Drakelands

The Drakelands is the name of a continent made up of a collection of warring states on the planet Triaxus. It would not have been so different from the Allied Territories save for their leadership—most of the Drakelands' citizens are serfs, and lesser residents of the land are humanoid. The leaders, however, are dragons and their savage kin. Dozens of ancient dragons maintain city-states here and engineer whole countries made up of humanoid servitors, while their offspring—dragonblooded humanoids and the strange dragonkin—act as the generals and administrators to these ancient wyrms. This arrangement has been in place for generations beyond remembrance and the original reason or cause has been lost to Triaxian legend.

Inhabitants

The majority of the Drakelands's population is made up of dragonkin and Triaxians, who share their homelands with bestial drakes and dozens of powerful dragon rulers.

In addition to dragons, dragonkin, and Triaxians, the Drakelands are home to species such as tribal adlets that make their homes near the Vahara Glacier and kokogiaks in their far north.

The demonym for peoples of the Drakelands is Drakelanders.

Government

Drakelander society is dominated by a strict caste system: the true dragons rule their various holdings as absolute monarchs, unanswerable to anyone else and with full authority over everything save one another. The dragonkin come below them, serving the dragons as generals, officials, consorts, and in other positions of influence. The drakes come next, alongside dragonblooded Triaxians. The rest of the Triaxian population that cannot trace its ancestry to a true dragon comes at the very bottom of the social ladder, serving its superiors as soldiers, serfs, and slaves.

Few holdings are led by good dragons in the Drakelands. The majority are held by chromatic dragons of all colors, while the metallic dragons that were native to this world have been hunted to near-extinction for their role in aiding the Triaxians during the War of Heroes. Only the bravest remain now in the company of their peers, while the land is ruled by the savage ferocity of their evil kin. The change in seasons affects the balance of power in the Drakelands: in the spring, the powerful red dragons hold prominence, whereas in the winter years, the barbaric white dragons rise to heights of power unimaginable in Golarion's long history. The blues and greens are more active in the summer seasons, and in autumn, the savage black dragons dig in and begin fortifying their isolated settlements for the long brutal winter ahead. Those areas ruled by metallic dragons are often sought out by Triaxian serfs fleeing from chromatic tyrants, but need to maintain harsh, military lifestyles to defend themselves against their more powerful, evil neighbors.

In addition to the dragon-ruled territories, the Drakelands are home to a number of scattered clans collectively referred to as the Unbound Tribes, which maintain their independence by leading nomadic existences in the spaces between the dragons' holdings and fiercely maintain their freedom, refusing to permanently join themselves to either the dragons or the Triaxian-ruled nations to the east.

Gazetteer

The following locations are found in the southeast corner of the Drakelands, near the border with the Skyfire Mandate:

Settlements

• Cadascon
• Iris
• Ivoryglass
• Meredel
• Orelan

Geographical Features

• Aeosem River
  • Aos River
  • Emhos River
  • Little Emhos
  • North Aos
  • South Aos
• Charnel Run
• Koracep Forest
• Lake of the Eye
• Sunset Peaks
• Vahara Glacier

References

There is a major article about Triaxus in The Frozen Stars.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.