Dragons

Dragons are among the strongest of the sentient creatures, with all but the Shadow Dragon, Stone Dragon and Laevithaun believed to come from the Spirit Realm; the Shadow Dragon is from the Shadow Realm. Both the Stone Dragon and Laevithaun are from the Earthly Realm, and devoid of any magical talent. List of Dragons.

All dragons can communicate with each other telepathically; each dragon can also do so with their rider or another human if it so desires but it is rare for a human to be able to communicate at will with the other dragons. The dragons are able also to verbalise through their riders. As they are trained, they develop their innate skills in telekinesis, which applies to anything in contact with their body. They are able to transport themselves almost instantaneously from one place to another, in what the Elves call transcendence, essentially entering the spirit world and exiting again in a different place, as opposed to ascendence, which occurs when a dragon permanently enters the spirit world at death.

When there is a group of prospective partners, the dragon chooses one of them. This is usually done at the beginning of the Rider’s first year of training. The egg, in the form of an ovoid crystal, is placed among the prospective Riders, and they are allowed to look and touch. When the dragon has chosen its Rider, the egg will feel warm to that person and that person alone. Others may think that they feel the warmth, but when they really do, they will realise how wrong they were. Feeling the contact of the dragon, and the warmth of the crystalline egg is said to be "like being tucked into a warm bed on a rainy winter’s day. You know you are safe, and you do not want to move." Their eyes are like that of snakes and other lizards, in terms of their shape. Their colour is varied, depending on the mood of the dragon. Their vision is exceptional, and they are able to see an object the size of a rabbit at a distance of two miles. With breeding, mixing the colours can create a higher proportion in the clutches, although sometimes, the same type as the sire can be equally present. It is not surprising then that with parents of the same type, the clutch will have more of those eggs. Also, the colouring seems to follow the gender. For example, a clutch with a Sapphire Sire and Ruby Dam will have more Sapphire Males and more Ruby females. Both males and females are first able to breathe fire at about twelve months of age, although they take another six months to gain proper control of it. At eighteen months to two years, most are able to be ridden by an adult without discomfort, but they do not reach their full size until they are ten years of age.

Origins
No one truly knows how the dragons originated, but the Elves understand where it was, on the island now known as the "Isle of Dragons". The names by which the different types are known were given for the crystalline forms that their hides resemble, rather than any direct connection to the stones.

Physical Description
Dragons are sexually dimorphic hexapods (four legs and two wings). A Dragon’s size is not dependent on the type, but rather specific to each dragon. Just as a human whose father is 5’ 11” and whose mother is 5’ 4” might only reach 5’ 8”. However, one normative calculation that has been made is that when fully grown, their wingspan is one and a half times their length, and their weight is approximately one third their length in terms of the figure. Females are generally about three quarters the size of males, although they tend to be longer for their weight. Their head and body is a similar shape to that of a horse, though the neck is longer, and they have horns, which grow up to 55 inches long and are shed annually. Their wings are long, highly flexible limbs, with three distinct finger-like bones within, and a thumb-like claw at the point where those three bones meet. Although the Dragons quite often take on the dominant tone of their Sire, they can have highlights of either base colour.Their patterning depends on their parentage, with the colour of the particular type of dragon being predominant, but often showing some other colours too (for example, Veredain shows some blue and some red, but is mostly purple).

Bonding
Right from when the Dragons are in their Essential forms, they can sense the creatures around them. However, they stay in this form until they make contact with the one being they will pair with, a bond called hathé. This pairing enters both Rider and Dragon into a symbiotic relationship that will last the lifetime of the Dragon, if not the Rider. Thirteen years was chosen as an appropriate age for Bonding because Dragons reach physical and sexual maturity at eight years, and for humans, twenty-one is the age of majority, allowing them to find permanent pairings at the same time, although some will experiment during the last couple of years. At seventeen, a Rider is recognised as a Senior Apprentice, and allowed to do such things as drink alcohol, although they cannot become a fully qualified Master until they reach twenty-one (regarded in wider society as the age of majority). At the time of bonding, a transformation begins to take place within the rider, heightening their strongest ability even further; this is similar to what happens for Elves at birth.

Breeding
If both parents are of the same type, a dragon is considered pureblood, but most will tell you that type does not matter. A clutch can be anything between thirty and fifty eggs, and the types vary between the clutches. Veredain’s first clutch of 45 eggs had 15 Ruby eggs and 30 Sapphire eggs, because both parents have some Ruby blood in them, although the ratio is sometimes as low as one Ruby to every five Sapphires. Couples are not uncommon at the sichona, and on occasion, a Descension ceremony has been held for a single clutch. It is usually when a Ruby dragon and a Sapphire mate that an Amethyst is born, although Amethyst hatchlings are also born to Amethyst mothers.

Abilities and Limitations
The dragons are eternally linked to Ailiru, the spirit realm, and they use this link to be able to move instantaneously from one place to another, using a process known as transcendence. Though it only works when they, or their rider, have been there before unless another dragon can show them. Most Masters will get their apprentices to agree not to try this until their dragons are at least a year old, as it is possible to not arrive at the other end and be stuck in the spirit realm. Similarly, Shadow Dragons can cross through Iloru.

Core Species
Amethyst Dragon

Emerald Dragon

Ruby Dragon

Sapphire Dragon

Topaz Dragon

Subspecies
Shadow Dragon

Black Dragon

Other Types
Stone Dragon

Water Dragon