Species Info - Psidragon
Dragon: Typical dragon at first glance, hatches from an egg, is scaly, scales harden with age, but where they differ is their psychic ability. A dragon uses telekenisis to fly, being too heavy to do so otherwise. It starts this from an early age, and thus they all become very powerful psychics, being adept at all sorts of goodies. They only need to eat about once per month, but live a longass time; though they never really die, kinda. As they grow older, their powers grow stronger, and they gradually become more lethargic, prone to lazing around and not moving stuff except with powers and all that. As they get older and stronger, they eventually stop moving altogether and form a rocky scaleshell around themselves, gradually becoming part of the mountain. All those mountains? Countless dragons. The First Scale is the oldest dragon that hasn't 'ascended', as any dragon that reaches that stage is so powerful that their mind become detatched from petty mortal matters and go solve the mysteries of the universe or something. If they are successfully 'woken up', or if something draws their attention, they are nigh godlike, and they only get stronger the older they are, though conversely harder to wake up. The psychic 'radiation' they give off causes psychics of other species to pop up once in a while, ie Valoth.
History
The dragons are all psychic. It's literally in their DNA, no way out of it, their hat, etc. However, occasionally a hatchling or two is born without the capacity for psychic power, and they die in the egg, since dragon hatchlings hatch by bursting their egg's shell with psychic force. This policy was not always in practice, and there was once a large population of nonpsychic dragons among the others. Gradually, however, political and social differences arose, with the dragons being contempuous toward their unfortunate kin and the others holding a seething dislike of the psychics. Separate factions formed, and eventually civil war broke out. Of course, seeing as how one side had psionics and the other being both nonpsychic and grounded, having no capacity for flight, it went as well as you might expect. The grounders were driven back off the peaks, into the shadows of the planet ground, which the dragons rarely visited, if ever. The victorious dragons put the whole business behind them, instituted the policy that kills any nonpsychics in the egg, and generally forgot about the whole business. The surviving worms, however, were rather miffed about the whole ordeal. And by miffed I mean they hated each and every dragon with a festering hate. Nasty business. For their part, they sought out caves in the lower mountains, and found an extensive network of tunnels leading into the underground regions of the world, where they took up residence. Not needing their eyes, they fell away, and became dependent on vibrations, movement, and smell to find their prey/way around. Like most blind creatures, they became white and lost their scales, looking now like gigantic worms of some sort. Eventually they gained the services of the lizardmen, detailed below, and went to war against the dragons. The rest is history.
The lizardmen came about as a result of a rather unpleasant process that ended up with horrible horrible hybrids. The blind worm things, you see, were not forever alone in the depths of the world; occasionally an enterprising group of humans would find their way down there, to a less-than-optimal fate. See, the worms ... they retained certain urges ... and they had evolved to propogate their race by rather unsavory means ... you can see where I'm going with this. They would mate with the females, killing the males, and the spawn of this union would usually kill the mother in birth and become a new worm. Of course they mated with each other as well, but they were assholes, so they did the humanraep thing too. ANYWAYS, eventually these matings led to the development of a whole new species, the lizardmen. Essentially, tall thin humanoids, stick thin and vulnerable to attack, but quick, quiet, and deadly with their claws. And they could see, unlike their larger bretheren, and instinctively scuttled for the light when they were birthed. The wyrms, curious, followed, and were (re)introduced to the world outside the caves. They were shocked at first, and retreated into the safety of the caves. But the lizardmen, possessed of eyesight, asked their parents what those flying things were. The worms swiftly learned that the dragons had completely forgotten them, and filed with anger, began planning for war. They retreated to the largest caverns and bred massive armies of lizardmen, diversifying them into multiple breeds suited for different combat roles. When their armies, all loyal and eager to kill something, were large enough, they led them against the unsuspecting dragons. But not their main forces. Instead they snuck into their mountain caves while most of them were away. They led their forces at the eggs. They smashed them, drank the yolks, and generally had a good time destroying the future generation of dragons. Unfortunately for them, there were eggwatchers in the caves, and these eggwatchers let out powrful calls of distress that attracted all the dragons in the area, who rushed back and met the hordes of the wyrms in battle. It went adequately for the dragons, who still possessed the advantage of being psychic but were outnumbered and surprised. They drove them back, but not without heavy losses, and most of the eggs were killed; only 1/5 survived at most. Shaken, they called a council, and organized themselves from the civilization which is described below into a more centralized fighting force to wage war on the lizards. However, they were still unwilling to risk more dragon lives after the first battle, and thus they began recruiting other races to do most of the fighting for them. Ergo, Valoth. And now you know the history of the Dragons and Wyrms.
