On Dragon Ebb (from Encyclopaedia Dracologica)

Thu Jan 01, 1970 2:00 am

Lol, I read bits and pieces here and there, not all yet, and that's pretty cool ^_^ I especially like the dragon/human interaction part ^_^

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at 
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Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:26 am

Greater Dragon (Dracocephalum Elementalis Rex) 
 
The Great Dragon belong to the Draconis animal family, commonly known 
as the dragon-lizards (although they are a separate branch of vertebraeic 
animals, unrelated to normal lizards). Notable other animals belonging to 
this group are the smaller Hydra Elementalis and the Chinese dragon. 
 
The Great Dragon belong to the more advanced Dracocephalum 
sub-group of the Draconis family (0). These are the sentient dragon-lizards. 
One other known member of this group is the much bigger Great 
Sea-serpent (Dracocephalum Aquarius Rex). 
 
 
- Overview 
 
The Great Dragon (henceforth referred to simply as the "dragon") is a 
sentient carnivore indiginous to most types of terrain. It is a four-legged and 
winged animal that can reach sizes much bigger that any other known 
predator. 
Typically the dragon has a length from head to tail of about twenty-five 
meters, weighting slightly under 80 tonnes. Fully extended a dragon has a 
wing span of nearly 60 meters. The body is lean and muscular and 
completely covered with thick boneplates. The plates are normally grey in 
colour, although various other colour schemes, including red, green and 
golden, has been known to exist. 
The head is long and crocodlile-like, with teeth clearly visible along the full 
side of the skull. 
A scale-plate extends the scull base, reaching behind the head almost to 
the shoulders. Normally a human being should have no trouble identifying 
this species if it was encountered in nature. 
 
The dragon primarily feeds off wild animals in its habitat. But on several 
occations its territory overlaps that of man's. It has no natural enemy other 
than man and other dragons. This deadly predator is highly intelligent and 
capable of human speech. The species is also famous for having 
developed the ability to spout a long spray of burning hydrogen. 
 
A dragon hunts primarily with its claws, but its teeth are equally useful, 
particularily when hunting on the ground. 
Its massive size and strength allows it to strike any prey, including other 
predators like bear or wolf. Its hunting tactic is crude, but effective. Usually 
it attacks from above, letting itself drop the last bit right on top of or close to 
its prey. If not killing instantaneoulsy with its claws, it's sheer size allows it 
to move around to cage a fleeing prey with its body before dealing the final 
blow with its teeth. In several occations dragons have been seen hunting 
directly on the ground, running down pray on foot. They are also excellent 
swimmers and have been known to mask their characteristic scent by 
charging from the water's edge, like a crocodile. 
 
The dragon lives a lonely, seclude life and is thus usually very difficult to 
find in nature. It normally sleeps long periods of time without eating. 
Dragons have been known to go into this hybernative state for several 
years. Under those periods it is easiest found in its "lair" or "nest", usually a 
dark, cool place, like a cave or at the edge of a lake. 
Amateur dracologists should be aware that this is an intelligent, sentient 
animal, whose sleeping periods occur irregularely, at the creature's whim. 
When the dragon is active, it must be considered extremely unpredictable 
and dangerous, not to be approached.

Edited by: <A HREF=http://p082.ezboard.com/bunicornsvision ... Griatch</A> at: 10/18/05 20:38

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:40 am

- Anatomy: 
 
 
The dragon walks primarily on all fours. Its legs are relatively long, lifting the 
creature to a height of about six meters from ground to shoulder and 
allowing for a running speed of up to seventy kilometers per hour for short 
distances. A dragon has a wingspan of about 60 meters. Its long tail (38% 
of its body length) has a flattened bottom allowing it to maneuver in mid-air. 
 
 
Bone structure: 
 
While the dragon in some respects resemble the lizards, it belongs to its 
own sub-group of the vertebrae. It has a powerful spine collumn featuring 61 
interlinked vertebrae, including eight in the neck and 25 tail disks. The 
dragon features twelve rib pairs arranged towards a special four-way joint 
linking the foremost arms and shoulderblades to the wing bones and giving 
ample room for muscle attachments. Of special note is also the unique 
"lock bones" that lies embedded in muscles, completely separated from the 
rest of the skeletal structure. These two bones are the hardest part of the 
dragon's body and grows extremely slowly during the dragon's maturity 
period. When moved, these bar-shaped bones locks into the wings and 
each other to lock them in a hang-gliding position. 
 
The wings are each a set of 15 "fingers" roughly equally divided between 
three main arms. The outer bones in the wings are hollow. The area the 
fingers cover when fully stretched is as much as 600 square meters (on 
average 30m x 20m) per wing. 
 
The dragon is a four legged animal. The legsbones are thick and sturdy. 
The front arms are sligtly smaller that the backbones. The knee-joints are 
angled forward, both for and aft. The dragon has three fingers and an 
opposing "thumb" placed right below the lower arm. This thumb can be kept 
backwards/uppwards when the dragon walks or runs. Each finger is tipped 
with a claw about 60cm long (1.75m long for the aft legs) and never fully 
stop growing during the lifetime of the dragon. 
The aft feet are consideranly larger that the front ones. The toes have an 
extra joint to allow greater flexibility when leaping. Also the back claws have 
an opposable thumb. 
 
