Nakakana

Nakakana are one of the four species of Dragons within the world of Drakepunk. Resembling massive serpents, they are quite similar to the dragons often found in eastern mythology and legends. Nakakana are the physically largest of the Dragons, and are also arguably the most advanced, forming complex societies and constructing great cities of stone and coral.

Physical Description

Nakakana are exceptionally large serpents, with four limbs, two near the front, and two near their back. From head to tail they can reach up to 60 feet long, and are typically between four and six feet in diameter, and typically weigh between six to ten tons. Nakakana scales are generally dark blue to sea green, what Homer would call "Wine Dark". However, a few Nakakana have coppery or golden scales, and these are generally considered signs of great beauty and those who bear them are considered lucky.

Nakakana will grow to full maturity over roughly five years, and can live between fifty and seventy years.

Abilities

Nakakana are naturally possessed of incredible physical strength, able to crush nearly anything to death in their coils, but are generally quite slow either on the ground or in the air. Nakakana can fly, though not by using their wings. Instead, their scales are covered in millions of microscopic cilia similar to the ones found on the wings of their cousins. These cilia dramatically increase the Nakakana's surface area and allow them to swim through the air, albiet quite slowly. These same cilia work alongside a number of organs found along the Nakakana's spine to gather and store static electricity, which the Nakakana can unleash as a powerful blast of lighting or dangerous electric shock.

Nakakana are generally considered to be the most charismatic and social dragons. They are the most likely to interact with mortals, and are responsible for creating many draconic cities. They are skilled and cunning manipulators, and are often referred to either as "Serpent Dragons" or more commonly "Emperor Dragons." They view themselves as the natural leaders of dragonkind, and by extension all sentient life.

Culture

Nakakana culture is heavily focused on achievement and displays of wealth, power, and fame. The Nakakana are the shortest lived of all dragons, and combined with their tendency towards pride, this causes them to be remarkably ambitious and driven individuals. Nakakana desire to be remembered by as many as possible, and dedicate themselves to mastery in all things and creating new and spectacular works.

Nakakana are thus often explorers, traders, inventors, and artists. While they were not the first to venture to Munus, they are its most frequent visitors. Nakakana have heavily integrated mortal servants into their daily life, and even a poor Nakakana will have a dozen different mortals serving them at any given time. These servants range from domestics, to scribes, to chefs, to personal musicians and engineers. However, the vast majority of mortals serving Nakakana are involved in some form of food production, such as faming or fishing, allowing their draconic overlords to pursue other interests.

Nakakana eat the most varied and refined diets of all dragons. Nakakana are the most omnivorous of the dragons, and require regular meals to maintain their great size. They will employ teams of chefs, and often become quite fond of particular flavors, mixing and matching primarily fish, but also the beasts of the land and large amounts of leafy greens. The Nakakana are almost to a man addicted to caffeine, and they drink tea or coffee daily.

Nakakana, due to their love of wealth and vanity, are some of the broadest sponsors of the arts, and especially music. They frequently host concerts that are free for all to attend in order to show off the talent and extravagance of their private orchestras. As such, Nakakana music is usually what would be considered “Big Band Jazz”, filled with bombast, excellent to dance to, and filled with frequent use of brass.

Nakakana religion is polytheistic, referred to as "The Ordering of the Heavens". The Nakakana believe in a highly complex hierarchy of gods and goddesses with the highest being a being known as Tal-Mat, which is a genderless being from which all other creatures spring (as an interesting note, this also means that the Nakakana religion is very accepting of non-binary and asexual people, who are considered to be lucky), beneath them are the Divine Emperor and Empress, who reign over the male and female halves of the universe. The hierarchy expands outwards from there such that there are gods for almost every being and concept in the universe, such that priests speak a secret language where every noun and many of the verbs are the names of gods. Nakakana do not believe in reincarnation, but rather that once dead, they are assigned positions within the divine hierarchy based upon their deeds in life. For this reason, Nakakana construct elaborate near-temple tombs for themseleves, frequently embalming their bodies in gold and placing them in high places where all can see them and that even the gods know their greatness. A common Nakakana blessing is "May you etch your soul into the minds of ten thousand."

Nakakana families are frequently large by draconic standards, and polyamory is common. A Nakakana family will usually consist of two to six adults, and their associated children, of which there will usually be between five and fifteen. These families will frequently live together, and also tend to live near other families, frequently arranging marriages for their children. The genders are broadly equal, though they do tend to occupy slightly different roles in society. Nakakana males are more likely to be explorers and traders, leaving their families for long stretches of time. Females are more commonly businesswomen, politicians, bankers, and lawyers.

It is this tendency to group together that results in the Nakakana constructing some of the largest and most impressive cities on Kohatu, though they are increasingly emigrating to the Astehu to construct new cities among the asteroids. Nakakana cities are commonly built into the sides of mountains near the sea, and make frequent use of coral as a decorative material to stone structures.

See also:

-Naka

-Aotagari

-Dragons