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D.a.L : World
🕑 Added 2019-06-08 10:44:27 +0000 UTC
The Dragon and the Lemur is a fantasy webcomic happening in a made-up world, however, much of it parallels to our own and the things we have. In fact, references to Pop Culture may appear from time to time and familiar places might exist. Overall, it's necessary to understand that geographically it is a different world, in a different galaxy or even universe without any true relation to our own, but uses elements of our own world in order to make it easier to follow.
The Three Races are the three known races that in a way are evolutionally interconnected on D.a.L's world and exist within it and all the planes of existence of it. They don't represent the sentient races since the Animal Race does not possess sentience, and this characteristic exists only within the Humanoid Race and the Human Race.
Animal Race
The Animal Race came into existence before all other races and evolution into the other races came from them. Very much like our own world, life came from very small particles and grew into multicelular beings, however, the dinosaurs never existed neither there was a time when a meteor hit the planet and killed all the dinosaurs. Instead, small mammals appeared right besides the small reptilians and small birds that became what we all know nowadays.
Human Race
Humans came from animal primates very much like us, and they grew to become the most rational species, specialized in advancement and growth, expansion and progress, development and reason; as such, they grew to control most of their biological instincts and their nature making them the peak of evolution and sentience. But this specialization in the brain and mind caused a lack of specialization in everything else. With the rush of genetic evolution, good physical qualities they could have acquired were lost such as olfaction, vision, motor skills and even body structure. Their lost their connection to the planet, their ability to relate to it and use the energy it offered as well, and in order to user that they depended on Humanoids - however, with technological growth, they stopped focusing on such.
They live for about 85 years and tend to be very racist towards others different from them. They tend to live in communities with vast social networks, and have accepted Humanoids they deem less dangerous to live with them as a community, but even so they often show much discrimination towards them. Humans are capable of interbreeding with Humanoids, creating hybrids that are not fertile, and Humanoid magic works quite well on Humans.
Humanoid Race
Humanoids were a second evolution that came from the Animal Race as well, but as they are the youngest of the three races, they are less developed and closer to their animal ancestors. They have all the skills the human body has plus the animal skills that their animal ancestor had (agility, speed, among others), creating a mix that makes them quite perfect physically. However, they lack perfection of the mind: Humanoids do not develop on their own. They don't have this ability, though they do have the ability o learn when taught. By watching Humans grow or watch how various different animals act or even watch other Humanoid species, they are capable of making up their own societies and culture, often mixing the Three Races in order to get better. Whatever is created, the Humanoid can grab and use for their own benefit (even when Humans rejected it for some reason) and while this is an amazing ability (to recycle and to reuse for themselves) they still needed it all to be created first.
Humanoids are quite similar to animals because they aren't able to control their instincts and need to be taught, however, they are an evolution as they can rationalize and still grow (even with help) and they have specialized their body much better than humans or animals. One important thing is that they changed their body so much and are so in tune with the planet, that it allows them to perform feats that no human or animal can do, such as magic or transformation. As such, they went even further in their genetic development and three subraces were formed: Regular Humanoids, Irregular Humanoids and Mythological Creatures.
- Regular Humanoids
Regular humanoids look like humans with animal features (like ears, eyes, tail, claws, teeth), and they have a secondary form (some say it's primary because they are born with this form), which is basically the form of an animal with no human characteristics what so ever. They can switch forms as they please, from humanoid to animal, and any humanoid with this ability is called "Regular". As such, this animals like Dragons, Sleipnir, Pegasus, Unicorns, Griffins, Chimeras, Basilisks, Piasa Bird, Phoenix, Hippogryph, Hippocampus, who many would say they would be mythological creatures.
Their genetics is pretty similar to humans but it has some of the complementary animal's genetics (the animal they can transform to), but physiologically speaking, these humanoids are more alike to animals, especially when it comes to their instincts and even reproduction - they tend to join with their own specimen and create societies among themselves, though it IS known for them to be able to interbreed with humans AND animals (and create infertile hybrids). Though there are many living in human cities along with humans, they still create their own rules and culture within those cities and it's normal for them to live in specific districts or streets where humanoids of the same species live. Humans often allow them to make their own small society inside the city walls, as long it does not interfere with the human law and rules and society. - Irregular Humanoids
Irregular Humanoids are very much like anthropomorphic animal. Instead of looking like a human with animal features and then being able to turn into an animal, Irregulars do not have two forms and instead look like a fusion of the two. Many say Irregular humanoids are a fluke in the genetic tree, however, through the years many more started to appear and as such they are now considered an Evolution: these types of Humanoids evolved enough to join both humans and animals characteristics in one form only.
