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DragonDragonOld text, Please Update 1.Dragonkin
1. 2.• Armor: X/X/X/X X/X/X/X
3.• Mental Designation: XXXX
4.• Size Designation: XXXX
5.• Benefits, Drawbacks, & Idiosyncrasies: XXX XX Point Drawback, XXX X Point Benefit
6.• Description
1.Introduction
1. In a universe as large as Paranesia, encounters with huge reptilians are mercifully infrequent, at least for those who don't specifically seek them out. Since the Renaissance, however, more and more people have developed reasons for locating dragons, and not merely to slay them. An entire society of Dragonwatchers exists merely to oberve and catalog these creatures, for example, and various other groups of people have tried to form alliances with them, usually with minimal success. Attempts to observe and interact with dragons have continued to increase in recent years despite the fact that most dragon-related legends suggest that one can count on a rather specific set of circumstances if one attempts to approach such a beast. This formula for the dragon's behavior is simple — it will rise from its bedding of priceless gold and jewels, roar bestially, and cast some kind of locator spell to pinpoint its quarry. Then it will take aim and breathe forth fire to roast the trespasser, and finally enjoy her with garlic cheese toast and a dry chianti. This is, unfortunately, usually how it goes, although there are enough exceptions for people to keep trying.
2. The extended family of dragons, collectively called dragonkin, is complex and worthy of study, partly simply because of the many distinctive and unique elements present in dragonkin culture, but mainly to avoid being eaten (or worse, used as a bathing sponge) by one of these majestic creatures.
3. Arcane legend has it that dragons were originally created by the gods as intelligent steeds and weapons, but as so often happens with divine plans, something went horribly awry. Dragons, after all, tend to have a great deal of pride to accompany their intelligence, and as a rule they aren't especially willing to serve anyone — not even dieties. The gods are said to have kicked the obnoxious things out of the heavens and, metaphorically speaking, locked the cosmic door.
4. After being tossed out, dragons quickly learned to adapt to life among the more mundane mortal lifeforms. Some of their favorite ways of adapting included eating people, as well as destroying their cities, stealing their treasure, and kidnapping their various attractive but helpless young men and women. Some dragons of a more personable nature were known to help mortals or even form romantic relationships with them, which has given birth to various subspecies of human and dragon descent.
5. All dragons have a number of general characteristics in common. They are all reptilian, though they aren't cold-blooded. They aren't warm-blooded either, however; dragons are the only known hot-blooded reptile — their blood maintains a constant boiling temperature. As everyone knows most of them are sentient, and a good number are geniuses. They are prodigiously and naturally magical (Higher Arc dragons regenerate their Channeling Threshold at a rate of one degree per hour while awake and two per hour while sleeping) They all can fly, usually more easily than walking. An old legend, often circulated in halfling oral tradition, states that all dragons have at least one jealously guarded weak spot in their otherwise formidible hides. This is true, but it isn't the whole story; dragons don't protect this spot because it's a weakness, but because it's a sensitive erogenous zone.
6. Should a mortal manage to utilize the "weak spot" to actually slay a dragon, its body makes a veritable pharmacopeia of magical substances. A dragon's blood, for instance, grants temporary strength (+1 per pint). An overdose of a dragon's blood (more than one or two pints at once, or more over a larger period of time) causes various scaly mutations, however. These scales are dragon-sized and prove quite encumbering but only minimally protective. Another useful substance is a dragon's bile, which is a deadly enzymatic poison that kills by "digesting" the soul, and a dragon's spinal fluid (called "meningus drakkus"), which imparts knowledge that the unfortunate dragon knew in life.
7. All true dragons occupy a place on the chain of being above mortals — that of the behemoth. As such, they are much closer to the immortality of the gods, and live for many thousands of years. Possibly because their lifespans are so long and not many generations have passed since they were kicked out of the heavens, many dragons tend to affect a melodramatic mindset when it comes to their own perception of the fate of their race. They are quite content to sit on a comfortable stack of sharp metal, wallowing in melancholy self-pity and brood about what they call the collective paradise lost to dragonkin. Most are rather at odds with this whole Renaissance thing, because as a rule dragons take great pride in not being even remotely funny. They will usually respond to ridicule in an extreme fashion (this usually means a full-on genocidal blitzkrieg rage, but occasionally it involves huge sobs and wails). Some of the younger ones are beginning to see a different way of life and are choosing new things to be intense about, like human politics or fresh pie.
