Steppe Dragons(dragon tribes series).18+ (Patreon)

Let's continue shaping up this weird world of dragons x) I was planning to release the Ice Dragons next, but, the project got stuck at drawing frozen stuff, it was ambitious and I clearly need more experience and knowledge in this specific area, so i'm going to leave the Ice Dragons for later, and I've created Steppe tribe instead. Which are also a step up in quality and resolution from the previous pictures of the series. And of course a usual wall of lore text(one day I hope to find/hire someone to fix grammar in there)

http://kodar.org/patreon/content/100/Steppe-dragons.png

Steppe dragons are a tribe of nomads, roaming the endless plains of the west, far away from the Rift, careless and frisky, hunting the giant predatory birds, which are abundant there and are quite a nuisance, if not to say scourge of the land. Keeping the birds numbers in check is what dedicated groups of the Steppe Dragons do. They also protect some of the weaker creatures of the land from the bird menace. Steppe dragons are quite peculiar among dragonkind, they don't have wings, but are adapted for running, they got long and strong legs, big nostrils and relatively thin tail for a dragon. The palms and fingers are bulky and tough, especially on the males, they are not that flexible and dexterous to do craft and use tools very well. The body of the Steppe Dragons is covered in short brown fur with light underbelly and various dark stripes and spots along the hide, the neck, spine and underbelly are protected by thick scales, males are more armored than females, but females are much faster and agile. Some females are born with sabertooth, those are called "wawiji" and are usually trained to lead hunting parties. The steppe dragons have got upright vertical ears unlike other dragons, big eyes to spot their prey, they can see well in the dark, in fact, most of the hunting is happening under the stars, when the ferocious birds are sleeping and the least dangerous - doing the job with minimal risk is what the dragons are trained to do. Like the queen Naytah says, "You should not be proud of the scars, those are reminders that you were not prepared".

Steppe dragons form alliances with other intelligent species of the land, some of the equine species are intelligent too. By the ancient agreement with them, the dragons also do not hunt other herbivores, even the feral ones. Some of the other dragon tribes doubt that the wild horses of the steppes are truly intelligent, as they don't speak. But the steppe dragons disagree, they've developed a way to communicate with the horses and some times even live among the herds, defending them from the predatory birds and having some specific fun in return, like when all the males went on a hunting party, there is nothing better than a young mustang to entertain a bored and longing dragoness in heat. The mares also share their milk with the dragons, which they do like a lot.

Steppe dragons have got no regular settlements, their home is where the tail rests. But, there are ritual places built by them, the rings of stones, where they leave clawrite marks depicting everything important happened to the tribe and each member. Once a dragon matures, they would go to their family ring of stones and erect their own stone, from now on, once in a while, they would return there to write what's happened in their life, whom they've helped and what other good deeds they've done, and if their life would come to an end, their ashes would be buried underneath that same stone.

And the last but not least is magic. Steppe dragons are not among the greatest magicians of the dragonkind, learning magic finesse requires tools, books, workshops and schools, something that does not fit steppe dragons life style and physique well, but some of them are born with considerable raw magic power which they can throw into the most basic forms of spells, usually it's fire magic, and it's not only making but also stopping the fire around, without the dragons, sweeping steppe fires would have been a big disaster for all the living things there.