Vaikan

The Dhragolon are a race of hybrid reptile-mammals from Ucharpli. While the exact age of their race is unknown, Dhragolon artifacts have been found that date at least 30,000 thousand years back. Thus, their culture is deeply intertwined with their physical evolution. It is generally assumed that the Dhragolon had lived as primal beings for several hundred thousand years before then living only to survive to the next day. They have since become an advanced civlization.

Overview
The Dhragolon inherentely destroy any species which they view as evil. When they witness a great act of sin, an instinct will take over causing the Dhragolon to not stop attacking them unless the race becomes untainted somehow which is incredibly rare. This directly traces back to primal times when the Dhragolon would relentlessly attack their opponents until they no longer posed a threat. Often they drove many of their own predators to extinction using ambush tactics as well as their own intelligence.

Appearance
The Dhragolon are tall blue humanoids with dark blue hair and cyan skin. The amount of hair varies from region to region in Ucharpli. The people of Khather, for example, tend to grow long bears, while Dhragolon from Feurcy lack any sort of facial hair.

Dhragolon have eyes in the front of their heads allowing for depth perception; eye color often varies between blue, purple, orange and red. They also have a row of small, studded teeth; Dhragolon mostly eat meat but are capable of consuming plants as well. Dhragolon have three fingers along with one opposable thumb on each hand as well as four toes. Each finger contains claws as hard as steel.

Dhragolon are quite tall mostly because of the low gravity of Ucharpli. Adults tend to grow up to seven feet, though children tend to be only half the size and smaller.

Regional variations
Since the Dhragolon's arrival on Ucharpli, they evovled regional variations to adapt to their environment. These variations still exist today. Before the discovery of other alien species, these variations were often called "races".


 * Feln - Field Dhragolon. Medium height between five and a half and six and a half feet, short hair, very little facial hair if any. The most common variation.


 * Foth - Forest Dhragolon. Tall, about seven feet, very long hair, oval-shaped heads. No facial hair.


 * Dorf - Mountain Dhragolon. Short between five and five and a half feet. Large builds and lots of facial hair. DNA and anatomy-wise, they are the most closely related to the Eteno.


 * Ain - Malin Dhragolon. Similar appearance as field Dhragolon, but slightly shorter with longer hair. Facial hair is not uncommon.
 * Hob - Frostwater Dhragolon. Very short between three to four feet tall even as an adult. Smaller builds than Mountain Dhragolon and with no facial hair.
 * Savlin - Grey Dhragolon. They are slightly taller than a Hob, but tend to have hunched backs and red eyes. Their skin is grey, and their hair is white because they have been living underground. Savlins tend to keep to themselves and are not afraid to attack others who intrude in their territory.

Biology
The Dhragolon do not actually originate from Ucharpli as they strangely share a common ancestry with Etenus Hominidae from Malisk II. It is believed that somehow, the two species were separated by some sort of advanced force believed to be the goddess Marana. This parallels a group of humans that were moved to Ashadra by the Tokarthi.

But unlike the case of humans which hardly changed at all, Ucharpli had a radically different environment than Malisk II and the Dhragolon were forced to evolve in order to adapt. Such adaptions including larger lungs and taller, thinner bodies to adjust to not only lower gravity, but less oxygen.

Physical
The Dhragolon are blue in color as opposed to shades of brown like humans. The color blue was very difficult for their predators to perceive, especially at night. Because of this, Dhragolon evolved to become nocturnal, and the color blue helped them blend into their monochrome environment.

Dhragolon are normally nocturnal, so their vision is more adept to darkness. Their vision is similar to canines and felines in that they have difficulty distinguishing bright colors, but can see at night almost as clearly during the day. They mostly rely on their hearing to spot predators and prey; a Dhragolon can hear a pin drop from two miles away.

Dhragolon are most adept to desert climates, though they can survive almost any climate. They evolved miscroscopic solar-panel scales which can absorb light from nearly any source. Effectively, a Dhragolon can simply warm up by standing out in the sun for a few minutes. Even when the sun is not out, their scales still retain heat which allows them to survive in subzero climates. This has allowed them to thrive on the continent of Aggateya, which is located at the southern pole on Ucharpli.

Cognitive
A Dhragolon's brain is also very sophisticated, with a higher than average IQ in comparison to other races. Such a factor was key to their survival in the primal ages against predators. Their high intelligence gave them a significant advantage. Their reaction time can be as fast as 0.05 seconds.

Ninety-five percent of the Dhragolon population have an INTJ personality, which is often the reason behind their ability to think clearly and reason more than other races. 4% are ISTJs, while the remaining 1% make up small amounts of the other Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personalities. However, this also makes the Dhragolon very individualistic.

A Dhragolon needs about 6 hours of sleep every day. Naturally, they sleep during sunlight, though a Dhragolon can deliberately readust their own sleep cycle.

