Though I don't yet know how they will fit into my story, I have a race of dragons in my world.

Dragons are rare, living in small tribes in caves in the mountains. Like most reptiles, they never stop growing, and, after a lifespan of about thirty years, can grow to a length of more than thirty feet from nose to tail-tip. Twenty feet long is the most common.

Due to their stony habitat, dragons' backs have dark, muted coloration, usually dull, dark red with a pattern of grey and black triangle-shaped spots. The underside, however, is a bright yellow, with patterns of small bright red and black scales along the edges.

The dragon's body type is similar to a lizard's, though they carry themselves a bit higher off the ground than lizards do. Dragons usually crawl and scamper along the ground, and are good climbers, but when they want to go a great distance, they unfurl their large, black wings and take to the sky. They are capable of standing on their hind legs, using their long, powerful tails to brace themselves up. This position is useful when they need to use their knobby, scaly clawed hands.

Dragons are carnivores, and need to eat several times a year (more often if they fly a lot). They usually sustain themselves with wild goats and other small animals who live in the high mountains. Their favorite hunting tactic is to imitate the calls of their prey and lure it close, then pounce from a hiding place.
When food is scarce, dragons have been known to fly down to the inhabited parts of the country and kill farm animals. Since most dragons cannot support additional weight while flying, they usually eat on the spot and then escape, not wanting trouble from the humans. However, though it is extremely rare, some dragons go rogue and start hunting people.
A man-eating dragon usually hunts for the thrill of it, not for survival. He will hide near people for months at a time, and learn to imitate the language of his prey. Then he will seek out a human who is alone, such as a shepherd or field hand, and speak words of friendship to him. After he has his trust, the dragon will lead him away from the town for the feast.

You see, my dragons have no soul or conscience. Though they are highly intelligent, they are purely animal, thinking only of day-to-day pleasures and needs. In my world, if a man is sadistic, treacherous, or cruel, he is said to be worse than a dragon.


Like I said, I don't know what role dragons will play in my story, but they have been fun to develop. I need help with the wings, though. How can I make them plausible? How big do they need to be, etc. Any other questions?

These sound cool, Aemi.



I'm no expert...but I will try and brainstorm if that will help.
I watched a video called Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real, and they hypothesized that one way dragons might be able to fly is with help from gasses stored in ballast-tank sorta things...these gasses were also used to breathe fire (not sure if your dragons do that, but they don't need to in order to have some kind of gas that would help them fly)...you could also make their wings very large (unfortunately I have no idea how big they need to be). I like the way you used the word "unfurl" this makes it sound like they could have truly massive wings, and maybe distend them more or less depending on their needs?

Just how plausible do you want them? I often find things plausible regarding fantasy fiction when others don't really.

How plausible do I want them? Hmmm.
I don't want the dragons to have a mythical, mystical feel. I'd like them to feel more like real-life animals. Get it?

I wonder if they could have hollow bones. That would decrease their weight, but they are still heavy creatures and fly kind of clumsily. I have not decided whether they breathe fire or not.

Yep.



Yeah...and they maybe cannot eat much at once if they want to keep flying...maybe they mostly glide?
Okay. But they could still have the gas, if you think that helps anyway...

I'm thinking the wingspan needs to be at least as long as the length of the dragon "from nose to tail-tip." And birds have hollow, light bones to allow them to fly... maybe this is something you want to consider for your dragons?
And how much do they eat, when they do? If it sustains them for months, it sounds like they'd have to eat quite a lot!

Thanks for the good questions! Okay...um, they don't usually bother to fly. Their normal mode of transportation is crawling/walking, like a lizard, so they don't usually need huge amounts of energy. And they usually do eat large amounts at a time; one dragon can consume a whole goat in one meal. They get sluggish after doing so, though.

I think bird-like bones might be the best option, but I'm not sure such bones would be strong enough to support their un-birdlike bodies.

I think it'd work...they'd just have to still be proportionate and maybe less of a hollow ratio than that of a bird's bones...maybe?

Maybe...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well.
And a goat does not seem enough to sustain such a large creature for months...

Well, the point of my dragons is that they are not all that big. Yes, they are bigger than a person, but only because of their tails. Only the oldest grow to enormous sizes.

Oh, okay okay.

Can your dragons actually speak then, Aemi? Or is it just that they learn the human language somewhat when they are hiding near and learning to imitate people?

I read a book one time about griffons and dragons in India. Many of the people there claim that they are real and some of the "masters" there have written about them.
Anyway, the book said that griffons, although they looked half bird, did not have hollow bones. And although they looked half lion, they were not as heavy as a lion. It was like they had an in-between in bone and body weight. However, they were not meant for long winded flight. They could only fly short distances, mostly gliding on wind currents. Their wings were as big, or bigger, than their body and could hold them up for these short periods.
It sounds like your dragons could fit into that picture, maybe. Since they don't fly a lot, maybe they are only short distance gliders with an in-between in bone density??

* is going to have to research this * Those sound really interesting... I'd never heard about Indian dragons or gryphons.

It was a very fascinating read. I cannot remember what the book was called though. How embarrassing.
The stories described the dragons as more like Lungs - Chinese dragons. They said that griffons were the only creature that would dare to attack a dragon.
Before I read that book, I thought griffons were just part of heraldry, but come to find out they are actually mentioned in just about every culture around the world.
Anyway, random useless fact. I'm full of those.