(no subject)
Seeing as I normally don't have much to post, so I decided after I conjured this up that why not? It SHOULD be posted. It certainly took me long enough.
This is a world that I've been writing out of for years and years. It's the world Kizu comes from, in case anybody knows him (I'm sure most of you do ^.^) and also the world that a good majority of my characters either are born in or wind up in. I posted it for an RP today, but there is a LOT of information here, possibly some stuff people don't actually know.
The word "don't" sounded stupid there.
Anyway, questions, comments, suggestions, "ur stoopids", et. al. all welcome.
World Name: Cunabula Deae "Cradle of the Goddesses"
What the world looks like: Zoom out. This world is a large, rocky planet, a "Super Earth", if you will, roughly the size of our own universe's Jupiter with two large, round moons of about equal size. Somehow, even with its massive size, this world is able to support life fairly well. Rumor has it that this is due to the close proximity and favoritism the Goddesses of this universe show to this particular planet and its inhabitants.
Two massive continents stretch nearly the length of the planet on one side, crossing over its equator and parallel to one another. These continents are roughly the size of our Pangaea, perhaps bigger, but more than dwarfed by the planet's massive size. They are the dragons' domain. Several much smaller continents litter the planet's vast oceans, inhabited mostly by Humankind and Sylvankind. Stretching across the far coast of the westernmost continent is a great mountain range which can often be seen from ridiculous distances.
The planet is very fertile, with large, dense forests to create an oxygen rich atmosphere. This atmosphere, untainted by the harmful releases of industry, allows for a fantastic array of gigantic flora and fauna living amongst the handful of evolutionarily-dormant humanoid species.
Even the seas, pulled violently by the planet's two circling moons, are inhabited with great and terrible creatures, the ancestors of modern dragons. Vast arrays of fish and other underwater creatures swim in their midst, guarded by these ancient monsters.
Magic available in the world or not: The magic of Cunabula Deae is largely based on willpower, the secret to many of the oddities of dragonkind and its other races.
This magic works on the principle that all things in existence, in this world or in others, is created of energy (for example, the charges in particles in atoms). This energy can be manipulated by those with a great enough will, and can be changed to suit a different purpose, much like in alchemy. It can be sustained, rearranged, and altered simply by the power of Will, though it takes years of training to master such tasks and magic-working is often left to dragons, who have adapted naturally to subconsciously manipulate this energy to their benefit. That being said, there are still several institutes scattered on the smaller continents, aiming to train young humans and sylvans to control this will.
Dominant creatures of the world:
Dragons- Dragons are perhaps the most complicated creatures in the world of Cunabula Deae.
Life Span: Dragons have extremely long lifespans, inhibited by very few and far between factors. Occasionally, outbreaks of illnesses have been known to kill many dragons all at once, and there was a time at which a dragon had to watch its back around other dragons, for fear of a clan feud or a war. However, they have grown into largely peaceful race who, rather than aging and falling apart with time, grow and strengthen through magic.
For obvious reasons, a dragon ages very much more slowly than a human does, emerging from infancy at more than ten years old and remains in a growing juvenile for a period of about two hundred years. At exactly two hundred and twelve years old, a young dragon is considered an adult, though it will never cease to grow.
Shape-Shifting: The majority of dragons choose to spend most of their lives in a humanoid form, which keeps their otherwise ever growing population of ever growing individuals from crowding the Great Continents. This is only traditional choice, however, and it is not considered illegal or impolite to ignore this tradition for things like travel and celebration (as a matter of fact, once a year for two Holy Calendar weeks, dragons spend much of their time in their natural forms for the Festival of the Walking Mountains (explained later)).
Though they are capable, it is uncomfortable for a dragon to change shape to only a partial extent. When manifesting aspects of their dragon form in human form, these aspects appear smaller, stretched out and elongated to fit large amounts of body into smaller amounts of space. This often results in painful headaches and uncomfortable dizzy spells, and if done often enough can cause permanent inability to make these changes (as the body will begin to reject them).
