Valid points abound. Thanks for helping me patch the holes in this.
Let's start with the dragons themselves.
As I mentioned before, they're able to assume human form... but, conversely, this also means that they are able to assume a full-on draconic form. However, the ones that do this the most are, surprisingly, the Warrior caste. The thing is that even just assuming the much larger form means that said dragon is going to be ravenously hungry. Like, a couple of teams of oxen hungry. Being full-sized (I'm thinking like about the same size as Draco from the film, Dragonheart) means you have a lot to maintain, so it's restricted only for combat purposes.
A Dragon is easy to spot in their human form. They will have a tail, wings, head crest (horns), and scales on their back, tail, neck, and outer sides of their arms and legs. They'll also come in a small variety of colors, which will indicate what caste they belong to.
Here's a couple of images, spoilers because one is mildly NSFW.
Only difference is the girl in the upper image would have wings like the one in the lower image.
Now, I know that I've painted a picture of a very daunting enemy to face. They have natural armor, can breathe fire, and attack from the air, but I'm gonna borrow a simple whammy from Amy Novak's Temeraire series: finely ground black pepper.
By casting clouds of black pepper into the sky, defending armies can render a dragon's breath a moot point as they'll be unable to use it without inhaling the pepper. And from that point forward, it's merely a matter of knowing how to fight them.
With this, the neighboring nations are able to fight the Dragon Empire on more or less even terms, and mutual defense pacts abound. The borders do have a tendency to shift, though, so there aren't very many actual towns or farms in the vicinity of said borders.
For their Warriors written language, it will be able to convey just enough details to get the job done. If there's any official reports needed, those are to be made by the lower-ranking Noble caste - in the even that for some reason all in a command were killed, their replacements will simply question the surviving Warriors, and then make the formal report.
In regards to the Working caste and illiteracy... This was a thing in China as well, and they got around it by having an extensive system of scribes and accountants working under magistrates in each town and settlement. In our setting, these will technically be Noble class, but they will be of such low-ranking birth that this will be their demesne.
That said, Working caste can be elevated to being in direct employ of magistrates by working as messengers and other menial tasks in the government that do not require a particular level of literacy - only the ability to read a map and orient themselves.
By and large, the Working caste will use the Warrior's written language, though it will have been added upon.
Lineage purity is not so much a big deal as keeping the castes pure because the Empire will select breeding partners in order to establish favorable traits. While the males may be slaves, they are held to the same color-to-caste restrictions the females are. Breeding outside a the colors of a designated cast is a huge no-no. (Note that this also means that the Working caste is not permitted to breed with -any- dragons at all. Any other species, though, is permissible.)
In regards to Dragons as a species...
...They exist elsewhere in the world, for certain. Though they tend to be a minority and prideful beings, they by and large think the people running the Dragon Empire are a bunch of inbred ass-holes.
Dragon-Halves will be a thing. They can look as much like any other dragon while in their human form, or they could look just like a human, with the only give away being a single draconic trait, such as some scales, crest, a tail, wings, etc. And of course, depending on how many generations they are down the line, there will be varying degrees between the two extremes.
However, the one clearly defining trait of a Dragon-Half will the complete inability to assume a full-dragon form.
Dragon-kind in general will regard Dragon-Halves as inferior beings, but are otherwise.... tolerated. Among the rest of more free-thinking societies, Dragon-Halves are generally accepted as any other Beast-Kin is.
Thoughts?
Let's start with the dragons themselves.
As I mentioned before, they're able to assume human form... but, conversely, this also means that they are able to assume a full-on draconic form. However, the ones that do this the most are, surprisingly, the Warrior caste. The thing is that even just assuming the much larger form means that said dragon is going to be ravenously hungry. Like, a couple of teams of oxen hungry. Being full-sized (I'm thinking like about the same size as Draco from the film, Dragonheart) means you have a lot to maintain, so it's restricted only for combat purposes.
A Dragon is easy to spot in their human form. They will have a tail, wings, head crest (horns), and scales on their back, tail, neck, and outer sides of their arms and legs. They'll also come in a small variety of colors, which will indicate what caste they belong to.
Here's a couple of images, spoilers because one is mildly NSFW.
Only difference is the girl in the upper image would have wings like the one in the lower image.
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Spoiler![[Image: sophie-story-dragg.jpg?1530386746]](https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/011/596/292/large/sophie-story-dragg.jpg?1530386746)
Now, I know that I've painted a picture of a very daunting enemy to face. They have natural armor, can breathe fire, and attack from the air, but I'm gonna borrow a simple whammy from Amy Novak's Temeraire series: finely ground black pepper.
By casting clouds of black pepper into the sky, defending armies can render a dragon's breath a moot point as they'll be unable to use it without inhaling the pepper. And from that point forward, it's merely a matter of knowing how to fight them.
With this, the neighboring nations are able to fight the Dragon Empire on more or less even terms, and mutual defense pacts abound. The borders do have a tendency to shift, though, so there aren't very many actual towns or farms in the vicinity of said borders.
For their Warriors written language, it will be able to convey just enough details to get the job done. If there's any official reports needed, those are to be made by the lower-ranking Noble caste - in the even that for some reason all in a command were killed, their replacements will simply question the surviving Warriors, and then make the formal report.
In regards to the Working caste and illiteracy... This was a thing in China as well, and they got around it by having an extensive system of scribes and accountants working under magistrates in each town and settlement. In our setting, these will technically be Noble class, but they will be of such low-ranking birth that this will be their demesne.
That said, Working caste can be elevated to being in direct employ of magistrates by working as messengers and other menial tasks in the government that do not require a particular level of literacy - only the ability to read a map and orient themselves.
By and large, the Working caste will use the Warrior's written language, though it will have been added upon.
Lineage purity is not so much a big deal as keeping the castes pure because the Empire will select breeding partners in order to establish favorable traits. While the males may be slaves, they are held to the same color-to-caste restrictions the females are. Breeding outside a the colors of a designated cast is a huge no-no. (Note that this also means that the Working caste is not permitted to breed with -any- dragons at all. Any other species, though, is permissible.)
In regards to Dragons as a species...
...They exist elsewhere in the world, for certain. Though they tend to be a minority and prideful beings, they by and large think the people running the Dragon Empire are a bunch of inbred ass-holes.
Dragon-Halves will be a thing. They can look as much like any other dragon while in their human form, or they could look just like a human, with the only give away being a single draconic trait, such as some scales, crest, a tail, wings, etc. And of course, depending on how many generations they are down the line, there will be varying degrees between the two extremes.
However, the one clearly defining trait of a Dragon-Half will the complete inability to assume a full-dragon form.
Dragon-kind in general will regard Dragon-Halves as inferior beings, but are otherwise.... tolerated. Among the rest of more free-thinking societies, Dragon-Halves are generally accepted as any other Beast-Kin is.
Thoughts?