Orcadragon

In a nutshell...

Orcadragons are amphibious dragon(ish), whale(ish) creatures, typically live in cold weather reigion oceans and can sometimes be found on coastal lines in warmer regions. They're one of the types of Dragonlikes you can find, representing the element of water. They are capable of living on both land and in the sea, being able to breathe both in and out of water. As for which they prefer, it's really personal preference, y'know, like being an indoor vs outdoor person. They can swim rather quickly, using a combination of water manipulating abilities and using their EsoPower to add extentions to their fins and tail. It's like a set of neon, laser fins that you can turn on and off instantly. Ooh! They can also do a really neat breach out of water on to the land--you oughta see it, it's like a dolphin jumping through a hoop, but with legs and not... exactly.. a dolphin... nevermind.

Settlements and Interspecies Interaction

Orcadragons, again, typically live on coastal lines in colder reigions. Their cities are located both underwater and above, sometimes having buildings half way in and out of the waters surface. The buildings usually have air inside them for their belongings, because hey... you can't eat cotton candy properly underwater. (Ask a racoon. They'll tell ya.) This is also for any inlanders that may be visiting. When breaching out of water onto land, they'll use the Waterbend ability to dry themselves off instantly by wicking away the water. This is how they keep the insides of their homes dry and their stuff as well.

Speaking of inlanders, Orcadragons have kind of a mixed relationship with land based creatures. On one hand, the history that land and sea species have is rocky, of course. Orcadragons are also affected by the polution and overfishing issues that land based creatures tend to do, particularly Generics. A lot of Orcadragon cities won't have anything to do with inlanders because of this, but they're not usually confrontational, unlike Nauticians, for example. On the other hand, a good amount of the other half of the Orcadragon cities try to get along with inlanders, engaging in trade, social events, you know... friend stuff! Given Orcadragons tend to try to care for other creatures, they do take up medical careers both in and out of the water.

A good rule of thumb to figure out if an Orcadragon is friendly to inlanders or not is how inland they currently are. If their city is further out and they don't have much as far as inland items go, they're probably not gonna care for inlanders much and will avoid contact. If their city is on the coastline that's near a city, they'll more than likely say hi to you in passing.

Speech By Touch

They can communicate via speech easy, usually knowing Universal Speech and Aquaticish as their main languages. They also communicate a lot via touch and their inherited Abilities utilize the same. So, physical contact is rather common amongst Orcadragons, so don't be surprised if one might greet you by a hug or by putting their hand on your chest or head or doing handshakes by grasping the forearm with both of their hands. (They'll understand if you have difficulty doing that back. They've got some sizeable forearms!) It's kind of their way of saying "Hello, how are you?", by literally checking your wellbeing by touch. By contact with another creature, they can assess physical injury and trama as well as some mental statuses, making them excellent diagnosing medical conditions. So, you could say when they ask how well you're doing, they literally want to know. Aside from their Ability to diagnose other creatures, their touch also has healing Abilities. This is another reason why touch is importaint to them. They're healers by nature and by culture, wanting to heal up even minor things.

Combat

This is also why, if it ever came to combat, Orcadragons rarely try anything close quarters. While they try their best for diplomacy first and foremost, almost to a fault, some species don't exactly respond to that easily or worse will take advantage of that. (This is all the more why a lot of them are avoidant... lookin' at you, Gremkin.) So, Orcadragons are capable of fighting, though they try to do so at range. They utilize Ice, Water and some Light Magic and also some Magical Weapons designed more for subduing, rather than harm. (Not to say they can't harm if you turn 'em up high enough, but that's a last resort.)

Typical Skillset

Spells

Offense

Flashfreeze
Iceshard
Super: Icebreath

Defense

Light Sheild

Support

Healing Embrace
Super: Complete Healthcare

Passive

Waterbreathing
Swimfins
Waterbend

Immunities

Ice
Cold Climates

Noteable Characters of This Species

Aieri

See Also...

Sharkdragon

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Height

Orcadragons tend to be around 7' 6" to 8' 6".

Skin/Physique

They're rather on the husky side, having insulation from the colder climate around them. They have rubbery skin, much like an ocra, but the skin is much thicker, much like a dragon. This also insulates them from their Ice Spells, so they don't get frostbite and the like.

Fins

They have an array of fins on their head, two larger ones on the top of their head, two medium ones under the larger ones and two smaller ones on the cheeks. The medium ones act as ears, where as the larger and smaller ones are more ornate, like horns... except squishy. All of them can vary in shape and size.

Color

Orcadragons are typically deep, dark blues and greens and purples with a white underbelly. The markings are almost neon, ice blue or purple.

Growth Rate & Stages

Orcadragons tend to live up to 200 years. They reach maturity at about 23 years or so, in which their abilities fully develop, but it's not uncommon for them to be able to use their abilities at 16 or so.

Ecology and Habitats

Their societies are... amphibious? Would that be an accurate desctriptor? Err, let's just say their cities both can be found underwater and on dry land, but it's not uncommon to find cities that span both dry land and underwater, sometimes with tubes of water connecting the buildings in and out and the buildings being half above the surface and below. Think of one of those hamster cages, except the tubes are about twice the radius of a water slide and it's full of water, sometimes with artificial currents that push the water through them and instead of their being barred cages with filler, think of saltwater aquarium settings, but with modern stuff. It's like a mail room, except with fish! A lot of the underwater cities have air inside of them for belongings that wouldn't do well submerged, like... popcorn, for instance. Also, they do get inlander visitors on occasion, so having air would be ideal for those kinds of guests.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Orcadragons have the same kind of diet as you would, except a lot more fish. Seriously, it's really easy for them to just go out and grab a snack.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Vibe Check

As described above, they have the ability to diagnose other organisms by touch alone. As such, their sense of touch is rather sensitive on their hands and underside of the forearms. This heightened sense also allows them to detect vibrations in the air and doubly so in water. This helps them go fishing quite a bit! No need for fishing tackle. An Orcadragon can chase a medium sized fish down with their eyes closed in a 100 foot range easily. Think of two basketball courts next to each other. That much range.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Orcadragons tend to use a lot of the letter I in their names, usually replacing any letter Es with them... usually. The pronounciation of the "II" changes from name to name.
A few examples of names and pronounciations would be...
Aieri (eye-ree)
Viira (vee-rah)
Waiiv (wave)
Reiin (rain)
Iliia (e-lee-ah)

Common Dress Code

Orcadragons, much like most Dragonlikes, can wear clothes, but don't always do so. It's not really seen as weird in their society. In an Orcadragon's case, it makes it eaiser to swim. If they do wear anything, it's typically something tighter fitting. A common clothing article is a wetsuit like outfit that fits like a one peice suit with short sleeves and short pants. If they wear anything over that, it's usually something on the lighter side, as they dont' really need to "bundle up" unless they're out of the water and on colder land for an extended time.

On the contradictary side to hydrodynamic reasons, like most Dragonlikes, they do often wear scarves. They do find the way they flow along with them as the spin and swim about in the water to be pretty stylish! Some have some really long scarves just for that! Can be a little cumbersome out of the water, but hey, that's fashion, I guess.

Lifespan

200 years

Average Height

7' 6" to 8' 6"

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Their patterning is usually similar, but sometimes can have some variants, such as striped or geometric trim and spots. Sometimes they have markings on their face or body that have a more saturated color. Despite looking like face paint, they're actually natrually occuring marks. They can vary drastically and almost all Orcadragons have some kind of these markings on them. Sometimes Orcadragons take their markings as a sign of what they should pursue as a career, if they take up certain shapes.

-Art Credits-
All of em - Zeta-Neubourn (That's me!)