Moon Dragon

## Encyclopedia Entry

Astaroth, The sole remaining Moon Dragon

Moon dragons are a nearly extinct ancient race of dragons known to be particularly strong and powerful, once being on par with Greater Demons, and even the Gods themselves in rare cases.

It is said that before their downfall, the great king of dragons once beat the god of fire and the god of ice in direct combat.

Though they are no longer around today (for the the most part), Over the last two thousand years, a few species of dragon have evolved from the few stragglers of this race, adapting to their respective environments, though they are still very rare. The modern day descendants of this race are Wyverns and Sea Dragon Leviathans.

#### APPEARANCE-

Moon dragons are much larger than humans. On average, they are about 8 feet tall, but it is common for moon dragons descended from the royal bloodline to be between 9 and 10 feet in their smallest forms. Moon dragons are named for their beautiful opalescent white scales, and their snow-white hair, as well as their connection to the late moon goddess in ancient times, and she cared for them deeply and they worshipped her wholeheartedly.

Moon dragons possess a minimum of three forms. The first, the one they spend the most time in, is the form of a very humanoid Beastman-type monster, where they are entirely human in appearance save for their tails and horns, which are always present. Their wings may not be present in this form due to their size- as Moon dragons will often simply not include them in their smallest forms for convenience. This smaller, more humanoid form was originally created in order to allow dragons to socialize with other species without frightening them, and, before their fall, the moon dragons spent nearly all of their time in this form.

In the royal bloodline of Moon dragons, they possess an additional second human form, known as their "royal" form, in which they are significantly taller and more monstrous. In this form, the while scales that line their body will cover all four of their limbs as well as their backs and sides, and the hard, bark-like casing around their horns will crumble away, revealing glowing purple crystalline horns underneath. Their wings are fully visible during this form and their wingspan is significantly increased, as well as the length of their tails. This intimidating form was used primarily in rituals and important rites, but serves as a sort of powered-up form for combat as well whenever time came to defend the tribe.

The third form that moon dragons take is, well, a dragon. They lose their humanoid forms entirely, growing up to ten times the size of their smaller forms and gaining a fearsome draconic appearance, with long, muscular bodies, four trunk-like limbs, a massive, powerful tail and a massive wingspan. These dragons have an elegant and powerful appearance, completely covered in opalescent scales that refract light like prisms. In Moon dragon culture, the ability to transform into a dragon is a sacred right, and those who commit great sin or failure will lose the "right" to use this form entirely. This form is primarily used in rituals as well, and not often used in combat, as the moon dragons, when established, were a peaceful and pacifistic people that rarely fought, despite what people like the kingdom of reis will have you believe. In truth, their frightening muscular and tall appearances were simply a defense mechanism that they evolved to carry- as was their incredible strength. Though they were carnivores, their diet was entirely livestock animals, and they never participated in war or armed conflict of any kind other than occasionally defending their mountain home from invading forces.

#### BEHAVIORS-

Moon dragons were once a deeply pacifistic people, and are known for being gentle, kind and considerate, as well as undyingly loyal. Dragons are bound by a deep-rooted system of honor that kept their society grounded and comfortable. Dragons believe also in the concept of "life debts"- in where a dragon is saved or aided in some major, life-changing way by another individual, they will become deeply loyal to them and will serve them as best they can until they feel that said debt has been repaid .

Dragons practice a unique and relatively outdated form of romance and intimacy that involves absolute abstinence until one has chosen a life partner. The weight placed upon choosing the correct partner comes from the fact that when moon dragons have consensual intercourse with someone for the first time, a magical bond is formed between the dragon and their partner. This bond prevents the dragon from feeling sexual or romantic attraction to anyone but their partner, even after their partner's death, making any intimacy a lifelong commitment. This process is known as "Soul bonding", and a less-restrictive form of this practice is still found in modern day dragons. Soul-bonding has been known to expand the lifespan of the dragon's partner, should they not be human, so that they age at a draconic rate. For many mortals, this massive extension to their life span could be seen as a curse, making interspecies moon dragon relationships very rare. Because of this, few subspecies of dragon have ever sprouted from the moon dragons.

#### LIFE CYCLE-

When dragons are conceived, they spend about 12 months in a large dragon egg. When they hatch from that egg, they are physically- and mentally- toddlers. Dragons do not experience a standard infancy, and present strong instincts even from the moment they hatch to keep them alive.

Dragons age in an unusual way. They age at a normal human rate until they are in their 20s, and then their aging grinds to a complete hault. Dragons will remain looking physically like a young adult for the rest of their life, though their appearance may change through outside factors. It is generally said that you can estimate how old a moon dragon actually is by the length of their hair, as it grows extremely slowly, and it is forbidden in moon dragon culture to cut your hair. The longer the hair, the older the dragon. In general, dragons do not die of old age, but tend to die of other natural causes such as sickness. The estimated life span of a dragon is hard to calculate because of this, but the oldest known moon dragon has reached around two thousand years in age.

