Dragons
Basic Information
Anatomy
Dragons are most often large megafauna in the form of 'reptilian' winged beasts, possessing incredible intelligence and even more powerful magic. Most possess four legs, two wings, a long neck, and long tail covered in a scaled armor-like hide, although there is much variation and diversity in their kind. There in the past were dozens if not hundreds of different subspecies of sapient dragons, however in the present day, only one remains, highly hybridized between these other species, mirroring the human race's past crossbreeding with other humanoids. In colder climates, feathers and fur adorning the body are common, while in hotter ones scales are the dominant trait. Different anatomical traits have created Recognized Subtypes Among Dragons.
There is some sexual dimorphism among dragons, though it can vary and is not absolute. Males often will have large spur claws on their front legs as an additional toe, often have larger horns or crests, and can much more easily 'flush' their necks, throats, and faces with blood to produce a bright red tinge to their scales (provided they do not have fur or feathers in the area). Most female dragons will have thicker bones and higher reserves of calcium for egg production, and are known to on average be larger than male counterparts. Many regional variations exist, such as that females of the Lunar Dragonflight often have antlers with more points, or Kindal Dragonflight members often have males with much brighter colors when compared to females.
Dragons, at least all that produce flame, have evolved to have a two chambered stomach, that is often considered to be in two parts- The stomach itself, and the gas chamber. The gas chamber collects flammable gasses produced by digestion and stores them for use in breathing fire. As a muscular structure, the chamber contracts when there is need to use their flames, forcing it up to the mouth and to be highly compressed, where the gasses can be combined with chemicals in the saliva to produce fire. It is widely believed that the 'Pits', which are glands lining the lips and gums of a dragon's mouth, may be a derived form of venom sac, as they are not found in venomous dragons unable to produce fire, and may play a role in flame production by creating the chemicals needed to ignite.
For more detail, see the Anatomical Features of Dragons page.
Genetics and Reproduction
Dragons can breed throughout the year, however they generally have the most success of having offspring if they mate and lay their eggs to hatch before winter. There are differing breeding seasons around the world when dragons commonly come together to find mates and produce offspring, but this can vary greatly depending on local temperature, humidity, and weather. Most often, the breeding season occurs in the fall or early spring, or during wet seasons where there is plentiful food. Younger dragons are often more affected by breeding seasons than older ones, and much more likely to participate, although it does not seem as though dragons ever reach a point in their lives where they are too old to reproduce. Most dragons will typically lay between four and nine eggs a season, and will have a period of one month following where they cannot reproduce again. During this time, dragons become highly aggressive to anything or anyone large enough to harm their eggs and offspring, and will hunt much more frequently to feed their offspring, and in the case of females who have laid eggs, replenish their calcium. Their higher stress levels often result in territorial conflicts during this time being much more brutal and less open to negotiation.
Most dragons hatch between 65 and 82 days after their eggs are laid, however this can vary depending on incubation temperatures. Higher temperatures result in faster incubations, but also often smaller and weaker offspring that may have difficulty surviving their first few years of life. While lower incubation temperatures are considered safer for the health of the hatchlings, they do result in fewer eggs as temperatures can drop too low at night and in northern regions, resulting in failed development or stillbirth. What seems more important is a consistent temperature throughout incubation, which is often maintained by the parents piling decaying vegetation over the nest, laying on or next to their eggs, and heating stones and gravel with their flames to arrange around the nest.
The sizes of both eggs and the hatchlings can vary wildly on many circumstances, even from very genetically similar dragons or even the same dragon at different points in their life. The size of the egg laying female is the main contributing factor- larger females lay larger eggs, and thus larger hatchlings are born. Due to that dragons never truly stop growing, and their growth is determined by the availability of food, incredibly well fed dragons will often have the largest offspring. Even in exceptionally large dragons however, the size of their offspring can vary depending on nutrition. Nutritionally poor diets often result in smaller eggs being laid, and more sickly births. Stress has also been claimed to be a contributing factor, as females who cannot rest or are frequently traveling great distances often have difficulty with egg formation and if able to produce clutches at all, may produce eggs that are significantly smaller than sedentary dragons.
Growth Rate & Stages
Within two weeks prior to hatching, hatchling dragons will begin to recognize the voices and calls of their parents and close to hatching, may begin to call to them. They will hatch once the oxygen supply within their eggs gets too low to sustain them, breaking open their shells with an egg tooth like many reptiles, which often falls off shortly after birth. The process of hatching can be exhausting for newly born dragons, and most will often sleep for several hours at a time while breaking apart their shell once they have initially ruptured it and secured a source of air. The sound of their siblings hatching and sensation of them moving within the nest or against their siblings have hatched often causes others within the nest to hatch as well, even if laid at different times or by different parents. Hatchlings are incredibly vulnerable and cannot fly on their own, entirely relying on their parents for food and shelter. During this early stage of their life, they begin to slowly learn their language and customs, as well as care for themselves, albeit slowly. Hatchlings beg their parents for food with chirps and squeals, although often cannot recognize who or what is their parent, and lost hatchlings may try to beg other creatures for sustenance. Fast growing, hatchlings can double in size and weight up to five times over their first few years, at which time they are considered a juvenile.
