If scale is cracked, if wing is torn,
when claws and fangs are dull and worn,
The Scale Doctor will make it right,
Or else he will be dead tonight.
Splinter - Draykh-Nahka
Set - Untamed
Class - Healer
Size - The smallest Dragon Human hybrids are chosen to be Scale Doctors, so that they can easily climb about a Dragon of any size to examine it. There are currently only ten different Scale Doctors working against the Burn and the madness of the Untamed, and none of them are more than half the height of a man.
Lifespan - Like that of many official positions for the Gloridax, the life of a Scale Doctor is often shorter than initially expected. Scale doctoring is an incredibly dangerous job, and the Doctors are often blamed for worsening conditions, even when there was honestly nothing they could do. The small eggborn hybrid people from which Scale Doctors are chosen live naturally for 50-60 years. The average Scale Doctor, once certified, has four years to live.
Habitat - Scale Doctors are kept under cloister at a place called the doctor house. It has an extra large examination room and a vast open lawn where the largest Dragons can be attended to. Scale Doctors are never taken from their house, except for Rufus, the single Scale Doctor who lives at Mount Mox on the tournament grounds. Although many of their sciences are extremely advanced, Gloridax medicine is rather outdated and ruled by superstitions. Like much of their culture, the medicine is centered around blood. Transfusions, bleedings, leeches and blood-cleanings are some of their methods.
Weapon - Unless they have learned them in their previous lives, Scale Doctors have no special powers of combat or defense. Their magic and skill comes from their abilities to heal, support and strengthen their team in battle. They do not bother carrying weapons, but they come into battle with many pockets and pouches full of potions, some destructive and some beneficial.
Diet - Scale Doctors are selected from one of the lower classes of Draykh-Nahka, the eggborn small. There are several hundred of this variety living in Centrum, and they all have the same peculiar eating habits: They eat their meat 100% raw. Even though some Dragons prefer cooked meat for its flavor, the eggborn small never touch anything that has been cooked. This is why the Scale Doctors always have red-stained teeth.
Allies - The Scale Doctors of Draykh-Nahka are completely owned by the Gloridax masters, led by the Empress of the United Gloridax, Suam Khepri. They work tirelessly for the Dragons, doing everything they can to slow the progression of the Burn, and to curb the onset of whatever new horrors the Untamed might bring against the Fire Blood.
Enemies - The Naga of the Dragon Splinter despise the Scale Doctors, because although they have scales, they are barred from using their services. Scale Doctors must heal only the Fire Blood, and Naga are still considered outsiders, even though the ruler of the United Gloridax is a Naga herself. It makes the Scale Doctors wonder if the Suam truly has the best interests of the Dragons at heart (provided that she has one), but it is not their place to question authority.
Pastimes - Dragons are generally fussy, and they always have a multitude of health problems, so the Scale Doctors are usually busy all day seeing their patients. Even the non-scaled Dragons that have completely Human appearances are able to see the Scale Doctors, as long as it is proven with appropriate paperwork that they carry the Fire Blood. On the rare day that the Scale Doctors have a free day, they enjoy playing a game in the yard of their own invention. The game is called hurtleball; it involves a lot of jumping and throwing, and the Scale Doctors don’t get to play it as often as they’d like to.
