Dragonewts are both familiar and extremely mysterious in Dragon Pass.
They are of course familiar to most inhabitants – there are some 20,000 dragonewts in Dragon Pass. Dragonewt Roads cross much of Sartar and Tarsh. The Trade Think Market is about 15 km off the Royal Road between Jonstown and Alda-Chur.
And the dragonewts have served as mercenaries in recent memory. Dragonewt mercenaries served the House of Sartar in several wars but also aided the Red Emperor in the conquest of the Holy Country and in Prax.
Pretty much everyone in Dragon Pass recognizes dragonewts, knows that they are intelligent, dangerous, and magically powerful. They know that some dragonewts ride demi-birds (more on them later), some are big, some are small, etc. They live in “cities” scattered throughout Dragon Pass and travel on magical roads. Obviously, they are connected to the dragons somehow.
But beyond that, dragonewts are mysterious. They speak an alien language almost impossible for humans to learn. They mostly keep to themselves, only engage in regular interactions at a few designated places or with a few designated individuals. Their gods are largely unknown, their life cycle a mystery, and so on.
A few Lhankor Mhy sages have tried to study the dragonewts and there are no doubt scrolls that shed some light into their mysteries on file in Jonstown or Boldhome. Obviously during the Empire of the Wyrms Friends there was much more interaction between dragonewts and humans – but sadly so much of the knowledge of the EWF was lost as a result of the Dragonkill War.
Dragonewts, dinosaurs, and dragons are a key element to Dragon Pass (hence the name), along with wyrms, dream dragons, and the like.
I often watch our chickens (Claudia Loroff and I have seven chickens) and imagine them as small dinosaurs. Especially when they hunt down mice or anything else that dare enters their territory. They can be surprisingly intelligent birds (with even more surprisingly unique personalities) – make them self-aware, magically powerful, and a lot bigger and you have foundations for understanding many of Dragon Pass’ draconic inhabitants.
If the dragonewts are the most alien and inhuman of all the Elder Races, how inhuman are all the other Elder Races in comparison?
Less inhuman than the dragonewts. Less inhuman than chickens.