Dragon Hoards
A dragon's hoard is one of the most valuable things in their posession. While most humans think of the traditional plie of gold and jewels, each type of dragon has very different items in their hoard.
Starting a Hoard
When a dragon is only a few months old, a trusted mentor or clan member will give them the first piece of their hoard to keep it safe and learn to value it. The next piece is expected to be attained by the young dragon and it is part of being considered a full-fledged adult.
Types of Hoards
Air Dragons
An air dragon's hoard isn't visible to anyone and there are many dragons that are jealous of its portability as well, although it is in some ways much harder to accumulate. They collect spoken knowledge. In years past, this knowledge consisted of stories from other dragons that were not worthy of being made into True Memories, but were still bits of knowledge worth preserving. This has now expanded into spoken knowledge from other races as well.
Earth Dragons
Earth dragons are the only ones with a "traditional" hoard of jewels. The value of this hoard doesn't come at all from the value of the items within, but from the fact that they were mined by the dragon and collected. Dragon riders bonded to earth dragons often comment on the fact that a piece of clay carefully shaped can have as much value to their dragon as the biggest crystal bright with magical power.
Water Dragons
Water dragons prize anything they find in the lakes, rivers, and even the ocean. They will dive deep to find something to add to their hoards and will come up with anything from a lost shoe to a precious pearl or beautifully colored seashell.
Fire Dragons
Before encountering humans and their ability to forge weapons, fire dragons primarily collected lava rocks and anything that could be heated up so much that it became malleable and could be shaped. Following the discovery of armor and weapons, they began traveling further south to get these either from blacksmiths in the villages and towns of the Southern Lands or from across the river by way of attacking villages in the bordering kingdom.
Plant Dragons
Despite their migratory nature, plant dragons often return to a single place to tend their own personal garden. To any other race, these gardens may look like a wild overgrowth of trees, bushes, and flowering plants, but they are all carefully planted to help each other. Plant dragons will travel far in search of new plant types to collect and have been known to trade in poisons and medicinal plants to get another one from a different part of the world.
Fauna Dragons
Fauna clans will often settle in areas where a species of animal is beginning to die out and will nurture them until their numbers return to normal, even over the course of several hundred years. They collect animals as part of their hoards and create a full menagerie near their home with a thriving ecosystem.
As the rare fauna dragon who bonds with a human is usually expected to travel a great deal because of their ability to shapeshift, they are unable to maintain this kind of hoard. Most of these fauna dragons have either chosen to keep one or two companion animals with them, or go out into the world and collect languages and new forms to shapeshift into as a new type of hoard.
Comments