Hoard Dragons

Hoard Dragons are the largest and most powerful creatures in the White Sand desert. They are also the most intelligent, with the oldest individuals having the mental capacity of a human teenager. They have a typical lifespan of about 700 years.

## Life Cycle

Hoard Dragons compulsively collect treasure, earning them their name. They only leave their treasure to hunt or mate. Young Hoard Dragons are raised exclusively by their mothers. They reach adulthood sometime between their 70th and 100th birthdays, which coincides with the beginning of their greed. At this time, they must leave their mother and fend for themselves. Infant Hoard Dragons are about the size of a sports car. Adults are usually about the size of two two-story houses next to each other, though size varies.

## Behavior

Hoard Dragons hunt using a tactic very similar to that of a crocodile. They will wait beneath the sand, barely visible, waiting for prey to approach. Once prey is within range, they will strike quickly killing the prey with their claws, firebreath, or, in the case of large prey, drowning the victim in the sand. Due to the large rock content in the earth in the White Sand desert, Hoard Dragons cannot simply hide wherever they wish. For this reason, Hoard Dragons tend to select very sandy areas for their hunting grounds. Hoard Dragons also hide near oases. Though it is usually more difficult to hide near an oasis than in a specifically sandy area, the chance of finding prey is much higher. If there is an oasis in a very sandy area, the chance of a Hoard Dragon living in the area is very high, and the oasis should be avoided. Hoard Dragons will occasionally follow a herd of Vils, as they make excellent prey and can even lead more prey to the Hoard Dragon, but this is rare, as most Hoard Dragons do not leave their hoard. Hoard Dragons are the apex species of the desert, with their only real threat being sentient magical beings, other dragons or large magical creatures, and the giant snakes that live in border area where the mountain foothills meet the White Sand desert. Even against these threats, Hoard Dragons are very hard to defeat, and will usually win a fight with a desert snake or a humanoid magical beings. When facing other dragons or large magical creatures, Hoard Dragons can usually hold their own. However, when a Hoard Dragon feels threatened, they will throw up a small sandcloud with their wings and attempt to burrow underground to escape. If this fails, they will then attempt to fly away.

## Abilities

Hoard Dragons have four primary strengths. Their first strength is their camouflage abilities. All Hoard Dragons born covered in soft, light gray scales. Once they reach adulthood, however, they will gain the ability to secrete an adhesive from their scales, which will permanently attach any substance to the dragon. Most dragons choose to coat a large portion, or all of their body with sand, in order to help them camouflage with their natural environment. However it is not uncommon for Hoard Dragons to coat part or all of their body in treasure, to keep it with them ir to provide camouflage with their hoard. Some dragons also attach treasure to small portions of their body as jewelry. Their second ability is their firebreath. Unlike their scale adhesive ability, firebreath is available to all Hoard Dragons from the moment they are born, though some take a while to figure out how to use it. A Hoard Dragon’s fire comes out in a wide spread that has a range of about half the dragon’s length. As dragon fire goes, it is not extremely hot, but will still probably kill most natural animals and even some magical ones. The third ability of the Hoard Dragon is their sand manipulation power. This allows the Hoard Dragon to easily move through the sand of their native environment. This power is probably the most useful of the Hoard Dragon’s powers. The fourth and final ability of the Hoard Dragon is their ability to use magic to fly. Though Hoard Dragons do possess wings, they are not sufficiently large as to be able to facilitate flight through physics alone.