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Fantabiology- Dragons and friends

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DRACONIDAE FAMILY


Last time we talked about the general topic of mythical creatures and where they come from... this time we will talk about a specific family.
Now, the reader must be informed that this classification is still in progress and the author wouldn't mind correction/addition to the subject in study.
That said, let's recap the evolution of The Hexapoda branch and let's get further down to the dragon family, and while we are doing it, let's enunciate the principal characteristic that distinguish the subdivision 


EUKARIOTA (Cells have nucleuses)

ANIMALIA (multicellular)

EUMETAZOA (high cellular differentiation and tissues)

BILATERA  (axial symmetry  & differentiation between front and back)

DEUTEROSTOMIA (digestive system has distinct entry and exit, that means anus and mouth are distinct)

CHORDATA (Presence of a notochord in at least a section of life. The nothochord is an elastic tube positioned on the symmetry axis of the creature)

VERTEBRATA (body supported by internal structure. Examples: bones, fish-bones, etc) 

GNATHOSTOMATA (mandibles) 

HEXAPODA (Six limbs or less) 

AMNIOTA (no larval stage) 

MONOCEFALIS  (Only one head) 

REPTILITORAX (reptilian chest) 

DRACONIDAE (Dragons and similar)


Since the classification seems pretty clear, the genera are the following:

1.ABERRATIO

This is a very particular genus, that is one of the many default branches. A default branch is a branch in which all the creatures that do not follow the standard rules are put. For example, if there is a dimension where dragons evolved in a complete different way than the ones in the other dimension, to the point they can not be classified in the Impurus or draco branches, they get put in the aberratio branch by default. Also in this branch we can find particular creatures that can not be called dragon, but have many common characteristic with them.


FLUCTUANSUAVIS  

Normally called Ravid, his name comes from the latin fluctuans="floating" and suavis="lovely, benevolent, balsamic". In some books is called Monopes (from Mono= "one" and pes="foot"). It looks like a 2 meters long white snake, with a dragon face and one single paw. Like the name suggest, it magically floats in the air.
Typical of the planes of existence full of positive energy, this dragon-like creature carries inside itself an enormous quantity of this energy. In fact they have so much that inanimate objects around them come to life, and the Ravid can even discharge its energy on targets, healing wounds and hurting undeads or willingly animating an obect. Normally one of said objects escorts the Ravid at all times

SCUTUMAGNUS

Normally called Tarrasque, this absolutely dreadful creature takes is name from the latin scutum= "shield" and magnus="supreme, uttermost, ultimate".
The only few observed specimen of this gargantuan monster sized around 21 meters of length , 15 meters of height and a whooping 130 tons of weight. Fortunately they are very rare. There is a mean value of a single Tarrasque per Multiverse. The monster sleeps from 6 to 24 weeks, then rampages through the surroundings for up to three days eating or destroying everything in its path, then goes to sleep again.
The monster regularly goes on a frenzy, and hunts for a couple of weeks non-stop, then falls in catalepsy for a period of time between 4 and 24 years, and then resumes its normal sleep-hunt routine for ten years circa, before going in the frenzy status again.
The Tarrasque is technically immune to everything, even magic. The shield on his back is unbreakable and reflects or cancel all spells. Its regenerating powers are tremendous, he can recover from even the most massive damage in matter of istants. The monster can even recover from apparent death. Every part of the monster that gets cut off grows back again in an average time of 3,5 minutes. The only way to kill the monster is bring him to apparent death and then perform a miracle or a wish to make him stay dead

2.IMPURUS

This genus is composed by all the creatures that are crossbreed between dragons and other creatures. Hence this, they will be mentioned again in the branch of the other creature as well. Those creatures might also be the result of magic or genetic experiment conducted on dragons or other creatures


LEODRACO

From the latin "leo"= lion and "draco"= Dragon, this 3,5 meters long creature presents feature common to both dragons and lions: a feline face, dragony razor sharp teeth, reptilian claws and scales, rough and messy lion mane, ocher-caramel colors, dragon wings. Normally called Dragonne, they are not very ferocious: if one leaves them be, they won't usually attack, unless they are short of more eligible preys

IUVENIMENDAX

This creature, normally called the Pseudo-dragon, evolved or was genetically modified to look exactly like a dragon, but on a much smaller scale. Their body is 30 cm long, and the tail twice as much; they weight approximately 3,5 kg. They are able to communicate telepathically but they cannot breath fire. Instead they can sting with their poisonous tail, that ends in a scorpion stinger. They are perfect as familiars or just for company. they behave a lot like cats. His name comes from the latin iuvenis="young, whelp" and mendax="fake, mendacious" 


DRACHELYS

From the latin draco and Chelys="turtle, tortoise". This creature's length ranges between 6 and 9 meters, for a weight from 12 to 48 tons. Its best described as a dragon that looks like a turtle, or a particularly scaly giant turtle. Very originally called dragon turtle by the sailors, this creature can breath a cone of scalding steam. Its also known for overturning boats rising under them

 

3.DRACO (The real deal, the legend of legends)


The dragon genus has a fair amount of species (3, to be exact) and those have some sub-species that might need more than a couple of words to be described.
 
