Firelizards
By Heron.
Singular: Firelizard
Plural: Firelizards Group: Fair of Firelizards Communication – Empathy and Imagery Size Ranges – (Pureblood/Mottle in inches) Gold (40in/40in) Red (*/40in) Silver (*/35-39in) Bronze (37in/37in) Brown (35in/35in) Blue (20in/20in) Copper (*/25in) Green (25in/25in) Brass (*/25in) Black (*/25in) White (12in/12in) Colorations – By Rank Naming Convention -- None |
Singular: Firelizard Plural: Firelizards Group: Fair of Firelizards General Information Not an indigenous species of Teragaia, the first Firelizards came alongside the Pernese dragonriders when they first arrived, the test subjects for a machine that would replicate the Dragons’ and Firelizards’ ability to between from one place to the next. The miniature Dragons, indeed predecessors of the Pernese Dragons, originally had the same velvet-smooth and scaleless skin as their descendants and the same secondary stomach for a substance called “firestone”, which they chewed and consumed to fuel their ability to breathe fire. The wild, scaled, magical dragons of Teragaia, however, proved once again that they could mate and breed with anything. They took on Firelizard shapes and chased Firelizard queens, and successive generations later, Firelizards have taken on a bit more variety than they once had; they used to come in five colors, Gold, Bronze, Brown, Blue, and Green, and now they stretch well beyond that. There are still some pure-blooded Firelizards on Teragaia, but the majority of them are considered Mottles, possessed of horns and patches of scales and markings of different colors given to them by their wild dragon forebearers. Mottles can breathe fire naturally, without chewing firestone, and all Firelizards retain the ability to between, or teleport between great stretches of distance in a span of eight seconds. Mottles can also come in either physical sex, regardless of color, unlike their predecessors. Like their larger, draconic cousins, Pureblood Firelizard must Impress upon Hatching or go Between forever, while Mottle Firelizards may survive past hatching and even go their entire lives without Impressing. Charming and social creatures, Firelizards enjoy congregating in vast Fairs, and even wild flits will socialize with humanoids quite cheerfully. All Firelizards are sensitive to births and hatchings, and tend to group up around places where young of any species are soon to arrive, greeting the youngster or youngsters by humming a song of welcome. Some flits are even more sensitive than others. No Firelizards mindspeak, but they do communicate in emotions and complex mental imagery. Their faceted eyes also aid in communication, as they whir and whirl between different colors varying on mood and response to stimulation. Mating Information A Firelizard who is ready to mate, called “proddy” by the Pernese humans, will grow agitated and moody. It will then hunt down a prey creature, fish or small mammal, and kill it. If it only drinks the blood instead of gorging on the meat, the flight will last longer and be more intense, as a full stomach will slow the proddy flit down and make it easier for suitors to catch. What follows is an intense and sometimes violent high-speed chase as suitors pursue the initiator, performing feats of aerial acrobatics and working to get to the initiator first. The chase ends when the proddy flit is captured, though whether the initiator is caught by skill or by choice varies from chase to chase. After a successful chase, females will lay their eggs in beds of hot sand. Bonding Information It’s fairly easy to tell when a Firelizard nest is about to hatch, as the adults will begin gathering fish and ropes of seaweed and other essentials to the site of the nest, and then they’ll start singing, which is a sure tip-off. Candidates hoping to Impress are encouraged to bring food, as flits hatch ravenously hungry. Young Firelizards often bond to the first to offer them food to eat. Older wild Firelizards sometimes also find themselves tempted by food or by agreeable companionship. Both Mottle and Pureblood firelizards can survive not Impressing after hatching, unlike their Pureblood dragon counterparts. Ranks Gold, Gold Mottle 5* The pure-blooded Golds remain the queens of Firelizard-kind, the largest and capable of the largest clutches of eggs. They’re usually about forty inches nose to tail tip. The Mottles, who come in both male and female variants, are much the same size, though the Mottles tend to be a touch more muscular than the pure-blooded Golds, often sporting patches of scales and bands or stripes of whatever color of wild dragon they have in their ancestry, as well as some horns and ridges that the Firelizards of old never sported. Gold Mottle females have smaller clutches than pure Golds, but their clutches tend to have more variety of colors in them. While typically sweet-natured as any