Estimates in visual guides below are based on body size and weight, rather than that of total mass.
Juvenile dragons, which are still under their parent's care, are still dangerous to the average mortal. Still quickly growing and every hungry, they may begin to learn to hunt as early as five years old, with their parents bringing them small or injured prey to practice on such as young ungulates, large lizards, snakes, or livestock depending on their size. Juvenile dragons will also begin to learn how to speak Dragontongue properly. It's during this time most dragons learn to fly, often by being toss from trees, large rocks, or small cliffs by their parents akin to many birds. Many juveniles also begin to practice flight on their own through play. Depending on their heritage and amount of available food, it can take between 10-20 years for a dragon to be considered a subadult. Late juvenile to early subadult dragons also display stark black eyespot patterning on their inner wing membranes, likely as a defense mechanism against predators and older dragons as they begin to venture outside of the nest and away from their parents. This marking often begins to fade in late subadulthood to early adulthood in larger individuals.
Subadult dragons most often leave their parents' territory around 20-25 years old, as they have grown too large for their territory to sustain the entire family group and are well adapted to survive on their own at this stage. Their larger sizes allow them to capture and subdue large prey and many will begin to establish their own territories. Still much more social than adults, subadults often will form gangs of others within their age group from neighboring territories, most often led by the eldest subadults with the most experience. Curiously, most subadult gangs are highly mixed and often do not contain their own siblings, as they spread out to other areas and this behavior is thought to coincide with the beginnings of subadults practicing attracting mates and mating displays. Around this time, most subadults will begin to explore their identities and often begin to identify with a particular gender role, although this can and often does change later in life. The vast majority of subadults are too young to breed until 30 or 40 years of age, but will still begin to pair off with temporary mates and establish their own territories, leaving their gangs behind.
Once dragons have paired off or begun to exhibit breeding behavior, they are considered adults, and chased permanently away from the territory of their parents to create their own, often very far from where they were born. As adults, they are in the prime of their lives, incredibly powerful, and their magical abilities begin to develop at an exponential rate. Adult dragons often will split apart from their first mates in favor of those more closely or complementary to their personalities and abilities, but generally do not seek out reproduction in earnest until around 70 years old. The vast majority of dragons are adults, as in this stage there is very little that can challenge or pose a threat to them aside from humanoids with modern weapons and magics, or others of their own kind.
Wyrms are hotly debated as to whether they are a distinct life stage, or a cultural concept. These dragons are incredibly ancient, and depending on flight and region, the age requirement to be considered one can vary, though often it is between 3,000 and 10,000 years old once may first be called a wyrm. Most wyrms are exceedingly massive and powerful, so much so that they do not consider even adult dragons a threat, and may at times allow them to reside and nest in their own territories. Due to their incredible ages, wyrms are often highly respected while at the same time regarded as highly dangerous, by mortal and dragon alike. While most flight leaders are wyrms, not all wyrms are flight leaders.
Ecology and Habitats
There are few areas of the world in which a dragon cannot make itself at home comfortably at the top of the food chain. Although the population of different flights may differ depending on region, aside from the most northern and southernly tundras and open ocean, dragons can be found anywhere. It is commonly accepted that dragons tend to avoid the tundras due to a lack of food, the amount required to survive such environments simply does not exist there. As for the oceans, while one may be inclined to believe a dragon's wings may aid with swimming in deep water, most are quite poor swimmers.
No matter where they reside, dragons are apex predators in their environment and there are few creatures they are not capable of killing even when alone. Populations of available prey are easily determined by the moods and appetites of dragons making their territories in the region. Hunting patterns must be carefully plotted and rotated to ensure that populations can remain stable, and overhunting has been known to cause localized extinction.
Dietary Needs and Habits
A dragon's diet varies considerably depending on many factors, most often a combination of age and size, however territory and ranking also play a rather large role in what is available to them. All dragons alive today are obligate carnivores, however subspecies of omnivorous once existed, and purely herbivorous dragons are but a mere theory. Some are able to digest plant matter and grains, however they are treated as a rare, occasional snack rather than a staple. Young dragons and small subspecies of feral dragons often feed on small prey such as birds, small mammals, and fish, however as they grow in size, so do their appetites and prey. Medium sized dragons often prey on animals unavailable for other carnivores on a regular basis, such as buffalo, bears, moose, and occasionally may attack young elephants, hippos, and crocodiles. The largest of dragons however see all other creatures on the menu, and of the largest wyrms, may be relegated to mainly preying upon their own kind.
