Dragon
Dragons were a semi-sapient race of serpentine creatures that inhabited places all over Legere.
Basic Information #
Anatomy #
Dragons in Legere were giant four-legged serpentine creatures with large, leathery wings and horns. They fought with their sharp teeth, deadly claws, and powerful tail.
The tough scales of a dragon made them formidable creatures to most wildlife. A sword was able to pierce through a dragon's scales, but the slashes of a blade were effectively deflected.
A dragon's blood was also highly flammable due to a certain level of magical protein encoding sequences in their genetics. This flammable blood was also the source of their infamous “fiery breath”. Dragons had a pouch that sat above their heart which could be flexed to stop blood going to the head from going back to the heart. This built pressure until the blood was forcefully ejected through their esophagus and ignited in the mouth to spew burning fire onto their enemies. As this cost blood for the dragon to use, there was only so much fire one could “breathe” in a short period of time. A dragon risked fainting from overexerting this ability.
Other magical aspects of these creatures included a total resistance to fire and burning (which came in handy due to their extremely volatile blood).
Genetics and Reproduction #
Dragons were oviparous in nature, laying eggs that hatched on their own with no need for extra warmth or assistance.
Growth Rate & Stages #
Dragon eggs took one year to hatch, during which time the parents had to protect them. A dragon egg was considered a feast to many beasts on Legere, so they were especially vulnerable. After hatching, a dragon's parents took turns teaching the young dragon until it reached adolescence at 15 years old, at which time they cast it out into the wild to learn how to live alone.
If the dragon survived, it reached adulthood at 25 years old, where it could begin looking for a mate of its own.
Even though dragons could naturally live for up to 400 years, their aggressive and thrill-seeking nature more often than not brought them a far earlier death. Most of the dragons who lived long lives did so by avoiding conflict.
Dietary Needs and Habits #
Dragons absorbed UV rays through their skin, which were used in a magical digestion process that allowed them to survive off of water and sunlight alone without the need for additional nutrients. This was a powerful process that drove a lot of their personal independence since they didn't even need to hunt for food if they spent time getting enough sunlight.
UV absorption was limited, though. In many cases, it forced a dragon to spend a lot of time up in the air above the cloud layer so they were not interrupted by overcast skies. It also did not allow them to grow much muscle to increase their physical strength, and it could not replenish lost blood as quickly. In times when they needed to supplement their diet, dragons hunted animals and ate meat.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities #
A dragon's pair of eyes were capable of filtering out intense levels of light they might usually experience while flying high in the sky to absorb sunlight. Their visual acuity was also five times that of humans, allowing them to pick land-bound prey out from a long distance and keep track of distant objects moving through the air.
Additional Information #
Social Structure #
Despite being sapient enough to form relationships with each other, dragons were fiercely independent creatures. They would rather fight to the death than let someone else stand over them. As such, dragons possessed no common social structure or civilizations. They deeply valued the presence of comrades strong enough to offer a good challenge in practice fighting, especially for the young, so the closest dragons gathered was in communes where they placed nests somewhat near each other in order for their young to interact. They typically only did this with other dragons they had established a framework of trust with so they could be assured their young were safe. These communes typically ranged from 4 nests to 15.
Intelligence #
Dragons were intelligent creatures capable of complex thought, communication, and near-human sapience. They used a series of different growls and sounds to communicate with each other in their own guttural language. If humans were able to replicate these growls, they could effectively talk to dragons, though such a thing was near impossible for natural human vocal cords. On the flipside, if a dragon spent enough time they could learn how to communicate in Tradespeak. Most dragons weren't interested in bridging that gap, however.
Dragons were intelligent enough creatures to use tools for their benefit, though their biological advantages gave them enough power that most dragons felt they had no need for them. It was also difficult to create and manipulate their own due to their lack of opposable digits, so most dragons simply lived with their natural capabilities.
Civilization and Culture #
Courtship #
Dragon females only carried four unfertile eggs from birth. A dragon male typically dedicated his life to the first mate he found and ceased mating altogether once all four eggs had been birthed. At the same time, a female would not allow any other dragons to mate with her once she had found her first mate, unless she had not birthed four eggs and hadn't seen her male in two years, most probably signifying his death.
Males larger in size and muscle mass were more favoured by females for courtship.
Culture and Cultural Heritage #
Dragons were very honorable creatures, yet very aggressive ones. Most refused to chase after helpless prey, opting to kill and eat creatures that put up a fight. Since eating meat was primarily for strength, this was a symbolic way of making something else's strength their own. When approaching other intelligent races, they saw strong individuals as formidable opponents and would often leave them alive, though in an inch of their life after victory in hopes they would become even stronger. Dragons never thought to kill their own kind whenever a dispute broke out between them unless their opponent was out to kill them.
The more evil and megalomaniac dragons cared not for honor though. They would do whatever they wished in their pursuit of power, including killing and eating other dragons. Because of the existence of morally diverse dragons, one could never be sure if a dragon was out to challenge them or kill them.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions #
Most dragons did not make moves to engage in relations with other species. They didn't care about anything they could gain from them, and they didn't typically see them as worth befriending.
Most interactions dragons had with other sentient species were violent in nature if a dragon found a particularly strong being worth fighting for a challenge.