European Metallic Dragon

**European Metallic Dragons** are a Vodros subspecies created by Fantastic Skoph. This specific subspecies is named as such because of the metallic glint that adorns their scales on their hide, and that is due to a specific reason. European Metallic Dragons - or EMD for short - are capable of eating various metals that helps strengthen their scales, and thus makes them tougher but also more conductive to electricity depending on the metal they consume. These dragons usually live in a far away kingdom named Ionis, plagued by genetic disfunction caused by eugenism and genetical modification. Because of that, mutants and genetically modified dragons are becoming more and more numerous as times goes by, leaving those who did not become subject to such alterations to see their number reduce each passing generation. Only those who were "untainted" (=dragons who were not altered by genetic modifications) still retain the body and mind of a sane dragon, and those generally don't stay long enough in the kingdom to let their own offsprings fall victim to the rampant eugenism.

## Community

European Metallic Dragons are native to a big and formerly prosperous kingdom, led by a Golden King and a Platinum Queen. This monarchy has absolute power over everything that is happening in the kingdom, but delegates certain tasks over to subordinates who will then take care about the political and diplomatical relationship with other kingdoms, the economy, the relationship with the people and the spreading of ressources among the land. The metal that coats a dragon's hide will determine its rank among the people. Magnesium being the poorest and softest metal, the dragon that feeds on it will automatically be considered lesser than all the others, and will most often end up as a curse-bearer among the people. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Gold dragons are considered god-like and will often be praised and prayed to like actual living gods. The more a dragon consumes rare metals, the higher in the hierarchy it will rise.

Written below is the list of metals from poorest to noblest:

Magnesium -> Beryllium -> Aluminum -> Manganese -> Zinc -> Chromium -> Iron -> Cobalt -> Nickel -> Tin -> Lead -> Copper -> Bronze -> Steel -> Silver -> Titanium -> Platinum -> Gold.

From Magnesium to Chromium, these dragons only serve as manual labor. They make great farmers, blacksmiths, bakers, fishers and generally don't go above those jobs, as they are only destined to this.

From Iron to Copper, these dragons can enter a wider variety of other jobs, more military, scientifically, historically, geographically oriented and others more comfortable jobs (librarians, historians, chemists, scale beauticians, brewers, biologists, doctors, soldiers, guards, etc...).

From Bronze to Titanium, these dragons are nobility and most of them are so rare they compose the King and Queen's court. They are generally attributed the jobs of accountants, notaries, bureaucrats, philosophers, mathematicians, etc...

And finally, both the Platinum and Gold dragons are destined to be the rulers of the kingdom. Both of them are seen as equal to the gods and constantly receives offerings, gifts, prayers and blessings. When a gold or platinum dragon hatches, the child is paraded around the whole kingdom for the first ten years of its life in a palanquin, raised in a secretive temple, and is regularly fed copious amounts of food, metals and various powders and exotic products believed to have therapeutic effects. But once the dragon has grown too big and the precious metal supplies have run dry, the platium or gold dragon will start losing their scales, and will often have to eat them back in order to keep producing their scales, albeit of poorer quality. And once the dragon becomes a "lightweight", it is then discarded in the streets as a nobody and the nobility will then wait for a newer and fresher gold and/or platinum dragon to be born, so that they can start all over again.

The current leader of the EMDs are a Gold King, who's scales are still healthy and well taken care of, and his mate, the Platinum Queen, who is a lightweight hidden beneath several layers of fabric and veils as to hide her skin and her scalelessness.

## Faith

Most of the EMDs don't really believe in anything, but the ones who do believe in the "Creator".

This Creator is most of the time defined as an entity that is above the entire universe, as it was the one who created it. The Creator willed matter and atoms and mollecules into existence and shaped them into the forms of everything we know today. Most of the time, scientists and critical minds are the ones who believe in it, because they believe the world is so perfectly crafted that it cannot just be natural. At the same time, they believe that nature is the great Creator, as it is the one who harbors and hosts all life on the land they live in currently.

## Physiology

European Metallic Dragons, as stated in the introduction, are a Vodros subspecies that feeds upon metals to keep their scales healthy and strong. They look like your average European Dragon except their colours, patterns and toughness of their hide are dictated by the metal they consume. The nobler the metal, the tougher and less prone to oxydation the scales will be, the higher in the hierarchy the dragon will end up.