8. Likely the most pervasive myth regarding dragons is an old classification based on color and quality of scales. Intrepid researchers holding to this ancient myth claim that the color of a dragon's scales indicates much about it's personality, mannerisms, personal style of spellcraft, and choice of habitat. In fact these ideas are largely erroneous and usually advocated by scholars who have never seen a dragon — the same sorts of scholars who believe that the best way to approach a dragon without arousing its ire is to stuff one's pockets with parsley and approach slowly while striking a triangle at regular intervals.
9. All true dragons possess some ability to enchant their exhalation. Such breathe is not always fire, a fact which sometimes surprises a well-insulated and misinformed dragonslayer when she discovers that a dragon has hosed her down with tar and feathers, doused her in a shower of herbs and spices, or topped her off with whipped cream and a cherry. Some dragons have breath which emerges in a fine jet, while others can hose down a great area with a cone of effect or breathe forth a great cloud which can linger of a prespecified amount of time.
10. There are various breeds of dragonkin, divided and differentiated by the original use the gods had intended for them. Saurischians were to be battle steeds, while ophidians were meant for backup support and healing. Wyverns were created en masse for towing the god's huge battle clouds, and chiropterans were meant to be relatively unthinking, ravenous attack drones.
11.• Adventure Ideas: A person attempting suicide fails even when trying to feed himself to a dragon,
2.The True Dragons
1.NOTES FOR CARA ON DESCRIPTION
1.• teeth are even and symmetric, when mouth is closed they're not visible.
2.• wings situated at the "shoulder joint' on thier backs.
3.• four legs not attached to legs.
4.• tough hide
5.• quite stocky as dragons go, and strong
6.• heads with a pair of backward sweeping horns, and strong bone ridges in the faces
7.• otherworldly eyes
8.• large teeth
9.• "truly a magnificent countenance to behold."
10.• vertibrae has a short ridge and spike or bone spur growing dorsally through the scales, running the length of the spine and tail, terminating in a spiked spade-shaped bashing thing
2. Physically, saurischians (pronounced "saur-ISS-kee-ans") are different than any of the other dragonkin in that their wings are distinct from the rest of their four limbs. These wings, situated at the "shoulder joint' on their backs, are large and powerful. They are also notable physically for their tough hides, horns, and otherworldly eyes.
3. Among dragons, saurischians have the greatest potential for sheer size. Large adults typically reach 20 feet high at the shoulders and 60 feet in length, and – unfortunately for mortals – the greatest potential to come into conflict with them. Saurichians often want what mortals want — easy access to food, precious metals (albeit for bedding), and sometimes even a tall ship and a star to steer her by, because toy boats are fun.
4. Saurischians are the most sapient, not to mention the most arrogant, of the dragonkin.
5. and cognizant of their position on the chain of being, and what that means.
6. Among dragons, saurischians have the greatest potential for sheer size. Large adults typically reach 20 feet high at the shoulders and 60 feet in length, and – unfortunately for mortals – the greatest potential to come into conflict with them. Saurichians often want what mortals want — easy access to food, precious metals (albeit for bedding), and sometimes even a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
7. Over the years, many forms of saurischian breathweapon have been experienced by mortals, but probably the quintessentially experienced breathweapon is fire. Not an effect unto itself, firebreath is a subset of a dragon's ability to manipulate magic, particularly in the art of Forces. Early on, saurischians not only mastered fire, but also learned to alter thermal energy in the other direction, creating a kind of "icy cool breath". An ancient name for saurischians (other than "Aieee") was storm dragon, due to their ability to blast things with lightning, and to greatly amplify the speed of thier breath to positively gale force winds. Among the more esoteric breathweapons are a cloud of amplified gravity, a sonic blast (belch), a telekinetic breath, and a strange miasma which decreases friction. In any case, a saurischian's dragonsbreath carries with it a particular odor, easily recognisable to any mortal, an odor which saurischians vehemently deny smells anything like chicken.
8.All this power bestowed to one creature lends a certain... arrogance and pervasive sense of assured superiority – which is pretty much true, dragons being behemoths. Most saurischians are disaffected by the affairs of mortals (after all, they are simply below dragonkin), likening their wars and achievements as the mere scrabblings of mice in the walls. Some members of this august breed have come off thier huge, scaly high horses somewhat and are beginning to understand that mortals are not completely insignificant, although, gosh, they do die pretty easily.
9. Saurischians have a fondness for pretentiousness when naming thier children: Derkesthai, Ischium, Skihlion.
10.Ophidians 1.NOTES FOR CARA ON DESCRIPTION
1.• More of an asian dragon look
2.• Quadripedal, but long, sinous, snakelike body
3.• round, pliable scales
4.• Expressive eyes & eyebrows
5.• Benevolent and joyful looking
6.• hides in clouds,
7.• Has no wings, but can fly so well, it's to the point of levitation - levitates more then walks
8.• tend to have manes and a ruff of fur running the length of the spine, instead of spikes or something
9.• Has feelers (somewhat catfish-like) on snout
2.Examples of this breed are no less majestic than their cousins, but quite different. Serpentlike and lithe, these dragons are mysterious and well versed in the ways of Matter magic.
3.Being excellent Matter magic workers, a typical ophidian pastime is shapechanging into the form of some given of mortal race and living among them. In this guise, they reward those mortals whom they see as pure and good-of-heart. Many ophidians adhere to an ancient and complex moral code in thier dealings with "unenlightened races" as they put it. Boiled down to it's simplest verbage, the philosphy preaches non-interferance with races that have not mastered magic. Of course, since their definition of enlightened is myopically ophidian-centric, they would not classify a powerful mage skilled in say, Aetheric magic as "enlightened". Despite this much-ingrained and highly-regarded code, they do spend an awful lot of time mucking around in moral affairs; almost always in the background, and subtly - often acting as savvy political advisors and unequalled healers, but occasionally as rickshaw operators and lemon merchants.
4.A telltale which can give away the true identity of a shapechanged Ophidian are their fondness for opulent living, tendency to live far outside of their mortal identity's means, and truly eclectic - if not downright weird tastes. Being generally the terrace's finest Matter-working race, they can have anything they want, from literally out of thin air. One grows suspicious of the healer who can carry the equivalent of a fully stocked herb ship around in a little medical bag, the politician who can pull any needed government form from their pouch, or the lemon merchant who eats a bowl of morning dew and black pearls each breakfast.
5.Ophidians pick names like the following for their offspring: Jinylunlan, Zhong Qua'a, Lizong Dhong Phuq
6.Komodo, Ouphidian, Serpentes Ouroborus
7."Benevolent" - Altrustic to "pure" mortals and wishes to see good come to them, somewhat aloof.
8.Doesn’t need food (see: matter-user), can live on good deeds.
11.Wyverns 1.While intelligent, like saurischians and ophidians, wyverns tend to be a bit daft by the genius-level standards of those varieties.
2.Social & gregarious
3.Bipedal with shouder-mounted wings
4.Body shape tends to be somewhat avian
5.Omnivorous
6.Most common dragon
7.Non spell using
8.Smaller than other true dragons
9.Wyverns have a curious susceptibility to predation by chiropterans, see below for more.
12.Chiropterans 1.NOTES FOR CARA ON DESCRIPTION
1.• very spiky & rugged heads; forward facing horns, cutting bone ridges
2.• A chiropteran's front limbs are set up to do double duty as wings and legs, like a bat's, with patagia webbing elongated fingers and running the length of the body, connecting to the hind-limbs. When on land, they walk quadripedally on these wings folded up along thier sides, the patagia partailly retracted along their lithe forms.
3.• Large ventral scales on
4.more!!!!!!!!!!