Maturity Cycle
The Dhragolon age considerably more slowly than most races. The longest known life span of a Dhragolon is 500 Earth years. Because Dhragolon spend more time as children, they are able to learn at an extraordinary rate during the first few decades of their life and is also a direct cause of a young Dhragolon population. However, this comes at the cost of them not being able to replenish their numbers as quickly as they are incapable of reproducing until age 104 which is also mental maturity.

Thus, at an early age, Dhragolon children are taught survival skills to survive Ucharpli's dangerous environments. The Dhragolon also have fewer women - their numbers are closely kept track of. Despite these disadvantages, the Dhragolon's intelligence has allowed them to survive against natural selection and become the race they are today.

Because Dhragolon don't mature as quickly, they learn at an accelerated rate for many decades. Most Dhragolon prefer to speak languages originating from Ucharpli as most of the time, they cannot pronounce some unique sounds in other alien's vocabulary. However, this does not stop them for learning them fairly quickly as their enhanced cognitive thinking allows them to detect patterns within seconds.
 * Age 0 - 10
 * Hatchling Dhragolon will grow to be about three feet tall. Upon age ten, they have the same intelligence and ability as a human of age ten.


 * Age 10 - 30
 * A Dhragolon will grow to three and half feet tall. They will have the same cognitive abilities as an 18 year old human, but resemble an 8 year old human appearance-wise.


 * Age 30 - 50
 * A Dhragolon will generally become stronger and more able-bodied, resembling a 12 year old human. They will reach a height of about four and a half feet. Around this age, a Dhragolon will seek out employment.


 * Age 50 - 75
 * Dhragolon will begin taking shape towards being an adult. This is considered adolescence for the Dhragolon. They will reach five and a half feet tall and resemble 14 year old humans.


 * Age 75 - 104
 * Dhragolon will resemble humans about 16-18 years old and will reach six feet tall. At this age, Dhragolon are eligible to join the Federal Legion.


 * Age 104 - 200
 * Dhragolon will generally reach seven feet before they stop growing. During this time, Dhragolon are considered young adults and most would seek out a mate.


 * Age 200-400
 * During this time, Dhragolon will become middle-aged in appearance.


 * Age 400+
 * Elder Dhragolon age.

Early history
Many hundred thousand years ago, the Dhragolon appeared on Ucharpli after being banished by a deity from another planet. During that time, they had to quickly adapt to the new environment.

To take shelter from the gargantuan predators that roamed the surface, the Dhragolon often resorted to living in caves. Using their claws, they would dig tunnels either into the sides of mountains or into the ground. Most of the larger creatures hunted during the day, the time when the Dhragolon would wait inside their burrows.

Dhragolon usually lived in families of at least four. The mother would wait inside the burrow while the father and any male children would take turns watching for predators. Their incredible hearing comes from being able to detect these predators' movements from miles away giving them time to prepare. At night, the Dhragolon hunt for food which is how they evolved their ability to see in the dark almost as clearly as day. They relied on ambushing tactics using the winner-take-all principle making them viscious killers.

The irrational fear of light, rare today among Dhragolon, also stems from primal history. The sun and the moon of Ucharpli was seen by the Dhragolon as two watching eyes. Whenever either of them were in the sky, this would let light shine on the planets' surface leaving them vulnerable to predators.

Later history
Upon the Great Flood on Ucharpli, the Dhragolon took shelter in the highlands. While the legend says the whole world was flooded aside from ten mountaintops, this is unlikely to have occurred in actuality. What most likely happened was that only the swampy lowlands were covered in water while areas with higher elevation were for the most part unaffected. Since their predators had taken shelter in caves during this geographic event, this gave the Dhragolon the oppurtunity to retake Ucharpli after having lived in hiding for thousands of years. This led directly to the beginning of the Second Era where they would begin building civilizations.

Unique diseases
There are some unique Dhragolon diseases that originated on Ucharpli.

Blood craver virus (Vampire's disease)
This virus infects the victim and makes them thirst for the blood of other Dhragolon. The disease spreads when the infected bites another. Symptons of the virus include pale white skin and a loss of appetite. The white skin is usually a direct result of an infected individual having less resistance to ultraviolet radiation. Other side effects include a boosted immune system and an elongated life span. Today, the virus is in captivity in a remote Dhragolon colony, but there was a notorious breakout in a region within the realm of Feurcy.

When the Karnasaurs discovered Ucharpli, they accidentally brought this virus on board with them which later escaped onto Earth. Because of its unintentional introduction to Earth, Humans passed down legends of their own kind craving blood.

Rockbone disease
A form of paralysis that solidifies the joints making a Dhragolon look like a statue. They can still think, breathe and carry out life functions. The only thing they can't do is move from whatever position they are stuck in.

Daggerfang virus
A subspecies of panther known as Daggerfangs spread this virus. When the victim is bitten, a mutagen spreads causing hair to grow all over the body. The victim will lose control of their instincts ever 36 hours turning them into feral beasts.