This provides them more strength (they have the human strength plus the animal), adapt easily - either in cities, either natural habitat -, stronger against natural factors (and humans), between many others. They can breed with Humans, Humanoids and Animals, and they are able to create FERTILE hybrids. They are also much more in control of their instincts and biology and they seem to be able to develop without the need to have something created first: they can create on their own.
For this reason, and also for their amazing adapting abilities, they are rejected by both humans and humanoids and they are rarely seen in human cities. - Mythological Humanoids or The Fairy Folk
Mythological creatures are actually all humanoids and this SubRace is actually just a way to classify what most don't know how to classify. It includes any Humanoid that, even when turning into their animal form (IF they have an animal form) still have human characteristics, and it also includes any Humanoid that simply looks "too weird" or "makes little sense". Humans created this Sub Race and honestly, no one really knows much about them because they were all banned 9000 years ago during the Human Take Over and most of them moved to other plane of existence. As such, they became stories and folklore, and most say they do not exist. This includes Demons, Angels, Nagas, Centaurs, Elves, Fairies, Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins, Harpies, Ghosts, Gargoyles, Tree Ents, Zombies, Vampires, Trolls, Titans, Sphinxes, Satyrs, Ogres, Mermaids, Medusas, Manticors, Imps, Hobbits, Leprechauns, Cyclops, Bigfoot, Minotaurs among other species
It's true that while everyone seems to depend very much on Humans, the Human Race is not the main race. Human is a fast-growing species in every way and the number of Humans increases exponentially while their inventions and science seem to become more and more dangerous. That's where the Humanoid role is important; nature states that Humans are the Humanoid's prey. No matter how hard the Human tries to change this, the Humanoid has always managed to keep equilibrium and a natural balance by preying on the Human, thus keeping their numbers relatively stable. While many argue this point, it's known that the Humanoid can't live without the Human, and the Human will not be able to find a balance without the Humanoid. And as for animals, they are what keep the planet healthy and with diversity, actually having a role in the evolutionary tree. As such, this tree has a perfect balance, however, wars and disasters often change this and if it continues to happen, more disaster will come. The Human, thinking of themselves as the apex predator, the Humanoid thinking they are an independent race with no relation towards the Human, the both ignoring the existence of the Animal Race. This sort of mentality will only bring forth disaster.
The world of D.a.L is set on a planet that doesn't really have a set name. It's often simply called "World" or "Earth", but there is no true consensus about it because each species calls it whatever they wish. It's not known how old is the planet, however scientists claim it's around 4,5 billion years (the same rough age as our Earth).
The course of history, however, is very different from our own. It's not known how the World was created, however Big Bang theory exists. Pretty much like what happened to us, scientists defend it all started with a small unicellular being and from there everything else grew. The Animal Race was the first to come, and both Human Race and Humanoid Race are branches of the Animal Race. While genetics show this to be true, it's still only a theory in some aspects - if Humanoids came from Humans or the Animal sis still debatable in scientific communities.
The history of the planet is very hard to follow. Pre-history (a time when there was no recorded history) lasted from the beginning of the world to around 8000 years before the Year 0, and to know what happened during that time, they use fossil evidence. Evidences show that unicellular life first appeared around 4 billion years ago, and multicelular life came to existence 3 billion years ago, and most multicelular beings existed in the ocean - from there, they went to the land and this is where history differs a lot from our own: there were no dinosaurs. The land animals appeared eventually followed by land plants but #Dinosaur period" was never there; reptiles, fishes, birds, insects and all sort of animals started to appear without the need of the known extinction event of the dinosaur times.
As such, this makes the Animal Race in the D.a.L world, as well as the Human Race, a lot older than ours. If we compare, the Humanoids would be the ones about the same age as Humans of our world.
After the Humanoid came to existence around 200,000 years ago, everything became dark. These are called the Dark Centuries, and they are blamed on the Human. While there was much evidence gathered before the Year Zero and the Human Take-over, once the humans begun ruling the planet, they eradicated all evidence of the Dark Centuries, thus making it even harder to know what happened then.
