Dragonkin

This page serves as a source of information about Dragonkin as it is applicable to World 42 role-playing characters. Everyone is invited to add to this information.

This guide is currently undergoing a reconstruction project, please save all of your own edits until after this notice is removed, thank you.

A Brief History
The dragonkin are a powerful race of sentient, humanoid, winged, fire breathing reptiles that predate nearly all recorded history. Their own history begins on a world who's name is remembered only by them, which they left and abandoned long ago. The reason for this abandonment is known to be the awakening of the elder gods, for the dragonkin are not creatures of this universe, but a previous one. The dragonkin homeworld existed in a cycle before our own; as each cycle is marked by the awakening of the elder gods, who then destroy and recreate the universe, and after creating a new perfect world, they fall into slumber once more until disturbed. Such was the fate of the dragonkin and their world. However, a good number of dragonkin survived this revision by taking shelter in The Abyss; where the elder gods cast the detritus they cannot recycle, effectively making The Abyss a dumping ground between worlds.

As their universe was being destroyed and remade, the dragonkin took action and sought out Jas: most powerful of the elder gods and who would later be named by the kin as "The Oppressor". Whether they sought out Jas for mercy, retribution, or both, no one really knows, but what did happen was this: when Jas was confronted by the dragonkin, she cursed them and bound them to her artefact, the Stone of Jas, and made them the guardians of the relic. This curse anchored the dragonkin to the Stone, and compelled them to seek out and destroy any who touch it to steal power and use it for anything other than the purpose of Jas. After the curse was inflicted, it is thought that this was the time that the two factions of dragonkin: the Necrosyrtes and the Dactyl, either were created or split off from one another, as both factions may have already been in existence prior to the curse. Whatever the case; the Dactyl and Necrosyrtes became bitter rivals. The discontent between the two factions grew to the point that Necrosyrte and Dactyl became openly hostile with one another, and contact between the two groups was severed almost entirely.

As time continued, both factions began leaving their marks on the history of the current cycle. The warrior faction, the Necrosyrtes, became feared throughout Gielinor and beyond; as they mercilessly hunted false users and spread destruction to dull the pain the curse was inflicting on them. This compulsion to destroy the false users was the key element that brought about the fall of Kethsi; a planet near the aviansie homeworld of Abbinah. When the native Kethsians discovered the Stone of Jas, they used it to build up their world into a great civilization, but this golden age was very short lived. Enraged by continued use of the Stone, the Necrosyrtes eventually found their way to Kethsi and attacked. At first the Kethsians tried to defend themselves using the Stone's power; attempting to destroy the dragonkin with a spell that rivaled a nuclear explosion, but their attempt failed and they watched with horror as their aggressors survived unscathed.

It was then that they discovered the dragonkin grew more powerful with the use of the Stone, and that ironically the great spell that they had cast to destroy the dragonkin had sealed their own destruction. Further enraged by the misuse of the artefact; the Necrosyrtes attacked every continent on Kethsi relentlessly; city after city, village after village, everything: nothing was beyond their reach. Within and unknown and presumably short period of time, the entire world of Kethsi was reduced to an immense, smoldering ruin. Despite the discovery of bane ore by the Kethsians, it was already too late, and their race faded into extinction. With their rage sated and Kethsi left in ruins, the Necrosyrtes left the destroyed planet behind.

While the Necrosyrtes busied themselves with the hunting of false users, the Dactyl were hard at work and attempting to find a way to beat the curse. One dragonkin, named Kerapac, decided to create progeny for the dragonkin that would be unaffected by Jas's twisted manipulation. His work led him to take eggs from a species of giant water lizard which he discovered on an island. Using advanced dragonkin science and magics on one egg, and his own blood as a catalyst, he twisted the unborn inside: creating the first dragon. This first dragon was born a female, which would later be deemed the Queen Black Dragon. Another Dactyl dragonkin, named Phalaks, followed Kerapac's example and used the same eggs of the giant water lizards; creating a three headed black male dragon: which would be named Shakorexis, and become known to many across Gielinor as the King Black Dragon. The first two dragons were then bred, and their offspring bred many times over. After many years of experimentation, going so far as to even add metal to the dragon genetic structure to strengthen them, the Dactyl abandoned the dragons in the wild, with even Shakorexis being released. Having hoped to create progeny, the Dactyl failed in this, as the dragons were either too weak, too unintelligent, or both, to suit their means as offspring.

