There is, of course, a saying in The Empyraeum that dragons aren't real, except on. 

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On Drakpyl, there are a lot of dragons or, at least, creatures that could easily be confused with dragons. 

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Imagine the flying dinosaurs we have all heard of only make them more intelligent pack-hunters and you have one such species. There are a total of 20 dragon-like species on Drakpyl and each species is radically different to the others; serpentine six-legged stinging tunners, tree-dwelling gliding ambush hunters, centaur-like migratory plains-dwellers, almost hun-shaped monkey-like creatures....the list goes on and all of them are somewhat carnivorous. 

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The flying ones have, with varying degrees of success, been domesticated by the colonists, used are a means of getting from the few large, strongly fortified, and well-defended mountain settlements. For any sizeable human population to live anywhere else is considered madness, suicide, or both. 

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Those who are brave enough to domesticate the flying dragons are known locally as Bal-Furaboi and act as a kind of warrior caste, defending the cities from other denizens of the planet and also acting as the official couier service. 

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Rumours of centaur or even serpent-riders in the jungles and plains have reached the ears of a number of visitors but are scare even believed by the locals. 

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The local and export economy is based on two items; firestone, a jewel of incomparible beauty and purity which "resembles a bubble of flame containing a galaxy of sparks" and is much sought after for the making of rings and brooches,and Agira, a substance obtained from the temporal lobe of a vast species of deep-sea monster dragon-like invertibrate which can dramatically extend the lifespan of those who use it. However, at 10 Talents for an Obòlus of the stuff, it is not available to many.