Like all fire-breathing dragonkin, dragons will also cook their food before eating it. Almost all will do this with their own flames, although most consider it rude to cook it in their own mouths while eating.
Curiously, most dragons, even the largest among them, do not typically regard whales as food unless scavenging from beachings and will not attempt to hunt them on their own unless desperate. The reason for this is unknown, but may have to do with that the word for whale in Dragontongue is most commonly translated to mean 'large danger fish', suggesting that some whale species may see low-flying dragons as prey themselves.
The vast majority of dragons tend to take advantage of being able to somewhat control their metabolisms as they grow into adulthood, slowing it during lean seasons and going into a topor-like state when food is scarce. Dragons also tend to cache their kills when food is plentiful, saving it for hard times and only partially feeding. Dragon caches are typically built in salty sands, clays, or bog marshes to assist in preserving their prey, which will often be cooked by their flames while in the cache. When returning to a cache, dragons will cook their food again, resulting in that the oldest food items are often heavily scorched and charred.
Behaviour
Dragons are incredibly fierce in defending their territories, and known to patrol areas they have claimed as their own regularly, driving out others of their kind. They are not particularly social outside of their own young offspring and mates, seeing all others as competition for food, mating rights, and space. Unrelated and unbonded dragons can become extremely aggressive to one another and may fight unprompted, as their presence alone causes them incredible amounts of stress. This does not typically affect other races, who are not seen as threats and can safely make their own territories and homes within a dragon's territory safely and ignored. Dragons will typically respect others' claims to land and resources as long as they are not starving or too close to their nest when they have eggs or hatchlings- Those who are too close are often warned, especially when the dragon was there first, and may be driven away if the threat is ignored. In the past, this behavior was often thought of as needless aggression on the dragons' part, especially by humans.
Dragons also display highly complex behavior in their challenges to territorial rights. Most challenges that occur during breeding seasons, and out of climbing social hierarchy for impressing mates or protecting offspring are not without warning and in many cases, dragons will often agree to specific terms of their challenges should they win. In many cases, these challenges are more akin to draws, with certain terms agreed to still being upheld, such as causes about hunting rights, borders, or safe passage, though this is most common in regions where territories may be unbalanced in some way, such as access to a hunting ground or water source being missing in one territory but not the other. Upholding these agreements is a mark of pride for many, even when it is to their own detriment, such as losing access to a hunting ground and can cause a dragon to be seen as weak or socially unfit if they do not uphold agreed upon terms without good reason, even decades after the fact. One such example is within territories dragons farm livestock- oftentimes claiming their territory in a challenge results in the victor, regardless of profession, being required to take care of such livestock in the same manner as the previous territory holder. Slaughtering livestock after gaining the territory to get around the deal is often not allowed by their social norms and considered 'cheating' the deal, unless done out of necessity such as disease, famine, or regular slaughter for consumption.
The dragons are also known to be highly protective of their offspring while they are still too young to fend for themselves. Dragon hatchlings are very weak, unable to fly, and cannot feed themselves for the first few weeks of their lives, ever demanding of food and protection. It is not uncommon for parents to move their nest many times once their offspring are born in order to keep it hidden from predators, often within the deepest parts of their territory. Single entrance caves or hollows dug by dragons are the most common, with one parent often staying behind to feed their offspring and defend them while the other hunts. As hatchling dragons are quite small, unable to fly, and often quite slow and clumsy, it's not uncommon for their parents to move them by holding them in their mouths to bring them to a new location enmass. This behavior has in the past been confused for dragons cannibalizing their living offspring.
Despite being highly territorial, dragons will generally show mercy to younger, weaker, or other related dragons during territorial skirmishes, often letting them go for far more severe behavior with less wounds than unknown individuals. It has also been noted that dragons will almost always ignore adults migrating with hatchlings and refrain from killing adults they're aware have hatchlings. This is likely due to that such dragons almost always flee combat themselves and avoid it altogether, and that cultural ideals may result in the attacker being shunned and pushed out from their territory themselves.
