(Hai perso la strada, viandante? Se stai cercando questa pagina in italiano, puoi trovarla QUI!)
White dragons
(Verusdraco sapiens alba)
White dragons are one of those races that are considered to be “classic”, a term used to indicate a category of dragons which are not ancient nor recent.
White dragons are of average size, covered in scales that are generally very light in color. They can sport scales that are colored in pale golden, cream and even peach, but the coloration that's more common in this race, as well as exclusive to it, it's total white that makes white dragons look like living marble statues. The horns, that extend behind the head following the line traced by the forehead, are smooth and black, creating a strong contrast with the color of the rest of the body. They can have a third horn placed between the nostrils, but in females it's mostly just a black-colored plate.
The back is topped by a single row of extremely sharp and dangerous keratin tips.
White dragons' skin, if deprived of the scales, is liver-pinkish in hue or of a similar color gradation, usually lighter than average in comparison to other dragons. The scales have a rounded rim and are resistant, but very flexible.
The eyes, big e usually described as having a compassionate expression, can be of only two colors: light blue or yellow, even if light blue is more common and appreciated.
They're armonious dragons, never too heavy-looking, with big wings equipped with white membranes and a black keratin hook on the top.
The maximum height ever registered by a white dragon is seven meters and twelve centimeters (around twenty-four feet), with a wingspan that reached twenty-three meters (seventy-five feet).
Their tail is tapering, without fat accumulations, and it almost ends with an arrow-shaped, extremely hardy black keratin tip.
Since they possess a fast metabolism, in comparison to the dragon average, is pretty difficult, if not almost impossible, for them to fatten up.
Their fire can be of any color, but the most common one is pink.
Behavior
White dragons have a very high sense of justice and morality; they're able to sacrifice themselves for others or for an ideal. They usually speak in an elegant and refined way, as they're pretty gifted with languages and learn them quickly, so much so that a white dragon that speaks less than three idioms won't be considered much by a possible partner.
They have ancient rituals, inherited from the races they were born from, and they're devoted to the cult of the dragonixius, mytical alien creatures that, according to them, brought life on Earth and decided to create dragonkind by placing in the “Source of Life” (some sort of Primordial soup in a puddle on the summit of mount Horn) the dragon DNA.
They don't really have deities, but they respect anyone who might worship one or more.
Thanks to their high sense of justice, this species rarely has "racist" behaviors and does its best to relate with all the other races and species of dragons; furthermore, it has a particular preferences for humans, that white dragons protect and educate as if they were their own hatchlings.
There's no white dragon that doens't create a bond with a human: every individual has their own dragoneer, and to not find one would be considered by everyone a great shame, because it would mean that this individual is unable to intimately understand human culture or that they secretly think themselves too superior to have a bond with one of them.
White dragons are often elected to cover important political positions, and the king of Horn Blu Island is, indeed, almost always a white dragon.
Birth and growth
At birth, a baby white dragon already has functional horns, thorns and wings, and they weigh from 300 grams to 900 grams. The size of the egg and of the baby depend on the age and size of the mother. The females lay only one egg at a time.
The newborn is immediately sent, often togerther with their dragoneer, at the schools of the Ancient Dragoneery, where they are educated by other dragons and learn several idioms.
Other draconic species, especially the primitive ones, believe that white dragons have drifted away from the ideal of what a dragon should be and, although they don't reject their authority as justice bringers, they won't accept advice or influence from them in matters of warfare or hunting protocols.
White dragon growth is moderately slow, and they reach full maturity and the ability to reproduce when they're eleven or twelve years old.
Social life and courtship
White dragons are extremely social and it's impossibile to find one that lives isolated from the rest of the world or that doesn't keep in touch with anyone else of their kind. They don't exactly live in packs, but, similarly to humans, they group in "cities", made up of close territories, and they very often pay visits to their neighbours.
They rarely get involved in arguments, but when it happens they challenge each other in duels of magic or flying dexterity to determine who's the most skilled and is therefore more likely to be right, or, in the most desperate cases, they summon a neighbourhood meeting and vote by show of wings who's right in their opinion.
Their magic duels are of great beauty, because they're often complex light tricks and spectacularized displays of magic power.
To seduce females, males show off their flying and magic skills in the annual gathering of the white dragons, which coincides with the only fertile period of the females, in spring; the gathering is known among them with only one term in Draconic, untraslatable for humans, but that roughly means "Place and time in which we amicably let the others know we're better than them". The females, much bigger and generally more vicious, can choose from one to three males to mate with during the season, but since the fertility of white dragons is low and the females lay only one egg, not all of them will become fathers, and it's not even sure that the egg will be laid.
Once, if the father proved himself unworthy of being a parent after the mating (for example by staining his reputation with an ignominious act or by obstructing justice), the mother could decide to break the egg with a fist, hence killing the baby dragon before its birth, but in more recent times this custom has been judged barbaric and inappropriate, and it's no longer in use.
Habitat and diet
As the “sovereign” race of Horn
Blu Island, white dragons are rarely found outside of it. They usually live in mountainous and cold places, and one of the few other places colonies of these subspecies can be found in is Greenland.
They love eating fish, wild berries, roots and some kinds of meat like seal, reindeer, and deer, but they're omnivores in the broad sense and don't disdain almost any food.
Eating humans is a terrible taboo for them, that must never, in any circumstance, be performed.
Famous white dragons
Orotagon
Aureo
Facts and trivia
- Females are more often excluded from political roles due to their fiery temper, more prone to angry outbursts, as well as the danger they pose thanks to their bigger strength. However, they're considered to be excellent warriors and guardians.
- Despite marble dragons being an extinct race, nowadays this name is wrongly used to indicate white dragons.
- In the past there was another species with a completely white coloration, which, however, has disappeared without leaving traces: the glaciers dragons.
🌵🎨 All the drawings in this page (and probably in all the other pages, if not differently specified) were realized by our artists, Furiarossa e Mimma. You can see more of their works and support them on their Patreon page. Become patrons of the arts! 🌵🎨