Human Take-over
The Human Take-over or the Human domination was a worldwide event in which the Human race joined together and decided to attack and ban all the humanoids they deemed dangerous and who were stronger than Humans. This process took many years and violent wars that desolated the lands that humanoids greatly depended on. This helped with their downfall due to the lack of resources to continue the war, but the fact that Humans are especially proficient at development and growth, they were quite capable of using little resources to build amazing technology during the war.
In the end, the Humans won and expelled whoever they considered a threat, mostly to the south and the north of the world, leaving the productive and full lands of the center world for the humans and all the humanoids they accepted by their side.
The Human rule begun completely after the war was over and that was considered the Year Zero. They created the calendar that is now used across the planet and before the year Zero, they considered those times called "During the Old Ages" and after Year Zero, they called "Post Old Ages".
Another big change was the ban of all religions created During the Old Ages, mostly as a response to the Holy Wars that occurred during the Human Take-Over.
Holy Wars
The Holy Wars occurred during the Human Take-Over, over 9000 years ago. While humans were claiming dominance over the land and chased away any dangerous Humanoid, other kind of wars begun to arise. Some related to species, even gender or culture, but the bloodiest and the longest subject to be fought over was primarily justified by differences in religion.
At the time, the most popular religion was the "Old Religion of the Ancient Gods" which defended and believed that all was created by the two main Gods, Kimi-I and Kimi-E, and their siblings, the Animal Gods. Many other religions existed, often called Pagan, and as the tension grew, new religions begun to appear in response to that. In the end, there were so many that each begun to suffocate the other and it all culminated with violent encounters between believes, especially the ones from the old religion (often called fanatics) which only left them to be massacred.
As human rule became stronger and more established in the land, the Holy Wars were ceased through the ban of all religions, including the Old Religion. Laws were created so all religions prior to this decision were to be considered pagan and untrue and any practitioner and worshiper of false idols would be punished. But new religions created were allowed to use elements of the ancient religions with the exception of the Old Religion due to its strong belief in humanoid revolution and emancipation, but also due to its fanaticism.
Technology: Human side
Technology in D.a.L borrows many real-life scientific and technological concepts and you can assume that they are as advanced as we are. This is all thanks to the Human Race, which is considered a race that specializes in development and growth, and once they managed to spread all around the globe, they were able to spread their technology worldwide. Unlike our planet, there aren't less developed countries and all human stands with the same type of progress, even though they might show different aesthetics.
Environment: Humanoid side
While the Human Race followed a technological path, depending on palpable things they have built, the Humanoid Race does not show this inclination. While a large part of the Humanoids are allowed to live among humans and to take part of this expansion, humanoid nature is not as rationalized as human nature; they rely on instincts and they rely on what is given to them or what they can grab - instead of building. As such, Humanoids are known for not being able to develop, unless they are taught or are watching Humans. However, they are much more in tune with nature and the world itself, and thus they take more advantage of what the world offers - this includes magic and understanding of the nature around them.
Calendars were first created by the Humans during the Human Take-Over. Years are dated "Post Old Ages" or "During the Old Ages" depending if it happened before or after the Year Zero. Time in this world is very much like our own: years, months, days, all the same as our regular western calendar. The day has 24 hours, an hour has 60 minutes, a minute has 60 seconds, and so on.
In order to follow the days on D.a.L comic, you can use a 1995 calendar. It's currently the Year 8902 (for everyone's personal reference, Hakakku and Chain met on the 14th January).
Magic is a form of energy and this energy comes from the world itself. There are two variants of magic, genetic magic (or hereditary) and acquired magic. Magic is not exclusive to Humanoids, but Humans are unable to use it due to their fast growing disconnect from their instincts and what made them more animal, thus what made them more in tune with the planet. If a Human does eventually manage to reach back to their roots, it is possible for them to have magic, but as Humans grew, they eventually stopped using it and relied on technology instead.
Genetic magic
Genetic magic is inherent to a specific species (of Humanoids) or to a specific family branch (for example, Blue Magic Genes). Members thereof can access their magic on their own will as long they have enough connection to the world that allows them to reach for the energy required, and as long they have enough training to control this energy. Spells are usually used by magic users in order to enhance or control their power.
Acquired magic
Acquired magic is what you'd call "magical things". It requires a specific physical recipient (artifacts) that will gather the magical energy the planet offers in order to make it work. As such, it doesn't need someone with magic genes (genetic magic) or someone to be in tune with the planet to work - anyone, with magical powers or not, can use these artifacts. However, they need to be created by people who are capable of performing magical feats. Potions are included in this.