Cannibalism
Cannibalism has existed among dragonkin presumably since their kind evolved, as it is seen in some shape or form across all dragonkin species, including basal branches of the family tree. Among sentient dragons, for much of their history cannibalism has existed as means of survival. Dragons would cannibalize unhatched and spoiled eggs as well as stillborn hatchlings in order to keep their nests hidden, as well as a way for females to regain lost calcium to stay in good health. Corpses of fallen dragons found would often be fed on, but other than hunting other species of dragons, their own kind's meat was not deliberately sought out except for during the more dire of times. This behavior changed due to the The War of Black Ash and following period of mass starvation. Dragons, out of hunger, began to regularly hunt their own kind and seeing one another as a food source, much like many other races did. The practice has become ingrained in the species as the only respectable way to perform their burial rites- A dragon whose body is not consumed is thought to be dishonored by this, as passing up on their sustenance is an insult to what they can give back to their own kind. Outside of funerary rites and disposing of dead eggs and hatchlings, cannibalism of other sentient dragons is frowned upon in most circles, and deliberate hunting of their own kin largely banned.Additional Information
Social Structure
Dragons are not a very social species, in most cases only tolerating their current mate and young offspring. They are incredibly territorial to all others within their space and claimed territory, and will become aggressive to nearly all other dragons that enter that space, especially when they have hatchlings or juveniles of their own. Dragons that meet one another outside of their own territories, such as areas claimed by mortals or by another dragon will often tolerate one another's presence as long as they do not get too close or display any aggressive behavior themselves. Dragons that become aggressive or refuse to leave one another's territory may provoke brutal fights, which can very quickly turn deadly. Nesting parents are known to be the most aggressive and likely to kill rivals.
Family groups of dragons are called flights, and where the term comes from when referring to different ethnicities of dragons. These flights are often of the parents or harem and their offspring too young to survive on their own, and can change and shift throughout the year and as their offspring fledge and leave their parents' territories. A 'Flight leader' is almost always the eldest or strongest of the breeding group with the most experience, and generally the one to have initially claimed the territory they reside in.
It is quite uncommon, but dragons will sometimes form permanent life-long bonds with one another, usually with a dragon that compliments their personality and abilities extremely well and after having chosen them as a mate several times. This is often regarded as being akin to marriage in humanoids, though does not have any specific ritual or act tied to it. These dragons that have mated for life often will fall into the 'non-competitive' gender role within their society, and not seek out other mates or harems during breeding season, though it does still occur occasionally, particularly with younger dragons. Mated for life dragons are typically much calmer and confident than their peers, comfortable with their established territories and able to readily and consistently protect it from rivals. While the number of mated for life dragons is extremely low, estimated at between 1 and 5% of all dragons, it is seen as an ideal of their society to find a permanent mate.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Dragons are found world wide, filling the role of apex predators in their environments. Typically, dragons are most comfortable in semi-arid, temperate, and tropical environments, usually avoiding deserts and polar regions, though some limited populations do exist within them.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
The eyes of dragons are unique, with multiple pupils that act as filters for different types of sight. They can see auras and essences, along with being able to see magic and some UV and ultraviolet light. The vast majority of dragons are able to utilize magic to extraordinary capabilities due to their long lives and low Magic Resistance. Such low magic resistance also makes dragons extremely susceptible to magic themselves.
All sentient dragons have some degree of Immortality. Immortality in dragons specifically has resulted in a species that cannot die of age- other means of death, such as grievous injury, disease, starvation, dehydration, etc can still kill a dragon's body, however, all presently living sapient dragons will retreat into essence form for a period of time and reform their physical forms later on. This is an extremely stressful process for the individual and leaves them incredibly vulnerable. Intense magic, or even deliberate acts, can damage the essence, and risk that they cannot reform, and are truly killed. Immortality is not something the dragons are born with, however, as it takes effect throughout puberty and early adulthood. Newborn and juvenile dragons are not immortal and can be killed just as any other mortal creature, making childhood an incredibly dangerous time for them.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
The Blood Eel is a symbiotic creature with most dragon species, most well known for preventing Dreamer's Disease and other infections.
There are a wide variety of Dragon Mites, lice, and other skin parasites that have evolved to specifically prey upon dragons and their kin. Most are not deadly and are considered a nuisance and mark of poor personal hygiene.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
The traditions surrounding names differs and varies highly depending on which of The Dragonflights an individual belongs to, if any at all, as well as region and individual culture. All dragons are typically given a name roughly 2-3 weeks after they hatch and are proven healthy enough to survive by their parents, and this name will typically last until leaving their parents' territory. Among most flights, it is considered the norm for dragons to change their names to one of their own choosing at some point between subadulthood and adulthood, with the primary exception being the Lunar Dragonflight, who keep their birthnames their entire lives.
