False Dragons

Note from the author: This article discusses in-world disabilities and attitudes towards disabilities and the disabled. The fictional world of Ysireth, as well as our very real world of Earth, are imperfect. Both could do with a significant overhaul of how disabilities and the disabled are treated. I see you, friends; this article is fiction and not a summation of what I would wish for you. You deserve so much better.

The false dragon--also called draganarm, mini(ature) dragon, kitten dragon, and flying jerboa--is a small creature that was artificially made thousands of years ago by Aeldvari. It is by default domesticated, though there are feral populations in many places in the wild; feral individuals can be rehabilitated to civilization with considerable ease, however.
Nearly every kinvaren city of middling to larger size has an aviary that breeds and distributes false dragons to anyone--no questions asked, no reasons needed--who desires one. The only time a dragon donor (the most common term for those who run these public-service aviaries) will hesitate to provide a false dragon is if the person in question already has two of their own, but even that is a flexible line in the sand and one that is often crossed. It is not difficult to "cheat" the aviary and acquire a great many false dragons in the name of taking them to other people, but what one would then do with so many is uncertain, as they cannot be sold (since they are always available and always free) and starting one's own aviary is already an acceptable, supported activity if one so desires.
The false dragon itself weighs approximately five pounds, measures a foot long from nose to rump with an additional foot of tail, and has a wingspan of roughly three feet. Its range of colors, types of patterns, and combinations thereof are unlimited, and many false dragons are bred to have bioluminescent markings or eyes. It has a terribly small body compared to its wings, reminiscent of a young domestic cat or a spry rodent like the jerboa, and it can curl up into a space hardly larger than two fists. The entire creature has been designed to be as light, flexible, small, and comfortable as possible as a daily companion to kinvari who have one.
The head of the false dragon is short-muzzled and reptilian, albeit infantilized to have proportionally larger eyes and wide, slitted nostrils. It has almost mammalian ears, oversized for its head and triangular in shape; below the ears, its cheeks are framed by a series of small, flexible flaps of skin that can be fanned or flattened to express emotion.

by Ty Barbary with MidJourney

Its jaws are weak but quick, primed for catching and eating insects, and its tiny teeth are sharp but too small to do more than barely scratch a kinvar. It bears two tongues, one a serpentine one set into a hollow in the roof of the mouth for greater smelling ability and the other a kitten-sized but soft tongue used for eating, grooming, and vocalizing. Its overall appearance is best described as "adorable" by nearly all kinvari.
The false dragon's skin is soft, smooth, flexible, and free of dander. It is remarkably resilient to injury and warm to the touch, as the creature itself is hot-blooded and excellent at thermal regulation with the aid of its bat-like wings. These wings appear delicate but are uncannily resistent to sprain or break, despite the thin bones, and its wing membrane is paper-thin but almost suede-soft to the touch, flexible and stretchy and also resistant to tears or punctures. The false dragon can use these wings with considerable deftness, acting like super-sized webbed "hands" at times and wrapping securely around its body when not in use. The very tips of each wing finger bear tiny, hooking claws for traction, roughly the size and shape of a housecat's dewclaws.

In addition to translucent wings, the false dragon also bears four limbs, though the forelimbs, if this creature had evolved naturally, would be considered vestigial for how small they are. The forelimbs are a mere third of the length of the hind limbs, bear only an "elbow" joint without a "shoulder" joint, and end in two pairs of opposing digits that are primarily used for grasping a perch, an object, or a meal. The false dragon's hind legs, however, are strong and of the shape one would expect of a drake or a cat; they have three long toes and one backwards-pointing "thumb", all clawed and all quite strong for their sizes. Lastly, its tail is slender and clever, being prehensile and usually used to anchor itself on its perch but quite capable of manipulating or carrying small objects.

An Empathic Bond

Beyond its cuteness factor, false dragons are desired because they are one of the most emotionally-intelligent, communicative, and pack-bonding arcane creatures across Ysireth. They are capable of forging an empathic connection with their chosen kinvar very quickly and maintaining that bond indefinitely. While bonded, the false dragon and its kinvar share a form of emotive telepathy--free of words or even images, solely using emotion-like "pulses" to communicate across any distance. As a result, the false dragon is an ideal therapy animal and an excellent service animal for kinvari whose disabilities are subtle or invisible.

False dragons are often cartoonified in children's stories. by Ty Barbary via Midjourney

False dragons are clever problem-solvers and possess deep memories, making their training easily done while young and before they bond with a kinvar. They are by default taught to be able to fetch items, hold items, move around a kinvar's space and body, respond to verbal and emotive commands from "stay" and "come" to "shade me from the sun" and "I need to find a quiet place", and enact a predetermined set of actions if its kinvar is in an emergency state. Their intelligence, memory, foundational training, and uncanny emotional savvy make them one of the most useful service animals in existence.
An unexpected benefit of the presence of false dragons throughout society is that they are not solely associated with disability. So many kinvari come to love them that any stigma of having one has been removed. It is impossible to assume that a kinvar with a false dragon has a disability; it is further impossible to guess at what disability the false dragon may be trained to assist with. This widespread social acceptance has made false dragons an incredibly popular pet and a point of social camaraderie between kinvari who have them.

