Bronze Dragons
Bronze dragons are the third most powerful of the metallic dragons. The majority of dragonforged bronze dragons used to be blue dragons.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Most of the alar phalanges are very short and form a wide frill just beyond the alar thumb. The trailing edge of the wing membrane joins the body behind the rear legs, at the point where the tail meets the pelvis. A bronze dragon has webbed feet and webbing behind the forelimbs. The innermost phalange is the longest, and it provides most of the support for the wings, along with a modified alar olecranon at the “elbow” of the alar limb. This arrangement allows the dragon to use its wings as big fins underwater. A bronze dragon can flap its wings when submerged and literally fly through the water. Its scales are smooth and flat.
They smell like sea-spray.
Genetics and Reproduction
Courtship and mating among bronze dragons is always a deliberate and respectful affair. Bronze dragons mate for life, and one often refuses to take a new mate after the death of the original mate. They always tend their eggs and offspring carefully and with the utmost seriousness, and defend them to the death if necessary. They protect their eggs and their wyrmlings at any cost. They gestate their 2 foot long eggs for 150 days, and incubate them for 600 days. The egg must be immersed in a sea or ocean or someplace where tidewaters flow over it at least twice a day. Upon hatching, the wyrmlings are raised, taught, and protected by their parents. A newly hatched bronze wyrmling appears yellow with a tinge of green, and the scales will gradually shift to bronze as it matures. Bronze wyrmlings love to swim in the ocean, and frolic in much the same manner as dolphins.
Growth Rate & Stages
A bronze wyrmling’s scales are yellow tinged with green, showing only a hint of bronze. As the dragon approaches adulthood, its color deepens slowly to a darker, rich bronze tone. Very old dragons develop a blue-black tint to the edges of their scales. Their pupils fade as they age, until in the oldest the eyes resemble glowing green orbs.
They are considered wyrmlings for the first five years, very young until age 15, reach the juvenile stage at 26 years, and become sexually mature at 51 years, being considered fully adult at 100. They are considered mature at 200, old at 400, very old at 600, and ancient at 800 years. Beyond 1,000 they are considered wyrms, and great wyrms after 1,200 years.
Ecology and Habitats
Bronze dragons like to be near deep fresh water or salt water, and are found in temperate and tropical coastal areas and islands. They like to dwell along the sea, to make use of their aquatic abilities, while staying close to humanoid settlements. Many ship merchants will pay a bronze dragon to protect their trade routes. They often visit the depths to cool off or hunt for pearls and sunken treasure. More nefarious bronze dragons will demand bribes for “protection” while accepting similar bribes from pirates to operate within their territories.
Bronze dragons prefer make their lairs in caves that are accessible only from the water, but their lairs are always dry—they do not sleep or store treasure underwater. The entrance is often disguised with seaweed and coral. Often, a bronze dragon’s lair has a lower area that floods at high tide and an upper area that remains dry around the clock. This upper area makes up the bulk of the lair, consisting of multiple tunnels and large chambers, some as much as a thousand feet above sea level. They prefer to make their lairs in an island volcano, if possible. Dungeon-dwelling bronze dragons often live near underground streams or lakes.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Bronze dragons eat aquatic plants and some varieties of seafood. They especially prize shark meat, and often spend days at sea hunting sharks. They also dine on the occasional pearl. They often keep pearls in their lairs, both as treasures and snacks. They admire other treasures from the sea as well, such as bits of rare coral and amber. Though they don’t care to admit it, their favorite metal is gold, which does not tarnish in their humid lairs.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Bronze dragons frequently congregate with others of their kind, making them among the most gregarious of the true dragons. When in their natural form, they sometimes swim or play together in the waves. They gather even more frequently when using assumed forms, particularly when observing some event of interest to them. They find warfare fascinating, and many have served in armies fighting for good causes. Afterward, they may spend decades debating the course of the war, its causes, and its consequences.
Facial characteristics
The dragon have three large horns protruding from each cheek, pointing back towards the tail. These horns are smooth, dark, and oval in cross-section, and curve slightly inward toward the dragon’s spine. The largest horns grow from the top of the head. The tips of these points are black and very sharp, and are often used for grooming. In older dragons, the smaller horns often develop secondary points. The dragon also has small horns on its lower jaw and chin. A bronze dragon has a beaklike snout. The tongue is purple-gray, long and pointed, and not forked. A large, tall frill runs down the upper part of its neck, and they also have a smaller head frill.
