Makarids diaspora

The Makarids of the diaspora are the descendants of The Thirteen, the legendary group of people who are said to have stolen magic from the dragon they swore to love and serve.

The history

So... this is home...

— Yarik

After the betrayal of Naila, the thirteen and their surviving children had to flee Bada to save themselves from the revenge of Makahar's clan and disperse in the rest of the world.
The Makarid Diaspora traditionally originated from the thirteen clans that form the direct bloodline of each of them. In the first few centuries, the clans all lived in isolation from each other, some actively hiding in inhabited areas, others trying to live amongst human communities keeping a low profile or disguising themselves.
In their attempt to earn the help and protection of their human neighbours, the clan of the descendant of Kyrim offered their services as resonators to extract Nezil from the local caves. This worked well for a little while, until the people of the town realized that they could easily overpower the few members of the clan and enslave them to exploit their magical abilities.
The voice of their success spread and soon several nezil mining groups were born, actively hunting down not only the descendants of The Thirteen, but independent makarids and every person who they suspected might be a makarid to enslave them and force them to work in the caves in abysmal life conditions.
This had the double effect of swelling up the number of makarids in the diaspora and mixing the lineages in several points. What were formerly a few distinct clans, became a larger community of mixed heritage.
In the course of the centuries, the envy of humans for their powers caused new generations of makarids to become the victims of conflicts and attempts to appropriate and misuse their knowledge, forcing them to join the numbers of the diaspora. Even now that their dragon blood and magical powers are much diluted in most of them, they keep the secret of the magical language and are for this reason frequently captured and enslaved to use them as resonators for the nezil mining.
This caused their population to forcedly disperse in the world, often far away from what they consider their true homeland, Bada island.

by Christopher Campbell

Keepers of draconic tradition

I was meant to find the chest and I was meant to find you

— Yarik

The memory and tradition of the clans are to these days still maintained, and children are expected to keep a copy of the list of their ancestors, and use the patronymic of the most ancient dragon in their genealogy and of the first makarid if that might cause confusion.
Genealogic trees compilation and artistic rendering is taken in great regards in the diaspora communities and those who excel in the art are at the top of the internal social hierarchy. The genealogic records, recorded through books, paintings, tapestry, and forms of oral tradition, are secretly guarded and are considered the most precious possession of the clans and families.
Through careful oral tradition passed down generation by generation, they also keep the secret of the Dragon chants, a musical language that has the ability to resonate with the nezil crystals, making their extraction process considerably easier and that is believed to have other untapped magical powers.
Now that the dragons have disappeared from Hislariya, the Makarids of the diaspora are the main keepers of what remains of the draconic knowledge and they are not willing to share that knowledge with anyone.

The diaspora

As long as you can swim, I don't care how many teeth you have, kid

— Cap. Nadine

Nowadays, the world is a little safer for the makarids, and a few places have put in place laws to protect them, often thanks to the access of makarids to positions of power.
Other communities, in particular those towards which reject and outcasts naturally converge, like the pirates of the Svajan Sea and other outlaws organizations, tend to treat makarids like every other member of their community.
Of course still a conspicuous number of makarids lives in enslaved communities under the oppression of the mining corporation in those areas that still didn't act to stop the practice and grant them full human rights but, in most of them, pockets of resistance are starting to form and the mining of Nezil is becoming more and more like sitting on a mountain of explosives, for the humans involved in this exploitation.
Some more scattered families, in particular those further down the genealogy lines, live in hiding, often trying to live among human communities and doing what they can to hide their ancestry. Among most of these Makarids it is frequent the practice of extracting the extra tooth of their children and covering their body with tattoos to mask their skin markings, in communities where this practice is common.
On the contrary, permanent body decorations that enhance their natural markings are common among those makarids that are not interested or feel no need of hiding and temporary ones are used by those in hiding during celebrations restricted to members of the clan.
Nudity is also frequently practiced by the diaspora groups when they feel safe to do so, for the same reason of showing off the markings that prove their ancestry.

Marriage and family

Do you really want to link your life to this human girl?

— a makarid elder

As it can be expected from their history, the majority of the makarids of the diaspora are a fairly closed and cautious group of people in regards to who is allowed to join their clans. Most makarids are encouraged to seek their companions among the members of the same clan or among other makarids to avoid ill intentioned infiltrations by humans. In addition to this, the longer life expectancy of makarids usually causes complications and sorrow when they mate with humans.
This said, the communities don't actively discourage such relationships, but the human partner is required to swear an oath of affiliation to the clan and needs to accept to never participate in some of the most secreted practices. A bonding ritual is in this case required from the partners.
On the other end, relationships between makarids are not restricted in any way and any makarid is free to have different partners as long as the progeny can be without doubt attributed to one genetic lineage. For this reason, among those makarids who choose to have several partners, it is common to only act as child bearers for one of them. This is not seen as a limitation, but it's a behaviour that is ingrained in their will to preserve the ancestry record that is so fundamental for their cultural identity.
While for most of these communities, the closure to human relationship is caused by the desire to protect their member from further persecutions, mong the clans some factions are arising, who advocate for exclusive mating inside the community to preserve as much dragon's blood and magical power as possible.
Other groups, usually smaller in number and not belonging to a stable clan, dedicate their lives to the search of dragons willing to renew the pact and infuse new blood in the species.

by Cedric Letsch

Yarik

A former mines slave turned to piracy, little is known of the previous past of this man except that he was onboard The Ferret as quartermaster for a long period, before taking land when he had the chance to acquire the Hottest Spices after a broad pardon of the Ferret crew.

Bada

A stunningly wild volcanic island shrouded in the myth of dragons' presence and magic origins.