Moonies, also commonly known as Dragoni, are a race of small to medium sized sentient lizard people. Nobody is entirely sure where they come from, but they occasionally pop up on independent starships and backwater worlds.

Dragonius Lupus, or the Dragoni, more commonly known as Moonies, are a largish lizard-like species that were found native to a habitable moon on a Jovian planet. Actually a fluke of Genetics, Moonies are the sentient bastard offspring of two other species on the planet, but are also their own separate species, capable of reproducing successfully. Possessing a level of civilization fairly early into the space age, they are somewhat technologically backwards, until you discover just how short their history is and how far they've come for living in such an isolated region of space, far from contact with any other species.

Dragoni, or Moonies originated from the offspring of two other, Non-sentient species, known as the Drathoni and Drakoni. The Drathoni are a large, brutish species of middling intelligence, around that of a horse or very smart dog. The Drakoni are a small, sly species with intelligence somewhere closer to that of an Ape. Through some horrendous accident of similar pheromones and mating seasons, the two species somehow began to cross-breed. Interestingly enough, the resulting offspring were sentient, and even more interestingly, viable. After spending centuries as nothing more than an occasional fluke of the mating season, the Moonies began to find each other, congregate, and eventually develop their own societies.

Remembering how their species was made, one of the first things the Moonies did as a whole was separate the Drathoni and Drakoni, to prevent more of the wild flukes that had bore their race in the first place, but also to make it easier for them to establish their societies without the Drathoni killing their members and the Drakoni stealing things and causing annoyance to the General populace. The two ancestor species became protected, and now live separated from one another and the Dragoni, though occasionally individuals will wander into one another's territories and the odd 'wild Dragoni' is born.

As the Moonie species grew in society, they also grew in technology, quickly going from crude tools to more standardized ones, industrializing, and eventually reaching the space age. However, in between these eras were several eras of warfare. From the early tribal warfare to the first industrialized wars and all the way to the modern warfare that causes massive loss of Dragoni life. Luckily for the Moonies, warfare has yet to reach space, at least in an overt sense, but some Dragoni ships still carry weaponry.

The Dragoni are a lizard-like race, whom stand on two legs, and have two arms. Their arms are adequately proportioned to their bodies, although a little on the thin side, and end in clawed hands with opposable thumbs, but only three fingers, making a total of four digits per hand. The Dragoni's head is somewhat long and pointed, with eyes near the rear of the middle section of the head, and a fused upper jaw. The lower jaw is movable, and both jaws are lined with razor-sharp interlocking teeth, with fairly large Canines and incisors, as well as molars near the very rear that are multi-purpose for crushing bone or chewing fibrous plants. The head has some small spikes and a barely notable spiked crest at the rear. at the base of the skull begins the neck, which connects to the main body, that is fairly small, and smooth and rounded, the spinal plates lacking anything resembling spikes. This line of spinal plates follows down the back to a fairly long, whip-like prehensile tail that is used as both a means of balancing the body but also as a weapon or a fifth limb at times. The Dragoni's feet are oddly human-like, but end in claws regardless, and are much longer and thinner than any humanoid foot.

There is almost no sexual dimorphism between Male and Female Dragoni, the only real difference being a Female Dragoni's crest is even smaller than the Male's.

Dragonis come in all sorts of colors, but only two scale patterns, those being Solid, and two tone (top and belly). The most common color scheme is solid red, followed by black, then brown, then green. Blues and yellows are rare. In two-tone, the most common belly color is tan, but it can be nearly any color.

Average Height:

• Erect: 5' 5“
• Normal: 2' 8”

Average Length:

• Nose to tail: 7 feet
• Tail curled: 4.5 feet

Average weight:

• 100 lbs

Moonies are often skittish, and paranoid. They are not trusting of anyone except other Moonies, and have a great disdain for the Drathoni in general, finding them brutish and uncivilized. They are oftentimes prone to doing things with little to no provocation, but they aren't naturally violent in these actions. When something threatens a Moonie, they may do one of two things; run and try to find some small space to hide and curl up in, or; make a stand and try to find a way of overcoming the threat. The second option is usually only chosen if the Moonies are in a group, however.

Moonies dislike large, open spaces, and prefer to live in cramped areas where they are never far from the things that they need, or from a place to hide. When in a large area, Moonies will attempt to keep to the edges, for find anything resembling cover to stick around. They are oddly enough, very suited to living in the confines of spacecraft, and generally enjoy being cramped into a small starship.

While rarely met in large groups, Moonies tend to congregate around their own kind, and form loosely related family groups which work together to find resources and shelter, while also being individually rather independent. Dragoni tend to mate for several seasons, though the range varies wildly, as their skittish and neurotic demeanor means that they will likely eventually separate from mutual distrust. It is rather common for Moonies to leave one group and join another.

In the instances which they are typically encountered by more civilized groups, Dragoni are likely to be in groups of three or less, and are known to sign on to starship crews simply to travel, and then leave their ships once they've reached their destination. The average Moonie is rather anti-social and prefers to simply work at making repairs inside a starship's access tunnels, only venturing out if they need something, though they may attempt to form bonds with individuals if lonely.

Most Moonie technology is fairly unsophisticated, being made in simple ways and designed for multiple uses. They aren't especially adept at technology, but aren't really slouches at it, either, and can learn how to use just about anything at a faster rate than one would expect from a big lizard.

This page was created by Kai. It was approved on 27 June 2011: https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/npc-race-moonies.6482/