Genetic Compatibility: Because dragons spend so much time in human form, they are fully capable of having children with both human and sylvan partners. This is possible because dragons are born with two sets of chromosomes-one for the humanoid (human/sylvan) body, and one for the dragon body. In half-dragons, the dragon-parent's genetic information duplicates in order to form a fully functioning set of dragon chromosomes identical to the parent. The sex chromosomes, however, are not affected by this process.
Family Life: A dragon's lifespan allows for (and actually creates the need for) an interesting magical ability that they have developed over time. Female dragons can control their ovulation cycle, leading for the most part to a smaller family size overall. Many dragons do not have more than one or two offspring.
Dragons tend to be very good parents, often nurturing their young until they leave the nest with a spouse of their own (or allowing them to stay even after that, creating large family groups). Young dragons are taught song, legend, and several courses on the history of the world before they reach adulthood.
Dragons have no surnames, only given names and family crests.
Love and Separation: The dragons of Cunabula Deae pair for life, and it is even whispered that their mate may be pre-determined by the Fates.
Throughout much of a young dragon's life, up until the point that they encounter this mate, who can (seldomly, but not unusually) reside outside the range of their usual sexual preferences, they are burdened by a tugging sensation on the right side of their chest (where their heart resides). Many dragons consider this to be an obvious sign that their mate is pre-determined. Dragons are not limited to coupling with other dragons, and may be drawn to human or sylvan individuals, whom they tend to keep alive through will magic alone.
Upon the death of their mate, a dragon typically begins to become depressed, and the willpower that had previously sustained their great and powerful forms turns destructive. Their bodies begin to bend and break under their monstrous weights, their scales turn dull and their eyes go cloudy. Typically, a dragon will live a decade or so after the death of its mate, though dragons with drastically weak or strong wills have been known to live two or three years or a century or more, respectively. It is one of the few forms of death in a world where fragility is reserved for ancient tomes and works of art.
Flight: Like many aspects of their strange existence, a dragon's power of flight (while facilitated by its physical characteristics) is powered mainly by the dragon's will. Unlike most large flying creatures, the ways in which their bodies are designed function for speed and ability in the air, not necessarily reduction of weight. Therefore, most dragons who have reached adulthood rely almost completely on the strength of their will to propel their body into the air and to keep it from falling until they land. Luckily this is not hard, because most dragons are trained in flight from a young age and could not be persuaded that they could not fly, scientifically.
Other Abilities and Oddities:
Dragons are extremely gifted in comprehending the art of song, and a dragon singer may paint beautiful pictures with its musical gifts, using only pitch and tone to relay a story in the minds of its listeners. To truly appreciate a dragon's song, however, one must go through years of training to catch the deeper meaning of the singer's melody.
Dragons are also great record keepers, their longevity and careful attention to detail making them excellent historians. In the library of one particular dragon, who resides beneath the world's largest mountain range, there rests a complete history spanning from the dragons' first rise from the oceans to the present day.
They are particularly skilled in magic, and often use it in their everyday lives.
Like humans and sylvans alike, there is a tremendous amount of variation from one dragon to the next. Their abilities, their strengths, their sizes, and even their shortcomings differ greatly, creating a wide, encompassing scope of possibilities. However, there is also leeway for several aberrations in a dragon's genetic code, which give rise to abnormal (though for the most part harmless) traits, such as pointed ears or slitted, red eyes. In rare cases, dragons cannot properly sync their eyes with the receptors in their human forms, causing crippling migraine headaches and often requiring some kind of corrective eye wear (yes, folks, dragons with glasses).
Like animals in our world, dragons are also capable of experiencing accidental changes in the chromosome numbers, which often result in miscarriages. The only cases in which this is not true are cases where the chromosomes in question are the sex chromosomes, producing a particularly feminine (usually sterile) male individual, or a particularly masculine (always sterile) female individual.