The dragon skull is three meters long, 155 cm wide and weigh four tonnes. 
It is triangular shaped with a clearly elongated chin. The scull cavity is large 
to house a brain that is six times the size of a human brain. The teeth is 
mounted externally on the side of the scull and never stop growing during 
the whole lifetime of the dragon (a dragon actually carries an "internal" lip, 
behind the teeth to be able to seal off the mouth cavity when swimming) 
The teeth are arranged in a scissor two-by-one arrangement, allowing the 
creature to cut prey in half with one single bite. Noted should be that at the 
far back of the mouth, there are a set of twelve flatter teeth. Those are 
surprisingly similar to that of a herbivore. It is thus believed that the dragon 
can switch to a temporarily vegetarian diet in times of little prey. 
The scull incorporates another unique feature, namely the existance of a 
narrow canal passing from the skull base to a hollow, close to the chin. This 
hollow is connected with the front of the chin through three holes, placed in 
the shape of an upturned triangle. The hollow is also connected to the 
bottom of the mouth. On the outside of this hollow, an extra long set of 
tooth happen to fit perfectly against the both sides of the hollow's openings, 
sealing it. This design is what allows the dragon's well-known capability to 
expunge fire (see section on "Fire-breathing"). 
 
From the base of the skull and three meters backwards, a smooth 
boneplate is mounted. This plate, 3m x 1.75m x 15cm in size, is actully 
connected to the skull both through a joint (that much resembles the jaw 
turned upside down) and a liquous "disk" making the plate very movable 
relative to the skull. The plate acts both as a speaking - and auditory 
apparatus. 
 
 
Muscular structure: 
 
Much of the dragon's skull has no muscle coverage at all. This is 
particularly the case for the chin, which only has a outer layer of 
exoskeleton. The muscles that do exist, connect to several points around 
the jaw and interlocks with another set locking the skull-plate to the back of 
the skull base. The plate also have three separate muscle groups to keep it 
well in place. These extend along the top of the head all the the way to the 
front of the skull, passing between the eyes. Likewise two more sets 
extends from the underside of the plate to attach to the backside of the jaw. 
Together these muscle groups are designed to keep the plate in place. It 
should be noted that normally, the dragon carries the plate folded 
backwards so that it rests on the neck and shoulders, releiving those 
muscles. But there is yet another set of six muscles connected to the plate; 
these are intertwined with the main neck muscles nearly perpendicularily to 
the shields' surface. They are used to put the plate in very fast vibration, 
albeit at low amplitude. This is the way the dragon can mimic a human 
voice. 
 
The dragon tongue is a big muscle stretching nearly three meters along the 
entire length of the skull. It's main use is naturally when eating (and drinking 
to a lesser extent, we refer to the description of the chin-holes dual function 
below), but also to pronounce dragontongue, the draconic language. 
 
The muscle groups of the chest, neck, forarms and wings all lock together 
at a relatively small area. The wing muscles and arm muscles both pass all 
the way around the dragon's chest to attach to the chest bone and the back 
of the shoulders respectively. The wing muscles are considerably larger 
than the forward arm muscles, extending to a circumference of 1.5m some 
ten meters out onto the wing itself. Further out on the wing a system of 
elongated muscles and tendrils attach to the outwardmost fingers. 
Intervoven between the arm and wing muscles are the "lock bones". It is 
with a combination of arm and wing muscular activity that these two bones 
are rotated no more that 30 degrees and lock into each other, creating a 
ingenious "bulkhead" that goes from one wing to the other, greatly releaving 
the need for much bigger muscles mass to carry the mass of the dragon in 
hanging flight. 
 
The wings themself fold together in three sections when not used. The 
fingers then pull together to lift the thick leathery skin of the wings off the 
grounds and in towards the sides. 
 
Six sets of muscles act as stomach muscles along the dragon's slim mid 
section to the hips. While they are strong, the stomach muscles are not 
capable of lifting the entire upper body without considerable strain to the 
spine. It is therefore common that when the dragon stands on its hind legs, 
it flap its wings for balance and lifting aid. Coincidentally, this is also a very 
threatening defensive position. 
 
The aft thies carries the next largest muscle after the main wing muscle. 
The powerful aft legs allows for good running speed and jumping ability, but 
also as a powerful shock-absorber when landing. 
 
The tail is in itself a single long muscle, much like that of a snake body. The 
tail constitues 38% of the length of the dragon. It begin as wide as the 
stomach and gradually thins of to a pointy end. 
This muscle is very flexible and normally the tail is flattened considerably 
when flying, allowing the dragon to use it both as a rudder and as an extra 
wing.

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:52 am

-Internal organs 
 
Organs, skull: 
 
The dragon brain is six times the size of a human and weigh about 60 kg. 
While this brings the dragon brain/body-mass ratio far beneath that of a 
human, the dragon is generally considered equal to, or perhaps even more 
intelligent than a human. The dragon brain has six lobes. It completely (and 
ironically) lacks the "reptilian brain" that we have. Also, the extended cortex 
is considerably smaller, compared to its size, than a human equivalent. It is 
thus believed that the dragon has a larger part of its autonomous functions 
located in its main lobes, giving it substantially greater concious control over 
functions like heartbeat, breathing and digestion. 
 
