Overview
Dragon Kin are individuals born with dragon ancestry — the blood of dragons flowing through their veins. They can be humans, half-elves, or any race that has been touched by dragon blood, either through ancient pacts or divine experimentation, and the blood does not ask permission to be proud.
Habitat
Dragon-kin live on the moor — their home is The Drakemoor, a moor of black scale-stone and ash where the long, slow grudge is the only law. They need three things: a ground that is old enough to hold a grudge, a view of the sky that is wide enough for the instinct, and a distance from the true dragons that is respectful but not hiding. They are settled in small, scattered kin-shares, and the share is the point.
Appearance
A dragon-kin silhouette is the mortal line with a draconic weight in it — tall, narrow-waisted, with the shoulders a little broader than the mortal ideal, the neck a little thicker, and the hands that are a little too long for the body, like a word that is waiting to be spoken in a tongue the mouth was not built for. Males stand 1.78 m to 1.93 m, 73 kg–95 kg, built lean and long, with the shoulders broader and the jaw heavier than the mortal line; females 1.73 m to 1.88 m, 66 kg–86 kg, lighter-framed, with the draconic line showing through the posture more clearly. Skin is a warm, soft ivory to a pale golden-cream, with a faint, almost imperceptible warmth to the cheekbones and a network of fine, pale veins at the temples that glow faintly in the element's own color when the dragon-kin is roused — the glow is the blood's most persistent claim, and it is the single most reliable dragon-kin identifier at any distance. The scales are the tell: a patch of fine, true scales, in a range from deep umber to pale gold to a true, quiet black depending on the line, at the shoulders, the throat, or the spine — a few inches, no more, and the scales do not grow, and they do not come off. The horns are sparse, if present at all — a single, small nub at the brow, in deep umber, worn as a mark of the line. Hair is a thick, fine mass in a range that belongs to the mortal side, with a single streak in the element's own color — a stripe of deep umber, pale gold, or quiet black, worn as a mark of the blood. Eyes are large and a molten amber to a deep, quiet red, with a slow, appraising blink and a depth that makes them look like they are looking at something behind the person they are talking to. The head is the tell: the scale-patch is the dragon-kin, not the face. Males carry the draconic line in the jaw and the shoulders; females in the neck and the posture. Elders are marked by a full silver head with a single, unbroken streak in the element's own color, and a back that has stopped trying to be straight. Everyday wear: a simple, clean tunic in a muted umber or soft grey, a thin leather belt, and boots that have been walked more than any other pair on the moor.
Behavior
Disposition: solitary, territorial, proud, patient. In peace, dragon-kin are courteous, precise, and absolutely incapable of being rushed — they have the moor, and they let you know it. In war they fight with the patience of the grudge and the precision of the one who has already seen the end. Strangers are met with a question about what they carry, and the answer decides whether the dragon-kin offers passage or a wall. The social unit is the kin-share — small, scattered, and ranked by blood, not by age. Two signature quirks: a dragon-kin who is being lied to will not call it out — they will simply ask a follow-up question that the liar cannot answer, and let the silence do the work. And they keep their grudge for a lifetime, and they remember who started it, and the remembering is a form of patience that mortal races find unsettling.
Warfare & Markings
Tactics: precision and patience — the dragon-kin does not fight in the open; they fight on the moor, where the grudge is the ground. Armor: light chain and leather, worn under the tunic so the scale-patch stays clean. Weapons: the long sword, the short bow, and the breath that is not a weapon but is used like one — a single, controlled exhalation in the element's own color, that is not a fireball but a statement. War markings: the Kin Braid, a single braid worn over the left shoulder, one knot per grudge kept, in the element's own color; the Moor-Notch, a single deliberate chip in the left boot-heel for every year spent on the moor, worn as a record of the long watch; and the Blood-Brand, a small, deliberate mark on the inner wrist — the first word the wearer spoke in the dragon's tongue, worn as a mark of the beginning. Post-battle: the dragon-kin holds a rite of silence — one day, no words, the dead's names spoken on the moor, and the moor keeps the names.