Society
The dragons formerly lived in very loose familyish groups. The males were generally siezed with wanderlust at an early age and went gallivanting off around the planet in goups while the females stayed in one general area and fed off the primitive herds they tended. The male groups explored around the planet, organizing themselves into a heirarchy based on psychic ability - the most powewrful and creative one of the group became the de facto leader. They explored, had mock fights with other groups, and generally led rather nomadic lives before eventually splitting up and settling down with the resident young females of wherever they were. The couple would then claim a territory for themselves, build a nest, and eventually lay an egg or two. Occasionally a mate would die of illness or injury, and the surviving partner would generally go off into the wilderness to live the rest of their lives in solitude, the sight of other dragons only aggravating their grief. Alkus was such a dragon, his mate and egg killed in the initial attack, though he eventually found a surrogate son in Valoth. After the initial attack by the wyrms, the dragons organized themselves into a militaristic organization, with the elder dragons at the head as the strategists/etc, the younger dragons as the recruiters/support personell, and the odd volunteer who actually wanted to fight the wyrms. Odd fellows. But history proceeded, the vanguards came, and the dragons had to leave. When they arrived on whatever planet they landed on, having lost the guidance of their elders who had ascended to the stone, they kinda clustered around the First Scale and other old dragons, who had them move to the closest mountain range, where they currently reside, attempting to rebuild. The wyrms, for what passed as a civilization amongst them, had the wyrms themselves as the head of a large brood of lizardmen, each of them loyal to that particular wyrm from the production of pheromones/handwavium. Infighting frequently occurs among them when they're not focused on destroying one specific enemy. They try to steal each others' spawn as a habit, to counteract the others stealing their spawn. Disgusting creatures. No one knows about what happened to them after the evacuation.
Stages of Growth:
Hatchling: Age 0-1. Dragon is essentially a newborn in this stage, being dependent on the parents for 2-3 weeks before instinct and imprinting kicks in. Goes through rapid growth in this phase, starting from the size of a cat to the size of a full grown polar bear in a 4-month period. Approximate size when stage is finished is 10-14 feet high at the shoulder and 35-40 feet in length.
Imprinting: A hatchling will instinctively 'latch on' to the mind of the first sentient being it encounters when it hatches. It passively observes the thought patterns of this linkee, and from them learns thought. Dragons take this opportunity to teach them how to speak, think, and utilize their psychic abilities, at least to a small degree, so the hatchlings can speak eloquently when this stage is done, as well as having basic telekinesis. The dragon's personality is heavily influenced by this stage.
Juvenile: Age: 1-50. Dragon's growth rate slows during this stage. Dragon becomes extremely curious about surrounding area, with males becoming more explorative than the females, who strive to get to know their territory - prelude to later in life. The males, in contrast, wander far and wide, though they stay within a certain radius due to imprinting. Both sexes unable to fly at this stage. Education by parents intensifies at this stage, with the juvenile's burgeoning psychics blossoming into a multitude of abilities, from summoning flame (most commonly expressed via breathing fire), stronger telekinesis, telepathy, transmuting the properties of objects, culminating in flight (see Adolescence). End size of this stage is commonly 25-30 feet in height and 70-75 feet in length.