Even though both factions had impacted the current cycle's history in deep ways, they remained mysterious entities that most other races considered only to be myths, and as time passed the dragonkin became considered only as legends. For some, however, the legends were as real as life, as the Necrosyrtes began terrorizing many settlements in the early Fourth Age for unknown reasons. One person, unable to stand by as the Necrosyrtes terrorized innocent people; stood up to the dragonkin, with his own name being marked into legend for his deeds. Robert the Strong, a human immigrant from Teragard, fought back the dragonkin with bane weaponry, which he had rediscovered. His ferocious defense, and then later assaults, pushed the dragonkin back to their lairs, where he continued to pursue them; attacking them at one of their castles, where he managed to kill one, but at the price of losing his treasured companion: a panther named Odysseus. After the Fourth Age, the dragonkin faded into myth once more, and only recently began to become a part of history again with the start if the Sixth Age.

Accepted Lore
This section addresses details about dragonkin that are widely accepted throughout the World 42 Role-Playing community.

Biology



 * The dragonkin were cursed by the elder god Jas to protect her Stone artefact as its guardians. Regardless of whether a dragonkin is Necrosyrte or Dacty; they all feel pain when the stone is being abused, and the urge to hunt down false users is described as an "itch". The only way to soothe the pain is to either cause destruction, which only relieves the pain a little, or to destroy a false user, which relieves a large amount of pain. The Necrosyrtes practice this, while the Dactyl prefer to cling to their research as a coping mechanism, which for them helps them to ignore the pain to some extent. The more the Stone of Jas is abused, the stronger the kin become so that they can destroy false users, and if the power of the stone is turned on the kin, it only heals them. Once false users are destroyed, not only is pain removed, but clarity of thought begins to return as well; as the dragonkin begin to settle down mentally from relief of the pain going away.
 * Dragonkin are always capable of following and finding false users, as when someone abuses the Stone of Jas; it leaves an imprint on their being that connects an invisible "chain" of sorts between them and the Stone. The kin are connected to this "chain" as well, and they use it to follow the false users wherever they might hide.
 * The Necrosyrtes attempted to abuse this chain by draining one of the false users, making use of an artefact called the Elder Mirror, of their power, and transferring it into a Dactyl captive named Tarshak, as they "could not simply put the power back in the Stone, or release it", and so Tarshak became a vessel for the False User's power. Tarshak became god-like in power, but as he further grew in power and called on that power to aid him in combat; his body began to aggressively mutate. The Dactyl dragonkin, Phalaks, produced several theories on why this occurred: one being that this was a safeguard put in place by Jas to prevent the dragonkin from abusing the Stone's power. The second, being described as "far more interesting" is that as Tarshak's energies merged with the human false user, along with being directly exposed to a constant stream of power and knowledge from the Stone, Tarshak's personality was slowly being erased by the knowledge received from the Stone, and his body was mutating due to the power he received needing somewhere to go; and so the body was compensating by growing to accommodate that power. Regardless, Tarshak ended up becoming a mindless, mutated abomination, which was later destroyed by The World Guardian.
 * Dragonkin are biologically immortal; they do not die from old age, and have only ever been observed to pass away due to injuries resulting from combat.
 * It is, however, incredibly difficult to harm dragonkin. Only a few things have ever been seen to be able to hurt one: bane weaponry, godly opponents, and other dragonkin. Anything else usually falls short of being able to harm one, though if a dragonkin is weakened they seem to be more susceptible to injury; as the dragonkin Forcae was ill from draining his own blood to create the rune dragons, and he is believed to have perished from their own fire, having been too weak to resist their flames.
