Dragons

[Harle Raven]

History
Early settlers did not know about the dangers of Thread when they colonized. However, as protection from the voracious lifeform became imperative, geneticist Kitti Ping manipulated the DNA of the native firelizards in order to create dragons. Dragons were named after the mytical Earth creatures. Later, Kitti's daughter, Wind Blossom Ping, attempted to improve the dragons, resulting in the watch-whers.

Physiology
Like their firelizard ancestors, dragons are carnivorous egg-layers. They are warm-blooded, so they do not get sluggish in the cold like Terran reptiles do. They have four legs and two wings. They have copper-based, green blood. Their eyes are multifaceted and change colour depending upon the mood of the dragon. Their skin is smooth rather than scaly, they have knobs on their heads (like small horns without points), and no external ears. They have ridges on their neck, back, and tail. The tail has a forked end, and the defecate from their tail. They started out the size of large horses, but they grew progressively bigger with each generation due to their genetic design. They are hatched at about the size of very small ponies and mature at around 18 months. They grow very quickly, so the people they bond with have to regularly oil their hides to prevent cracking and drying.

They are able to chew firestone and produce flames. Along with their ability to teleport Between to travel to a new location, the ability to produce flames is what makes them useful for fighting Thread. They are also able to form a strong telepathic and empathic bond with their riders (called "Impressing"), which allows them to work closely with their riders when fighting Thread.

The ability to go Between also makes them very useful for transporting people and items, as well as carrying messages to more distant regions. When a dragon goes into the cold, dark void of Between, it takes a mere 8 seconds before it will reemerge, no matter how far away the destination is from the origin. However, the dragon needs to know where it is going, or it may fail to emerge from Between or may emerge in a deadly location such as deep underwater or embedded in a mountain. Riders must give their dragons the coordinates or a mental image of any place the dragon has not physically been before, or another dragon may give them the destination. Dragons can use the space Between to time travel. However, it is far more dangerous than traveling to a different location, and unlike simple travel in 3-dimensional space, the time Between can vary when traveling to a different time. The further away in time the destination is, the longer the trip Between. A dragon traveling a long time Between may become exhausted and may even die. Also, existing in two different times or in close proximity to one's self at the same time is physically and psychologically difficult for the human riders.

Anatomy
The head of the dragon has a pointed, triangular muzzle with sharp front teeth for catching prey. The back molars are suitable for grinding firestone. Canine teeth come in during the first turn, resulting in a total of 48 teeth upon maturity. The tongue is forked. A dragon's nose is not particularly sensitive, even as compared to a human's, however they have excellent eyesight. The eyes are multifaceted and whirl different colours based on the dragon's emotional state. They lack eyelashes, but they have eye ridges and three membranes (the innermost being the most transparent and the thinnest, with the outermost being the thickest) for protection. The brow ridges may be offered for rubbing as a sign of trust. Dragons can see through their rider's eyes due to the telepathic bond they share, even if the rider is not near the dragon. The headknobs may help with catching sound and vibration since dragons have no external ears. Their spatial sense is exceptional, giving them the ability to nagivate Between as well as to avoid Thread while fighting it.

A dragon's hide is smooth, rather than being covered in scales or hair. It is soft, strong, and glossy when healthy. Unhealthy hide feels chalky when touched and has tinges of grey. Gold dragons range from pale yellow to dark gold, bronzes are a golden-green to golden-brown shade, browns are tan to chocolate brown, and blues and greens come in various shades. The colour tone may change and even appear to glow just before they rise to mate. Older dragons tend to change colour tone, going toward the next lower ranked colour (golds tend to bronze, browns get more green, etc.)

Dragons have large lungs which swell up to twice the normal size in order to hold their breath up to 10 minutes at a time. They have one stomach for normal digestion and one to digest firestone in order to produce flame. Young dragons eat 7-8 times a day, while dragons aged 1 turn eat twice a sevenday (week). Their bloody is green and is copper based, and they have several hearts placed in their ribcage.

Dragons have 10 vertebra in the neck and 56 in the back. Their skeleton is strong but light, being made of light, flexible plates and a rused ribcage. Their bones are made of boron-silicate, which is stronger than our calcium-based bones. They have powerful hind leg muscles for take-off and strong wing and chest muscles for flight. Their muscles are a metallic silver-grey colour.

Dragons have 6 limbs total. The two front legs each have 5 fingers with talons, while the back legs only hae 3 toes. They are dexterous and can close to hold items. The front talons are retractable, but the rear are not. The forelimbs are shorter than the hindlimbs, resulting in an awkward gait on ground. They also tend to sit on their haunches when at rest.

Dragons and their kin have forked tails with an opening for defication. They can go without excreting waste for up to five days. Their genitalia are contained in a pouch-like covering of skin at the base of the tail.

