The davinans resemble reptilian humans, with dark-patterned scales over their bodies and the hairless head of a lizard. Like the dragons, davinans are warm-blooded: however, their scales and patterning resemble snakes far more than the dragons. They dominate the equatorial jungles of tropical Mungoda and Iloilo at the base of the peninsula of Minj, and are rarely found elsewhere: their reputation for treachery wins them few friends. Like humans, davinans rarely live for more than a century.
There are persistent rumours of davinans living in Upper and Lower Malatra, but there is little firm evidence to justify the wild claims of great davinan kingdoms in the interior of Malatra.
Little is known of davinan religion, which is certainly pagan. Davinans can interbreed with elves, and the offspring of such unions are fertile. If the fanciful claims of towering four-armed davinans in the mountains of Upper Malatra are true, they can also interbreed with the taboti, and the offspring of such unions would presumably be fertile also.