Blue Magic
Blue Magic is a special king of magic that belongs under "Hereditary magic", meaning that the ability to create and master is must be passed down genetically through the Blue Genes. This magic is blue in color and often takes the form of a special element depending on its user - Ice dragons create "Blue Ice" and fire dragons create "Blue Fire", but it"s unknown the extent of this magic due to how rare the users are.
Blue Magic is related to the Old Religion of the Ancient Gods and the users are said to have the power to become the keys that ought to bring the end of the world. This magic is considered, by the believers and followers of the Old Religion, to be living proof that this religion and the Gods are real and due to such the Blue Magicians have been killed during the Holy Wars (in which each religion fought in order to become the "true religion").
Because of this bloody past, Blue Magicians remained hidden or did not tell their descendants which lead the genes to be forgotten among the genetic pool. As such, Blue Magicians are rare, often considered just legends or bad memories.
It's usual for each Humanoid species, Human, clan, kingdom, city, to have their own religion. Very much like our world, there are many different ones and they choose to believe in whatever they want to believe, as long it has no relation to the Old Religion.
Currently, there are over 200 religions in D.a.L World, the biggest one called Aaretoneism.
Aaretoneism
Is the religion with most followers in D.a.L World and it's Hakakku's religion.
"Aarton" means "infinite" or "lacking borders". This religion is primarily followed by humans but preached by Elves for it is based on Elven Life circle that involves the river of Souls. It's said that all souls are created in this river, a timeless and border-less place in a different plane of existence, where all can be reborn and only very specific elves have access to it. Because of this, there is no concept of Heaven or Hell, but the concept of reincarnation instead. In order for a soul to be reincarnated faster, they ought to have lived a good life while alive, following basic principles of morality and fairness.
Trakastish
Is the most popular religion among dragons and it's Liorn's primary religion. It's a dragon centered religion, and ignores any other non-dragon creatures.
Katish is the prophet dragon, who flew high above the clouds where he heard the mighty roar of the Dragon God, Bishlow. Through his roar he became familiar with the rituals that a dragon had to undergo in order to fall into Bishlow's grace and with those rituals and practices, a dragon would be able to live a decent life. Once a dragon dies, Bishlow will accept the soul and they will become one of Bishlow's dragons (Dragons of Sky, Earth, Water and Core), depending where the Dragon God sends them to: the skies, the land, the sea or the underground. The Dragons will then form the world around everyone - this means they turn into clouds, trees, mountains, rivers, oceans and everything you can see. In other words, the whole world is made from dragon souls.
There is no concept of punishment but there is the concept of reward after death, which is what a dragon desires. A dragon that is deemed unworthy of joining Bishlow's dragons, won't be chosen by Bishlow and will head to the River of Souls in order to be reincarnated.
Old Religion of the Ancient Gods
After the Holy Wars, laws were created by the Humans so all religions prior to this event were to be considered pagan and untrue and any practitioner and worshipper of false idols would be punished. However, Humans allowed for new religions to be created freely, and allowed them to use elements of the ancient religions with the exception of the Old Religion due to its strong belief in humanoid revolution and emancipation, and also due to its fanaticism.
As it has been banned for over 9000 years, many do not know of its existence however, the first scripture state something along these lines:
The world was created by two Gods, Kimi-E and Kimi-I, who filled it with life. Animals were the First Race, lacking intelligence and unable to rationalize. From them, specifically the monkeys, the Human Race rose, and eventually, the Humanoids followed. This was a difficult task, so the Gods called their brothers for help and together they all created Paradise.
Humanoids kept changing, and three different sub-races were created: Mythological, Irregular and Regular humanoids. But the Human felt jealous; why did the Humanoids have the grace of becoming more and better, while the Human didn't? The obvious answer was that Humanoids cared for nature, while the Human waited for them to care. They didn't enjoy Gods' gifts, the sun, the water, the air...
But still, the Gods loved the humans very much and decided to give them a gift: the power of evolution, so they could help to make the Paradise grow.
All as equals, all together, they could keep that Paradise.
This religion defended that both Humans and Humanoids were very necessary for the balance of the world, but showed how selfish the Human Race was. After the Human Take-Over begun, believers furthered the story to say that the jealous human rejected Paradise out of their own selfishness and that the Humanoid continued to be under the grace of Gods. As such words would inciter humanoids against Humans, this religion is completely banned from the world, with also support from Humanoids since they associate it with extremism.
