True Dragon

The Kings of Fire

"You want my opinion on how to slay a fully grown dragon? Ah... Well, your Majesty you'll need a lot of balistas or mages and then lure the flying son-of-a-she-wolf to a open area near a place you can hide said balistas or mages. Then you shot that big lizard down to the ground. Once down you throw spear at it till it stops moving!"
"Any other suggestion?"
"He he... Well you could take some of your most heroic fools, whit a few mages for good measure, and sneak in to its cavern when it sleeps. Then trap in its own cavern and throw spears at it till it stops moving! You would want to aim for the eyes and mouth. And missing that the wings and head are also good. I mean hitting the wings wont kill the son-of-a-she-wolf but it will keep it on the ground!"
"I see... Would you be willing to lead my finest men in to said cave?"
"Whit all do respect your Highness, but no! Never in my life! But I could show your finest fools which cave to enter. But me... I like living!"
/Conversation between the King of Aldian and a Professional bestianader about dragon slaying

No being is as majestic, deadly or cunning as a dragon at the height of its power.
So we are indeed lucky that very few dragons reaches full maturity. As most die as basilisk, eaten by either their own mothers, other basilisks or wyrms or even mortals who hunt them for their magical blood and delicious meat. But perhaps the greatest reason there are so few dragons is the fact that they are a threat to modern civilization.
Wherever a dragon appear one of three things happens.

• 1) The closest major political sends someone to kill or at least drive the dragon of.

• 2) Said political power makes a deal whit the dragon, if it agrees enemy's of that political power thinks that the deal have something to do whit them. This then leads to war between mortals. If the dragon don't agree then number one happens.

• 3) The dragon takes over as ruler over the nearby region. Which leads to neighboring nations to close there borders to this region or go to war against this dragon ruled nation.

Regardless of which the end result is always death and destruction. And that is probably why most sovereign powers chose option one. But we most not forget that dragons also often kill one another. Often over treasure.

Behavior

Fully grown dragons see themselves are great lords of earth and sky. There for anything they take is theirs and woe on to the thief whom steals just the smallest piece of their treasure hoard. Some even go so far as to have a handful of wyrms pay tribute to them.
This is what is known as a dragon court. In such courts a dominant dragon* rules over three to six** wyrms. Said wyrms gives treasure and food to the dragon, in return the dragon swears to protect the wyrms and not eat any of them. In practice the dragon does very little in this arrangement. Only if the court is threatened is the dragon expected to do anything.
If the court is attacked the dragon will rise and defend it. But except for this the dominant dragon just lays on this hoard and watch it grow as the wyrms under his/her rule do all the hunting. The only other thing that will rouse this type of dragon is when a wyrm tries to break whit their court. Then there will be a fight, which most often end whit the deagon eating the wyrm.
But most dragons do not form dragon courts. Most dragons live alone and hunt for themselves, both meat and gold. And they jealously guard all that they see as theirs. Including territory. If another dragon, or wyrm, is found in their territory outside of mating season there will be a battle to the death.
If said dragon has a life-mate, it wont matter what season it is. Any member of their kind could be a threat to their love-live and most there for die!
Any other beings, be they animal or mortal, that lives whit in a dragons territory are as far as the dragons see it their property.
*There has been the extremely rare cases where a life-mate pair have founded a dragon court. But the three cases ever recorded all ended in death. The dragon mind can not handle the trust needed to run such a complex organisation.
**The record of most wyrms under her rule was a female called Kjulmarrhärn. She had ten wyrm males serve her. She did it by having sex whit each of them even out of season. However her wyrms found out, banded together and killed her.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dragon bodies still look somewhat like that of a snake. But a fully grown dragon have both wing/forelegs and hind legs. Their heads are triangular in shape and their fangs are the length of swords. The claws on the middle of there wing/forelegs and hind legs feet are sharp hooks whit which they can rip their pray apart.
And their scales are now tough enough to whit stand most arrows and blades. Only their eyes and mouth are weak points.

