Draak-Kin Biology, Part 1: Awakenings

It has often been my pleasure to have been asked, usually on Discord but sometimes via e-mail, for more details regarding Draak-Kin biology. It occurred to me that, when someone asks a question and I spend a long time answering it, others might also be interested, and in such a spirit I'd like to share a few biological details of the Draak-Kin People, this time as regards Time. How long do Draak-Kin live, and how long do the Great Sleeps, the hibernatory periods that separate their life phases, last?

The question I received this very day was this:

Hey Ludwig, a curious question about the behaviours of Draak-kin. So they have two Great Sleeps, as evidenced by the game, but I find it unclear how much time actually passes between these Great Sleeps. To my understanding, the first great sleep happens either after a long time has passed OR soon after a hatchling Draak-kin has found a territory to claim. The second Great Sleep seems to come as winter approaches, but this seems to imply that a fledgeling Draak-kin only has under a year between their first and second Great Sleep. I was wondering if this was a restriction of the games time passing mechanics, or if there were more conditions that induce a Draak-kins Great Sleep?

My answer:

"Don't take the game's time too terribly seriously. Each Sun represents a certain length of time, but it doesn't always correspond to a day. We had to divide it up in a limited way that made sense and allowed the life to be lived in but a few hours of the player's time.

In truth, the infant phase usually takes several years, rounded off by a Great Sleep (and I've known Great Sleeps to be as short as months and as long as years) and juvenile phase takes decades, again rounded off by a Great Sleep. (Incidentally, hunting on a hibernating Draak's land is allowed, but if any Draak tries to move in permanently or do any damage to the ecosystems, they will face a holy wrath when that Sleeping Draak whose land it is awakens.)

While it does often coincide with the onset of winter when it happens, no one knows exactly what triggers the deep sense of lethargy that leads to a Great Sleep. It's a little different for every Draak, just as every mark of maturity for humans comes at a different time, subject to forces too complex to understand (and while the Draak-Kin might be able to understand such things if they tried, using their expansive minds, most would consider worrying about something like the exact timing of their core biological processes to be beneath their conscious concern).

Massive biological changes occur during both of the Great Sleeps, and most Draak-Kin are at least a little surprised by (and proud of)  their new bodies the first time they see their own reflection after one. After the first Great Sleep, one's true colors and clan are at last clear, a wonderful discovery for most, and of course after the second sleep, one awakens as a flight- and Creation-ready complete being, which is also pretty wonderful.

Most Draak do not dream during hibernation; the consciousness shuts down for brain rewiring. The only exception are Crystal Kin, who are able to exist as intangible spirits during their own hibernation, gently haunting the land around their sleep-chambers, watching it change as time passes. (Though of course, by the time of GT1, the only known Crystal Clan survivor had already gone through its Great Sleeps, and that phenomenon would never be observed on Earth again. Probably.)

It took the protagonist of GT1 about 70 years to go from raw hatchling to young adult, and a Draak can survive about 300 years using normal means, but there's a bit of difference between individuals. Elders are usually 500 years or older, often having found a way to slow the ravages of time, though a few have made it that far just with high body awareness and meticulous care of their health and domain."

So there you have it. As a little bonus, I'm attaching a piece of fanart by the wonderful Ember depicting a lovely Sapphire Kin (Seaglass by name) admiring its new body after its first Great Sleep. That may or may not have been the intention of the artist, but it captures that feeling of awe and pride one feels when one becomes a little bit more of what one was always meant to be. If you have questions, don't forget that you can either ask me, as this person did, or ask Darktooth! We'll give rather different answers, but you'll learn something either way. There are still a few days left to ask Darktooth your questions before our first wave of answers.

-L