Sentient Dragons, although scientifically classified as one singular species, have high degrees of variation among them. These subtypes are not recognized as subspecies or ethnicities, even among dragons, but instead as individual variation. These traits that make up subtypes are genetic, however, do not appear to be caused by any set of genes in particular, instead likely being a combination of co-dominant genes. Even from parent to child or among siblings with the same parents, there can be incredible amounts of variation, and many dragons often have a combination of traits associated with multiple subtypes.
Body Types
Heavy
Heavy type dragons are a quadrupedal subtype of dragons characterized by having large scale plates, osteoderms, thicker skin, and often being of much higher muscle mass than other subtypes. Males within this subtype, differing from stags (a gender thought of as masculine by mortals) also show sexual dimorphism differing from females, as they often have an extra toe on their front feet. This extra toe is not vestigial or a dewclaw, but rather a highly muscular spur for intraspecific competition and combat, generally during mating season. Dragons that have multiple traits of this subtype often grow much larger, both in size and mass, than others, and as such have quite broad wings with extremely long webbing that can sometimes reach halfway down their tails. Due to their increased weight, they can sometimes have difficulty taking flight quickly, and will make much more use of thermals in order to gain altitude.
Heavy type-B
Type B of this subtype is sometimes called 'hypo heavy'. Dragons within this subtype show an extreme of all traits associated with the heavy type and strong exaggeration of their features. Type B heavy dragons can grow to be incredible titans, even when signifgantly younger than their peers. Often, heavy type-bs will grow so large that flight becomes impossible, and may have vestigial wings, rather than the typical broad wings associated with the main heavy type. Their wings appear to stop growing in early adulthood due to their massive sizes, and become disproportional to their bodies. More research is needed, but this subtype is thought to be caused by an imbalance of growth hormones, pituitary gland defect, or malnutrition in youth.
Aien Sol De Draco is a notable example of this subtype.
Wyvern
Wyvern type dragons are one of the most distinct, with a very different bodyplan to most other dragons. Wyvern type dragons have reduced forelimbs, extremely exaggerated wings, and often will walk bipedally while using their wings as a support. More extreme variations of the wyvern type will be unable to support themselves quadrupedally, and must rely on their wings for ground locomotion, akin to bats.
Neia Lun De Draco is a notable example of this subtype.
Lindworm
Lindworm type dragons entirely lack their front legs, instead using their wings in their place, and often have elongated bodies. Lindworm type can seemingly be combined with heavy type, as some lindworm dragons do show heavy scaling, but this may be due to similar traits, rather than a true combination of the forms. A somewhat common trait of lindworm types is that they may not have lips, instead being "croc-jawed" with exposed teeth.
Body Coverings
Skin-like scales
This body covering is most akin to skin, with an extremely high density of extremely small scales. The skin is often quite thin and prone to damage from physical abrasion as well as the sun and dehydration leading many dragons with this skin type to prefer more humid environments. Dragons with this skin type often also have a higher percentage of body fat, likely due to the decreased weight by not having thick scales allowing for a higher body-fat ratio. Due to such tight clustering with the scales, scale rot, fungus, and other similar diseases have a much harder time penetrating deep into the flesh and spreading around the body due to little to no overlap with the scales.
Reptilian scales
The reptilian scale type is named for its similarity to the scales of many snakes- most often the scales are fairly large and overlapping, oftentimes being keeled and highly keratinized, though not as much as plated scales. Dragons with this skin type also more commonly have spines, osteoderms, and thicker bone ridges on the skull than other dragons. This scale type also is less prone to dehydration and sun damage due to the scale thickness, and quite resistant to physical damage, but can be more susceptible to burn damage and flaking, which is often removed in each shed.
Plated
Plated type scales are extremely large, thick, and hyper-keratinized, being extremely resistant to most forms of damage. These extremely thick scales often coincide with traits of the 'hypo heavy' bodytype, and may be caused by similar traits. Plated scales, due to their size, may impede body movement and mobility as they often do not overlap, instead being fused to large sections of the skin. Dragons with this scale type may also have significant stretch marks and scale spread when gaining large amounts of weight very quickly, which can be uncomfortable due to the thin scar tissue between plates.
Feathered
Feathered dragons have coverings of feathers across large portions of their bodies, most often being the tail, tops of the wings, chest, neck, and legs. Most often, non-feathered portions of the body are covered with thin skin-like scales. Feathers can greatly vary from small fuzzy proto-feather like structures to fully fledged plumes analogous with those of birds and many different mixes on one singular dragon of feather types.
Furred
A misnomer, the 'furred' type is actually a variation on feathered body coverings, characterized by extremely long, thin, and delicate proto-feather structures. Furred dragons often have very thick layers of bodyfat, likely due to that the 'fur' offers little in way of protection from physical damage or resistance to flame if not treated properly. Fur is most common on the neck, mane, chest, and down the spine, where it is often at its longest, however short fur also does often grow on the wings, belly, and face.
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