Dragon

Dragons, also referred to by some as Shardspawn, are powerful shapeshifting fringe entities whose true form is that of a large winged reptile. There are two main types of dragons - chromatic and metallic, both of which are divided into further subtypes, as follows:

Chromatic dragons

 Black    Blue    Brown    Green    Red   White

Metallic dragons

 Copper    Gold    Iron    Silver 

Every dragon is descended from one of the Shards of Ardothun, and as such, it is believed that each has a minuscule fraction of Ardothun's divine essence inside of them, which is said to be the source of their tremendous natural Auratic power.

Biology

Anatomy

All dragons have four legs and one set of wings, and the front feet have digits dexterous enough for fine manipulation, including opposable thumbs.

Genetics and reproduction

Cross-flight breeding

As dragons are a fairly rare species compared to more populous species such as the civilized peoples, it is not uncommon that dragons take a partner from a different dragonflight or even a different species.

An union between two dragons of differing flight will result in offspring of the mother's type, but with characteristics typical of the father's type mixed in, such as horn placement, presence of spines, etc. A noted exception of this is when the father is a black dragon - since there are no female black dragons (aside from Shra herself), the black dragonflight propagates itself exclusively via crossbreeding. The offspring of such a partnership is always a black dragon male, albeit it derives some characteristics such as eye color, Auratic alignment, and breath weapon, from its mother.

Interspecies breeding

Dragons can additionally produce viable offspring with their derived races - namely, dracons and kobolds. The results of such an union are called dragon-blooded, inherit some extra draconic traits, and are always of the non-dragon partner's species.

Diet

Dragons are apex predators who are primarily carnivorous, though they are known to subsist on other types of food, if sources of meat are scarce or nonexistent in the dragon's immediate surroundings.

Society

Dragonflights

As per their classification as fringe entities, most dragons don't directly take part in society in the same way the civilized peoples do. Instead, they have their own quasi-societal way of life informed by the species' organization into Dragonflights, ten factions based on each of the ten color types. Most dragons are fiercely loyal to their dragonflight, showing near total deference to their corresponding Shard or their flight's Speaker, an elected representative for the dragonflight in a regularly held meeting between the ten Speakers called the Flightsmoot.

Rural dragons

The typical dragon is a solitary creature that has created a lair for themselves somewhere in the untamed wilds of Zairis. The chosen environment is usually informed by a given dragon's color - for instance, a white dragon will vastly prefer the perpetually snowy Nordheim Mountains to something like the deserts of Ka'aras, typically more suited to gold dragons. These rural dragons are prone to terrorizing the area around the lair in their quest for food, power and wealth, giving little to no heed to society or ecosystems that suffer because of this. This attitude, more than anything else, has soured the civilized peoples' general populace's opinion of dragons, viewing them as little more than greedy, bestial bullies.

Urban dragons

In contrast, urban dragons have made their lairs in subterfuge right under the civilized peoples' noses, and through use of their shapeshifting ability, move about as one of them, typically in the guise of dracons, though dragons masquerading as kobolds are not unheard of either, albeit rare considering the societal disadvantage put upon kobolds. Their draconic nature gravitates them towards societal roles of wealth and power, and as such, many urban dragons find themselves taking on upper class roles such as bankers, businesspeople, and politicians.

Language

All dragons that are verbal to begin with speak Old Draconic, and many, especially younger ones, speak Neodraconic as well. In addition, more culturally curious dragons are driven to learn other languages for the sake of furthering their knowledge.