>>33112739
As was being discussed just before: May want to split up, or perhaps merge the multi-definition dragons.

Gonna try my hand at fluorine dragons perhaps, as soon as I can get the words "fiendish fluorinators" out of my head.

>>33112739
Well, because I said I would, here's an addendum to Carbon dragons.

Though Carbon dragons have a brittle, crumbly, semi-flammable exterior, their bones are composed primarily of a tough, flexible material that has defied investigation. Though poorly suited for use as armor because it is prone to fracturing, Carbon dragon bones are commonly used as handles for maces, due to their light weight. For small projects, they can be used as support beams in buildings.

Their wings have a peculiar sheen to them, and are coated in a very thin layer of a flaky material that has excellent heat and electrical conductivity. Despite their small size and relative fragility to physical impact, the Carbon dragon is very skilled at using their wings to deflect and resist both fire and electrical attacks.

>>33112909
I liked the idea from the previous thread where the gaseous dragons rule the colder climates, where their metaphorical element would behave as a liquid or solid. Gives them a nice representation of the very significant differences between gases and metals, and could provide an interesting seed for worldbuilding, don't you think?

>>33112739
I don't know if it was covered in the last thread, but can these dragons interbreed with humanoids? Because I can see a dwarf clan based around a royal family with a golden bloodline.

>>33112969
I'd lean on the side of no. If D&D style Reds and Golds and what not also exist in this world, they certainly could, but I can't really see a Plutonium or a Lead or a Thallium dragon breeding into more traditional races.

Cuts down on the magical realm, cuts down on the Mary-Sue ness of breeding your self insert with your preferred element, and it keeps the metallics somewhat more alien to the other races of the world.

Maybe others see it differently, but I would vote no to that idea.

>>33112969
no, thus far we have a strict line drawn between mortal/organic races and the dragons

>>33113030
So are dragons the only metallic animals, or are there others of the same kingdom of life? Or are they aliens?

>>33112942
It makes sense for them to want to be solid. Without magical support, your natural form being turned to gas is likely about as healthy as a human getting sublimated; that is to say quite terminal.

This is no better or worse than the extreme vulnerability some dragons are showing to the rain, although I imagine modified versions of endure elements would be extremely popular or even standard practice for them.

You wouldn't evolve on an earth-like planet naturally with vulnerabilities such as "explodes from moisture" after all. Those weaknesses feel a little too forced in some descriptions in that way; shit can't live long enough to breed multiple generations with such extreme weaknesses if the environment they're born to just kills them.

Tarnishing scales and the like makes sense, but "splash its arm with a water balloon and the entire arm's blown off" is taking it too far for things supposed to live on a world with an environment that's human-friendly.

>>33113069
Thus far, I think the metallic dragons are intended to represent a more special category of "elemental" creatures, separate from other orders of more biological life.

I like that they're a little special, a little out of joint with the rest of the world.

>>33113102
Exactly. The gaseous dragons would be very, very vulnerable to heat, but in the cold, they would rule almost unopposed from the metallics, who for the most part would become cold, brittle, and easily broken, as most metals do IRL.

It reinforces their innate nature, and gives them definite weaknesses, which is, as we all know, extremely important for making a non-bullshit setting. Power must come with penalties to be believable.

>>33113069
in setting, no one knows

out of setting, I'll go out on a limb and say that they're metallic organisms with their own unique biology, but native to the 'plane' of existence, perhaps given birth by rouge magic at the very start of everything

>>33113102
The more explosive dragons have been described as mostly/totally restricted to desert or other severely dessicated regions. That's their cross to bear, and if they're native to the plane, where they evolved.

There's a couple of interpretations there. Iridium dragons at least are proposed to maybe non-native to the world.

If the Earth Elemental plane is the origin of all these dragon types, it's very plausible that on that plane, there was no water to worry about, and they only have problems on the Material plane.

>>33113102
>earth-like
I thought it was implied that much of the origins of the elemental dragons is the Earth Elemental Plane.

>>33113102
It is important, for those elements that have few distinctive features, to represent those features. In the case of Cesium, for example, it's big thing is a colorful flame, and extreme reactivity to water, beyond almost any other element. It should also feature heavily in the nature of the dragon.

>>33113171
>Earth Elemental plane
So Earth creates metal 'animals', would the Air Elemental plane create gaseous faeries or something of that ilk?

>>33113205
The origin of the gaseous dragons could be implied to be the elemental plane of Air, perhaps. There was some debate in the previous thread if we were using the D&D Elemental planes at all though, which is why i mentioned both options. The gaseous dragons are unlikely to be "faeries" though, so im not sure the comparison is accurate.

I think it works well as being somewhat mysterious, personally. The people of the world, whatever they are, have these unusual creatures that they have to deal with, but which aren't generally actively hostile. Sort of forces of nature, sort of challenges to overcome, but also intelligent beings with their own objective.

>>33113256
I was thinking more like the noble gases, then you could connect that to the faerie court and all that kind of stuff.

Besides metal and noble gases, are there really any groups of elements besides 'all the rest'?

>>33113256
Maybe we can save Fae for any oddball elements

>>33113311
"oddball" elements? Like what?

