Eastern Dragons

## Overview

The **Eastern Dragons**, is a species directly descendant of the Ancient Dragons of the Before Time that lives in Avalice without mixing with another races. Those Dragons can be found outside Avalice as well, not sharing connection with the planet, in the same way that you can find humans outside Earth

## Biology

The dragons' biology is a fascinating matter of study, as its biodiversity has categorized five distinct dragon species, believed to be a similar case to the five Xindi species but with more subspecies development. It is unknown whether or not the species came from natural development or bioengineering at some point in their history, as their technology allows it. The five dragon species are named after an element from Wu Xing: Earth, Water, Fire, Wood and Metal. Very few is known for the three latter ones as there is no documented evidence on them other than speculations and mentions in Dragon of the Seas' records.

The dragons are also not exclusively humanoid, as some of their species have subspecies which are quadruped or even with tentacles. There are shared traits between all dragon species. Those traits make them hard to classify by Earth's taxonomy, being traits from Mammals, Reptilians and Amphibians together. Their metabolism is on average two to three times faster than for humans.

### Earth Dragon

The first species and with little to no physical diversity are the Earth Dragons. Their golden-ish horns and nails are characteristic of this species, usually having more than a pair of horns coming out from the head, being four to six in average. The skin is usually brown but there are other skin colors like gray and ocher. It is noted that all known members of this species have characteristic purple eyes but it is unknown if this is the rule of a coincidence. They are all humanoid with no subspecies.

The skin is scaley, with the size of the scales ranging from milimeters to micrometers. It also does not cover the entire body, leaving specific areas unprotected by scales. Usually those areas have a very slightly lighter shade of its original color. The Earth Dragons are also known for being responsible for most of the Ancient Dragons' advanced technology.

Earth Dragons are also able to survive in inhospitable environments such as deserts, being able to survive for several days without water.

### Water Dragon

The second species and with three main subspecies: Humanoid, Quadruped and Tentacled. They are also the species with big variation on sizes, with some being of the same size of humans and other ones beyond eight feet in height. Each subspecies also possess the ability of naturally augmenting themselves if necessary, with the augmented ability being different for each of them. Humanoids can augment their speed, quadrupeds can augment their jump power and Tentacled can levitate if they are not underwater. Because of those abilities, Water Dragons are considered excellent builders.

Different from Earth Dragons, it is crucial for Water Dragons to stay hydrated. For this matter, alcohol is way more harmful for them if ingested than it is for humans. They are more likely to suffer from illnesses that affect the heat and water regulation by the body.

The skin is characteristic of this species, covering the entire body and its color may vary depending on the member of the species, such as blue, pink and purple. If the temperature or radiation levels are high, the skin can get brittle and not as soft and smooth as normal. For a Water Dragon get chapped because of dehydration is more serious than it is for humans.

## Characteristics

* **Longer lifespan:** The dragons are believed to live for at least eight hundred years. The only exception is the Lightbearer, who lives for thousands of years.
	+ **Constant growth:** Dragons over a thousand years of age are known for being very tall, as they continue growing just at slow pace. Some dragons are nearly three meters tall.
* **Physical Strength:** Dragons are, on average, three times stronger than humans, both in physical strength and endurance. This can double depending on how much a dragon develops themselves physically. Kari Haruyama is known for her absurd raw strength of seven times stronger than a human after being speed augmented
* **Water affinity:** This is exclusive to the Water Dragons. They can breathe underwater for as long as necessary and some members of this species are even adapted to living underwater more than on surface. This also varies for each member of the species, being able or not to breathe saltwater if their binary respiratory system can handle the high levels of salt in the water.
	+ **Binary Respiratory System:** Water Dragons have no visible gills. All the breathing is still done through the nostrils and the lungs are capable of extracting oxygen from water molecules chemically as well for absorbing the oxygen molecules in the water. For the salt in the water, a considerable low amount of dragons can expell the salt in the water properly. For the others, they say the feeling of inhaling saltwater is similar to breathing air with too much smoke. Can be done but it's harmful.
* **Telepathy:** To a degree, some dragons can develop telepathic abilities or atrophy the region of the brain responsible for this ability if not developed early in their lives. A common degree of telepathy among dragons is the capability of sensing people's emotions more easily than others. They are also capable of touch-mindmelding similar to Vulcans, although a stronger mind can perform a non-contact projection. A dragon known for doing this is Sarah, once admitted to being able to detect presences in a limited range even if they are emotion-less by detecting their thought patterns. Intrusive thought reading is not possible.
* **Xeno-compatible:** Dragons are one of the few known species for being physically compatible with many other humanoid species. Dragon hybrids exist though they are frowned upon by many societies, including the Ancient Dragons.

## Medical Conditions

### Wu Xing Syndrome

This is a genetic disease that would affect either of the five dragon hybrids: Earth-Water, Metal-Wood, Water-Fire, Wood-Earth and Fire-Metal. It results in degradation of the body as a whole if the two halves of the hybrid are not metaphysically balanced. It does not have a cure and the dragon who has this disease usually die very young if untreated. As for the treatment, it varies depending on the type of hybrid. For example, an Earth-Water has its Water-side weakened by the Earth-side. To balance it, a treatment with metal-rich substances is to be constantly done to delay the symptoms for as long as possible. A Water-Fire hybrid would need to be treated with herbs and so goes on. Because of this, it is often compared to cancer. Kari Haruyama is known for having this syndrome.

## Hybrids

Dragons are genetically xeno-compatible with most humanoid species and also between their own species. Full-dragon hybrids exist and have no complications other than the possibility of Wu Xing Syndrome. But a half-bred dragon requires some conditions to be born. The mother must be a dragon or another oviparous species or else the offspring would be of the other parent species and with none of the draconic characteristics. Half-bred female dragons cannot have dragon children as the offspring will not be born with draconic characteristics.

Because hybrids are seen with a level of aggressivity by the Ancient Dragons by the 21st century, hybridization has been suppressed by their government and few non pure-bred dragons exist. For Avalice, dragon hybrids are more common but they are still frowned upon by the society for their appearance. For Earth, a society of Hybrid dragons have developed on their own and became the Mentali, which keep many of the draconic characteristics including the xeno-compatibility but are not considered a sixth dragon species but rather its own thing.

## Known Eastern Dragons

* Sash Lilac (Water-Mammal Hybrid)
* Royal Magister (Earth)
* Askal (Earth)
* Cordelia (Earth)
* Sarah Marine (Water)
* Kari (Earth-Water Hybrid)
* Erika Ivanov (Earth)
* Masako Haruyama (Earth)
* Seth Odhur (Water)
* Keiko Hayashi (Water)
* Shiro Hayashi (Water)