Another Caranoctian doodle, this time of a draconic champion. This guy is based on a combo of savannah monitor and ankylosaur.

Caranoctia started as a D&D world, but I didn't want dragons to be something you slaughtered like bunnies. As it turns out, in this setting, 'dragons' are the physical incarnation of what's left of the human race, superpowered and mostly insane, millions of years after a singularity which left their consciousness stuck in a virtual reality fantasy world.

So, yeah.

But players love dragons, so I made it that dragons can create a sort of living, semi-independant puppet out of their own flesh, a dracorys vox. Description is as follows:


A speaker-for-dragons or Dragon's Voice is a unique biological construct created by a dragon as a sort of living avatar in order to interact with lesser life forms (that is, humanoids). To create a Vox, the dragon removes a chunk of its own flesh and re-sculpts this blob of protoplasm into a vaguely humanoid form, then imprints the new creature with a low-resolution replica of its own mind and sends it out into the world on a mission. Each dragon can only have a sole Vox, and each Vox is the creation of a single dragon.

There are several reasons why a dragon would do such a thing. For one, dragons cannot make the sounds of human languages. Their own speech sounds like a combination of roars, screeches, sizzling hisses and whale song. For another, dragons are simply too large and frightening to walk peacefully among humanoids. If one strolled into a village, it would most likely be greeted with screams of terror or attacked. A Vox can get down in among the little critters, safely handle fragile artifacts, poke into all the nooks and crannies of buildings, and so on. Why would dragons care about what humanoids are up to? Nearly immortal, bored, secretive, and perhaps slightly mad, dragons enjoy meddling in humanoid affairs for their own amusement. Dragons are also aware that if humans become too used to them, familiarity may breed contempt. It is far safer for them to remain the subject of whispered, fearful speculation and send their servants to deal with humans on their own level.

The dragon and its Vox do not have a telepathic bond; rather, the mental imprinting process will (hopefully) lead it make the same decisions its creator would in the same situations. Most Vox do not consider themselves a creature separate from the original dragon, more like a limb that just doesn't happen to be attached. They are without self-awareness or independent will, at least when freshly minted. The creation process almost never goes completely smoothly, however. Even the finest Vox have a tendency to develop quirks, and the longer they dwell among the humanoids the more idiosyncratic and eccentric they become. A defective Vox may be recalled to its creator so that its mind can be wiped clean and imprinted all over again, or be destroyed entirely. Of course, a Vox that badly flawed might fight against its fate and attempt to escape the clutches of its creator.

The exact appearance of a Dracorys Vox will vary with its intended mission. Because the dragon fashions the Vox from its own flesh and blood, the Vox will always bear a strong resemblance to its creator - similar coloration and patterning, identical horn shape, and so on. Most Vox are asexual in appearance, although some may seem more feminine or masculine (avatars usually have a feminine look, champions more masculine, and infiltrators may appear one or the other depending on how they dress and carry themselves). Vox do not seem to have the urge or ability to reproduce.

A draconic infiltrator is created for covert information gathering, and so will appear as human as possible, able to pass for a man or woman with properly concealing clothes. No dragon, no matter how skilled, is able to produce a Vox without some revealingly reptilian traits such as slitted pupils, vestigial wings, or saw-blade spikes running down the spine. These Vox are always tall and elegant, with masklike, expressionless faces that are androgynously beautiful despite their feral features. They also tend to have the most humanlike psychology, and are the most likely to go rogue.

A draconic avatar is designed to act as a dragon's representative, usually lording it over a selected population. It is humanoid enough to interact with the dragon's chosen subjects but possesses an unearthly beauty and distinctly draconic appearance. They are typically digitigrade bipeds with long, whiplike tails, finely scaled skin, graceful limbs ending in talon-tipped hands, swanlike necks and faces that are humanoid in general shape but draconic in detail, with small horns, huge eyes and shapely lips concealing razor sharp fangs. They almost always sport elaborate but nonfunctional wings. Draconic avatars hold themselves aloof from the humanoids they counsel and rule, and even the kindliest avatars can come across as patronizing and holier-than-thou. It is this attitude more than anything else that can provoke their human charges to revolt against them.

A draconic champion is born to fight, either on the behalf of the dragon's subjects and inspiring them to battle, or against some threat the dragon doesn't care to take on itself. Although bipedal with arms and hands constructed to employ human weapons, a draconic champion is otherwise a muscular, bestial berserker with thick, heavily scaled skin adorned with spikes and frills, jagged teeth jutting from powerful jaws, and sometimes even functional wings. Although champions interact freely with their human charges, they take their role as warriors very seriously. No humanoid can ever quite measure up to their standards of ferocity and dedication, which can make the violence-prone champion derisive and belittling, worse by far than the meanest sports coach ever to throw a chair onto the court.

Compared to most humanoids, a Vox's innate magical talents are usually so powerful as to appear godlike. In fact, Caranoctian conspiracy theorists whisper that the Sundering which split the continent and ended the human/aelvian war caused not by a splinter group of mad aelvar warlocks but by a Dracorys Vox acting on behalf of a dragon who was sick to death of the fighting (or weary of obnoxious little upstart mammals in general).

Curiously, most Vox seem reluctant to actually wield their powers. An avatar will impress the chosen with a show of power, but knows that if it dazzles folks too often its miracles could become trite. A champion prefers to rely on its own fangs, claws and muscle in a fight because its tough to inspire human fighters when using powers that they can never aspire to possessing. And naturally an undercover infiltrator would draw attention to itself if it used anything but the smallest and most subtle of spells.

It is not known how long a Dracorys Vox can live. Most are terminated by their creators when their usefulness is at an end. When injured or starving, a Vox will enter a hibernating sleep to conserve energy. If its dragon dies, the Vox does not necessarily die along with it. Most orphaned Vox will terminate themselves, finding a quiet place, curling up in a fetal ball and waiting for and end which may take decades or even centuries to come.

On occasion humanoids have come across a hibernating Vox hidden away in a cave or the ruins of an abandoned temple long after its particular dragon is gone and forgotten. Some reawakened Vox will continue to try and serve their creators as best they can. If the dragon's death was untimely, violent or otherwise suspicious, the Vox may vow to avenge its creator. A clever humanoid could manipulate a newly-orphaned Vox to his or her own devious ends. This could mean it once again taking up its job among the humanoids, although because a its mind is a simplified copy of its creator's over time the Vox may begin to diverge from its original mission. A Dracorys Vox that is orphaned long enough may even begin to develop a distinct personality and schemes of its own.