A Little About Dragons

Wings and Flight
Dragon wings can vary greatly.  Usually, they have a design somewhat similar to a bat's wing.  There are usually five wing-fingers, like a bat, but these can be in many different positions.  Typically, and this is a big generalization, four of the dragon's wing fingers are very elongated and have very tough, thin webbing stretched between them.  The fifth wing finger (the 'thumb') is smaller, has no webbing,  so it's not actually a wing finger.  It's usually called a wing claw because it resembles a large claw at the front of the wing.  Perneese dragons' wings have an interesting adaptation.  The last two wing fingers are so close together, they're almost fused.  This provides support to the front of the wing in flight.  All dragons' wings are different.  Some have as many as ten wing fingers and claws per wing, some have as few as two.  Some dragons have an extra wing finger coming from the 'elbow' of their wing.  Fairy dragons have four fairy-like wings (hence their name).  I once saw a western dragon in a video game with six wings!  However, the most interesting wings I have seen were those on the dragon in the movie Merlin.  This dragon had wings with a series of overlapping wing segments, hardly the traditional western dragon wing.  

Hide and Scales
Dragons, with very few exceptions, have either tough, leathery hide, or very hard scales.  When dragons have scales, they are almost always u-shaped and overlapping.  Other types of scales include iguana-like, hexagonal, non-overlapping scales, and square, overlapping, shingle-like scales. Some have a combination of these. Scales and hide can come in many different colors.  These colors usually mean something.  Sex, age, health, mood, breed, or type of breath can sometimes be determined simply by the color and pattern of the dragon.  Also, the color of some dragons change with his surroundings, like a chameleon, and some can change their color intentionally.  For example, there are five colors of Perneese dragons, green, blue, brown, bronze, and gold.  Greens and golds are females, and blues, bronzes, and browns are male.  Perneese dragons turn grayish when they feel neglected or distressed, or are old or sick.  Their eyes change color according to their mood.  Red means hunger, orange and yellow mean distress, agitation, and annoyance, and green and blue mean contentment and sleepiness.  Therefore, the sex, mood, and overall physical and mental health can be determined simply by looking at a Perneese dragon.

Eyes
Dragons' eyes come in different forms.  Some are reptilian, some are quite human.  Some, like those of Perneese dragons, are multifaceted.  There is very commonly something special about a dragon's eyes.  Sometimes, they have a hypnotic effect.  Sometimes, they can put great fear into the mind of an attacker.  In a couple of examples, they have turned attackers into stone.  And of course, they sometimes do nothing at all.  The word Dragon comes from the Greek word Darc, meaning to see, or to see clearly, so there is definitely a sense of something more about a dragon's eyes.

Tails
Dragon tails are generally very long and slender, but they certainly aren't always so.  An average tail length seems to be about the same length of the rest of the dragon.  Dragons with thicker tails, and even some without, can use them as very nasty weapons.  It's usually not even very hard for those dragons to twitch a tail and squash some unsuspecting prey against a hard object like a tree or cave wall.  More often than not, dragons have some object at the end of their tail, usually hard, and usually spade-shaped.  Dragons can use these as nasty weapons, too.  One kind of dragon actually have a ball of spikes at the end of their tails, making their advantage even greater.

Techniques of Dragon-Slayers
If you're a dragon, you'll probably want to watch out for dragon-slayers.  Let me give you a few tips.  First of all,  if you ever encounter a dragon-slayer, don't stay in a lair, or any enclosed space.  You'll want to get out into the open so that you can fly..  The first thing you should do in a fight is leap into the air and blast them from above.  If you takes off, he's toast.  Literally.  A dragon-slayer with any brains at all will try to find some way to sneak up on a you, which shouldn't be easy if you're aware of what's around you.  Dragons are generally very sensitive in sight, smell, and sometimes hearing.  Some also have a sixth sense.  Don't be tricked if he hides in a herd of sheep or cattle to cover up his smell.  Usually, the only other way for a slayer to mask himself is to approach the lair from downwind, and that isn't always possible.  You should keep your hearing focused at all times, for a dragon-slayer will try to sneak up on you as quietly as he can.  The best time to sneak up on a dragon is when he's sleeping, which many do a lot.  Most don't rely on this, however, because some dragons are notorious at pretending to sleep.  And they're easy to wake up if they are sleeping.  To fight the dragon, some slayers use poisoned arrows, if their target dragon is the kind with hide.  They need very strong poison, because dragons are very big.  They also need a very good bow, because most dragon hide is very tough and leathery.  If you have scales, a bow can still work, but is rarely used because they'll have to get close to you to shoot upwards between your scales.  It is almost impossible to penetrate a dragon's scales otherwise.  The number one thing to remember when in combat with a dragon slayer is DON'T let them get near you, because then you shouldn't use your fiery breath on him just in case you hit yourself.  Remember, most dragons are fire-resistant, not fire-proof.  If they don't use a bow, they'll probably use a good, long sword.  If they do, they have to get near you to do any damage, which is a good reason to keep them away at all costs.  I wouldn't worry to much about human magic, because dragons are rarely affected by it.

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