Races

Dracothar - by T.A. Saunders ©2010 v1.0

Racial Articles Hatred from Love: The Dracothar

Tashalasheeri was the start of it all. With the birth of the abomination, Aryxiar came the knowledge that inter-breeding between Dragon and mortal was possible…even successful to a point. Setting out to create an abomination was never Tasha's intention; her intense love for Hazaad had forced her to explore the depths of Draconic power and become the first Astral Wyrm to successfully shapeshift not with magic, but with sheer force of will. It was the only way Tasha could fool the other Wyrms and other Asyndi into believing she was actually an Asyndi, rather than a Dragon hidden by magic. But the advantages of her disguise became plainly obvious quickly and a coupling that was never meant to happen came to pass.

The knowledge of Draconic Shapeshifting has survived the ages and with it the knowledge that offspring can be produced while in humanoid form. Because Draconic Shapeshifting is an alteration of self, rather than a sorcerously imposed alteration, the genetic truth of the dragon is preserved. Because of this, the ability to create an offspring is fostered, though depending on the parents the results can be far different. When the mother is a dragon and the father is a humanoid, the result is a Dracothar.

It is important to make this distinction because a Dracothar is genetically only remotely similar to the much smaller and much more level-headed Dragonoid. Dracothar are hatched from the egg of their draconic mother and take three months to hatch, like a normal dragon egg and just like a normal Dragon clutch, there can be more than one Dracothar born, though most will die before they even hatch. This development time seems to address an issue of possible mental instability the Dracothar suffer, though so few Dracothar are ever born, it is difficult to make that determination accurately. There are also far more genetic mutations in in Dracothar, than Dragonoids as previously mentioned. Because of the greater Draconic influence, Dracothar are also cold-blooded, rather than warm-blooded as Dragonoids are; as such, they are often considered the true ‘Half-Dragons' by Dragons, rather than Half-Humans, they refer to Dragonoids as often.

Just with an alteration of parenting, drastic changes are made between the two sub-races, simply because neither was meant to exist in the world, hence there is a lack of genetic symmetry. Dracothar definitely got the short end of the stick in this regard; between their inclination to insanity and general dislike for the world around them, the Dracothar have an uphill battle if they ever care to be anything but a hated freak of nature. Some have overcome their short-comings under great adversity but these Dracothar number in the single digits in a sub-race that is thankfully quite small in population.

With so few Dracothar in the world, they are considered a rarity (or an aberration depending on your viewpoint) and none presently hold any positions of power on Imarel, nor have they organized in any fashion to represent themselves as a people. This has further enshrouded them in mystique, fear and curiosity as a race. Dracothar generally do not take mates, though there have been a few instances of Dracothar mating with each other, humanoid mates are simply too fragile for their bestial desires. No Dracothar has ever successfully mated with a Dragon that anybody knows of, nor is it known whether such a coupling could conceive a viable offspring.