Dragons

Incomprehensibly large and keenly intelligent, the dragons of Aotra once held their own as true apex predators. But over the last several centuries, the population of dragons has fallen steeply for reasons entirely unknown. Now, dragons are exceedingly rare, and greater dragons rarest of all. Dragon scholars estimate that less than a hundred dragons remain across all of Aotra, and that ten or fewer of those are greater dragons.

Greater and Lesser Dragons

There are ten subspecies of dragons, each identified by the primary color of their scales: black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, gold, green, red, silver, and white. Only two of those subspecies, blue and red dragons, are greater dragons; the rest are lesser. Greater dragons are distinguished from lesser dragons by their physical might and lifespan, and by the fact that only greater dragons can use magic. While lesser dragons typically live some thousand years, a greater dragon may live two and a half millennia or more. Old folktales claim that the reason blue and red dragons surpass all the others is because blue and red dragons came directly from Aotra's blue and red suns.

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

More and more obvious as the population of dragons has dwindled is the fact that they seem to thrive in Aotra's deserts: those most inhospitable to humankind have proven to be some of the last bastions of dragonkind. Not all types of dragons prefer the same habitat, and many prefer rainforest, grassland, or the mountains to the desert. Nevertheless, more types of dragons prefer deserts than any other environment: blue, brass, copper, and red dragons are all partial towards desert lairs. Desert-dwelling dragons seem so far to be resistant to whatever has been causing the population of their species to decline so dramatically in recent centuries. Aotra's biggest deserts have become relative dragon hotspots, for though their dragon populations are much lower than they have been previously, their populations are still quite large compared to those of non-desert regions. One notable example is the Ulisian Desert, the blistering equatorial terrain of which is believed to be the habitat for no less than nine dragons, two of which are greater dragons: one red and one blue.
The reason why the dragons of the desert have proven resilient against the general decline of the dragon population is entirely unknown. One common theory is that the answer lies in the fact of how utterly inhospitable most of Aotra's deserts are; the low density of humanoid settlements in those areas may be relevant.

Related Myths

• The Dragon of Redfire Mountain