Dragons

Often called the mightiest beasts in the world, Dragons are very powerful, yet mysterious and elusive animals. They are the most well known Elemental Animals species, and are divided into 8 subspecies that correspond to each elements.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dragons have 6 limbs, 4 legs and a pair of wings. Their hind legs, which they use to propel themselves into the air, are larger and more powerful than their fore legs. Their wings are large and leathery, and allows them to fly and glide great distances. Their whole body is covered is extremly hard scales, making their skin impossible to pierce. They have long tails, equiped with sharp horns and blades that they use to whip any enemy that comes too close.

Elemental Abilities

Every dragon can create and manipulate one of 4 elements. The most common dragons are Sea and mountain dragons, who can create and manipulate water and stone respectively, while fire and ice dragons, who create and control fire and ice are comparatively much, much rarer. For Ice dragons especialy, only a half dozen reports of sighting exist since the start of the Second Age, more than 2000 years ago.

Genetics and Reproduction

The gestation period of a female dragon is unknown, as guesses range from as little as 3 years to as much as 15 years. Baby Dragons hatch from large eggs, each of them about 80cm tall. The egg shell colour and texture differs depending on the species. Baby dragons have been scarsely seen, as they are usualy very well hidden, far from humans or other animals that could disturb them.

Growth Rate & Stages

Unlike most other species, dragons are able to continuesly keep growing throughout their entire life, right up until death, albeit agt a very slow rate. Nonetheless, since most dragons are able to live many thousand of years, they are able to reach sizes that drawf that of any other animal.

Ecology and Habitats

Dragons are known to built nests or dig caverns into mountains sides, where they spend most of their lives. These nests are always located in very remote and hard to access locations, mostly deep in mountain ranges or high up on deserted plateaus.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dragons are carnivores, and are known to hunt for large land and sea animals. The kind of animals they feed on depends on their environment. Dragons who live primarily on land will feed on various land animals, such as Elephants, bears, buffalo, mammoths and Tuzzas. Sea dragons primarily feed on large fish. Many dragons use their elemental powers while hunting.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Not much is known about their social structure, but it would seem that dragons spend the vast majority of their lives in solitute. They are highly territorial animals and will vehmently protect their nest, including from other dragons.

Average Intelligence

By all accounts, dragons are very inteligent animals. Many sources from the First age, when dragon sightings and even interactions human interaction were much more common, describes how they seemed curious about humans and often observed them from afar. Some accounts even talk of dragons being able to communicate with strong Elemental Mages, but these accounts are very few.

Lifespan

Thousand of Years

Average Height

20 to 50 metres, depending on the sub-species

Average Length

80 to 200 metres from head to tail, depending on the sub-species.

Average Physique

Dragons are generaly gigantic creatures. They are easely the biggest animals in every environment they live in, whether in the air, on land or in water. They are bulky but surprisingly nimble for their size, which allows them to hunt efficiantly. They are also incredibly strong and this strenght, combined with their elemental powers makes them nigh unstopable. They have large and robust wings, which allows them to take flight quite easely, although larger dragons may need a running start.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Each subspecies is covered in a unique blend of colours. Sea dragons have scales ranging from white and pale blue, to deep turquoise, while Fire Dragons have red and beige to black scales. Stone dragons have grey and black scales while Ice dragons have white, pale blue and dark blue scales.

Facial Characteristics
Much like what can be seen in a Dragonkin's Hybrid form, the scale partern on a dragon's face are said to be unique to the individual, much like finger prints. Each subsepcies also have a varying number of horns. For example, fire and stone dragons have 4 horns on their heads, while ice dragons have 3 and sea dragons have 2.
Geographic Distributions

• Continent of Viuzhul
• Levianthan Sea
• Island of Haiska

Myth and Legends

Dragons are present in numerous myths and legends. The most famous of them is the ones contained in the creation myth of Solianism, where it is said that dragons aren't actualy normal animals, but Celestial beings. Other cultures have gods as dragons, such as the Taonese in Osian, or ones that can shapeshift into one, such as Great Spirit of the Rumalian Pantheon.