Dragon wings are generally almost twice the length of the dragon's body (1 2/3 length). Around half the dragon's winglength is supported by armlike bones between the shoulder and the finger joint. Another joint (similar to an elbow) is found between. The muscles in the shoulder, chest, and upper arm are strong to allow for powered flight. The elbow joint is slightly flexed, and a membrane fills the area between the shoulder and finger joint. The finger joints consist of a vestigial thumb and the joints for the wing bones. The muscles originating at the elbow narrow and are attached to tendons just before the finger joint. These extend across the wing bones to allow for fine motor control of the wing tips.

The first two wing bones nearly join together, they are so close. These form the outer, supporting portion of the wing. The rest of the bones fan out from the finger joint to provide support along the sail of the wing. The inner bone is nearly perpendicular to the outer bones and it ends halfway between the body and the last fingertip.

The largest of the three membranes (known as the main wingails) stretch from the inner bone to the dorsal spine of the back. This supports most of the dragon's weight in flight, while the two smaller sails run from the inner bone to the midbone and the midbone to the outer bone. They help support the dragon, but their main purpose is to provide maneuverability. The tip of the outer mainsail is called the finger sail as it can move nearly independently. Cartilage extending from the arm and finger join to the trailing edge of the mainsails provide additional support.

Intelligence and Mind
The enhancements given to dragons enlarged the frontal lobe to give them a better telepathic ability. However, their concentration and short term memory are poor. They can recall between 2-3 days. They can mentally communicate with any dragon, person, firelizard, or watchwher that they wish to, though they rarely do so unless asked to. A few dragons can see or sense what is wrong with animals.

Colours and Sizes
Golds (AKA queens) are the only females that can reproduce because the firestone that greens chew renders them infertile. Golds are the largest of the dragons at 38-45 feet in length. They are dominant to the other colours, and other colours will obey the orders of a queen, even if their rider does not wish it. Gold eggs represent less than 1% of all eggs laid, and they are usually tended more carefully by the mother than the other colour eggs. The gold egg also looks different from the other eggs, being larger and tinged gold. Golds are very maternal, and even if their rider dies (which would normally cause them to go Between to commit suicide), they will stay living until their eggs have hatched, though they will not be healthy. Queens are unable to digest firestone and produce flame, but they fight Thread in special Queen's wings. In this case, their riders use flamethrowers to scorch Thread from the skies. Gold dragons Impress only heterosexual females.

Bronzes are the largest of the males, coming in at between 35-38 feet long. They represent about 5% of all dragons. As they are the largest and the strongest, with the most stamina, they usually are the ones to catch the golds in their mating flights, so are generally the fathers to the clutches. They sometimes also mate with greens, but their size makes them less agile. This makes it difficult for them to catch the nimble greens. Since Weyrleaders are always the ones who ride the dragon that caught the senior queen, most Weyrleaders are bronzeriders. Bronze dragons always Impress heterosexual males.

Brown dragons are the next largest males at 30-35 feet in length. They represent around 10-12% of the dragon population. Rarely large Browns may catch a queen and mate with her. They only Impress heterosexual or bisexual males.

Blues are the smallest of the male dragons at 30-35 feet in length. They make up around 33% of the dragons and are nearly as nimble as the greens, though they have a bit more stamina. They can only catch the greens due to a lack of stamina as compared to the other male colours, but they do have the advantage in a green flight due to their more agile build. Blues Impress heterosexual, bisexual, and masculine homosexual males. Rarely they may Impress homosexual females.

Greens are the smallest dragons and the only females other than the golds. They are 20-25 feet long and are very agile. However, they have the least stamina of any of the dragon colours. They make up around 50% of the total population of dragons. They can chew firestone and produce flame, but they cannot lay eggs. Despite this, they mate often. They generally work in shifts when fighting Thread, do to their lack of stamina, but they are very useful because of their ability to move quickly and nimbly, scorching Thread that other dragon colours cannot reach. Greens can Impress women or feminine homosexual males.

Other colour "Sports" are extremely rare, and they are not considered a part of this RP.

Dragon colours are always very distinguishable from one another, though they may range from a light to a dark shade of whichever colour they are. There may be a hint of another colour in the dragon, but one would never be mistaken for another colour. They can also be either solid or mottled, but they never have full patches of another colour.

