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Description
General Information:
Drak - Germanic beings related to the kobolds, sometimes referred to as fire kobolds. Like their relatives, they are old spirits from a time before the Migration Era and Christianity in Germany. Their domestic nature indicates they are related to kobolds, as does the confusion between the two types of beings. Draks live within a home like a house spirit, but do not aid the home-owner in an orthodox fashion, like the common kobold. Nor is it particularly bound to one area, being more like the independent hobgoblin. Rather than busying themselves with menial labor and chores, draks provide their masters with gold and corn, stolen from the neighbors at night, and an unerring sense of luck falls over their establishment. Instead of small treats and snacks, draks must be paid with far more binding ingredients, like a portion of the stolen goods, or a few drops of blood. The spirits procure their own food in the form of hen's eggs and pests. This way, the spirit serves a single family or master, and there's little chance of them leaving due to some other thing, like offence or being seen.
Most of the time they hide in the form of domestic animals, like cats or roosters, but at night they can be seen flying in the sky. People usually report seeing a long, thin fiery stripe flying through the air. Most find them to be rather mischievous when flying, trying to nip at people's hair like bats or burn them slightly. Their "true" form is that of a dragon, built along the lines of a wyvern but with no scaly hair or bird-like traits. Rather, they are more like a cat-sized beast with nimble wings which allow them to fly gracefully. Their tails are nearly two or three times the length of their body, and often look as if they are covered in flames, obscuring its true appearance as it flies around. They also have a broad, dark-colored head, which they can use to dive into people and animals alike with, knocking them over. These are often used during play, to rough around with siblings or other animals they find entertaining (like children). Some report having hit them with stones or steel knives, which startle the beast, and make them drop their stolen goods. Some question their intelligence, as despite being related to the shrewd kobolds, draks are more like bird-brained animals or simple tricksters than sentient forces. People can easily fool them into believing they are the spirit's master with simple commands.
The methods of acquiring draks are far and few between. They lay small clutches of eggs very rarely, and these are usually covered with glamour to prevent predators from eating them. Sorcerers in Northern Germany have been known to seek them out and use magical equipment to dispatch the glamour, to sell the eggs to luckless farmers. Raising them from the egg is quite difficult and usually not worth the trouble, as they prove to be unruly when young (and old, but far worse when younger). Beings such as fairies and devils also use them as bargaining chips when dealing with mortals easily swayed by greed. Owning them was deemed illegal in many parts of Northern Germany for centuries, and considered evidence of witchcraft and consulting with evil forces. Nowadays, people may keep them as pets, but their use as thieves in the night is still regulated and kept in check by the law.
Due to the lack of wyverns in Northern Europe, they've spread quite a distance, and variants exist in other German-speaking areas, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and even England. Along the Fens, people report seeing much larger Fire-Drakes, which fly about at night, giving away the presence of their nests below them. While a lot of clues hint to a relationship between them and the Scandinavian Drake, there so far has been no evidence to prove this aside from the obvious etymological connection.
-Gluhschwanz: An alternate name for them in German, literally meaning "Glow-Tail" for the fiery illusionary form they take in flight.
Sources:
-Wilibald von Schulenburg; "Wendisches Volksthum in Sage, Brauch und Sitte"
-Thorpe, Benjamin; "Northern Mythology Vol. 3"
Notes:
Earlier in the year I had done this, but only by the name of "Gluhschwanz", which can still be seen in my Scraps. Before doing a fair bit of research I hadn't even known about their connections to kobolds or the pukis and aitvaras. It seems they, along with a few others, form a little family of household spirits which only look dragon-like, but aren't anywhere near connected to them. At least in name. The other reason for this is some personal deliberation spurred on by a certain Disgustedorite, who commented on the (old) Minoan Gryphon entry. It made me think about how I was writing and depicting a lot of these creatures; prioritizing the biology aspect over the mythology. Which is a direct contradiction of the whole reason I started the Myth Stuff thing in the first place! From henceforth I will try to not lose the distinct and unreal aspects in favor of making them more plausible. After all, these are monsters and spirits, not flesh and blood beasts. Also during the summer I joined a folklore Discord group, left after a week of listening to what I can only assume to be High-Schoolers and Post-Graduates with too much time on their hands and will include sources in every entry because that was the most excruciating experience of my life. I cannot say that this is an indicator of productivity to come though, reading through things and personal stuff has been taking a lot of my time. But hopefully it all means the end product is in tip-top condition!

