverse through the Celeste through the now ancient designs of Celestial ships. The Celeste itself can support life, with many celestial seas and smaller landmasses being host to often strange and distinct life forms, even éldimor dragons and planarial life can survive in the Celeste effectively, given some ingenuity. Though up until the Thalmvar such a way of life is elusive to dragonkind.

50. #50Planar: Drifting Continents of the Celesteselective

    Keys: Planar

    Planar (Plana or Plane singular) are the celestial landmasses that float across the resonant fabric of the Celeste, with there being hundreds to thousands, or even millions of planar across the whole of the Õndem. The size of any given plana of course will vary, some planar are as small as a large island, such as something similar in size to Greenland. On the other hand there are planar that are as large or even larger than super continents such as Pangea, with some even having a land area equal to the total surface area of a whole planet. Each plana likewise is it’s own distinct landmass, thankfully most can be rather comparable to Earth, with some degree of plant life and animal life, water, weather patterns, and at least some sort of potential to sustain life at least somewhere on the plana. There are of course planar that are also considerably more alien and strange. The specific climates of planar likewise don’t just vary plana to plana, but also regionally within those planar, with their climates and weather patterns varying depending on the celestial currents that blow over them, amongst many other factors.

    During Jãrsta/The Pulse, the Sivilão diáspora would come to get scattered across the Planar of the Õndem and, in the aftermath of the Awakening 100 years after, so too would the Americans caught in the original pulse. There are many planar therefore that would come to be inhabited by various remnants of the prepulse worlds, be they sivilão or once human in origin. Of course the amount of sapient life on any given plana will vary, though there is rarely more than 100 Million dragons across any given plana, and that number can be less than 100 people total. Some planar are even entirely bereft of éldimor life entirely. It varies.

    The landscapes of those planar, and even sometimes highly specific anomalies that affect the skies, ground, etc. will also vary plana to plana. The plana may be a vast archipelago of islands that rapidly shift in their celestial sea, or like Logáu, there may be a sea above the plana affecting the times of day. A plana could see anything from blasted heaths of resonant voicelakes, to vast deserts, jungles and forests, to vast lands of rocky expanses, to fungal steppes and forests, or anything between or even weirder. It’s a whole universe of continents out there!

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