Faerie Dragon

Faerie dragons are even smaller than their counterparts, the Sparkle Dragon, with a deep love for the plane of Neraida and a deeper love for others of their species. They typically have insect-like wings and have a passion for snorting pollen.

## Sociocultural Information

### Distinction(s)

* Insect-like wings
* Small mandibles

## Description

Faerie Dragons are small, fearful creatures. They are heavily armored on their heads, backs, legs, and chest from a shell-like exoskeleton of rigid plates. A set of mandibles protrude from the sides of its mouth which they use in the case of defense. From the top of their heads are two antennas which they can use to communicate silently (in reality it is at a pitch that cannot be heard by most other creatures) with other Faerie Dragons and can even communicate with most insects.

### Abilities

Faerie dragons, due to their antenna, have the ability to communicate with various other insects, this often results in Dracives having a number of lesser insect helpers that aid in building of the lair, managing the hoard, and aiding in feeding and hatching young Faerie dragons. While these helper insects will aid in most things around the lair, they are not allowed to clean the queen of the dracive as they are seen as unclean and lesser.

Faerie dragons largely subsist themselves on nectar and pollen from the flowers that surround their nests, they also use this nectar and pollen in the creation of draco honey which is often harvested from dracives by trained professionals that have socialized themselves with the dracive. Faerie dragons don't actually eat the honey that they make, it is largely used for feeding hatchling and wyrmling's of the dracive as well as feeding the queen in order to ensure she provides strong dragons to the dracive.

Faerie dragons also have a fairly useful stinger used to ward off uninvited guests and battle on behalf of the dracive, it is commonly used after a faerie dragon expels their breath weapon in order to ensure a true strike as the faerie dragon has a limited amount of venom in their stingers which get replenished at a slow pace.

#### Breath Weapon

Faerie dragons breath weapon is a cloud of pollen-like dust that spreads from their mouth in a circle, this dust is light pink in color with a sweet scent, however this dust blinds those who inhale it for a period of time. This allows a Faerie dragon to gain the upper edge in a battle or be able to retreat if need be.

### Ecology

Faerie dragons prefer to live in woodlands within the realm of Neraida particularly within a wooded area that has a large number of flowers. While they prefer these woodlands, if it comes down to it, a dracive of faerie dragons will settle in a different location, with some reluctance, so long as the area has flowers there is a chance to find faerie dragons nearby.

### Dracives

Faerie dragons are extremely social, living in groupings of 15-25 called a Dracive with which they will likely spend their entire life from hatching to death. A dracive works in constant harmony with a single Faerie dragon, the Queen, acting as the leader and sole decider of the dracives.

There are three types of Faerie dragons in a dracive: The Queen, Nurse/Broods, Soldiers, and Workers. The Nurse Faerie dragon secrets a thick, slimy saliva which they pack into or onto an injury. This saliva is often called Spic and it accelerates the healing process of a Faerie dragons body, at the cost of energy levels so during this enhanced healing process a Faerie dragon must consume more food and water than they typically would. Broods care for the eggs and hatchlings with special Broods - called Royal Broods - that care for the queen's eggs and hatchlings. Royal Broods have more of an appearance of a soldier Faerie with a massive spiked crest trailing from their forehead to the tip of their tail. Additionally, Royal Broods will also act as the last defense before the Queen if someone or something were to invade the dracive.

Soldier Faerie dragons protect the dracive with their life, they have a small spiked crest that trails from their forehead to their tail. Worker Faerie dragons take up every other job outside of the nurse, brood, or soldier. They act as foragers, architects, and Draco honey makers. [draco honey is a rich and flavorful thick honey, pink in color with a distinctly floral scent and taste.]

The queen of the dracive is the most powerful, she has her own area and is always under the protection of soldier dragons with ample amounts of food and luxury; at least as much as you can get in the wilderness; but as soon as the queen can no longer provide children to the hive, or simply stops, she is killed by her own workers and soldiers.

### Harvesting

While parts from the faerie dragon directly are not harvested, it is their hive that is. A dracive produces about 2x the amount of honey that they actually need for use in feeding hatchlings and wyrmling's as well as the queen, due to this, there are many different species of avian and insects that have grown to be able to consume of draco honey as well; with the insects being those that you often find residing in a dracive colony. These are the items from a dracive that can be harvested and used:

* **Draco Honey:** as mentioned before, draco honey is often harvested by professionals and used similarly to normal bee honey with some spells and alchemical potions requiring it as an ingredient. It makes for an excellent spread on bread but can also be used in the preparation and cooking of meats like chicken or steak to emulsify the other ingredients.
* **Draco Honeycomb:** more commonly used in baking and cooking than in anything else, draco honeycomb has a somewhat bitter taste combined with the sweet and floral taste of draco honey. A druidic spell known as Call Swarm, requires the use of draco honeycomb to conjure a swarm of faerie dragons (which act the same as real faerie dragons but do not have their trademark breath weapon).
* **Wax:** used in the making of candles, wax from a dracive functions in the same way wax from a bee hive does.
* **Propolis:** used in the making of glue and can be combined with propolis found in a beehive to make a even stronger glue.
* **Royal Jelly:** the primary source of hatchlings and adult queens diets, it is secreted by nurse dragons.
* **Faerie Dragon Venom:** a more potent venom to that of the bee which is what can be found in the sting wounds after a faerie dragon attack, it can be used to harm or kill one who is allergic but the venom of a faerie dragon is still non-lethal for those who get treatment soon after.