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Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.

General Lokan understanding, both in the educated urban population, and to varying degrees among the tribes, is that pasu have some relatively recent creation, deriving in some way from their non-sapient bestial counterparts. (The role of humans in this is highly uncertain and controversial.)

The Path of Draconic Mastery, however, understand this to be a profound misunderstanding — or more like, a malicious lie to hide the truth — and profess a very different belief. They believe that Pasu, and indeed, all living things, derive from the dracons of mythology. In this cosmology, the reptilian tribesfolk with fire-breathing and winged-flight magics are those that most closely resemble these mighty ancestral beings. They are, in effect, the least devolved, though regretably distinct from their idealized forebears. Those that follow the Path desire to recify this in their own person — or failing which, at some point in the future. Non-magical beings, and even moreso, non-reptilian species, are seen as still-further removed from these true ancestors, but their descendents nonetheless.

Many PoDM recruits are from the Azi Dahaka and Ao Qin tribes, and seek to combine their magics to regain the lost whole. There is also some sketchy talk of a “back-breeding program”, though little or no evidence of any results from such a thing. Beyond these, and some reptilians from other, minor clans, a few non-reptiles have also joined. Some of these are content to serve in menial roles; others seek occult magical knowledge, perhaps sufficient to work some grand self-transformation.

Path cultists have highly individualistic takes on magic. Some have magic from tribal traditions, but care little for the corresponding cultural customs. A few have formal training from the Cela or other magical organizations, but show similar disdain for their disciplines and theories. Instead, they’re loosely divided, even given their small numbers, into several mutually distrustful and secretive clusters, led by the most powerful individuals, and guarding their secrets with complex tests, initiatory rites and oaths of loyalty.