Dravar

Dravar are among one of the rarer races that inhabit Arkadell.

Age
Dravar seem to be ageless denizens of many realms. Due to their hard, scaled skin it is often very hard to judge how old a dravar is simply from looking at them, and very few would ever tell. From what people have guessed, they age 2 times slower then humans until they reach the age of 40, then seem not to make many noticable changes. The oldest account of a dravar living in this realm is to the age of 225 years.

A dravar who is just hatched is called a hatchling, who is around a meter or less in size, later on in life, the dravar will be about a meter and a half in size after about 6 years, and is called a youngling. Around 5 years later the scales on the dravar will start to fuse together as said above, this stage is still called a youngling, yet they are around the height of an average human, the youngling will continue to get larger until they are about 3 meters in height, and will considered a young adult in around 10 years after the scales begin to fuse together. Finally after 20 years the dravar will slowly grow larger and their scales grow thicker until they are around 4 meters, and are finally considered an adult.

Height
The dravar can vary in height at a fully grown age, most dravar in the realm of Asmalur are around 8 feet tall.

Weight
They are incredibly muscled, and even through their scaled skin it is possible to view their imposing musculature. Thus, many assume that the dravar are quite heavy, though nobody has ever dared to actually try to weigh a live one. It is suggested they weigh around 100 kilograms.

Garments
Very little clothing is ever worn by the dravar. What little is worn is often simply crude tribal garments fashioned from hides and other natural materials. Yet dravar are also heard to wear clothing time to time, yet mostly will get clothing and armour from the ones they protect and serve. Dravar will often times have skins and hands from their enemies attached to their armour.

Appearance
Almost all dravar have a natural large muscle constitution, which allows them for ripping the limbs from gnome to human with ease. Along with muscular bodies, they also have some of the strongest bite force of any race, and includes 72 large barbed teeth which curve backwards to rip more flesh from its prey as it struggles to run away, and the best part of their teeth is that if they lose some, they can regrow in a matter of a month. Dravari scales are very thick yet smooth which acts much like armour on its own. Dravar can vary from any colour and any shade. Dravar also have large powerful digitigrade legs which can both allow them to stride great distances, but kick the head clean off an adversary with a lucky blow. Most dravar do not have tails, unlike most reptiles.

The dravar can have all manner of horns and spikes coming from their heads, and sometimes dorsal spikes appear, yet not commonly. The dravar have long fingers which have 4 joints in them to account for the missing upper joints in their hands for grasping, and 3 joints in their thumbs to aid in grasping, Yet their toes have fairly little motion to them, only having two joints. All together the dravar have 12 digits, they being two fingers and a thumb on each hand, and 3 large toes on each foot. The dravar flicker their tongues to smell, which in turn is both an advantage and disadvantage only allowing them to smell when they flicker their tongue, but also lets them smell far distances. Dravar have an inherit ability to resist fire.

Both genders of dravar look fairly the same, yet dravar men are taller and have a slightly larger muscle constitution than the females, the females are quicker then the males. Dravar females tend to have more downwards curving horns, while the males have straighter, or upwards pointing horns. Also dravar men and women are of equal status in the dravar culture. After eons of the dravar working together, all variations of dravar have blended into one species. Thus, making it so dravar can be born any colour with and form of horn shape, along with sometimes rarer occurrences such as spines, frills, crests, spikes, feathers, and sometimes webbed digits.

Dravar children start out around a half of a meter in height. Children have many many smaller scales that later on in its life will merge into larger scales in less flexible areas, such as the back, feet, upper and fore arms and top of the head. Dravar children are born with sharp needle like teeth that will fall out after 3 years, and be replaced rather quickly by the curved barbed teeth of the adults, and also their jaws will grow in the back of their mouths 4 large psuedo-teeth that are round and meant for crushing bone.

Lore
It is said that dravar were created by two 'Gods' one of Darkness and one of Light. Being seen as an abomination and thus were hunted and eaten by the 'Gods' and were later used as slaves to mine deep for the shining gems, and gleaming ores. The dravar soon grew larger and larger as the 'Gods' wanted more and more gems, and as wars broke out between the divine beings, the dravar were also used as soldiers. The dravar had enough. They saw the 'Gods' were not gods, they were infact weak, and mortal, dying of sickness and old age, of murders and lies to one another, they were only men, nothing more.