 * Dragonkin have many advantages that, even without the Stone to give them power, make them a very remarkable race, with unique distinctions from others.
 * Their fire breath is, without a doubt, far stronger than that of their dragon creations: so superheated and concentrated are their flames that they rip right through what would fully protect another race from the heat, and more often than not this attack produces a one-hit, incinerating, killing blow on anything incapable of resisting. The healthier a dragonkin is, as well as how enraged they are, the stronger their breath is; as when Sakirth was wounded from a disagreement with Tarshak, he was not able to muster a large enough flame attack to finish off The World Guardian, who had just managed to survive the injuries from the weakened fireball.
 * One of their favored ways of causing destruction is to rain large fireballs down from the skies, and this was the way that the Necrosyrtes destroyed Kethsi. It is also worthy to note that if not incinerated by a dragonkin fireball, the surviving victim almost always passes out from the intense heat and pain of the experience.
 * A dragonkin's wings are not just for show; they are excellent flyers, who are even capable of hovering mid-flight like vampyres and aviansie are.
 * Dragonkin are naturally capable of inter-planetary travel. Even before Jas's curse, dragonkin possessed, and still do posses, the ability to open portals to The Abyss, which they then travel through to reach other worlds, which are reached by opening yet another portal while inside The Abyss. They used this ability to escape the destruction of their homeworld, and today still use it to travel the universe; hunting for false users or to find secluded places where they cannot be disturbed. This ability was passed on to only one group of dragons that the dragonkin created: the white dragons, who although are very close to extinction with only one member left in their numbers, are just as able to travel the universe as the dragonkin are. This ability does not come without risk, however, as a dragonkin or white dragon must know where they are going first or risk ending up in the empty void. If a dragonkin did not know about a world before, if a false user travels there, then the curse informs them of the location of the world the false user in question is on.
 * Dragonkin are tall in stature; larger in frame and taller than humans, but not quite as tall as icyene. They possess three large clawed toes on each foot, with a large dewclaw in the back, while their hands have smaller claws than those on their feet and possess three fingers and a thumb on each hand.
 * Dragonkin seem to have a fertility problem, much like the Ilujanka, and it is unknown if dragonkin are capable of having children at present. Unlike the Ilujanka, however, dragonkin are biologically immortal and would likely be able to sustain a population even with low breeding success, as long as the birth rate outnumbers the death toll. Even if they are still capable of having children, it is thought that they avoid doing so because of the curse, as it would be passed on to their offspring; the dragons were brought into development so that the dragonkin could have progeny that were not affected by the curse.
 * As revealed through Forcae's notes, it was confirmed that dragonkin hatch from eggs, just like their dragon progeny.
 * Dragonkin, despite all their power and biological immortality, still need to eat and sleep, as beds and kitchens have been found in the Dactyl's hidden dwellings.
 * Nearly all dragonkin seen are some shade of green in color, varying in tones and shades: no blue, red, or black dragonkin have been seen. Only one dragonkin is not a shade of green, which is Kerapac, who is white, though his discoloration is described by JaGex to be a result of either albinism or a side effect of how much he has drained his blood over the years to infuse his dragon creations.
 * The voices of dragonkin are not soft and subtle; they are quite deep and intimidating. Their voices are quite unique, as they actually produce a flanging effect when they speak (which means it sounds as if two voices are speaking almost exactly the same time, at just slightly different pitches; producing a "vibrating" effect in the vocalization), which nearly no other race can boast. Along with their speech, they are capable of producing bestial shrieks and roars.

