Paperdrake

A paperdrake is a small relative of the Dragon useful because of its ability to manipulate paper and writing.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The paperdrake, in its most common form, resembles a dragon with a two to three foot wingspan. It lacks scales and instead has translucent, paperlike skin and nearly invisible bones. It can fold and refold its own form to resemble a nearly flat stack of paper. It can also adjust its size or form to communicate, disguise itself, or better acclimate to its environment. Paperdrakes can even smuggle ordinary paper within their form easily.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Paperdrakes make for excellent letter carriers due to their ability to easily fly long distances and their ability to fold letters into their own physical being, keeping them safe from the elements. They do have an occasional tendency to correct the grammar and spelling of the carried letters, which can be both beneficial and occasionally frustrating.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The paperdrake stores ink in the same throat sac where most true dragons store the fuel for their breath weapons. While paperdrakes can use this ink as a weak breath weapon (similar to a squid's ink), it more commonly injects it into its own bloodstream and uses it to make writing appear on its skin. This is the primary method by which paperdrakes communicate with each other, as well as with humanoids. A paperdrake looking for a mate might write love poetry across its wings or boast of the books and gold in its hoard; a paperdrake raising its young might cover itself with alphabets or easy-to-read learning material to help them understand the world. This sac refills slowly over time, but the paperdrake can also refill it more quickly by absorbing the ink from a mundane sheet of paper.

Pictured above: a freshly hatched paperdrake. As they age, they cover themselves with bits of writing they collect. The oldest paperdrakes take on a yellowish or brownish hue, similar to that of old books.

Related Ethnicities

• Dragon

Related Technologies

• Paperdrake Mail