Drakken

Who understands the past, controls the future.

Lore[]

An ancient and venerable race, the drakes and dragons of the Drakken prize lore, history, and wisdom above all things.

Few in number but exceedingly powerful, they do not seek war but rather relationships, information, and knowledge. Faction histories, artefacts, and ruins are highly prized by the Drakken while wealth, military power, and advanced technology are viewed as insignificant.

Militarily they have limited numbers, and bring to battle very few but very powerful units.

The gradual onset of longer winters has not escaped the notice of this race who are more attuned to Auriga's rhythms than all the rest.

Already they have struck out across the vast planet, forging ties with all who share Auriga's lands. They understand well that even if the cataclysm comes again, their first duty is to preserve what the Endless left behind, so that one day, maybe in a hundred years, maybe in a thousand, their great teachers' creations will still endure.

Faction Specialties[]

Name	Type	Effect	Lore
Diplomatic Pressure	Affinity	Gives the empire the ability to force truce, peace, or alliance on a targeted empire.	Masters of statecraft, this people can force Peace, Truce, or even and Alliance on other players due to their wisdom, persuasion, and prestige.
Advanced Diarchy	Trait	Empire Plans are unlocked 1 Era earlier. +1 free Empire Plan tier on empire.	Experienced at the necessary negotiation and discussion that takes place within a government, this faction can more rapidly put complex Empire Plans into motion.
Endless Excavation	Trait	+2 on terrain with ruins. +3 on terrain with ruins.	Hereditary keepers of Endless artifacts and knowledge, no other peoples are so adept at unearthing secrets and mysteries from ancient sites.
Well Connected	Trait	Gives the Empire the knowledge of the starting position of every player.	Being an ancient race with ties to all the other peoples of Auriga, this empire knows the location of every other race's capital.
Empire Mint	Technology	Unlocks the Empire Mint technology.
Language Square	Technology	Unlocks the Language Square technology.

Heroes[]

Archivist Nachampassesa[]

As with most of its kind, Nachampassesa spent the time of his coming of age roaming Auriga in order to add to the Drakken store of knowledge. While mapping a particularly promising fault crater, Nachampassesa fell through into an ancient bunker of the Endless. In a moment of ecstasy driven by Dust, adrenaline, and euphoria, Nachampassesa gained a deep perception of the uses of Dust. When he returned weeks later to study and archive the contents of the bunker, he discovered that it had been looted by Vaulters. Driven to rage by this act of thievery and vandalism, Nachampassesa tracked and killed the group through a series of tunnels. The experience was formative in more ways than one; he became both claustrophobic and a lifelong enemy of the Vaulter people. To this day he remains wary and mistrustful of the Vaulters and tends to strike before speaking; a level of aggressiveness rare among the pacifist Drakken.

Archivist Nachampassesa is the starting hero for the Drakken.

Loremaster Jayawardene[]

A commensurate political operator, Loremaster Jayawardene was well on her way to becoming the most important member of the Twelve, the council of elders who govern all of Drakken affairs, when a moment of carelessness ended her ambitions. Found guilty of altering a sacred Endless artefact in order to support the position of a Drakken sub-group named the Revitalists, Jayawardene was thrown from the Council of the Eyrie – literally. Tumbling from the tower, Jayawardene opened her wings and soared far from the Drakken's first city, Nahar Tereth, only coming to land when she was many leagues away. Livid with herself, she spent the better part of a year walking Aurga filled with hurt and disappointment, before she recognized the truth of her nature: Her first – and only – calling wasn't love of duty; it was power. And she didn't care where she found it.

Archivist Jiraduveja[]

Something of a split-personality of the Drakken city of Nabalis, unbeknownst to his brethren in the Silicate Machinery Library, Jiraduveja spent his off-time haunting the Fighting Pits of the city's Lower Reaches. To begin with he would only watch, his face pressed his face up against the fence, while juvenile Necrophage fought to the death. The spilling of their pungent fluids would wet his tongue, and he would spasm with bloodlust. It wasn't enough. Hooded and cloaked, Jiraduveja eventually entered the pits himself, fighting the creatures with a double-edged weapon known as a saw-cleaver. Maybe it was his passion, but Jiraduveja evolved into a formidable master of combat. When the inevitable happened, and word of his prowess reached his Loremaster, Jiraduveja was thrown out of the Library in disgrace. He didn't care. In fact, he was pleased that he could finally follow his true vocation: Soldier of Fortune.

Lorekeeper Masargaka[]

An administrator without parallel, Lorekeeper Masargaka brought an engineer's obsessive eye for detail into every facet of his methods of governance. At diplomatic feasts he would personally organize the seating plans, creating complex webs of slights and bonds. When he met emissaries he would greet them in perfect renditions of their tongue, practicing for many hours to get the pronunciation and intonation exactly right. Before signing binding agreements he would alter the wording so there could be no ambiguity, no wriggling out of responsibility. Unbeknownst to nearly all Drakken, his most exacting methods were saved for his investigations into arresting the aging process. Convinced Drakken biology could be altered to dramatically raise longevity, Masargaka oversaw thorough experiments of Drakkenling subjects, hoping to find a way for his race to become true stewards of Auriga through life eternal. When word got out, Masargaka fled, and now seeks to govern elsewhere.

Lorekeeper Lakaspassar[]

A brave, fearless Drakken, young Lakaspassar didn't hesitate when she was asked to be part of a small company tasked with the retrieval of important Endless relics believed stolen by Roving Clan traders. Afterwards, flushed with pride at her part in the successful mission (and with adrenaline), Lakaspassar continued to work for the highly clandestine Reclamation Order, swiftly becoming an integral member of their far-ranging raids. On one crusade, however, deep in the dark places of Vaulter territory where the sun is a distant memory and a Drakken feels ill at ease, Lakaspassar's group was fallen upon by a ferocious band of Vaulter soldiers. They were slaughtered save for one; Lakaspassar barely escaped with her life. She blamed herself for her brethren's death and her lack of foresight, vowing one day to avenge their deaths. Whether she does this from inside or outside the Vaulter ranks is up to higher powers; all she knows is that she will be a mercenary until her debt is paid.

Loremaster Semsanitnwona[]

No one would accuse Loremaster Semsanitnwona of not being a dutiful Drakken, but he was often considered so obsessive in his devotion to the preservation of Endless knowledge that he was accused of being neglectful of his older tasks. Spending entire days listening at the Whispering Galleries to the voices of days past, Semsa could recount great tracts of Drakken history at loremasters, but would often fail to be up to speed with current events. Determined to learn more of the Era of the Drakken's true birth, Semsa battled for long years to be granted a pilgrimage into faraway lands and places, only to be repeatedly refused by the Twelve. At the end of his patience, Semsa left his winged brethren, and now travels Auriga offering to govern anyone in exchange for access to their libraries and vaults.

Researcher Namkang[]

Drakken eggs are incubated and guarded in great communal caverns, with the young being hatched and released as a group by the adults of the eyrie. Namkang, however, was one of a number of eggs that were lost when the Puraksa hatchery wall split open during a violent earthquake; she alone remained viable when the rest perished in the mountain, and was quickly returned to the eyrie. Those days alone in the cold and the hours alone after emerging from her shell left a permanent mark on Namkang, however; she is a traveler and a loner among Drakken, exploring even the most forbidding regions as she is indifferent to cold weather.

Researcher Namkang is a bonus hero who can be recruited in-game for those who purchased the Founder/Emperor Edition of Endless Legend.