u/Dragons_Den_Studios

Summary:

"On the planet Mirin, humans can only naturally learn one magic spell, the innate spell they were born capable of learning. The Gedisite faith practiced in the kingdom of Drudor holds that the first dragons burned away all of the first man’s other spells and were punished with losing their sapience. This belief, plus the great flocks of dragons that periodically raid Drudor for crops, livestock, and even people, makes dragons reviled by most Drudorians, especially in the backwater town of Sobridge, hometown of Olivia Driscoll.

"Olivia has never been popular. Her mother is an immigrant, her dragon fighter father is dead, and she’s not only the only Sobridger who loves dragons, she’s also the only Sobridger who hasn’t found her innate spell yet. Everyone believes that Olivia will never find it, herself included. Everyone is proven wrong when she unexpectedly unlocks her innate spell during a dragon raid: Dragonform, which lets her turn into a one-of-a-kind dragon and knock nine dragons out of the sky before a fight with a Blacksong knocks her out too.

"Things take another unexpected turn the next day when Olivia finds the Blacksong in the woods, unable to fly due to a wing injury. Olivia tries to comfort the dragon, but Dragonform activates involuntarily and turns the Blacksong into a human girl. Olivia learns that dragons never lost their sapience but are instead stuck speaking a language only they can understand, and that the dragons she helped capture don’t remember the raids at all. Olivia realizes that before she can set the dragons free she needs to understand what sent them to Drudor, which will also lead to the end of the raids once and for all. But as she prepares to go to the draconic kingdom of Pid and gets to know the dragons better, a new question arises: who should Olivia be loyal to, the familiar neighbors who abuse her or the strangers who treat her as their equal?"

AIR is the element of the wind and sky. Air magic typically manifests as control over the gases we breathe, allowing people with Air spells to move high volumes of gas with just a thought. Because of how easily air moves when you disturb it, and how easy it is for people with wind manipulation spells to become powerful, Air magic is often considered the easiest magic to use, and is therefore often associated with freedom and liberty. But Air magic is not simply control over wind; sound is another thing a person with an Air spell could possibly control, allowing them to be as loud or as quiet as they want. Air pressure control spells are also in this domain, as are control & generation of poisonous gases, control over speech, and telepathy.

However, despite being the element associated with freedom, Air spells are actually quite rare. Of the 83% of the human population who will find their innate spells, only 5% have Air spells.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

In Gedisite mythology, Air was created on the fifth day of creation and was the first element to be bound to a dragon. The White Dragon, the first Dragon of Air and the first dragon overall, is commonly depicted as a six-winged white amphithere, although she is sometimes depicted as a white two-headed hydra. She was the orchestrator of the scheme to deprive mankind of its magic, and the first to lose her wisdom in turn.

In Saenid mythology, the element of Air was born from the leaves of the Godtree, presumably created as the Godtree underwent transpiration. When Mirin was built, the goddess Aeris gave it the gift of Air so it could have an atmosphere, and later transfigured birds into the first dragons to make them the guardians of Air.

In Pansomatan mythology, air is the domain of the goddess Neumon, who was born from Pansomata’s lungs. Her month is the second month of the Drudorian year, a spring month characterized by strong winds.

In Drudorian astrology, air is associated with the planet Velit. Velit is sixty times the mass of Mirin and six times as wide, and is covered in a white-&-orange-striped atmosphere so thick that the surface cannot be seen. Some of its storms have raged for centuries as there is no land to stop them. It has eighty-nine moons and a thin ring system made of dust & ice.

In many religions around the world air is associated with the sin of gluttony, for gluttony consumes all like a raging storm consumes all in its path, and the color white, the color of clouds. The virtue opposite gluttony is temperance.

DRAGONS OF AIR:

All myths, and all sciences, agree that all dragons with wings, irregardless of element, have a tiny bit of Air magic that allows them to fly despite mathematics showing that their wings are too small & their caloric intakes too low to lift and fly such a heavy creature. However, there are dragons bound to the element of Air, as evidenced by their vaporous breath weapons and great ease of flight. Below are twenty select Dragons of Air.

