Water Dragons
1200 years ago Kventh Scraskil, a Kobold adventurer of some renown managed to attain his life's dream in earning a wish from a powerful genie. This would be seen later as a grand tragedy. Scraskil was descended from the kobold line that served and worked side by side with aquatic dragons in the ancient times of the dragon empire. When he discovered that the genie wasn't powerful enough to cure the laconic plague that afflicts all dragon kind he asked the genie if he could make the water dragons of the world immune to it, or some poorly worded variation of that. Many scholars and historians now claim to have the exact phrasing written down by one of his adventuring companions but alas they don't all seem to remember it the same way.
The end result was the transformation of the water dragons into what many argue is now an entirely different species. After reviewing this article you may find this to be an easy argument to make. Water dragons now go through four life stages from hatchling to ancient. The different types being know thanks to the dragons who were already alive at the time and remembering the transformation and being able to identify each other and the various stages that each seem to be locked in by perspective age.
Originally like all other dragons water dragons had two forelegs/arms, two wings, and a set of back or hind legs. The thing that made them water dragons was theorized to be a particular set of traits that were acquired through purposeful exposure to aquatic plane touches; namely gills, webbing between the digits of the hands/feet, and the innate ability to dive down to tremendous depths in the ocean.
The new ecology of water dragons is still being discovered as time passes because no full life cycle in this new state of being has happened to any dragon yet. What is now know is that each school of 'water dragons' is actually only a single water dragon. The various 'bodies' that they inhabit are all linked by a single psionic hive mind. This makes them far more deadly than ever before because they can now attack in perfect timing from many directions with several sets of teeth and (once passed the juvenile stage) claws. While the ability to use a breath weapon is another common trait among dragons kin, it is not known currently if water dragons have one anymore. All of the elder dragons who have been contacted have denied having one but dragons in general have been known to keep secrets to themselves and it's difficult to imagine a dragon without some sort of breath weapon.
The New Ecology
(or what we know of it so far)Hatchlings
At the begging of life water dragons hatch in mass. Having no extremities but a tail for swimming and a very sharp set of teeth. Usually no longer than the span of eleven inches (28 CM) on hatching they will swarm and live within their hatching 'school' for the rest of their lives never wandering far from one another. The school at this stage of life is usually counted around one hundred, sometimes one hundred and fifty. The full size of a single hatchling en mass is usually the same amount of mass that a full grown dragon should weight, just spread out among several bodies and minds. The usual feeding habits of these young dragons are to stay near the ocean floor still on the shelf of the great oceans, they swarm up out of the depths to take whole catches of fish at once. to feed all of the various bodies that make up a young dragon comes out to around a quarter ton per day for the first several months and then as they begin to grow up to two tons per day before moving on to their next stage in the life cycle. They are omnivorous and at this stage in life eat fish, sea weed, plankton, and just about anything else they can manage to get their mouths on, including swimmers. It was believed before that water dragon excrement caused a spontaneous breeding season for all fish in the waters where they defecated. Much like the few land bound dragons that have been observed cause amazing growth in plants and triple the amount of harvest yield anywhere their dung can be added to amend the soil. Scholars, druids, and farmers agree that this is most likely a natural way of balancing out the amount of depletion a dragon causes when it feeds. This continues to be true of water dragons in their changed form. A surplus of fish and even fish grown to unnatural giant sizes is a sign that a water dragon might be in the area. The dangers of the ocean do thin this school of young dragons. But it is currently debated if this is supposed to be part of the new process of the dragon growing up, since the elder dragons that were changed appeared in their new state with already diminished numbers. From here forward the averages of 'school size' and survival of the school from one point in life to another is partially generated by counting the school size of those who appeared changed since a thousand years is barely long enough for a single generation of dragons to grow to full age.Juvenile
The next stage of life has them sprouting forearms with webbing beneath. Like a flying fish they can jump out of the water and glide for a time this way. Smaller vessels with low gunwales can sometimes find themselves under attack with the deck being covered in blood and naught but bones after a school of water dragons have swarmed the crew. The reason for these occasional attacks is still unknown. The average size of juvenile water dragons is 22 inches (56 CM) to 56 inches (1.42 M). Thanks to the toll that ocean living takes on these creatures this second stage of life rarely has more than eighty members in a school. Those that have less members than forty though seem to die off quickly with all members of the school seeming to have diminished speed and reaction time. This is thought to be because of diminished cognitive function from a lack of minds to carry the full consciousness of the dragon.Adult
In the third stage of life A set of back legs appears, and talons become more pronounced on all extremities. The size seems to jump from 60 inches (2 M) to 168 Inches (4.27 M). At this stage of life a water dragon school is more likely to simply sink a ship than to jump over the gunwales to feed. These schools seem to hunt larger game such as whales, sharks, various octopi and squid. The school of dragons at this point is usually between fifteen and thirty on average. Schools with less than twelve seem to die off suffering from the same diminished abilities as noted before.Ancient/Wyrm
The last stage of life for these creatures and metamorphosis grants them a set of wings that splay off of the back near the shoulders and a second smaller set near the hips. This is as dragon typical as they now become. The wings are more reminiscent of flying fish or giant dragon fly wings than the draconic ones that we are used to seeing in any other dragon kin spotted today. There are as few as five in such a school and as many as twelve though more have never been seen. Their size is usually between 8 feet (2.6 M) and 150 feet (45.75 M). At this point in their life they usually descend to the depth of the ocean and are rarely seen again.Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
In the late stages of the juvenile state dragons seem to be able to get together and mate. Mating has never been observed between two dragons at different stages of metamorphosis. Between one hundred and three hundred eggs are laid with several seeming to be ready to hatch but then dying instead. The number that hatches seems to be directly connected to the mental capacities of the dragon being born.
Growth Rate & Stages
The hatchling state (the first of four) usually take ten to thirty years to grow out of the factors of this seem to be tied directly to the number of bodies that make up the dragon, how well fed the dragon is, and the dragon's mental maturity.
The juvenile stage has been clearly tied to a combination of self control and to mental maturity. So far this has taken some dragons as long as three centuries while others have taken half of that. Once the 'mental' growth has been attained a time of 'feeding frenzy' is experienced as the dragon eats enough to grow all the separate bodies that make it up into the larger stage of it's next cycle.
The adult stage of the dragon's life cycle now seems to last several centuries, but no one is sure. If they age anything like they did before they were transformed, then it should take two to four hundred years to pass from dragon to wyrm.
The fourth and last stage of a water dragon's life doesn't have a life expectancy that is publicly known of. This last phase is precede by another feeding frenzy and then is followed by a absence from the world for a time. It is speculated that they hibernate while going through the final metamorphasis or perhaps even do something similar to caterpillars with cocoons.
Ecology and Habitats
Water dragons seem to now live strictly within the oceans. None have been found since the wish in any fresh body of water.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Dragon's in general are omnivorous, requiring a huge amount of calories and minerals. Most things are digestible to a dragon and once transformed into their new state that doesn't seem to have changed much except that they are now small enough to not be able to eat a sailing ship and everything in/on it. The jaws just don't allow for those kinds of bite sizes.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Psionic, while the younger dragons seem to only be able to control themselves, older dragons seem to be able to sense other minds and communicate when/if they wish.
Darkvision: the eyes of aquatic dragons have adapted to being able to see the the black depths, how this works exactly is something they have been unwilling to share.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Draco aqua dividatur sapien mens
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