dragon biology
Dragons (Biology)
Habitats
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Warfang Mainland (Primarily Fire, Electricity, Ice, and Earth dragons)
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Ice Citadel, Northern Mainland (primarily ice dragons)
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Titan Fields (Primarily fire and earth dragons)
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Concurrent Skies (Primarily electric dragons)
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Shrouded Reach
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Eternal Hurricane (almost exclusively wind dragons)
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Agni Flats (primarily fire dragons)
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Lunar Sea (exclusively water dragons)
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Dark Lands (dark dragons)
Lifespan
Dragons can live up to 200 years, with an average life expectancy of 150 years (when counting only cases of death related to old age, such as health complications brought on due to old age. Many dragons die young, especially children and newborns without access to healers, bringing an overall life expectancy much further down). They have 7 stages of life.
Egg (Average of 6 months)
After around 3 months of gestation, a dragon lays its eggs, and the hatchlings within will continue to develop.
At birth, the egg shell is somewhat soft, but will quickly expand and harden, becoming quite thick.
Around six months after an egg has been laid, the hatchling within will start to break free. If this happens much sooner, due to damage to the egg or the hatchling being premature, this can cause risk to the hatchling's life as they are not done developing. A premature hatchling can take much longer to develop than others, or even have problems that persist through their whole lives.
On the opposite end, some dragon eggs are known to wait for decades to hatch. While eggs may 'intuitively' wait for better conditions to hatch (to certain degrees, the hatchling is able to sense winter weather, heatwaves or drought, and will wait to hatch to increase their odds for survival, up to several moons if necessary) some eggs wait so long, they are believed to have been affected by ancestral intervention. They have been given special purpose, and must wait for a certain point in time to hatch. This is extremely rare, happening only a few times every 500 years.
On the flip side, damage to the egg or a weak hatchling may delay the hatching for up to three more moons.
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Hatchling (0 to 6 years)
A dragon is considered born when they hatch. At hatching, dragons are very physically independent. They learn to walk within moments, and are known to be able to hunt and kill critters for food (though this carries a significant risk for them, so they are normally raised and fed by their parents and family).
New-born dragon hatchlings operate on instinct, with intelligence and social ability developing later through nurture. Most hatchlings can talk by the age of 3, with some learning as early as age 1, or as late as 6 years.
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Child (7 to 12 years)
7.5 years old is the average age of element discovery. At this age, some children learn to fly (mostly electric and wind dragons), although their small wings only allow for brief sustained flight. Children of other elements are capable of flight usually around age 10, with earth dragons learning the latest at age 12 due to their weight and smaller wing spans. However, water dragons living in bodies of water can go their whole lives without ever learning to fly.
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Teen (13 to 19 years)
Dragons enter their teenage years and start hitting puberty. Physical growth increases fast. While dragons can be sexually mature at around age 18, it is uncommon for them to reproduce until 30-40, as the chances of pregnancy are strongly diminished until they are old enough for a safer pregnancy and birth. This is thought to be rooted in the species being able to reproduce very early in times of extremely low population numbers, although this bears risks for the dam who, despite being almost half the size of a physically mature dragon, has to birth eggs of almost normal size.
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Young Adult (20 to 49 years)
After reaching sexual maturity, dragons spend another 30 years growing into their full size.
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Adult (50 to 119 years)
At the age of 50, a dragon's physical growth slows to a crawl, and this is deemed the point of physical maturity.
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Elder (120 to 200 years)
At the age of 120, a dragon is considered an elder, though dragons will normally not be slowed by age until around age 170. At around this time, elder dragons will slowly fall behind and suffer the ache of old bones, lose weight, and possibly lose reproductive and mental functions. While they can push on until the maximum age of 200, most dragons that are healthy and have access to high quality food and healthcare, die from old age in the 170-180 range. Genetics are usually the deciding factor of whether or not a dragon can push to 200. Natural causes of aging can kill dragons before the years start to show, such as heart and organ problems or conditions of the brain.
You can view a comparison between dragon ages and human ages here.
Anatomy
Dragons;
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are quadruped. Each paw has three fingers. Forepaws have opposable thumbs with reasonable dexterity, enough to write with. Each paw is padded with scales that are extra tough. Claws are not retractable.
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are omnivores. Teeth are sharp but they have molars.
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have scales, never skin and never fur. Size, shape and texture of scales have an incredibly wide variety.