The eyes of the dragon sits almost directly on top of the brain and 
resembles a very real weak spot in its armour. The eyes each weights 200 
grams and are angled in the skull so that the creature can look forward 
along the snout to obtain perfect stereographic vision while, when looking 
"backwards", obtaining a 120 degree wide field of vision on both sides. The 
shape of the iris, albeit irrelevant to the actual function, is reptilian-like, with 
a vertical collumn. The eye itself consists of a lens and a retina having a 
second reflective layer. This reflective layer allows light entering the eye to 
'bounce back' to hit the retina a second time, enhancing the sensitivity and 
giving the dragon excellent night vision. The retina wavelength sensitivity 
region is slightly wider towards lower wavelengths than the human visual 
spectrum, allowing the dragon some amount of infravision (up to about 
890 nm). 
 
The smelling organ is embedded in the armour plating of the dragon and 
appear as two long slits, beginning close to one-sixth skull-length from the 
snout. The slit is not open directly to the membrane, but air moves past a 
piece if thick bone (a part of the exposed skull) to get to the folds of the 
scent organ. To this bone, the nostril muscles are connected, allowing the 
dragon to completely close the opening when swimming under water. Past 
the organ, the air goes directly down into the mouth cavity of the dragon, 
instead of connecting to the throat. It also means that the most effective 
way to bring oxygen to the lungs is breathing directly through the mouth with 
closed nostrils, which is also what is generally observed, particularily with 
dragons in-flight. 
 
Directly above the brain and partly connected to the skull itself, sits the 
dragon's hearing apparatus. The organ itself is a set of fluid-filled cavities 
that connects to the base of the draconic head-plate. The plate itself is 
strained by seven groups of muscles (as outlined above). Measurements 
give strong indications that one of the six lobes of the draconic brain is 
dedicated to the operation of this organ and these muscles alone. The 
muscles compensates for vibrations from the movement of the dragon to a 
very high degree. It seems the organ then separates those leftover 
vibrations made by the dragon's body from the overall vibrational 
frequencies of the plate. The residual frequences are interpreted as external 
and fed to the dedicated lobe as "sound". The plate, having a surface 
area of nine square meters is an effective sound collector. It's sensitivity is 
much higher than a human's for low frequencies (infrasound), but not as 
good for frequencies in the upper register of the human voice due to the 
weight of the plate limiting its maximum resonance. Its effectivness also 
decreases rapidly at high angles to it; therefore the dragon tends to move its 
head from side to side constantly when alert for sounds. This flaw in the 
hearing apparatus may very well be the reason dragons generally prefer to 
sleep at the bottom of caves with the head directed up towards the tunnel 
entrance. 
The plate is not only useful to detect sound, it can also produce it too. The 
same muscles calibrating the plate for hearing can also make it vibrate. The 
dragon's tounge and throat are not capable of recreating other languages 
other than the draconic language used between dragon called 
"dragontongue". Other sentient languages it mimics using the great 
frequental versatility of its headplate, much greater when used this way then 
when used as a sensory apparatus. 
Yet another drawback of this design is of course that the dragon cannot 
talk (human languages) and listen at the same time. But in all, the high 
sensitivity of the plate within the resonance limits, and the capability to 
pronounce languages otherwise anatomically impossible must be said 
outweights the drawbacks. 
 
At the bottom of the mouth, a canal reaches down through the cranium to 
meet the "fire breathing" hollow. This connection is actually normally used 
as a sort of "straw". An animal as big as a dragon has practical problems 
related to its size: like finding a body of water deep enough to drink from. 
That can of course be done by'lapping' with the tongue, like dogs do, but the 
sheer length of the dragon skull makes this cumbersome. Instead the holes 
in front of the chin can be dipped and since the hollow is connected to the 
mouth, the dragon can suck up water directly to be swallowed. Because of 
the chins pointy form, this make it is easy to access all but the most 
shallows puddles of water. 
 
But the skull canal also connects to a throat conduit through which the 
dragon can push hydrogen gas of a very high velocity (see below for the 
description of the "gasmaker" organs). This gas passes through the canal 
and flows through the hollow before it is ejected from the three holes in the 
front of the dragon "chin" to rapidly disperse. Note that if the dragon's mouth 
is open, the elongated teeth wont't close the sides of the cavity. If so, the 
gas will blow out on the sides in a dispersed, useless gust (the same is 
true when drinking). 
 
 
Organs,chest: 
 
A dragon has three hearts, one big two-chamber construct and two much 
smaller three-chamber hearts. The main heart pumps autonomically, just 
like the human heart, it adopts it pace to the level of work the body excerts 
in order to deliver enough oxygen. 
The other two hearts are believed to be controlled conciously by the 
dragon. Their job is to increase the blood flow to the wings when flying. 
Normally these support hearts are wide open for blood to pass them 
through. But when they are active, they pump part of the blood into a third 
chamber dedicated to delivering the blood as fast as possible to the wing 
muscles. 
The dragon relies entirely on the primary heart to live. The two small ones 
could not take over blood distribution if the primary heart stopped. 
 
The dragon holds a dual lung much similar to that of humans, albeit 
massively larger, each weighing in at about 2600 kg. 
 