The last known scripture states:
And even if they were more than the skies and even if they had the Gods' grace, Humanoids fell - and the Human became the new rule. That unfair rule.
Decided on keeping things that way they exiled any Humanoid that could represent a threat to them, and they forgot the Gods because they wanted to be the most powerful ones. And Humanoids forgot the Gods because they blamed them for creating the selfish Human.
This is a tale of many centuries.
Unlike our world, in D.a.L's world, languages are inherent to any sentient animal. Each species has its own language, which can be learned by creatures of any other species. As geographical locations change, accents and certain expressions do too, but each being knows and understands the language of their species, and this includes the Human Race as well.
This mother tongue does not need to be taught and as they reach the two or three years of age (depending on the species), they are capable of speaking it natural. Humanoids are able to speak it not only in their humanoid form, but also their animal form, but it's necessary to remember that animals do not speak and as such, they cannot communicate with them through speech.
Humanese, the Human language, is the third largest language by number of native speakers, since human population spreads across the globe and lives even in Humanoid areas. However when combining human and non-human speakers, it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, since Humans have taught Humanoids to speak it. It's believed Humanese was the first language to be taught to other species other than Humans, and that was a path for Humanoids to teach their own languages to others as well.
The first language by number of native speakers is Rathneed (Rat's language) and Rabbish (Rabbit's Language). Catteen is the Cat language (Hakakku's) and Dragontee is the dragon's language (Chain's).
Humanoid species close phylogenetically (Rats and Mice, for example) usually understand each other languages easily. They do not need to learn the other language because the two are very similar in their essence. However, no Humanoid can understand Humanese if not taught; the only language close to Humanese is the "Ancient Language" which is said to be the language of the gods of the Old Religion, and as such it is banned. Currently, there is no known speaker of the "Ancient Language".
As for the alphabet, all languages use the same symbols even if they write different words, so all have the same writing system - exception to this is the Ancient Language, Demoniac, Angelic and Kizee Clan (who are lions, who do speak Lionees like all the other lions, but however, have different writing symbols). The alphabet must be taught. No human or Humanoid is born knowing how to write.
In D.a.L's world media is rather important because they connect the whole world. There are no different countries, and as such there is no such thing as "National Television". All Television is worldwide, and there are thousands of networks with thousands of different channels, all of them can be acquired by cable. As for Public TV, there are in total 8 channels, four directed to the Humans, three directed to the Humanoids and a special channel for music only.
The other media arts also exist. Cinema has many different productions companies, and the music production is probably the highest engrossing of them all. Even more than cinema or television.
Not everyone can reach the top class cinema. When around cameras, everyone is very selection about who they show to the rest of the world and such, Humanoids rarely get that chance. Cinema is difficult to get into, but Public Television and mass media is practically impossible for a Humanoid. The ones who do, continue to remain in silence most of their journey; their families, pasts, how their lives is, friends and others are kept very private, not leaving much of a chance for the rest of the family or friends to rise into that busy world. For large and renowned cinema, there are very few humanoid actors and actresses, but those few ones get all the glory in Humanoid character roles that appear in big production and big budget movies. This, not only makes them popular among Humanoids, but also quite popular among humans as well.
But while Humans have a hand on the production of cinema, television and visual media arts (from simple commercials, to soap operas), Humanoids gained their respect through musical releases.
The music production is ruled mostly by Humanoids and the artists who read the top are obviously from the same race. The truth is, Humanoid ears are much better than Human's so there are better capable of judging sound and voice, and Humanoids can too reach tones that no human can, giving them a musical diversity and presence that not many human musicians can have.
The industry is fair enough to judge their singers by their musical abilities rather than species or race. If a human has a good voice, they will be released them along with Humanoids, without using the race as an issue. But unfortunately, humans rarely reach as far as Humanoids do in this field because they don't have the same abilities a humanoid does.
Theater is also important, though it only takes local spotlight. Each city has their own actors, and there aren't many that are able to be known worldwide; the ones that do are usually humans for non-musical shows, and Humanoids that have performed on musicals.
Modeling, on the other hand, is something for all. Humans, Humanoids no matter what subrace they are, all of them are able to model and become known for it. This industry is strict, focus greatly on appearance, and as long there is beauty, talent and sometimes a dash of "strange " (for the Irregular and Mythos, mostly) anyone can be part of it. It's very common for Humanoids to choose modeling first and from there open doors to other kinds of media.
