Dragon Deity
A Dragon Deity is form of demi-god within the Cosmos-4 canon. They are humanoid beings with draconic traits and powers who live in relative peace and harmony among mortals of the earth.
Contents
Overview
Dragon Deities are not a separate species in the evolutionary sense. Rather, they are the result of a dragon's soul inhabiting a human body and using that body to incarnate into a physical form.
Appearance
A newborn Dragon Deity initially lacks most of the defining physical traits of its kind, and is largely indistinguishable from a human infant. Aside from yellow irides and the shape of the pupils, there are no noticeable outward physiological differences.
When a Dragon Deity reaches adolescence, they begin to develop their draconic traits alongside their human secondary sexual characteristics. These traits include:
- The emergence of one or more horns from their head.
- The growth of a scaled tail from the small of their back.
- Elongation of the pupil from an ellipsoid shape to a more prominent vertical slit.
- (Occasionally) hyper-keratinization of the phalanges, resulting in accelerated growth of finger and toe nails.
- (Rarely) chitinization of some areas of skin, resulting in patches of scales elsewhere on the body.
However, unlike typical secondary sexual characteristics, these draconic traits tend to appear rather immediately and suddenly over the course of days or weeks. These traits also do not exhibit any sexual dimorphism, and a Dragon Deity will exhibit any of these traits irrespective of biological sex.
Biology and Reproduction
Since a Dragon Deity is biologically mostly human, Dragon Deities can reproduce with humans or even other Dragon Deities if the opportunity arises. However, the offspring will always be purebred human as it lacks the dragon's soul necessary to invoke the draconic traits.
Some human cultures still believe that mating with a Dragon Deity strengthens the human bloodline, but there is no scientific basis for this belief.
Lifespan
Dragon Deities do not possess any exceptional longevity compared to a normal human. Though they may live to centenarian ages more easily, they do grow old and pass away like the humans around them.
Incarnation Cycle
Unlike humans, a Dragon Deity's soul does not travel to the afterlife upon expiration of the physical body. Rather, the dragon's soul returns to Dragon Realm to be incarnated into another mortal form. This process may happen dozens of times; however, it is not merely for leisure or immortality.
The Dragon Deity's mortal forms serve a specific purpose. In each form, the Dragon Deity must learn how to feel out, temper, and control a specific emotion or emotional state. The Deity will not lack other emotions and states, but the incarnation's specific emotion will always be far more pronounced.
When a dragon's soul has successfully mastered its emotional spectrum, it finally gains the right to assume the form of an ''Immortal Dragon''.
Cultural Impact
As Dragon Deities do not intentionally hide their status from humans, they have become significantly intertwined with human culture since the days of ancient history. Their impact on various cultures have been both positive and negative.
Many eastern societies tend to view Dragon Deities in a positive light. Their people consider it an honor to meet and help a Dragon Deity, and revere any family chosen to birth a Deity's next incarnation. Dragon Deities are also often exempted from certain mandates such as military service or required education. Many cities even hold festivals to encourage the appearance of a Deity among their populations.
Western societies tend to be split along theological lines over whether Dragon Deities are a desirable or undesirable facet of life. Some demographics take offense to the incarnation process and view it as depriving an unborn child of a human soul, or a human soul of a child's body.
Dragon Deities often find popularity in furry sub-culture.
Powers and Abilities
Dragon Deities possess a remarkably greater Qi compared to most humans. Thanks to this boon, Dragon Deities tend to be exceptionally adept at qigong and make for excellent martial artists and practitioners of traditional medicine.
Personal anecdotes across the world suggest that a sufficiently angered Dragon Deity can also release their Qi in a mighty, blazing aura.
List of Dragon Deities
Trivia
- When a Dragon Deity approaches its draconic puberty, they tend to gain a ravenous appetite in order to accumulate the necessary caloric energy.
- Though referred to as "horns", the protuberances on Dragon Deities' heads are anatomically antlers.
- Dragon Deities cannot truly "fail" in their task of self-mastery. If one fails to master a given emotion(al state), it is free to try again with another future incarnation.
- Dragon Deities do not have free access to the memories of previous mortal incarnations. Each mortal life is presented as a clean slate.