One million hands tugged at the Sun, pulling it with magic wrought from gems of their 'Gods', yanking to pieces. Harvesting the power of the Sun the dravar had hoped to free themselves of their cruel masters: the ‘Gods’ of Light and Dark. The blood magic of the dravar yanked at the very heart of the Sun and it began to shatter. They had stolen the Sun, the very symbol of their slavery and now they were free. They used its power to rip open the world. All of the sky and the sea were ripped by the dravar as though it was paper, and one by one they fell into their rip. Into the rip they had gone in, with no knowledge of where they would emerge.

Dravar finding a new god to worship, or should we say a goddess, their first leader, Avulae. Her scales were golden and her eyes purple like the old sun, she became the first empress of the dravar. Due to her do the dravar get the word in their language for the sun, Avul. She led them in the new realm where they began to build great cities and statues, and from there they began to grow in numbers.

Long after that, the earth rumbled and cracked, the very land seemed to in active as the waves of the oceans and seas. Little did the dravar know that it was an enemy greater then they alone can defeat. Giant elementals tore apart the lands, the seas turning into great towering walls nearing closer, the wind was like needles, and the sky was a dark black. The dravar were doomed...Yet...not if they had saved their children. There was not enough time for the whole of the race to escape, so they sent the eggs in their great nesting halls, and some of the best dravari warriors to protect them. This was their future, and now, it is our present.

A diaspora of dravar traveled to near and distant realms, they knew not all would make it, yet so much as some made it, there would be hope for their people. Now farmers and miners in many realms have found these large eggs, believing them to be ones of dragons, yet...when they hatched they were met with something close, yet rather different. And so now the dravar who were found now will be kept secret, in the hopes of their safety, or will be told to the public, where they can be seen as monsters, or as workers, or even as guardians. Who knows who will find these rare beast men and women? And who knows how they will be treated?

Religion
Dravar worship the first empress of their people, Avulae. She is seen as the sun, and as both light, fire, and order. While their goddess is the one of light, it does not mean dravar hate the darkness, or see it as evil. They believe that darkness is only seen from light, for without light, Darkness takes no shape, it is formless. The dravar have a holiday every cycle of the sun that involves the eating of gold, and gems, along with animals or people alike, they paint themselves in blood, and they pray in songs to Avulae. To the dravar, the end and start of the cycle of the sun also is on the first day of summer often times. Dravari men and women also will find their mate often times on this day, Which is why the sun is also often times involved with words such as love in the Dravari language, the word being Aevenya. Dravar do not bury their dead, yet instead burn their bodies and mix the ashes with glass, making a statuette of their lost family member so that they may have a place to rest during the night, so that in the day their souls may walk the world and look after their families. Dravar cities are made with gems openly seen, so that Avulae's eye, which is the sun may look upon their beauty, it is also why buildings are large, as well as statues.

Mating
Dravar mate for what seems their almost unending lives. Dravari couples will often give eachother gifts, they will openly show their love in public, always being close to one another, holding hands, and defending their mates honour. Dravar have been known to fall in love with other races as well, which may seem odd to much of the world. Couples will rarely argue with one another, and will make compromises.

Skills
A dravar's best skill is war. The second best skill, snuggling. Dravar are skilled warriors, and due to their size this isn't suprising after many eons of being bred solely for war. Dravar even if they dislike eachother will not go to war with one another. Dravar as well as being skilled warriors are also skilled builders, due to their great strength and history of making large buildings and public works, they take great pride in one kind of building more then others, and that is statues to please their Goddess.

Weaknesses
While dravar are great warriors, they rarely use magic, and the ones who do, most of the time will end up much smaller and weaker. Dravari mages are much weaker when it rains. Dravar being cold blooded tend not to travel far north or too far south unless they have stored a lot of heat over time to expend when in the cold climates. Being scary and large, it is hard for them to sneak about at all, and thus when a dravar tries to assassinate someone, it is most of the time loud, messy, and seen easily, they also have trouble with being around children of other races due to how scary they are. They have a hard time writing in any other kind of alphabet then their own, and also tend to not write on paper, and more often will write on stone or clay, which is hard to transport and can shatter. Dravar also can get angered quickly if you say the right (or wrong depending on how you look at it) words. Dravar will often fight to the death to protect family and friends, even when the odds are greatly against them. Dravar have some trouble using bows, thus dravar are stuck using thrown weapons such as spears and bola. Dravar have certain defects when born time to time, such as muscular displacements, non cancerous tumors, scalessesness, and albinism.

