Dragons

"The dragon was born in the youth of the East, a creature engendered
between inward fear and outward peril, was nurtured among prehistoric
wanderers, and has survived in the hinterlands of ignorance and
superstition because it embodied the underlying principle of all
morality--the eternal contrast and contest between Good and Evil,
typified by the incessant struggle of man with the forces of nature and
with his twofold self. In the East the dragon, like the primitive gods,
was by turns deity and demon; carried westward, it fell almost wholly
into the latter estate, or was transformed into a purely allegorical
figure; and it has its counterpart, if not its descendants, in the
religious faith and rites of every known land and all sorts of peoples.

The dragon is as old as the sensitiveness and imagination of
mankind, and doubtless had assumed a definite shape in some crude,
material expression as long ago as when men first began to paint, or to
carve in wood and on stone, marks and images that were at least symbols
of the supposed realities visible to their mental eyes.

It is needless to repeat that the phenomena of nature must have
appeared to primitive man as an immense, contradictory, insolvable
mystery, a mixture of light and darkness, sunshine and storm, things
helpful to him contending, as if animated, with things harmful, life
alternating with death and decay. This is an old story, but it is plain
that, in common with the more intelligent animals, man's predominant
sensation was fear--fear of his brutish fellows, dread of the jungle and
 its beasts and ogres, of the desert and its burning drought, of the wind
 and the thunderous lightning; most of all terror of the dark, peopled
with spirits good and bad. The Dragon is perhaps the most antique
product of human imagination; and it stalks, picturesque and portentous,
 through medieval legend." -Ernest Ingersoll

In the eyes of the world, Dragons are one of the most
misunderstood and difficult creatures to comprehend. Aren't they the
evil ones who stole jewels, and murdered whoever cross their path to
keep them? Of course not.

"The dragon is the spirit of change," writes Okakoro-Kakuzo in
his Book of Tea, "therefore of life itself . . . taking new forms
according to its surroundings, yet never seen in final shape. It is the
great mystery itself. Hidden in the caverns of inaccessible mountains,
or coiled in the unfathomed depth of the sea, he awaits the time when he
 slowly arouses himself into activity. He unfolds himself in the
storm-cloud, he washes his mane in the darkness of the seething
whirlpools. His claws are the fork of the lightning. . . . His voice is
heard in the hurricane. . . . The dragon reveals himself only to
vanish."

## History of the Dragon:

(This lore is completely constructed for the purpose of roleplay, if any questions arise feel free to ask.)

Many ages ago, before man had stepped foot upon the terrain,
there lived beings beyond our comprehension. Many diverse environments
coexisted with one another. It was believed that magical creatures did
indeed live among these wonderful exhibits of nature. Two of the major
components to the dark and light of the world were Heaven and Hell. Call
 them what you wish - East/West, North/South - but they were the
embodiment of those listed features. Darkness crawled within the depths
 of Hell, always stirring trouble and Lightness floated through the
Gates of Heaven, wishing life and love upon every soul to breathe.

During this time of evolution, changes began to arise in the
opposite poles of Light and Dark. Littered within the Darkness was a
spark of light, and in the Light burned an evil flame of Darkness.

Cithyth the Eternal Light One and Bassilth the Eternal Dark One

## **British Dragons**

#### Common Worldwide Dragons: Edit

```
***Grey Widowmaker***

```

Native ancestor of the Greyling, this small dragon was once as common
 in Britain as the Yellow Reaper, but has been nearly hunted to
extinction due to its terrible temper and habit of preying on livestock.

```
***Winchester***

```

This common grey-purple breed of lightweight dragon is known
especially for its speed, and so mostly used for carrying dispatches and
 quick, harrying flank attacks. Winchesters were said to fly so fast
that a passenger felt as if they were in danger of being blown off the
dragon's back. As couriers, they tended to be used on the shorter
routes, while Greylings flew the longer routes to Africa, India and the
Americas. Due to the small size and speed of Winchester hatch lings, the
eggs had to be hatched indoors, usually in a barn or similar structure.
The hatch lings were allowed to fly around a bit before the meat was
brought out for their first meal. Given the Winchester weighs between
2-3 tons, they do not commonly require a crew, and often fly with only
their captain aboard. Winchester hatch lings were usually harnessed by
boys of 14 or so. Winchesters are considered unattractive prospects for
many experienced officers as the captain .

```
***Greyling***

```

Small lightweight dragon, camouflaged by its grey coloration. Bred
more for speed than intelligence and weighs around 5 tons. They are the
result of crossbreeding the larger, more aggressive Grey Widowmakers
with the smaller, more even-tempered Winchesters. It is stated that
Greylings are able to stay in the air with only 1 wing beat every hour.
Usually likes sleeping in small caverns.

```
***Longwing***

```

This middleweight dragon is capable of a vitriolic attack (spitting
highly acidic venom) aimed with great accuracy, though only downward. As
 its name implies, it has an impressive wingspan, and distinctive
markings ranging from orange to blue. One of its peculiarities is that
it will only take female captains. Longwings average a length of 60 feet
 (20 m) but have a wingspan of 120 feet (35 m). This 2:1 ratio of
wingspan:length is unusually long in dragons, hence the name of the
breed. The Longwing's acid and the Regal Copper's strength are the elite
 weapons.

```
***Regal Copper***