Biological Traits

Dragons can do all the things a master of the elements of fire, lightning and wind can do. Some even call them the archwizards of nature.
Dragons "Gold stomach" which does what it sound like. Have grown to be two times as big as when it first started to grow. Dragons will "eat" their treasures before moving to a new nest and carry a small part their hoard whit them. Dragons often have to make many flights back and forth to move their whole hoard.

Genetics and Reproduction

A female dragon goes in to heat once every 20 years. She will then seek out a number of mates* over the course of six mouths and two years later she will lay between 10 - 23 dragon eggs. Of this eggs only half will hatch, the rest will be eaten by the mother dragon.
*There are rare cases of so called life-mates. Dragons whom chose to live, hunt, eat, have sex and guard treasures together. This pairs are very dangerous to other dragons, as the inborn jealous nature of their kind makes them see all dragons of their own gender as a threat to their love life.

Growth Rate & Stages

Dragons grow for only seven more centuries but in truth once a dragon enters this phase it is more or less fully grown.

Ecology and Habitats

Dragons hunt seldom. Instead spending most of their time guarding their treasures hoard and sleeping. There have been documented causes of dragons sleeping for nearly a century only to wake up and then eat a whole nearby village.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Carnivores. All dragons, no matter the phase their in, eat only meat that has been burned. Those the power to breath fire is the first magic young dragons learn.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Like all dragons their blood can be used to create Dragon Blood Elixir.

Facial characteristics

Dragon eyes are in fact not much bigger then basilisk eyes. Which means that they are now are very small in proportion to the rest of their head. The horns are now fully grown. Their heads are full of sharp scales and their snout long enough to house over a hundred dragon fangs.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

In the mountain regions of the world.

Average Intelligence

High

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Dragons can see very well in the dark and just as good in the light of day. Their sense of smell is greater then most beasts in the world, it now smells whit both tongue and nose. And it hear as good, or perhaps better then, your averaged human.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Dragon kind name themselves after characteristics they see whit in themselves. Therefore many dragons have names that end in "inax" as that means "great" or "mighty" in draconic. There are no female or male specific naming traditions. Tho basilisks seldom have names as they are to busy staying a live to give themselves a powerful name. So most dragons have names like:
Harzunarinax, Dhrukmarrinax, Fhaargranuraxus, Raxusghounhärn, Unarfhaarinax, Marrdhurkinax, Nhärnharzinax and so on

Beauty Ideals

Long claws and horns are seen as signs of virility among dragons. Therefore some dragons whit shorter horns have trouble finding a willing mate.

Gender Ideals

Dragons care little about genders. They are even known to often have same sex intercourse during their mating season if no dragon of the other sex can be found.

Relationship Ideals

As far as dragons are concerned a life-mate, or lover, is just a different sort of treasure. One which they guard just as jealously as any other treasure they hoarded during their life. Those dragons ideal relationship is one where both dragons keep a constant eye on the one another and kill any whom dear to come between them.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Dragons are fast learners when it comes to the spoken word, as well as the written word, and more often then not speak the language of the land their in whit in a few months of hearing the people near by speaking. But they also have a language of their own, tho it is seldom used as dragons are solitary beings.
Draconic - The language of the dragons in all of their forms.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Other beings are only useful as slaves, food or makers of gold, silver or jewelry. They especially hate Nagas for some unknown reason.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Wyrm

Genetic Descendants

• Basilisk

Lifespan

Don't age or grow after the age of 2700

Conservation Status

Depends on whom you ask. Most states would send warriors and wizards to kill any dragon living to close to their territory. But there are those whom see dragons as holy beings*.

*Tho they are few and far in between.

Average Height

11 meters at the start of this phase and ends on around 18-20 meters

Average Weight

1 ton at the start of this phase and ends on around 4-7 tons.

Average Length

20 meters at the start of this phase and ends on around 26-30 meters. Measured from nose to tail end.
Average wing span
20 meters at the start of this phase and ends on around 30-36 maters.Measured from wingtip to wingtip

Average Physique

High

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Dragon scales come in a myriad of colors and shades. Everything from green, blue, purple to red, gold, orange, silver, white and black. All of them gleaming like polished metal.

Inborn Magic

High