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have horns. These are mostly bone, but can be covered in scales or a keratin-like material. Horns can be course and diffuse, smooth and shiny, or anywhere in-between. This same material may present on other parts of the body as spikes or spurs. It is extremely rare for a dragon to not have horns.
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have elemental 'decorations'. These are mostly cartilage and keratin with skin/scales/membrane. There are never fur nor feathers, however, due to mimicry they may often look like it - very notable with some wind dragons, who look as if they have feathers. These decorations compliment the dragon's element, resembling flames, metals, rocks, icicles, leaves, etc. Elemental decorations usually follow the spine, but frequently appear at the wing 'hand', tail, cheeks, muzzle-ridge, eyebrows, shoulders, hips, and limb joints. Dragons cannot be covered in these decorations, nor will these individually be larger than the size of the dragon's head, or heavily clumped together. About 5% of dragons lack elemental decorations.
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have markings that show their element in some way, such as lightning or flame patterns. These usually run the length of their body, from the neck to the tip of the tail, or mainly on the shoulders, thighs, and head. Some dragons have more diffuse markings that cover much of their body, such as gradients or non-elemental markings. Less than 1% of dragons lack elemental markings, this being a defect.
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have plating along their underside. Generally it covers from below the chin to the very end of the tail, but sometimes only from the chest to just past the hind legs. Sometimes the plating is entirely absent or too thin, though this is considered a defect. Plating is flexible and segmented to allow movement. Many dragons have plates with few or no segments, and generally this means their plates are thin and soft, not much thicker than their scales. Nevertheless, it offers some extra protection for their vital areas.
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have wings. These are naturally only in single pairs, with exactly three fingers. The wings have no 'thumbs', but often a spur or decorative growths where a thumb would be. The dorsal and ventral sides of the wings are exactly the same.
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May have forked, sporked, diamond, or round tongues depending on element.
Range of possible, natural (non-element stained) flesh colors. These affect not only the inner mouth, but all flesh. Generally gums are a darker shade while tongue is brighter. There may be saturation/vibrance variation, but not hue variation.
General non-dark dragon teeth.
Dragon tusks.
Water dragon teeth.
Age and height comparison, displaying ages 0, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 35, 50.
Fire Dragons
The natural base (scale) colors of fire dragons are red, orange, yellow, blue, and pink. Fire dragons do not have mainly green scales if their element is not green fire.
Fire dragons are colorful. Their palettes will generally lie around fully bright, fully saturated colors. Fire dragons tend not to have very desaturated colors.
The secondary colors (on horns, plates, membranes, or elemental markings) of fire dragons have more variety, but purple and green are rare, both signs of ice and earth impurity respectively. Fire dragons tend not to have secondary or tertiary colors that are very or completely desaturated, this includes black or white, but may have dark and bright, highly saturated colors.
Electric Dragons
The natural scale colors of electric dragons are orange, yellow, and blue. Electric dragons are contrasting. Their primary, secondary, and tertiary colors will come together and make a mix of bright colors and dark colors. As such, electric dragons tend to look paler, more desaturated than fire dragons.
Commonly their secondary colors will be dark and often desaturated, like metals or stormclouds. As such, electric dragons aren't colorful like fire dragons, but bearing a mix of washed out brights and darks. Their elemental markings are often colorful, however, as these tend to display the element color. While electric dragons may be light grey, they are rarely dark grey or a mix of grey and black, as this is not usual and really only seen in Stormbringer dragons.
While electric dragons with red/pink and green electricity may have these as primary colors, they tend not to be primary colors unless the dragon in question possesses these variants. Even those who do may still only have the natural base colors, and have their element color in their markings. Electric dragons with purple electricity will naturally not have a purple base color, instead one of the natural base colors.
Ice Dragons
The natural scale colors of ice dragons are blues and light greys. Ice dragons are bright in their coloration, and in general do not have very dark markings. Their scale colors are usually be blues and light blues or light greys, or less commonly darker but saturated blues. Ice dragons are never a saturated red, orange, yellow, or green base color (if heavily mixed, these colors may appear albeit highly desaturated). At most they may be aqua or pink, but most will be blue, blue-grey, or light grey.
These colors do not exist in their base colors because they are nonexistent in ice variants. As such they tend not to appear as secondary or tertiary colors either. Ice dragons can have purple secondary colors without having purple ice or purple ice heritage.
