Gold Dragon

* Juvenile
* Baby
* Egg

File:Juvenile.png

*The world famous treasure hunter, Thatche, was finding some of his spoils disappearing at night; with no sign of thieves he decided to pretend sleep in order to find out what was causing his treasure to vanish. To Thatche's surprise, he witnessed a massive **golden dragon** swoop in and fly off with as much as it could carry! The wizards found later that **gold dragons** steal because they sleep on piles of gold for pillows.*
    —Nogard's description of the **gold dragon** in The Book of Dragons
The **Gold Dragon** is an epic dragon of the Treasure element.

## Appearance

This dragon is truly massive and has bright red skin, but most of its body is covered in thick, gold-plated armor scales. It has a long white beard and bushy white eyebrows.

## Abilities

### Weapons

This is not a dragon you want to face in battle. Enormous in size, it has huge horns and long claws that can inflict severe wounds. Its powerful tail can knock a human dead with one blow. Its wings are so powerful that they can produce a blast of wind strong enough to knock a human down.

### Defenses

This dragon's armor makes it invulnerable to nearly everything.

### Breath Weapon

This dragon's breath weapon, weirdly, causes greed. It causes humans to hallucinate that they are surrounded by whatever they most desire in terms of material wealth, and when the euphoric visions fade, victims of the dragon's breath become seized with an obsessive desire to possess whatever they hallucinated. Some wizard believe this is a form of Psychomancy but this has yet to be proven.

### Weaknesses

Like all treasure element dragons, Gold dragon are obsessed with gold and treasure. They can be bribed into doing nearly anything. Their scales were once looked upon as real gold, and when humans, barbarians, first came to the Vale, they nearly hunted them to extinction, by ripping off it's scales, then killing it. Thankfully, this is now illegal, and they are safe. However, in the wild, the hard scales can easily be ripped off by attackers, revealing very vulnerable skin.

## Habitat

### Regions

Gold dragons are found in a variety of places, including the Bessemer Wastes, Berrywhite Mountains, and the Sandara Desert. They are never found in cold climates.

### Preferred Home

Gold dragons prefer scorching hot, arid climates.

### Sheltering/Nesting

Gold dragons often attack cities and palaces, drive out the inhabitants, and make their homes there. Otherwise they will nest in ruins or in a well-decorated cave.

## Diet

Gold dragons were once believed to eat only gold, but the dragon's behavior of swallowing gold is only so that they can regurgitate it once they return to their homes. Instead, they eat meat. Another story went that gold dragons preferred to eat humans, and kept vast hoards of gold to attract their prey. But gold dragons only rarely feed on humans--luckily, we are too small and taste bad. Instead, they eat only animals.

## Lifestyle

### Behavior and Personality

Gold dragons are known for being greedy. They are also known for their intelligence and wit. Gold dragons love to trick and beguile people into giving up their wealth, much more than they do stealing it. They enjoy the gullibility of humans and the way we chase after transient visions of fame and success. A few gold dragons, however, seem to defy the commonly perpetuated image, and give up all their wealth to a good cause instead of sleeping on it as a bed.

### Social Order

Gold dragons are strictly solitary. If two gold dragons encounter each other and neither are interested in courtship, a fight to the death may occur, especially if the two dragons happen to be male.

### Relationship to Wizards

Gold dragons are more likely to try to trick and deceive you rather than be friends with you. Even when they are kind to you, it's usually because there's something in it for them.

## Life Cycle

### Mating

Gold dragons often never mate because they dread the idea of sharing their wealth, which is part of why they are so rare. A female will only accept a male if he gives up his most prized possession to her, and this is a very difficult thing for such a greedy dragon. Only the more humble and generous of gold dragons will enjoy the joy of family.

### Birth

Gold dragon eggs must be surrounded by treasure as they incubate, or so it is often said. Eggs that are surrounded by less treasure often produce dragons that are less greedy.

### Life Span

Gold dragons can live for 600 years. One allegedly lived to 1,000 years.

## History

### Discovery

The legendary treasure hunter Thatche discovered this dragon stealing his treasure. In those times epics rarely revealed themselves to humans. At first this was thought to be a rare fire and metal hybrid, but it was discovered by the witch Rudna to have a unique and much stronger magic.

### Origin of Name

Gold dragons are called that because of their golden scales and horns.

## Notable Dragons

* First (Craeporus vonn Wietsius)
* Treasure Thief (Rudna; belonged previously to Auric Thatche, her late husband)