Culture

 * The dragonkin are separated into two factions: the Necrosyrtes and the Dactyl. Necrosyrtes are the more simple, brutish warrior class, who prefer to kill false users to relieve pain, rather than break the curse. The Dactyl, on the other hand, are reclusive, highly intelligent scientists and mages, who spend the majority of their time in their own hidden laboratories conducting research, and it is they who are the faction that would prefer to break the curse or find somehow to circumvent it instead of simply killing false users.
 * Necrosyrtes are often very violent and prefer to kill that which they deem as annoyances, or simply ignore something they deem insignificant. Dactyl however are more approachable, but still consider almost anything that is not a dragonkin an "insect", who's only use is for research or to be killed for trespassing in their laboratories.
 * Dactyl scientists are incredibly advanced, surpassing even real life modern day scientists. Some of their exploits involve the creation of the dragons, which include the infusion of metal to their genetic structure along with magic. Other examples of their advanced sciences are the machinery they use in their labs; which include stasis tanks, essence extractors, dissection equipment, and lava-heated egg incubators.
 * Dactyl are also advanced in the healing arts; with their technology and magic they exceed healing methods that other races could only dream of, capable of easily bringing others out of even comatose states.
 * The dragonkin are responsible for the creation of the "dragon" metal weapons and armor, which is named after them by other races. This odd, red metal's true name is orikalkum, which originated on the dragonkin's homeworld. When fleeing from their world, they brought much of their orikalkum with them, but although their world is in ruins now, it still exists, and pure red veins orikalkum can still be found there amidst the destruction caused by the elder gods.
 * It has long been thought that the Necrosyrtes were responsible for the creation of orikalkum armor and weaponry, and this would make sense, given their reputation as warriors, but that only accounts for the weapons and armor, and not for the actual forging process of the metal. Through Forcae's notes, it is revealed that both the Dactyl and Necrosyrtes know how to forge and shape orikalkum, and the knowledge is not restricted to simply one of the factions.
 * Both Necrosyrtes and Dactyl possess very advanced and deadly magics. Instead of using a fireball, one dragonkin nearly killed Robert the Strong with a shock-like spell, and the Necrosyrtes mentally manipulated The World Guardian with an illusion-world vision, which they gave as a warning to the adventuring hero after the last rejuvenation ritual of the Mahjarrat.
 * The dragonkin are associated with two symbols, which can often be found engrave decoratively into the stone in areas they have inhabited. One symbol is a compass rose, and the other the Stone of Jas. Occasionally, the two symbols are merged into two halves; the compass rose on one side and the Stone on the other. It is suspected that the compass rose represents the Dactyl, while the Stone of Jas represents the Necrosyrtes, but this is unconfirmed.
 * Dragonkin are, by vast majority, very racist creatures who view their own race as superior to all others, calling members of other races "insects" to belittle them. They are fond of racial slurs, and often call humans "filthy apes" and "disgusting mammals" when dealing with them as a form of insult. They are even insulting to their own kind when they see something wrong with them; as they constantly taunted Tarshak by calling him a "freak" when he was infused with V's energy and mutating from unknown causes.

Language
The dragonkin have a language, of which little is known, as they speak in the common tongue most of the time. The only humans known to understand the language were Kethsians and Robert the Strong, who wrote a book on the subject, an excerpt of which can be found below.

Translated

 * Arakken = Dungeon
 * Castil = Combine
 * Chen = Razed/Destroyed
 * Crasortius = Surrender
 * Draekeun = Dragon
 * Drakkerkin = Dragonkin
 * Fia = Safe/Protected from
 * Gres = East
 * Hesente = Intruder
 * Kath = Failure/Weakling/Runt
 * Kletter = Green
 * Kreath = Dark/Shadow/Black
 * Lith = Superior
 * Lokur = Steel
 * Ortha = First
 * Tho = South
 * Verak = King/Emperor?

Additionally, "Skethzzzzz" is the Dragonkin equivalent of laughter or a snigger.

Place names

 * Ullergrax = Forinthry/Wilderness
 * Sketherin = Brimhaven
 * aV'rok = Varrock
 * Herethen = Taverley
 * Istruthen = Lumbridge

Untranslated

 * Askanth
 * Carratas
 * Dosk
 * Falkar
 * Hok
 * Kalgat
 * Kel
 * Kren
 * Kuln
 * Pthen
 * Reageth
 * Roake
 * Sokun
 * Traken
 * Ven
 * Volat
 * Vosk...
 * Tescan
 * Tesska


 * The dragonkin are known to have created the Ancient Cavern underneath Baxtorian Falls.


 * Dragonkin do not like to beat around the bush with conversation; they are strait forward and to the point, their simplistic language reflects this.


 * Dragonkin are also advanced in the healing arts; with their technology and magic they exceed healing methods that other races could only dream of, capable of easily bringing others out of even comatose states.

