Gold Dragon

The most powerful and majestic of the metallic dragons, gold dragons are dedicated foes of evil.
A gold dragon has a sagacious face anointed with flexible spines that resemble whiskers. Its horns sweep back from its nose and brow, echoing twin frills that adorn its long neck. A gold dragon's sail-like wings start at its shoulders and trace down to the tip of its tail, letting it fly with a distinctive rippling motion as if swimming through the air. A gold dragon wyrmling has scales of dark yellow with metallic flecks. Those flecks grow larger as the dragon matures. As a gold dragon ages, its pupils fade until its eyes resemble pools of molten gold.
Devourer of Wealth. Gold dragons can eat just about anything, but their preferred diet consists of pearls and gems. Thankfully, a gold dragon doesn't need to gorge itself on such wealth to feel satisfied. Gifts of treasure that it can consume are well received by a gold dragon, as long as they aren't bribes

Reserved Shapeshifters. Gold dragons are respected by the other metallic dragons for their wisdom and fairness, but they are the most aloof and grim of the good-aligned dragons. They value their privacy to the extent that they rarely fraternize with other dragons except their own mates and offspring. Older gold dragons can assume animal and humanoid forms. Rarely does a gold dragon in disguise reveal its true form. In the guise of a peddler, it might regularly visit a town to catch up on local gossip, patronize honest businesses, and lend a helping hand in unseen ways. In the guise of an animal, the dragon might befriend a lost child, a wandering minstrel, or an innkeeper, serving as a companion for days or weeks on end.
Master Hoarders. A gold dragon keeps its hoard in a well-guarded vault deep within its lair. Magical wards placed on the vault make it all but impossible to remove any treasures without the dragon knowing about it.

Basic Information

Anatomy

A gold dragon's head was characterized by a short face with long and smooth metallic horns that swept back from its nose and brow, as well as the neck frills that adorned both sides of its neck. From the mouth and nostrils descended four pairs of long, flexible muscular spines that resembled whiskers or barbels. Along with the dragon's narrow eyes, these features contributed to give them a look of sagacity. As the dragon aged, its pupils faded away until the eyes acquired an appearance of shiny, liquid gold. Other facial features included a pointed tongue and small cheek horns that grew sideways.

Gold dragons had broad sail-like wings that started from their shoulders and extended all the way to the end of their extremely long tails. During flight, the wings moved in a graceful rippling motion that resembled swimming. This elegant flying motion was considered by many scholars, as well as by the gold dragons themselves, to be the most graceful among true dragons. When on the ground, the wings were kept closed upright over its back if the dragon was at rest, or folded facing back if the dragon was walking or running.
A newly hatched gold dragon had dark yellow scales dotted with metallic specks that increased in size with age, until they totally covered the scales, giving a shiny and radiant golden color to the adult dragon's entire body.
Despite being capable of eating almost anything, gold dragons tended to hunt large and dangerous monsters and were particularly fond of including pearls and gems in their diet. Older dragons even had the ability to supernaturally locate gems in their vicinity. They tended to receive such gifts well, except if they were given as bribes.
Gold dragons could breathe underwater. They gave off scents of saffron and incense, and sometimes a faint smell of molten metal.

Genetics and Reproduction

When choosing a mate, gold dragons could spend years debating philosophy and ethics and questing together as part of their courtship. Prospective mates then sought approval from the King of Justice. Some gold dragons mated for life through a rite known as the Oath of Concord, while others only mated for a short time. They could be monogamous or hold several mates at the same time.
Gold dragons raised their young with exceptional care. A gold dragon wyrmling did not have whiskers, but they developed quickly. It was also common for gold dragon parents to send their young to the care of foster parents. This could serve a variety of reasons, such as freeing the parents for a quest, or just broadening their horizons.[9]
Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult gold dragons tended to be solitary or lived in a clutch of 2 to 5 dragons; adults, mature adults, older dragons, wyrms or great wyrms would live solitarily, in a pair, or a family consisting of a couple of adults and several offspring.

Growth Rate & Stages

Medium 5 years or less
Young Large 6–100 years
Adult Huge 101–800 years
Ancient Gargantuan 801 years or more

Ecology and Habitats

Gold dragons did not have strong preferences about their lairs, but they tended to choose lairs made of stone, such as caves and castles, and recruited other loyal creatures as guards.
The lair of a gold dragon possessed some residual magic. While in its lair, a gold dragon had a limited capability to glimpse into the future and to banish invaders into a dream plane of the dragon's own creation. The region around the lair also experienced some magical effects, such as banks of opalescent mists that haunted evil creatures and warned good creatures of danger. The dragon also was capable of establishing a telepathic contact with sleeping creatures within 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) of its lair. Within 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) of the lair, gems and pearls shone and emitted a faint light.
Gold dragons enjoyed treasure that showed artisanship, such as paintings, sculptures, calligraphy and porcelain. They had a great fascination for magic items and loved to add them to their hoards. It was common for them to magically ward their hoards so that it was impossible for an item to be removed without the dragon's knowledge.
Gold dragons were known to reside in the Serpent Hills, the Earthfast Mountains, the Vast, the Graypeak Mountains, Loudwater, the Orsraun Mountains and Turmish.

Scientific Name

Draco Orientalus Sino Dux