The dragon has two stomachs. These are placed above each other, wall to 
wall at the bottom end of the rib cage. The top one is where food and liquid 
is moved when swallowed. Between the two stomachs is a membrane that 
allows water to wander through it, but not the bigger molecules of the 
stomach acids. In effect emigration of fluids separates the water from the 
digested food, leaving the bottom stomach water-filled. 
This is one of the strangest parts of draconic anatomy, because from the 
"water-stomach", some water is now re-fed back into the digestive system, 
where it will be used as a catalyst in several normal chemical reaction, for 
cleansing of spline, kidneys and liver from urinal material etc. In principle 
most of the part of the digestive system don't differ much from humans, or 
other animals for that matter. 
What separarates the dragon in this respect is what happens to the water 
that is not re-fed into the system. That water is moved in the opposite 
direction to two sets of unique organs commonly called "gasmakers".A lot 
of blood is passing through these organs; infact they as closest to the 
primary heart of all other organs. Thanks to the continuous strong blood 
flow, and the fact that they are very close to the main four-way muscular 
forarm/wing-muscle joint, those organs are constantly kept very warm. To 
even further that effect the firstmost of each organ-pair are thickly 
embedded in several layers of low-water fat, working as a organic thermos. 
As the water from the water-stomach is moved up to the pair of twin 
organs, the stream is divided in two, one for each "gasmaker" set. 
 
Each set is formed as two elongated pears with their narrow ends pressed 
towards each other. Each set weighs about 1200 kg. In the first organ (the 
first "pear"), an enzym, aided by the heated organ itself, splits water 
molecules into oxygen and hydrogen (1). The gasses thus extracted from 
the water/enzym mixture wanders to the second pear-shaped section. the 
gas is forced through gradually thinner capilaries by movement of 
interlocking ports not dissimilar to hindering backflow the blood ciculative 
system. As the capilaries grow thinner, the much smaller hydrogen atoms 
will migrate through the cell walls of the organ while the oxygen continues 
on. At the end of the road, this oxygen is absorbed by the blood flow, adding 
substantially to the oxygen content of the blood. The hydrogen atoms are 
not lost, however. The insides of the huge dragon ribcage is practically 
empty, leaving two huge spaces, each inlined with a sack membrane, 
symmetrically placed at each side of the center of body. The sacks have an 
elongated, cylindrical shape and are 5.5 meters long, i.e along the entire 
stretch of the ribcage, each having a volume of 16.5 cubical meters. The 
outer walls of this second gasmaker organ is facing the insides of these 
sacks, one sack for each set of gasmakers, and the hydrogen is stored in it 
like in baloons - in fact exactly as in baloons, as these flying-sacks are what 
allows the dragon to lift its immense weight off ground without having a 
bodymass-wingmusclemass equal to that of a bird. These sacks are 
sensitive and thus they are protected both by the muscles connecting (and 
engulfing) the ribs, as well as the armor plating on the sides and the rib cage 
itself. The hydrogen production never stops, long as there is water left in 
the water-stomach after re-feeding. When the sacks are full, the dragon 
must expell some of the gas. This he does by contracting the ring of 
muscles sheltering the sacks. This extended pressure will push the gas at 
high speed through two canals at the foremost ends of the sacks. This 
opening has a muscle controlled valve that blocks all passage when 
relaxed and allows one-way passage (with the use of a stout membrane) 
when working, thus preventing any backflow into the sacks. The gas from 
the sacks join together in a cartellage conduit leading up the throat and 
connecting with the fire-breathing apparatus in the skull. The amount of gas 
in the sacks is so great (35 cubic meters total) that it would allow for a very 
long-duration flame (if ignited) indeed. But normally, the dragon only empties 
a small part of the sack, instead doing it more often. 
 
 
Organs, stomach, hips 
 
As mentioned, the actual stomach(s) of the dragon is not positioned in this 
part of the body, but in the back part of the chest. Instead, this is the domain 
of the digestive system, eventually ending at rectum, below the tail. The 
main mass of the "stomach" part of the dragon is muscles. The female 
dragon has the upper part of its genitaelia extending into this region. 
 
The hips contain mainly the final processing organs for the digestive 
system, such as large intestines and rectum. The dragon don't have any 
form of urinal canal. The water is instead fed back to the water-stomach. 
Instead the urinal residue from the kidneys are brough out together with the 
rest of the unprocessable leftovers, making dragon droppings extremly 
alcidic in nature. 
 
In the hip rests the dragon gentitaelia. Both male and female genitaelia are 
normally withdrawn/protected behind the armour of the lower stomach, 
forming a barely noticeable seam. In the case of the male penis, this is 
retracted by use of a muscle into a long storage canal. When extended the 
penis reaches a length of two meters, only of which a third is actually 
inserted into the female upon mating, the rest needed to reach past the 
female's massive hip/tail section to her genitaelia.

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:59 am

- Armour 
 
The dragon armour grows as a continuous hardening of the soft scale-like 
skin it is born with, normally under a period of fourty years. This process is 
best described as a "bonification" of the skin into large uneven pathes of 
ever thickening plates growing on the skin. Eventually these patches grow 
together. The natural movement of the dragon allows the plates to be 
movable enough as to not hinder movement so much. Even so, a dragon 
become much less nimble as hard-pressed to move graciously when the 
plates are fully grown, and the plates has reaches a thickness of about 6 
cm. The name "bone plates" is somewhat misguiding, since the material 
more resemble the corona of the dragon's teeth. But it is grey and a lot less 
smooth - thus the similarity to "bone". 
 