A dragon in human form is very susceptible to the smell of sulfur, which produces a kind of sensory overload and often causes them to pass out.
Religion: Religion for dragons, rather than being a strict and complex system, is a very fluid and often-changed concept. Their goddesses, who tend to be fickle and tampering when it comes to the events of their world, are merciful and lenient, though sometimes in a very frightening way. Once a year, for the two Holy Calendar weeks (two weeks=eighteen days) that both moons are full, dragons celebrate their birth, their nature, and the gifts of vitality they have been presented with. They honor their goddesses, who often walk among them, with ancient songs and spectacular celebrations throughout this Festival.
The Festival of the Walking Mountains occurs at differing times each year, because while the Holy Calendar is charted by the motion of the moons, the everyday calendar is very similar to our own, charted by the changing seasons and the planet's travel around the sun.
Sea Dragons: The first dragons rose directly from the oceans, staking their claim on the Great Continents after an uprising against their failing government system. With the population reduced from the great migration, the system could rebuild itself, and remains in place today. Unlike their cousins, sea dragons are very proud and would not be caught dead on land, in the air, or in a human body.
Any other creatures:
Humans (You should know something about humans, you are one 8D)
Sylvans- Sylvans are a race of elf-like creatures with similar mannerisms and lifespans (ranging anywhere from 500-700 years naturally). They are generally cold, arrogant, and more than a little secluded. A sylvan individual will rarely interact with a non-sylvan, and has very little tolerance for human beings at all.
Most of the Sylvan population lives in a large forest on the continent of Esus (mentioned later).
Lycanthropes- A great mass of land to the north of Esus is home to a subspecies of humankind much more commonly known as werewolves. Unlike many werewolves, these creatures are not bitten, but born into their strange and icy world. A lycanthrope who spends most of his growing years in human form will find his human form growing larger while the canine form remains small, and one who spends most of his time in his canine form will see the opposite.
Incubi- More of a subspecies than a species of their own, incubi, much like lycanthropes, are genetic aberrations that have formed within all of the Three Great Races. Contrary to popular belief, they are not related to the incubi common in modern stories; rather than being soul sucking demons, they're closer to metaphysical vampires, choosing instead to steal raw energy from their "victims" (*cough*), and earned the title of "incubus" through their overly sexual nature. As a whole, incubi have existed for nearly as long as the Great Races themselves. They began as a handful of subcultures-mostly clans and groups that took up an interest in tantric vampirism and other energy consumption practices. Over time, their genetics and instincts adapted to fit their new lifestyle. Aging processes changed, hormones were rearranged, genetic processes recoded, until several subspecies of creatures who could subsist on stolen energy alone were created.
Human incubi are among the most common subspecies on any continent, because in comparison to the majority of their dragon and sylvan counterparts, they breed like rabbits. Incubi of the human assortment are considered the most notably sexual in nature, though it is up for debate whether this is the nature of the incubi themselves or due to the fact that humans themselves have a distinctly sexual nature when offered the ability to manipulate the sexual desires of others just by looking at them. They are often violent when provoked, and it does not take much to provoke them.
It is usually difficult to tell an incubus apart from a normal human. Typically they will have some feature drastically different from a normal human being (be it hair or eye color, the ability to grow their hair to unnatural lengths, strange markings or unnaturally pale skin, and those are just to name a few of the known ones). They often cause reason for a second glance, but not for any particular suspicions by unsuspecting passers by that they are not as human as they seem. The most obvious sign that these creatures are not human is their exceptionally long life span. So long as they are supplied with energy to consume, they maintain a healthy physical state at the age of their choice.
Incubi of the human assortment possess an excess of hormones and pheromones for obvious reasons, and as such often have violent reactions to substances that chemically react with the brain. They are prone to bipolarity, schizophrenia, manic/psychotic episodes and hallucinations independent of the previous two conditions, mood swings, and violent tendencies, all made worse by the consumption of drugs and or alcohol, which they risk becoming addicted to very easily.
