Maps

Dragons

Name: Aelanir

Appearance: Aelanir dragons are long and snakelike, generally ending up between 50 and 200 strides in length, and are one of the slenderest dragons relative to their length. They rarely grow much beyond an arm’s length in thickness prior to entering their fifth decade.

Their widely spaced and very short legs make walking their least favourite mode of transportation, and they generally tend to prefer flying or hovering. Aelaniri have two pairs of wings, making them one of the most agile fliers.

Aelanir scales are thick and rectangular along the back, growing thinner and smaller toward their underbelly. Their incredible agility allows them to coil protectively around themselves, leaving only the thickest plates exposed to attacks from any direction. A double row of sharp spines down the aelanir’s back help make them an uncomfortable target for any predator.

Their heads are characterized by the short horns at the end of their snout and an irregular crown of horns distinct to each individual, generally ranging from eight to thirty in number.

Breeding: An aelanir mother lays between one and three eggs to a clutch, generally no more than once a year and often taking a year and a half or as long as three years between clutches.

Aelaniri eggs are grey and slate-like in appearance and roughly a handspan in height.

New hatchlings grow rapidly, reaching their adult length between 18 and 40 months from hatching.

Personality: Aelanir dragons tend to be playful and intelligent, examining their world thoughtfully and with enthusiasm. An aelanir is best suited to a traveling lifestyle with a small but close group. Flamboyant and highly social creatures, aelaniri can grow despondent without other dragons to associate with. Generally they are happiest with a set group of very close friends.

Name: Blaze

Appearance: Blaze dragons are slender and generally lizard-shaped in appearance, with a pair of long narrow wings and a flexible tail which extends nearly twice their length. Blaze is one of the few dragon breeds to be entirely hornless, with no spikes anywhere on their body.

Their heads are narrow and pointed, with frills that can be flared in threat or used for precision steering in flight. Their scales are classically round and overlap across their backs and limbs.

Blazes have sturdy legs and are capable of crawling at surprising speeds for their size and weight. They are not the fastest dragon either on ground or in the air, but are solidly average at both.

The proper riding position for a blaze is at the base of its neck. This does require some adjustment, as adding a rider tends to make them front-heavy for a time until they adapt. It is customary to strap a weight to their saddle for a few weeks prior to attempting to ride in order to prevent any danger posed by the adjustment.

Breeding: Blaze clutches are irregular but very large, due to a blaze mother storing up eggs internally, often mating with dozens of males over a period of several years before finally settling in to raise her young. Blazes can be ready to hatch within days of being laid, but are hardy and can survive for years if necessary.

Blaze eggs are solid and spherical, red with marble-like orange streaks. This has led them to be collected by many cultures for their gemlike beauty, many never realizing the hoard guarded by an angry dragon was in fact her many children.

New hatchlings will grow slowly for the first two months, then increase in size and appetite very rapidly for between one and four weeks before slowing again. They reach full maturity at around two and a half years of age.

Personality: Blaze dragons tend to be sedate and calm, untroubled and relaxed. They can be furiously tempestuous when roused, but they are difficult to anger. They are not the most intelligent of breeds, but certainly far from the stupidest.

They rely a great deal on collective decision-making and group collaboration; as a result blazes thrive best in large groups. Their low emotional attachment to anyone specific allows them to be moved from one group to another without causing undue stress, making them ideally suited for dragon mages who must travel between postings irregularly.

Name: Browning

Appearance: The workhorse of dragon breeds, brownings are among the fastest and sturdiest ground-based dragons. While their heavy bodies and thick limbs are neither particularly beautiful nor light enough for prolonged flight, they can outlast nearly any other dragon on foot.

Browning faces are characterized by the ring of small horns around the eyes, and a ‘mane’ ridge of longer horns running from the snout to the base of the neck. Their tails are thick and relatively short compared to most dragons, roughly equal to the length of the body when the neck is fully extended, and have no spikes or other distinctive features.

Their wings are set just forward of their forelegs, necessitating a neck-looped saddle to prevent being battered when in flight. Brownings fly very well, but need to rest frequently.

Breeding: Brownings usually lay only one egg, two on very rare occasions, but can do so as frequently as every second month. One of the few dragon breeds to be naturally monogamous, mating brownings outside of stable pairs is almost impossible so take great care in choosing who you allow your browning to first mate with.

Browning eggs are dull brown and are easily mistaken for stone or compacted dirt. They can sit unhatched for decades with only minimal danger so long as the temperature never falls too low. Hatching can be intentionally induced by the application of fire.

Browning mothers tend to be sly with their eggs, hiding them cunningly, which often results in an unexpected glut of baby brownings running around the wild every few years during particularly hot summers.

Personality: Brownings tend to be passive and docile, but there is a wider range of possible deviations from this norm than in most other dragon breeds.

Brownings are among the least social types of dragons, perfectly content to be on their own for long periods of time. This makes them ideally suited dragons for mages who will be traveling alone a lot, such as scouts or messengers.

Name: Cyloran

Appearance: One of the largest and most aggressive dragons known to exist, cylorans are covered in a thick knobby stonelike hide, almost impermeable and highly valuable. Cyloran faces are long and gaunt, with outward-pointing horns.

Breeding: Unknown. Cyloran breeding has never been observed, and only a single egg has ever been captured. Deep green and patterned like ocean waves, the egg has yet to be successfully hatched. It is quite probable that it’s a dud, or the hatchling inside died decades ago.

Personality: Arrogant beyond comprehension, a cyloran will always believe itself to be the ultimate existence and make no allowances for anyone beneath its notice. Though making up the smallest proportion of wild dragon population, cyloran attacks have been responsible for nearly 12% of all dragon related deaths.

Name: Ederyn

Appearance: River-dwelling ambush predators, ederyn dragons are flightless and semi-crocodilian in form, though with six long, webbed limbs and three thin, finned tails which they use as lures. Ederyn are incredibly fast swimmers and can remain underwater for as long as a week without surfacing, though most prefer to cruise closer to the surface at least once a day.

On land, an ederyn can run at a moderate pace for several hours, but they are most adept as ambushers. A fully-grown ederyn is capable of leaping four times its length from a standing start, or nearly twice that with a swimming build-up, and their predictive reflexes are unparalleled. They have been known to snap low-flying dragons out of the air.

Breeding: Ederyn usually lay their eggs at the bottom of rivers, concealing them in the silt from any predators that may attack their vulnerable young. A clutch of ederyn eggs can easily be mistaken for a lumpy rock due to how they stick together.

The eggs are a mottled pale brown and softer than most dragon eggs, never reaching the solidity of other breeds.

Ederyn hatchlings are capable of swimming from birth, often forming swarms with their clutchmates and taking on even much larger fish as a group.

Personality: Ederyn are one of the most variable types of dragon, ranging from extremely prideful and solitary to friendly and group-minded. They are extremely territorial with other non-ederyn, and will often leave their rivers and range far through their claimed lands to ensure no other dragon has dared to intrude.

Name: Gadori (‘Swift’)

Appearance: Sometimes mistaken for a blaze at a distance, gadori have longer slimmer wings and a thicker head than the blaze, but the same slender lizard-like body type. Gadori can grow up to half again as long as the blaze, making them one of the largest middle-sized dragon breeds.

Gadori faces are long and sly, with a pair of curved horns and a flat crest of thin spikes to protect their sensitive ears. Gadori have excellent hearing and keen sight, making them exceptionally valuable as reconnaissance.

Breeding: Gadori clutches are infrequent, due to their extensive incubation before being laid; they remain within their mother for between eight months and two years, and once laid can be hatched within a month or two. Gadori usually lay between four and ten eggs.

Gadori eggs are pale brown and elongated, usually about a hand in width and double that in length, with darker brown flecks and gold veining.

Gadori hatchlings are born capable of flight, so great care must be taken not to leave doors or windows open when expecting them to hatch or you may find they’ve all vanished.

Personality: Gadori are generally social creatures who live for thrill and accomplishment. Gadori are one of the most unruly of dragon breeds, intensely unwilling to cooperate with non-gadori dragons and apt to form into large thunders to drive away any intruders. Despite this, a gadori is unlikely to experience any significant negative emotions from being separated from their thunder, though they are happiest in the company of others.

Intensely competitive, gadori constantly compare themselves to those around them. One of the traditional hoarding dragon breeds, even bonded gadori have an intuitive grasping nature and rarely forego an opportunity to accrue wealth or objects of beauty. However, what qualifies as worth hording varies between individuals, and some gadori have very eclectic collections indeed.

Name: Grandus

Appearance: Tall and quadrupedal, grandus are among the strongest and most beautiful of dragons. Grandus are distinctive for their long necks and perfectly round scales, as well as being excellent mage-bond dragons, and one of the most desirable for their strength and classic beauty.

