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In medieval heraldry and art, dragons were often
depicted with hairy tufts and undersized, ribbed wings. They
also were sometimes shown smaller than the modern mind conceives of
a dragon. Miniature drakyns, as depicted here, are original
creations, based on medieval images of dragons.
Resemblance to other dragonlike creatures is coincidental.
Origins
Drakyns originated in
Zakotansett, the continent across the Goldenwave Ocean to the east of
Tirialle. Though they appear vaguely similar to dragons and drakes -
"drakyn" is a timeworn corruption of the original
"drake-kin" - they are not considered to be related, but what they
are related to is a mystery. They were domesticated long ago, used as
watch animals and, increasingly, as simple housepets. Wild drakyns
never grow larger than a large canine. The miniature drakyn is a domestic
creation, similar to the modern dog or cat, sized closer to the latter
creature.
Habitat
Wild drakyns live in
the brushy hills and mountains of Zakotansett.
Drakyns like brushlands, hills, and forest fringes. Despite their
vague resemblance to dragons, they are, in fact, mammals. Their dense fur protects them from the brambles amid which they live.
Feeding
Drakyns wild and domestic are obligate carnivores, requiring meat in their
diet. They are effective hunters of small animals and birds, and also
will snatch fish from pools, lakes, and streams, protected by their dense
waterproof fur and using their wings to help them swim. Miniature
drakyns are less skillful hunters than their wild kin, but still require a meat-based diet.
Life Cycle
Drakyns are
often solitary, save mated pairs, but sometimes form small groups, called
ranges, in the
wild. This is more common in the harsher parts of their natural
habitat, where a
group may bring down larger game and huddle together against chill
temperatures at night. These ranges are usually made up of mated
pairs, each loyal to their own partner. Drakyns are territorial, but the borders shift
annually, especially when young drakyns reach maturity in springtime and
begin asserting themselves. Domestic drakyns also have territorial
instincts, but so long as they are happy and well-fed will usually tolerate
other drakyns. Dominance and territory disputes are settled by
ritualized fights, in which the combatants flare and thunder their wings
(flapping them rapidly to produce a thunderlike noise), and rise on their
hind legs, comparing height. Only after this fails to settle a dispute
does actual combat occur. Males and females usually mate for life and often walk
together, but when the mother is raising young kits the male often stays
away from her, patrolling the borders of their territory and not returning
until a few months pass, when the kits are starting to explore the
land. Kits are born in litters of two to five in spring to early
summer. Their horns, claws, back spines, and wings, absent at birth,
develop as they mature over two years, as does their coloring.
Naturally, domestic specimens show a broader range of colors and patterns
than their wild kin. Both parents help raise the young, and, in
ranges, all adults cooperate to raise the kits. Once
they reach maturity, at about three to four years of age, the kits leave the home territory in search of their
own land and a mate. Drakyns live for twenty to thirty years in the
wild. Domestic drakyns have lived for over fifty years.
Temperament
Domestic drakyns can come across as indifferent, but can and will form
strong emotional bonds. They do not like being smothered with
attention, though, nor will they take abuse. They are subsentient, but
not stupid creatures, and can be trained by the patient owner who uses
praise instead of punishment. As pets, they are clean creatures,
requiring minimal grooming or other special considerations, but, like any
pet, they must learn the house rules if they are to be a good
companion.
Magical Traits
Drakyns show a noted distaste for dark magic and
demons. They are especially sensitive to the so-called
"infectious" class of dark magic, the demonic essences that
produce possessions, vampirism, dark lycanthropy (which causes involuntary
shapeshifting into a vicious and often mutated werebeast, as opposed to true
lycanthropy, which is natural and usually controllable), and other such
maladies in otherwise normal beings. This is probably the main reason
drakyns were originally domesticated; in ancient
times, entire cultures were wiped out by epidemics of infectious dark magic
diseases, and even today it remains a serious threat in remote areas where modern detection and protection systems are unavailable.
Beings infected by dark magic essences often hate or fear drakyns, as well,
so any crime against a pet drakyn is taken especially seriously. If a drakyn growls at a visitor, thundering their wings or displaying other
aggressive behavior, it is probably a not a good idea to let that visitor in
the house, especially if the drakyn has been friendly to them before.
Domestic drakyns are used by some healers to diagnose patients suspected of
having a dark magic disease, and charms made of wild drakyn fur are said by
some to repel lesser demons. Both wild and domestic drakyns are immune to
almost all infectious
dark magic diseases; the few they are susceptible to are so nasty as to be
almost immediately lethal.
Other Notes
Their
wings, too weak to permit flight, are used to communicate with
other drakyns and are displayed during courtship and dominance or territory
disputes. It is thought that whatever extinct race gave rise to them
was capable of powered flight, as modern drakyns display vestigal flight
characteristics; many of their bones are semi-hollow, and they have
remnants of the keeled breastbone that would anchor flight muscles.
Miniature drakyns, like most domestic animals, are not
their wild cousins; if abandoned in the wilderness, they fare poorly,
rarely living for more than a few years as feral creatures. Sadly,
colonies of abandoned drakyns are not uncommon in larger cities.
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