Twenty Years Later- Yutaka's Youkai Biology

Chapter 4: Dragon Youkai- Family Draconidae

A type of youkai both beloved and feared by the human population (Barth, 1553; Ernest, 2013; Scot-Giles, 1953), draconids, better known as dragons, drakes, wyrms, or wyverns (Barth, 1553; Ernest, 2013) are diapsids best known for their ability to fly and their endothermy (Ernest, 2013; Lutz & Bentley, 1985). Their size and threat to humans may vary (Barth, 1553; Cohen, 1989; Ernest, 2013), but their distribution is surprisingly low at present (Ernest, 2013; Martin, 1996), even more so than its already limited distribution in the past (Barth, 1553; Ernest, 2013).

Before the great dragon extinction events (Martin, 1996; Ryuenji, 2007), both Western Europe and China had thriving populations, with a tiny population within Gensokyo (Ernest, 2013; Martin, 1996; Ryuenji, 2007; Yakumo, 1337) which has undergone a familiar evolutionary path. While the draconids of Europe adopted a lizard-like form with wings, the more plesiomorphic sorts maintaining four legs (Genus Draconicus, the true dragons) while a more apomorphic European group secondarily lost their forelimbs to adopt a bipedal gait (Genus Wyvernum, the wyverns), the draconids of China (Genus Longerus) are highly diverse in both form and habitat (Barth, 1553; Carr, 1990; Cohen, 1989; Ernest, 2013; Martin, 1996).

While these genera are both interesting to research on and have a quintessentially enigmatic feel to them due to their extinction (Martin, 1996; Ryuenji, 2007), due to this book's focus on the humanoid dragons, this chapter shall largely focus on the Gensokyan dragons, thought to members of Genus Longerus and sharing its closest common ancestor with the Chinese Tianlong, Longerus tianus, more commonly known as the heavenly dragon (Carr, 1990; Ernest, 2013; Hadekawa, 2024).

The Gensokyan dragon (since proven to be Longerus hominidus) is thought to have its origins some forty-thousand years ago (Ryuenji, 1986), a mere part of the population of what is thought to be the first sapient dragon species, the common ancestor of Longerus tianus, Longerus shenium, and Longerus hominidus, settled in the mountain range that would become Gensokyo (Yakumo, 1884). According to admittedly biased sources (Ryuenji, 1986), they came to Japan with grand visions of how they would not only colonise the sky, as their relatives Longerus tianus would also do (Carr, 1990), but they also intended to rule over terrestrial beings. In order to do this, they chose a mountain range as their new settlement do act as a means for non-flying hominids to visit their new settlement (Ryuenji, 1988). They plundered the region for its treasures and hoarded them, not unlike Draconicus cambrius (Jones, 1958), building great palaces out of various gemstones (Ryuenji, 1986; Sakaku, 2017) in order to impress 'lesser beings' (Ryuenji, 1988).

Innovations that allowed Longerus hominidus to survive where their fellow draconids did not include their relatively non-destructive behaviour (Ryuenji, 1986; Sakaku, 2017), meaning that no human dragon slayers sought them out for extermination as in Genera Draconicus and Wyvernum (Barth, 1553; Cohen, 1989; Ernest, 2013; Walter, 2003) and due to their building of a floating palace, they did not die out when the environment became unfavourable, as did occur with the majority of Genus Longerus (Martin, 1996; Ryuenji, 2007). They developed a relatively humanoid form, their vestigial wings now able to be folded into a cape to give an appearance of regalia to humanoids (Hadekawa, 2024; Ryuenji, 1986), and enslaved the species Regalecus ignis, or the youkai oar-fish, to its cause, a race that has since grown fond of its chains (Nagae, 2010) to the point where the dragon palace trusts them enough to never abandon their cause, instead using them as envoys (Ryuenji, 2007). Their humanoid appearance and reclusive nature, along with their innate ability to detect changes in the weather and willingness to warn 'lesser beings' with their oar-fish envoys (Ryuenji, 1995) has made them thrive in a time where all other draconids are extinct or otherwise unable to be found (Martin, 1996; Ryuenji, 2007).

All in all, the humanoid (and extant) portion of Family Draconidae is merely the tip of the iceberg with regards to draconid diversity, and indeed, the sentience of the more bestial draconids is still to be determined (Hadekawa, 2008). This family is a highly interesting one to study, if only for their status as a mostly dead lineage with but a single extant species known to exist (Ryuenji, 1986). For this reason, it has been coined that Gensokyan draconids are like 'the animalian ginkgo' (Hadekawa, 2024; IUCN, 2006).

References

Barth, S. (1553), Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History, Library of the Red Keep.

Carr, M. (1990), Chinese Dragon Names, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 13, 87-90.

Cohen, D. (1989), The encyclopedia of monsters, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd.

Ernest, I. (2013), The Illustrated Book of Dragons and Dragon Lore, Cognoscenti Books.

Hadekawa, Y. (2008), Sentience in non-humanoid draconids: truth or human fantasy?, self-published.

Hadekawa, Y. (2024), Analysis of the Gensokyan dragon genome: a comparative study to Genus Longerus, Momiji Publications Ltd.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Red List of Threatened Species (2006).

Jones, T. (1958–59), The Story of Myrddin and the Five Dreams of Gwenddydd in the Chronicle of Elis Gruffydd, Etudes celtiques 8, 57-62.

Lutz, P. L., & Bentley, T. B. (1985), Respiratory physiology of diving in the sea turtle, Copeia 1, 671-679.

Martin, G. R. R. (1996), A Song of Ice and Fire series, Voyager Books.

Nagae, I. (2010), Happiness in slavery: How servitude has benefited the youkai oar-fish, Dragon Palace Publications.

Ryuenji, K. (1986), The Ryuenji Dynasty: Freeing oneself from the shackles of barbarism, Dragon Palace Publications.

Ryuenji, K. (1988), The Youkai Mountain: The bridge from the impure to the pure, Dragon Palace Publications.

Ryuenji, K. (1995), Information: The new currency to keep the lower world in line, Dragon Palace Publications.

Ryuenji, K. (2007), The Great Extinction: Why a dragon must move with the times, Dragon Palace Publications.

Sakaku, S. (2017), A brief account of our concert-that-never happened in the Dragon Palace, Momiji Publications Ltd.

Scot-Giles, C. W. (1953), Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, London.

Walter, C. (2003), The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition, Ashgate Publishing.

Yakumo, Y. (1337), The curious tendency for youkai to gather in mountain ranges and how it may affect future plans, hand-written.

Yakumo, Y. (1884), The Gensokyan Charter, Yakumo Publications.