Harvest

The Harvest is a natural predatory ability of Dragons and Therians. Dragonborn have it, and it can also be learned by highly talented mages of other species. It is a form of liminal magic: the manipulation of lifeforce.

Purpose
The Harvest extends the harvester's lifespan by a period of one year, and lowers the physical age of the harvester, giving them the body and appearance of a young adult. It also cures all diseases, ailments, and disorders, and fully refills health and mana. It also has a highly pleasurable and addictive quality, and is sometimes done simply for fun.

Process
The Harvest is a form of vampirism: the drinking of blood directly from (anthro) animals. Although Dragons and Therians are technically vampires, the term "vampire" is typically only applied to other species.

Lifeforce runs through the blood, and is interconnected. Blood that leaks outside of the body no longer has lifeforce. In order to absorb lifeforce properly, all the blood must be drunk from the animal, usually from the neck, killing it.

To experience the effects, the harvester must drink all of the victim's blood.

Half Vampires
If a full vampire (dragon or therian) stops halfway while harvesting an animal, this will result in no benefits, and they will still feel hungry. The victim will survive, and become a half-blooded vampire, commonly referred to simply as a vampire. A vampire must harvest every month, and gets no benefit other than conditional immortality and the fufillment of bloodlust.

Vampires can only be created through the harvest. They cannot create other vampires (such as by biting the necks of normal animals).

Victims
Based on lifeforce concentration, the most beneficial victim to harvest is an animal of the age range 16-32. Animals younger or older than this range will give progressively less lifeforce and less benefits.

Different species have different types of lifeforce. For example, if a dragon wants to regenerate their antlers, they must harvest a deer, or if they want wings, they must harvest a bird.

Society
The Harvest is the best-kept secret of the Dragons, and throughout the years, as dragons fought the most unrelenting wars against each other, they still all agreed to keep their ability of the Harvest secret, for fear that all the animals would turn against them.

It is considered highly taboo, both among Dragons and Therians, and is very seldom talked about. However, it is also considered a matter of survival, and a dragon may harvest (or help another dragon to harvest) regardless if they feel pride or guilt about it.

Many dragons and therians have different opinions about harvesting. Some do it for fun, some only do it to stay immortal, some only do it for healing. Some do it monthly, others do it yearly, and some will not do it at all. Though all adult dragons know about harvesting, some decide not to do it, they are referred to as softclaws.

By most animals, the Harvest is usually seen as an urban legend, or an old wives tale. In most magical institutions, even those who are enemies with the Dragons, it is seen as pseudomagic, or something that is impossible, with no evidence to support its existence.

Misconceptions
It was previously widely believed (correctly) that the harvest existed, but the details were often incorrect. For example, they believed that babies and children were harvested, when they would actually give very little lifeforce, just like the elderly. Furthermore, they believed that the harvest was a gift that comes from worshiping the Breaker, which they thought many carnivores did.

Liminal magic is extremely difficult to research without the assistance of someone who can practice it. For this reason, the magical community has declared the Harvest as impossible, and just a rumor. This belief has spread among intellectuals and upper class, while it is viewed as lower class to believe in the harvest.

The Forbidden Experiment
This experiment was only preformed once or twice, and modern "magical ethics" forbids it from being practiced again. It is considered to be a definitive disproof of the harvest, and all other manners of lifeforce transfer and life extension.

The basic "proof" that the harvest is impossible involves lifeforce frequency. Everyone's lifeforce has a unique frequency, which is the exact same frequency as their inner aura.

When lifeforce is siphoned out of the inner aura, the victim dies due to their inner aura breaking.

And when the lifeforce is put inside another animal's aura, because the lifeforce is the wrong frequency, the inner aura also breaks. Just as a high-pitched whistle can cause glass to break, the "recipient" or "harvester" animal also dies.

The reason this is not a proof, is because the inner aura of a dragon or therian has never been monitored. If a dragon allowed an animal to monitor their inner aura, the animal would be able to instantly kill the dragon with little effort, and dragons do not trust animals that much. However, one would observe that the inner aura is "thick", and it does not shatter when lifeforce of a different frequency is transferred into it.