Dragonborn

Standing upright on two legs, possessing two , often powerful, upper extremities a dragonborn resembles it's namesake in most respects. At first glance, the unfamiliar might confuse a dragonborn for other humanoids that bear reptilian anatomy, like the snakekin or lizardkin. Yet dragonborn are a people unto themselves, with characteristics of other humanoids as well as their dragonic origins. As a point, the dragonborn's mind--capable of complex thought, empathy, sympathy, and fine grades of emotion--resemble humanoids and dragons more than other reptiles.

The reproductive cycle of the dragonborn as a whole has changed over their existence. Initially, additional members of their species were birthed from dragons, instead of interbreeding. The exact time this changed is lost to history, but through either powerful magic or the birthing of specific fertile dragonborn, they were then able to breed.   The dragonborn share commonalities with dragons in this respect as well, with a few key differences: They are not able to produce offspring until they have reached adulthood, and they have the ability to give live births. An adult dragonborn has an innate control over their reproductive cycle, and can choose when to enter a receptive fertile state. In addition, the number of offspring seems to be also consciously controlled, and if only one  or two children is desired a live birth is likely. Otherwise, additional children are laid as eggs.   All dragonborn retain the ability to transition to a fertile state through most of their adult lives, only losing the capability once they reach old age. This seems to be more an instinctual shutdown, as the production of children is taxing in the bodies resources. As is the same with dragons, the genetics of dragonborn make it such that only those of the same scale color can breed with each other.

In the current age, the following information is only known to other dragonborn, or to those scholars allowed within their society.   In the presence of dragons, dragonborn mature rapidly. In ancient times a dragonborn hatched would reach maturity in under a year. Currently, over millennia of separation from their progenitors has slowed such a process, but not to such a degree as to be comparable to other humanoids.   

Hatchling vs Live Birth

Dragonborn begin life incubating within the childbearer, and reach a viable state after roughly six months. At this stage, they may be laid in their egg forms and hatch after a single additional month, or brought to full development for a live birth. This changes the growth rate of the child to some degree. Hatchlings generally are blind for several weeks after birth, but are able to crawl and eat soft foods similar to human children or other mammals. They are cared for similarly, and reach infancy at the same time as their live birthed counterparts. Those that were live birthed can walk days after being born, inheriting instinctually the draconic tongue, they can speak a week or so after birth.  

Adolescence

Growth continues at an accelerated rate for all young dragonborn. They reach adolescence in only five years after infancy. During these early years, dragonborn of the current age are educated in their roles in society. They must re-learn many of the instincts that have been forgotten over millennia, tapping into knowledge buried deep in their ancestral memories. It is during this stage of development that a dragonborn also first becomes capable of utilizing it's breath weapon.  

Adulthood

After fifteen years of age, a dragonborn reaches full maturity physically and mentally. At this point they are able to breed, and their heart and core are developed enough to produce a lethal breath weapon. They continue to grow, but at a much reduced rate. A dragonborn can expect to remain at this peak physical state for anywhere between five to six decades before experiencing decline.  

Elder and Death

Without the presence of true dragons, and the font of magical essence they contain, a dragonborn experiences rapid decline in all faculties over the course of a decade. Those outside of civilization rarely live to be over 100, and those within civilization and the support structure often do reach that milestone but do not experience many more years.   Many dragonborn that live to be an Elder are very respected in their clan and are often Clan leaders. The death of one such member is often seen as a great loss to the clan as a whole. Death and burial rites differ between dragonborn, clans, and even cultures across the world. Most of them share some commonalities --the deceased are usually subjected to the breath weapons of other elder clan members, reducing the remains to ash or simply bones. Among the various cultures is a strong aversion to burial, or allowing the body to decay naturally.

Similar to their progenitors, dragonborn are omnivores, subsisting mostly on substances with very high mineral content. Cultural foods differ, but strong spices and heavy flavors are present in most dragonborn cuisine. Generally other humanoids find it unpalatable, but there are a few that can suffer the pain of eating food meant for a gold dragonborn served at scalding temperatures.

A dragonborn shares many of the sensory organs of their dragon creators, but to a far lesser degree of acuity. With far smaller apertures, a dragonborn's eyes resembles a dragons only in so far as they both have the thin, vertical pupil. Lacking potent magical essence most dragonborn are unable to release enough through their pupils to attain darkvision, and the weakness of the eye muscles does not allow for the full expansion to gather in enough light to compensate.   A dragonborn's gustatory and olfactory senses are just a fraction of a dragons despite having the same sensory organs, seemingly deliberately so. They are able to detect varying odors only within short distances, and can't distinguish nuance within the odor. A dragonborn's tongue plays little part in it's sense of smell; unlike other reptiles, dragonborn do not often flick their tongues out for this reason. It is still their primary gustatory organ, sensitive to different flavors depending on the scale color. A typical dragonborn can distinguish strong flavors, but fine details are lost on them.   Unlike dragons, dragonborn do often have external ears; Scale ridges, and frills focusing sound down to tiny holes like other mammals. The entire structure however, varies between dragonborn to dragonborn. All of them are more acutely tuned to lower frequencies, and so they can pick up large disturbances from great distances.   A dragonborn's scales are far less thick, and do not cover the entirety of the body. Similar to a snake, a dragonborn has many patches of soft tissue, usually around the joints, and on their palms. Thus, they have a much greater tactile sense than that of dragons. Able to feel for fine detail on even seemingly smooth surfaces.