These dragons can harbor a variety of different physical traits, ranging from their horns, scales shapes, their wings, their tails, their crests and even sometimes spikes. But the general consensus is four paws, two wings, a head, a tail, horns and a scaly back. Most of the individuals in this species will simply grow smooth scales, horns or any shape and a boulder at the tip of their tail, where the excess metal - the attributed metal that hasn't contributed to the production of scales - gather and clumps together to make a thick and heavy flail. Rarely will you see a dragon with spikes on its body or any ragged and/or pointy appendage sprouting from any area on the individual, but they do exist. It's just a non-dominant genus among the EMD species.

### Colors and Patterns

An EMD's colour and patterns will greatly vary depending on the metal they consume. An iron dragon will have various shades of gray depending on the concentration of iron in the body, but as time passes and the air around them oxydizes their scales, they will slowly develop little spots of rust that slowly but surely grow bigger and darker, slowly covering the dragon in a more or less deep orange/red on their back. The speed at which those develop will vary depending on the ambient humidity. Here is a list of how dragons oxydize based on their metal.

* Magnesium oxides are white.
* Beryllium oxides are white.
* Aluminum oxides are white.
* Manganese oxides are black.
* Zinc oxides are white.
* Chromium oxides are a vibrant apple green.
* Iron oxides are yellow, orange, red and black depending on the humidity.
* Cobalt oxides are blue.
* Nickel oxides are a pale or foresty green.
* Tin oxides are white or gray.
* Lead oxides are a vibrant orange.
* Copper oxides are blueish turquoise.
* Bronze oxides are a dark greenish blue.
* Steel oxides are a deep orange.
* Silver oxides are deep brown or black.
* Titanium oxides are white.
* Platinum does not oxide naturally.
* Gold does not oxide naturally.

### Lairs

Being a species one can only find in one particular kingdom, EMDs often live in artificial lairs constructed from chiseled stone and fired terracotta. They like to construct those dens as domes, reminiscent of the times they used to live in caves, and will furnish these domes with various trinkets and decorative baubles. The dome can be separated in several sections, each with their own utility and can be used as storage for food or materials, bedrooms, hygiene room or simple living room. Because of the peculiar shape of their homes, EMD houses will often look like a clump of bubbles, built next to each other or on top of one another. The closer to the King and Queen's castle, the denser the housings will look and the higher the towers of bubble-like dens will rise.

In a more primitive setting, EMDs don't often have the means to construct a den from the ground up, and will most likely take refuge in caves. Those will then be decorated as they please with various items they will find around in their environment (seashells, weirdly shaped stones, driftwood, clean bones, antlers, pieces of erroded glass, animals pelts and hides, etc...) to mark this cave as theirs and make it as cozy and comfortable as they can.

### Behavior

EMDs don't usually act in any way that would be considered unusual. Though higher classes do tend to dislike things they often consider dirty or defiling, such as mud, soil, small animals and insects and various other things that can leave stains on an EMD's *perfect* and *pristine* hide. They like to dress in expensive pieces of fabric and clothing, wear intricate patterns of makeup and get their scales and horns and talons taken care of. The lower classes don't share that disdain for nature and love for luxury, and will gladly put their talons at work, even if it means breakin a claw or smearing dirt and stains everywhere on them.

But if there's one thing any EMD will agree on, no matter the social rank or consumed metal, and it's that they absolutely love discovering new things, were it be geographic, historic, scientific or military. EMDs have a very strong drive for knowledge and will try to learn as much as possible about everything, which is why their libraries, laboratories and armory are their most prized buildings in the whole kingdom.

### Diet

European Metallic Dragons are omnivorous. They eat plant matters as well as animal products, may it be vegetables, fruits, eggs, fish, meat and insects. But there is one thing that gets them apart from the rest of the other species, and it's that they can eat metal. But unlike their general omnivorous diet, their hunger for metal only serves them in the production of a more or less tough hide of scales, depending on the nobless of the metal they eat. The nobler the metal, the tougher their hide, the higher in the hierarchy.

However, dragons cannot eat any type of metal and hope to have the corresponding scales growing out of it. If a Zinc dragon tries to eat iron to grow out iron scales, the only outcome would be that this Zinc dragon would lose its current scales and become a "lightweight", a scaleless dragon. Another way to lose scales is to not get enough UVBs when basking. EMDs need to bask regularly and absorb heat as well as UVBs to keep their scales, bones, mental health and general hygiene healthy.

### Subspecies

Here is a list of the current subspecies known to dragonkind:

* Mithrill Dragons

## List of European Metallic Dragons

* Cuivre
* Ajura