Sylvan incubi are the most controlled and least common of all incubi, because of their obsessive tendencies and both their species' slower reproductive rate and cold indifference towards most members of the opposite sex. Sylvan incubi are much less cold and aloof than the sylvan people themselves, being as it's easier to interact with someone who thinks you're not an uppity bitch. They tend to orient themselves on one partner, and if that partner passes away or rejects them wholly, the majority of their adult life generally revolves around finding a similar individual on which to fixate. Very few things will break this fixation, some of which include divine intervention, the locating of one's intended mate (less likely among sylvan incubi than any member of the Great Races or their sub races), or the willpower to break it on their own. Admittedly, sylvan incubi are the most likely to make decent parents, but as mentioned above, they are the least likely to become parents of full blooded sylvan incubi or half incubus sylvans. They are more likely to father (or mother) hybrid children, and many of them give up the inclination before this ever occurs.
Like incubi of human descent, it is very difficult to spot a sylvan incubus in a crowd. They are generally several inches taller and often much leaner than normal sylvans, with fair skin that rarely burns and dark hair. Their features are longer and thinner, and generally they have very bright eyes. However, though this combination of traits is abnormal, it is not unheard of among non-incubi. There are no definite physical signs that a sylvan incubus is anything but a normal sylvan. Personality wise, however, incubi often differ vastly from their non-incubi counterparts. They are friendly, trusting, and often naive. As a matter of fact, they're pretty much the opposite of what incubi are generally imagined to be. The surest sign that an otherwise normal looking sylvan is actually an incubus is their tendency to attach to one individual and then stalk them for the rest of eternity.
Because of the nature of their base species, dragon incubi are some of the most interesting incubi about. Often they have very distinct features that set them apart from their peers, unnatural things in human form such as strangely colored skin or physically protruding horns and tales on their body that would normally be attributed to a half-transformation. However, they share much fewer difference with their base species than other incubi, aside from physical characteristics and a distinct ineptitude for parenting.
Age of the world: The age of the world is not documented, as nearly billions of years of history before the rise of land-dragons was never recorded. What is known, however, is that this world, much like its inhabitants, is very, very, very old.
Time: When transitioning from our world to Cunabula Deae, one would experience no change in the flow of time whatsoever. However, upon their return, they would notice that twice as much time had passed in this world as in the one they had traveled to. Likewise, upon their return to Cunabula Deae, they would notice that half as much time had passed as they had thought. As of yet, this has not been explained.
Any other relevant information:
Esus-The westernmost continent has remained a consistent size since the rise of Land Dragons, shifting only slightly in its position. For this reason, the entire mass of land of land was established as one country, a country by the name of Esus.
Esus is ruled by one king and his several children, many of whom are already grown and more than capable of giving their father a hand.
The Viriian Empire- The eastern continent has not been so lucky as its western brother, the forces of plate tectonics* working their magic to increase it in size and produce several small, twisted, violent looking mountain ranges. Because it was established on a much smaller piece of real-estate and then grew with time, many of the lands that this area now includes had to be conquered by force. The area was recently named the Viriian Empire.
The emperor of the Viriian Empire, a young dragon descended from a goddess (he's telling the truth, his mother (said goddess) promises), is not crazy, but would like everyone to think he is. Something that runs in the family. He is a good ruler, but is also a pretty pretty princess (his long-time partner can vouch for this, he's been dealing with the emperor for over six hundred years).
Alcoholic Beverages- Humans, beware! When attending dragon festivities, humans are often so swept away that they can be talked into a drink. However, this is a very bad idea, considering the amount of alcohol in one drink intended for a dragon. My advice is to make sure you have something intend for human consumption.
Odds and Ends- This world has several concealed gateways between others, many of which are not visible to the naked eye. It also has one very famous portal, a bell tower in Esus erected to celebrate the birth of the crown prince.