Before discussing the species in detail, we need to talk about the dragons' most famous legendary ability. 


FIRE BREATHING

Surprisingly, even in this case the dragons present two categories, the "magic fire" dragons, and the "flesh fire" dragon. Both those dragons produce fire thanks to glands situated in the mouth, the exural glands (from the latin exuro= burn/ burn down), but the two glands are substantially different

Magic Fire dragon: His gland is called exural mana gland, and its job is converting the mana stored in the dragon's  mana crystal (see the Mana crystal chapter ahead for explanation) into liquid blaze, a liquid whose composition is still unknown, then projecting it out, and finally casting an ignition spell on the liquid, which instantly catches fire. The dragon is completely unaware of the spell, which is casted by the gland by pure conditioned reflex
The gland is also capable of transforming fire into mana, extinguishing the fire in the process. The dragon uses this tactic to put off fires that were not intentional. The process gives pleasurable sensations to the dragon, so they are more than eager to put out unneeded fires; although it requires hundreds of dragons to put out a forest fire.

Flesh Fire dragon: His gland, called exural carnepix (carne="flesh", pix="pitch") gland, its a mere sack ready to project the dragon's most powerful weapon: the flesh pitch. This viscous black liquid is composed of an inert solution of phosphor and enzymes. when they get in contact with lipids (fat, butter, cellular membrane, etc...) they almost instantaneously combine them with the components of the solution, producing lots of phosphor in the process. The phosphor then reacts with the air, bursting into flames that sticks to the victim, until it's burned down to the bones. the fire aliments itself burning the lipids of which the victim is made. The pitch is completely ineffective on plants. 
In order to survive, the dragon produces and secretes enzymes that neutralize the reaction induced by pitch's enzymes, and has another gland that spits a mixture of components that makes oxygen inert. The dragon can use this aeredal gland (latin for air eater) to provoke vertigo to victims by depriving them of oxygen for a brief period. The gases produced by the reaction are also mildly toxic.
In order to keep the exural gland well supplied, the dragon's particularly gluttonous of fishes, phosphorous rocks and crystals, and phosphorous phentoxide, which is produced by the spontaneous reaction of phosphor and air.

Now let's get back to examine the dragons species

DRACO MINOR:

The least powerful kind of dragon, those are very rare. The probability a multiverse will contain them is very scarce. 
The ability of them to breathe fire is not a given, but increases as the number of limbs decreases (that is, lindwurms and Anfithers are more likely to breathe fire than a Wivern) 

Alaserpens: 
Commonly called Anfither, this kind of dragon doesn't have any legs. The only limbs it presents are a couple of wings, that are connected to the body along all its length trough a skin strip. The quickest flyer among all dragons thanks to its aerodynamic and slim body.
The scientific name means "winged serpent" from the Latin ala= wing and serpens= snake 


Bipedis: 
Commonly named Lindwurm. Like the name suggest, it has only a pair of legs on the front of the body. Moves around like a snake, sometimes helping itself with the front legs. The scientific name comes from the Latin bipes= two-footed, composed form of bi-= two and pes= foot


Podalarum: 
Legends calls it Wivern. The most common looking kind of dragon, looks like a more lizardy version of a pterodactil. Shares with it the high skill in flight and the habit of walking using the wings as legs. That habit has given this species its name too: in fact in latin ala=wing and poda= foot

DRACO VULGARIS:

A middle ground between the minor dragons and the powerful imperator, studies indicates that the unique original member of the specie was the hellburst, and the other two kinds generated by inbreeds between hellcores and hellbursts. This carried from the imperator the inability to breath fire (except multiverses where they have an elemental core, see below).
Their common traits are the posses of both pairs of legs and tail. Each sub-specie's breeding process has 10% chance to produce a member of another sub-specie. That is, if two hellbursts, two hellshards or two hellkytes breed, their younglings have 10% chance each to turn out as a member of another sub-specie 

Ignispiritus:
We know them as Hellbursts, which is the name they have given themselves, like the other kind of Vulgaris and Imperators. They are the only kind of Vulgaris that is able to breath fire, and is not uncommon find magic fire dragons and flesh fire dragons in the same habitat.
Generally their crests are longer and softer than the other dragons. Its name comes from the latin ignis= fire and spiritus= breath/soul