They are slow-growing, but one of the species who never stops increasing in size. With their solitary nature and aptitude for evading notice, there are some grandus who are rumored to have reached incredible sizes. Their rarity and well-known strengths and weaknesses have led to them being hunted extensively for their magnificent scales, and there are very few remaining grandus in the wild.

Breeding: Grandus are so evasive and solitary that finding a pair willing to stay together long enough to reproduce is incredibly difficult. Grandus may go decades between laying any eggs, and only give one to four when they do.

Grandus eggs are a distinctive red-gold in hue, textured like polished bronze. They are as likely to be desired as decorations as for hatching, and even the empty shells are highly valued for use in craft or dye-making.

Grandus hatchlings are among the easiest to care for, as long as you are able to prevent them from running away. Grandus’ intensely asocial tendencies can lead to hatchlings striking out on their own. A proper mage-bond will negate this possibility, and indeed it is rare to ever meet a grandus who isn’t spoken for.

Personality: Grandus are gentle, soft-tempered and elegant dragons. They survive in the wild due to their ability to use charm and concealment to their advantage, and their relatively non-aggressive nature makes them less likely to cause trouble for cities. They tend to avoid each other out of respect and will only fight when cornered.

Name: Korish ('Flier')

Appearance: Thickset, heavy, and among the largest of domesticated dragon breeds, korish are immediately distinguishable by their extreme spikiness. Every limb and every joint has spikes or horns of some variety; its chest plating is jagged and dangerous. In order to support riders, its central back ridge must be carved away, for it is sharp enough to slice through even metal given time.

Korish are often compared to the browning as far as body shape, though Korish are generally wider and stockier, wings rounder in shape and limbs considerably shorter in comparison to its body, but overall it is an apt comparison.

Breeding: Korish fliers are one of the most destructive dragons to breed, as their mating rituals involve a great deal of uncharacteristically wild running and thrashing about, which can result in extensive destruction of property if allowed to occur without sufficient preparation. They usually lay between twenty and thirty eggs, but the vast majority of these are decoys which never hatch.

Korish eggs are a dull brown, irregular in shape but usually about a foot long.

Korish hatchlings are one of the slowest-growing of all dragon breeds, taking between five and twelve years to slow in growth, and can take up to thirty more to reach adult maturity at roughly house sizes.

Personality: Korish are slow and stubborn, the epitome of unconcern. Their spiked plated hide and natural resistance to elemental or magic-based attacks makes them justifiably confident in their ability to outlast anyone who bothers them. Even when provoked, a korish will usually hunker down and retaliate from safety rather than flying out after an attacker. Korish aren’t precisely arrogant, but they certainly don’t spend much time considering the affairs of other beings beside themselves.

Notes: Korish Flier, a medium-large bulky dragon breed, is one of the most dependable dragons for long range riding. While other dragons such as blaze might be faster over short distances, a korish flier can go for days without stopping.

Name: Rajor

Appearance: Rajori when fully grown are roughly the size of a large cat, but longer. Rajori are wyvern-esque, with wings attached to their forelimbs unlike most dragons, and have curved tusks which they don’t hesitate to use.

Rajori are of the few dragon breeds with large ears, which give them an almost rodent-like face. Their rear legs are oriented such that they can run on them for short periods, and they often will move with a hopping run while building up speed to take off.

Breeding: Rajor mothers tend to lay clutches of between five and twelve eggs every six months like clockwork. Their eggs are fist-sized, oblong and somewhat flat, and shiny mottled black.

When allowed to hatch naturally, young rajori will generally kill one another if not separated quickly. Rajori tend to naturally form in groups with a single male and several females, due to their inclination to fight and kill any competition.

They mature quickly, reaching adult size within five months and able to breed within a year of hatching. They are difficult to eradicate for this reason, and feral packs are often seen in city streets or roaming the wild.

Personality: Incredibly vicious and cunning, Rajori are not considered a good pet due to their aggressive and combative nature, but make for excellent mage bonds - Rajor are renowned for their highly adept spell spitting and are often as capable of strategic decision-making as their mages when properly controlled.

The renowned and revered Renand Grand Academy of the Magical Arts is located in northern Renand and accepts students from allied countries across the world. While most of Renand's neighbors are allied, or at least have treaties ensuring peace, tensions have been escalating between Renand and Falizue to the south.

Recent events have thrown any certainty of the political situation of Renand into chaos. The remaining members of the High Council are faced with questions from a dozen countries regarding Renand's recent upheaval and the impact that will have on them and their citizens. Thus far, Renand has made no official reply to inquiries about the status of those foreign students remaining at its academies.