For many centuries, the idea persisted that knowing a dragon's 'true' name, their birthname, granted one great power over them socially. This idea is partially true among flights that place great importance around the secrecy of such names, as it often is a strong clue to a dragon's birthplace, the site of their eventual burial. Not all flights subscribe to this idea, however, and in the modern day knowing a dragon's true name can be considered social credit, but as many have dragons have put it:
"...In the same way that knowing any personal secret is, such as that a grown man still sleeps with a night light, or wets the bed. Embarrassing, but not life ruining. At least for most folk."-Serpentinian Regardless of the current name a dragon uses, close family members such as parents and siblings will often still use their birthname when referring to them. Among some flights, to do such is sometimes considered to be a reprimand or way of using authority over them, such as within the Solar Dragonflight and Kindal Dragonflight, though most view this as a form of showing affection. It is most commonly done from older individuals to younger ones, particularly among siblings.
Major Organizations
The Dragonflights are massive groups of dragons, the widest categories of family groupings possible within their species that contain entire ethnic groups of many hundreds to many thousands of individuals. In the largest of major flights, individuals may not be closely related to one another at all and instead are bound by similar culture, ideals, magic forms, or customs rather than genetics and family resemblance, though many can still trace common ancestors back to one another if their family trees are known. Many of these flights, though not all, can function as floating governments that dictate the rules of their group and act as higher authorities for their social customs, norms, and interactions with others, but are not bound by geography or specific territory.
Smaller flights are typically considered to be subsets of their larger ethnic grouping, and typically are more likely to be made up of related individuals. These subset flights are more often considered to be an equivalent to the social network present in a city or town, and also often make their own rules, cultural norms, and territories as a whole that individuals reside within.
Beauty Ideals
Among the dragons, beauty is considered to be the hallmarks of good health and signs of many battles won- Brightly shining scales, free of parasites and blemishes aside from scars, any fur or feathers neat and well oiled for a sleek appearance, full mouth of teeth, and bright colors adorning the body. Jewelry, such as horn rings, piercings, and fine cloth spun between the horns or draped over the back and around the shoulders is considered highly attractive. Tattoos and scars differ among the flights, however the common consensus is that they are the marks of long lived dragons- the longer one has been alive, the more powerful and thus more beautiful. Many dragons go out of their way to fake scars, either with tattoos or cosmetics, to appear more attractive to potential mates and partners.
Gender Ideals
There are three main gender roles in draconic society, all of which are centered around a dragon's role in reproduction. Outside of breeding seasons or trying to find a mate, one's gender is not considered important and does not impact the way they are treated by others of their kind. Biological sex is entirely separate from gender with no impact on it or how dragons choose to identify themselves- female dragons can be stags, males ewes, and vice versa, and dragons do not often understand the concept of sexuality as known among humanoids. Due to their own differing ideas of gender, most dragons have extreme difficulty in recognizing the genders of humanoids and mortals. Due to that non-competitive pairs often have higher success rates in raising offspring to healthy mature adults, it is thought that the process of stags creating harems of ewes is a system to select the best mates to later become non-competitive with and be their lifelong mates, while still having as many offspring as they can in the meantime.
Stags
Stags center their identity around attracting as many seasonal mates as possible and chasing away competition and rival stags. Highly confident, aggressive, and determined to impress others, stags often compete during breeding seasons among one another to make themselves look the best and most fit, both in personality and physical ability. While extremely aggressive to one another, stags often do not kill each other in their competitions, instead having an understanding that their physical fights are mainly for show, and so that they have the chance to impress ewes, and as such most wounds given are often shallow and non-deadly. During breeding seasons, stags will often meticulously groom and adorn themselves with trinkets, paints, and clays to make themselves more visually impressive. Stags seek to impress a harem of ewes, gaining as many mates as they can.Ewes
Ewes identity is more centered around nesting, rearing offspring, and defending territory. While stags compete among one another to impress ewes, ewes compete over territory and claiming as many suitable nesting spots as they can, and are known to be much more brutal amongst one another. Competitions between ewes happen earlier in the year than those between stags, with ewes chasing off competitors entirely, only stopping their fights once stags begin to compete. Even when a part of the same harem under a stag, ewes can still be incredibly competitive and seek to drive away others from nesting too close to them, as they often will have separate nests within the same territory though closely bonded ewes, often those who have built a relationship over their time in the same harem, may nest together cooperatively. Ewes are not typically aggressive to stags, although may frequently kick them out of the nest aside from mating or when they need to leave their nests to hunt.Non Competitive
Sometimes called Non-Comp or NC dragons, they fall into an identity that is not centered around finding or attracting a mate. Non Comp dragons can do this for a variety of reasons that vary from individual to individual, and some may be personal. Generally, non-comps are most often dragons simply not interested in finding a mate or they have already found one, with no interest in creating or being a part of a harem. Less common are dragons who have lost their mate, either to competition or death, and take a period of time to mourn. While stags and ewes are incredibly fierce and competitive amongst themselves, they pay non-comp dragons no mind at all during the breeding season, only seeing them as threats for food and water. Non-comps can pass through the territory of a stag or ewe relatively safely as long as they do not have offspring. Non-comps sometimes forgo mating, but are not defined by avoiding doing so. As most non-comp dragons have already found a lifelong mate they will still reproduce and often do to higher success than others.Courtship Ideals
Dragons seek out companions and lovers that are of similar power to themselves and often complimentary to their own abilities. A dragons mate, as viewed through their culture, should be able to readily prove such through sparring and wit. The process of courting, once having driven off competitors, is a brutal affair as the pair will often spar both physically and through magic in order to prove their mettle until they are either satisfied or one surrenders and flees. These spars can last for hours and become quite bloody, especially between pairs of stags or pairs of ewes, should they pair together, and are sometimes interrupted by new challengers.
