NAME: Dragon Republic of the Gold-and-Green Fields, Officially "The Gold-and-Green Field Lands, of the Scaled and Unscaled Peoples and Elder Council of Dragons"
GEOGRAPHY: The Dragon Republic sits on a warm climate island, with forested hills broken by terrace farming and valleys, these hills are colorful with various plantations and rural homes, giving way as you head deeper to ever more taller hills and mountains with windy valleys below. These lands are full of microclimates and caves, and each cave is a dragon home. The caves have been carved by generations of dragons, and deeper into the island, more and more caves dot the landscape, visible with flying decor and small flags that indicate the standing and name of the family that owns it. On the east of the island, a large and wide plateau with a river hosts a large number of plantations with large irrigation works all around the main river. Sugarcane and rice are the main crops near the river, and past those, fruit plantations dot the land with various colors. On the West, the forested hills hold vineyards and a beautiful ecosystem. The main harbor city of this land can be found north at the Deep-Red-Sea Bay, the main arrival and departure of people.
BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY: The Dragon Republic has Dragons as its most striking population, who are walking talking flame spewing (these dragons do not carry the mage spark of the ancient beasts of story, their flame is a result of the expelling of their lifting gas, combined with artificed means of lighting it) lizards of winged variety. Colorful feathered wings rest on their backs, as these feathers run down from the base of their heads all the way down their backs and tail up to the tip. Dragons use these feathers to fly on the wind currents in the valleys they reside in, and to glide from the tallest hills down to the lands below. Contrary to popular belief, dragons have a limited flight capacity, and the older they are the more limitations they suffer as they grow bigger. Dragons are at birth no more than 40 to 45 cm long from head to short tail, and they grow at an increasing rate until adulthood, reaching about 2.5mts tall when standing on all fours. After a last growth spurt at a median of 20 years old and no more than 30 years old, their rate of growth drastically decreases but does not stop until death. It is unknown how old can dragons live, but about 95% of Dragons pass away before reaching the age of 200, from age and size related complications. There's a growing minority of people of various kinds living in the island, having migrated and settled in the hills and valleys of the Dragon's Republic, mostly in residence at various Dragon held lands, as laborers and craftsmen. Of note are the Pteres, an Avian Ethnic group of nomadic descent whose numbers had lowered to the few thousands before settling on the Dragon Republic. They form the current majority of laborers and service workers on the Dragon Republic due to being able to take advantage of the same updrafts and winds the dragons use.
HISTORY: The Dragon Republic's founding myth states that the republic was founded centuries ago in chaotic, feral times, by a strong elderly stateholder dragon, which convinced different families and tribes, of what was back then the smallest dragon species, to join together and settle down as a dragon colony on the caves and hills of the Gold and Green Land. These families took the mantle of building a strong, sustainable livelihood for their peoples, and were ordered to by the Dragon Founder to stop preying on the various sentient species living on the island, instead demanding a tribute of food and textiles for their now civilized society. Over time this slave-tributary relationship changed into contractual landownership, as various families laid claim over and promised protection of tribes of peoples and plots of land, marking their territories with colorful posts and flags, which after centuries of reforms and revolts led to the slow phasing of feudal serfdom for private estates of dragons and small to medium homesteads of lower classes of both lower dragons and other peoples. The Dragon Republic started experiencing new and renewed political revival after many years of deadlock struggles between “localist” and “generalist” factions versus a powerful aristocratic conservative faction historically dominant in the Stewardship Estate (called the Senate by non-dragons, as dragons insist it’s not a Senate as the “real” senate is the Elder Council). The rise of radical figures within this system has potential to radically upend the stability of years, as the Dragon Republic is finally becoming more open and known to the world, after many centuries of being considered a “Here lie dragons, avoid at all costs” land.