The common theory of why the dragon develops such an amazing panzar 
is that it carries naturally a bacteria on its skin. This bacteria feeds of the 
skin of the young dragon causing the skin to react in an almost allergic 
fashion - by trying to replenish itself. The excrements of the bacteria is 
acidic and mixes chemically with the dying upper parts of the wounded 
skin, creating a hard layer of dead organic material on top of the skin. This 
layer is then replenished from beneath to form the gradually thickening 
plates. Only at joints and other moving parts is the the originally thin layer 
constantly cracked open, allowing the dragon to move. The shape and 
structure of the "armourpatches" is unique for each dragon and can be used 
to identify individuals with a 100% accueracy. 
 
Why the rate of growth of the armor decreases and finally stop after about 
fifty years is unknown and might have something to do with an 
undiscovered life-cycle of the bacterea or some sort of chemical change in 
the dragon's body as it reaches maturity. Fact is though that this 
bacteria-dragon symbiosis is what allows the dragon to have the most 
immense armour of any animal, weighting in at nearly 8 tonnes. 
 
The protection is most extensive over the chest and legs, as well as on the 
underbelly and the lower side of the neck. The skull itself consists largely of 
bone in the first place (especially with the teeth being mounted externally). 
But some parts are indeed armoured, like the eyelids, the nose openings 
and the side/back of the cheeks. 
 
 
- "Fire Breathing" 
 
Note that the fire-weapon of the dragon is not a native treat of the species. 
Rather it can be considered a mix of anatomical perfection and cultural 
treat, a result of sentience and high intelligence. A dragon is not born with 
this ability, rather it has to be taught. In short the dragon eats a stone of flint 
and use the tounge to place that right on top of the hollow, where one of the 
teeth is going to seal the hollow. A second stone is pushed between 
between the seal-tooth and the one directly behind it. With practice the 
dragon can now snap his mouth shut and get the two stones to connect at 
the same time as hydrogen is passing through the cavity. This is not 
enough hovever. The canal to the mouth is still open. Thus the dragon 
exhales at the same time. As the mouth is closed, the air will travel down 
the canal, creating an overpressure forcing the gas down the three holes 
towards the front of the chin. Incidentally it also mixes the hydrogen with 
oxygen, making it even more flammable. In actuallity, even if the spark of 
the flints ignites the hydrogen, the pressure in the chamber is big enough to 
delay the ignition until the gas mix has left the holes in the dragon's chin. 
 
So, obviously, the dragon is not in any way "breathing" fire. The only time 
the regular breathing apparatus is involved is to help feed oxygen into the 
ignition chamber and to increse the pressure when the hydrogen flows 
towards the exit holes in the chin bone. 
 
The dragon uses its famous flaming weapon more rarely than popular 
fiction let believe. As hydrogen exhalation is a side effect of having to "vent" 
the flying sacks regularily, the dragon often blows a big dust of harmless 
hydrogen, which dissipates within seconds. 
The flame is primarily a defensive/deterrent weapon. Dragons have been 
known to use it offensively when cornered by a large human force or as a 
tactical weapon to destroy human harvests or houses. But it is also used to 
impress female dragons (see below) , and this is usually the only time as 
the flame weapon is used in mid-air. In some cases dragons have also 
used its fire to scare panicked prey into its grasp. 
 
The flame arc of a dragon is about twenty meters long and 3 meters wide 
at its base. At maximum range it is quite harmless; the flame energy 
dissipates very quickly, lowevering the practical effectivness to about 
twelve meters. 
 
 
-Flying 
 
The dragon can fly, with the help of the 35 cubic meters of hydrogen filling 
its flying sacks. Its mass is still so great however, that it still needs its huge 
wings to take off from the ground. The dragon is almost completely 
incapable of vertical liftoff. If starting from ground-level it does so with a 
running start; the dragon's legs are powerful enough to carry it forward in a 
short sprint of about 72 km/h. Most of all the dragon prefers to drop itself 
from the edge of a cliff or other piece of high ground to gain speed for its 
flight. Once the dragon reaches a steady height, the rotating lock-bone turns 
and locks the wings in a stiff hang-glider position. This is a very 
energy-saving procedure, as the dragon needs not use its main muscles to 
keep the wings outstretched, a very troublesome feat when the total wing 
area is as large as 1200 square meters (approx 20 x 30 meters per wing). 
As it is, the dragon flaps its wings as little as possible. In the cases where it 
does, it mostly only move the outermost of the three wing sections, an area 
5 x 5 meters large. The dragon controls its flight, partly with the movement 
of the outer wing section, but mostly with its tail, which is then flattened to 
serve like a rudder. The tail is also observed as wipping to and fro during 
flight, much like when swimming. This motion causes a turbulent backdraft 
that somewhat increases the dragon's airspeed. 
 
The content of the flying sacks is very much influental on the lifting capacity 
of the dragon. Ideally they must be completely full (and consequtively 
vented in small puffs) for the dragon to be able to lift its immense mass 
from the ground. This also means that fire-breeding attacks from the air i 
something extremely rare; air attacks are instead almost always 
conducted by the hind claws. 
 
