Guide - Eodracs

Perhaps the oldest creation myth known comes from ancient Babylon.  It tells of the queen dragon goddess Tiamat, embodiment of the forces of chaos and associated with salt water, and her husband Apsu, associated with fresh water.  They were the parents of the Babylonian gods.  All went well until Apsu, disturbed by the rowdy youngsters, decided to kill them.  The gods got wind of this and killed Apsu and his advisor first.  Angered, Tiamat brought forth an army of demons to destroy her own offspring.   The young god Marduk faced down and killed Tiamat, creating the world from her carcass and becoming the king of the gods.  The image often associated with the dragon goddess Tiamat looks quite unlike the modern Western image of a dragon: it is a lion-bodied creature with leonine forepaws, eagle hindquarters,  and  feathered wings. (Some scholars debate this identification, insisting that she was a serpentine creature, but with chaos deities, anything is possible; indeed, some variations of the story hint that Tiamat was a shapeshifter.) In any event, the Bright Dreamer was intrigued by this unusual feathered dragon from the dawn of time, whatever its true identity.  Thus, the feathered dragon that may or may not be the creation goddess Tiamat became the loose basis for the Eodrac, or "dawn dragon."

Origins
Eodracs are a remnant species, dating from the earliest days after the formation of Tirialle from primordial Chaos.  Long extinct elsewhere in the world, a remnant population survived on an isolated land mass south of the Celestial Sea, known as Eoterra ("dawn earth"; see Tirialle Overview in the Skyhaven Library for more information.)  The last of these apparently died out roughly ten to fifteen thousand years ago in a natural disaster, possibly a massive volcanic eruption that killed the adults but merely buried existing egg clutches under layers of ash and mud.  About a century ago, treasure hunters exploring Eoterra (itself a mere rumor until two centuries ago) stumbled across buried eodrac eggs and "awakened" them, thus resurrecting the species.
In old legends, they were revered as gods or the offspring of gods, and no being of flesh and blood stood a chance against an angered eodrac.  Even the oldest surviving records, however, list them as having existed "in times long past," the information "passed down from ancestral generations."  Only fragments of largely undeciphered tablets tell of civilized beings coexisting with eodracs.
Though feathered, they are actually a form of early dragon, a fact confirmed by certain alchemical reactions. Some speculate that the eodrac (or a similar creature) also gave rise to early griffins, but it is impossible to confirm or deny evolutionary relationships in a magical land like Tirialle.  These eodracs are somewhat smaller than older species, comparable in size to modern Western dragons.

Habitat
Eodracs favor regions near saltwater, but will accept freshwater shores.  Much like griffins, they like cliffs and high perches, hunting from such vantage points or from the air.  They are also superb land hunters, stalking prey on foot when dense foliage or terrain makes air hunting difficult.  Eodracs are great swimmers, hunting in coastal waters, major rivers, and large lakes.  Some claim that males prefer freshwater and females saltwater, but, as it is difficult to tell an eodrac's gender by sight, nobody can be certain if this is true.  Most mated pairs have territories including both.

Feeding
They feed on fish and sea creatures, and also large land animals or birds.  A hungry eodrac will prey on other sentient creatures, but only if no other food is readily available.  Unusually for dragon relations, eodracs tend to kill and carry prey with their raptorlike hind feet, using the front feet for stabilizing and fine motor functions and their teeth primarily for defense and eating.  They hunt by sight and scent for the most part.  Their brow and face whiskers are also sensitive to electrical fields generated by living things, able to penetrate even magical camoflage in close proximity.

