There are many theories about the ancient history of dragon life on the planet Toril,
one persistent one is that all draconic life forms arrived one-day thanks to a massive
meteor impact long ago called the Tearfall, after the luminous tears of Selune, the asteroid
belt that appears to trail along sort of behind the moon of Toril at a slight angle.
But there is plenty of evidence of them existing long before that and here is where we get
into the time before the True dragons arrived and the Protodragon species evolved into a
number of different lineages, we are all familiar with the Wyvern and the primitive Fire Drakes,
but there was another, humanoid offshoot which has been existing largely unchanged for many
tens of thousands of years.
I have seen a lot of comments around the Dragonborn of Abeir that are now stranded on Toril being
something of a recent and unwelcome invasion, but they are just the most recent draconic
humanoid arrivals, the dragon-kin have been on the planet for much longer and hail from
a much earlier edition of the game, second edition advanced Dungeons & Dragons in fact,
and yes, they were deliberately written into the Forgotten Realms setting, its just they
are very rarerly seen on the continent of Faerun and are often just assumed to be half
dragons, they are also included in some source material for 3rd edition D&D, not 3.5 edition,
so again they sort of slip under the radar, but, they also get some exposure in the Pool
of Radiance adventures and stories so yes, sorry to say this for those who are of the
opinion that dragonborn don't belong on Toril, your opinion is just that, it really doesn't
have a leg to stand on when it comes to the actual published lore and it can't even be
dismissed as some sort of recent corruption of the realms lore.
Draconic evolution just spontaneously produced a humanoid form without any help from magical
mutations, corrupted dragon eggs, divine intervention or any other factor, the Dragon Kin are native
to the world of Toril, therefore, as Abeir is like a twin reflection of Toril, it is
perfectly logical that there would be a version of their species found on that planet as well,
located in its own parallel dimension.
The easiest way to spot the difference between a half-dragon and a Dragon Kin is their legs
look like human legs, not the typical stifle and hock joints that is more like a dog or
horse leg you see with the half-dragon and the kobolds.
According to the original monstrous compendium volume one published in 1994 these creatures
are said to be very distant cousins of dragons, not directly derived from transformed true
dragon eggs or the result of a divine transformation of the humanoid servants of the platinum dragon
god named Bahamut, nor are they like the ogre version of kobolds.
Dragonkin are a distinct race, similar in appearance to the draconians of the world
of Krynn with fully functional wings and a long tail.
They are powerful and intimidatingly monstrous people, adults range in height from a minimum
of seven to up to nine feet tall, so the largest champions of their kind go from being medium
to large in their size category and their strength is well beyond that of a human.
They have a head that is unmistakably draconic but is not just a more humanoid version of
any existing true dragon breed, unlike the half-dragon which clearly derives its features
from its true dragon parent.
Dragonkin have two short, swept-back horns with a mane of hair growing from the head
and down their neck, plus often some facial hair, usually only growing from below the
chin, jutting out under their long snout.
Dragon-kin do not cut their hair and their taloned fingertips are not much good for braiding,
so they often just decorate it with precious metal baubles.
Their scaled hides range from dark yellow ocher to reddish-brown with darker spots or
bands, their relatively small scales grow from hide as thick and tough as tanned leather
and those scales tend to become sleeker and burnished with age, their body always has
darker patterns on it, such as stripes or clusters of spots on the thighs, base of their
tail, their wide shoulders and lighter spots pattern their leathery wings growing darker
toward where the wings meet their shoulders, becoming more prominent as they age.
They have green wings that lighten to gold or yellow, or sometimes wings that match the
colour of their bodies.
Their long, scaled tails are not useful in combat as a dragon’s tail is, but their
vicious claws certainly are.
A species as old as the Wyverns and the primitive fire drakes, they shared the supercontinent
of Merrouroboros with savage humans, the rising might of the saurian Sarrukh empire, the furred
quoggoth, the ancient green elves, and the precursors of the amphibian and the avian
races which would rise to dominate the world after the Sarrukh fell into decline, so, Dragonkin
culture is older than that of the sun and moon elves, the dwarves, gnomes and even the
ancient lizardfolk and Yuan-ti.
The Dragonkin were just as numerous as the other tribal species, they may even have wiped
out a heap of species we have no idea even existed, and its probably only their primitive
humanoid rivals' abilities to cast simple magic and ride trained thunder beasts into
battle that saved them from extinction under the talons of the powerful and cunning dragonkin.
Back then the humans just called them something else, but the basic meaning was Dragon Men.
Dragonkin culture is basically eternal and unchanging, they have lived the same way for
an amazingly long time and they are inherently hostile to any deviation from their traditional
way of life, that of nomadic hunters and raiders with almost no interest in the goings-on of
other intelligent humanoid species outside of how their actions directly impact their
own lives.
Dragonkin witnessed the emergence of the true dragons and their whole era of dragon dominance
across the face of Toril, they survived the Sundering of the supercontinent and to this
day can be found on all major landmasses, including Katashaka and certainly in the unexplored
expanse of the distant land called Osse far, far to the east.
The Cult of the Dragon has managed to gain control over a few dragonkin tribes; it imposes
some small amount of discipline on their society in exchange for teaching the dragonkin additional
combat skills and providing a steady supply of magic trinkets.
They serve as warriors to protect the wide-ranging interests of the Cult.
Dragonkin are much better fliers than half-dragons, they will remain in the air and out of reach
of melee attackers, then swoop down and unleash ripping, tearing strikes with their foreclaws,
they don't have a fine sense of touch with their hands as a result of their digits being
dominated by large claws, however, they have a formidable grip and are quite fond of making
use of spears and polearms manufactured by other races and provided to them.
Their tribes don't manufacture such things, they are basically a culture of barbarians
who live by raiding and exploiting resources until the tribe moves on to fresh hunting
grounds, they tend to have a severe impact on local animal populations and any edible
plants, they also see no reason not to steal livestock and anything else they need, if
another humanoid raises an objection, it's quite likely they will kill them and eat them
just on principle, however, they do particularly like the taste of humanoids and swear that
the smarter they are, the better they taste.
They don't do this to intimidate or sow terror, they simply don't care what any other species
think about the way they live, they have outlasted countless species already, and they will outlive
many, many more.
Dragonkin do not apologize, they are easily provoked to deadly violence and they will
do whatever it takes to get their claws on more magic items.
Dragonkin have the innate ability to detect magic at will, as a free action.
They have an overpowering desire to acquire magic items, and they attack characters who
possess these items in preference to others.
If possible, a dragonkin will grab a magic item from its opponent and flee with it, taking
the item back to its cave.
Dragonkin who are fighting on the ground do not take unreasonable risks to flee with an
item—they never turn their backs on an opponent, for example.
Cult dragonkin are better able to resist their instinctual desire for magic, and do not endanger
or abandon their mission for the sake of these items.
Tribal dragonkin do not use magic items in combat, but Cult dragonkin often do, if appropriate
and they have been instructed how to do so.
There has been a subtle change as of late, for some reason there are more and more Dragonkin
sorcerers showing up in their tribes, far more than have been seen since well before
the Rage of Dragons began, and it seems like they are also growing their population numbers
gradually, migrating their tribes hunting grounds closer and closer to more civilised
areas.
You see, Dragonkin can actually see magic emanations like it is a weird display of impossible
colours that nobody else can fully appreciate.
They have an overpowering desire to acquire magic items so they can take them back to
their tribe and decorate every wall and surface with more and more of the shiny items.
Dragonkin claws can cut a victim to ribbons fairly quickly and they brawl among themselves
quite often within their tribes according to their own rules of hierarchy and prestige.
They don't typically make use of manufactured weapons or armour unless they are taught how
to and equipped with such gear by other races.
They always favour using either a spear or a sturdy polearm, won't wear any armour that
compromises their agility and speed in flight and they will not tolerate any other race
getting involved in their own tribal politics.
In the nation of Halruaa, there are at least a few tribes who have inhabited the mountain
range called the North Wall since before the arrival of the mages from Netheril, just prior
to the disaster which brought that mighty empire to utter ruin, they had been a source
of terror for the rustic farmers who struggled to survive in the rich and marshy delta for
many years before the mages arrived and asserted complete control of the territory, destroying
hordes of monsters and almost wiping out the native dragonkin, but, to their surprise,
the Dragon Kin displayed wisdom and capitulated, agreeing to cease their raids on the civilized
races of Halruaa and instead provide added security all along the mountains bordering
a wilderness infested with serpent folk, feral elves and goblinoids.
In time, with better understanding, it became clear that this was simply the natural instinct
of the dragonkin to always follow the strongest, and it was the Netherese mage's impressive
ability to not just defeat the many dragons lairing along that mountain chain, but bend
them to their will and actually ride them like trained mounts.
If you ride a dragon into a camp of Dragonkin, you won't have any problems with them, but
the moment they consider you weaker than them, you are probably going to get yourself killed
and eaten.
