Dragonborn

Dragonborn are powerfully built reptilians who have probably the greatest sexual dimorphism of any race. Males have an average height of just over 6 feet, but females average at 7 feet. Males weigh around 200 pounds, while females weigh closer to 300 pounds. The most striking difference between the two, though, is the magnificent crests female dragonborn sport on their heads. Males are effectively bald with no additional plumage or hair or anything. Females' crests emerge from the brow and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be smooth or ridged, with bony spikes or knobs. They can be rounded or rectangular, tall or short. They always bear remarkable brightly colored patterns. Dragonborn coloration varies by region (mottled greens and browns in the tropical jungles and forests, browns and yellows in the savannahs and grasslands, tans in the desert, etc.). Some have additional coloration in streaks, spots, or patches that indicate a particularly strong influence from one of their dragon ancestors. This coloration is always one of the following colors: red, white, black, green, blue, silver, bronze, brass, gold, or copper.
Dragonborn are a mostly nomadic people. They travel in tribes across their homeland of Arken on long migratory journeys called treks. Tribes consist of between about 40 and 60 individuals, including several children. Each trek takes four years to complete, and there are holidays only celebrated at specific milestones along a trek, as well as ones celebrated each year. Dragonborn will mark their age in both treks and years. To ensure their tribes thrive, dragonborn have carefully cultivated fruit-bearing trees and bushes and other edible plants along their paths.
Permanent settlements called basks dot Arken where dragonborn gather to exchange news, gifts, goods, and members, as well as settle disputes between tribes, hold marriage and coming of age ceremonies, and tend to or leave behind those too elderly to make another trek. Any given bask usually hosts three to five tribes at a time, along with a permanent population of a couple dozen elders who serve as historians, judges, and spiritual guides. Basks use slash and burn techniques on the surrounding landscape and keep pens of semi-domesticated animals to feed the old dragonborn who live there and bolster the food stores brought by visiting tribes.
Dragonborn culture is matriarchal, with females leading tribes and having final say on inter-tribal conflicts and approval on marriages. Males are typically the hunters and farmers, but warriors and shamans can be any gender. Regardless of gender, dragonborn with colored scales marking their strong draconic ancestry are regarded with an almost reverent respect and often hold the highest positions in a tribe or bask. Child-rearing is a group effort where each young dragonborn knows their birth parents but considers the entire tribe their extended family.
There is an inherent melancholy to the modern dragonborn civilization. Ruins of grand cities and temples, mostly unoccupied and overgrown, are scattered across the continents, and dragonborn written histories are limited to the past few centuries, while their oral histories go much further back. Whenever dragonborn speak of their past, it is as though they know something is missing, but they are unsure of what. They speak of their gods, the original dragons, as beings they once lived side by side with, but who left or were taken long ago. Some dragonborn believe they may yet return and hope and pray fervently for such a day, while many have made their peace with the absence of their gods.