Debated Lore
This section addresses details about Dragonkin that are still subject to speculation and discussion either because of conflicting information in-game or because use of the detail in role-play creates an unfair scenario (usually involving overpowering or another common role-play problem).
 * Dragonkin have resided in all locations that house the stone of Jas for an extended period of time, and vice versa. This includes but is not limited to: Fist of Guthix, Morytania, Daemonheim, and all essence mines.
 * It might be possible that dragonkin blood has a tainting/warping effect, as it was potent enough to act as a catalyst when Kerapac used both his blood and magic to change a developing embryo in an egg into what eventually became the Queen Black Dragon.
 * It is highly likely that dragonkin are immune to mental manipulation, much like their dragon creations which not even gods can control.
 * Due to their dislike of others, dragonkin are highly unlikely to ally themselves with other races. The only known example is dialogue from fairies from Zanaris, where they say that the Necrosyrtes dragonkin would reward dragon items to those they "like". The Necrosyrtes are the more aggressive dragonkin, so this was likely a very incredibly rare occurence. It is more likely than not that such rare chosen few were judged on their usefulness, and not any real emotional attachment that the Necrosyrtes would have for them.
 * Dragonkin may have some control over the flow of time: evidence is shown by the Queen Black Dragon, who is able to use a special move to temporarily freeze time.
 * The wyrm experiments were considered failures, not intelligent enough to be accepted by the kin. Dragonkin standards on intelligence might have been too high for their creations however, as it has been argued that wyrms were intelligent, at least more capable than modern dragons. Because of these conflicting points of view, the true level of intellect that a wyrm holds is at best still quite questionable.
 * It has been confirmed there are around a dozen active dragonkin currently on Gielinor, and it is widely believed that these dragonkin are the only ones left in existence, but it does not account for the possibility that other dragonkin might exist on other planes.
 * Further evidence is supported by the fact that the word "active" is used rather than existing. This supports a theory that there may be many more dragonkin than what is assumed, as the opposite of the word active is dormant, and this implies that other dragonkin may thus be "sleeping" in a sense. This is likewise supported by the cutscenes shown in various quests with the three most well known dragonkin in them; where one refers to the dragonkin being "awakened".
 * If this is true, then the amount of dragonkin currently "awake" may be determined by how badly the Stone of Jas is being misused, therefore stirring more dragonkin from slumber.
 * The reason for the dragonkin not being able to reproduce is not quite known. One theory is that they are all sterile or possess no reproductive organs. Another plausible explanation is that all dragonkin seen so far are males, which may imply that the dragonkin have no females in their race.
 * Due to new information, since the dragonkin existed as a race previous to the Elder gods' destruction of their home plane, it is more than likely that the dragonkin had females in their race and were likely able to reproduce at some point in their history. It is unknown if there are any females left however, if they even existed in the first place.
 * It is unclear if dragonkin do or do not eat. The Mahjarrat do not need to eat, and due to both the Mahjarrat and dragonkin being powerful races; it has come into question whether or not the dragonkin need to eat or not. It is possible, however, seeming as how the dragonkin Kerapac had a small kitchen in his laboratory.

Common Mistakes
This section addresses traits relating to dragonkin that unexperienced role-players often bestow their characters but that aren't actually seen in RuneScape.
 * Dragonkin are very hard creatures to role-play accurately, and this can often lead to complications with characters that are not consistant with the race, as some players can overdo certain aspects and/or undermine other importaint traits. It is recommended that a person should have very extensive experience as a role-player and study all available information on dragonkin at length before attempting to create one as a playable character.
 * Many role-players agree that, because of the extreme powers of the dragonkin, this race should only ever be played in sandboxes. If one is not used in a sandbox but intended for another role-play purpose that is or borders on public, the bullet above sets expectations. Players should extremely limit the amount of interaction the dragonkin has with other characters by refraining from exposing the character from too much involvement. All interaction with said dragonkin, if it is meant to be added to public history of a character or area, should be locked in similar constraints that would be expected of a private role-play as in a dragonkin would not simply walk into a bar. It is recommended to simply keep a dragonkin in private role-play.
 * If role-played at all, sandbox or no, the dragonkin are shown to be a very reclusive and removed race, it is unlikely that one would involve itself in events directly unless the stone was in question or something else of importance was at stake (an example would be a Dactyl faction member protecting its research, or possibly needing to abduct others for scientic implications); at which point events would be dictated by which faction the individual dragonkin belongs to.

Other Information

 * Sithaph, Sakirth, Strisath, and Kerapac are the four known living dragonkin, though around 12 are confirmed to be active.
 * One dragonkin was confirmed by a Jagex Mod to be on Fossil Island.
 * Dragonkin names seem to most commonly use the sounds "s," "h," "th," and "ph," and favor the vowels i and a.
 * Dragonkin refer to the adventurer as "Stonetoucher."
 * They refer to both Lucien and Sliske as "False Users."
 * Fairies refer to the dragonkin as "necrosyrtes," which shows the fairies were aware of at least one of the factions.
 * Dragonkin are the oldest race of mortals in recorded history; being the only survivors of a universe previous to the current one.

Media
An example of a dragonkin's voice (notice the flanging effect it has):

A dragonkin's screech:

The dragonkin's theme as heard in RuneScape:

The theme played when the dragonkin show The Adventurer a vision of their dark plans for the future: