What can be said about the race of Dragons that has not already been written, told, or sung throughout the history of Man? Of all the races of the supernatural, the dragons have, over the course of their long history, perhaps been the most visible and storied. This is not so very surprising – their size makes it difficult for them to hide, and their power means they have rather little reason to in any case. There is no culture on the face of the Earth that has not at some point told legends of massive, scaled creatures that soar through the air, their breath creating infernos or devastating winds, blizzards, bringing the thunder from the heavens… dragons have always captivated humans as much as they terrified them, and unlike many legends, there are almost as many tales of their wisdom and benevolence as of their vicious and greed-driven nature.
As with most such wild stories, the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes.
First, the basics. Dragons are highly varied in appearance, some long and serpentine, others stockier and more powerful, but they all share certain characteristics. A dragon is a scaled creature, nearly always winged, and possessed of tremendous physical and magical power. Despite their scales, they are in no way cold-blooded – many dragons in fact are possessed of blood hot enough to set fire to anything that touches is, and those whose blood truly is cold thrive that way, and in the frigid extremes of the world. Their power is drawn from these extremes of natural energy, and nestled beside each dragon’s heart is a furnace of elemental energy that embodies this trait, their True Heart, though they have many names for this unique organ. Whatever it is called, it is the source of their power, especially the tremendous elemental energy that they are able to expel through their breath. They are powered less by the food they eat than by the elemental power they draw from the world, linked to them and burned in their core, and so can go long periods without food, though this tends to slow their growth as children. It is for growing that they truly require material sustenance, something that a true dragon never really stops. A dragon will continue growing until the day it dies, though this is faster as a young dragon and grows almost imperceptible as they pass their first thousand years.
Despite all their power, unlike some supernatural creatures, Dragons are not immortal. They are creatures of the physical world entirely, perhaps more vibrantly ‘alive’ than any would give them credit for, or perhaps it is the intensity of the power that burns within them that eventually causes them to pass from the world. The exact age to which a dragon will live is not set in stone, and is difficult to truly nail down, as their territorial nature often brings them into conflict with one another, and these conflicts rarely end without the death of one party. Because of this, it is rare for a dragon to live to die of old age, but those that have do so anywhere from two to ten thousand years after their hatching. Even they are not certain of the reasons why – the prevailing opinion is that some dragons are simply more stubborn than others – of course, all believe themselves to be as stubborn as any other.
The origin of the dragons is similarly lacking in clarity. The scholars of their kind will say that dragonkind was born at the very earliest days of the world, when the Earth was fierce and hot and deadly, and only creatures as powerful and tolerant of such extremes could survive. Their numbers were in the millions then, and the world was theirs and theirs alone. They built civilizations, and warred with one another for land and for sport, often causing great cataclysms with the force of their power. Eventually, however, the world began to cool, and with it the fierce elemental power that fueled them grew more and more rare. As it did, so too did they, and the dragons reign over the world grew weaker and finally collapsed. They became lords only of their own territory, ruling the skies of their own patch of the world, while lesser creatures intruded on other parts, and the dragons themselves grew ever less common, passing into legend and myth.
Of course, the dragons have never truly gone. Their numbers in modern times are small indeed, and those that remain have taken to finding ways to hide themselves in plain sight, making use of the powerful magic their heartflame grants them. Over the years their reliance on flame itself has lessened, with other harsh elements becoming part of their repertoire. Their natures are vastly different from one individual to the next – some bitterly recall the history of their kind’s greatness, seeking to take back all that they can and exact revenge on the lesser creatures. Others have taken more the role of shepherds to the lesser races, and others still have simply found ways to coexist, to make their way through life in a way that amuses them and them alone. Those who know of dragons in the modern days know them as something of a wildcard – in some cases almost like living natural disasters, whose intervention can turn a situation on its head, for good or for ill.
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The oldest and most powerful of dragons can approach two hundred feet in length after thousands of years alive – these dragons are exceptionally rare, and even more rarely seen on the stage of the world. It is primarily young dragons that are seen even in the supernatural community (and the only ones we will allow) – these dragons reside more in the area of fifty feet long, give or take a couple dozen, but bear in mind a need for reason. These are extremely powerful creatures, and the staff will show no mercy about slapping down people who attempt to make and misuse one. Myself in particular.
Dragons can be killed by most of the same means as any other mortal creature - this is made difficult by their size and strength of course, but certainly not impossible. Get through their scales, and they can bleed out or die of organ failure just as well as anything else. They are more resilient to magic as well, but not totally, particularly not the younger ones. Poisoning is hit or miss - their metabolism means that heavy metal poisoning is ineffective, and the same differences in cellular metabolism mean that paralytics are generally nonfunctional as well. Most other compounds will work as advertised, albeit with a much higher dosage required, given their great size.
Dragons, as a general rule, cannot interbreed with other species. The power of their heartflame cannot be contained by anything less than a full blooded dragon, and without it a dragon-blooded creature could not survive. Many dragons mate for short times for procreation before going their separate ways, though some remain together for extended periods. Because of their long lives, a dragon is not considered to be an adult until it has seen its first full century - and while they have great natural wisdom, their minds take nearly this long to fully mature. They pass on a certain amount of their wisdom and memory through their blood to their offspring, a sort of magic they share in some ways with the vampires, though this takes many centuries to properly settle and be accessible to a young dragon. It takes more than two hundred years for a dragon to reach reproductive age - since not all will live to that age, it is one major reason that they are so few.
Note: Only young dragons (Adolescent to young adult) will be permitted as player characters, though older dragons may be used occasionally as NPCs - this would put PC dragons at less than 200 years old on average, in order to keep their powers in check with those of other races.
Dragons are possessed of a natural talent for elemental magic, and do have the ability to learn other types of spells if taught. Their power is different from that of a witch or a vampire however, as it is drawn purely from within, from the elemental furnace at their heart. As such, young dragons tend to lack the finesse for more subtle spells, though their talent with their element allows them to be potent even when in human form, particularly when coupled with their enhanced physical strength. Spells are difficult if not impossible while in their true form - especially for younger dragons. They retain their innate magical ability, but it is only when concentrated into a human form that they can wield it as the smaller races do.
In human form, a dragon is possessed considerable raw physical strength, as well as senses far sharper than a human's - if not quite as sharp as their legendary senses of sight and smell when taking their true form. Compared to other races, human-form dragons are among the strongest, though they tend to lag behind others (vampires especially) when it comes to speed.
Other Dragon Trivia:
- Dragons have two sets of vocal cords, which is how they are able to speak human languages even with their fangs and long jaws. They retain these when they take a human form, which likewise allows them to speak their natural tongue. This makes Draconic exceptionally difficult for non-dragons to learn. (translator link:
http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/ )
- Dragon society is, as most would expect, based heavily on strength and martial skill. Since older dragons are generally more powerful, much like vampire society, it is therefore mostly age-based. However, any dragon may challenge the current holder of a seat of power at any time. These fights do often end only with the death of one participant, however, and are another reason for the low population of dragons. In recent years this practice has waned somewhat, in the face of dire threats from human weaponry.
(OOC Note on Dragons: There are 3 slots available for Dragons, only 3. We will not make exceptions for this. Creating a Dragon requires that you already have an established character on the site and get staff approval before writing them up. If you disappear without any warning for longer then a month, you will forfeit the right to your Dragon.)
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