This is a world that I've been writing out of for years and years. It's the world Kizu comes from, in case anybody knows him (I'm sure most of you do ^.^) and also the world that a good majority of my characters either are born in or wind up in. I posted it for an RP today, but there is a LOT of information here, possibly some stuff people don't actually know.
The word "don't" sounded stupid there.
Anyway, questions, comments, suggestions, "ur stoopids", et. al. all welcome.
World Name: Cunabula Deae "Cradle of the Goddesses"
What the world looks like: Zoom out. This world is a large, rocky planet, a "Super Earth", if you will, roughly the size of our own universe's Jupiter with two large, round moons of about equal size. Somehow, even with its massive size, this world is able to support life fairly well. Rumor has it that this is due to the close proximity and favoritism the Goddesses of this universe show to this particular planet and its inhabitants.
Two massive continents stretch nearly the length of the planet on one side, crossing over its equator and parallel to one another. These continents are roughly the size of our Pangaea, perhaps bigger, but more than dwarfed by the planet's massive size. They are the dragons' domain. Several much smaller continents litter the planet's vast oceans, inhabited mostly by Humankind and Sylvankind. Stretching across the far coast of the westernmost continent is a great mountain range which can often be seen from ridiculous distances.
The planet is very fertile, with large, dense forests to create an oxygen rich atmosphere. This atmosphere, untainted by the harmful releases of industry, allows for a fantastic array of gigantic flora and fauna living amongst the handful of evolutionarily-dormant humanoid species.
Even the seas, pulled violently by the planet's two circling moons, are inhabited with great and terrible creatures, the ancestors of modern dragons. Vast arrays of fish and other underwater creatures swim in their midst, guarded by these ancient monsters.
Magic available in the world or not: The magic of Cunabula Deae is largely based on willpower, the secret to many of the oddities of dragonkind and its other races.
This magic works on the principle that all things in existence, in this world or in others, is created of energy (for example, the charges in particles in atoms). This energy can be manipulated by those with a great enough will, and can be changed to suit a different purpose, much like in alchemy. It can be sustained, rearranged, and altered simply by the power of Will, though it takes years of training to master such tasks and magic-working is often left to dragons, who have adapted naturally to subconsciously manipulate this energy to their benefit. That being said, there are still several institutes scattered on the smaller continents, aiming to train young humans and sylvans to control this will.
Dominant creatures of the world:
Dragons- Dragons are perhaps the most complicated creatures in the world of Cunabula Deae.
Life Span: Dragons have extremely long lifespans, inhibited by very few and far between factors. Occasionally, outbreaks of illnesses have been known to kill many dragons all at once, and there was a time at which a dragon had to watch its back around other dragons, for fear of a clan feud or a war. However, they have grown into largely peaceful race who, rather than aging and falling apart with time, grow and strengthen through magic.
For obvious reasons, a dragon ages very much more slowly than a human does, emerging from infancy at more than ten years old and remains in a growing juvenile for a period of about two hundred years. At exactly two hundred and twelve years old, a young dragon is considered an adult, though it will never cease to grow.
Shape-Shifting: The majority of dragons choose to spend most of their lives in a humanoid form, which keeps their otherwise ever growing population of ever growing individuals from crowding the Great Continents. This is only traditional choice, however, and it is not considered illegal or impolite to ignore this tradition for things like travel and celebration (as a matter of fact, once a year for two Holy Calendar weeks, dragons spend much of their time in their natural forms for the Festival of the Walking Mountains (explained later)).
Though they are capable, it is uncomfortable for a dragon to change shape to only a partial extent. When manifesting aspects of their dragon form in human form, these aspects appear smaller, stretched out and elongated to fit large amounts of body into smaller amounts of space. This often results in painful headaches and uncomfortable dizzy spells, and if done often enough can cause permanent inability to make these changes (as the body will begin to reject them).
