Dracoa Fortune-Hunters

Overview

Dracoa Fortune-Hunters or Pioneers, commonly called "Dragon Hunters", are explores who embark on at times years long expeditions to explode the perilous ruins of the ancient dragon cities of Dracoa. These explorers are few, as it takes someone of equal stout bravery as sheer madness to even play with the idea of entering the old land of the dragons. They are tough, experts of their field, and more often then not travel in small groups during expeditions; for only with flawless teamwork and nigh division luck does someone have the smallest chance of coming back from Dracoa.   Though the common folk call them "Dragon Hunters" and think them cracked, in reality they rarely ever do slay dragons. Their goals during these treacherous expeditions is to plunder the Soul Artifacts created by the ancient chromatic dragons of the long extinct God Scale Empire. These Soul Artifacts hold power as close to the divine one can normally achieve without passing the barrier of the gods. Thus they are few, but just one could make a ragged team of explorers some of the wealthiest individuals on Mortale. Finding one is half the battle, getting back alive with it is the other half.   As one might imagine, the lands of Dracoa are extremely dangerous. In fact, three-fourths of an expedition is spent **getting** to Dracoa, as you cannot sail to the lands. The reason is due to the fact that the entirety of Dracoa is raised mountains, and not a single beach exist on its half of its continent. Even if you intend to anchor on the lowest cliff and climb, you would have to navigate the jagged rocks that rise out of the waters around the mountains, that seem to move purposely in paths of ships as if alive. And even before all that, one would have to survive the ecosystem of the sea around Dracoa; a sea that has become mutated in a way from the magical energies released by the gods and chromatic dragons during the War of the Divine and Dragonkind.   There is only one sure way to reach Dracoa: by arriving on the shores of the other half of the continent, Ferox. Only a single civilized settlement exist on the continent, that being the seaport of Madman's Anchor. It is a haven for Fortune-Hunters, and is where most live between expeditions. No major government controls it, but is instead overseen by a independent council of port locales. New faces are the norm for locales, as many bright eyed and good hungry novices come to port to become stinking rich. Maybe a tenth of them return from their first expedition, then half of those survivors find sense and leave port. The rest are only eager to get back out there and give it another shot, usually because they have nothing to lose.