The people of Halruaa understand this very well and they never, never drop their guard
of completely trust the dragonkin, even those they have known well for many years.
Dragonkin are led by the strongest, if their leader becomes incapacitated from illness
or injury, they are disposed of, if a stronger individual comes along and defeats their leader,
that individual becomes their new leader, its that simple and dragonkin consider any
other social hierarchy to be corrupted and contemptible.
Naturally, this means that powerful mages, warlords and true dragons have found dragonkin
to be useful minions over the eons and you never know where the dragonkin will show up,
the very model of barbarian ideals.
If you think of the Klingons from star trek, but just way, way more so, that is the dragonkin
almost exactly, just throw in a heavy preference for eating other intelligent humanoids.
And no, the mages of Halruaa have never tried to curb that part of their culture, I mean,
if you were an evil overlord, having excellent flying scouts who could also neatly dispose
of any pesky prisoners and leave no remains behind is quite handy... evil, sure, but very
convenient.
But you know the old Griffen breeder saying, "If you keep hand-feeding a man-eater, and
sooner or later your going to lose an arm".
Dragonkin proudly wear humanoid skulls and prefer to wear clothing made from cured humanoid
leather, if you happen to have a dragonkin staring at your artist tattoos, they are absolutely
considering how nice your skin would look on them as a new kilt or some such, and if
you happen to visit their village, don't look too closely at the decorative patterns on
the walls of their tents.
Aside from their respect for strength, they have no regard for others and simply take
whatever they want from those weaker than themselves, they have no natural predators
but in many places they are hunted by civilised races for a standing bounty paid for their
heads.
Despite their preference for meat, they can eat damn near anything they can chew, and
its most likely that the Grey orcs of the far north learned how to survive on the ripplenbark
fungus thanks to watching what the dragonkin were eating.
Dragonkin have no interest in treasure, if you want to get them to do something for you,
offer them enchanted items of any kind, its the only thing they consider valuable other
than fresh meat.
Also, if you do find yourself if a fight with them, target them in the air with whatever
ranged weapons you have, they have a distinct tactical failing in that regard as they have
never, and will never, learn to either use or defend themselves from such weaponry.
Don't engage them in hand to hand combat, they will simply snatch the weapons from your
grip and then rip your guts out, quite literally, a clear sign they have been involved in a
battle is loads of victims with their entrails flung all over the place and the skin flayed
from their body.
If they have an abundance of freshly killed humanoids, they simply remove the heads as
they find roasted brains to be the most delicious delicacy... hence why they favour eating the
most intelligent humanoids... nice big, rich and fatty brains to eat.
They hatch from communal clusters of eggs quite tiny compared to human babies, but are
quite independent and developed from a very early age and grow rapidly on such a rich
and nutritious diet, reaching maturity by the age of around eight or so.
They have a life span probably up to 200 years old, but very rarely survive that long, as
soon as they start to suffer age-related frailty, they will most likely be killed by their own
tribe.
Trying to teach one anything other than a better way to fight with a weapon is basically
pointless, they have the same level of intelligence as an average human, but they simply won't
learn to read and ignore anything that is not of immediate use in the here and now.
Technically their own language is Draconic, but their wealth of dialects are much more
sibilant and simple compared to the language of the dragons, they can understand essentially
what each other are saying, but to human ears, they sound like they are speaking different
languages.
They can learn some words in common, but have a lot of difficulty actually speaking the
language, slipping back into their own tongue and often using hand gestures or simply pointing
and hissing to get their meaning across.
Another reason why its so damn hard to teach them anything at all.
If they have a rich oral history of their people, nobody has ever heard it, so its most
likely that they don't, which is a great shame considering the amazing span of time they
have lived and witnessed life and major events from history on the planet of Toril.
Kobolds avoid Dragonkin, they revere dragons, yes, but they are far from stupid, and getting
to close to a dragonkin is just going to get them killed and eaten.
Even so, they can often be found in the same dragon lair, serving their master.
The dragonkin come and go as they please, the kobolds fetch them food and try to stay
the hell out of their way.
The winged Kobold urds even more so.
Dragonkin reserve a special kind of hatred for noble Dragonborn and have some very derogatory
names for them which focus on their lack of wings and tail, their ugly flat faces and
mimicry of weakling humanoid society.
I'd be very interested in seeing how they would react to the Draconians of Krynn.
My name is AJ Pickett, I make videos like this, researching and presenting the incredibly
rich lore of Dungeons & Dragons, the forgotten realms campaign setting and the rest of the
D&D Multiverse, as always, thanks for listening and I will be back with more for you, very
soon.