5. DRAGONFOLK

Dragonriders provide most of the structure for their society. Joined dragons are pretty easygoing and have no real desire for societal structure themselves. For example, the Empress is not the acknowledged leader of the dragons; but dragons will follow their riders and, by extension, obey the Dragonlady as well as the Warrenlady of their own warren ; but Dragons will follow their Humans unless they feel strongly otherwise, which leads them to obey the DragonLady and WarrenLady in most cases.

The dragonrider society is a very liberal one in relation to the landbound community, which has a structure of mores and taboos similiar to any pre-industrial community. The Warren, rather than the family, is the primary societal unit. Children are often raised by one parent and their mate(s), relationships are (for reasons listed below) often not monogamous, family lines are very blurred, and marriage bonds are not legally defined. Gender prejudice tends to be toward women, since women hold nearly all positions of high authority.

The landbound tend to consider the dragonrider society shocking and scandalous. Landbound who are relocated to the Warren are usually initially overwhelmed.

5.1 Side-effects of Dragon Mating

Due to the strength of the connection between dragon and rider, a dragon's mating cycle causes sexual reactions between the riders of the mating dragons. It can be resisted, although it is extremely difficult. Usually, the riders of the mating dragons mate also. Dragons also don't see a problem with brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, etc. mating; so if there is any warning at all, a rider who doesn't want their dragon to "fly" the female flying to mate usually leaves the warren.

Unfertile females DO mate (this lack of fertility seems to be a side-effect to Warren living rather than something natural to wild dragons), though the sex drive caused in riders by a non-fertile mating tends to be easier to resist (if resistance is desired).

5.2 Cross-Gender Joining

Occassionally, a human will join with a dragon of opposite gender. This is an usually indication of alternate sexual preference of the human involved (i.e. the human is bisexual or homosexual in orientation),whether or not the human realizes it. It should be noted that a bisexual or homosexual human need not join with a dragon of opposite gender; usually, there is about a 50-50 chance either way. Also, it should be noted that cross-joined riders do not necessarily pursue a homosexual or bisexual lifestyle, outside of the inevitable mating flights where the rider of the other dragon is usually of the same gender. Since sexuality is only a means of reproductive instinct among dragons, sexual orientation is not an issue with them. Dragons are capable of attatchment to their own kind that is as strong as Human love, but these emotions are independent of gender. Cuddling is a well-known Draconic passtime, also independent of sexual desire

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5.3 Warrens

Warrens are usually cut into special mountainsides in the DragonLand. It takes decades to build them, so usually it is only done when necessary, and planned FAR ahead of time when it is. They house between 100 - 500 dragon/rider pairs in individual stone-hewn apartments. These majority of apartments are accessible only by flight (most are quite a few stories up, and cutting that many stairs is exhausting and impractical). The primary exception to this rule is the quarters used by the riders of the warrens' queens, which are often built at ground level; this is necessitated by the fact that queens, when carrying a clutch of eggs, are confined to the hatching cavern and are not available to carry their riders. Other “ground-access" apartments are located along the first 2-3 levels of the Warren. These are used by dragonriders with unjoined mates, and sometimes dragonrider parents of unjoined children.

The unjoined dragonfolk live on the ground level of the Warren in stone cottages or adapted ground-level caves (there's a lot one can do to make a cave hospitable).

Usually, Warrens are located in areas where there is some kind of grassy plain nearby, with the objective of maintaining a small herd of cattle (or other herding animals) for the purposes of feeding the dragons. Also, warrens tend to be built in places where there are ready sources of water available, such as springs or streams.

Certain elements are more or less common to all warrens:

The Green - A large, flat expanse of open ground where dragons can take off and land. A warren's green is generally found at either the base or the top of the warren cliffside, or in the center of bowl-shaped warrens. Most greens are large enough to accommodate an entire wing of dragons for takeoffs and landings.

Med center - basically a hospital for treating sick or wounded riders and other warrenfolk. A med center is headed by master healer, supported by a staff of subordinate healers, nurses, and orderlies. Med centers tend to be located as far as possible from the living areas of a warren, to slow the spread of disease. Wounded dragons are tended by dragonhealers, whose skills are distinct from those of human healers because of the vastly different physical characteristics of humans and dragons. Some warrens have separate human healers and dragonhealers, while at others these roles are filled by one or more individuals cross trained for both skills. Sick or wounded dragons are treated outside the med center, since the size of these creatures makes it impossible for them to enter human-scale buildings.

Dining hall - because of the communal nature of warren society, riders and warrenfolk usually eat at a central dining hall within the warren (though some may choose to keep their own supplies and do their own cooking in their quarters). There are no prescribed mealtimes due to the dictates of rider patrol schedules, though most of the warrenfolk tend to eat at the usual breakfast, lunch, and dinnertimes. (Some dragonfolk do keep their own supplies, usually for special occassions, and some apartments have facilities for cold storage and cooking.) The dining hall also generally functions as a meeting hall.

Searchling barracks - temporary housing for new searchlings to stay between the time they are searched and the next hatching. If they do not join, searchlings may continue to live at the barracks pending the next hatching. Eventually, though, searchlings who do not join would be expected to find a job and an apartment at the warren, or return to the Landbound Nation.