Once paired, they will remain such until the end of their breeding season or if they have reproduced, their offspring can readily hunt and defend themselves, generally around 10 years old. Pairs of dragons may also separate or 'break up' despite having offspring due to issues of their strength and ability. If one dragon begins to heavily outpower the other, social norms dictate that they should chase out the weaker of the pair and take control of the territory for themselves, as well as continue to raise their offspring. There are exceptions to this, as dragons with disabilities, illness, or other ailments are still accepted by their partners as their condition is not seen as a fault in their power or desirability. In some cases, dragons from neighboring territories may intervene if a pair is considered to be extremely imbalanced, and may challenge to take over the territory and claim one of the pair themselves, forcibly breaking up the two.
Relationship Ideals
Like other dragon species, polyamory is incredibly common and often expected depending on a dragon's gender role and age. Adult stags and ewes will often have or be a part of a harem respectively, and ewes in particular are known for mating with multiple stags and only keeping a relationship with the most impressive one. Dragons seek partners that are of equal but often differing types of strength, such as a physically strong dragon bonded to a magically strong one. Relationships are built upon hard earned trust and respect that is not easily lost, and although they may perform the same tests and rituals, will often pair with the same mates repeatedly should they have had a favorable relationship.
The highest ideal of courtship among dragons is the idea of a true mate- unlike normal mating behavior and relationships, a 'true' mate is one meant to last a lifetime and is a permanent relationship, where pairing rituals and trials are completely lost in favor of Mating Flights to reaffirm their bond. Generally, it is expected that a pair will have had to repeatedly pair together for a number of years before deciding on if they will become permanent mates, the 'rule' in draconic society most often being between 10 and 30 years consecutively. Permanent or true mated pairs are incredibly rare, as most dragons will take on other mates or drastically shift in their power over the course of their lives, and often, one will outlive the other. The actual requirements and norms surrounding this ideal heavily vary depending on individual flights, cultures, and oftentimes the age of the dragons themselves.
Younger dragons born within the age of gods and dragons born prior to the War of Black Ash are those who most often buy into such ideals of true mates, while dragons born and raised between the two eras more generally have a focus on short term mates and survival.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Dragontongue is the most common among dragons, being primarily made of the natural sounds and calls a dragon will make as well as being incredibly strongly linked to body language. Dragontongue cannot be 'spoken' solely as the verbal form or solely the visual form without heavy modifications to the manner it is being used, due to its structure and social cues. Draconic Body Language plays a crucial role, mainly in cuing listeners and observers to the dialect, intent, and emotion of the speaker.
Primarily, Dragontongue is made up of low infrabass rumbles, grunts, and clicking that is typically too low for many other races to perceive auditorily. These sounds are meant to carry for dozens of miles and beyond the borders of a dragon's own territory as means of communicating with their neighbors, families, and mates who may be at a great distance. While too low for most to hear, the sounds can be felt if one is nearby the dragon speaking, and if talking too loudly, can result in joint pain, headaches, or soreness.
Vocalizations
Dragons communicate through a wide variety of calls, grunts, groans, and roars, many of which also making up fundamental parts of their language. These noises can be divided into several different smaller categories by their usage.Rumbles
Rumbles are extremely low bass sounds emitted by dragons almost constantly unless hunting, territorial, or otherwise in danger. These sounds come from deep within the chest, throat, and air sacks, generally at such a low frequency that they are nearly if not completely inaudible to humanoids- These sounds can, however, be felt, often being described as a low shaking or tingle within the inner ear and chest. One of the only times a rumble enters a humanoid's audible spectrum is when a dragon takes a breath, increasing their pitch. Rumbles are used to convey a dragon's presence at long distance to others, that they are not a threat, and are 'minding their own business', essentially being a long distance hello. Rumbles can carry for immense distances, with those from particularly large dragons being recorded up to 7 miles away. These sounds are also typically subconscious, with many dragons completely unaware of the fact they are making them, and must focus intently in order to not.
