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Draconology © VikasRao

Please do not copy, redistribute, reference, trace, reuse, alter or modify for your own use without my prior permission, thank you!

This is more of a late #smaugust post than a proper kick-off to #spectember , but I've had this idea for a while and figured I'd put it up sooner rather than later.

Despite this and this , hominid-dragon relations aren't all that bad. Even today, humans and certain wildlife find ways to coexist and even help each other.

It stands to reason then that, if dragons were real animals, not all human-dragon relations would be bad, and there would be at least some form of mutual respect, as is so often seen with many indigenous communities today.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

With their tribe under attack from a hostile rival group, a trio of ana'aku flee the battle to the mouth of a cave a few kilometers away from their home. They are led by their tribe's shamaness, whose natural black hair and mantle of ostrich feathers signify her status as the tribe's spiritual leader and sister of the chieftainess. Accompanying her are 2 of the tribe's best hunter-warriors, distinguished by the ochre, mud, and arak ash that stains their skin and hair red.

Upon reaching the cave, she sets down her spear and begins playing her hunting horn, an instrument carved from the horn of a shadhavar . Though the effort and the strain of having run so far without stopping quickly have nearly rendered her breathless, she plays ever more elaborate notes as loudly as she can for a little over a minute. The hunter-warriors look on her anxiously, the look of frustration and desperation evident on their faces. All 3 of them are very much proficient with spear and axe, so why must they flee the battle when they could be fighting alongside their kin.

The sound of footsteps and clattering of rocks puts a stop to their thoughts. The shamaness too momentarily stops, but then continues playing the horn with renewed vigor.

The entrance to the cave is strewn with charred bones of several animals. The shamaness recognizes some of these; after all, they belong to animals that she herself had hunted not too long ago. One of the hunter-warriors gasps, and quickly urges her companion to lower his spear. Craning his long neck as he exits the cave, a large male denwen towers over the trio. The shamaness plays a lower tune as she makes eye contact; the denwen flicks his tongue, and relaxes. He recognizes her scent. This is no ordinary wild dragon; over the course of a decade, he has become this tribe's ally and greatest hunter. Nearly a year ago, after he had sustained an injury that had left him temporarily unable to hunt, the shamaness had regularly brought him a portion of her and her tribe's kills to aid in his recovery.

The denwen notices that the tune she's playing is different from the regular call to hunt, and that all 3 of them smell of blood and bear minor wounds. While he cannot understand the significance of it, the dragon realizes what this is: a call for help. Hunting alongside the tribe has proven highly advantageous, and he considers them part of his territory any threat to them is an indirect challenge to him, and as with anything that challenges him, he will burn it to a crisp.

With a wingspan of 9-10.5 m, the denwen (Hajedrakon deinopyrus) is the largest longidraconine neodraconid, and the second largest dragon in Africa.

While its size alone is intimidating, the most notable attribute of this species is its fire. At 2000°C, the temperature of the denwen's fire is comparable to that of an acetylene blowtorch, and is nearly twice as hot as that of most other dragons. It is unclear as to why this species has evolved such a devastatingly hot fire, however, the most widely accepted theory is that, much like a snake's venom, it allows them to hunt better. To produce such hot fire, denwens need to maintain a a very high concentration of nitro-lipids in their pyrogenic glands ; however, these compounds are not only energetically expensive to produce, but also require a tremendous amount of vital nitrogen that could have otherwise been used for other essential biological purposes. Because of this, denwens are not as liberal with their fire usage as some other dragons in their size class, nor do they always need to be. This species has a particularly aggressive threat display, in which individuals flare their hoods and roar loudly at their aggressors, and knowing the damage these dragons can inflict, most animals give them a very wide berth. However, as with most neodraconids and longidraconines in particular, denwens are not nearly as aggressive or temperamental as their eudraconid cousins. In many cases they will tolerate the presence of smaller predators if there is sufficient prey to go around. This may be due to the denwen's limited fuel reserves, as it cannot afford to waste fire unnecessarily to kill something that may or may not provide it any form of sustenance or help it replenish its energy and fuel reserves.

Given their temperament, denwens will sometimes associate and even form "alliances" with ana'aku tribes in their range. Teaming up with the hominids allows them to tackle larger prey than they could normally handle, while still leaving enough to be shared with their partners. Moreover, ana'aku generally rely more on plants than meat, which helps minimize competition between dragon and hominid. Long-term associations can occur as well, thanks to the similar lifespans of the 2 species.

The ana’aku are a species of short, stocky humans distributed across most of Africa and southern Asia in nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes which show several regional and cultural variations. They show several characteristics seen in extinct humans such as Homo erectus/ergaster, and are believed to be direct descendants if not the same species. They are generally shorter than their ancestors, standing 1.1-1.4 m tall at most, but are more slightly more robust, weighing 40-60 kg. This is likely an adaptation to living in savannahs rather than treeless grasslands, and though some tribes do inhabit such open habitats, they are few, and none inhabit the steppes of Eurasia.

Although most of their diet is made of fruit (abundant in the regions they inhabit), meat is still an important part of their diet.

While their technology is somewhat more advanced than that of their predecessors, it is still at a Paleolithic level, with a variety of sharpened stone tools being the most advanced technology they possess. Their cranial capacity of roughly 950 cc is slightly higher than that of their ancestors, but still within the range expected for the species. Given their range, it's not surprising that they are culturally very diverse. However, most are not particularly sophisticated, even compared to giants, although in terms of technology, they seem to be on par with their larger cousins and in some cases slightly more advanced.

Because cultures can differ significantly, with several major language and even traditional barriers, ana'aku are much more prone to tribal warfare than giants.

