Dragon
Dragons are scaled creatures of immense size and power. They have natural armor, as their scales are made out of the same substance as their teeth and claws. They also have magical abilities, which vary from dragon to dragon. Agyrrys is the most famous in Shotark and she has just hatched an egg. They are not so numerous as they once were but they are still just as powerful and cunning.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Dragons have heavy bodies, four strong limbs (the front ones are clever and useful), and a set of enormous wings that are similar to a bat's. They have scales, made of keratin and enamel, with an undercoat of wool, called floccus. The babies have a special kind of floccus that is especially soft and warm.
Biological Traits
The blues tend to live the longest. The reds are the biggest and fiercest. The golds have the most powerful magic. The whites are the smallest but can fly the farthest and fastest.
Genetics and Reproduction
Dragons breed about once every 10-20 years. They produce one egg, which incubates for a year. After hatching, a baby remains dependent on the mother for two years, relying on her to hunt for him and teach him how to hunt on his own. Babies can fly within two months of hatching.
Growth Rate & Stages
Hatches after a year. Remains an infant for two months until it can fly. Then it's a hatchling for another two years, until it can hunt on its own. It remains a juvenile until it's forty years old, when it begins to look for a mate.
Ecology and Habitats
Dragons enjoy warm, dark, dry places. Caves are ideal but rock outcroppings in the desert suffice as well. Dragons hunt and eat large prey but a kill can feed a dragon for several days. If food is scarce, a dragon will go into a type of hibernation that can last up to a year.
Dietary Needs and Habits
They eat meat, primarily the bison that live near the mountains where their caves are located. They will also eat mountain goats and have been known to snack on eagles they catch mid-flight.
Biological Cycle
Dragons can live for hundreds of years, outliving generations of humans. As time passes, they get weaker and their teeth dull. Eventually, it's theorized, they starve to death unless one of their children comes back to hunt for them. They are less active in winter but are hardy enough for the cold.
Behaviour
Dragon behavior and psychology is as widely varied as humans'. In general, they are proud and haughty, due to their slow aging and their superior strength. They don't intermingle with each other often, being a solitary species aside from child-rearing. Occasionally, there will be a world event that will cause dragons to gather and discuss the best course of action that keeps their collective best interests in mind.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Dragons are solitary animals, aside from raising their young. Their social structure when together for meetings is that the oldest dragons get the most respect.
Facial characteristics
Fangs, bony protrusions in various places depending on breed.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Dragons are located anywhere there is a natural rock formation, whether that be mountains or just a rocky hill. They are sparse and their territories are necessarily huge. They can be found on both continents of Ayora.
Average Intelligence
Highly intelligent creatures for the most part. Sometimes the white dragons are a little less intelligent.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Dragons have excellent hearing and distance vision. Their close-up vision is acute as well but not as good as their distance. They have magical powers, such as telekenesis or mind control. They all have some type of weapon breath, such as fire or acid.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
Dragons enjoy the company of cats, which keep the mice away from their precious books, which they hoard as much as treasure.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Dragons have rather long and complicated names that they call each other. For the humans' sake, they shorten them. Agyrrys is one example of a female first name. Dragons generally don't have last names.
Beauty Ideals
Beauty ideals vary between breeds. What a white might find attractive (thin with long wings for speed), a red would find weak and repulsive, leaning more towards strong with thick wings. Bright colors are favored in males but females have the better patterns.
Gender Ideals
Males are colorful and females have the best patterns.
Courtship Ideals
There are same-sex relationships between dragons, and in these there is generally the pursuer and the pursuee. In breeding relationships, the male dragon will bring the female food he has caught and allow her to kill and eat it. This proves that he will be able to take care of her while they're incubating the egg. She will do the same for him, proving herself to him. Dragons are highly intelligent, so they flirt, write poetry, and look for ways to touch each other.
Relationship Ideals
Because dragons are solitary, they don't mate for life. Instead, they usually find a new mate every time they want an egg. This isn't always the case; some dragons return to the same partner multiple times. After the hatchling is raised, the two part ways.
History
At one point in history, which the dragons remember and humans have chosen to forget, dragons and humans coexisted peacefully. Then some missionary of the Light got scared by a dragon and deemed them evil. He spread the word amongst his fellow missionaries, who spread it to others in their teachings. Eventually, dragons became man's worst enemy and he hunted them relentlessly. The dragons were in danger of dying out completely. Agyrrys the Bold approached the king of Shotark with the plight of the dragons and pointed out to him the times when dragons had helped humans. She was able to reason with him, despite his guards cowering in fear in the corners of the room. He was so moved by her that he wrote to other leaders, convincing them to outlaw dragon hunters.
Lifespan
375 years
Conservation Status
Dragon slayers have been outlawed, although one can get a special permit under the beast slayer license.
Average Height
6 feet at the shoulder to 20 feet at the shoulder, depending on breed
Average Length
30 feet to 65 feet
Average Physique
Thick and strong through the body, slender in the neck and tail.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Varies widely from dragon to dragon. There are distinct breeds but most people know them by their colors and don't distiguish between breeds. Dragons can camouflage themselves by making the pattern of their scales blend in with the surrounding landscape, though they can't change the color of their scales. So a white dragon on snowy rocks could blend in but a red dragon would stand out in the forest no matter what.
Related Myths
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