Once in the air the dragon can stay there for a very long time, using very 
little energy. It often places itself at an considerate height, often close to 
2500 meters. From this vintage point it can hunt, but it also stalks the rim of 
its territory, seeing that no intruding dragon threatens its borders. It is also 
believed that it continuously updates a mental map of its territory, taking 
note of the position of prey and changes in the landscape (including human 
advances).

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:06 am

Dragontongue 
 
The draconic language, Dragontongue, earns its name from the fact that 
dragons speak it using expelled air passing over the tongue muscle. The 
three meter long dragon tongue can shape the flow of air to a myriad of 
sounds impossible for human anatomy, some of them moving down into 
the sub-vocal range, inaudible to humans. It is believed that dragontongue is 
a descriptive language, without unique substantives for proper nouns or 
objects. 
Instead the language is built with adjectives and vivid descriptions. This is 
unproven however, as dragontongue is very poorly understood by 
dracologists, and only very rudimentary translations exist (4). This has 
much to do with the fact that dragons quickly learn human languages and 
then uses its head-plate to speak to humans at all times. 
 
 
-The Dragon intelligence 
 
The dragon is considered highly intelligent. The few studies actually 
performed with live dragons indicate several interesting characteristics (5): 
 
Firstly, it is sentient. A dragon is very much aware of itself and has usually 
very realistic knowledge of its own strengths and weaknesses. 
 
It has an excellent memory of textures and colours, and can separate 
between two humans, not only by smell but by sight alone, and connect a 
proper noun (in human language, as dragontongue don't appear to have 
proper nouns at all) to each face. 
 
[...] 
 
The dragon is cunning and clever. In the rare cases where humans are 
threatening it enough for it to consider them intruders on its turf and not just 
troublesome prey, it can wage cunning campaigns of war. There are 
multiple examples of dragons setting fire to fields and tearing down water 
reservoirs to weaken the resistance and spirit of strongly defended 
settlements. Their big mass and size make them a very real threat to any 
unreinforced human structure. Luckily, such war campaigns are rare. 
 
[...] 
 
The dragon has no sense of "morale","honour" or "justice" in the way 
humans interpret it. In this department the creature is vastly different from 
humans. It is not known how well it understands human hierarchical and 
social structures. It pay no heed whatsoever to human territories, but feeds 
freely upon all that is within its realm. 
It does understand the concept of trade" very well though, something that 
has fueled further suspicions of some sort of higher draconian social 
structure (3). 
It does seem that dragons honor "trade" and "favors" as some sort of 
currency, something that has been known and used by humans in 
genereations, especially in societies living close to dragon nests. To some 
extent dragons understand the value of gold, jewels and other valuables. It 
often accept such payment to leave cities and settlements alone. The 
dragon possibly see such trinkets as exotic gifts to a potential mate, but it 
has also happened that dragons have exchanged valuables back to 
humans. Yet again the long lifespan of the dragon make it difficult to fully 
track and explain the interest dragons have in human valuables and how it 
uses it over the centuries. 
 
It is not really known on what logical basis the dragon strike trade deals, 
thus for humans it often appear as taking a wild chance. Statistically though, 
the dragon tend to keep its deals as long as nothing unpredictable (like a 
massive exodus of suitable prey) occur that forces the dragon to 
re-evaluate its contracts. 
 
Each dragon has an unique persona. Dragons having been in contact with 
humans (an incresing number, as humans spread over the world) tend to 
vary in their attitudes toward us. Most are indifferent to humans considering 
them as rather difficult to get to food (due to the human habit of contructing 
shelters and houses) and occationally a trading subject in their realm. But 
there are a few historical examples of dragons taking active interest in 
human culture, being genuinly curious of us. Such examples are extremely 
rare though, and among those only one example could actually be 
considered (even moderately) benign to humans compared to any prey. 
Equally few dragons through history could be said to be outspokenly 
aggressive against humans, attacking human settlements out of 
self-interests. In these cases humans have often been to fault, by attacking 
and hurting the dragon previously. Undoubtedly it is a dangerous thing to try 
to fight off a dragon. If it starts to consider the human presence as a threat 
or, worse, an intrusion on its territory, it can quickly become a terrible 
enemy.

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:12 am

- Dragons and humans 
 
If you should stumble upon a dragon's lair unknowingly, there are a few 
things you should look for to recognize it for what it is (and get out of there 
as quickly as possible): 
 
- Is it a dead-end? Like a cave or a canyon? 
The dragon prefers to have but one direction to listen in. 
 
- Do you smell an strong acrid odor, not dissimilar to brimstone? 
That could be the acridic smell of dragon droppings. 
 
- Do you find a pile of jewelry, gold and other human valuables? 
This could be the dragon's hoard. Don't touch it, if not for your sake, at 
least for the locals that very well might have paid for their safety with it. 
 
- Is the ground covered with hard grey flakes or grey powder? 
This is the safest way to identify a dragon's lair. The flakes/powder are 
parts of the organic armour that rubs off between the seams in the 
boneplates. 
 
And finally: 
- Do you find many skeletal remains of big animals, such as bear, moose or similar? 
Then it is probably NOT a dragon's lair. The dragon eats such animals 
whole. Of course it might well be the home of some other dangerous beast. 
 
 
So what to do if unvillingly meeting a Great Dragon in nature? If it hasn't 
detected you, move away carefully. Avoid moving upwind from it and make 
sure you put several hundred meters between you and it before you start 
running. 
 