This world's land is very different from our own. While - like Earth - is covered in 70% with water there are many continents but no different countries; in a way it's all a very big "Human country", located specially at the central land, while the South and North poles were given to the Humanoids they expelled. Any kingdom or country created by Humanoids is not accepted by Humans and therefor not represented on maps. Most areas are populated by Humans, except the places which are hard to live, like very tall and rough mountains, deserts, lava, skies, and similar, and these are usually ruled by humanoids. It's not hard to imagine that, even if Humans force their rulership over the whole world, Humanoids still keep their kingdoms even if they are in "Human land"; so, in the same place, you can have two rulers, Humans and Humanoids, but it's unusual for Humans to ever allow this.
The world is vast, having all the types of possible climates that can be imagined. Seas, snow, sacred lands, cursed lands, dead lands, shadow land, grass, forest, deserts, and so on. Depending the type of climate, there are specific Humanoids types can be found on the land, but Humans avoid living in magical places or in places with extreme climate, preferring the fertile and productive lands. Most of these places have a specific name, but the local people tend to call it by element they represent such as "The lava", "The Desert".
Air, underground and ocean are also actually very populated, especially by the Mythological Humanoids, however Humans do not dare to enter those lands. Though they have expelled land Humanoids, they have a very difficult time controlling humanoids that do not live on land surface.
Elryonë
Elryonë is a strategic point. It's located between two seas (the Peace Sea and the Red Sea), and it's surrounded by 3 different types of land.
Near the coast we can find the Magascar Islands, where many exotic animals live; Elryonë has a great commercial connection to it, mostly animal trade, hence their high economy. The Peace Sea was named way due to the fact it has become a peaceful intermediary between the aquatic humanoids - who help the fishermen and the boats travelling to the Magascar islands - and the humans- who help the humanoids by giving them earthling food, knowledge and security. At North and West of the city, we find the Monwantan Forest, and half of it is constituted by the largest and greatest mountains in the world, and where Elves keep their sacred and secret city; it's a very fertile land that provides great resources for primary industry (like farming). To the East the Lave provides not only fertile lands from the volcanoes but also great mineral resources, and finally the Desert of Sikna between the two functions as a trading route for the people in the North.
Elryonë is one of the biggest cities in the area. It has public bathes (usually used by the humanoids), swimming polls, lots of bars, discos, supermarkets, subways, industries, museums, schools and any other possible social creations. It's a costal - a beach -city and it's graced by a river that comes from the Lave mountains, called the Silk Red. There is also a big tower which everyone calls "Seeker", used as the cities own protection against dangerous humanoids.
There big park in which, ever year, a carnival is placed. The city's population varies very much, but it has around 50/50 humans and humanoids; the humanoids are obviously regular (there is a very nearly unnoticeable small percentage of irregular), and no dangerous humanoid is allowed in the city. Since they live near the desert, the humans are mostly dark-skinned, though it's a very big city, so there are many colors of skin.
Dragon Land
The Dragon Land is a dangerous place where no human dares to go. It's located North in the globe, in the area Humans expelled dangerous Humanoids to, 9000 years ago, and since then Dragons haven't been seen by humans. Because of such, most people believe dragons are extinct or simply just a myth, and the Dragon land had no interference from the Humans.
They are hindered regarding technology, but they managed to fuse their abilities with magic and become a powerful nation. There are seven dragon kingdoms in total, each ruled by a King and, in some kingdoms, also the Queen. Having nearly no contact with other non-dragon species, they continue to follow their old ways of life, though each grew their own culture, art, architecture, music and even religion.
- Liorn:
Chain's kingdom. It's considered the third Kingdom, which many riches and fertile land. It's a big kingdom with a big density of dragons, and much to export and trade. However, its political instability is known across the land. - Vimt:
The seventh kingdom. A small kingdom, not because it lacks land, but because it doesn't have much forest that the Furred Dragons depend on. Vimt's forest is plagued with all sorts of mythological creatures - the Dark Colonies. They have much gold and precious stones, so their dragons can purchase them at a very low price and this makes Vimt the kingdom with most money. As such, their females cover themselves in gold and jewelry, and they are called "The Golden Furs". However, their precious minerals are what they rely on; without a forest, they lack the most basic resources and having to buy them from other kingdoms - especially Liorn, since it's a neighbor and has most of what they need. - Shalv:
It's considered the fourth kingdom. It's very rich and powerful, and it's in contact with two big seas. However, Shalv is a "sand" land, which means their terrain doesn't have granite or marble or any king of strong stone used for buildings - theirs are made out of wood or glass. They are also a fisherman kingdom, and don't have much access to meat.