Magicornuum:
They call themselves Hellshards. Generated by inbreeds of Imperator and Ignispiritus, they retain from imperators the mana crystal (that  is why there is shard in their name). They also have horns that are used to focus mana and cast spells. This sub-specie, unlike mules or other inbreeds, is fertile and stabile (they follow normal Mendelian genetics mechanic). Generally they do not have crests on the top of the head, only on the back of the neck, unlike other dragons. The name loosely comes from the latin Magis=magic and cornu= horn, and literally mean dragon with magical horns

Dermapteris:
They prefer to be called Hellkytes. They are also an inbreed of imperator and Ignispiritus. From the former they inherited the wings, but lost the fire breathing ability of the latter. This sub-species is fertile too. Their crests vary immensely in form, shapes and in some cases material. The name comes from the greek derma= skin and pteros= wing.
There is a rare variety that has feather wings

The posses of wings, mana horns and fire breath is mutually exclusive. The only way for a member of the vulgaris specie to get horns and wings (at the cost of fire breath) is the acquisition of an elemental core, which causes the mutation of the specimen into a member of the Imperator specie

DRACO IMPERATOR: 

The Hellcore is almost the kind of dragon everyone thinks about when they hear the word dragon: four legs, two wings, horns, and majestic. It has only one sub-specie;for consistency purpose we'll list it like the other species.

Pteracornus:
This is the only sub-specie, but its characteristics vary upon the elemental core they have. In some multiverses (like the ones in the game Dungeons&Dragons)  the elemental cores give the dragon more power, while in other multiverses the core help the dragon to maintain its shape
The name comes from greek and latin: pteros is the greek for wing, while cornu is the latin for horn 

elemental breath core: each core has an elemental force that focuses mana and gives the dragon a breath corresponding to that element (at an higher cost of mana than a magic fire vulgaris dragon would have had). The core also defines color and appearance of the dragon. But this core has two flaw, the imperator cannot breed with members of the vulgar specie, and the power in the core is too strong to allow the dragon to live forever. It gradually consumes the dragon, and eventually kills him. The only way for such dragons to increase their life span is collecting treasures: gold, platinum, chrome, aluminum (contained in sapphires and rubies) and other rare metals and gems contrast the deteriorating effect of the core. The dragons of those multiverses are particularly greedy for this reason.
Those kind of dragons can breed only with a dragon with the same core, and they always produce a pteracornus already possessing the same kind of core. This means that an elemetal hellcore is a pteracornus since birth.

life core: this kind of core, other than making the dragon an hellcore, does not give the dragon special powers. It serves more as an addictional mana battery and helps the dragon to survive: it supplies the dragon with air, water, food, and every other basic need a dragon might require to survive in hostile environment. The core gives this way a week of full autonomy to the dragon on a planet with an atmosphere, or three days in open space. The unfiltered light of a star relatively close by (like our sun in open space) is enough to recharge the core indefinitely. This does not mean that the dragon does not consume food. In fact it will still suffer from thirst and hunger, and if not sustained with external sources it will be extremely weak.
The core also does not deteriorate the dragon, and so allows the dragon to live forever. It cures diseases and damages to the dragon's body too, but this feature requires more mana than the sun can charge. 
Normally those dragon can breed with vulgaris specimens, but the result will always be a vulgar dragon. It is unknown if they can breed with each other and what will be the results,  but since the status of pteracornus is given to a vulgaris by another pteracornus, the fantabiologist agree on the fact that except some extraordinary case, the breed of two life hellcores should produce a draco vulgaris. This means that life pteracorni are not pteracorni at the birth, usually.
It is unknown if the number of life core of a multiverse is limited or a new core is created at the moment a pteracornus gives a draco vulgaris "The gift". Hellcores revealed that very rarely a draco vulgaris can "ascend" to the pteracornus status on its own, but there are no witnesses to certify it.


Here's a recap of the dragon kinds discovered so far



Appendix 1: Mana crystal


by studying some corpses of specimens willingly provided by the draconian community, it's now known for the most part how dragon viscera looks like and how do they work. Some parts are rather mundane, other are quite unique. Surely the mana crystal belongs to the latter category.
Made of a grey crystalline hexagonal form of selenium hybridized with rare materials like technetium, platinum, Nobelium, promethium, Neptunium, Tellurium and many others, this is the best combination of materials possible that is capable of harnessing magical energy (called mana) and store it for later use. Some tiny crystal of same mixture can be found all over the dragons' body, but they function as nodes trough which the energy can flow  
I went a bit on the details
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