Magic Alignment
Primary domain: varies by line — the fire line keeps fire-storm, the dark line keeps shadow, the light line keeps divine, and the prismatic lines keep every domain at once, which is the point of them. Secondaries: conjuration and stone-craft. Named inborns: Draconic Ancestry (a dragon-kin has a breath weapon tied to their line, and the breath is not a choice), Dragon Resistance (a dragon-kin is resistant to the element's own damage, because the element is the blood), Draconic Presence (a dragon-kin's presence is a pressure; smaller creatures' ears flatten, and the ears know why). Signature power: the Line Word — a dragon-kin can speak a word in their line's element and let it land across a lifetime, and the word will keep the blood's faith. Limitation: dragon-kin magic is spent on the blood; a dragon-kin who has spent their line word must descend into the element for one day, and the day is the worst one of the moor.
Religion
Dragon-kin keep their own line's dragon as their primary god — the dragon is the first word, and the dragon-kin worships it the way a child worships the first name: with patience, with precision, and with the understanding that everything that follows is a consequence of it. They honor the true dragons at the roost, and the honoring is a courtesy, not a faith. Priestly class: the Line-Keeper, who keeps the kin-share-temple and speaks the line word at every rite. Heresy is not blasphemy — it is a word spoken without the blood, and there is no rite for that one; the kin-share simply stops remembering the speaker.
Society
Dragon Kin are often rare and viewed with a mix of awe and fear. Some embrace their draconic heritage, seeking power and dominion, and the seeking is the whole of the blood — a dragon-kin who has embraced the line is the one the moor calls the proud,. Others struggle against the instincts and urges their bloodline imposes, and the struggling is the whole of the line — the mortal side remembers the hunger and the draconic side does not know it, and the not-knowing is the wound. A dragon-kin is not born to the line, it is claimed by it, and the claiming is the only kind the blood keeps; a dragon-kin who has not kept a grudge in a season is called "the one who forgot the moor," and the forgetting is the only kind the scale remembers. No kin-share follows a blood it cannot read; it follows the line that has held the longest, and the holding is the whole of the rank. Outsiders on the moor are either a claim or a mistake, and the mistake is the one the moor keeps; a mortal who walks the ash-line is not a guest, it is a grudge, and the grudge is the whole of the warning. Young are raised in the low share, where the scale is thin and the word is short, and a young dragon-kin who has not kept a full breath in the dark is not given a line of their own. The one fact the surface keeps wrong: the moor does not hoard the pride — it keeps it, and the keeping is the whole of the grudge, and a mortal who is counted is a mortal who is owed, and the owing is the only kind the blood keeps.
Home
They keep their kinship in The Drakemoor, a moor of black scale-stone and ash, where the long, slow grudge is the only law.
Relations
Dragons themselves are... complicated. Some Dragon Kin are treated as kindred, and the kindred is the whole of the courtesy — the true dragon of The Elemental Roost regards the dragon-kin the way a hoard regards a coin: the coin is not the hoard, but the coin is the only thing the hoard keeps counting, and the counting is the whole of the kindred. Others are treated as lesser reflections, and the lesser is the whole of the distance — the dragon does not measure the reflection in the blood, it measures it in the keeping, and a dragon-kin who has kept a grudge the dragon forgot is the one the roost calls the oldest, because the grudge is the blood, and the blood is the whole of the measure. Other races vary from reverence to suspicion, and the varying is the whole of the warning — the Dwarfs of Karn Dun, the Deep Delve share the stone with the dragon-kin,. Below, the ground-folk of The Forgotten are the banished the moor takes in, and the taking in is the whole of the grudge, because the forgotten are the ones the blood keeps counting for, and the counting is the whole of the promise.
In the Story
In the current story, the dragon-kin are the blood on the moor — the grudge Uaellaen writes about when the scale is worth more than the sky. The Forgotten keep their word at the ash-line, and the word has held for two seasons. This season a dragon-kin came up the moor with a breath that was not in the line — a breath that is not in the blood, and the not-listing is the whole of the warning, because the line keeps its word, and the word has started to move. The Line-Keeper is keeping the breath, and the keeping is the page the camp has not been shown.
Dragon Kin carry the weight of their ancestors' pride — and their ancestors' wrath.