Western Dragons
Western Dragons are fire elemental species of sapient that live on Pyrus, they have carmine red scales, with dandelion yellow scales on the belly, with dark grey horns, males have long ones while females tend to have stubs, they have muscilar legs, strong tails and sturdy bodies, they have fire-proof scales and tend to live high up in canyon spires and cliffsides, they are well known for their ability to breathe fire and even glide for certain distances.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Western Dragons have four legs and a long, muscular tail. Their wings have thin bones that have typically orange leather stretched over them, to allow for short flights and gliding. They also have red/orange scales on their back with yellow scales on their belly. They often have short, black/grey horns facing away from their head. Along with lizard like digits but almost dog like palms, with paw pads to help protect them from the intense temperatures of the lava that flows in the ground of Pyrus. Dragons, like all fire elements, also have a Fire Sack near their lungs, isolated from oxygen, filled with phosphorus.
Biological Traits
Western Dragons can breathe fire and, like all fire elementals, posses a filter over their nostrals to remove the smoke and ash from the air they breathe.
Genetics and Reproduction
Western Dragon's lay white eggs with grey spots that are 10-12 inches tall. Western Dragons lay said eggs in batches of 3 to 5 during the late Dry Season. They hatch aprox. 44 days after being layed.
Growth Rate & Stages
When first born, Western Dragons have flexible, slightly transparent scales, no claws, wingless and blind, they instead have two lumps of fat where they would go. They gain their sight by around 1/2 years old and eat the crushed up bits of sea creatures their parents give them, which helps pigment their scales redish/orange, with their scales being fully colored by around 4/5 and help grow the lumps of fat in their back. By the time they are 6, they start to feel extra limbs in their back, inside their back lumps, which soon then break, revealing the wings. They also grow claws at around this age, and start to learn how to glide as they slowly grow larger, until they hit an intense growth spurt at around 13, but not before their wings start to grow massively at around 11, where their wings are akwardly large compared to the rest of their body, to the point their wings are are often equal to the size of their bodies, until they hit around 13, hitting puberty, where it enters a growth spurt, where their bodies finally grow to become properationate to their wings.
Ecology and Habitats
Western Dragons lived in Canyon Spires and Cliffs, having once made nests atop them, often looking out at the rest of Pyrus to ensure that they could not be snuck up on. They often made their nests massive, enough to fit up to 5 eggs and a grown dragon comfortably, they used meterials that can be easily found and manipulated like rough grasses and even bits of trees, some even use vines to tie the nests together better. They do this so that if a volcanic eruption threatens to melt or crumble away their homes, they can simply grab their nest, crush it back into a ball of metierals, flee then set up their nest again once they found a new safe home.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Western Dragons once preyed on any big creature they could get their claws on, mostly cockitrices, lava lizards, or rarely, Volcano Sirens, though they also sometimes go after large enough fish and sea creatures from nearby lakes as well. Western Dragons would pick their target, swoop down on them, pin them with their body weight and deal a lethal blow with a slash to the neck, then left the body all the way back to their home. While they would often only get one per meal, if they needed extra food, they would go back for a second prey. Western Dragons would rarely ever leave leftovers and would eat as much as they could of their catches, sometimes even breaking open bones just to suck out the marrow.
Biological Cycle
During the dry season of Pyrus, Western Dragons would be out hunting for larger targets and more active during the dry season, getting larger catches, while during the wet season, they would go out hunting for smaller ones like fish and sea creatures, perserving them in nearby small ponds to keep them from rotting.
Behaviour
Western Dragons are generally careful with how they attack, only using fire breath if they are fighting someone they consider equal or stronger then them in power, otherwise, they will only slash at their target.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Western Dragons are fairly social, and often make their homes close to one another, though still far enough as to make others think they are not so, Western Dragons will often visit one another from time to time at outside locations, or rarely, even team up if they are trying to take down a big target or help build around their homes to provide better protection.
Facial characteristics
Generally Draconic, with lizard like facial features with backwards pointing dark grey horns
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Canyon Spires and Cliffsides
Average Intelligence
Around 100 on the human iq scale
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Western Dragons generally have a keen sense of smell, able to track down scents for miles.
Civilization and Culture
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Like all Sapients, Western Dragons speak English.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Western Dragon's always made use out of every bit of their catch as possible, not just to be eaten, but also for other uses, such as using bones for defenses in nests to keep out attackers or as primal armor, or the fire sack, which could not be eaten due to explosive phospherous, and seal it shut with a special type of tree syrup, to keep oxygen out, then remove it from the body, burry it near their homes and use it as a warning attack should an attacker near them so the dragon's would not have to waste energy on weak attackers. The only part Western Dragon's considered good and truly unusable was the brain, as consumption would cause uncurable diseases and it lacked any special aspects about it that could allow it to be used as anything else, like a weapon or tool.
Common Taboos
Western Dragon's hold a taboo over caves, espically those who live inside them, seeing them as antisocial, unintelligent, and selfish.
Common Myths and Legends
There is a tale among most of Western Dragons, of a bold young adult dragon who was famed and admired over his great ability to build near flawless nests. He was beloved for not just his charm and love for his family, his wife and three whelps, but also his skills on how he built his nests, as he held both the great knowlage to pick the perfect meterials and how much he would need depending on nest size and place, along with the strength ones that held their shape yet could be taken apart if needed and also offer a perfect shield against the flames and heat below. He took pride in his skills, always willing to share his knowlage to other dragons, confident that his works could never falter or fail. Though, soon, his volcanic home had started to crackle and soon, it burst with lava, with the flow nearly burning his nest, he then rebuilt his nest onto a cliff miles off into his west, farther from the volcano though higher up then normal, think he was safe, he set his nest up again and tried to live his life as normal, though this time, lightning had struck his plans down, crashing down on his nest during a violent thunderstorm. Frustrated that he had to flee his home again, he fled to a cliff miles off off into east, thinking he could finally settle down, only for ash laiden acid rain to fall and this time, truly ruined his nest, beyond the ability to repair.
Jaded and frustrated, he had given up trying to rebuild his nests and had given up on trying on something that he feared would fail yet again and let down his family, so, he fled into the depths of the caves. However, only a day into him moving in, a rock slide had closed off the entrance, with only a few holes big enough for air and nothing more. Day after day he tried to escape, though there were far too many boulders for him destroy, so he spent months inside the cave, with little but his own thoughts and cave rocks to join him. As the days went on, he became welcomed to more then his own relfection, phantom touches, voices without a source, and ghostly creatures in the corrner of his vision.
After the 5th month, he was finally found in the depths of the cave, quakeing in fear looking around as if trying to find a hideous beast nearby, unable to speak and constnatly hallucinating, his mind beyond saving. After being newly exposed to the outside world, he could not process it all, a mindless puppet to his psychotic urges, where a Volcano Siren had approched him from the cave, using little then appealing pheromones and a tempting gesture, he fell captivated, and left to be used by her in the Volcano until his death.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Western Dragons are known to have a tense relationship at best, with Volcano Sirens, with the latter having charmed and exploited the former as labor, though the latter have long sense banned the slavery of the former. Some still are awkward with their relationships between one another.
Scientific Name
Ales Lacerta
Lifespan
120 years
Average Height
9-10 feet tall
Average Weight
500-550 pounds
Average Length
9-10 feet when laying down
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Western Dragon's are crimson red or sometimes a burnt orange and a golden yellow on their belly.
Geographic Distribution
Related Ethnicities
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