#schzii

[welcometoenchiron]

[welcometoenchiron]

Dragons in Enchiron come in many, many shapes and sizes and intelligence levels. The dragonfolk revere them all, but the biggest and most powerful are, unsurprisingly, the ones most admired. In this world, gryphons are considered a subtype of dragon, and they too come in many shapes and sizes and intelligences, but they are often prey to their scaley relatives. Long ago, there was a society among the dragonfolk that admired less the strength of these creatures as much as their capacity for flight. Some of the elusively winged united with those that thirsted for the skies to try to understand the changes of their own bodies. Meanwhile, several successions of rulers fostered a far crueler atmosphere within the country: essentially, if you were weak or couldn't fight, you were worthless. Those of the society for flight became the voice of opposition against this movement; they accepted into their fold those the larger society rejected. They turned their differences, their lack of scales, their more delicate natures, into a point of pride, moved into some of the less rocky lowland hills and mountains, and took on the gryphon as the symbol of their new society.

And then there was a breakthrough. Some say it was technology, some say it was magic, some say it was the grace of their patrons, some say it was a combination of all of the above, but the people changed. They shed their scales, got their wings, and became like the gryphons they loved. For a while, they lived peacefully. But then, an especially aggressive and hateful ruler took control in the dragonfolk's country. This ruler saw the gryphonpeople and thought them an abomination, a mockery, and a plague upon their lands. They riled up their countrymen and set about "reclaiming what was theirs." I would say it was a war, but the gryphonfolk didn't stand a chance. It was a massacre. Only those that hid deep within the mountains' caves survived. The secret of how they came to be and much of their early records were lost to the blazes the dragonfolk began.

Still, the gryphon people persisted. Their society bloomed again within the caves. They focused more on technology, learning to manipulate the water flows and bioluminescent organisms that lived there naturally to survive. Eventually, they dared to let their society spill back onto the mountainsides, just the edges of it. Kinder attitudes had taken hold with the dragonfolk, and the gryphonpeople were left alone, a tentative treaty eventually worked out between them. But at some point in those caves, decay began. The ability to fly vanished. Even the power to glide became rare. Over last several generations, children have been increasingly born with defective gryphon traits, if they have those traits at all. This has lead to a cultural Renaissance within their society, a firm assertion that their history and abilities are to be treasured above all else, as they desperately try to keep their sense of who they are as a people alive while they search for what allowed them to change in the first place and reverse the process.

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Schzii tails, when present (for they're not always there), are completely furred, whereas Devon tails only have a light dusting of hair, akin to the feel of skin on the face or neck, with the thick coating only at the end.

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The Mystery of a dying race

Long ago, the schzii made themselves. They invented the way to transform themselves from dragon to gryphon, but that technology has been lost for ages. Long ago, the people were capable of flight, or at least gliding, but over the course of recent generations, the genetic alterations once made have begun to decay. More and more children are being born with smaller and smaller wings, or wings that are somehow malformed. Twisted wings. Featherless wings. Singular wings with just a vestigial lump where the other ought to be. Skin conditions have become more common. These days, the ability to glide is rare, highly valued, and attractive. With no way so far to reverse this, the sense of national identity is becoming unstable, causing anxiety for the people.

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The Schzii were originally Ignitians, but they disagreed with much of Ignus's values and way of life. They took on the griffin as their patron, preferring their attitudes to the dragons'. They altered their own genetics to separate themselves. Unfortunately, Ignus took poorly to the break and did not let them found their new society in peace for long. They destroyed everything and forced their society into caverns.

[welcometoenchiron]

What if the griffin people did genetically modify themselves, but when the ignitians found out what was happening, they attacked and razed the griffin ppl to the ground, destroying their tech and slaughtering them. There were few survivors, and they fled with what little they could save to the caves, where they refounded their city and tried to rebuild, sheltered. Maybe all their genetic technology was thanks to a small team of scientists, and their knowledge for it was lost in the raids, so now they can’t turn anyone else. Maybe they kept technology as a theme though and are now a little more steampunk like (especially if ignitians are solarpunk…) and perhaps there’s been some decay overtime in the genetics so now it’s less perfect; sometimes wings have no feathers or tails are short or you only have one tiny useless wing.