The majority of Air Dragon species belong to Euhydridae, the hydra family. Hydras are true drakes (dragons with four limbs and two wings) united by the presence of a brain in the chest which is the true seat of consciousness. In the multi-headed species the thoracic brain is much larger than the cephalic brains, and if one head is cut off it will eventually grow back as long as the thoracic brain is intact. However, if all of the heads are removed the hydra will most likely die of starvation before it can regenerate even one head. 

FOGWEAVER (Nebulahydra nebularis)

Colors: usually white & silver, though light blue, light pink, and light orange individuals are known.

Breath weapon: pure water vapor.

Typical adult length: 60-102 feet.

Record adult length: 144 feet.

Typical adult weight: 30-45 tons.

Record adult weight: 85.6 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~800 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly grass.

Primary habitat: grasslands, steppes, deserts, and tundras.

The basalmost hydra species. Fogweavers are one of the largest dragons in the world and, unusually among dragons, do not display constant indeterminate growth. Instead, a Fogweaver’s growth will pause until they find enough food to start growing in length, width, and height again. The more a Fogweaver eats, the bigger they get.

 

VAPORDRAKES (Toxihydra chloris)

Colors: members of all three subspecies are usually either gold, green, or blue; dark purple and black individuals are known but quite rare.

Typical adult length: 60-75 feet.

Record adult length: 128 feet (Monarch), 112 feet (Duumvirate), 101 feet (Triumvirate).

Typical adult weight: 25-35 tons.

Record adult weight: 64.2 tons (Monarch), 60.8 tons (Duumvirate), 57.5 tons (Triumvirate).

Maximum lifespan: ~700 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly fish and mammals.

Primary habitat: rainforests, wetlands, temperate forests, and coasts.

The basalmost species of hydra to display the iconic multiple heads. There are three subspecies distinguished by the number of heads, breath weapons, & the shape of the teeth in the back of the jaw, which are conserved even among hybrids.

MONARCH VAPORDRAKE (Toxihydra chloris unicephalus)

Breath weapon: a flammable green vapor that causes skin irritation on contact.

The one-headed subspecies. The eyes are always green. 

DUUMVIRATE VAPORDRAKE (Toxihydra chloris duocephalus)

Breath weapon: the head on the left breathes the green gas of the Monarch. The head on the right breathes a flammable red gas that induces coughing upon inhalation.

The two-headed subspecies. The eyes of the right head are always red. The heads can combine their gas clouds to make a yellow gas with the properties of both compounds.

 

TRIUMVIRATE VAPORDRAKE (Toxihydra chloris tricephalus)

Breath weapon: the head in the middle breathes the green gas of the Monarch. The head on the right breathes the red gas of the Duumvirate. The head on the left breathes a flammable blue gas that makes the eyes water uncontrollably.

The three-headed subspecies. The eyes of the left head are always blue. The heads can combine their gas clouds to make a yellow gas with the properties of the red & green gases, a pink gas with the properties of the red & blue gases, a cyan gas with the properties of the blue & green gases, and a white gas with the properties of all three gases that is extremely volatile & inflammable, often igniting on its own. 

GREENSMOKE (Toxihydra x nebularis)

Colors: almost always green, though chartreuse, teal, yellow, black, and blue individuals are known.

Breath weapon: water vapor with green dye.

Typical adult length: 60-94 feet.

Record adult length: 103 feet.

Typical adult weight: 29-44 tons.

Record adult weight: 58.7 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~650 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly plants.

Primary habitat: grasslands, temperate forests, and floodplains.

A hybrid between the Fogweaver and Vapordrake. The green dye does not irritate, but it does stain. Brachycephaly is very common, especially in members from multigenerational Greensmoke families. Hybrids with a Monarch Vapordrake parent always have one head; hybrids with a Duumvirate Vapordrake parent usually have one head, but can have two; and hybrids with a Triumvirate Vapordrake parent usually have either one or two heads and uncommonly three. Four-and five-headed individuals born to Triumvirate Vapordrake parents are known to be possible but are extremely rare, particularly the latter. A hornless phenotype is also known, but is considered even rarer than five-headed Greensmokes.