If it has seen you and takes interest in you: Firstly, remember that any of 
the usual tricks against large predators won't work, such as playing dead or 
standing absolutely still. Remember - it is a sentient, highly intelligent 
creature. Running is not a good idea either as the dragon is so much faster 
than you (unless you quickly can reach a protected shelter small enough for 
it not to reach you - then it might consider you not worth the effort). In short, 
has the dragon decided to eat you, it will do so. If not, you can try to talk to 
it. If it has met humans before, it might respond (7). 
Generally, there is no way to know what the dragon will do next. Humans 
are not its prime prey, as we have relatively little meat. If you are lucky, it 
might let you go if you argue your case well. There is no guarantee though, 
as each dragon is unique, and not even seasoned dracologists are ever 
completely confident on the course of action in such cases. 
 
The very last resort is to try to fight it off. This must be considered the most 
foolhardy or desperate move a single human can make against a creature 
more than 1000 times the weight of an average human. The only place to 
go for is the head and the sensitive eyes using a long stick or other 
make-shift weapon. Hitting it hard over the snout will hurt. The advantage of 
that is slim however - a dragon won't be scared off like a normal animal. It 
can rationalize pain just like a human. It can of course decide you are not 
worth the trouble, but generally once the dragon has decided to attack, the 
only thing that will cause it to retreat is if it feels its life or well-being 
seriously threatened - in which case it might very well only do a temporal 
tactical retreat to subsequently attack from a better tactical position. For a 
single human, the chances of actully slaying a dragon must at any rate be 
considered slim to nonexistent (8 ).

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:16 am

- Sighting Great Dragons in Nature 
 
Disclaimer: 
Overall, it is NOT recommended that an amateur dracologist approach - or 
even try to find - a Great Dragon in nature. This is a field of excursion that 
requires a professional with several years of training and experience in field 
dracology. 
The authors of this text can and will not be held responsible for any 
physical or emotional harm that may come to those trying to observe these 
extremely dangerous animals. 
 
For the sake of completeness however, and to prevent the spreading of 
malpractice and hearsay, we here include a small guide as to seeing a 
dragon in nature. 
 
The absolute safest way to observe dragons is from a far distance. Find an 
observing point some kilometers (no less than three) from its lair and stay 
hidden. In some areas where a dragon hunts (9), locals have constructed 
special reinfoced shelters. Ask for those. If the dragon you wish to observe 
has its lair near human settlements, it is also wise to ask locals if it has 
recently been active - as dragons can rest for long periods of time, knowing 
if it is active is crucial for a good observing experience! If you are lucky you 
can spot it as it lifts from its lair or from catching something on the ground. It 
then circles slowly upward and can be observed for a long time. 
 
 Caution: Remember that the dragon has much better eyesight than you. 
Always assume that if you can see it, it can see you too. 
 
Venturing near a dragon's lair itself it never recommended, even if you 
previously have confirmed that the dragon has left. A dragon don't follow 
any schedules or pre-set instincts. It might very well decide to return at any 
time. 
 
[...]

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:17 am

-Summary 
 
The biggest of the land-living draconian animals, The Great Dragon is one of 
the true powers of nature. Followed by myth and legend, of fear and 
admiration, it has been an icon of strength and physical prowess but also of 
fear and chaos. It must never be underestimated, but dracologial research 
make sure that we learn more about these impressive beasts for every day. 
Perhaps one day we will fully understand these mighty kings of land and air.

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:20 am

------On the subject of Dragons------- 
 
This thread describes the race of dragons that old Ebb belongs 
to. It consists of a set of six articles and represent an excerpt from the 
(much) longer work Encyclopaedia Dracologica, or 'The Encyclopedia 
of the Draconic Kind'. 
 
 
Notes: 
 
Ebb refers to himself as "The Greater Grey", whereas human 
Dracologists simply refer to his race as the Dracocéphalum 
Elementalis -- the "Greater (Sentient) Dragon". 
 
These texts all describe dragons from the outlook of human scientists. 
None of these articles describe Ebb directly, but Ebb can be considered a 
good representative of his kind. Hopefully reading the few excerps I have 
included here will help you understand Ebb a little better should you happen 
upon him, or dare venture near his "fortress" in the forest. 
 
It is also, first and foremost, an attempt to describe a dragon that 
would actually "work" physically in the real world, but still fit most of 
the mythos. 
 
At several points there are footnotes, marked as (1), (2) etc. All these 
footnotes are included at the end post for reference. 
 
All articles use the international metric system of measurement. 
1 meter ~ 3 feet. 
1 km = 1000 m. 
1 kg ~ 2.2 lb. 
1 ton = 1000 kg. 
 
Comments to these selected articles are appreciated! 
 
 
For your reference, here are some images of Ebb: 
 
<a href="http://amiga.org/modules/myalbum/photos ...  
<a href="http://amiga.org/modules/myalbum/photos/1223.jpg">Body, to scale</a> 
<a href="http://user.tninet.se/~dut963a/Ebb1.jpg">Ebb in the 'fortress' thread</a> 
 
 
... Oh , and all this is ©2002 Griatch Productions <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"> 
. 
Griatch

Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub123.ezboard.com/bunicornsvisi ... Griatch</A> at: 11/12/03 16:41

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:32 am

I'm done! 
 