```

This heavyweight dragon exceeds all known breeds in sheer size
(30–50 tons) and are related to the Bright Coppers (middleweights with
unusually large air sacs allowing longer duration flight). Females are
usually larger than the males. Regals breed infrequently making them
very valuable. Only a handful of heavyweights approach their size,
including Grand Chevaliers and at least one breed of Prussian
heavyweight dragon. Large Regals are approximately twice the weight of
Celestials/Imperials (30–50 tons vs. 20–25 tons), though most are 30
tons or less. Regal Coppers have vivid coloration ranging from red to
yellow, and are very far-sighted. Regals have a top cruising speed of
around 17–20 knots (35 km/h) and a top speed of a little over 20 knots
(37 km/h). Regals' brute force to "bulldoze" through enemy formations,
opening them to attack by other British dragons. Although a large and
formidable dragon, there are dragons known to be even bigger.

```
***Yellow Reaper***

```

Middleweight dragons with golden coloring. Yellow Reapers are fairly
common, weigh in between 12–15 tons, and are known for their even
temperament. They are however rather slow, with a top speed of
approximately 20 knots (with a top cruising speed of 17 knots), with
even the larger Regal Coppers capable of faster (though not longer)
flight. Reapers have contributed their genes towards almost every other
line of British dragon, giving most British dragons their even
temperaments, which is in stark contrast to other dragon breeds. Yellow
Reapers have an average wingspan of 80 feet (25 m) and are generally
around 50 feet (15 m) long.

## Chinese Dragons

```
Lung Yu (*Jade Dragon*)

```

Fast moving lightweight couriers. Primarily green, these dragons are
small enough in size to stand eye to eye with humans. Possess long
delicate looking wings that taper and nearly reach the ground. Capable
of fast and high-level travel, flying 120 miles (190 km) in two hours
with an average of 60 mph. Do not have riders, unlike Western courier
dragons, because of their exceptional intelligence. There are no other
types of dragons that can fly above 80,000,000,000,000 feet.

```
Lung Qin (*Imperial Dragon*)

```

These heavyweight dragons have interbred in a manner that has
increased their intelligence. They have blue to black markings.
Occasionally, mating between Imperials will produce a Celestial.
Imperials, like Celestials, weigh around 20–25 tons, and are not
expected to fight. Imperials are virtually identical to Celestial in
appearance; a frill of horns around the head and tendrils above the
mouth are the main differences in appearance.

```
Lung Tien (*Celestial Dragon)*

```

These rare heavyweights are the personal dragon companions of the
Imperial family. According to Lien, there are only eight Celestials
remaining in the world and each were the descendants of the single
Celestial 'Grandfather' who himself was born from the mating of two
Imperials. As the Celestials are so closely related to one another, they
 are unable to breed among themselves a fact which is further
complicated by Lien's claim that Celestials are too genetically distant
to reproduce with most other dragons meaning they must breed with
Imperials. They have the same dark coloring and the same markings as
the Imperials and in youth appear identical, but as they mature gain a
distinct ruff and facial tendrils. Like Imperials, they have five talons
 on each foot and their wings have six spines, as opposed to Western
dragons' five. They are also able to beat their wings forward and
backward, which gives them the ability to "hover" in midair (an ability
unique to the two breeds.) Highly intelligent, Celestials have operated
as royal advisors, generals, scholars and have an extreme gift for
language acquisition and mathematics that far exceeds that of most
humans. They are also fast fliers, maneuverable, and they have another
mysterious ability known as the "divine wind", a sonic roar with
extremely powerful concussive force, one of the rarest and most powerful
 draconic abilities. When used as a weapon, it has, with a single blow,
easily destroyed ships and caused the simultaneous death of multiple
middleweight dragons and in a sustained efforts has whipped the ocean
into a fleet destroying tidal wave. Celestials weigh approximately 20–25
 tons and usually do not fight in combat. Their exact top speed is not
known. Celestial top speed, judging from their fast cruising speed of
25–30 knots (50 km/h), would be around 30–35 knots (60 km/h) in good
weather. This top speed makes them faster than all known heavyweights,
most middleweights, and even rivals that of the fastest Courier Dragons.

## Other Draconian Species

```
***Kiao***

```

A sea serpent. One specimen in the Indian Ocean measured nearly two
hundred fifty feet long while only twenty feet thick. Smaller specimens
measuring twelve feet or less have been found in the Atlantic, while
those in the Pacific are rarely seen and no size measurements are
mentioned. These may be non-sentient or it may be due to the lack of
contact with humans that this species exhibits none of the dragon-like
intelligence seen even in feral dragons.

```
***Bunyip***

```

An intelligent reptilian creature which lives in the Australian
interior, bunyips spend much of their time underground and create many
camouflaged traps where they may burst out from underground and devour
any person or animal, even an infant dragon, which is in range. The
bunyips are colored shades of red and brown, with pebbled hides and
tufts of yellow grass-like 'hair' on their heads which trails down to a
series of webbed ridges between the shoulder, and possess long, narrow
muzzles with a rounded snout and a powerful jaw with which the
serpent-like creatures crush and grip their prey. Unlike dragons and
serpents, the bunyip's cry is strangely mammalian, resembling that of
the hyena.