Species: Greatwood Draconid.

A very peculiar race, no-one’s quite sure exactly where it originated, whether they were Dragons who slid down the evolutionary tree or humans who were blessed with draconic blood and turned into half dragon hybrids.
They come from the Greatwood Vale, an area even further East into Illinei Forest, where the trees are thousands of years old and their cities go undisturbed by most. Their civilization is headed by an elected individual, and they have lengthy political debates over interactions with other cultures. They’re known to get along well with the Naga from the western parts of the great forests, yet have border disputes with them nearly every year.
Their females, or Matrons, go into a breeding cycle once every year, during which time the female in question will become highly antisocial. Their process of choosing a mate is almost like hide and seek, except for the violent rows that break out when an undesired should happen upon them. Each female will, if mated, produce a single egg which they will carry for about a month until laying. Draconid eggs have been known to hatch up to triplets, but a single Whelp is far more common. They are carnivorous at birth, females possessing no mammary glands to breastfeed young. It is unknown if they can breed with other species, but widely believed that it is a possibility.
Quickwitted and very intelligent, Draconid are highly cultured, and their main religion deities are powerful omnipotent beings with dragon bodies and benign natures. Even their ‘evil’ god is more a pacifist, the souls of their misguided or unholy being taught the errors of their ways by him until they accept why they were damned, he then wipes their memories, except for the lesson, and reincarnates them as a newborn Draconid. This, of all beliefs, is the strongest, as the number of ‘devout’ newborns is almost directly proportional to the death rate of their lawbreakers and sinners.
They are keen hunters, and don’t back down from a challenging hunt, known to make great hunts of their favorite beast, the aptly named Turucharani (Great Treesmasher.) These creatures are larger than elephants, and are immensely powerful. Hunts for these creatures are only allowed to be equipped with arrows, a large, powerful hunting bow, and a sword of iron, which they mine themselves. Each Turucharani slain prompts a great feast, with the creature’s own flesh as the main highlight of the evening. Little is wasted; even crackling is enjoyed by the Draconid. The bones are crafted into intricate statues, trinkets and idols by hand, and the most prized part of the creature, its massive canine teeth, are made into a trophy which families will keep for untold generations. The eldest canine trophy is said to be over five thousand years old.
As a people, they’re somewhat timid, yet generally friendly to outsiders, they don’t get many visitors to their grand city of stone, moss and wood. Their most common position outside of their home is as messengers; able to run as fast as any horse, even faster, and able to carry huge loads without harming themselves. They’re quite apt arrow slingers, though they’ve not managed to get their collective claws on crossbows, it’s but a matter of time.