Hatchling barracks - temporary housing for the newly-joined and their dragons. When the dragons are capable of flight, they are expected to find an apartment, since a fully-grown dragon will not fit into the hatchling barracks.

Shops and crafthalls - each warren has a variety of goods and services available from merchants and craftsmen who make their homes in the warren. These range from metal and leather goods to food items, wines, clothing, or jewelry..in short, every type of good or service that a town or village's business district would provide. While the warren provides all basic needs to its riders, the merchants and craftsmen provide the luxury items. Barter is the usual means of exchange in the warrens.

Warren offices - The Warrenlady, as well as each queenrider and wingleader, has his or her own office from which to conduct business. These tend to be located together, generally near the queenrider apartments and dining hall, and are ground-accessible.

Hatching cavern - Usually the largest interior space at a warren, this is where the queens lay their eggs and where hatchings and joinings occur. Hatching caverns have sandy floors, which the queens use to partially cover the eggs; the queens keep the eggs warm by heating the sands with their fiery breaths. To the side of this main area are tiers of bleacher-type seats, either hewed into the stone itself or constructed of some other material, where the Warrenfolk sit to observe the hatchings. Hatching caverns are always ground-accessible, and tend to be located in the lower part of the warren.

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5.4 Unjoined Dragonfolk

There are a certain number of non-dragonriders in the Warrens. Most of them are descendants of dragonriders or searchlings who never joined; others are Landborn who migrate to the warrens to seek a better life, or to escape the rigid mores and laws of the Landbound nation. They make up the support staff of the Warrens: cooks, leatherworkers, etc. Many have gone to the landbound nation for a while to train in a craft and return. A major part of the unjoined dragonfolk are or were once searchlings. When a queen dragon lays a clutch of eggs, all of the local landbound communities are scoured for promising joining candidates (youths aged 15 - 20 usually, though there are exceptions). These candidates are then relocated to the Warren (sometimes without their permission -- the right to Search is sometimes a point of contention between the dragonriders and landbound, but almost all landbound jump at the opportunity to join). However, dragon hatchlings are almost never attracted to adults past their mid-twenties, so if a searchling reaches this age and has not joined, he is removed as a candidate. Searchlings who remain unjoined almost always stay in the Warren, some because they enjoy the more liberal society and others because they are too ashamed to return home. Most other unjoined Dragonfolk are the children of warren residents who are raised there, but never join. All young Warrenfolk stand as candidates for hatchings until they turn 20 or so. Even after that, though, they would generally be in the stands and thus readily available in case a dragon should decide to choose one as its rider.

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5.5 Dragonless Riders

The most tragic moment in a dragonrider's life is the death of his dragon. If such a terrible thing should ever happen, that Human is forever incomplete. Many go mad. Others commit suicide. The ones that remain sane after being torn from their dragon never quite recover and usually continue as pale shadows of their former selves. Dragons whose riders die commit suicide by teleporting without a destination. All other joined dragons in the area are aware when this happens, and they usually sing a sad tribute to the lost dragon. The cheerful side of this is that there are few dragonless riders. Dragons do not die of old age before their riders, and dragonriders and their dragons usually die together in combat. There are occasional plagues in the DragonLands that affect dragons in particular. These are extremely tragic things. It should be noted, however, that a dragon's suicide on the death of its rider is prompted by the experience of feeling its bondmate's death; If, for some reason, the dragon does not feel its rider's death (for instance, if the dragon is unconscious), it is possible for the dragon to survive. If this happens, the dragon's fate is similar to that of a dragonless rider.

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5.6 Warren Outcasts

Though the Dragonfolk have a loose social structure in comparison to the Landbound, there are Dragons and Humans that are completely spurned:

5.6.1 The Warrenless

The Warrenless are dragonriders who, for whatever reason, have voluntarily chosen to leave all Warrens or were banished for some crime. Once a rider makes the decision to leave or is banished, he and his dragon are forever outside Warren society; this is, of course, a human convention, it not being in the nature of dragons to shun their own kind (except for dangerous rogues like Orobos or Rashevon, who are described in Section 8.4) Dragonfolk take the rejection of the warren as a personal affront to their way of life. Warrenless usually live a live in solitude from other dragonriders. They are frequently nomadic and reclusive.

5.6.2 The Rogue Dragonriders

Far worse than the Warrenless, rogue dragonriders are those few who have chosen to work against the interests of the Warren (or the DragonLands in general). This could be subtle (such as raising ill feeling among the Landbound), or violent (attacks on dragonriders or Landbound). Rogue dragonriders are often obsessive or vengeant. They are almost always in some degree insane. Some rogues have broken down the joined dragon aversion to doing harm to other joined dragons. They work individually or in gangs, and are extremely dangerous.

The most notable band of rogues in the DragonLands are Roland's Rogues, who were once banished from Falagand Warren and now occupy Shakar Warren in the Nomadlands. (See Section 8.4 for more information on Roland and his followers.)

5.6.3 Wild Riders

Once, very rarely, a Human traveling in the wastes happens upon a wild clutch of Dragon eggs hatching and manages to join. Dragonfolk do not truly shun these Dragon/Human pairs. Rather, they're unsure how to feel. Wild Riders can not be termed Warrenless, since they were never associated with a Warren. They have no real place in Dragonfolk society, and are often accepted with suspicion and mixed feelings, if at all.

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