Adolescent: Age: 50-150. Dragon has reached adult growth in size at this stage, though growth continues, as it does throughout the dragon's life. Sexual dimorphism begins in earnest here, though both sexes are relatively similar in body. Make dragons are seized with wanderlust at the beginning of this stage, and having learned flight from their parents, they leave, likely never to see them again. The females accompany them, as the parents make them leave when the males do, but they generally only fly until they find a suitable area unclaimed by other dragons, where they familiarize themselves with the surrounding 10 miles or so and begin to spruce it up, both to attract males and make it more attractive to themselves. The males, meanwhile, go gallivanting off, so to speak. While females often choose territory that resembles home, males seek to distance themselves from their former homes as much as possible, and thus fly for quite some distance before entering into a pack of sorts with other young males. These packs of about 15-20 males compete, first with each other to determine who is 'alpha' within the group, which is essentially an aerial brawl in which the strongest, fastest, most cunning, or most psychically skilled dragon ends up on top, and then between other groups to test their mettle, and more recently as military training. These groups wander the planet for many years, gaining and losing members as young males attempt to join the group (commonly done via fighting a member of the group; if a good performance is given, the aspiring member is accepted) and when the group stops at a particular area to woo the resident single females. They present themselves to the female before her den, which she will have decorated with rocks that she's transmuted to be shiny and reflective, and attempt to call her out with psychic calls, while she resists by putting up mental barriers. The one who gets through isn't guaranteed the mating, but he's ahead of the game, so to speak.
Once the female has been drawn out, the interested males begin to perform, for lack of a better word, for her, using their psychic and physical prowess to attempt to impress her. They pick up and crush boulders, summon flame in complex patterns, wrestle with one another to show their strength, give her riddles, and many other showings of bravery and wit. Eventually the female signals her approval for one of the candidates. The lucky male stays with the female while the others move onto the next. The new couple undergo a process similar to imprinting; they link their minds to one another, sharing their thoughts. This process is permanent, so it is only done with the consent of both partners, and usually only after a period of several months or years living together. It seals the mating pair together for life, and is immediately followed by sexual intercourse. This marks the end of adolescence for the dragon, though rarely there are dragons that never really settle down with a mate, and there have been reports of a few females joining the packs, and likewise some males seeking out territory during this stage. These are, however, the exception, not the rule. End size varies, as this stage can last anywhere from a few days to well over 100 years. However, averages range from 30-50 feet in height and 75-150 feet in length, varying greatly depending on how long the stage is remained in.
Adult: Age: 150-1000. In this stage, the typical dragon has claimed a mate and a territory, it lives mostly there for the rest of its life. Depending on the climate and the temperament of the dragons, the territory may be altered to suit the inhabitants, from the temperature being altered to the ambient light being changed to even the very properties of the land being warped. This is the stage in which the dragon reproduces, though they don't do it very often, being patient creatures. A couple may produce 1 egg every 200 years or so, and they guard this egg and the hatchling fiercely. While they don't eat as much in this stage as in childhood, they still have a healthy appetite and so usually tend herds of the local herd animal. Occasionally a group of other creatures will wander in, such as a tribe of humans, a family of stone eaters, or other creatures. These the dragons usually let be unless they come too close to their home or begin to prey overmuch on their herd, in which case the offending creatures find themselves swiftly evicted, it being up to the will of the dragon whether they live or die. Amidst all this, occasionally other dragons attempt to claim the territory for themselves, in which case the couple drives them out with fire and will. Psychic experimentation begins in earnest in this stage, with their abilities multiplying and strengthening almost exponentially over the years. The couple may also occasionally fly off across the planet as a vacation of sorts. The adults of one area usually know each other by necessity due to this. Eventually, one or both of the couple will begin the transition into Elderhood, though this takes many, many years. Due to the long duration of this stage, the dragon's size has increased massively by the end of it, being as much as 500 feet long and as tall as 150 feet high.
