Overview
Reclusive Nature: Emerald Dragons are known for being highly reclusive, with a strong lawful inclination.
Inquisitive Minds: They are deeply interested in history, surpassing human scholars in certain fields. However, they are paranoid and distrustful of visitors.
Protective Defenses: Their lairs are protected by intricate traps, and they deter visitors using a powerful wind breath weapon.
Unique Appearance: Emerald Dragons have scales that constantly scintillate and move in the light, displaying a variety of shades from minty green to deep emerald.
Physical Description
Scales: Their scales range from minty to deep emerald and continuously shift and reflect light. This mesmerizing quality plays a role in their hypnotic abilities.
Eyes: Older dragons develop faded pupils, making their eyes appear as blank green orbs.
Size: The largest ancient Emerald Dragons can grow up to 108 feet long, with an 84-foot tail.
Personality
Inquisitive Yet Paranoid: While they are curious and drawn to learning, Emerald Dragons prefer to observe events rather than engage directly. They have a deeply rooted paranoia, especially regarding their hoards.
Prefer Observation: They tend to avoid direct involvement in conflicts but are always gathering information from afar.
Protective of Hoards: Their distrust of others leads to heavily fortified lairs, with traps and spells designed to confuse and ensnare intruders.
Combat and Abilities
Sonic Keening Wail:
A powerful breath weapon that causes intense pain, deafness, and disorientation. Its frequency can incapacitate entire groups, making them vulnerable to further attacks or retreat.
Wind Breath:
A secondary breath weapon capable of generating powerful gusts of wind, knocking back enemies and disrupting flight. This can create temporary barriers or scatter groups of attackers.
Hypnotic Scales:
The movement of their scales creates a hypnotic effect, entrancing enemies who gaze upon them for too long. This ability is used to disarm or confuse attackers.
Fog Generation:
They can generate thick fog, both natural and magical, making it difficult for enemies to see or hear. This fog also blends with their green scales, making them nearly invisible in their surroundings.
Psionic Abilities:
As they age, Emerald Dragons develop strong psionic abilities, enabling them to read minds, plant illusions, and dominate weaker beings. This makes them deadly in both physical and mental combat.
Magical Expertise:
Emerald Dragons are adept in magic, especially spells related to nature, sonic manipulation, and defense. Their spells evolve with age, allowing them to reshape the land, create magical wards, and summon powerful natural forces.
Immunities:
They are immune to sonic damage and sonic-based spells.
Emerald Dragons possess natural mental defenses, making them resistant to charm, illusion, and mind-control spells.
Aquatic Adaptation:
Though they prefer land, Emerald Dragons are skilled swimmers and can manipulate water currents. They are formidable opponents in aquatic environments, creating whirlpools or using water as an extension of their magic.
Enhanced Perception:
They have heightened senses and the ability to tap into magical ley lines, allowing them to gather information and detect danger long before it arrives.
Lifecycle and Aging
Hatchlings to Ancients: Young dragons have bright green scales that deepen with age. Their hypnotic abilities strengthen, and their paranoia becomes more intense as they mature.
Ancients: Once over 1,000 years old, Emerald Dragons gain access to the collective memory of their species, allowing them to recall events from the distant past.
Death and Legacy: When nearing death, they undergo a ritual of merging with nature, dissolving their essence into the land. Some even become spectral guardians, forever bound to protect their knowledge and hoards.
Society and Culture
Clans:
Emerald Dragons form small, secretive clans, often no more than three or four members. These clans share knowledge only amongst themselves and only meet in times of great need.
Their lairs are often near regions of historical importance, and they subtly manipulate the world to protect these places.
Council of Ancients:
Once every few centuries, the oldest Emerald Dragons gather in secret councils to share wisdom and debate the fate of the world. These meetings are highly secretive, and decisions made there are never shared with outsiders.
Code of Ethics:
Emerald Dragons view knowledge as sacred and only share it with those they deem worthy. They never destroy knowledge but find ways to preserve it, often through magic or by passing it down to chosen successors.
Alliances and Rivalries
Elven Scholars:
Emerald Dragons maintain a cautious alliance with certain elven scholars, particularly those from Ardinia. These elves are some of the few trusted to share in their knowledge, and in return, they help protect ancient relics and historical sites.
Rivalries with Other Dragons:
Red Dragons are feared for their greed, and Emerald Dragons actively avoid them.
They have a rivalry with Blue Dragons, who are destructive in their pursuit of power, often clashing over historical sites or knowledge.
Brass Dragons are respected but also viewed with some frustration, as they are far too willing to share knowledge freely.
Historical Significance and Mythology
The Great Schism:
According to Emerald Dragon mythology, there was once a Great Schism that divided the dragon species over how knowledge should be used. This event fostered the distrust and paranoia present in many dragons today.
Emerald Woods Creation:
Legend says the Emerald Woods were created from the tears of an ancient Emerald Dragon. These woods are thought to hold the memories of the world, and the Emerald Dragons will protect this sacred place at all costs.
Prophecy of the Green Dawn:
Emerald Dragons believe in a prophecy that foretells a time of great darkness, where only the Green Dawn—the wisdom of the Emerald Dragons—can save the world.
Notable Emerald Dragon
Verdantia: Known for her deep connection to nature, Verdantia is a prominent figure among the Emerald Dragons. She participated in the Battle of Vacari against Venfyr, the Green Dragon, alongside Dirona, the Brass Dragon.
Appearances:
Shadows Unveiled: Battled Venfyr with Dirona, resulting in Venfyr’s defeat.
Healing Bonds: Returned to Vacari with her Emerald Dragons to protect Emerald Woods, alongside the fairies of Ardinia.
Future: Verdantia and her Emerald Dragons will play a significant role in the upcoming Dragons of Vacari series.