Description
General Information:
Drak - Germanic beings related to the kobolds, sometimes referred to as fire kobolds. Like their relatives, they are old spirits from a time before the Migration Era and Christianity in Germany. Their domestic nature indicates they are related to kobolds, as does the confusion between the two types of beings. Draks live within a home like a house spirit, but do not aid the home-owner in an orthodox fashion, like the common kobold. Nor is it particularly bound to one area, being more like the independent hobgoblin. Rather than busying themselves with menial labor and chores, draks provide their masters with gold and corn, stolen from the neighbors at night, and an unerring sense of luck falls over their establishment. Instead of small treats and snacks, draks must be paid with far more binding ingredients, like a portion of the stolen goods, or a few drops of blood. The spirits procure their own food in the form of hen's eggs and pests. This way, the spirit serves a single family or master, and there's little chance of them leaving due to some other thing, like offence or being seen.
Most of the time they hide in the form of domestic animals, like cats or roosters, but at night they can be seen flying in the sky. People usually report seeing a long, thin fiery stripe flying through the air. Most find them to be rather mischievous when flying, trying to nip at people's hair like bats or burn them slightly. Their "true" form is that of a dragon, built along the lines of a wyvern but with no scaly hair or bird-like traits. Rather, they are more like a cat-sized beast with nimble wings which allow them to fly gracefully. Their tails are nearly two or three times the length of their body, and often look as if they are covered in flames, obscuring its true appearance as it flies around. They also have a broad, dark-colored head, which they can use to dive into people and animals alike with, knocking them over. These are often used during play, to rough around with siblings or other animals they find entertaining (like children). Some report having hit them with stones or steel knives, which startle the beast, and make them drop their stolen goods. Some question their intelligence, as despite being related to the shrewd kobolds, draks are more like bird-brained animals or simple tricksters than sentient forces. People can easily fool them into believing they are the spirit's master with simple commands.
The methods of acquiring draks are far and few between. They lay small clutches of eggs very rarely, and these are usually covered with glamour to prevent predators from eating them. Sorcerers in Northern Germany have been known to seek them out and use magical equipment to dispatch the glamour, to sell the eggs to luckless farmers. Raising them from the egg is quite difficult and usually not worth the trouble, as they prove to be unruly when young (and old, but far worse when younger). Beings such as fairies and devils also use them as bargaining chips when dealing with mortals easily swayed by greed. Owning them was deemed illegal in many parts of Northern Germany for centuries, and considered evidence of witchcraft and consulting with evil forces. Nowadays, people may keep them as pets, but their use as thieves in the night is still regulated and kept in check by the law.
Due to the lack of wyverns in Northern Europe, they've spread quite a distance, and variants exist in other German-speaking areas, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and even England. Along the Fens, people report seeing much larger Fire-Drakes, which fly about at night, giving away the presence of their nests below them. While a lot of clues hint to a relationship between them and the Scandinavian Drake, there so far has been no evidence to prove this aside from the obvious etymological connection.
-Gluhschwanz: An alternate name for them in German, literally meaning "Glow-Tail" for the fiery illusionary form they take in flight.
Sources:
-Wilibald von Schulenburg; "Wendisches Volksthum in Sage, Brauch und Sitte"
-Thorpe, Benjamin; "Northern Mythology Vol. 3"
Notes:
Earlier in the year I had done this, but only by the name of "Gluhschwanz", which can still be seen in my Scraps. Before doing a fair bit of research I hadn't even known about their connections to kobolds or the pukis and aitvaras. It seems they, along with a few others, form a little family of household spirits which only look dragon-like, but aren't anywhere near connected to them. At least in name. The other reason for this is some personal deliberation spurred on by a certain Disgustedorite, who commented on the (old) Minoan Gryphon entry. It made me think about how I was writing and depicting a lot of these creatures; prioritizing the biology aspect over the mythology. Which is a direct contradiction of the whole reason I started the Myth Stuff thing in the first place! From henceforth I will try to not lose the distinct and unreal aspects in favor of making them more plausible. After all, these are monsters and spirits, not flesh and blood beasts. Also during the summer I joined a folklore Discord group, left after a week of listening to what I can only assume to be High-Schoolers and Post-Graduates with too much time on their hands and will include sources in every entry because that was the most excruciating experience of my life. I cannot say that this is an indicator of productivity to come though, reading through things and personal stuff has been taking a lot of my time. But hopefully it all means the end product is in tip-top condition!