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.

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.

History & Background

Contact

 While it is widely believed that April Valis made the first formal contact with the Cave Drake species, it was in fact a few years earlier when an exploration team discovered the planet, and established the seeds of what would become Chitos port. April's encounter with a local, Lavitz, merely shined a brighter light on the species' existence.

Society and Culture

 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.

Technology

 While the species has natively achieved a respectable level of technology- having their own tunnel-based broadcasting method, widespread irrigation that filters river run-off to the species' many subterranean settlements, facilities for refining their local variant of oil, and automatic weapons- the town of Gildcroft, bringing with it travelers from the galactic society, has introduced far more advanced technologies that the species had been years- decades, even- away from natively developing.

Language

  The Cave Drakes do speak a native language, though the Federation doesn't have a solid enough bead on what it's called, or how to translate it.

Notes

  The original Cave Drake, Lavitz DuWard was created by another individual, and the creation of this species page was done with their blessing.

Genetic Descendants

• Cave Mauren

Scientific Name

Antrum venenum

Geographic Distribution

• Eowei