Firelizards, Golds and Gold Mottles sometimes tend to be pushy and entitled, as they are well aware of their rank and rarity. Red Mottle 4* Original Pernese Firelizards never came in shades of red, but that was before red dragons sneaked into the bloodlines and set new genetic precedents. Fully the size of Golds and Gold Mottles, Red Mottles are rare but always easy to spot in a Fair thanks to their burnished crimson color. Their fire breathing skills are unmatched by any others of their kind, and indeed even some Dragons lack the potency of Red Mottle flits when it comes to making things burn. Unusually quiet for Firelizards, Red Mottles have an unfortunate tendency to stew when they’ve been slighted, blending explosive tempers with extreme patience. Wrong them today and they might get back around to you in a week, or a month, or possibly a year’s time. Thankfully neither as vindictive nor as malicious as their red dragon ancestors, Red Mottle flits can still cause a merry bit of havoc when they feel like they’ve been wronged. Silver Mottle 4* Silver is another new color to Firelizards, introduced by the wild silver dragons of Teragaia. They shine and glisten like jewelry when they fly with their Fairs, rare but always easy to visually track when they are actually sighted. They often sport shield-shaped crests on their heads, which betrays their ancestry; wild silver dragons are often also called shield dragons for exactly that crest. Smaller by scant inches than Golds and Red Mottles, Silver Mottles are energetic little things and also uncompromisingly good. Humble, they are, and self-sacrificing in their constant concern for the welfare of others above their own. Of any Fair, the Silver Mottle is the one most likely to end up hurt when trouble strikes, as they can never stand by and let others take the brunt of any punishment if it’s physically possible for them to step in and stop it. Bronze, Bronze Mottle 3* Pernese Firelizards have always had Bronzes, burly lords of flit-kind with hides glistening in gorgeous metallic shades. Adding wild bronze dragon blood just gave the Bronze Firelizards the Bronze Mottle, who are indisputably the best fishers of their species. All Bronzes, Mottle or no, are stubborn creatures. They know what they’re about and they won’t rest until you do too. They also tend to enjoy a good scuffle, finding the thrill of battle exhilarating in ways most other flits don’t or can’t appreciate. This makes them somewhat impatient creatures, but it also makes them incredibly talented guardians of their Fairs, their bonds, and their friends. Bronzes can be somewhat mercenary at times, but they’re also incredibly loyal and let nothing stand between them and protecting that which they care for. Pure-blooded Bronzes are exclusively male, though Bronze Mottles come in both sexes. Brown, Brown Mottle 2* Calm and fairly mellow, Brown Firelizards have always been essential to every Fair, balancing out the rougher personalities common in Bronzes and Golds and Blues. Pernese flits have always come in shades of Brown, nearly the size of the Bronzes with less than half of the temper. Brown Mottles, who come in both sexes instead of just male, tend to be a little harder around the edges than the pure-bloods. No less mellow and no less patient, but they set out to achieve the goals they set for themselves. Regardless of blood purity, however, Browns make the classic second-in-command, more comfortable relaying orders rather than stepping up and handing them out, though they can lead if absolutely necessary. Blue, Blue Mottle 1* Blue Firelizards have always been seen as somewhat flighty little males, much smaller than their Brown and Bronze counterparts, but they’ve always been respected for their energy and empathy and skill at searching things out. They are excellent scavengers and salvagers, and the outside influences of dragon blood in the Blue Mottles have only enhanced these skills, as well as honing their edges, making them less flighty and more focused. Blue Mottles are, unlike their exclusively-male predecessors, very task-oriented creatures, constantly desiring to be kept busy. Find something for them to do, or run the risk of them finding something for you to do. Blue Mottles’ chirps and emotional communication occasionally border on snark rather than friendliness, but they’re still too industrious and valuable to take umbrage at, most often. Copper Mottle 1* Another color that was never original to Pernese Firelizards, Copper Mottles take after their wild dragon ancestors in personality. Much to the chagrin of their Fairs. And their bondmates. And their friends. Copper dragons, the progenitors of Copper Mottle flits, are irascible pranksters, incapable of taking life too seriously and utterly unwilling to let anyone else be too serious for too long either. While the Copper Mottle flits lack their ancestors’ aptitude