 

DWARF HYDRA (Microhydra dicephalus)

Colors: usually green or orange, though yellow, black, gray, brown, and blue individuals are known.

Breath weapon: a yellow-orange vapor resembling pollen in terms of smell & composition.

Typical adult length: 10-12 feet.

Record adult length: 15.6 feet.

Typical adult weight: 400-500 pounds.

Record adult weight: 755.4 pounds.

Maximum lifespan: ~200 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly small animals.

Primary habitat: grasslands, wetlands, and rainforests.

The smallest hydra species, and the most common owing to said small size. Usually two-headed, though one- and three-headed individuals are known. Their breath is known to trigger allergy attacks in people who suffer from hay fever.

 

OROCHI (Vinumhydra octocephalus)

Colors: usually dark green, though light green, black, white, blue, and yellow individuals are known.

Breath weapon: aerosolized alcohol.

Typical adult length: 80-95 feet.

Record adult length: 124.5 feet.

Typical adult weight: 34-42 tons.

Record adult weight: 72.1 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~800 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly berries, fish, and aquatic mammals.

Primary habitat: rivers, wetlands, floodplains, and coasts.

Orochis have eight heads, reduced limbs, and usually have red eyes. Their snouts have barbels to help them locate aquatic prey. Their stomachs ferment fruit into alcohol, which is transferred to the glottal pouch via the bloodstream, aerosolized, and exhaled. Naturally, Orochis have the highest alcohol tolerance of any dragons.

 

ALKALI HYDRAS (Euhydra zmei)

Alkali hydras are united by the high salinity of their breath weapons and the three spines in their ear fins. The subspecies are distinguished by the morphology of their tail spines and teeth.

ZMEI (Euhydra zmei zmei)

Colors: usually black, red, or gold, though brown, teal, and white individuals are known.

Breath weapon: odorless dark yellow vapor that is highly alkaline.

Typical adult length: 20-25 feet.

Record adult length: 39.4 feet.

Typical adult weight: 2.2-3.8 tons.

Record adult weight: 4.9 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~330 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly mammals.

Primary habitat: rivers, cliffsides, mountains, and valleys.

Zmeis usually have three heads and prefer to live in caves where they can easily obtain their salt requirements. They are also known to drink milk left out by milkmaids to obtain the calcium.

 

BALAUR (Euhydra zmei balauris)

Colors: usually gold or yellow, though silver and white individuals are known.

Breath weapon: irritating, highly alkaline purple vapor that smells like salt.

Typical adult length: 30-35 feet.

Record adult length: 48.3 feet.

Typical adult weight: 3.7-5.8 tons.

Record adult weight: 8.9 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~350 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly mammals.

Primary habitat: floodplains, wetlands, and coasts.

Balaurs usually have seven heads and prefer to live in environments with frequent storms, as the storms help drive out prey. They are most commonly found in wetlands, particularly salt marshes where they are often the dominant hydras. 

CHUDAYUDA (Euhydra zmei chudayudai)

Colors: usually green or maroon, though black, white, and gray individuals are known.

Breath weapon: salty cyan vapor that can be used to seed clouds and trigger rainstorms.

Typical adult length: 35-41 feet.

Record adult length: 49.2 feet.

Typical adult weight: 5.7-6.2 tons.

Record adult weight: 11.1 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~380 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly mammals, preference for fossorial species.

Primary habitat: floodplains, wetlands, and temperate forests.

Chudayudas usually have twelve heads and are the highest-flying of all hydras. They like to fly to the cloudtops and use their breath weapons to seed clouds and cause rain, which in addition to providing them with fresh water also flushes out prey. Unlike many other dragons, Chudayudas are often seen as a sign of good luck in many nations due to bringing rainfall to otherwise dry areas, Drudor being an exception due to the popularity of Lorenissian Gedisitism with most Drudorians.

 

TRUE HYDRAS (Euhydra euhydra)

Also known as acid hydras, true hydras are united by the acidity of their breath weapons, the tail fin replacing the thagomizer, and the four spines in their ear fins. The subspecies are distinguished by their leg lengths and dental morphology.

COMMON HYDRA (Euhydra euhydra vulgaris)

Colors: usually blue, green, or purple, though maroon, red, yellow, black, orange, brown, gray, and white individuals are known.