Mating and Reproduction
Both colours of female dragons come into season and havet he urge to mate, but greens "rise" far more often. While inexperienced females may be caught easily, more experienced ones generally choose the male that impresses them the most during the mating flight. Strong feelings can also influence which dragon catches the female. i.e. if the female's rider really likes a rider, that rider's dragon may have a better chance at catching the female, while if the female's rider particularly disliked a particular rider, the opposite effect would occur. The mating takes place in the air, so the higher the pair get, the longer the mating lasts. For this reason, it is believed that higher flights and longer matings result in larger clutches. Goldriders are told to keep their dragons from eating their full kill before a mating flight. Rather, they tell their dragon to just drink the blood for a quick energy boost that will not weigh them down. Golds rise every few Turns, while greens rise as often as every couple months. For RP purposes, greens may rise as often as is desired, so long as their flights are not during a scheduled gold flight. Golds are very possessive over their potential mates, and another dragon (gold or green) rising at the same time as a gold can result in the golds fighting and injury or even death of one or both dragons.

The leathery eggs are laid in the Hatching Sands after about three months. They hatch around 5 sevendays (weeks) after being laid. This is a special place in the Weyr with sand that is uncomfortably hot for humans, but it is just right for incubating the eggs. Young men and women, from the age of 12 to 22, are "Searched" by dragons and their riders, then ones found likely to be able to Impress are brought back to Stand as Candidates during the hatching. However, during a Pass, when Thread is falling from the skies, it is very rare to have Candidates that are less than 14. This is because no rider may fight Thread until he or she is 16, and it takes dragons two Turns (Pernese years) to fully mature. A Candidate aged 14 Turns would be right about the minimum age when the dragon matured.

Dragon Mating and Effects on the Rider
Due to the strong telepathic bond between dragon and rider, the female rider and the rider of the males will both experience intense emotional and physical sensations during the flight, which intensifies during the actual mating. The riders also engaged in sexual activities during the dragons' mating. Normally the riders of the two dragons become brief partners as well, but in the case of the rider being married or incompatible (homosexual male and a female, for example), the riders may couple with another rider. In the book, there is actually little reference to these "stand ins".

Dragon Hierarchy
Like their firelizard ancestors, dragons are socially stratified based on their colours. Gold are the unquestionable leaders. Most Weyrs have between 3 and 5 queen dragons. The first queen to rise becomes the Senior Queen, and her rider becomes the Weyrwoman. The rider of the male dragon that mates with this gold becomes the Weyrleader. Other golds are Junior Queens. When a Senior Queen dies or can no longer rise to mate, the first Junior Queen to rise will become the new Senior Queen and her rider the new Weyrwoman. In theory, the Weyrleader could change with each mating flight, but Senior Queens rarely change their mates. However, if an inexperienced Senior Queen was caught in her first flight by a male she did not like (or if her rider did not like the male's rider), she would be more likely to let another male catch her in future flights.

Bronze dragons are the second highest ranking, and their riders are similarly ranked. Since they are normally the ones to fly the golds, their riders are usually the only ones that have a chance at becoming Weyrleader. Bronzes will defer to golds, while other colours of dragons will usually defer to bronzes. Bronzeriders are also most often Wingleaders, which is the equivalent of a high ranking officer.

Brown dragons rarely fly a queen, so it is possibly for their riders to become Weyrleader, though not probable. Brownriders have a good chance at becoming Wingseconds, the equivalent of a low ranking officer, if they are deemed worthy of such responsibility.

Both blue and green dragons are the lowest ranking, so their riders are also lower ranked. They can become Weyrlingmasters or achieve senior positions among those of their colours, but they can never lead a wing simply due to the fact that their dragons cannot last an entire threadfall.

Care of Dragons
Dragons are vital to life on Pern, so it is literally everyone's responsibility to ensure these large beasts are properly cared for. Holds and Halls give tithe to the Weyrs so the dragons and their riders do not have to do much work other than fighting Thread (which is plenty exhausting and dangerous in and of itself). However, this can cause resentment among those outside of a Weyr, especially when the Red Star is not making a pass (so Thread is not falling from the sky and threatening Pern).

Dragons require a lot of sustenance and eat between 3-4 cattle a week, or the equivalent amount of other herdbeasts and wherries. During their growth stage especially, their hides need frequent oiling to keep them from cracking.

Dragon Emotions
Dragon eye colour and sounds can tell what emotions they are experiencing:

Sounds
Bellow: alarm, irritation, or calling for attention
Bugle: greeting, information, joy, or a challenge
Croon: pleasure, reassurance, or an apology
Humming: Hatching or the birth of a human child
Keen: death cry
Moan: distress or anxiety
Squeal: fear, surprise, or pain
Warble: complacence or gratitude
Whimper: intense sadness

Eye colour
Green: sleeping, pleasure
Red: hunger, anger, sexual agitation
White: extreme danger
Lavender/purple: lust
Yellow: fright, anger, anxiety
Orange: uncertainty, suspicion
Rainbow: agitation
Blue/green to blue: general well-being, contentment
Grey: Pain

The intensity of the emotion can be determined by the speed at which the eyes whirl, with more intense emotions causing higher speeds.