Dragons
The once great and terrible dragons of Lerulious are no more, but even now the echoes of their power rings faintly in the ears of humans. Dragons were massive, reptilian beasts that used their power to bring the human race to heel when they first hatched in ages past. Their greed was their downfall, and in seeking dominion over the human race, they came to blows against one another until but one remained. That final dragon was Ryuushin, and he enjoyed his reign only a few short years.
Even with all the dragons gone, there do exist some few humans who believe that Draconic rule was the natural order. But they have no means to return dragons to this world, and so it belongs once again to man.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Dragons were massive reptilian creatures with four legs, four wings, and a long tail. They were intelligent, capable of speech, and were capable of breathing fire.
Genetics and Reproduction
It is unclear how draconic reproduction functions. Even in the tattered historical records of Lerulious, there is no known record of a Dragon giving birth or laying eggs. According to their own legends, the dragons were born from eggs laid by a Mother Dragon, Yiadara, before she passed. There is no mention of a father dragon and there were many hundreds or thousands or more years between the death of Yiadara and the rise of the dragons of Lerulious, leaving some to be critical of this explanation.
Growth Rate & Stages
Once hatched from eggs that take an unknowable amount of time do so, Dragons are small, ravenous beasts that seek to gorge themselves on anything they can find. The size of a horse as hatchlings, Dragons are capable of flight within weeks, at which point they may be considered to be adult dragons. Adult dragons continue to grow, and live for hundreds of years at least, according to spotty historical records. The last dragon, Ryuushin, grew to be 50 feet long (80 with tail) with a 120 ft wingspan, but the upper bounds of the dragons are unknown.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Dragons feed on meat and crystals, and forced humans to bring them huge quantities of livestock and criminals to eat every day. Crystals they ate more rarely, and scholars suspect these crystals to be the source of their flame breath powers.
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