Grumbles and Groans
Similarly to rumbles, grumbling and groaning type sounds are used in almost the same manner, except for in close quarters and face to face communication. These sounds are mainly produced in the mouth, throat, and nasals rather than the chest, incorporating chest and breath sounds into their meanings. Oftentimes, grumbles and groans are paired with rumbling, especially when in unfamiliar territory, to ensure that other dragons are well aware of their presence and the dragon will not spook or startle them. Their use is much more common when on the ground, where visibility may be much lower. The bulk of Dragontongue's audible language comes from rumbles and groans.
Hisses
Hisses are short range nasal and throat sounds most typically used to convey low levels of aggression, fear, irritation, and a desire for others to remove themselves from a dragon's personal space. Typically, the sounds are most often used by younger dragons, such as hatchlings and juveniles, and when used by adults are generally seen as a mark of immaturity.
Clicks and Chatter
Clicks and chattering are sounds created in the nasals, throat, tongue, and rubbing or clicking of the teeth. These noises serve the same purpose, being able to convey lots of information quickly through their tone, pitch, and rhythm. Alongside grumbles, they form the bulk of words in Dragontongue. Clicks are a long distance form of chatter, more often used to speak to those in flight or not within sight, while the latter is more generally used face to face.Snarls
Similarly to hisses, snarls and snaps are used to convey irritation, anger, and hostility with a strong desire for any to get out of the dragon's personal space. More typically used by subadults and adults, snaps and snarls are often the last warning one gets before a dragon may become aggressive. They are common in territorial skirmishes, conflicts, and during fights as a means of intimidation alongside false charges, jaw popping, clawing at the ground, and the flushing of soft tissues such as fins and throats.
Roars
Not commonly heard or used, roars are an extremely aggressive vocalization used to mark and claim territories as well as warn outsiders to stay away. Utilizing the throat, chest, nasals, and air sacks, roars ensure that the dragon will be heard at incredible ranges. Roars can travel up to 25 miles while still within the auditory spectrum of most humanoids, but can be heard by other dragons up to 46 miles away in optimal conditions. Standing close to roaring dragons can risk damage to the ear drums as well as causing soreness in the joints due to the incredible volume of the sound, with many attesting to hearing damage and ruptured eardrums. Almost always, the sound is used to mark territory, though rarely can be used in close quarters combat as an intimidation tactic, by far more commonly used by stags. An exception to almost all other vocalizations, roars are actually used to communicate aggression to other species, such as predators and humanoids.
Jaw pops
Jaw pops are a short range communication typically used by stags as a form of dominance. Not a true bite, the sound is caused by air rushing out of the mouth when the jaws are quickly closed, creating a pop, snap, or slap sound, oftentimes paired with hisses, snarls, and grumbles. The louder and deeper the pop, typically the larger and more powerful the dragon. Young stags are particularly fond of practicing their jaw popping in groups before they have settled their own territories, oftentimes to the amusement of their peers and simply for entertainment.
Common Etiquette Rules
Dragons take etiquette quite seriously, and doing so wrong can result in serious bodily harm or even death.
Looking a dragon in the eye is considered a challenge worthy of a fight, and a sure fire way to get one's self killed if done at the wrong time. It is considered polite to not look at their face until given permission, and even so, for humanoids and mortals to look at their noses, between the eyes, or just in their general direction rather than directly. Body language is incredibly important to communication with them, and messing up or using the wrong form of it a grave insult and taken as mocking.
Common Dress Code
Dragons do not commonly wear clothing in a traditional or mortal sense. Instead, dragons focus on accessory, such as scarification, tattoos, body paint, and jewelry. Smaller individuals may adopt eye shaped symbols, although this is often frowned upon due to their kind's natural aversion to looking one another in the eye, though this is often done deliberately by the smaller party, and can sometimes be regarded as an individual with trauma from being attacked in the past and coping mechanism for defending themselves.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
"Hoarding"
It is still a quite common belief that dragons hoard materials and precious objects as status symbols among their own kind and as way of displaying their power. While this may be true for some particularly rich and wealthy individuals, this behavior is largely attributed to a near religious reverence to certain objects among dragonkin. While this varies greatly depending on the flight, upbringing, and personal belief of the individual, many dragons revere precious and semiprecious stones, metals, and glasses and believe they have protective attributes associated with them. Dragons, particularly nesting parents, will often gather as many of these stones as they can for arranging around their nests to protect their eggs and hatchlings. This behavior is believed to have started due to the qualities of many metals and ores retaining heat, allowing nests to maintain proper temperatures for far longer with significantly less effort when heated by flame. This practical function most likely evolved into reverence of metals and semiprecious stones under the belief of reflective or lusterous objects containing power, while certain others were shunned. In particular, silver, gold, steel, obsidian, and basalts are the most common to be highly revered and believed to give the highest protections while iron, copper, quartzes, and calcites are generally seen as bad luck or outright harmful. What precious or semiprecious stones are considered to be harmful or beneficial is highly variable, and largely dependent on the flight and personal beliefs of the individual, with many dragons in the modern era shunning the practice of using them entirely as pseudoscience.Funerary tradition and burial
Cannibalistic by nature, it is the norm among dragons to feast upon their fallen brethren upon their deaths. While this tradition has been observed in dragons for nearly all of recorded history, the War of Black Ash exemplified it, due to massive food shortages and the period being known for mass starvation. Not to waste any potential food source, the dragons would ritualistically butcher the bodies of the fallen, and take only as much as they could carry for themselves, leaving nothing to waste as the body would be split among all in the region for as much as the body would last, even among enemies. The tongue, and if present, the mane, of the fallen dragon, would be returned to their birthplace to be buried where they were born, as a symbol to rejuvenate the next generation.Common Taboos
A mated pair of dragons with one significantly more powerful over the other is the largest taboo of dragon kind. This can be shown in several different ways, with 'power' having many definitions- age, size, strength, magical prowess, experience, etc. Dragons who participate in such are viewed as manipulative and abusive, and subject to retaliation from their peers which in extreme cases, may even result in the offending party being attacked and challenged for their territory until completely removed from a region, or in the worst cases, even killed.