Law System
Dravar are good guards, yet have a strange set of strict laws, such as stealing will end up in the removing of hands, harming of a wife or husband will end in the removing of horns, or if the attacker is not a dravar, the removing of fingers, dishonour will end in drowning and many more punishments. One cannot simply pay for a crime in money, yet can opt for a trial by combat to the death, or just until one side is knocked out. Women and men are of equal status, due to how the race had both genders greatly involved in their liberation. Children are not subject to such harsh laws due to them not being fully developed. Kings and queens may be put on trial by their people with ease if really needed.

Biomes and Climates
Dravar being reptiles prefer place atleast moderately or very warm, such as Deserts and Savannalands. Dravar have been known to live in the dry steppes as well, where they will find most of their prey animals, yet also where they in their old realms would find Mammoths, in which they would use for war. Dravar as well as being creatures who live on the land, also live in it. Dravar will often times live inside caves, mountains, and gorges. If a dravar city gets too large for a mountain, they will just remove of the mountain around the city slowly.

Dravari Weapons
Dravar will often form wicked looking weapons, to give them an even greater edge against their enemies. One of the strangest weapons is a weapon they call a 'Dragon's Tail' which is a sword that is very long and barbed which is swung at the enemy, the sword then unwinds and wraps around the enemy and then is pulled away causing massive bleeding damage, yet is not well used against people in armour unless it is used in many rapid hits to the same area. A weapon to help get through that armour is a pick sword. It is held with one hand and the rest of the pick's handle is sharpend. The picking area of the pick is straightend slightly so that the blade is easier to get cut by. The pick sword is great against armoured and unarmour foes, yet has a limited range due to being made from a pick axe which is afterall not fairly long. Dravar use whips made of chains with barbs and nails attached to them. Dravari Bola are made of two iron balls connected by a bladed chain to cut off the legs as the wrap around the target, instead of merely tripping them. Spears are made so that when they stab in, it will cause even more damage when being pulled out of the target due to recurving prongs attached to the head, the spears are also thick so they are hard to snap, forcing the medics and field doctors of the enemy to have to yank it out. Dravar have tested using explosives before, yet have not been used to great lengths, only really being used in bone daggers in which they throw at a target like a shrapnel bomb, yet these are rare. Dravar also can fire objects from their throats such as blood, bones, and tar that builds up from old organic matter under their internal heat. Dravar also excel at unarmed combat, using barbed and spiked gloves, hammers attached to gauntlets, replacing their claws with metallic ones, and adding barbs to their teeth. Dravari helmets will often times have sharpend teeth to help bite through armour.

Relations with other Races
Dravar being savage will often times agree with orcs. Both orcs and dravar are rather unusual in appearance and sometimes seen as outcasts, yet when they come together can do great things like all other races. Dravar like Dwarven stonework, and metalwork, and much like dwarves they enjoy a good story, and are very honour bound. Dravar like elves for the fact that they are pretty, and sometimes fancy their men and women if other dravar are not available as mates, although it is often times not the other way around. Dravar are rather unsure about humans, humans have been known to be good and bad in their history, they are confused by humans as they are always fighting one another, so dravar have no strong ties to humans like all the other races.

Arrival to Asmalur
For what seemed to only been an hour, a portal opened in the desert. The dravari warriors filed out, carrying the eggs out with great care. Some of the dravari men and women left as soon as they came into the realm, looking to make anew, not wanting to accept the burden of protecting the eggs. Others became lost when scouting around the lands, losing sight of the egg guardians. Soon only a few dravar were left, they saw it best if they split the eggs up amongst each other so they would be safe in case one site was compromised. Slowly some members died off, the eggs seemed not to hatch. No one was sure why the eggs weren't hatching, yet they believed it was the new sun, that the eggs needed to get used to its rays, and its presence. And now, the egg guardians split off from each other, some of the eggs were buried so they may hatch on their own accord, others were taken to be watched closer under the guardian's careful eyes. So now begins the new chapter in their history.