Civilization and Culture
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
These dragons possess the ability to alter their form, assuming the appearance of any type of animal or humanoid creature they choose. A bronze dragon spends much of its time in an assumed form, usually that of a small animal or an older humanoid. This charade serves the dragon’s inquisitive nature by allowing it a chance to observe the world without drawing attention to itself or disrupting the flow of events.
Though they have no lack of draconic pride, bronze dragons enjoy the company of humans and other humanoids. They truly enjoy observing and interacting with smaller creatures. They consider these “lesser” creatures to be just as deserving of survival and happiness as themselves. When in the company of humanoids, a bronze dragon usually assumes humanoid form, both as a practical matter (it can be very hard to fit a bronze adult into a seaside cottage), and to keep the humanoids at ease.
Bronze dragons have an inquisitive side and find the activities of other creatures, particularly humanoids, endlessly fascinating. They enjoy polymorphing into small, friendly animals to study such activities. They also love to attend human festivals and parties, although usually in human form. The bronze dragons are often connected to silver dragons as they have similar personalities.
Bronze dragons delight in testing a stranger’s sense of decency by posing as penniless beachcombers, shipwrecked sailors, or guileless primitives. Unscrupulous creatures who attempt to cheat, bully, rob, or kill a masquerading dragon soon find more trouble than they had bargained for when the dragon reveals itself. Creatures who conduct themselves well may never know they
have actually encountered a bronze dragon. Nevertheless, good conduct earns the dragon’s respect, and it is usually remembered, perhaps to be rewarded someday.
They often go out of their way to help smaller creatures, such as rescuing humans from a shipwreck or a dangerous foe. In many of these instances, the bronze dragon will transform itself into a human, so that those who it helps never know who really did the rescuing. As such, many could have encountered a bronze dragon without ever being the wiser. A friendly dolphin that saved a drowning child; a mercenary sailor eager to fight pirates; a diver specializing in searching undersea shipwrecks for possible treasure… all of these could have been a bronze dragon.
Bronze dragons value moral order and altruism. The older the dragon, the more pronounced the passion for justice becomes. They will never seek payment for their help, in any form. They always seek justice as best they could, and could not abide to see any creature being treated with cruelty of any sort. Bronze dragons have a strong sense of justice and do not tolerate cruelty or anarchy in any form. Many a pirate or robber has faced swift retribution from a bronze dragon using an innocuous disguise.
While bronze dragons are often fascinated with battles, especially fighting to defeat evil, they have strong moral compunctions against killing living beings unless absolutely necessary.
Bronze dragons usually attack only in self-defense or to defend those unable to defend themselves. They dislike killing anything they don’t plan to eat, and they try especially hard to avoid killing animals that are merely defending themselves. They usually try to distract attacking animals with food, using their repulsion breath to fend them off if distractions fail. Against intelligent foes, bronze dragons usually try to negotiate, but remain wary of duplicity.
Often, a bronze dragon figures out a way to be victorious in a conflict without dealing damage, such as stranding a foe on an island or dismasting a ship at sea. They will often join good-aligned armies to fight the forces of evil, either in human form or their own. Many bronze dragons will use their shape-shifting abilities to get close to an enemy target; bronze dragons prefer melee combat.
Most bronze dragons maintain a constant watch for pirates, natural disasters, and ships in distress. Many a shipwrecked mariner has been rescued by the timely intervention of a bronze dragon. Bronze dragons wage a constant struggle against evil sea creatures, particularly ones that menace the coasts. They sometime find themselves with black or green dragons for neighbors. While the bronzes are content to live and let live, the evil dragons are often unwilling to return the favor.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
3,800 or more years.
Average Height
12 feet tall
Average Weight
20,000 pounds
Average Length
55 feet long, with a 16 foot long body, 15 foot long neck, and 24 foot long tail.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
While most of its body is a reflective bronze color, the wings are often tipped with green. When viewed from below, a bronze dragon’s wings show green mottling on the back edges.
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