HYKOKS' SETTING WORLDBUILDING

Setting Notes for the Galanniss’s Variated Drake, Marlianci’s Prairie Drake, Melanistic Prairie Drake, Unreflective Prairie Drake, Menhiji, Minhiji (other names can also be used).

For much of the history of Ijona's timeline, scaled folk like herself have been largely ignored. This includes in media where they have been portrayed as monsters eating screaming women, the soldier who gets shot, minor roles such as servers or extras, or if they were lucky, a superhero's sidekick. It was only since around the turn of the century that scaled folks began to see themselves represented as politically or financially successful in media.

Draconids have an interesting relationship with caffeine. To most, it is a mild stimulant, but to drakes and other draconids, it is much more potent, on a level with high-proof alcoholic spirits or heroin, and highly addictive. It can also function as a potent painkiller. As a result, draconids have government-issued punch cards limiting them to three cups of coffee or regular size chocolate bars per month. As a result, there is a thriving black market for these products.

Many vendors of products containing caffeine in the current day use thumbprint ID as part of customers' purchasing process. Despite the ability of some draconids to shape-shift the majority of their bodies, they can't change their thumb and finger prints, so this makes an effective barrier. There are also drugs that can cause severe nausea or diarrhoea in draconids who have taken caffeine, and some therapists use this as part of their treatment, with draconid clients routinely injected before a session. If they complete a session then a low-caffeine or completely decaffeinated drink is offered at the end of the session.

There is also suspicion among draconids that they are often passed over for housing, loans, and being hired for jobs. While such discrimination is illegal in Ijona's country, scaled folk can seldom prove that it's happened to them.

Draconids are also inherently eager collectors.

There is also no universal health care in the culture in which Ijona lives.

Draconids also have to be careful when buying clothes due to their scales catching on fabrics and damaging or tearing them. As a result, many stores have an if-you-break-it-you-buy-it policy.

In addition to this, draconids shed their skins. Shedding can leave them itchy and miserable, and their vision can temporarily become cloudy. Their skins come off in patches which can get messy. Even after this is over, freshly-revealed skin can be over-sensitive. Overall, most draconids find the whole experience awkward and uncomfortable. Many draconids happen to shed on their birthdays, so typically they move their birthday celebrations either forward or backwards to avoid them coinciding with the shed.

Early skin sheddings ware often kept as a memento of childhood by parents.