After becoming soul-bonded to their partner, dragons may choose at any time to have children with their partners. It is not possible for a dragon to have children without being soul-bound due to the sexual nature of how moon dragons reproduce, so few dragons end up actually have children- accounting for their few numbers. Dragons are an oviparous species that reproduce through laying an egg inside their partner.

Male dragons reproduce by first engaging in intercourse with their partner to the point of climax. They then lay between 1 to 3 eggs at a time into one of their partner's lower orifices. Male dragons can reproduce with any species and sex as long as the partner has some sort of sexual orifice- but monsters without a sexual orifice, such as male lamias, are biologically incompatible with dragons. The Egg layed into the dragon's partner is soft and squishy, and is about the size of a chicken egg, so that it does not harm their mate. The dragon will stay connected with their partner for about an hour, keeping both the egg and the male dragon's ejaculate inside their partner until a hard outer shell forms around the egg. During this process, the pairs DNA passes through the semipermeable membrane of the egg through their bodily fluids, accepting genetic material from both parents. Once the hard shell has formed around the dragon egg, the mate of the dragon will be tasked with laying it. Now that the egg has a shell, it no longer has many needs other than to be kept warm. Over time, the egg's shell will continue to harden and grow strange ridges, showing that it is healthy and that the growing dragon inside is developing as intended. After about 12 months, a juvenile dragon will hatch from the egg, taking on the form of a small toddler. Dragons skip their early infancy while developing inside of the egg.

Female dragons reproduce a bit differently. In order to still be genetically compatible with non-oviporous species, female moon dragons produce their own eggs within their body once a month, which only remains for a day. During this time, they will have to be inseminated by their mate in order to produce offspring. Female dragons can not reproduce without insemination- but moon dragons with partners incapable of this have been known to accomplish this still with a bit of magical intervention, should they choose to have children. After being pregnant, the dragon will lay an egg the next day in a way similar to the partners of a male dragon.

When a female moon dragon and a male moon dragon mate, the male dragon will not oviposit her, and they will just have normal sexual intercourse, since it's functionally the same, and is unnecessary. The female dragon will lay an egg slightly earlier than with a partner of another species, but otherwise, it works the same way.

Dragons are not known to have particularly large litters of children. In fact, it is rare for a dragon to have more than 3 children at the very most across their lifetime. In order to accomplish this, dragons have complete, unusual control of whether or not they are fertile at any given time, meaning that they can have sex with their partners without the risk of having a child.

#### HABITAT-

Moon dragons are sensitive to cold temperatures and do not feel comfortable living anywhere that is too cold- and yet, for some reason, the only known outpost of ancient moon dragons was established atop a snowy mountain in reis- This mountain city was rich with natural hot springs however, which the dragons cleverly engineered heating systems out of to warm their large homes. The dragons likely chose this spot because of it's isolation, due to their desire to stay out of conflicts.

Because they are very social creatures who live unnaturally long lives, the moon dragons of old chose to stay within the confines of their city walls to avoid being separated from their kin. They were incredibly intelligent, and it can be seen in the ruined structures of the old city of dragons that they lived in large homes made of stone bricks that were heavily insulated with non-flammable materials to keep everything warm inside. Dragons spent most of their time inside because the air outside was too cold, and thus hardly left their homes other than to hunt wildlife to eat. Modern day descendants of moon dragons are still known to be homely creatures who rarely leave their homes or dens, carrying on this trait.

#### MAGIC AND SCIENTIFIC IMPACT-

Moon dragons are among the most powerful elemental magic wielders of Ucatia, directly rivaling the strength of greater demons- and, within the royal family of moon dragons, even gods themselves, due to their incredibly rare prismatic core- a gift from Salem that sparked the conflict of the Divine war, which would lead to the near-extinction of the species. It is said that all houses of the modern day schools of magic once originated from the moon dragons. The long-lasting effects of their proclivity to pass down powerful magic to new generations and constant studying of the elements has reached every corner of Ucatia- and moon dragons themselves are considered the founders of the houses of magic because of this. Though there is much less magic in Ucatia than there was when the dragons ruled the north, Their teachings and techniques can still be found in all magical curriculum today. Needless to say, their impact on the world of magic was absolutely grandiose.

#### DANGER LEVELS-

Though dragons were among the strongest of monsters in Ucatia during their prime- both physically and magically- Dominating the monster hierarchy with ease, they were known to be hardcore pacifists. Though all moon dragons possess a \*potential\* threat due to their capacity for destruction, their temperaments made them harmless. Dragons have never been known to be violent or malicious in any way throughout history- far from it. They were a peaceful, kind and empathetic race who's culture and teachings- which they lived by faithfully- severely condoned violence or malice. Though these dragons are hardly present at all today, had they still remained in Ucatia, they would not have been considered dangerous, though one could argue that they would command a certain respect for their strength regardless.