Manakete

The Manakete (マムクート Mamukūto) is a race that recurring appears throughout the series. Manaketes are essentially Dragons that have stored the bulk of their draconic power within Dragonstones and thereafter assumed a human form.

Both Manaketes and Dragons who haven't become Manaketes are known as Dragon Brethren (竜族, Ryūzoku, lit Dragon Tribe in the Japanese version) or simply Brethren. In Japan, Manaketes may also be referred to as the Dragon Man Tribe (竜人族, Ryūjinzoku).

History
Manaketes are members of the Dragon Tribe who had sealed their true dragon forms into their Dragonstones, and then live the rest of their long-lives in a human form, only temporarily reassuming their true forms for fighting. In humanoid form, Manaketes are even weaker than humans, making them very vulnerable when they are not transformed. However, some Manaketes can learn to use weapons, magic, or other kinds of power. Additionally, some Manaketes are capable of using their great powers outside their dragon forms.

While there many reasons why a Dragon would become a Manakete, the most common reason is to prevent degeneration. As many Dragons are very proud, they dislike the weaknesses of a Manakete and refuse to become one unless there is no other option.

As a race, Manaketes are often depicted to be in conflict with humans during the course of the series' plot or in their backstories.

Characteristics
Manaketes have extraordinary lifespans, lasting over several millennia. Complementing their longevity is the fact that they tend to age slowly.

The longevity of Manaketes comes at a price: Shula succinctly explains that due to the long lives that they lead, human loving Manaketes will lose many of their human companions due to the latter's shorter lifespans. Manaketes also mature the same pace as they age, meaning that Manaketes that would look like children would have the mental capacity as a a child.

Additionally, Manaketes face an infertility problem, a fact that greatly dampens their rate of reproduction. However, Shula is a dragon that was born 1000 years prior to the story line, indicating that it is still possible for Manaketes to mate.

According to Shula, pure-blooded Manaketes have larger jaws than half-Manakete hybrids in their dragon state, and as they age, his or her dragon form's claws and fangs sharpen, with their dragon hides toughened the more they are struck in battle. In contrast to that, the human body of a Manakete is much more fragile than that of natural humans, and this severely exploitable weakness heavily contributed to the human race prevailing over them during events.

By far, the most severe problem that Manaketes face is the threat of degradation. The longer they remain in their dragon forms, the more likely they will go insane, and this has thus led to some Archanean dragons resorting to assuming human forms in order to avoid this.

While Manaketes will eventually experience the effects of aging, it is unclear if they ever outright die from old age.

Manaketes presumably possess the ability to put either themselves or others into suspended animation. Manaketes can dream in this "sleeping" state, as revealed by the constant nightmares that haunt Shula in her dreams. Shula says that a Manakete will age even slower than normal while in this state, which explains her youthful appearance throughout the series.

When mortally wounded, extremely powerful Manaketes will often go into a deep slumber until they recover their strength.

Hybrids
Manaketes are also able to reproduce with humans, resulting in half-breed children who seem to experience no loss of their own fertility. These hybrid children inherit the Manakete race's long lifespan, although not to the same extent as their full-blooded parents.

Appearance
Most male Manaketes appear as hooded, hunched-over humanoids with small wings extending from their backs, although the more notable ones may appear younger and assume an upright stance. Often depicted donning robes, many Manaketes also display draconic features like fangs, claws and unnatural skin tones. Manaketes of the Divine Dragon tribe are known to deviate from this rule, appearing more human-like in appearance and demeanor. Several Manaketes are depicted as capable of manifesting parts of their dragon form at will. While many Manaketes generally have long or pointed ears in human form, hybrids may or may not bear such a feature.

Branding
Another aspect of dragon-kind is the ability to form a blood covenant with humans in order for them to harness some of their power, with said pact passing down through the generations. Each dragon leaves a symbol of this pact in the form of a Brand on those who inherited enough of the dragon's Holy Blood. This is a double-edged sword, as the dragon may sometimes possess those who hold the full brand.

This Brand may not appear at birth even for those with enough blood, but eventually the Brand will surface somewhere on their body. On those with insufficient holy blood, no Brand may surface at all. However, the child of an un-branded individual may inherit a Brand of their own depending on their other parent or other undisclosed factors.

Trivia

 * Not all Dragon brethren who take human form are manaketes, only Dragon brethern who take a human form most of the time and seal their true form in a dragonstone are classified as true manaketes.