Basic Description
Native only to the Great Ancondrian River Basin, drakes are winged reptiles of various sizes ranging from that of ponies to that of horses. Aside from the wings, drakes also have snouts, tails, and pointy ears. Contrary to popular belief, drakes are mostly herbivores; although some of the mountain-dwelling species can be omnivores due to lack of vegetation in the area. Drakes nest in caves, or other kinds of enclosures, in high places such as mountains or tall trees. They reproduce through laying eggs. And drakes, in the wild, spend most of their lives flying around to gather food or find mates.
The Three Main Types
There exist large numbers of drake species; however the three most prevalent are Brown Drakes, Black Drakes, and Silver Drakes.
Brown Drakes are native to the Northern half of the Great Ancondrian River Basin, primarily in the Ancondrian nations of Doriem, Tersai, Omai, Mearlys, Areystyn, Toman, Lorens, Qorodae, and Mareyn. They live for an average lifespan of 320 and 410 years. Brown Drakes are 5 feet in length, have a wingspan of 15 feet, and weigh an average of 200 pounds. Their primary domestication roles have included the driving of farm plows, the herding of sheep and cattle, and the defense of properties.
Black Drakes are native to the Southern half of the Great Ancondrian River Basin, primarily in the Ancondrian nations of Fynros, Qorynth, Kaiott, Qorodae, Mareyn, Omyn, Ordayn, Macon, and Tessyn. They live for an average lifespan of 210 to 260 years. Black Drakes are 8 feet in length, have a wingspan of 23 feet, and weigh an average of 320 pounds. Their primary domestication roles have included the carrying of riders, the defense of properties, and engagement on battlefronts.
Living as the least numerous of the three types, Silver Drakes are native to the lands lining the Great Antarctic Plateau, primarily in the Ancondrian nations of Fynros, Ordayn, Marcon, Tessyn, and Esseco. They live for an average lifespan of 130 to 160 years. Silver Drakes are 16 feet in length, have wingspan of 45 feet, and weigh an average of 640 pounds. Their primary domestication roles have included the carrying of riders, the defense of properties, engagement in battlefronts, and land surveillance.
History of Domestication
To note, in the distant past, drakes lived alongside cousin species: lothars, which were larger in size and bore more powerful capabilities. For example, lothars had in their throats special glands capable of producing methane, and used such methane breaths, naturally, to stun prey and threats via oxygen deprivation. Native Ancondrians, during the times of the ancient Great State of Edom, would train lothars to blow their methane breaths through special torches, thus converting them into breaths of fire. Such practices were common during times of war and conflict. Writings and lore of this were passed down through the generations, over thousands of years, onto Ancondrians and Circlarians alike.
Throughout the distant past, Native Ancondrians domesticated drakes both for civilian and wartime purposes. Beginning in the 1260s was the partitioning of Ancondrian land by House Maderon, West Horizon Incorporated, and powerful Circlarian nations. West Horizon dominated this role, especially in the Great Ancondrian River Basin, by facilitating the establishment of numerous modern Ancondrian States with official borders. By design and intent, such borders were drawn to pit rival Ancondrian communities against one another and brew conflict, thus creating less legal obstacles for West Horizon to obtain mineral resources from the region.
Between the 1260s and 1310s, West Horizon left each Ancondrian State to decide on whether or not to ban the domestication of drakes; although they intensely lobbied governments in the Northern half of the Great River Basin to pass such bans. They also helped to establish the "Union of Ancondrian Nations," or the Ancondrian Union. In 1310, Clara Needham, became the elected CEO of West Horizon, and called upon the Ancondrian Union to vote for an international ban on drake domestication. The measure succeeded and, in 1311, the Ancondrian Union mandated all of its member states to ban drake domestication and release all domesticated drakes into the wild. However, in October 1313, Ancondrian nations in the Southern half of the River Basin, decrying the ban as a violation of tradition, broke away from the Ancondrian Union and formed the Ancondrian Nation Collective, or ANC. The Ancondrian Union declared this a violation of constitutional protocol as well as a violation of animal rights, and, on November 15, 1313, deployed military forces from its member nations to topple ANC governments; thus began the Great Ancondrian War.
The War ensued for decades as a relentless gridlock while ANC-member nations used drakes for wartime engagement. However, West Horizon, doing business with both sides of the conflict, began slowly introducing aircraft, rendering the use of drakes obsolete. This caused the War to shift from a North-versus-South conflict over drake domestication to an East-versus-West conflict over religion. It was not until 1383, when the newly-established nation of the United Confederation of Ancondria brokered a peace agreement with all of the involved nations, thus restoring the membership of all Ancondrian nations with Ancondrian Union, that the Great Ancondrian War was ended.
Resolutions from the 1383 peace talks included an Ancondrian-Union-wide ban on the wartime domestication of drakes. Each Ancondrian State, though, was allowed to determine its own laws and regulations on civil domestication. Numerous Ancondrian States have since altered back and forth on the issue. The silver lining, however, is that such controversies have since been resolved in debate chambers rather than on battlefields.