Liorn
Society
Liorn follows a society system quite similar to middle age's feudalism, mixing it with our own society's current democratic system. The feudal system is organized into as pyramid, where at the top is the king. Below him there is the queen, followed by the court and the elders and then the lords. Right below the lords we have the assemblies (voted by the people, plebeians), each with a specific role: one will act as a ministry of justice, other of the economy, education and others. The king (with the Queen and the Court's voting) grants lords land (the municipes) and in return the lords must be the one to care for it, the people living in it - the plebeians - and provide armies if war is near. They also must be the ones to create and debate in forums, where the land's problems will be discussed with the plebeians, and then direct the issues to the assemblies. The assemblies will find a solution for said problems, direct it to the King, Queen and Court, who will approve the measures (or not) taken to stop or improve the situation.
The elders work as the church; however they can also be part of the Assemblies or the Court. All religions are accepted, and they do too, and they make it bloom, to help spread it across the kingdom's temples, praying houses, churches and shrines. Since they are part of the assemblies, they have influence on education, health, commerce, and other subjects (except for war). Elders also act as spiritual guides, and they are the ones to read the prophecies related to the kingdom, choose the future king, all of this with the help of a special element of the group called the Prophet.
War is dealt only by the king who has his advisors. These may be lords, part of the court, assemblies or even the Queen.
Commerce
While it's not as developed as the Humans, Dragons do have different types of commerce: the primary commerce, like farming, cattle, fishing and harvesting, the secondary commerce meant for industry, and the tertiary commerce which is meant for sales. The monetary currency is called tions and it can exist as paper or coins, however, dragons will accept any other payments besides tions (direct trading, other services, etc). This applies not only to internal but also external commerce.
Clothing
Dragons have a special kind of clothing, which allows them to turn into their animal form without ripping their clothes to pieces everytime. These clothes are in a way magical, however the clothes producers can't tell exactly how it works. They only know the special ingredient comes from the ocean (many believe it's magical pollution that came from mythological humanoids).
The clothes vary but recent trend is the robes. However, t-shirts, pants, skirts, can also be found. There are special clothes for informal events and gatherings, and fancier clothes should be used then. Along with clothes, accessories can be found and are used a lot as well, usually made of fabric in Liorn, while Vimt focus on jewelry. Tattoos, paintings and hair beads are common as well, and dragons also enjoy using body bandages - a great way to hide wounds from fights.
When visiting the elders or a church, it's common and respectful to use moon paintings.
Identity tags are quite common in Liorn as well. Several soldiers will wear a collar with a specific color and shape to tell others where they are located, and several people like to give their pets special medallions so other dragons won't kill or steal them. They are by no means obligatory, but it helps to keep them safe.
Medicine
Hospitals, emergency rooms and clinics are very common. There are specialized doctors (dermatologist, eye doctors, dentists, etc), though these are rarer. Unfortunately, dragon medicine isn't very developed, which is always a problem during war. Scars are often left during fights and it's usually difficult to hide them.
However, dragons have found much use in Potions. Portions are extracted from plants and added magic onto them - not many can do this, but potions are very popular and actually easy to find. Magic can be taught and learned by dragons naturally (genetic magic) but it's a very difficult art. There are thousands of different kinds of potions and each can perform a magical feat, from shrinking in size, to sex change, changing ages or even species - stronger and rare potions can even go as far as growing temporary limbs. However, their effects are not permanent and whoever is taking them for medical reasons will rely on them forever (and a dragon does live long) .
Transportation
Dragons are extremely fast and strong creatures and they can fly. Transportation means are mostly by land and air, and there are no vehicles, unless it's a boat or a vehicle that has to be dragged by others (carriages) .
Architecture and arts
Dragon architecture is highly inspired by Chinese architecture of our world: symmetrical, enclosure, hierarchical yet horizontal sighted. All houses are like this, very decorated and sturdy since dragons live in them. The palace takes special reinforcement, however the architecture is different from the usual Chinese look especially inside, where it looks more Baroque.
The dragons also make big use of the forests. They'll build houses very close to the trees or even part of the trees as camouflage, however, as cities begun to develop, they fell out of use.
