Fire Dragon

Basic Information

Anatomy

Fire Dragons are a mid-size dragons. They are about three times the size of an Earth Dragon. Their scales are a shade of red or orange that helps them blend into the lava they prefer to be in. They have long, upward-spiraling horns that are black. Their bodies are slender, and they glide effortlessly through the lava lakes that are a part of their home. Their leather wings are rarely used as flying in cool air drops their body temperature. The ends of their powerful tails are split.

Biological Traits

The environment that the Fire Dragons live in has always separated them from the other dragons.

Genetics and Reproduction

The Fire Dragons mate for life. When the female dragon enters her mating season, the two dragons seek out a secluded pool of lava. Where the male fertilizes the lava. The female lays her leathery eggs in the fertilized pool. The egg shells are transparent until they are fertilized. At this point, they turn black and appear to be stone. The bounded couple removes the eggs from the now cold, hardening lava. The eggs are transplanted into a large lava pool where all Fire Dragon eggs are placed. They stay here for about three months.

Growth Rate & Stages

Once the eggs hatch, the newlings stay within the pool. The Fire Dragons, as a whole, watch over them. The newlings eat on the lava grass that grows at the bottom of the pool and on the tiny life forms that live within the lava. They stay within this pool for several weeks. Upon emerging, they easily find their parents due to their familiar scent. With their noses and tongues as a group, they weave through the community and find the place their parents have prepared for them. They are little replicas of their parents without wings, unlike the Earth Dragons that took to flight. Only a few Fire Dragons have, and the gift has not been passed on to all the young. A few little ones have retained the gift, but it is a small few.
The growth rate of a Fire Dragon relies on the temperature of the dragon's body. The time in the lava pool is a quick-growing time. When hatched, the newlings are inches in size with no signs of horns or wings if they develop them. After they emerge from the lava, they have grown to the size of feet, and their horns and wings have begun to form. The little ones have also developed a pouch in their neck so they can carry lava within their body. Once they have left the constant heat of the lava pool, their growth slows and varies. The more time they spend in the heat of the lava lake, the faster they will grow. Most individuals reach their full growth by the age of six months. However, some may reach it sooner while others may take longer.
They all start being taught survival on their island the day they emerge from the pool. There are predators on Thetal that would find a little one a nice meal, so they must stay close and watchful. The ones with wings will start learning to use them once the wings are fully grown, usually about two weeks after exiting the hatching pool.
When the dragons have doubled their size, they start breathing fire and throwing lava booms. This is also when they learn how to use the split end of their tail. These are three weapons that all Fire Dragons depend on. The breathing of fire and lava booms are natural abilities, but they must learn to aim. Using their tail is different. At the end of their tails, two feet of it is split, and they can snap it like a whip. They learn how to use them in battle and while hunting.

Ecology and Habitats

Fire Dragons need high temperatures for their bodies to function well. Thetal is a volcanic island with lava lakes, streams, and pools. The Fire Dragons live in and around the lava.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Fire Dragon's food source is mostly fire ferns that grow in the cracks of the black lava rocks and the kyller cone snayls.
The snayls live in the largest of the lava lakes on Thetal. With their orange and red scale, the Fire Dragons are hidden in the lava. Their black horns are the only thing that can give them away, and they blend in with the background behind them. The snayls stay in the shallows and on the shoreline. When the dragons come to the shallows, they must flatten out and wait for the perfect time. Fire Dragons have the patents to wait for the moment that is needed. When it comes, they must be swift, for these kyller cone snayls are fast and can fit in places the dragons can not go. 
The Fire Dragons use their tails to catch prey before they disappear into deep cracks in the lava rock.

Biological Cycle

As time passes and a Fire Dragon grows older, their body shows no signs of it until they hit their two hundredth year. When their bodies start slowing, regardless of the temperature level, their scales lose the luster that they have always had. There is no ceremony or great mourning, for they have completed their cycle with the world. It is time for them to give back. They go out to the center of the lava lake, where they will sink when their life energy goes back to the energy streams that flow all around them. 
Their shell that is left behind feeds the lava grass at the bottom of the lake.

