Dracodeontis polis, Dragoon

Domain: Michakarya

Kingdom: Animalomorpha

Phylum: Gyriomorpha

(unranked): Ekereomota

Class: Gigaviatora

Order: Velavita

Family: Pteramorphae

Subfamily: Pressora

Genus: Dracodeontis

Species: D. polis

Length: 10 - 20 m

Phenotype Mass: 25 000 - 200 000 kg

Maximum acceleration: ~ 975 m/s²

Cruise speed: 40 km/s

Resonance: Mezzo-Soprano

Conservation status: Least Concern

A common sight in polity that can support them is the Dragoon.

Filling niches such as Enforcement, Peacekeeping, Demolition, Big Game Hunting, Private Security, Social Intimidators, Interstellar Ship Care, Surveying, Caravan Escorting, Sports and Gladiatorial Displays, Navigation, and even Cargo Hauling, Medical manufacturing, and many more.

Notable for their close relation with the agricultural pest D. pestis, It is however almost universally a slur to compare a Dragoon to a Field Harrower especially in territories where a significant proportion of the local families have descent from interbreeding with or civil integration/domestication of D. pestis.

The species have been re-derived from D. pestis independently over numerous polity and great portions of time. Identification colloquially can be further complicated by often sharing a local appellation with ANY domesticated Dracodeontis.

It is common for Polity to trade or to have Dragoons migrate willingly between them, to transfer useful traits. This is expected to eventually cause a complete genealogical convergence for the species if new stock were to ever cease being introduced.

As such there are several Dracodeontis species that have been crossbred into the populations all through the reef, as well as horizontal gene transfer from the rest of Michakarya as is common for the domain.

D. polis is in spite of this variable heredity easily distinguishable from other members of its Genus by prominently overdeveloped eyes for Dracodeontis, significantly finer F’teropods than most other species except D. pestis and well developed sociability and use of extra-species cultural signaling in their plumage.

Even when groups are isolated and go feral they are prone to more agrarian and cooperative behaviour over the polisivoric, kleptovoric or macrovoric behaviour of their close relatives.

Such populations are however almost never a monoculture of D. polis only. Showing an extremely strong tendency to one or more mutualistic species niches to help support and maintain them. Whether the community species have as general an innovative ability as D. polis is however dependent on circumstances.

When fully supported by a Polity D. polis are capable of comparable energy yield munitions as most Dracodeontis even showing propensity for exceeding their own ability to safely deploy or use such energies without debilitating injury.

This tendency to push themselves to lethal exertion is true even in feral communities of the species. Such eusocial behavior in pursuit of their role in a society whether defensive, economic or military is normally highly respected and lauded by their culture.

Although there are often local memetics on the appropriate time, place and conditions of giving into this behaviour for numerous reasons.

Within the Courtesan Estate Star hallow Dragoon are predominantly employed or indebted to the controlling Siren Family and its direct allies and associates.

Culturally this favors a less regimented and integrated hierarchy and more of a broad collection of many free agents working as individuals or small groups with little centralized command. A small fraction of Siren genes have been inserted into the population, letting them integrate with Moirai, the Scion of Omniscience. Within the Stellar Hollow and in neighboring territories heavily influenced by the Courtesan estate Dragoons have creeds of personal honor, individual determination of right and wrong and obligation to truth and honesty on a case by case basis.

In contrast the neighboring polity and empires in the Hekora reaches especially smaller independent polity favor augmented integration with local government networks and intelligence and extensive training and vetting of all officiated Dragoons. These cultures emphasise the prestige of families and individuals to excel and prove their worth to being fully armed. These cybernetics also allow automatic database polling and task distribution, as well as the distribution of orders and weapon system override by ruling species.

It is not uncommon for those dragoons which do not seek to join the approved organizations of such cultures to either be metabolically, surgically or memetically disarmed from being able to use any significantly energetic payloads. In those cases where it is even allowed for a Dragoon to remain in their polity at all. In either case, it's almost completely unheard of for such a dragoon to be able to find a mate.

Alternatives to this are often restrictions to purely non-lethal munitions for ‘civilian’ Dragoons or even sanctioned ones in delicate or less overtly military assignments. However the definition of what categorizes as Lethal varies broadly with local population demographics, medical capabilities and the existence of universal restorative arrays (such as is found in middle or greater Urban Polity).

The species are also occasionally outlaws in their host polity or within the territory of immediate neighbors. Major memetic shifts or regime changes having rendered changes which ostracize native Dragoons as being instruments of the former ruling parties/unlawfully dangerous.

In response to this, some Dragoon strains have developed traits that let their entire memetics, ethics, and goal system be reset to whatever authorities desire, typically by a surgical or intense chemical stimulus.

This is sometimes warranted or even considered ethically required as without proper care and pruning of the social-memetic ecosystem Dragoon behaviour can become maladaptive or even pathological for themselves, the community or even the entire polity.

It is recommended to always manage and integrate Dragoons with care into your social ecosystem and make regular checks for dangerous memetics accumulating in their populations.

When well managed they are a wonderful addition to any but the poorest territories where they are liable to suffer malnutrition or require ruinously expensive care and feeding.

Numerous Pan-Polity cultural movements exist with the explicit purpose to investigate, educate or if necessary relocate and rehabilitate individuals or populations of D. polis that are in unsustainable or abusive situations.

Despite the attrition of such groups due to irrelevance/success in their mission locally, subversion or integration by larger organizations or empires or even bankruptcy or standard extinction bubbles the movements emerge reliably independently wherever D. polis successfully demonstrate their worth to other species.

This is considered a sign of the general altruistic character inherent in the species. Although other parties suspect memetic parasites may be the cause.