Life Cycle
Because they have only been recently observed in the wild, not much is known of the eodrac lifestyle.  They appear to lead fairly solitary lives, except for mated pairs.  Females only lay fertile eggs every 25 years.  Eggs, in clutches of eight to twelve, are laid in rocky hollows, watched over by the parents.  The eggs initially have a leathery shell, but as the embryo matures, this turns into a tough, glittering, gemstone-like exterior with peculiar magical properties.  Eggs have no set incubation time; once the embryo is grown, it enters a state similar to suspended animation.  Time itself doesn't seem to penetrate the eggshell, enabling the young to survive for centuries if conditions are not conducive to hatching.  While in this state, they receive their species' genetic memories in the form of dreams and visions.  While the immature eodrac brain is incapable of tapping into these advanced ideas, it is in the egg that the memories are first imprinted for later recall, and it is an essential experience for the developing young.  Eodracs hatched out too soon never become anything more than subsentient monsters, and are killed by their parents or siblings.  Parents keep the eggs buried under a thin layer of leaves, feathers, sticks, sand and/or earth to prevent premature hatching.   When they determine the time to be right, the adults clear off the sheltering debris and bring several fresh kills to the hollow.  Exposure to sunlight and blood (signaling the presence of warmth, air, and food) causes the egg to hatch, releasing a ravenous and initially savage creature.
Young eodracs frequently finish off more than one of their siblings during their early life - of the initial clutch, only about half of the hatchlings survive - and do not develop any sort of self-control or spark of sentience until they about a year old.  Their parents fare by keeping the young walled into their hatching hollow, bringing back prey for the hungry brood but rarely staying longer than it takes to chuck the fresh food in.  As they grow, they recall more and more of their egg dreams, becoming more rational and of somewhat calmer mind as the genetic memories take root.  By the time they are five years old, they are wandering freely, and by 10 they are gone from the hatching hollow for good.  There is little bond between parents and young, save a certain formal respect given by younger eodracs to their elders.  Eodracs are also less likely to chase their own offspring out of their territories, so long as there is enough food to go around.  Since they all inherit the same genetic memories (though with varying degrees of conscious recall), adult eodracs usually see each other as equals, with few exceptions.  The exceptions are those eodracs who fail to live up to the codes and ethics inherited through their genetic memories, such as those who betray friends or kill for sport or consort with dark mages.
Eodracs do not learn to fly until they reach maturity, at age 50.  Long before then, they develop amazing agility and speed on land, in water, in trees, and even climbing sheer stone with their powerful legs and talons.  Even as adults, they are as likely to be found hunting by land or sea as by air.  For long trips, they are as likely to walk or swim as fly.  Since the species has only been revived for barely a century, no one can say for sure what an eodrac's natural lifespan or growth potential is, but old records hint that they can live for thousands of years, growing perpetually.

Culture
Females are the dominant gender.  When mature, they establish presentation areas, sometimes called "parade grounds," where they entertain male callers.  Several females often share a presentation area, though each claims a section as their own.  Bachelor male eodracs come to the presentation area bearing impressive items (shells, jewels, flowers, even carved wood, ivory or bone, as eodracs are known to be decent craftsbeings) as presents, and will sometimes sing or recite verses inspired by their shared genetic memories (which seem to include a great many epic high points in eodrac history) to woo their intended, but still often end up with some scars for their efforts; females often fight males in ritualized combat as part of the courtship process, and are known to kill rejected males who keep bothering them.  The female often takes years to make up her mind, playing potential suitors against each other, competing with other females for favorable presentation areas, and gathering a hoard of gifts from males in the meantime.  Once she selects a mate, however, all traces of selfishness and aggression vanish.  Only mated pairs of eodracs stake out permanent territories, and they show great loyalty to each other.  If one of a pair dies naturally, the other pines away shortly thereafter.  If one of them is killed, the remaining one goes violently insane, attacking everything it encounters until being killed.

Temperament
As one might surmise, eodracs can be quite difficult to deal with if approached improperly.  They are often proud, bordering on arrogant, and impatient with members of other species.  They have quick tempers and long memories for old injuries, but they are capable of affection and friendship.  It takes a long time to earn the trust of an eodrac, but once won, that trust will endure to the end (unless one is foolish enough to betray the eodrac, in which case the end is usually quite swift and painful for the offending party.) Eodracs, like dragons, are very strong fighters, highly endurant and extremely difficult to best in combat.  Their feathers are at least as strong as dragon scales, possibly stronger, but are much lighter and more flexible, giving an eodrac excellent maneuverability on land, sea, and air without compromising their defenses.  One can only be thankful that eodracs do not have the gift of spitting flames.