SOCIETY: Society in the dragon lands is stratified in difficult to climb classes, with political power sitting at the uppermost levels, but there are a few clear paths that technically anyone with the appropriate amount of starting wealth or support could begin to tread. Historically the main debates in Dragon society and the “unscaled” peoples of the Dragon Republic have been about autonomy, administration, and political individuals. Local Stewards have a small “council of councilors” elected by landed peoples or citizens recognized by the local administration, and from these councils are elected larger regional councils every electoral season defined by the Stewardship Estate, in 3 main regions of the country. In Practice, to the rank of Steward of the Republic only Dragons are elected, as Stewards must be appointed by the Elder Council of the Founder, and a Stewardship is only granted after a position opens, after an appropriate amount of years have been dedicated to the political councillorship career, and after a series of positions are granted by both Stewards and popular elections (some are elections by landed individuals, some accept all citizens, and some elections are open to all willing and able peoples residing in the determined district) over time in recognition of skills, learning and influence, making it so that Stewards elected are already well known to the political class. Stewardship is a lifetime position but if a regional council, the Stewardship Council or the Elder council demands it, the continuance of a politician in Stewardship is put to a citizen vote (The eldership council demand is a formal process that first asks each level to support and carry the demand before it acts. Should no council accept, it can be forced by the Elders and it does not require a vote. The process has never been carried out beyond the Stewardship level). The Elder Council on the other hand is a lifetime position is only appointed by the Elder Council itself on principles of extreme recognition of appropriate values and dedication towards the protection of the People and Dragons of the Gold-and-Green field-lands, only after necessity is declared by the senate and a position of the 11 historical seats is opened. Senatorial Decisions are ratified by the Elder Council but this veto power has seldom been applied (only 3 recorded times). Both dragons and “unscaled” people live both geographically and socioeconomically stratified. Richer peoples live higher up, where winds are stronger and their wings (or their servants wings) have more “reach”. Non flying, rich individuals have service flying servants to use this advantage in transport or messaging. While up above there’s mostly dragons, down below it’s a mix of all kinds, including dragons. Social tensions exist at all times, slowly boiling down below the social thread, and the political system has a large number of ways to diffuse this pressure, including guaranteed food access in some areas, water access guarantees in others, etc.
CULTURE: Dragons wear complex textiles and colorful arrangements over their bodies, and they hoard these more than their ancestors were rumored to hoard gold. Sturdy textiles are used for religious and social significance, as the outside of caves, lairs and the edges of property are marked in colorful coded meanings, with complex patterns and well recognized themes being a staple of their culture. There’s Dragon weavers, who are specialists and often young masters of their craft, as relatively early on their adulthood do dragons begin losing the dexterity required for weaving. Dragon weavers therefore often and since ancient times employ unscaled weavers, in a deeply rooted symbiosis that has both religious and cultural significance. Taking a weaver apprenticeship therefore has ritualistic requirements and demands, and it’s a lifetime commitment of loyalty, even if employment is eventually terminated. Unscaled weavers are expected to inherit the founding Weaver’s family name, especially so if their founder is a Dragon, and upon the founder’s passing, the ownership of a weaver shop is not passed down to the Dragon’s family, but to the Weavers of that shop. Due to this, Weaver shops also often have selected craftsmanship and artisan specializations within the shop, and some call back their inheritance to extremely ancient Founders. Dragons and unscaled alike both love a varied alcoholic culture, with sugarcane rum and molasses rum being one of the main exports of the east region. High classes see refined and aged alcohols as a beautiful and honorable possession, and the Glass Vessels that hold them are luxury items made from an abundance of silica provided by dragons and their caves, ash and wood provided by the forests of the island. Glass is mostly used in luxurious alcoholic bottles, and large bottles and containers are made for wealthy dragons, however there is always demand for more glass, therefore, it is common to see dragon glass jewelry or gems in glass containers, in the gifts of higher society. Dragon Diet is not meat centric, and Dragons are omnivores, though they don’t tend to like some fruits as much as the unscaled, especially as dragons tend to have teeth very susceptible to sugar-induced decay. Food staples in the Dragon republic are rices (there’s various kinds in the dragon lands, including naturally sweet versions of rice), various vegetables, herbs and fruits in that order. Meat is land expensive and there’s very few herbivores native to the main lands, therefore most protein comes from the sea in fishing, which has been booming as lately as a few decades ago it became untaxed.
OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC: Magic is baffling across the various kinds in the Dragon Republic, as mage work is few and far between, not for lack of need but for lack of formalization in society. Magic use in dragons is mostly gravity based and connected to the flight capacities of the dragon in question, therefore most mage dragons find work as couriers or high-class servants, but for the unscaled things are more varied and complicated, as the various kinds have various forms of mage work. The Pteres in particular, organize sometimes in Weaver-backed guilds as Mage Thread Workers or Magic-Craftsmen, making artisan goods with magical properties. There is no central organized institution of magecraft in the Dragon Republic yet, only institutions of learning are Academies for the wealthy, therefore Weaver Guilds have taken that institutional role.
FADED WONDER: An unspoken but well known religious and ritualistic fact about the Republic is that the founder’s tomb, deep below the Elder Council’s assembly, at the geographic center of the republic, holds deep magical power that affects the dragons of the republic. A secret oath is taken by each new Elder, and none speak of what lies in the mausoleum, but those that become new elders have strong personality changes and are compelled against doctrines and stances that “risk the end of the peace” or “go against the orders of the founder”. Popular ludicrous theories state that the founder is still alive as a lich or that the elder council is a hivemind, but informed mages well learned on the effects of wonders of the past would discern that a passive, moderating effect radiates towards dragons specifically, from the tomb of the founder outwards to the whole island, with its effect directly proportional to distance. It is believed that a founder relic must be able to control dragons, or at the very least influence dragons, but nothing short of an invasion plunging deep into the dragon island, would be able to open the vaults to the public about the truth of the founder’s relic, or relics. The elder council, itself made of ancient dragons and with its own guard of loyal soldiers (some of the few permanently armed groups in the republic), would certainly never let anyone but one of their own come into the vault…
IMPORTS, EXPORTS, & MAJOR INDUSTRIES: The Dragon Republic is ready to export bulk textiles, uncut rolls of crafted material for foreign craftsmen to weave and work into beautiful garments. They are also ready to export the produce and grain that exceed the production capacity of the distilleries and alcohol craftwork. The alcohol itself is also for sale, but Dragon size is about twice the regular size of anything. The dragon lands have a great weather for tea, which was recently re-introduced to the island’s economy due to new generations finding a taste for its effects. The high-altitude hills and mountains hold the strangest plantations of these lands, Coca Leaves, a drug that displaced the previously introduced tobacco, is a common consumption of the middle and lower classes for relaxation. The Dragon Republic has dragon stonemasons in the south cliffs who offer to fulfill any order of stonework no matter how tall. (Transportation is to be provided by the buyer though) The Republic needs more glass, soft noble metals for dragon beds, Stimulant agricultural products like coffee and spices, Hard metals for tooling (The island has low yields of iron ore, too little for its need of metal tools) fancy textiles like silk are also needed, and Wealthy dragon patrons would over time seek to commission fancy works and clothes. The Republic also needs more workers. There’s more land than there’s hands to work it, and this has made the value of work drastically rise. Its golden times for the lower classes of the republic, and more people are needed. Permanent Slavery was outlawed in the republic in its early years, to avoid dragon slaves being a commodity interesting for foreign empires, but in far reaches of the republic, and in the smaller islands around the main, local aristocracy often operates barely legal schemes and carries many acts beyond the legal 10 years limit and the prohibition of the buying or selling of slaves to abroad. Few politicians have tried to end slavery, and more have tried to re-establish it in full, 2 of the Vetoes done by the elder council have been to prevent any extension of slavery, and one was to prevent automatically making non-dragons into non-citizens, over 2 centuries ago.