Greater Dragon

Greater dragons (placeholder) are the largest species of dragons. They are exceedingly rare, with only five known living greater dragons, all of which are present in Jikoshak. They are charecterized by being sapient, very large, immune to aging, and quadrupedal.

Greater dragons emerged in central Pythia roughly 500,000 years ago, and spread across much of the Pythian continent. There is very little, if any, evidence of any significant number of greater dragons in Pelia. At their height, it is estimated that at least 200 greater dragons lived in Pythia.

Greater dragons are largely carnivourous, though they are capable of consuming and extracting nutrition from plant matter and many types of rocks. Greater dragons can survive a very long time without food or water; up to 3 months without water and over a decade without food - though they will be significantly weakened from lack of nutrition.

Greater dragons generally possess a breath weapon; the most common breath weapons are fire-based. This, combined with their flight and exceptionally hard scales, makes them formidable opponents, even if encountered alone.

History

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Habitat and Population

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Biology

Greater dragons appear only through the ascension (Vishaltakra, in Draconic) of Lesser Dragons. This only occurs when a lesser dragon accumulates a very large quantity of precious metals, especially gold. The exact number of metals required is unknown, but is believed to be at least the weight of the lesser dragon and likely more. Acquiring such a massive amount of gold is very difficult and takes a long time. The youngest dragon to undergo Vishaltakra was about 340 years old at its start. Vishaltakra is also a lengthy process; it generally takes 4 or more decades to fully complete. During a Vishaltakra, the dragon affected grows to a very large size - often 35 meters from head to tail or more - and slowly gains the other features of a greater dragon.

Greater dragons possess breath weapons, flight, and exceptionally hard scales (dragonscale). The thickness and hardness of a dragon's dragonscale varies across their bodies. It is strongest on the head and neck, the front of the chest, and the forelimbs, and weakest near the base and end of the tail. Even the weakest sections of dragonscale are exceedingly hard to penetrate; while there is little hard data on what dragonscale can resist, it has been said to be able to protect against multiple armor-piercing munitions comparable to modern munitions, high radiation, cutting, and large explosive-generated forces. This has allegedly included the detonation of a small nuclear device very close to a greater dragon, which it survived with extreme injuries. Dragonscale is also said to regenerate extremely quickly, and allegedly can be fully regenerated in less than 24 hours - though newly regenerated dragonscale is significantly weaker. It is not advisable to use dragonscale for armor or other protection, since dragonscale that is cut off quickly weakens and rots.