Breath weapon: brown vapor full of nitrogen oxides.

Typical adult length: 40-55 feet.

Record adult length: 66.1 feet.

Typical adult weight: 9.2-18.9 tons.

Record adult weight: 27.2 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~375 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly aquatic vertebrates.

Primary habitat: wetlands and rainforests.

Common hydras usually have nine heads and are the most common of the large hydras owing to their greater tolerance of poor-quality water and disease & their breath weapon being extremely toxic to humans. Their cephalic brains are less reduced compared to their relatives, resulting in each head having more distinct personalities, but they are ultimately still the same creature since the thoracic brain is the true seat of consciousness.

SCYLLA (Euhydra euhydra maritimus)

Colors: usually silver, blue, or teal, though green and purple individuals are known.

Breath weapon: acidic & very salty blue-green vapor.

Typical adult length: 50-55 feet.

Record adult length: 68.7 feet.

Typical adult weight: 15.6-22 tons.

Record adult weight: 29.4 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~360 years.

Diet: carnivorous, mostly fish.

Primary habitat: cliffsides and coasts.

Scyllas usually have six heads and have very reduced legs, relying more on flying and swimming to locomote. They’re usually seen resting on cliffsides, using the Sun’s heat to warm up before diving into the water to hunt. Many are fiercely territorial.  

GRIFFINS (Griffonis)

Griffins are true drakes resembling lions with eagle heads, wings, and talons instead of forelimbs, and were historically believed to be the result of unions between the two.

GOLDEN GRIFFIN (Griffonis auratus)

Colors: usually brown or gold, though white, gray, and light blue individuals are known.

Breath weapon: warm wind.

Typical adult length: 8-13 feet.

Record adult length: 16.7 feet.

Typical adult weight: 700-1100 pounds.

Record adult weight: 1490 pounds.

Maximum lifespan: ~195 years.

Diet: carnivorous, mostly mammals and birds.

Primary habitat: grasslands, valleys, mountains, and deserts.

Golden griffins hunt in prides and use their sharp beaks & talons to rip apart large prey. Horses are a favorite prey item, though golden griffins are generalists and don’t mind eating other mammals.

 

SEA GRIFFIN (Griffonis maritimus)

Colors: usually gray & black, though white & gray, black & white, and blue & white individuals are known.

Breath weapon: cold wind.

Typical adult length: 8-13 feet.

Record adult length: 14.7 feet.

Typical adult weight: 600-1000 pounds.

Record adult weight: 1210 pounds.

Maximum lifespan: ~180 years.

Diet: carnivorous, mostly fish and squid.

Primary habitat: coasts, cliffsides, and the air above the sea.

Owing to their seafood diet, sea griffins have smaller claws & duller beaks than golden griffins. Sea griffins are migratory & solitary except during breeding season, where they form large colonies on cliffsides and raise their young for several years. This often makes them an easy target for hunters…until the griffins just migrate.

 

PUFFYWUFFY (Orbularis)

Uniquely among the Dragons of Air, the six-legged and fluffy-furred puffywuffies are wingless and therefore technically flightless. But they CAN fly – sort of: they can inflate themselves by swallowing air, then belch it out at high pressures to fly backwards. Their backsides are reinforced and extremely durable, their tails are significantly reduced in size to reduce damage, and they have retractable claws that are very sharp. There are two species distinguished by body size, body shape, and scent.

Colors: members of both species are usually either pink or white, though pastel orange, pale green, periwinkle, and light yellow individuals are known.

Maximum lifespan: ~80 years.

Diet: primarily insectivorous with berries being the most commonly-consumed plat matter.

GREATER PUFFYWUFFY (Orbularis majoris)

Breath weapon: marshmallow-scented burps.

Typical adult length: 9-15 inches.

Record adult length: 23.25 inches.

Typical adult weight: 4-10 pounds.

Record adult weight: 50 pounds.

Primary habitat: grasslands and forests, usually in the northern hemisphere.

Greater puffywuffies have a round, egg-shaped body and are the larger of the two species.

