Drakes (race)

Drakes are large, winged and fire-breathing creatures, reminiscent of true dragons. On average, an adult drake stands around three meters tall and easily weighs more than a man and a horse combined. Their skin is made up of hard scales, resistant to most physical strikes except piercing and cold damage. Most drakes are capable of true flight and can travel long distances quickly. However, their sheer weight and bulk limits their flight ability somewhat, making them ungainly in the air. Where possible, they make use of terrain features such as hills, mountains and trees as launch points in order to gain greater height and speed. Fortunately for their enemies, they are still quite clumsy creatures and surprisingly slow in combat. This, combined with their large size, renders them easy targets for those who dare attack them.

Drakes are inherently magical creatures, with a mysterious internal fire fueling their very lives. This can easily be witnessed when one of their kind perishes in combat; its internal fire is released, burning their remains in to ashes. Their internal fire is also their greatest weakness; it makes them extremely vulnerable to cold attacks. Despite their magical nature, drakes are incapable of channeling magic in a controlled manner. While the magic imbued within a drake's body enables it to spit fire and gives it life, they have no willful control over its functions of this magic.

Society

Drakes are a relatively warlike race and their societies can be best described as cultured martial societies. The core of a drake tribe is small group of veteran warriors headed by a mutually respected - or simply feared - leader who rules the society with an iron fist. Every drake is expected to earn their place in the strict hierarchy, to obey their superiors and command their lessers. Entry to the ruling elite is only possible through challenging and defeating a superior in single combat, which is the way the hierarchy within the elite itself is established. The use of deception of any kind towards any fellow drake is, without exception, seen as cowardly and unacceptable.

While their warlike nature and sense of territory drives them to defend their territories savagely, drakes rarely invade or trespass on areas already occupied by the other major races. Instead, they settle in unpopulated areas to establish their own territory there. They primarily feed on large game they hunt in the lowlands around their homes, but hatchlings and lower caste drakes are known to feed also on certain of moss and fungi they cultivate deep in their caverns. The only technology drakes value is armour- and weapon-smithing, and neither know or need other science and culture besides this. However the few implements they do fashion are almost unrivaled in quality, only matched by those produced in the finest Dwarven foundries.

Drakes are hatched from eggs and usually live naturally between 20 to 30 years. Death in battle is the most preferred way for a drake to leave this world. Unlike the elder members of other races, drakes naturally grow more aggressive and reckless towards the ends of their natural lives, perhaps to help ensure their place in the heroic legends of their kind.

Geography

Drakes originate from the island of Morogor in the Great Ocean. However, since the island has been slowly sinking for centuries, and colonies of drakes have slowly spread to the Great Continent. Drakes tend make their homes in mountain caverns near volcanoes to protect their eggs, hatchings and forges. While drakes naturally prefer warmth, their internal fire is more than capable of sustaining them even in a relatively cold climate, a feature which has allowed them to populate even some of the mountains of the far north of the Great Continent.