Dragon

"Most people of Earth believed Dragons were only a legend. Until now." -Alex Snow

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dragons have long, serpentine, scaled bodies, with proportionately long necks and tails. Their bodies have either six or four limbs: two rear legs and two large wings as forelimbs, a body-plan similar to a bat for the four-limbed dragons. Two rear legs, two front legs, and two large wings for the six-limbed dragons. In later generations, after the dragons went extinct, physical descriptions of dragons became so confused in memory that artwork sometimes depicted them as having six limbs - two wings growing out of their backs in addition to four legs - but this is inaccurate. The teeth and claws of adult dragons are as long and sharp as swords.

Dragons vary in looks though generally they are covered in scales, as well as spines that run down their backs from head to tail. Particularly large ridges of horns frame the edges of their faces, running along the back of the skull and along the jawline, which grows bigger as they mature. Adult dragons commonly possess two sets of frills that run along the backs of their necks and spine, two along the sides of their necks and another two centered closer to the backbone, for a total of four frills. These are formed from webbing that grows between longer spines. When dragons are agitated (or simply excited), they raise and flare these frills - similar to how a furry animal like a cat will raise the hackles on its back when agitated (or a feathered animal such as a goose will puff up its feathers), in an attempt to appear bigger so as to intimidate its enemies.

Genetics and Reproduction

Like most reptiles, dragons lay clutches of eggs. Dragon eggs are roughly the size of a football, and as heavy as stone, so they need to be carried with two hands. The outer shell is covered in scales, with vastly different color patterns between eggs, usually matching the color of the dragon inside. Dragon eggs are notoriously difficult to hatch, though they can maintain the spark of life inside of them for decades if not centuries. The secret key to hatching the eggs seems to involve some form of blood magic: as the House words of the Targaryens hint, it requires "fire and blood". To hatch them, dragon eggs must be burned in roaring flames, with which another creature is simultaneously being burned alive - a life in exchange for a life. In the wild, this might just be a prey animal that the parent dragon kills, but human sacrifices will do the trick quite nicely, particularly if there is more than one egg to hatch.

The exact details of dragon reproduction fell out of living memory in the nearly two centuries since they died out. Several conflicting theories and rumors have been circulated, some less grounded in fact than others. It is unclear if the mother guarded eggs she had laid, or simply left them to hatch and fend for themselves, or if the father aided the mother in caring for them. Dragons were apparently relatively solitary creatures, though it is unknown if any hierarchical relationships formed within groups of dragons.

Dragons, like birds, tend to imprint on whoever is present when they hatch, regarding that person as their parent.

Growth Rate & Stages

Newly hatched dragons are about the size of a small cat, but they grow very rapidly, reaching the size of a small dog in about one year, and the size of a large pony in only three or four years. At five to seven years, dragons go through a tremendous growth spurt and on average are the size of a killer whale to a Boeing 747. It is unknown at what age dragons reach reproductive maturity. Dragons never stop growing as long as they live, and they can live for centuries, although increasing age means increasing size, a larger size is not always an indication of higher age (e.g., the younger Meraxes was larger than the older Vhagar).
However, if dragons are chained or confined into an enclosed space for long periods of time it can hinder their growth and their overall size. Rhaegal and Viserion who hatched at the same time than Drogon were considerably smaller than their sibling, around half his size after being locked under Meereen's cavern system for almost two years at an early stage of their development.
When dragons hatch, they do have horns around their faces and along their spines, but they are still quite small and relatively rounded. Their horns grow increasingly longer and sharper as they mature, quickly making the dragon appear more dangerous and menacing to prey or other dragons. The four lines of webbed frills along a dragon's spine only grow to a prominent size after they are about a year old. The bigger the dragon is, the bigger its appetite.
When a dragon reaches adolescence, roughly when they are the size of a large pony, they tend to be rebellious to a degree, much like how human teenagers are, even snarling at their imprinted parent. However, as they mature, this trait disappears.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dragons are obligate carnivores, with diets consisting entirely of meat. Dragons need to roast their prey with their fire breath before consuming it - the only animals apart from humans who prefer cooked meat. Dragons can eat almost any kind of meat, anything from sheep to fish to elephants to whales. Historical dragons ridden as beasts of war were known to eat fallen horses and even men on the battlefield. Fully grown dragons could swallow a live horse whole.
Dragons, while capable of digesting bone, cloth, or metal, prefer not to and they regurgitate it once they have consumed too much of it.

Additional Information

Domestication

Dragons are not a fully domesticated species. Though the dragons of today are relatively tamer compared to dragons of the past.

After years of abuse and forced domestication by those of Old Valyria, some dragons broke free to inhabit an island now called Dragonstone. The Targaryen, unaware of the new habitat for dragons, sailed from Old Valyria to the island where they were given a hostile welcoming from the even wilder beasts.

After about 5 years of killings on both sides, the Targaryens came to an agreement with the resident dragons. They bound themselves together with a blood sacrifice on both their sides. Now sharing mind and soul, Targaryens become fireproof and had greater ability to control magic, they were even taught how to use Dragon Shouts, whereas dragons learned human culture, speech, and intelligence.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Dragons are used as beasts of war as well as transportation. For the Daddario Dynasty, they are a symbol of status and power above other family houses and people in general.