Genetic Compatibility: Because dragons spend so much time in human form, they are fully capable of having children with both human and sylvan partners. This is possible because dragons are born with two sets of chromosomes-one for the humanoid (human/sylvan) body, and one for the dragon body. In half-dragons, the dragon-parent's genetic information duplicates in order to form a fully functioning set of dragon chromosomes identical to the parent. The sex chromosomes, however, are not affected by this process.
Family Life: A dragon's lifespan allows for (and actually creates the need for) an interesting magical ability that they have developed over time. Female dragons can control their ovulation cycle, leading for the most part to a smaller family size overall. Many dragons do not have more than one or two offspring.
Dragons tend to be very good parents, often nurturing their young until they leave the nest with a spouse of their own (or allowing them to stay even after that, creating large family groups). Young dragons are taught song, legend, and several courses on the history of the world before they reach adulthood.
Dragons have no surnames, only given names and family crests.
Love and Separation: The dragons of Cunabula Deae pair for life, and it is even whispered that their mate may be pre-determined by the Fates.
Throughout much of a young dragon's life, up until the point that they encounter this mate, who can (seldomly, but not unusually) reside outside the range of their usual sexual preferences, they are burdened by a tugging sensation on the right side of their chest (where their heart resides). Many dragons consider this to be an obvious sign that their mate is pre-determined. Dragons are not limited to coupling with other dragons, and may be drawn to human or sylvan individuals, whom they tend to keep alive through will magic alone.
Upon the death of their mate, a dragon typically begins to become depressed, and the willpower that had previously sustained their great and powerful forms turns destructive. Their bodies begin to bend and break under their monstrous weights, their scales turn dull and their eyes go cloudy. Typically, a dragon will live a decade or so after the death of its mate, though dragons with drastically weak or strong wills have been known to live two or three years or a century or more, respectively. It is one of the few forms of death in a world where fragility is reserved for ancient tomes and works of art.
Flight: Like many aspects of their strange existence, a dragon's power of flight (while facilitated by its physical characteristics) is powered mainly by the dragon's will. Unlike most large flying creatures, the ways in which their bodies are designed function for speed and ability in the air, not necessarily reduction of weight. Therefore, most dragons who have reached adulthood rely almost completely on the strength of their will to propel their body into the air and to keep it from falling until they land. Luckily this is not hard, because most dragons are trained in flight from a young age and could not be persuaded that they could not fly, scientifically.
Other Abilities and Oddities:
Dragons are extremely gifted in comprehending the art of song, and a dragon singer may paint beautiful pictures with its musical gifts, using only pitch and tone to relay a story in the minds of its listeners. To truly appreciate a dragon's song, however, one must go through years of training to catch the deeper meaning of the singer's melody.
Dragons are also great record keepers, their longevity and careful attention to detail making them excellent historians. In the library of one particular dragon, who resides beneath the world's largest mountain range, there rests a complete history spanning from the dragons' first rise from the oceans to the present day.
They are particularly skilled in magic, and often use it in their everyday lives.
Like humans and sylvans alike, there is a tremendous amount of variation from one dragon to the next. Their abilities, their strengths, their sizes, and even their shortcomings differ greatly, creating a wide, encompassing scope of possibilities. However, there is also leeway for several aberrations in a dragon's genetic code, which give rise to abnormal (though for the most part harmless) traits, such as pointed ears or slitted, red eyes. In rare cases, dragons cannot properly sync their eyes with the receptors in their human forms, causing crippling migraine headaches and often requiring some kind of corrective eye wear (yes, folks, dragons with glasses).
Like animals in our world, dragons are also capable of experiencing accidental changes in the chromosome numbers, which often result in miscarriages. The only cases in which this is not true are cases where the chromosomes in question are the sex chromosomes, producing a particularly feminine (usually sterile) male individual, or a particularly masculine (always sterile) female individual.
