CanopyGliders

### Physical Appearance

Ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 meters, these dragons stand on the smaller side. They have two thumbs and long claws, along with a prehensile tail, to help holding onto trees and branches, to fit these dragon's primarily arboreal life style. Their wings are made for short bursts of speed with a focus on maneuverability. To aid with this, they can fold the hand part of their wing under the arm part, allowing them to easily fly through gaps between branches. Many individuals have frills lining the sides of their body for better gliding, or tendrils which serve to better assess the distance from obstacles as the dragon flies by. They also have wide head frills which often move with their emotions and a sack attached to the bottom of their throat. This specialized organ allows CanopyGliders to mimic sounds, including other voices. The headcrest all individuals posses sits either on the top of their heads or on their brow. These dragons have sharp teeth made for tearing flesh and their saliva contains a strong anticoagulant. As such, these dragons' typical hunting strategy is to get a good bite in, tear and rip and thrash to cause as much damage as possible, swiftly get out of range and wait for their foe to bleed out. To assist with these, CanopyGliders also have an exceptional sense of smell.

### Coloration

While most individuals are primarily green with red or pink highlights, these dragons can have any color. Furthermore, it's common for them to have intricate patterns of any kind. Some individuals, typically due to a rare recessive gene, change color depending on the seasons. Bright and vibrantly green in summer, they turn gold and red in fall and dull significantly until they're almost entirely gray or even white in winter, before brightening up again in spring.

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

### Territory and Culture

These dragons live, often together with StreamSwimmers, all over the great forest, even outside of their marked territory of Timber Creeks. Timber Creeks is a relatively safe area of swamp, marsh, and forest around multiple rivers. They used to live at the Sanctuary but after the eruption of Firebox Peak destroyed it, they moved towards the Ironwood Mountains. Eventually, the nutrients brought up by the eruption gave way for the exponential growth of the great forest. CanopyGliders make their homes within the canopies of trees. Evergreens are most popular, some of which reach up to 200 meters in height. They weave homes of branches and wood and string nets and planks between individual homes, creating often spiraling pathways around tree trunks and across multiple trees. Their capitol, Mangrove Falls, is built around a series of waterfalls which provide the perfect environment to all sorts of herbs and crops. It is also popular amongst StreamSwimmers, allowing for a gradual cultural overlapping.

### Relationship with Patron

CanopyGliders worship the RootWeaver and view him as a generous life giver. After their ancestors spent the Age of Frost within his Sanctuary, they forged a strong bond with their patron. As such, they still honor him through various rituals, often involving grafting of many different types of cherry trees together, which are known to be the RootWeaver's favorites. Through this they also hope to remain in the god's good graces so they can avoid another catastrophe like the one that destroyed the Sanctuary.