Any questions or comments to these articles (if you managed through them 
<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"> ) would be appreciated and can be posted here! 
 
. 
Griatch

Post by **Griatch** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 2:30 am

-Footnotes: 
------------------ 
 
(0): [about the latin names of the dragons] 
 
Dracocephalum is latin for dragon's head (From greek drakon for 
dragon and kefale for head. The name is also used in the floral world; like 
the Dragon-flowers, of which one species is Dracocephalum thymiflorum). Elementalis is used to indicate that this creature thrives in 
all the elements (including fire!). Rex means "king". It can be discussed 
whether or not the Great Dragon deserves this title. It is certainly not the 
biggest member of the Dracocephalum animal group - the Great Sea 
Serpent is much bigger. However, history and tradition is the culprit here; 
the Great Dragon has simply been known to man far longer than the Great 
Sea-serpent. For fairness, the Latin name of the sentient Sea-serpent, 
Dracocephalum Aquarius Rex, is chosen to indicate it as the 'king of 
the water'. For further background of the early encounters with dragons, we 
refer to "Encyclopaedia of Draconian lore", by E.Chao et al (D&A publishing). 
---------------------------- 
 
(1): [On the production of hydrogen in the flying sacks] 
 
It should be noted that the probability of this reaction is low, even in the 
heated environment supplied by the "gasmaker" organ. Therefore the 
volume of the organ is big. Is it also believed that the proximity to the 
pounding of the main heart causes distinct shock-waves through the 
water+enzym solution affecting the effectiveness of the chemical reaction 
positively. 
----------------------------- 
 
(2): [On draconian similarities with lizards when young] 
 
Some scientists claim that a family resemblance to the lizards can be seen 
in the young dragon. This has lead some controversal researchers to 
propose that Dragons-lizards are indeed a sub-group of lizards and not a 
vertebraeic family in their own right. 
This is a hot subject in dracological circles, but the issue must be 
considered mostly academic and won't influence our presentation. 
--------------------------------- 
 
footnote (3) is related to an article not included in this excerpt 
---------------------------------- 
 
(4): [On the language Dragontongue] 
 
"The Dragontoungue catalogue" (found at most local dracology institutions 
and universities) lists a total of (currently) 164 words in dragontongue, 
translated to human-understandable syllables. The "D-syllable alphabet", 
particularily developed to be able to put the sounds of Dragontongue on 
paper, is in itself larger than the amount of known words. The shortest 
example from the Dragontongue catalogue is [:s":a':irri":r:l( ")s[s]:{..}:r] which 
is a name and translates to "Bloodied tooth on small rock" or perhaps 
"Evil-tooth on small rock". Out of the words in the Dragontongue catalogue, 
40 has been identified as draconian names, 2 as verbs, 4 as adjectives, 
and 118 as different classes of threats and insults. 
------------------------------------ 
 
(5): [On human incursions in dragon territories] 
 
Normally, the dragon don't consider humans (or any other prey) as 
intruders in the same way as it does other dragons. 
This fact has made it possible for researchers to approach dragons and 
talk to them in their lairs. Long time field-dracologists claim a peculiar bond 
of friendship evolves between the individual human and the creature over 
time. Even so, dragon feelings are a practically unknown field of research 
and even the most optimistic field researcher make perfectly sure the 
dragon has fed properly before venturing near its lair. 
----------------------------- 
 
footnote (6) is related to an article not included in this excerpt 
----------------------------- 
 
(7): [On talking with dargons] 
 
Talking to dragons is a whole field in itself, one that goes well beyond the 
scope of this text. Required reading in this field is "Dragons in nature" by 
R.Outo and "'Eat me!' - the traps of talking with dragons" by H.Calloway 
(both can be found at Tethminister Publ.) 
------------------------------ 
 
(8 ): [On defending oneself against a dragon] 
 
The legends of lone dragon-slayers are thus almost certain to be extremely 
exaggerated. 
------------------------------- 
 
(9): [On observing dragons from a safe shelter] 
 
Such places shouldn't be hard to find; dracological magazines such that 
international "Teeth and Claw" or "Dracol" publish monthly updated lists of 
dragon sightings. If you live near a lair, you will find what you need to know 
in the local press. 
The Royal Dracological Society also publish the yearly official "Draconis 
Imperatis" catalogue listing all known lairs of Great dragon's as well as 
those of other draconian animals. 
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
(Thanks to drac.prof S.R. 
 
Articles originally published in Dracol, Chile, nov. 2002)

Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub123.ezboard.com/bunicornsvisi ... Griatch</A> at: 11/22/03 14:24

Post by **Griatch** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 4:29 am

<img src=http://amiga.org/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif ALT=":)"> 
. 
Griatch

On Dragon Ebb (from Encyclopaedia Dracologica)

Re: Questions?

Re: Introduction and Overview

Article 1: Anatomy: bone structure and muscles

Re: Article 2: Anatomy: Internal organs, gasmaker organs

Re: Article 3: Anatomy: Armour, "Fire-breathing" a

Re: Article 4: Language, intelligence

Re: Article 5: Dragons and humans

Re: Article 6: Sigting Dragons in Nature

Summary

On Dragon Ebb (from Encyclopaedia Dracologica)

Questions?

Re: Footnotes to the six articles

Re: Questions?