Cave Drake
Though 'drake' is often seen as a misnomer for this species that walks upright, the name has nonetheless stuck for all that know about them.
Their bodies are covered in surprisingly fine scales, only really demonstrating themselves in harsh light, but it is perhaps this fineness that allows the species to show off stripe-like patches of bioluminescent scaling. This bioluminescence is often emotionally triggered, allowing the Cave Drake to hide in the dark when calm and collected, but makes them easy to discern in heated conversation. Some among them have trained to more actively control their luminescent tendencies, and these members of their species are usually employed as diplomats and ambassadors, especially in Gildcroft.
Present day, this saliva is harvested and utilized primarily as a medicinal among the Enlightened. Deep Ones, meanwhile, have established a sort of black market with much more nefarious uses for the relaxant in mind.
The Cave Drake's baseline society is a mix of tight-knit cloisters of like-minded individuals and isolationist hermits dotting the various caves that have formed across the land. Among the cloistered groups, there exists two distinct castes, related to how far below they reside: the Deep Ones, and the Enlightened. Deep One cloisters tend to be a little less gregarious, but thrive in the darker depths of the world, while Enlightened cloisters are friendly, and work together for their greater good.
Biology and Appearance
Physiology
Looking physically humanoid, they differ in fairly notable ways, most chiefly being their longer-than-human arms allowing them a more comfortable quadrupedal gait, as well as the obvious differences in skull and skeletal structure, spinal differences to accommodate a decidedly powerful tail, and their broad, thick claws and limber extremities that aid the species in scaling surfaces that most other creatures would find insurmountable.Their bodies are covered in surprisingly fine scales, only really demonstrating themselves in harsh light, but it is perhaps this fineness that allows the species to show off stripe-like patches of bioluminescent scaling. This bioluminescence is often emotionally triggered, allowing the Cave Drake to hide in the dark when calm and collected, but makes them easy to discern in heated conversation. Some among them have trained to more actively control their luminescent tendencies, and these members of their species are usually employed as diplomats and ambassadors, especially in Gildcroft.
Relaxant Saliva
Cave Drake saliva contains a compound that, to most creatures, acts as a fast-acting muscle relaxant. This is presumed to be a holdover from when the creatures' ancestors were less enlightened, where threats would be halted by a spit of this saliva at a threat's face, or it was once used to render prey less able to flee.Present day, this saliva is harvested and utilized primarily as a medicinal among the Enlightened. Deep Ones, meanwhile, have established a sort of black market with much more nefarious uses for the relaxant in mind.