Fire Dragon

Fire dragons (Theen, ayzra kiras; Torugk, asale sledur) are a species of sentient psuedoreptiles and a subspecies of the dragon family. They are distinguished by the highly flammable venom they carry and can ignite in their mouths.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Despite being endothermic, ire dragons are scaled. They shed their scales in large chunks every twelve to fifteen reigns.  The scale is flexible and heat-resistant and most dragons are not above selling their shed scales to other species. Dragon bones are hollow.
Fire dragons have six total limbs with four legs and two leathery wings emerging from the shoulder blades of the front pair of limbs. When the ground, fire dragons are quadrupedal, and they walk erect with their limbs under their hips. Both the front and back feet have four clawed toes, three in the front and one in the back, with small claws also on the joints of the wings.
Both their necks and tails are long, with the latter constituting about a third of a fire dragon's full length. The number of small spines, perpendicular to the arrowhead of the tail tip, indicate a dragon's sex, with one pair for male and two for female. Intersex dragons' spines may be either depending on genetics. Transgender dragons may file off or add external spines to announce their gender.
Within a fire dragon's throat is a sac of highly flammable venom that can be easily forced up into the mouth. The fire dragon may then tap into its own quintessence flow to ignite the fire and spit it. Naturally, fire dragons are extremely resistant to heat, as well as being able to survive in low temperatures so long as they are not submerged as well.
Fire dragons have a low level of natural quintessence processing. This is mostly used to light fires as well as support their own weight in flight.

Genetics and Reproduction

Fire dragons reproduce sexually and lay eggs. Eggs are laid one at a time and take about one to one and a half reign to gestate. If the egg is kept in a warm environment, it takes about seven reigns to hatch, but if cold, the dragon inside may slip into a hibernation that it can be revived from by heat for about four or five years. Both parents will raise their chicks when possible, and dragons will adopt abandoned or lost eggs that they can restore.

Growth Rate & Stages

It takes dragons about thirty to thirty-five years to reach their full size, depending on how much food they're getting.
It is unknown what the natural lifespan of a fire dragon is. While dragons over two hundred years old are at higher risk of joint pain and muscle failure, especially in the wings, they do not seem to die specifically of old age. However, natural dangers and disease means that dragons old enough to have lived through the Nightfall are extremely rare.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Fire dragons are carnivores, though there are plants and fungi that they can safely consume and may do so for the taste. Fire dragons require a large amount of food to sustain their bodies, but they can hibernate to conserve energy.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Fire dragons have long skulls with forward facing eyes, powerful jaws, and sharp teeth. Their ears are external and webbed. Fire dragon horn shape is determined by house: Firewings have curly, ram-like horns, Nightbones have short horns that slightly curve downwards, Riverscales have long, antelope-like horns, Cloudflayers have slightly curved upwards pointing horns, Stormfangs have medium-length horns that curve upwards, and Thunderflights have stubby, cone-line horns. Dragons have slit-like pupils, and their eyes come in a variety of colors unrelated to house heritage.
Fire dragons also have antennae around their eyes that, when touching another creature with a higher nervous system, allows the dragon to form a telepathic connection with the other party. This telepathy will continue even if physical contact is broken up to about two hundred feet, unless the dragon breaks the connection or some other signal interferes with it.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The fire dragon homeland in Tevhetra is The Roosts, where dragons of the four houses may claim caves and hunt without worry from any other species. However, many Tevhetran fire dragons will travel beyond the Roosts, even going beyond Tevhetra, especially as transport companies like to hire dragons for their strength and endurance.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Fire dragons are able to see basic colors. They are fairly sensitive to light and can see in infrared. Their senses of smell are very strong, but they have mediocre hearing. They have a low-level sensitivity to magnetic fields.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Each dragon house has its own set of names that are given to chicks not long after hatching. House names are used in the place of family names. Many dragons also give themselves a title based on something impressive they did.

Major Organizations

Fire dragons identify themselves by house based on their color. Four houses - Firewing (red), Nightbone (black), Riverscale (green), and Cloudflayer (blue) - form the nation of The Roosts in Tevhetra, while the Stormfang (gray) and Thunderflight (gold) are fully nomadic, traveling between the islands of the seas and sky. Albino/white fire dragons may take the house name Snowheart but are considered part of the house determined by their horn shape.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Red (Firewing), black (Nightbone), green (Riverscale), blue (Cloudflayer), gray (Stormfang), gold (Thunderflight), white (albino/Snowheart)