A dragon in human form is very susceptible to the smell of sulfur, which produces a kind of sensory overload and often causes them to pass out.
Religion: Religion for dragons, rather than being a strict and complex system, is a very fluid and often-changed concept. Their goddesses, who tend to be fickle and tampering when it comes to the events of their world, are merciful and lenient, though sometimes in a very frightening way. Once a year, for the two Holy Calendar weeks (two weeks=eighteen days) that both moons are full, dragons celebrate their birth, their nature, and the gifts of vitality they have been presented with. They honor their goddesses, who often walk among them, with ancient songs and spectacular celebrations throughout this Festival.
The Festival of the Walking Mountains occurs at differing times each year, because while the Holy Calendar is charted by the motion of the moons, the everyday calendar is very similar to our own, charted by the changing seasons and the planet's travel around the sun.
Sea Dragons: The first dragons rose directly from the oceans, staking their claim on the Great Continents after an uprising against their failing government system. With the population reduced from the great migration, the system could rebuild itself, and remains in place today. Unlike their cousins, sea dragons are very proud and would not be caught dead on land, in the air, or in a human body.
Any other creatures:
Humans (You should know something about humans, you are one 8D)
Sylvans- Sylvans are a race of elf-like creatures with similar mannerisms and lifespans (ranging anywhere from 500-700 years naturally). They are generally cold, arrogant, and more than a little secluded. A sylvan individual will rarely interact with a non-sylvan, and has very little tolerance for human beings at all.
Most of the Sylvan population lives in a large forest on the continent of Esus (mentioned later).
Lycanthropes- A great mass of land to the north of Esus is home to a subspecies of humankind much more commonly known as werewolves. Unlike many werewolves, these creatures are not bitten, but born into their strange and icy world. A lycanthrope who spends most of his growing years in human form will find his human form growing larger while the canine form remains small, and one who spends most of his time in his canine form will see the opposite.
Incubi- More of a subspecies than a species of their own, incubi, much like lycanthropes, are genetic aberrations that have formed within all of the Three Great Races. Contrary to popular belief, they are not related to the incubi common in modern stories; rather than being soul sucking demons, they're closer to metaphysical vampires, choosing instead to steal raw energy from their "victims" (*cough*), and earned the title of "incubus" through their overly sexual nature. As a whole, incubi have existed for nearly as long as the Great Races themselves. They began as a handful of subcultures-mostly clans and groups that took up an interest in tantric vampirism and other energy consumption practices. Over time, their genetics and instincts adapted to fit their new lifestyle. Aging processes changed, hormones were rearranged, genetic processes recoded, until several subspecies of creatures who could subsist on stolen energy alone were created.
Human incubi are among the most common subspecies on any continent, because in comparison to the majority of their dragon and sylvan counterparts, they breed like rabbits. Incubi of the human assortment are considered the most notably sexual in nature, though it is up for debate whether this is the nature of the incubi themselves or due to the fact that humans themselves have a distinctly sexual nature when offered the ability to manipulate the sexual desires of others just by looking at them. They are often violent when provoked, and it does not take much to provoke them.
It is usually difficult to tell an incubus apart from a normal human. Typically they will have some feature drastically different from a normal human being (be it hair or eye color, the ability to grow their hair to unnatural lengths, strange markings or unnaturally pale skin, and those are just to name a few of the known ones). They often cause reason for a second glance, but not for any particular suspicions by unsuspecting passers by that they are not as human as they seem. The most obvious sign that these creatures are not human is their exceptionally long life span. So long as they are supplied with energy to consume, they maintain a healthy physical state at the age of their choice.
Incubi of the human assortment possess an excess of hormones and pheromones for obvious reasons, and as such often have violent reactions to substances that chemically react with the brain. They are prone to bipolarity, schizophrenia, manic/psychotic episodes and hallucinations independent of the previous two conditions, mood swings, and violent tendencies, all made worse by the consumption of drugs and or alcohol, which they risk becoming addicted to very easily.