for magic and illusions, their appetite for practical jokes and puzzles and pranks is very much the same. They take to chaos and mayhem as if they’re personal virtues instead of vastly annoying to anyone that isn’t a Copper Mottle. Always good-natured about their endeavors, Copper Mottles still sometimes forget that not everyone can appreciate their sense of humor, and although harm is never intended, it sometimes happens. They’re always contrite when it does, however, and eager to make it right the second time around. Endlessly friendly, Copper Mottles are not necessarily wise, and it never quite occurs to them that perhaps cleaning up after a botched prank should not be done by pulling yet another prank. Green, Green Mottle 1* The original Pernese Greens have been labeled as flighty, stupid, and fairly useless. Sometimes, occasionally, it’s even true, as pure-blooded Green Firelizards have difficulty choosing good nesting sites and have an unfortunate tendency to misplace their eggs. They mean well, however, and they’re the most aerially skilled of their species. It would be a mistake to assume Green Mottle Firelizards have the same degree of well-meaning ineptitude, however. They’re just as graceful and sleek in flight as their pure-blooded counterparts, but they’re also fiercely clever and sometimes just fierce. They’re prone to fits of moodiness on occasion, though the presence of young of any species is guaranteed to liven their spirits and make them friendlier all around. Greens are happy in just about any environment, but Green Mottles are especially fond of forests, jungles, and other wooded areas, where their chlorophyll-hued hides and patches and streaks of other colors allow them to blend in almost seamlessly. Brass Mottle 1* Sometimes humanoids wish that Firelizards could speak in words. Then they meet Brass Mottles, and suddenly the muteness of flits seems a blessing, as Brass Mottles have difficulty shutting up. Their chirps and clicks and humming vocalizations are non-stop, as are the friendly whirls of emotion and endless pictures they use to communicate. Asking a Brass Mottle to be quiet is like asking ice to be hot instead of cold. It’s inimical and antithetical to their very basic natures. They’re chatty, Brass Mottles, incredibly chatty, and especially friendly, too, though they won’t let anyone get a word in edgewise. It’s not that they don’t want to listen. They adore conversation. They just don’t know how to stop making noise long enough for anyone else to make the interaction two-sided. They’re excellent company for the lonely and the taciturn, however, since they enjoy any companionship they can get and have no trouble sustaining an entire conversation single-handedly. Black Mottle 1* Unique amongst Firelizards in that they always have horns, in fact have faces framed by the long, forward-sweeping horns of their wild black dragon ancestors, Black Mottle flits are unusually asocial for their species, rarely ever making a sound. They tend to haunt the edges of gatherings rather than become fully a part of anything. They don’t seek out companionship as often as others of their species. Sometimes they’re capable of being cruel, although they lack their dragon-ancestor’s sadism. What they did inherit, however, was an inherent and magpie-like love of all things sparkly, which they will find and hoard. Random flotsam, shiny stones, nicked jewelry, every Black Mottle Firelizard will have a stash somewhere of anything that’s caught its eye. This makes them unrepentant thieves, and ideally suited for the task of stealing anything they find attractive. They’re clever enough to strike at night, when the matte-black of their hides and occasional scales stands out the least, and their reluctance to vocalize makes them very sneaky. White, White Mottle 1* Smallest of Firelizard kind, White Firelizards were originally “duds”, never slated to survive hatching. The introduction of wild dragons to the bloodline, however, has made them stronger, although they remain the smallest flits at a nose-to-tail length of roughly twelve inches. They’re a lot more common than they used to be, too, showing up several to every clutch when they used to be extremely rare, most often as White Mottles with bands and splotches of brighter colors from the same wild dragon ancestors that make their survival possible. Undaunted by their lack of size, Whites and White Mottles are fearless little things, absolutely unimpressed with the dangers of the world and unintimidated by things that they probably should, in all sane reality, fear. Creatures big enough to snack on them, for example, are stared down without hesitation instead of fled from. They’re affable enough, however, when something isn’t trying to instill terror in them. Chatty and sociable, they enjoy alighting on a shoulder or nearby surface just to hang out and be companionable. |