Dragonbone is as strong as steel but lighter and far more flexible, and impervious to fire. It has been used to make bows, hilts of Valyrian steel daggers, and sword scabbards.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Fire Breath

Probably the most famous attribute of dragons is their ability to breathe fire. Dragon flame can turn flesh to ash, melt steel, and crack stone. Older dragons can produce a more intense flame for a longer duration. They are also capable of controlling or reducing the intensity and size of their flames. Dragons seem to produce their fire-breath by expelling chemicals out of two tubes in the back of their throats: when these volatile substances combine with air, they undergo an intense reaction which bursts into a directed jet of fire. The bodies of dragons are also very resistant to fire, particularly their own flames, which don't even damage their own mouths as they expel them. Some believe that in many ways dragons are fire, fire given form as flesh: it is said that "fire cannot kill a dragon".

Scales

A dragon's scales are completely impervious to natural flames as well and serve as protection for the more vulnerable flesh and musculature beneath. As a dragon ages, its scales thicken and grow harder, affording even more protection, leaving dragons immune to fire, although they can still be wounded by dragon flame.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Dragons do not give themselves names and only refer to themselves as Dov. Bonded dragon riders typically give their dragons names based on fire elements, their colors, or capabilities. IE: Sunfyre, Nightflyer, Earthbreaker.

Gender Ideals

Dragons do not have genders and do not differentiate between masculine or feminine. Their language is gender neutral when speaking about others and themselves and are typically referred to either gender by humans depending on the sound of their voice.

Courtship Ideals

The exact details of dragon reproduction fell out of living memory in the nearly 2 millenniums since they died out. Several conflicting theories and rumors have been circulated, some less grounded in fact than others. It is unclear if the mother guarded eggs she had laid, or simply left them to hatch and fend for themselves, or if the father aided the mother in caring for them. Dragons were apparently relatively solitary creatures, though it is unknown if any hierarchical relationships formed within groups of dragons.

In the 3rd millennium, dragons were discovered to be hermaphrodites, by Alex Daddario Taylor, capable of impregnating themselves and laying fertile eggs.Currently, the hierarchy of dragons relies on the hierarchy of their bonded riders, but in their absence, age, size, and strentgh determine who is in charge.

History

Dragons (Dovah, or Dov in plural) are a reptilian race from Valeryia that were once widespread throughout Earth. Although seeming rather beast-like, they are profoundly intelligent, capable of speech, written language, and comprehension of other languages. Their spoken language can be used to cast powerful magic known as Thu'um or Dragon Shouts. They were virtually extinct, except the elder dragon Paarthurnax, until 3015 when they resurfaced in the United States with the birth of Balerion II, Meraxes, and Vhgar.
Dragonkind(Dovah or Dov) often called Dragons, Wyrm, and sometimes dov-rha are a race of Akaviri beings usually described as the immortal children of the "Dragon God of Time" Akatosh. They were once widespread on Earth and ruled over mankind during the Late Merethic Era up until the Dragon War. For the most part, they consider non-dov to be weak-minded, and their spoken language can be articulated to cast powerful magic known as Dragon Shouts, originated from the power known as the Voice, inherent to all dragons and their kin, the Dragonborn. Such power was also bestowed upon mortals by the efforts of Kyne and Paarthurnax, rendering humans capable of shouting, with enough training.
They were nearly rendered almost extinct after the war and were widely believed to be nothing but a legend for much of the history of men until the Targaryens successfully tamed the last few remaining dragons.

Five thousand years ago, men of the Valyrian Freehold discovered dragons living near their islands and learned how to master and ride dragons as beasts of war through use of abuse, chains, and restraints, and used them to forge an empire that stretched across most of the continent of Europe and Asia, then recognized as Essos. Dominating almost half of the Known World. Four hundred years later, the entire Valyrian empire and almost all of its dragons were destroyed in a single day, during a cataclysmic volcanic eruption known as the Doom of Valyria. One Valyrian noble family, the Targaryens, survived the Doom on the distant island outpost of Dragonstone in the Narrow Sea - along with the last surviving Valyrian dragons.

The Targaryens then blood bound themselves to the last of their dragons with magic, a binding to last through time and has proven advantageous to both species.

Scientific Name

Draconia Mundaniformes Raradae

Lifespan

Immortal

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The scale color of dragons is highly variable, and historical dragons ranged in color from black to silver, red, gold, and even blue. Some dragons were one solid color throughout, but more often, they tend to have one primary color for most of their body, with highlights in a secondary or tertiary color along their spinal crests, horns, and wing membranes. Confirmed markings observed so far include:

• Black with dark red markings(Balerion

• All Silver(Meraxes)

• Gold with brown markings(Vhagar)

• Black with red markings(Drogon)

• Green with bronze markings(Rhaegal)

• Cream with gold markings(Viserion)

• All gold(Sunfyre)

• Burgundy with red markings(Smaug)

In addition to the various scales hues observed between specimens, dragons also displayed eyes color variations. Dragons being reptiles, they had vertical slit pupils with large colored irises. Drogon has red eyes while his brother, Viserion, had green eyes

Related Myths

• Sil Naak

Balerion I, the largest Targaryen dragon