Magical Traits
Eodracs have powerful magic, but it is often only accessible on a subconscious level, usually when the eodrac is very emotional (angry, sad, or scared.) The results of eodrac magic can best be called chaotic.  Sometimes storms will rise, sometimes stones will split, sometimes trees will explode or the earth shake, or time twist backwards or forwards or sideways.  The eodrac itself rarely has control over what happens during these times, excepting that they are almost never harmed by these chaotic events they cause.  They do have some small stores of consciously-accessed magic, notably the gift of speech in all tongues and a certain amount of transformation and illusion magic that allows them to temporarily assume alternative forms.  For weaker or younger eodracs, this is merely an illusion cast on an observer's senses, but more powerful eodracs can actually shapeshift (within certain limits.)
Among eodracs, there are some known as "keepers" or "seers," who seek solitude in order to gain control of their magic.  They never take mates and rarely hold territories, living like hermits in remote areas in order to focus on their powers and self-control.  Only they have total, clear recall of their genetic memories, and it is they, through keen observations and unknown riturals, who maintain and add to this pool of shared knowledge.  They often "step aside from the world," and are thus almost never seen, existing in a place where distances and times have little meaning.  There are only a few eodrac seers alive (or "existing," as, after spending so long immersed in deep racial memory and chaos magic, it is difficult to say they truly live) at any given time, and the means by which new seers are called is entirely unknown.  They are revered by other eodracs, their names invoked as other races might invoke gods or ancestor spirits for help or protection.  All eodracs have some trace of precognition or clairvoyance, but it is unreliable and sometimes deceptive, easily corrupted by their own fears and desires and chaos itself.  Seers have a relatively clear view of time, "in all directions," as they put it, remembering with perfect clarity their species' past and seeing, with a fair degree of accuracy, a ways into the future (or "futures," as they are more likely to say.  Eodrac seers also occasionally refer to multiple pasts, but seem unwilling or unable to explain if this means they are "remembering" other timestreams or simply many perceptions of the same timestream.)
Much of their body is charged with powerful, chaotic magic that only a strong or foolhardy mage would even attempt to tap.  Eodracs have a primitive form of fireblood, the magical substance that allows dragons to fly, but eodrac fireblood never ignites into open flame on contact with air.  Eodrac eggshell fragments are stronger than steel and seemingly impermeable to even time, a promising ingredient for time-bending spells or suspended animation devices, but  they often crumble into powder at a slight touch.  Eodrac claws and horns can part solid stone as easily as parting water, but will also splinter or snap unexpectedly in light use (by non-eodracs, naturally.) Old records hint that eating an eodrac's heart will enable one to understand the language of any bird, beast, or being, a trait shared by presumably-extinct early dragon forms, but other records indicate that sometimes this will make the eater unable to speak except in animal cries, or make them deaf to their own kind... assuming the heart doesn't poison the eater outright.  Cloaks of eodrac feathers figure into many ancient legends, bestowing great magic and protection on their wearers... except when they don't, failing at critical moments in any given quest or disintegrating altogether.  Ultimately, chaos magic is best left to the experts, the eodracs and those few other species with blood-ties to the time of Chaos.  The risks never stopped ambitious beings from trying their hand at controlling chaos, though hunting eodracs was always described as an extremely dangerous activity with dubious rewards.  Through genetic memory, the resurrected eodracs have learned much about how to avoid detection and destroy would-be poachers.  Through the potency of chaos magic, sometimes the family and friends of poachers suffer terrible fates, as well.

Other Notes
Eodracs owe their resurrection as a species to the greed of mainland Tirialleans.  Treasure hunters exploring the "lost" land of Eoterra were the first to find their ash-covered nests.  Having no knowledge of ancient lore, they took the eggs for giant gemstones, thinking the hatching hollows to be traces of ancient mines or temples.  Fights over the "gems" provided more than enough blood to rouse the hatchlings.  Many treasure hunters ended up as the first meal for the hungry youngsters, which explains why word of the eodrac's revival took so long to reach official ears.  Those who survived the "discovery" were too busy finding food for their new charges (to prevent ending up like their less fortunate friends) to send for help.  Other hunters or explorers, curious as to why the first ships never returned, decided to investigate for themselves.  More than one of these found other eodrac egg clutches, and the cycle was repeated, until a small but viable population of eodracs was reawakened on Eoterra.  Even today, official observers still stumble across ash-buried eodrac egg clutches, but now they let the eodracs decide if and when to hatch the eggs.

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