2.While not the largest dragons in existance, the chiropterans are probably the most dangerous. Foul tempered and always hungry, these dragons truly have a need to kill. All one has to do is to observe chiropteran physiology to understand the purpose the gods designed these dragons for. 3.Consumate predators, chiropterans are not entirely sentient, but terribly clever when it comes to hunting something down and eating it. They are also very territorial, with a bit of a superiority complex, to the extent that they don't even like seeing other predators of any kind in their domain. Individuals of this breed with lairs near seacoasts have been observed plucking fully-grown sharks out of the water, and then just totally whaling on them in mid-air with their horns.
4.The preferred prey of any chiropteran are, oddly wyverns. The ecology of thier strange relationship seems to have been preprogrammed by the gods. Either that or laughable evidence of evolutions on the Terrace. Chiropterans are renowned for their unrelenting greed for wyvernflesh. They have been observed eschewing the easy pickings of a herd of one-legged sheep to track down a wyvern who flew over that heard (after having eaten off three legs from each sheep), a fortnight past. Wyverns, the other part of this strange relationship, are not actually afraid of chiropterans as you'd expect. Their nervous systems are particularly susceptable to a chiropteran's single breath weapon: the sonic blast. Any wyvern in earshot of a sonic blast will immediately drop into a hypnotic glazerd over state, remembering nothing afterward, and only able to wonder where the plumpest and juciest of thier freinds went just then. Any other creature is likely to have their nervous system affected too, effectivly acting as a combination Fear and Hypnosis spell 5.Chiropterans do not speak
6.
7.Clever, but doesn’t speak - has vocal calls, though.
8.Meat. Raaar!
9.Lifespan: Life is short, eat things.
10.Nothign quite tastes like behemoth
11.glorified attack lizards
12.Primitive, territorial and very, very angry
13.Non spell using
13.Ophidians and Saurischians
14.Of true dragon kind, these two species are fully sapient and cognizent of their position on the Chain of Being, and what that means. They are big, strong, agile, smart, magically-adept, and know just how much of bad-asses they are.
15.Beyond these qualities, Ophidian and Saurischian dragons tend to have little in common.
16.A typical Ophidian tends to be a caretaker of other mortals, and will provide aid and guidance (often while in a shapechanged form) those that it feels are "pure-hearted" or "properly aligned to the heavens", or some other nonsense.
17.Your typical Saurischian is more of an "overseer", who feels that its role is to "cull the herd" or "punish wrong-doers" (usually by fire-strafing a town, or driving a whole town mad with illusions) when something ticks it off.
18.One of those little ways, however, that these two species do share commonality is in thier attitudes to the Renaissance. The first dragons predated many hosts, and very definitely all mortals, a fact that modern dragons are intensely proud of and pretentious about. These draconics feel the direction cosmos is going in is, well, wrongheaded and disrespectful to the legacy of the hieracry that they’ve become accustomed to over thier long lives. A typical Ophidian or Saurischian expects that you, lowly mortal, be in awe of it, whether it intends to help or harm you. In the past, this was the case, but the knights that ride up to the dragon’s lair come not to slay, but recite a horrible poem, deliver an eviction notice, or challenge them to a life-and death game of backgammon. Some of them even ride giant skunks, fewer than expected wet themselves. Unacceptable and incompatibale to the draconic mindset, these times try the will and nerves of these "nobles". Rather than attempting a great terrace wide purge of this insolence, the Ophidians and Saurischians seem to be in great denial of the world and tend to retire into obscurity. This ignorance of the "weird", and unwillingness to accept the silly explains why the existance of draconic crossbreeds, a heretical fouling of dragonsblood, didn’t inspire the nobles to just simply kill the crossbreeds...
19.Young Ophidian & Saurischian dragons, born after the renaissance, and freer-thinking individuals welcome the changes to Paranesia, but given the rarity of dragons in general, examples of these run rare like mythril deposits.
20.Wyverns and Chiropterans
21.The favored habitat of the wyvern are desolate craggy mountain spires. Wyvern, being smaller than most other dragons, and not having arms to do things like scratch their own backs, often form large colonies, all living as a social unit.