Pure desaturated black markings and secondary colors on ice dragons without dark blood are a result of fire or electric mixing, and is rare. It is very rare for ice dragons to have colors not represented by their element variants, so the presence of these colors on an ice dragon suggests recent impurity.
Earth Dragons
The natural scale colors of earth dragons are browns and greens. Earth dragons tend to be mid-tone to dark in their scale colors, though a light color is not too uncommon. They can have any level of saturation but don't get too grey, even with grey earth (which itself is never 100% grey, but tinted).
An earth dragon's secondary color is usually still a shade of brown or green, but due to the versatility of multicolored earth, all colors are possible for an earth dragon's secondary color. It's not impossible for an earth dragon's base color to be red, yellow, blue, or pink, but these will tend to be more washed out/desaturated.
Earth dragons generally do not have black or white secondary colors. While they can have dark or light colors, these should be saturated.
Wind Dragons
The natural scale colors of wind dragons are grey, cold-tinted greys, and teal. Wind dragons tend to be mid to light colored and generally don't contrast like electric dragons do. While most wind dragons will have a scale color aligned with the natural base colors, the colorful variants of wind allows for any other non-purple base colors, though this is uncommon. Wind dragons can have any secondary colors, usually still mid-tone to light, rarely dark colors.
Red, orange, and yellow are the rarest colors on wind dragons. While wind dragons may often have one saturated color (usually markings), wind dragons consist of mainly desaturated/grey colors.
Water Dragons
The natural scale colors of water dragons are aqua/teal and blue. Water dragons can be dark, mid-tone or light colored, but are generally quite saturated. Due to the fire root of the water element, water dragon base colors can be any non-purple color, though this is rarely the case - though pinks, reds, and pale orange/yellows are not too rare. They may more commonly have any of these colors as secondary colors, though much of the dragon will be blue hues, as the water element comes only in blue colors. Water dragons are capable of limited bioluminescence. Their elemental markings (not other markings) will glow in water when there is insufficient light. This will happen subconsciously but will 'deactivate' if the dragon is afraid or tense, so as to not attract predators.
Height
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Eggs: 0.7 to 0.9m
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Newborns (0 years): 0.7 to 0.9 meters, average 0.8 meters.
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Hatchlings (6 years): 1.1 to 1.5 meters, average 1.25 meters.
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Children (10 years): 1.5 to 2.0 meters, average 1.7 meters.
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Early Teens (14 years): 2.0 to 2.7 meters, average 2.3 meters.
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Mid Teens (16 years): 2.2 to 3.0 meters, average 2.5 meters.
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Late Teens (18 years): 2.5 meters to 3.4 meters, average 2.9 meters.
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Young Adult (22 years): 3.2 meters to 4.3 meters, average 3.7 meters.
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Young Adult (35 years): 4.6 meters to 6.2 meters, average of 5.3 meters.
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Adult (50 years): 4.8 meters to 6.5 meters, average 5.5 meters.
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Elder (200 years): 5 meters to 6.7 meters. Average is 5.6 meters.
Fire and ice dragons lean average/below average in height. Electricity and earth dragons lean above average. Wind and water dragons are generally smaller than fire and ice dragons.
Male dragons are usually taller than female dragons. Female dragons have the same height range as males, just a lower average height. Genetics play a significant part - in some lineages, females are taller than males. In others, the height average is equal.
Dark dragons are known to be taller on average.
Some dragons, around only a thousand indivuduals, are affected by dwarfism or gigantism.
Dragons with dwarfism can survive their condition just fine, reaching between 2 to 3 meters tall at adult height. While the size of a teenaged dragon, their unique proportions distinguishes them - they have a relatively large head, paws, and wings, while their legs will look quite short. This affects their mobility to a degree, but the main concern is severe pregnancy complications in female dragons with dwarfism. The egg may exceed the size of their pelvis and leave them eggbound, which is fatal.
Dragons with gigantism have a far higher risk and short lifespan. Due to unregulated growth, they may reach as tall as 7 meters at only 20 years old, double the height that they should be. This causes a myriad of health problems, particularly with their bones, and leaves them unable to fly and struggle to walk. Most dragons with gigantism pass away by 30, with none having exceeded the age of 40.
Scales
The main scale color of a dragon is indicative of not just their element, but often the hue of their element. Every color is possible for dragons, with special exceptions for purple, white, and black.
Purple dragons were unheard of before the first purple dragon appeared in the year 3000, though the significance of this scale color is not yet known. Prophecy says only one purple dragon will be born every ten generations - about every 500 years.