LESSER PUFFYWUFFY (Orbularis minoris)

Breath weapon: cotton-scented burps.

Typical adult length: 5-8 inches.

Record adult length: 12.75 inches.

Typical adult weight: 1-5 pounds.

Record adult weight: 19 pounds.

Primary habitat: grasslands and forests, usually in the southern hemisphere.

Lesser puffywuffies have a teardrop-shaped body and are the smaller of the two species, and are perhaps the smallest dragon species in the entire world.

 

NIGHTBANE (Chiropterosaurus nox)

Colors: fur is almost always brown or black, uncommonly gray or taupe; scales are usually either gray, brown, black, or lime green, uncommonly orange or tan, and always with black speckles. Albino individuals have white fur and yellow scales with white speckles.

Breath weapon: high-pitched screeches.

Typical adult length: 9-11 feet.

Record adult length: 15.8 feet.

Typical adult weight: 200-380 pounds.

Record adult weight: 517.3 pounds.

Maximum lifespan: ~100 years.

Diet: carnivorous, mostly flying animals.

Primary habitat: forests, mountains, valleys, and caves.

Nightbanes are pseudodrakes (dragons with one pair of wings and one pair of hind legs, with the front pair of wings used as walking limbs) that greatly resemble bats, even having false external ears made of feathers. They use their screeches to echolocate & disorient enemies, as Nightbanes are physically rather weak and avoid fighting larger dragons & humans where possible.

 

ECHOBREAKER (Stridoridraco clamamus)

Colors: usually orange & violet, though yellow & white, green & white, blue & green, and purple & pink individuals are known.

Breath weapon: high-volume roars capable of causing hearing damage & a volatile and flammable blue-green gel that will detonate if vibrated enough by an external force, such as said roars.

Typical adult length: 80-100 feet.

Record adult length: 115 feet.

Typical adult weight: 37-48 tons.

Record adult weight: 52.9 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~660 years.

Diet: omnivorous.

Primary habitat: grasslands, floodplains, and coasts.

Echobreakers are zilants (dragons with one pair of wings, one pair of legs used as forelimbs, and no hindlimbs) famous for screaming so loud that they cause hearing loss. They themselves have mostly useless ears, but they can still hear just fine by picking up vibrations through their bones like a snake does, and their eyesight & olfaction are very keen. 

BRIMSKULL (Thiodraco regnis)

Colors: Usually either yellow, red, or light blue, though white and gray individuals are known.

Breath weapon: vaporized sulfur.

Typical adult length: 29-33 feet.

Record adult length: 40.2 feet.

Typical adult weight: 2.8-4.5 tons.

Record adult weight: 6.9 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~170 years.

Diet: omnivorous, mostly plants and insects high in sulfur.

Primary habitat: wetlands, grasslands, geothermal springs, and volcanoes.

Brimskulls are four-legged, six-winged drakes that breathe vaporized sulfur, making them one of the deadliest Dragons of Air. However, they need high amounts of sulfur in their diet and so have limited ranges, allowing human hunting to decimate their numbers.

 

SONG (Cantata irida)

Colors: nine main phenotypes, Bluesongs, Whitesongs, Redsongs, Goldsongs, Greensongs, Brownsongs, Graysongs, Blacksongs, and Pinksongs, and various combinations & patterns in between.

Breath weapon: white fire.

Typical adult length: 24-27 feet.

Record adult length: 30.4 feet.

Typical adult weight: 2000-2400 pounds (1-1.2 tons).

Record adult weight: 1.6 tons.

Maximum lifespan: ~220 years.

Diet: hypercarnivorous, mostly fish, squid, and seals.

Primary habitat: coasts, wetlands, rivers, lakes, mountains, the polar icecaps, and the air above the sea.

Songs are six-legged, four-winged drakes and the fastest of all dragons, with a typical top flight speed around 137mph. They are named for the telltale “song” of the air whistling around them as they fly through it. It was once believed that each color pattern was a distinct species of Song, but it is now understood that they’re all the same species with different color varieties like cats. Hunting by humans has purportedly driven the Blacksong phenotype to extinction, and the species as a whole is considered endangered, although the Whitesong and Goldsong phenotypes are doing better than the other populations.