Survival

False dragons are classified as arcane creatures, meaning they require mana along with food, water, and air to survive. They are self-sufficient, able to absorb latent arcana from the environment to supplement periods between receiving edible mana, and due to their size their required mana is microscopic compared to the mana needed by a kinvar. Their mundane food is almost always insects, as the readily-available source of protein is most pragmatic, but they can share in nearly any food that their kinvar can also eat. (They do have a sense of taste, however, and individuals may develop likes and dislikes of certain flavors.)
As previously mentioned, false dragons are endothermic and can further warm or cool themselves with their wings. They are not designed for long periods in arctic conditions without some additional protection, either magical or mundane, but they can thrive in cool temperate biomes and anything warmer. They do not require regular exposure to daylight and do not lose their circadian rhythm if kept underground or indoors for extended periods of time.
False dragons reproduce inconsistently. They are capable of nonsexual reproduction, able to develop an internal egg and fertilize it before laying it, but they can also communally reproduce in a way that is not obviously sexual, as no sexual organs or activities are observed. Those wishing to breed false dragons for aviaries must treat their stock like a colony, not like a mated pair, and trust that eggs will be laid whose hatchlings have visible influences from multiple nearby false dragons.
When solely bonded with a kinvar and not in the company of other false dragons, a false dragon will not lay an egg. It is possible to encourage such via the empathic bond from kinvar to false dragon, however, and an unbonded solitary false dragon will regularly (once a year, if resources are plentiful) lay a fertilized egg. The egg is closely watched and warmed by the parent and hatches after a lunar month. The parent will dutifully guard its hatchling and share all of its knowledge (and training) over the course of a year.
False dragons are communally social but do not maintain parent-child bonds past the first year of the hatchling's life. Once all knowledge is transferred and the hatchling is old enough to reproduce, it assumes the role of an adult false dragon in the colony. False dragons are usually capable of reproducing after the first 6-7 months of their life, but will rarely do so before two years of age.
False dragon lifespan is uncertain. A bonded false dragon will live as long as its kinvar and may even outlive its kinvar if its kinvar passes due to an accident or illness instead of old age. An unbonded false dragon will live a scant thirty years, though its lifespan will extend if it bonds with a kinvar even in the final years of its feral life. A false dragon that bonds to multiple kinvari sequentially will maintain a kinvaren lifespan. For those kinvari who maintain aviaries, they will rotate their personal false dragon between the adults of the aviary to ensure the continued longevity of the false dragons under their care.

The original sketches for false dragons were refined over time and many iterations. by Ty Barbary via Midjourney

The History Behind False Dragons

It is uncommon in Ysireth for magic to be unable to correct or cure a disability, but for those without access to sufficiently advanced magic and for those whose disabilities are not eraseable, a service animal is often needed to help navigate the world.
After arcane surgery techniques and restorative witchcraft were nearly perfected, Aeldvari began seeking for other ways to uplift and empower the disabled members of their race. Missing limbs or digits were the most common disability that could not be magically fixed, and prosthetics and wheelchairs of myriad designs have been created to bridge the gap. Both mundane and enchanted, these substitute body parts and "personal chariots" are easy to acquire and use for anyone, regardless of their status--and often shared with kinvari who are not Aeldvari, as well.
Other disabilities proved less straightforward to compensate for. An average practitioner of magic can levitate themselves, enhance their physical senses, telekinetically move objects without use of their hands, and use arcana to supplement their methods of communication. But what of the rare Aeldvar who does not--or cannot--reach that level of adeptness for themselves? What of Aeldvari whose mental cognition or ability to maintain focus are incompatible with the magical aids that enable them to function in greater society?
Animals have been used to assist disabled kinvari for as long as kinvari have existed. While Aeldvari favor arcane solutions, service animals have never been ignored as a viable aid. But the usefulness and efficacy of service animals is inconsistent across species and even across a set of similar individuals--rearing and training an animal, as well as that animal's disposition and intelligence, result in a completely unique service animal whose success cannot be easily reproduced and whose flaws cannot always be predicted.
Frustrated with this randomness, a forward-thinking group of Aeldvaren mages enlisted the aid of both scientists and animal husbandry experts in an attempt to artificially create the ideal service animal. Almost immediately, their lofty goals had to be adjusted back to reality, for no single creature could possibly fulfill every possible need across hundreds of common disabilities. After reviewing the existing arcane and animal solutions for the most prevalent disabilities to see where the biggest dearth was, this group of would-do-wells decided to focus upon the more subtle disabilities of the senses and the mind. Even a kinvar born limbness could be fitted with arcane prosthetics to enable them to lead a mostly-normal life, but the intangible disabilities of the mind had no such quick fix.

After discussing the possibility of selective breeding--and just as quickly discarding the idea--these Aeldvari decided to craft a new creature out of magic and a patchwork of existing creatures. With the allowance of some creativity, the "model" of the new creature was set as a miniature dragon - for what child or adult would not want a tiny, mystical dragon for their very own companion? It would also be free of common animal allergens, deliberately easy to feed, and supremely portable. The optimized design of a small, living animal with the most low-maintenance physiology possible was a parallel process to the intricate construction of a ritual that would allow the Aeldvari to make the first of its kind.
After dozens of years of research and planning, the first false dragon was created successfully (after some failed attempts, whose number has been wiped from the records). Another hundred years went by as the false dragon's flesh and arcana were tweaked and improved, little by little, until the resulting creature was healthy, empathic, and able to reproduce without magical or mundane interference from kinvari.

An early prototype of the false dragon project, by Ty Barbary via Midjourney