White dragons did not occur before the year 2500, at the birth of the first Scions Aether dragon. White dragons are the result of almost a millenia of strictly and systematically crossing every primordial and derivative element to create a dragon whose blood is so elementally mixed, their element is decided at the toss of a die. All current white dragons descend from the first, Zsar, and due to the clan's breeding pattern - which they keep strictly secret - no other lineage has produced a white dragon.
Black dragons were likewise not seen before the artificial elements - the dark elements - were created. While black scales are associated with shadow dragons, they are quite common in all dark dragons, hence their association with darkness. Black scales will not appear on a non-dark dragon.
Secondary and tertiary colors (non-scale colors) can be any hue and any shade. Predominantly these colors will correspond to the elemental hue, if the main scale color does not.
Color Groups
Dragons can be divided into three groups based on their coloration; monochrome, duochrome, and trichrome.
Monochrome dragons only have one hue on their bodies, for example blue. They may have blue scales, light blue horns and plates, and dark blue wings, but because the hue of these colors are all blue, they are considered monochrome. (example; Vitreus, Incendis)
Duochrome dragons have two different colors on their bodies, for example blue and green. (example; Hayze, Lynerius, Therris, Amberius, Malefor)
Trichrome dragons have three different colors, though two of these will be adjacent, for example yellow, orange, and blue (with yellow and orange being adjacent). (example; Terin (greyscale is adjacent to all color groups))
Colors are defined by color groups; black-grey-white, pink-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. A dragon can only have max three of these color groups. Eye color does not count toward color groups, so a monochrome blue dragon may have red eyes and still be considered monochrome.
Eyes
Dragon eyes can be any color. Primordial (incl. derivative) dragons have round pupils with white or light colored sclera. Mid-tone or black sclera do not exist on dragons without a dark element or variant.
Dragons with a dark element always have slit pupils. Half-blood dragons with non-dark elements can have darker sclera and slit pupils, or non-dark passing eyes.
Pure dark dragons may have eyes with no discernible sclera. Dark dragons who attained a dark element through corruption will always have these eyes. Half-bloods and 'diluted' dark dragons will never have these eyes normally, however any dark dragon's eyes can temporarily revert to these 'pure' eyes when losing themselves to wrath or fear.
Slit dragon eyes dilate, but never become round. When dilated, they appear diamond-like.
A dragon's irises can be a single color, two-toned with a hard or soft color separation (gradient), have heterochromia (complete, segmental or central), and can rarely have three different colors, but never more than this. Same applies to dark dragon eyes.
Displaying single color, two-tone, and three-tone eyes, and darkest possible colored sclera for non-dark dragons.
Displaying half-blood eyes. While slit pupils with mid-tone sclera exists on dark dragons, the other examples are exclusive to half-bloods and dark variants.
Dark dragon exclusive eyes.
Reproduction
Dragons often start courting and having relationships in their teenage years, but are incapable of reproduction until around the age of 18, which is the age of consent. It's uncommon for dragons to have children under the age of 30 due to the decreased odds of pregnancy, but it's not unheard of. Dragons can have children until the end of their lives, but advanced age (170+ can impair their ability to carry and sustain eggs and other reproductive functions.)
Male dragons can reproduce at any time, but will experience a monthly hormonal spike that encourages reproduction. Female dragons have a monthly cycle as well, with a fertile window of up to five days. They do not lay unfertilized eggs - once a pregnancy begins, the fetus is formed first, then is enveloped by a tough shell a few weeks before being laid. Gestation lasts three months, and it takes at least six months for the egg to hatch - however, ancestral involvement can prevent an egg from hatching for years, decades, even centuries if needed. No matter how long it takes, the potent magic within dragon eggs will keep a hatchling alive until the right time.
Gravid dragons may start experiencing 'morning sickness' type symptoms at the beginning of their pregnancy, and at around halfway through gestation (5-7 weeks) they will experience rough 'magic sickness' with similar symptoms. This occurs due to the surge of magic to the developing fetus(es), which affects the dam. Her element/magic will become briefly stronger, but often hard to manage. The sudden increase in magic often causes nausea, vomiting, headaches, and bouts of energy followed by exhaustion. This stops latest at 15 weeks, when the eggshell has hardened enough to contain the magic.
Clutches average at two(36%) to three(15%) eggs per clutch. Single-egg clutches are common (33%). It is possible for a clutch to be up to eight eggs, but this is extremely rare(0.2%).