Dragonette

Daddy? I want a dragonette!

— Every child of every noble all over Shireon

Looking like a strange cross between a salamander and a dragon, the dragonette is a small winged lizard that is a popular pet among the richer people on Shireon. It is so popular, in fact, that it's now illegal to capture wild dragonettes from the wild due to their population in the wild becoming dangerously low.

These creatures are also called 'mini-dragons' or 'shoulder dragons', even though they're not related to actual dragons. As pets they are curious and intelligent, and will need a lot of supervision and domestication training to not make their owner's home a total catastrophic mess, but all in all they can be fun, devout and rewarding pets.

And, you know, who doesn't like a cute shoulder dragon?

Basic Information

Biological Traits

The females are slightly larger than the males, but not by much.

Ecology and Habitats

In the wild, dragonettes live in drier areas where there's little vegetation due to little rainfall. They don't enjoy straight out deserts, but they don't like too much air moisture either. Deserts tend to have too little vegetation, since dragonettes prefer to hunt from higher ground and use small to medium trees for this as well as hiding among the leaves. Moister areas, like the tropical areas of the world simply has too much vegetation, covering the dragonettes' prey, and their skin and wing membrane isn't made for too much air moisture.

Dragonettes nest in trees, and if they find a good nest location they will protect this spot until chased away by something bigger than them. The nest should be hidden and protected from the sun by leaves, and be close to branches where the grown dragonettes can perch while looking for prey.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dragonettes are oblique carnivores. They can eat plants, but get no nutrients from it since their dietary system isn't made for it, and some plants might be toxic. They eat smaller creatures, like lizards and small rodents, which it hunts by stealthily attack from the air.

Additional Information

Domestication

Although slightly skeptical of humanoids, dragonettes can be "tamed" into pets. The "taming" mainly consists of bribing it with food until it trusts you if it is wild. Dragonettes bred by humanoids are already used to their presence, and if they have been pets all their life they won't need a long domestication process.

The dragonettes are bred to make more pets, though a dragonette in captivity won't breed easily. No one knows exactly why, but it's notoriously hard to get a female and a male dragonette to mate in a domestic environment. Still, somehow it's possible to at least make as many new dragonettes as there is in captivity, so the tame ones won't be extinct just yet. However, the breeding difficulties makes supply slightly lower than demand, and since it's a popular pet among the richer people on Shireon it's hard to get one without knowing someone or owning an inconceivable amount of money.

It is now illegal to capture and domesticate wild dragonettes. Some are captured anyways, but if the catchers get captured by the rangers that are watching the wild population, the captured dragonettes are released back into the wild. The punishment for trying to catch a wild dragonette is about ten years in prison, or a hefty fine at about the same value of a tamed dragonette's price.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

In the wild, dragonettes live in drier areas of the Southern Coast, where there's little vegetation due to little rainfall. They don't enjoy straight out deserts, but they don't like too much air moisture either. This makes the southern half of the Southern Coast area optimal for the dragonettes.

Average Intelligence

Dragonettes has about the same intelligence as an average seven year old human child. They can learn one or two languages, but not get a complex understanding of grammar. They have their own primitive language consisting mostly of words connected to food and danger, and can learn another language if the teacher is patient enough and bribes the dragonette with treats.

Due to their relatively high intelligence it is possible to teach tricks to a dragonette, but since they're also very stubborn it's not an easy task. Still, with a lot of patience and a considerable amount of treats a dragonette can learn quite advanced tricks, as long as it doesn't start becoming bored by the trick.

Alternative names

Mini-dragon
Shoulder dragon

Lifespan

9 years (wild)
16 years (domesticated)

Conservation Status

There aren't that many dragonettes in the world, and as they gained popularity as pets they became almost extinct in the wild. Now, after a century where the wild number of dragonettes has been protected against being captured to be sold as pets, their number has slowly climbed, although it's still quite low.

Average Weight

1 kg

Average Length

40 cm

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Known Dragonette Pets

Thrannan Eralor had a dragonette as a pet and travel companion for many years called Fivel. Fivel is perhaps the world's most well-travelled dragonette in history, having visited all the larger cities of Shireon with its owner.

Fivel was found by Thrannan as a tiny baby, its mother had died or abandoned it. It was starving and scared, but Thrannan spent some time feeding it to gain its trust. Some rangers came by and almost arrested Thrannan for breaking the law, but after explaining what had happened he was allowed to keep the little creature as a travelling companion. The pair travelled together for twenty years before Fivel died of old age.