Behaviour

The Fire Dragons are peaceful. They spend their time together either in the lava or on the shore. They kill only what they must and coexist with most of the other creatures that live on Thetal.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Fire Dragons have a communal structure. The newlings are placed together to hatch and live out their first few weeks in a group pool. The adults live in a group in the open next to the lava lakes. Everyone watches out for everyone.

Facial characteristics

They have long narrow snouts with nostrils that sit on top of them so they can glide through the lava and still breathe. Their golden eyes sit high as well. On top of their grand scaled head are two black upward spiraling horns.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Thetal

Average Intelligence

Highly intelligent

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Fire Dragons have excellent sight, hearing, and smell. They have one other sense that most don't use to track their environment. These dragons can taste a change in the air around them with their quick forked tongues. They can tell if something new has come into their area or if something has left. They can detect the slightest change in the temperature or the barometric pressure. They can taste stress, fear, and sickness.

Civilization and Culture

Gender Ideals

Male Female

Courtship Ideals

Courtships are an unknown idea to the Fire Dragons. The bonding of the two dragons happens slowly and over a significant period. In most cases, it starts when they are young. Sometimes, as young as being in the nesting pool together. For others, it may begin much later. The bond that starts is natural and will grow on its own. It is nothing that anyone can see. Only the two that are becoming bonded know what is happening, and they know when it is time to complete the bonding.
The two intertwined the end of their tails together, and an energy is passed to one another.

Relationship Ideals

Mate for life

History

Fire Dragons were gifted wings and the ability to breathe fire during the Battle of Three Worlds. They happily use the ability to breathe fire, but the wings they do not. Flying in the high cool air drops their body temperature. Only a few Fire Dragons that can endure low temperatures, and they are the only ones that will fly. They are also the only ones that pass the gift of flight on to their offspring.

Common Myths and Legends

The Great Octen
The day the two-legs came was one of great sadness. Many of our kin fell that day, and the ones who called themselves wizards took them prisoner. A great wave of water flooded the Fire Dragon home quickly, cooling their main line of defense. As newling hatching pools were destroyed, they swept little ones up in sacks for horrified things to be done to them later. Wizards sliced and ripped horns, tails, and feet off dragons with simple waves of their hands. A tremendous collective cry of grief and need arose from the Fire Dragons that trampled nature as they fled for their lives.
A sound came from the great volcano that filled their home with the lava that gave them life. All looked up, even the two-legs. From the mouth of the great, spuing mountain came a gigantic creature. It was in an octagon shape. It had eight points with a tooth or claw at each end. Its hide glowed from the lava it had just emerged from. In the center of its body was a large beak. The beak opened, and a shriek of anger came from it.
The octen turned its considerable body and stared at the two-legs with its one great golden eye that sat on top of its body. It propelled its body forward through the air, shrieking. The two-legs fled with the prizes that they had. One turned and raised his wand at the octen. The wizard sent a stream of air at it. The creature burst into many. They sliced and nipped at the two-legs. Many two-legs ran, and others fought and died as the octen severed lifelines for their blood.
They gave the Fire Dragons that were left the time they needed to escape. They left their wounded and dying behind. There was one witness who saw what happened. The leader of the Fire Dragon clan called for his clan. He stood at an opening on one of the smaller volcanos. As his clan came to him, he watched as the octen took the lives of the dragons that could not flee.
The octen lifted their life energy and magic from their broken bodies and spirited them away. Their clan leader told them it was a beautiful sight of dancing light. It has always been believed that they were brought here.
We believe both the octen and our kin are here with us somewhere.
They made this perfect island for our kind to come to and live our days in safety and peace. For the island protects us from enemies.

Grandel the Battleground for all Earths.

Scientific Name

Dragon

Origin/Ancestry

Fire

Lifespan

200 years

Average Height

36 feet

Average Weight

700 lbs

Average Length

70 feet

Average Physique

Fire Dragons are sleek dragons. They have strong legs and webbed toes to help carry them through the thick lava pools they hunt and play in. Their obsidian talons can carve through the island's molten rock and their foes with ease. They can use their muscular, split tails like whips, snapping them at the enemy can strip off hide and break bones. They can also be wrapped around throats, cutting off the breath of any creature they please. More than one Fire Dragon has taken a head clean off this way.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The colors of their kind range from reds to oranges.