Sylvan incubi are the most controlled and least common of all incubi, because of their obsessive tendencies and both their species' slower reproductive rate and cold indifference towards most members of the opposite sex. Sylvan incubi are much less cold and aloof than the sylvan people themselves, being as it's easier to interact with someone who thinks you're not an uppity bitch. They tend to orient themselves on one partner, and if that partner passes away or rejects them wholly, the majority of their adult life generally revolves around finding a similar individual on which to fixate. Very few things will break this fixation, some of which include divine intervention, the locating of one's intended mate (less likely among sylvan incubi than any member of the Great Races or their sub races), or the willpower to break it on their own. Admittedly, sylvan incubi are the most likely to make decent parents, but as mentioned above, they are the least likely to become parents of full blooded sylvan incubi or half incubus sylvans. They are more likely to father (or mother) hybrid children, and many of them give up the inclination before this ever occurs.
Like incubi of human descent, it is very difficult to spot a sylvan incubus in a crowd. They are generally several inches taller and often much leaner than normal sylvans, with fair skin that rarely burns and dark hair. Their features are longer and thinner, and generally they have very bright eyes. However, though this combination of traits is abnormal, it is not unheard of among non-incubi. There are no definite physical signs that a sylvan incubus is anything but a normal sylvan. Personality wise, however, incubi often differ vastly from their non-incubi counterparts. They are friendly, trusting, and often naive. As a matter of fact, they're pretty much the opposite of what incubi are generally imagined to be. The surest sign that an otherwise normal looking sylvan is actually an incubus is their tendency to attach to one individual and then stalk them for the rest of eternity.
Because of the nature of their base species, dragon incubi are some of the most interesting incubi about. Often they have very distinct features that set them apart from their peers, unnatural things in human form such as strangely colored skin or physically protruding horns and tales on their body that would normally be attributed to a half-transformation. However, they share much fewer difference with their base species than other incubi, aside from physical characteristics and a distinct ineptitude for parenting.
Age of the world: The age of the world is not documented, as nearly billions of years of history before the rise of land-dragons was never recorded. What is known, however, is that this world, much like its inhabitants, is very, very, very old.
Time: When transitioning from our world to Cunabula Deae, one would experience no change in the flow of time whatsoever. However, upon their return, they would notice that twice as much time had passed in this world as in the one they had traveled to. Likewise, upon their return to Cunabula Deae, they would notice that half as much time had passed as they had thought. As of yet, this has not been explained.
Any other relevant information:
Esus-The westernmost continent has remained a consistent size since the rise of Land Dragons, shifting only slightly in its position. For this reason, the entire mass of land of land was established as one country, a country by the name of Esus.
Esus is ruled by one king and his several children, many of whom are already grown and more than capable of giving their father a hand.
The Viriian Empire- The eastern continent has not been so lucky as its western brother, the forces of plate tectonics* working their magic to increase it in size and produce several small, twisted, violent looking mountain ranges. Because it was established on a much smaller piece of real-estate and then grew with time, many of the lands that this area now includes had to be conquered by force. The area was recently named the Viriian Empire.
The emperor of the Viriian Empire, a young dragon descended from a goddess (he's telling the truth, his mother (said goddess) promises), is not crazy, but would like everyone to think he is. Something that runs in the family. He is a good ruler, but is also a pretty pretty princess (his long-time partner can vouch for this, he's been dealing with the emperor for over six hundred years).
Alcoholic Beverages- Humans, beware! When attending dragon festivities, humans are often so swept away that they can be talked into a drink. However, this is a very bad idea, considering the amount of alcohol in one drink intended for a dragon. My advice is to make sure you have something intend for human consumption.
Odds and Ends- This world has several concealed gateways between others, many of which are not visible to the naked eye. It also has one very famous portal, a bell tower in Esus erected to celebrate the birth of the crown prince.