Melanie Nilles

As promised, this week’s post is another part of the appendix included with Dragon Prophecy, the first book of the four book Legend of the White Dragon series. A PDF of last week’s post can be downloaded here for those wanting some background information of some of the elements of the world of Gairdra, much of which has been touched on in the character interviews. The below information is general information about the dragons featured in the books. Next week we’ll focus on the firedrakes.

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Dragons of Light

The true dragons were made by the Majera to aid in their battle against the Darklord and can be considered “Dragons of Light”. Of these, two kinds developed, the firedrakes and the waterdrakes. Both were given potent magic and great wisdom and most often speak in rhyme and riddles.

All dragons have scales harder than diamonds that cannot be penetrated by any weapon. They shed their scales as new ones grow to replace smaller, older scales. Because these dragons grow throughout their entire lives, they shed various scales at different times. The First Race of humans discovered that the scales contain residual magic from the dragons and figured a method to grind them for use in the metal of their weapons and armor.

Some of the oldest dragons have grown to the size of large hills. Their scales would be large enough to use as shields.

Dragons are immortal, barring injury, and are immune to all illness. However, they can be killed. And like any being, breaking their neck will end their lives.

The only means to slay any dragon is to deliver a thrust into the brain. Only two ways to do this are known and one of those, by a spike through the back of the throat can only be carried out when a dragon opens its jaws. The only place on the outside of a dragon where the brain is vulnerable is a soft spot on each side of the head. These cover the hearing organs and catch the vibrations of sound in the air. Usually a dragon must be sleeping to get close enough to slay it by this method.

Dragons command the most powerful of any magic except the Majera. Because of this, they cannot be killed by magic.

They do not possess the organs to vocalize words. However, they are intelligent enough to understand speech. The first dragons quickly learned to communicate using a magical means that has come to be known as mindspeech, whereby one projects their thoughts so the intended recipient hears them.

Some differences do exist between the two types of dragons.

(featured next week: Firedrakes)

A PDF file will be made available for download in the near future.  Stay tuned for more!