22.Unfortunately, craggy mountain spires are a preferred hunting ground for chiropteran dragons. Being large, impressively toothy, and able to scratch their own backs, chiropterans prey on wyverns and often displace them, making meals of their bodies and homes of thier former roosts.
23.This predator - prey dynamic sets up an unpredictable situation for any mortals that happen to live in the area. When wyvens are forced from thier roosts, mortals have a greater chance of coming into contact with them, and mortals seldom react well to a ‘flock’ of huge scaly things just showing up one day. History records several times that a group of mortals have wiped out a "refugee camp" of fairly non-agressive wyverns, only to discover what was chasing them off the mountain.
24.Draconic drink: Dra Gin - dragons like martinis, with heads for olives
3.Draconic Crossbreeds
1.Draconals
2.true Dragons are solitry creatures , so when they do cometogether to mate, it tends to be a clumsy, unfulfulling affiar. Ther eis no dragin sex-ed. anthros almost seem to embody the repressed draconic sex-drive. They’re total sex-pot nymphos and have plenty of magic to back it up... . tese creature do not innately have the power to shapechange like thier ancestors, but to change the size fo particular body parts - hoo boy, watch out.
3.Saurischian + mortal
4.anthropomorphic
5.Kirin
1.Ophidian + horses
6.Drakes
1.NOTES FOR CARA ON DESCRIPTION
1.• Size: a bit larger than a sphinx
2.• Quick wyvern description:
3.• duckish head, with horns and ventral spine ridge
4.• scales and feathers, mallard pattern
5.• 2 legs, 2 arms, roundish body, "bat" wings, but with sparse feathers
6.• glowing red eyes, nasty disposition
2. Possibly the most absurd member of the ever less-august dragon family, the drake truly stands out as an incongruous beastie among its more conventional brethren. Drakes grow to about the size of a wyvern, but combining the worst design flaws of not only wyverns, but also those of average, normal ducks.
3. Certainly the primary flaw of the drake is that its huge, firebreathing body is commanded by a brain with all the cognitive might of an average mallard. Additionally, they also posses all the aggression of a dragon as well, so they tend to become frustrated rather easily.
4. Although it remains a herbivore, but due to it’s huge size, it needs an equivalently large source of food as compared to a standard mallard - a lot more. A typical drake tactic is to lay claim to a lake, and chase everything else off it with its' firebreath. It’s comical to witness a five ton ducklike thing spooked out of a reedbed by a unwitting group of hunters. Until the terrifying moment the drake remembers that it has firebreath.
5. Another disturbing thing the drake does is that it tries to migrate south for the winter with the other ducks. This, of course, scares the other ducks off course — and the drake tends to follow. So, come late fall, they're likely to show up just about anywhere.
6.Recipie: Drake L'Orange
1.1 ton oranges
2.1 drake
3.1 volcano
7.not intelligent
8.magical fire breath only
9.Saurischian (wyverns???)+ duck: wyvern sized
7.Wurm
1.Saurischian + serpent
2.No Wings
8.Sea Serpent
1.Ophidian + whale
2.Possibly, the behemoth stared out as one of these?
3.No Wings
9.Plush
1.The teddy dragon
10.Lunch
1.wyvern + chiropteran = lunch for Chiropteran
11.Hydra--beast with multiple bodies and one head
7.• Adventure Ideas: 8.• Recipe Ideas
1.Dragon Egg Rolls / Dragon Sushi
2.A dish to be served to the truly adventurous, this fine example of eating truly high off the food chain requires some specialized equipment. Due to the extreme resiliance of dragon's flech
1. Breath weapons
3.Matter
1.Laughing gas
2.Sleeping gas
3.Poison
4.Water, mist, steam
5.Storm breath
6.polymorph cloud
7.whipped cream
8.Tar & Feathers
9.Acid
4.Force
5.Cosmos
1.Transporting cloud
2.Few mortals go actively looking for dragons, and many more are thus disinclined to go poking about in habitats that folklore supposes are the typical haunts of these awesome creatures. Such folklore has a limit to its' accuracy, limits exemplified by such gems as "x", "x", and "rub that long enough, and you'll go blind."
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