Draven
The Draven is a medium-bodied quadruped standing 70 to 90 cm at the shoulder, its broad chest and hindquarters wrapped in dense insulating pillow feather in earth tones of clay, rust, and smoke-grey. A triangular head with wide-set amber or pale gold eyes gives an expression of constant intelligent awareness, while a long stiff tail arches sharply as a warning when danger is sensed. Fiercely loyal and deeply bonded to its household, the Draven is the primary domestic companion and protector across the settled lands of Elshore.
Key traits
- The thick pillow feather coat insulates against winter frost and summer heat alike, and provides protection against bites and slashes from small predators.
- Dravens read emotional states keenly, recognising tension, threat, or sorrow in those they guard before an overt sign is given.
- In Maanamodilia Place Maanamodilia A major offshore landmass in the far south of Elshore, off the southern continent of Khaldaara across the Divider Sea of the Maans, reaching toward the polar south., tradition holds that each child is gifted a Draven hatchling upon their first step, binding guardian and child together from the earliest age.
- Southern river villages paint bright beads onto the neck-feathers of honoured Dravens, marking them as blood-kin to the family.
- A Draven will bark harsh warnings at the first hint of danger and, if necessary, sacrifice itself to defend its bonded household.
- Among the Maan People Maan The most numerous people of Elshore and the baseline cultural reference of the age., to mistreat or abandon a Draven is considered a stain on one's name for a generation.