Draian (aershaa)

Aershaa Breed: Draian
Purpleclaw, a standard male Draian.
Alliance:	Dreyborn
Variations:	None
Average Height:	2 1/2ft
Average Wingspan:	6ft
Regions:	Sereven, Sundast, Green Sundast regions, lower Jiskadar (particularly in the Urvaz region), Hasseran, Listhrea (rare)
Maximum Age:	90-100 Cycles
Temperament:	Highly varied
Diet:	Omnivorous
Magics:	Drey Magic, Animal Communication

Origins

In the 600th cycle of the Era of the Bonded (about 400 years ago), a pack of Airs and Stones was formed. It began with only two aershaa; mates that wished to change the world with the love they found with oneanother. This was during an era when Sunborn aershaa and Moonborn aershaa simply did not interact with one another. The division of the Safikhan religion was fierce, and threatened to destroy aerkind as it was known. The two aershaa, Raywind and Luaevat, had a dream to end the warring non-violently by showing what beautiful, strong pups could come by mixing the breeds. It came to pass that other airs and stones came to join them, the two breeds sharing similar traits of competition and a yearning to fly. it was unfortunate that their union and the ever-growing pack did not spread the message they so desired, and instead were outcast by Sunborn and Moonborn aershaa alike, until reaching the un-aershaa-populated rainforests of Sereven, where they made their home. Generations passed, breeding regulated strictly as Stone-to-Air, or Stoneair / Airstone hybrids, and soon strange features began to emerge. Pup were not growing to their full height, and manes were quickly lost. By the 9th generation of offspring, the Draian breed we know today was born, later named for their love of Mother Draiah.

210 cycles ago, during the War of Moon and Flame, the Draians had seen enough of the foolish battling between the Sunborn and Moonborn aershaa, sealing themselves into the rainforest behind a tightly woven barrier of trees and vines. It was not until 10 cycles ago that they finally re-emerged into the world that had forgotten them.

Overview

Size matters not in the case of a sharp, intelligent, swift Draian. Draians are the most "furrlike" or "humanlike" of the aershaa in their ways, from living in village settings, to their crafting industry, to their omnivorous diets. They have the greatest symbiotic relationship with furrkind as well, participating in their trading industry, exchanging crafts and foods with nearby villages and settlements. Their beliefs and folklore shape their entire society - it would be astounding to find a Draian that doesn't believe in anything, as they are surrounded by tales of gods and adventure right from birth.

Physique & Appearance

Draians are the smallest of aerkind (the next smallest being the Waters) with a short, bulky stature that is often mistaken for that of a pup by those whom have never encountered a Draian. Their front paws find themselves somewhere between hands and paws after several hundred years of development (we of Earth would call them "werewolf" paws), this leading the Draians to be the largest tool-users of the aershaa. They are not built for speed, short legs making this impossible, but make up for it with a high stamina that allows them to traverse greater distances than most aershaa on foot.

Coloration

Draians have both natural and vibrant colored varieties. They are most commonly found with a natural toned base (brown, grey, black, tan) and vibrantly colored markings.

Body

Markings & Wings

Flesh Tones

Claws

Draians have the same trait that Ices do, able to have claws of any color in desaturated tones. They say there were impure Stones with Ices in their ancestry among the founding fathers, which may have been the cause.

Tailblade

It's deceiving by the length of fur on their tails, but like most aershaa, Draian tails are as flexible as that of a cat. The three blades on the end of their tails are thus used as very precise carving instruments, moreso than they are used for defense, becoming one of their most valued built-in tools in a society that relies so heavily on craft and trade.

Flight

Draians have "bat-style" flight (on Dreyrull, this would be considered Drix-style), such as demonstrate in slow-motion here. The strokes are short and rapid, and gliding is primarily used to land or drop closer to the drey. With this, they are not much for long-distance flight, but the membrane is attached far enough down the leg to carry them over some distance and allow for gliding.

