DeepSwimmers

### Physical Appearance

DeepSwimmers can range wildly from 1.2 to 2.6 meters in height due to deep sea gigantism. Since they spent their entire history under water, their hind legs have evolved into fins and their wings have smoothed to help with swimming. While they can still fly, they are on the slower side. Luckily, they still retain their forelimbs so they can drag themselves over the ground should they surface. They're covered in thick plates for protection against deep sea monstrosities. They can have either sails or a fin on their back as well as on their tail. A DeepSwimmer's huge jaw is full of multiple rows of teeth which move down the chin as the dragon ages. These teeth help ensure that when something is caught it can't flee, as food is difficult to come by in the deep. These dragons also have varying patterns of bioluminescent spots and tendrils, as well as an anglerfish lure. The tendrils confuse predators as they break up the silhouette of the actual bodies. They're also filled with a toxin that halts gill function specifically, dooming any predator unfortunate enough to mistake a tendril for a leg to death via suffocation. This same toxin is present on the dragon's palms, allowing them to administer it with a touch. For land dwelling creatures the toxin causes severe pain and breathing problems.

### Coloration

These dragons come in dark colors of any kind or they can be any red color, regardless of brightness. Their glowspots can be in any position on their body and have any color, though they're typically significantly lighter than the main color. Swirling patterns, particularly on the wings and sails, are quite common but there is no limit to the possibilities.

*For more information on how to design a DeepSwimmer, go here.*

### Territory and Culture

Comparatively, DeepSwimmers are a small subspecies, with far fewer individuals than most. This is in part due to their relatively small territory. The Shaded Depths are a series of three intersecting deep sea trenches filled with thermal vents. It is in these trenches that DeepSwimmers make their homes. Built in the sunken skeletons of all sorts of marine life or carved into porous rock edges, these dragons prefer areas close to thermal vents for the nutrient rich waters. Their main city, the Black Bastion, lies somewhere on one of these vents but the DeepSwimmers are very secretive of its location. Within the Bastion sits the Third King, the supposed ruler of the DeepSwimmers. His existence is so elusive that many of his own people don't know his actual name, to the point where many doubt he even exists at all. All those who go looking for the truth never come back, further adding to the mystery surrounding this figure. Few DeepSwimmers even come up to the surface, let alone go on land. The few that do are generally uncooperative and disrespecting of customs. Surprisingly, the Eclipse Academy, the StormChasers' school for the magically gifted, houses the highest number of DeepSwimmers of any establishment within the Hearth. It would seem the subspecies has a particular affinity for magic which can be traced back to Trench, the proto-swimmer who led his people into hiding in the Shaded Depths after losing a battle to his sister, Reef.

### Relationship with Patron

DeepSwimmers view themselves as the closest to the TideMaker one can be. They are his chosen kin and their magic is proof of that. Should a hatchling turn out to possess fire magic, which is virtually useless underwater, it is viewed as a sign from the TideMaker that the family has done some great wrong. This often leads to them being shunned and banished to the outer reaches of the Shaded Depths.