Draconology: True dragons pt 2
Draconology: Unicorns
Draconology: The Draconimorpha
World of Draconology

Description

Draconology © VikasRao

Please do not copy, redistribute, reference, trace, reuse, alter or modify for your own use without my prior permission, thank you!

This is more of a late #smaugust post than a proper kick-off to #spectember , but I've had this idea for a while and figured I'd put it up sooner rather than later.

Despite this and this , hominid-dragon relations aren't all that bad. Even today, humans and certain wildlife find ways to coexist and even help each other.

It stands to reason then that, if dragons were real animals, not all human-dragon relations would be bad, and there would be at least some form of mutual respect, as is so often seen with many indigenous communities today.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

With their tribe under attack from a hostile rival group, a trio of ana'aku flee the battle to the mouth of a cave a few kilometers away from their home. They are led by their tribe's shamaness, whose natural black hair and mantle of ostrich feathers signify her status as the tribe's spiritual leader and sister of the chieftainess. Accompanying her are 2 of the tribe's best hunter-warriors, distinguished by the ochre, mud, and arak ash that stains their skin and hair red.

Upon reaching the cave, she sets down her spear and begins playing her hunting horn, an instrument carved from the horn of a shadhavar . Though the effort and the strain of having run so far without stopping quickly have nearly rendered her breathless, she plays ever more elaborate notes as loudly as she can for a little over a minute. The hunter-warriors look on her anxiously, the look of frustration and desperation evident on their faces. All 3 of them are very much proficient with spear and axe, so why must they flee the battle when they could be fighting alongside their kin.

The sound of footsteps and clattering of rocks puts a stop to their thoughts. The shamaness too momentarily stops, but then continues playing the horn with renewed vigor.

The entrance to the cave is strewn with charred bones of several animals. The shamaness recognizes some of these; after all, they belong to animals that she herself had hunted not too long ago. One of the hunter-warriors gasps, and quickly urges her companion to lower his spear. Craning his long neck as he exits the cave, a large male denwen towers over the trio. The shamaness plays a lower tune as she makes eye contact; the denwen flicks his tongue, and relaxes. He recognizes her scent. This is no ordinary wild dragon; over the course of a decade, he has become this tribe's ally and greatest hunter. Nearly a year ago, after he had sustained an injury that had left him temporarily unable to hunt, the shamaness had regularly brought him a portion of her and her tribe's kills to aid in his recovery.

The denwen notices that the tune she's playing is different from the regular call to hunt, and that all 3 of them smell of blood and bear minor wounds. While he cannot understand the significance of it, the dragon realizes what this is: a call for help. Hunting alongside the tribe has proven highly advantageous, and he considers them part of his territory any threat to them is an indirect challenge to him, and as with anything that challenges him, he will burn it to a crisp.

With a wingspan of 9-10.5 m, the denwen (Hajedrakon deinopyrus) is the largest longidraconine neodraconid, and the second largest dragon in Africa.

While its size alone is intimidating, the most notable attribute of this species is its fire. At 2000°C, the temperature of the denwen's fire is comparable to that of an acetylene blowtorch, and is nearly twice as hot as that of most other dragons. It is unclear as to why this species has evolved such a devastatingly hot fire, however, the most widely accepted theory is that, much like a snake's venom, it allows them to hunt better. To produce such hot fire, denwens need to maintain a a very high concentration of nitro-lipids in their pyrogenic glands ; however, these compounds are not only energetically expensive to produce, but also require a tremendous amount of vital nitrogen that could have otherwise been used for other essential biological purposes. Because of this, denwens are not as liberal with their fire usage as some other dragons in their size class, nor do they always need to be. This species has a particularly aggressive threat display, in which individuals flare their hoods and roar loudly at their aggressors, and knowing the damage these dragons can inflict, most animals give them a very wide berth. However, as with most neodraconids and longidraconines in particular, denwens are not nearly as aggressive or temperamental as their eudraconid cousins. In many cases they will tolerate the presence of smaller predators if there is sufficient prey to go around. This may be due to the denwen's limited fuel reserves, as it cannot afford to waste fire unnecessarily to kill something that may or may not provide it any form of sustenance or help it replenish its energy and fuel reserves.

Given their temperament, denwens will sometimes associate and even form "alliances" with ana'aku tribes in their range. Teaming up with the hominids allows them to tackle larger prey than they could normally handle, while still leaving enough to be shared with their partners. Moreover, ana'aku generally rely more on plants than meat, which helps minimize competition between dragon and hominid. Long-term associations can occur as well, thanks to the similar lifespans of the 2 species.

The ana’aku are a species of short, stocky humans distributed across most of Africa and southern Asia in nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes which show several regional and cultural variations. They show several characteristics seen in extinct humans such as Homo erectus/ergaster, and are believed to be direct descendants if not the same species. They are generally shorter than their ancestors, standing 1.1-1.4 m tall at most, but are more slightly more robust, weighing 40-60 kg. This is likely an adaptation to living in savannahs rather than treeless grasslands, and though some tribes do inhabit such open habitats, they are few, and none inhabit the steppes of Eurasia.

Although most of their diet is made of fruit (abundant in the regions they inhabit), meat is still an important part of their diet.

While their technology is somewhat more advanced than that of their predecessors, it is still at a Paleolithic level, with a variety of sharpened stone tools being the most advanced technology they possess. Their cranial capacity of roughly 950 cc is slightly higher than that of their ancestors, but still within the range expected for the species. Given their range, it's not surprising that they are culturally very diverse. However, most are not particularly sophisticated, even compared to giants, although in terms of technology, they seem to be on par with their larger cousins and in some cases slightly more advanced.

Because cultures can differ significantly, with several major language and even traditional barriers, ana'aku are much more prone to tribal warfare than giants.

Draconology: True dragons pt 2
Draconology: Unicorns
Draconology: The Draconimorpha
World of Draconology