Sight

Draians are primarily diurnal, and so their night vision is fairly poor. Instead they have vision made for sharp details, particularly up-close. It isn't unheard of for a Draian who works at a close range frequently to develop poor vision. Allied furrs have been known to receive orders for specialized glasses that are fit to a Draian's headshape. Even so, if they run or take a tumble with them, they are likely to come off, so it is not often these are obtained unless they are particularly sedentary individuals.

Oddities

Standard Oddities

Draians are a mixture of Air and Stone breeds of aershaa, and often their offspring re-inherits their ancestors traits. Manes down their backs and spurts of feathers are occasionally found in Draian offspring.

Mixing Oddities

The Draian stature is a dominant gene, and so most, if not all Draian mixes will lose the height of the parent of another breed, either being the short 2 1/2 feet at the back that a Draian is, or somewhere in between the mother and father.

Temperament

Draians are particularly intelligent and curious, tending to investigate the world around them further instead of taking it at face-value. This doesn't mean they're not religious - the next section will show you that, indeed, they are - instead, they relate their findings to their Great Mother and Her ways. Likewise, they tend to be a very creative breed, going hand-in-hand with their natural ability to use their forepaws as hands.

It's rare that a Draian gets into a conflict, outside of hunting, as they are primarily a peaceful breed. They would rather work out a mutual solution to a problem, or agree to disagree, then waste precious time arguing that they could be studying the world or diving into something more creative.

This being said, Draians are one of the few breeds that will venture into furr society to both trade and study. It is not unheard of for a Draian to be able to read. Writing on the other hand is very infrequent, as they prefer to pass knowledge by word of mouth. Though they may be studious, they're also very social, and the idea is that, if they wrote everything down, what would there be to tell that evening?

Habitat

Draians have grown acclimated to the warmth and humidity of the tropics, prefering the massive rainforest of Sereven to anywhere else on the Drey. This doesn't mean that they don't exist elsewhere - Draians have also been found wandering the planes of Hassava in Hasseran, and on the rarest of occasions, various forests around the world. They do not do well in cold weather, so Draians living outside of Sereven tend to migrate south to their homeland for the winter, if at all possible.

Culture & Religion

Religion

Draians are so named for their love of Mother Draiah, one of the central dieties of the aershaa lore. To the Draians, Mother Draiah is a great spirit who flows through all things. She is the reason flowers bloom and the giver of life to all living creatures, as well as where the life returns once it has finished on the surface. Draiah's domain is, to them, a paradise on a plane deeper than the underdrey, unreachable no matter how far one digs, guarded by Time himself. Time is present in the Draian's beliefs as it is in most Dreyrullian belief systems - He is Draiah's great messenger, carrying the souls of the dead back to the Great Mother and returning the flesh of the lost ones to the energy that flows through all. For this reason, Draians practice burying their dead, so that the flesh can return to the energies that flow through the drey.

Familiars

Draians do not believe in bonding like other aershaa do. Though they respect the other breeds of aershaa that do hold bonds, they believe that to truly be close to Mother Draiah, she must be their one and only "bond." Instead they run with familiars, serving as their connection to the Great Mother. It is between the first and fifth cycle of age that they have a coming of age journey to find the familiar that will guide them in Mother Draiah's ways. On rare occasions, an individual will have more than one of a single species that choose to follow and guide them. This journey is much like ancient vision quests of Earth, where the individual travels alone and fasts in the wilds until a creature or great vision comes to them and they learn a great lesson. In the case of the Draians, they await and / or seek out a particular creature, one which typically first arrives in the form of dreams. It is when the Draian begins to have "famiil" dreams that they are said to be ready for their journey.

Attire

Yes - attire! Draians are the only item-wearing aershaa, decorating themselves in woven vines, beads, feathers, and bones. A Draian who's familiar has passed away will wear sometheir of theirs on their person, such as a bone or feather. A female Draian who has found a mate would have a bright blue feather somewhere on her person, as part of the mating ritual of a male Draian is to present his heart's desire with the best blue feather he can find (much in the way an engagement ring works in the real world.) A second blue feather indicates that they are mated with pups.