Attacking or becoming territorial to migrating parents with hatchlings is also taboo, as most often, these individuals have lost their territory to unfortunate circumstances. While most won't allow them to stay permanently, they are often granted temporary protection while passing through other dragons' territories as long as they stay away from their own nests. Attacking and killing hatchlings or juveniles is also taboo and a great crime among dragons.
History
The dragons are an ancient species, having existed on Terra since before the human age. Their existence was mostly a myth, unproven, for much of human history, as the vast majority of dragons had succumbed to illnesses such as Dreamer's Disease, war amongst one another, or were deep in hibernation due to a lack of resources following the previous ice age. It is unknown exactly what caused the dragons to awaken- be it human activity or a need to feed, only that they began to en mass during the 2030s. The dragons began to feed and claim territory in the world that had changed during their slumber, causing many conflicts with humans.
Continuing to war with one another, many dragons, most notably Neia Lun De Draco, Aien Sol De Draco, and many other flight leaders, stooped to inexcusable methods, using human, omnia, and other flights of dragons alike as slaves and soldiers. This war resulted in the extinction of the human race and once it came to a head with the Omnia's Revolt during the War of Black Ash, the dragons for perhaps the first time found themselves overthrown as the reign of gods began. Much of Terra is now divided into Draconic or Divine territory, with neutral areas few and far between and often hotly contested.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
The interspecies relations with dragons is a long and complex history, with many grim and abhorrent acts. Dragons are indisputably and directly responsible for the downfall and extinction of Humans, as well as the colonization and subjugation of most other Humanoids. Although tensions in the modern era have eased signifgantly, it is unmistakable that in the past, the dragons as a whole were complicit in shaping the world as it is today and are responsible for a great many social and ecological tragedies.
The existence of the Omnia in particular is entirely due to the dragons and their cruelty, marked by slavery and mistreatment of their kind as well as denial of their existence at all for thousands of years, especially by the Lunar Dragonflight. The current War of the Moon is regarded by many as a long overdue confrontation of the misdeeds of dragons to all mortalkind, not just the omnia, though this notion is spearheaded by them.
Fairies also greatly suffered in the past due to the actions of dragons. During times of starvation, it was not uncommon for large dragons, especially wyrms, to attack fairy nests and raid them relentlessly, treating the race as a source of food. As such, the vast majority of fairy hives have deep trauma surrounding the dragons, and remain incredibly suspicious and aggressive to them, with the mere presence of a dragon being enough to send them into aggression.
Not all interactions between dragons and mortals is negative, however. The Blood Dragonflight is well known for their fierce ally ship to mortals and humanoids, through a joint alliance with Vampires and Blood Demons. Their clade oftentimes act as mediators in conflicts between mortals and other flights. Similarly, the Lightning Dragonflight acts the same when dealing with the pantheon.
Many groups distance themselves heavily from their past, either through reparations or outright denial.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Genetic Descendants
Scientific Name
Draconis draconis
Origin/Ancestry
Dragonkin
Lifespan
Immortal- Cannot die unless killed and the essence destroyed
Conservation Status
Least concern
Average Physique
Sleek bodies with minimal body fat, covered in thick, resilient scales with feathery or fur like adornments are the most common in dragonkin.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Highly variable and known to change throughout lifetime. Males are typically more colorful, though all dragons can to an extent willingly change color.
Related Ethnicities
Related Myths
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