Elder: Age: 1000 - 10,000. The last active stage of the dragon's life cycle, an Elder dragon is a being to be feared. Massive in size and mighty in mind, this stage begins when an adult dragon begins becoming more lethargic than usual, prone to eating less and sleeping for long periods of time. Elders rarely stray from their dwelling places but to feed every 100 years or so; they spend their time experimenting in various subjects and telepathically communicating with the other Elders on the planet in the periods when they're awake. An Elder periodically goes into long sleeps that last centuries, and in these dreams they shape the world around them with their psionics. An Elder's territory can thus be hazardous, as the unwary traveller may be beset by swarms of ethereal biting insects composed of light, be subject to wild shifts in the topography of the region, whole new masses of land appearing and disappearing before their eyes, or other strange effects, only intensifying as they approach the Elder's den. Nevertheless, on occasion someone will venture to these areas, as if one can get the Elder's attention, much may be learned from them, though on occasion the information is difficult to decipher. The Elder remains in this state, asleep for long stretches with short bursts of activity, for a long, long time. Then they become powerful enough and so detached from the world that they cut themselves off from the world entirely and proceed to the next phase. Size becomes rather irrelevant by this stage, though sizes have been recorded of Elders more than 2000 feet long and so tall that even the largest adults looked like hatchlings at their feet.
Stonesleeper: Dragons at this stage have effectively become immortal, and stay in this stage for many tens of thousands of years. The transition occurs when an Elder decides to retreat from the world and meditate upon deeper issues than those other beings can comprehend. It retreats into its lair, and transmutes the air around it to stone, effectively sealing off the entrance, and enters a hibernation that lasts effectively forever. The Stonesleeper sustains its mortal form with psychic energy and concentrates all it's formidable intellect on one puzzle that would boggle even the most perceptive of mortals, contemplating it for many thousands of years before solving it. Their thoughts may be slow, but time does not concern them any longer. A Stonesleeper's territory is considered as unclaimed, because they no longer interact with the physical world. During this stage, the dragon's psionics continue to strengthen, adding to their already terrifying mental prowess. Some Stonesleepers observe the world outside, watching the scurrying creatures in the world they've left behind. They may even rarely interfere in events taking place outside their tombs, sending fortuitous weather the way of young dragons, spurring or defusing rivalries, sparking love where none previously existed or encouraging what was already there, reshaping landscapes, and even granting a member of a lesser species the gift of a dragon. As far as most know, this is the end of the life cycle of the dragon; they have transcended the outside world, have nearly no limits with their psychic powers, and their intellect is high enough to accurately predict future events more than a century into the future. They have become one with the mountain they live in, and will presumably continue contemplating obscure facets of the universe until the end of days.
Ascendant: Age does not matter to the Ascended. They have transcended mortality. Size does not matter to them; they have moved beyond such limitations. They have moved beyond all that binds mortals to the world and become something more.
An Ascendant is more an evolution of thought rather than a bodily or metabolic change. It is born when a Stonesleeper attains such power that it transcends everything that makes it mortal. It's physical body dissolves and is replaced with stone, the only sign that a dragon ever was there gone. The consciousness of the Ascendant drifts off to join the others, an infinite conglomerate of Ascended permeating the very essence of the planet, suffusing every atom of every stone. They join thoughts and minds, and watch and know all that happens on the planet. In their collective, they are a god unto their own; immortal, nigh-omnipotent and omniscient. This afterlife awaits the dragons given they reach this stage, and they supervise events that happen on the planet into perpetuity. Rarely are they forced to directly intervene, but when they do nothing can stand against them.
Post-Evacuation:
The dragons are not raised the same way as the past. Bereft of Stonesleepers and the Ascended, they are organized into communities based around an Elder. Each community stays within a seperate mountain hollowed out into a series of large caverns. Parents of hatchlings still raise their children as their own, but the community of adults help raise all the hatchlings. As the population increases, the caverns will be expanded, but for now population is relatively low.
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