Death

A fallen Draian is given a decorative ceremony. Much like the bonedust pyre ceremony of the airs, the fallen one's body is fed to the giant ants of the rainforest, though the ants of Sereven will leave the bones behind. While the rest of the bones remain to be buried by the wild, the skull is removed on the following sun to be elaborately painted, placed in a collective shrine to the dead, a comparatively large mud-hutch near their regular dwellings that house the skulls of the previous fallen. Family and friends will offer the spirits of their food, leaving fruits and meats to sit in the moonlit hours for the dead to feast upon as a final feast before they return to the Great Mother, before feasting on the foods by the next sunrise in their honor, faces painted similarly in the ways the skulls are painted. Likewise, they believe the other spirits of the fallen whom have not moved on in the cycle will return to celebrate with them, carrying their comrade into the afterlife at the sun's highest pique.

Dwellings

Draians do not live in dirt dens or stone caves like other aershaa do. Instead, they build complicated huts of mud, clay, stones, and twigs, weaving them solid with lumivine and other vines as a source of structure and light. Draians tend to live in large villages of their own kind, much like furrs do, cooking their food and spending their days creating and trading craft. Furrs seek out these rare villages specifically for their rare carvings, dried meats, beading, and other unusual goods.

Breeding

Draians are a souldancing breed. In a mizpup, if Draian is the dominant breed (the body type), they will age as Draians do. If the other parent is the dominant body type, however, they will age as a normal aershaa. Light x Draian mixes are unique in that, no matter which side is the dominant breed, they age like normal aershaa, yet will live to be approximately 100 cycles old.

Common Mates: Draian, Stone, Air, Fire, Light

Uncommon Mates: Water

Rare Mates: Dark, Ice, Storm

Incompatible With: Barren

Tame Draians

Draians are new to the tame world, called "Terra" or "Terrapups" by most of mankind. They are popular as companions and showla alike, valued for their size and wide variety, as well as their unique dual-type wings. Since Draians have not been exposed to the human world long enough to be raised by hand, adults are only ever captured from the wild, and in most cases, must be erased to be properly tamed. Only pups so far have been successfully raised tame, and it will be many long years to come before they reach adulthood. A Draian's slow rate of growth makes them highly valued as "designer" aershaa, as they are small, young-minded, and entertaining for young, wealthy children.

Naming

Draian naming is very similar to Water naming, but not quite the same. They have descriptive tribal names of one or two words, usually covering their appearance or talent.

Examples:

• Runningwind
• BlackSpot
• White Fang
• Snakebite

Until they have reached an age where their personalities and talents begin to blossom, they do not have a name of their own, instead referred to as Son-of-(Father's Name) or Daughter-of-(Mother's Name)

Growth & Aging

Draians grow much differently than other aershaa with a much longer lifespan. They age much like most furrs and all humans do once they reach puphood (as their newborns grow into intelligent pups quite quickly - within the first moon [month].)

<1 Cycle	Pup
2-17 Cycles	Youth*
18-30 Cycles	Young Adult
31-50 Cycles	Adult
51-65 Cycles	Older Adult
66-100 Cycles	Elder

*Often referred to as a pup until in their teens.

Magics

Draians have two completely separate types of magic.

Drey Magic

Draians can control the essence within plant matter, causing it to grow rapidly or move freely, as well as being able to harness the essence of plant matter for healing and the use of its light (such as in lumivine). This is both a defensive magic, an offensive magic, a ritualistic display, and a means of building strength and structure to their denhouses.

Minor Psy-Magic

Draians have the unique ability to understand the tongues of other creatures. Though it is considered a magic, there is no display of anything magical, and thus could simply be a talent of the mind. While some Draians can communicate with all creatures - treasured, talented individuals called Leratongues - most Draians will only specialize in a certain species, such as snakes, myu'saa , or drix. It is this same bond between Draian and animal (or famiil, as they are called in their dialect) that births unusually sharp intelligence to the creature. They remain within the mindset of their species, thinking about what matters most to, say, a snake, but able to hold conversations, solve complex problems, and understand more in context that is typically restricted to a sentient, social creature.

Ostrydeo 23:10, August 28, 2012 (UTC)