Drocani
People of scales and tail, descended from the dragon Zul’ga and a human woman, who live on the slopes of the Dawn Range.
Appearance and traits
The Drocani are humans of altered essence, and the change shows across the whole body. The skin is covered in small, tight scales, harder than a human’s skin, in shades from brown to dark red depending on the family. They keep the dragon’s tail, long and thick, which they use for balance. The head is human in shape, with a dragon’s features. The nose is short and broad, with a rounded tip and forward-facing nostrils, like a muzzle that barely projects and does not deform the face. The mouth is a long, thin line without lips. The chin is angular, in a V, with a row of pointed scales along the jaw. The brows are heavy, the eyes amber, and the whole face is covered in scales. A crest of pointed scales runs from the skull to the nape. Their expressions read like anyone’s.
They live between 120 and 130 years, almost twice as long as a human.
Their essence leans toward fire. The gift is born in them as rarely as in other peoples, and a gifted Drocani casts no more magic than another. But fire is what comes easiest: a fire spell costs them fewer years of life than it costs a caster of another people. Every other spell they pay for like anyone. That is why many assume every Drocani can cast fire, and it is not so.
It takes a Drocani father and a Drocani mother to bring a Drocani into the world. If only one of the two is, the child is born human, with a few scale marks on the skin as the only trace. Essence tends toward its natural form, and a single bloodline is not enough to hold the change.
Society and culture
The Drocani live in small villages on the slopes of the Dawn Range, such as Ardal and Zul'gar. They speak Drocan. Some have also learned Vespertine, above all those who go down to trade at Albar, the nearest human town.
They are a traditional people, jealous of their customs, their rites and their history. The great human cities have no crowded Drocani populations, though they are not rare sights on the road. Some live in Vesper. Others, in Port Kaelen, have drifted from tradition, drawn by the pleasures of so free a city.
The pilgrimage
Every Drocani makes a pilgrimage to Mount Oruco at least once in a lifetime. In their tradition, the fire of the mountain is made of the essence of the ancient dragons, and it is there that prayers are offered to their souls.
The pilgrim climbs the slope and spends several days and nights sheltered in the rock, without food or drink. The fast is meant to purify the essence and leave it clean before the draconic essence. Whoever comes down has done their duty to their own.
History
The Drocani tell their origin this way. Among the ancient dragons lived Zul’ga, who fell in love with a human woman. To be with her, the dragon exchanged his form for that of a human. From that union the first Drocani was born, the fruit of two mingled essences. All the Drocani of Lumeria come from that line.
The dragons have been thought extinct for generations. A few fossils and the old legends remain. The Drocani say Oruco was their tomb: the dragons went there to die, and their essence, seeping through the rock, turned the mountain into a volcano. No one has confirmed or denied that the fire of Oruco comes from them.
Relations with other peoples
With humans they keep ordinary dealings, without much contact. The villages of the range lie far from almost everything, and at Albar they come down mostly to sell and to buy. Among the people of Vesper there are those who take it for granted that a Drocani can always light a fire, and ask for one. Almost none agree.