Language
They speak Dragontee, but there are some dragons able to speak humanese (learnt at the elder school or military school) .
Education
There are two assemblies that work together for Liorn's education: Educational and Science, Technology and Higher education. There is no private system and all schools are public, and children must attend until the 12th grade.
- Pre-primary Education: Optional. Ages 3 to 5. Nursery schools and kindergartens.
- Basic Education: 9 grades (9 years). Ages 5-6 to 14-15. Subjects are Dragontee, environment studies, mathematics, physical education, artistic education, history, geography and sciences (chemistry, physics and biology).
- Secondary education: 3 grades (3 years). Ages 14-15 to 17-18. Sstart os specialization and divided into two types of courses: general (sciences and technologies, social sciences, economic sciences, language, literature or visual arts. Students will only pick one) and technical/vocational courses (administration, construction, magic, marketing, other arts, sports and environment).
- Higher education: University.
- Military school: it substitutes the secondary education. Three years. Focused on army and warfare.
- Elder's school: it substitutes the secondary education. Three years. Focused on religions and politics. It allows dragons to become part of the court, assemblies or lords. It does not mean they will become elders, but they might.
The reproduction in this world occurs very much like in our own; asexual and sexual reproduction exists, and most animals reproduce sexually, requiring sexual interaction of two organisms. Just like in our world, sexual reproduction usually requires a male and a female, and most of the time the female will carry the offspring (with the exception of the Syngnathidae family (pipefish and seahorses) of which the males perform this function). While reproduction biologically aims to produce a fertile offspring, there are many instances in which that won’t happen and it's not rare for different species and races to interbreed.
In very simplistic terms, beings from two different species cannot produce a fertile offspring, and within the Animal Race, phylogenetically different species cannot produce an offspring. An Animal Cat will not be able to produce a fertile offspring with an Animal Dog.
The same happens among Humanoids, but where an Animal Cat can’t form an offspring, a Humanoid Cat and a Humanoid Dog can form an offspring, who will be infertile. Among the Humanoid Race, different species of humanoids will originate infertile hybrids such as Hakakku.
Interbreeding in order to form an offspring (fertile or not) among the three races - Humans, Humanoids and Animals - may be possible with some restrictions. Humans are able to interbreed with Humanoids, resulting in infertile hybrids; Regular humanoids are able to interbreed with Humans and Animals, resulting in infertile hybrids; Irregular humanoids are able to interbreed with Humans and Animals resulting in fertile hybrids; and Mythological Humanoids are unable to interbreed with Humans but they can breed with other Humanoids (some hybrids might be infertile, others aren't), although some Mythos are by rule infertile (like ghosts).
While Human reproduction is known to us, Humanoid reproduction does not follow the same characteristics of this race, but they follow the animals they are related to. As such, during gestation, a Humanoid prefers stays in their animal form and the gestation and birth follow the same method that happens in nature with the Animal species. It is possible for a humanoid to go through with the pregnancy without ever turning into an animal, but this depends greatly on the baby's and mother's anatomy.
A baby humanoid in uterus is carried in its animal form, and will reach the size of said animal. As such, small species like mice allow the mother to remain in her humanoid form during gestation and birth (the birth itself is quite easy, too); however, big species like elephants will grow too big for a humanoid form to accommodate and thus the mother will need to turn into her animal form if she wishes for the pregnancy to continue.
Per rule, two pure breeds (for example, a full human or a full cat) can breed and form a baby. However, mechanics and anatomy take a big part of this, in which the female's body must be able to take the pregnancy to a late term. For this reason, human females who are pregnant with humanoids are prone miscarrying any species that is simply too large for their uterus (like it happened with Chika and Nakay).
Theoretically, there are ways to go around the issue. Such as an earlier birth to take the baby out before it reaches a size that will endanger the mother; or do embryo transplantation to an actual animal or a willing humanoid of the species (or a larger one) to give birth to it. The first option is considered dangerous, and the last one, humans consider it immoral and disgusting. This is the reason why most people prefer to stay with members of their own species.
It's important to remember that regular humanoid hybrids are all infertile. In Hakakku's case, the mixture of cat chromosomes with lemur chromosomes, gives him chromosomes with different structure and number that prevents the chromosomes from pairing up properly and creating successful embryos, rendering him infertile. Hakakku CAN'T HAVE CHILDREN.