>>33113310
Metals and gases are the big groups. Nobles are a subgroup of the gases, just look at the periodic table.

Im not sure what you mean by connecting them to "the fairy court" though. Are you suggesting that Argon dragons be little fairies or something? The Plane of Air is not about faries, I don't think.

>>33113376
Nono, argon and the other nobles gases would make up the races of the Faerie Court. The other gases would be the common faeries.

>>33113405
Well, we already had Hydrogen dragons in the previous thread, proposed to be similar to giant zeppelin-whale-dragon hybrids.

Or are you literally meaning that the "Faerie Court" is a name given to the political heads of the various Noble Gas dragon families?

Because if so, the actual *name* Faerie Court conjures up a very different mental image than what you may be proposing, and I'd suggest thinking of a different one.

>>33113443
>>33113405
I guess what I'm saying is it feels weird to call Dragons as Fairies instead, you follow me? I'm not sure why we'd want to do that.

>>33113469
I meant have them be fairies. Not dragons, but another differently-alive category of animals.

>>33113483
Ah. In that case, I would disagree. I think, given the nature of this worldbuilding concept, where the real life elementals are represented by dragons, that either we don't include the gaseous ones, or we maintain consistency by keeping *all* the elementals, both gaseous and metallic as dragons, and nothing else.

That's my opinion, anyway.

>>33113512
>real life *elements* not elementals, derp.

I just figured they could take gaseous form as a power.

>>33113976
They could be somewhere between sold and gass too. Being shaped more like Chinese dragons and key parts of their bodies being denser liquid/solid anchors in which the air currents that make up their body flow around.

>>33114157
solid and gas*

>>33114157
I think we had it where they lived in colder climates than the metallic dragons could tolerate, claiming that area as their "niche" wherein they rule absolutely. Their breath weapons would almost certainly be their gases, and they'd probably be surrounded with a thin haze of gas as well.

They could certainly have a different body style, that would be good to set them apart from the metallics more, so I like that idea. Their body would be a "solid" form of the gas, although like the metallics, a flexible solid and all that, their blood would probably be liquified gas, and their breath would be gaseous.

>>33114231
When wounded, a defense mechanism could be that the liquid blood rapidly turns into gas when depressurized. Imagine stabbing a Fluorine dragon in the side, then getting a blast of freezing cold, pure fluorine right in the face. That would suck pretty hard, I'd bet.

>>33114340
Some might just straight up exploding violently if threatened/hit enough.

>>33114358
Entirely possible. They'd also risk explosion when heated up, especially given the reactivity of the halogens in particular when exposed to high temperatures.

The noble gases would be much more stable than the halogens, but would have to be kept colder also. Helium dragons might even have to live high in the atmosphere most of their lives, eternally keeping in the dark of the planet's shadow to keep themselves cold enough.

They'd be among the most unusual elemental dragons, because of how helium becomes a superfluid. All KINDS of weird shit happens with those.

>>33114417
Tell me more about helium

>>33112739

"Pure" Fluorine and Chlorine dragons should be among the most evil things imaginable.

>>33114446
Helium dragons are one of the most unusual of the elemental dragon varieties. For much of history, their existence was totally unknown, as they spend almost all their lives high in the atmosphere to keep themselves at a sufficiently cold temperature. They subsist almost entirely on drifting molecules of organic matter, filtered through their thin, diaphanous skin, and only come to earth to reproduce.

Their bodies are long and slender, with small flotation bladders spaced evenly along its length. Their wings are enormous, shot through with incredible numbers of capillaries filled with a strange fluid, whose unnatural hydraulic properties allow the movement of the gigantic wings with almost no effort. These wings absorb the nutrients they need to survive.

Their eggs are incredibly lightweight, and must be glued to the ground with ice, which the female must constantly refresh to protect the egg. On the ground, helium dragons can only defend themselves with incredible cold, sprayed at the enemy in a jet of their own liquid blood, and they seek the most isolated mountains to brood.

Heliums have no natural predators, and by and large are totally inaccessible, and totally disinterested in the affairs of the world below. What little is known about them has come from dissecting the rare corpses that survive the fall from the upper atmosphere, and from the vanishingly rare individuals that have spoken to other living creatures besides themselves.

It is known that the auroras are influenced by the Helium dragons, and they may use those events as a signal to congregate in huge flotillas to socialize.

>>33114533
I think most of the dragons are decidedly Neutral entities. Almost all of them may be extremely dangerous, but only a few, like the neptunium and francium dragons are really aggressive.

Fluorine and Chlorine would be extremely hazardous, and probably predatory creatures, but I'd shy away from labeling them as "evil".

>>33114608
Neon dragons are perhaps the most sociable of the "noble" gaseous dragons. Though they are remarkably private about their personal lives, they enjoy interacting with those others who brave the cold to come and speak with them.

Many a polar traveler has seen what looks like a mirage, only to find a Neon dragon family's dwelling, carved from ice and illuminated with beautiful red lamps, whose origin is not told to outsiders.

Inside, the Neon dragons welcome visitors, and enjoy learning of the outside world, though they typically have little to share themselves other than a comfortable bed.

Like most of the "noble" gaseous dragons, the Neons have no breath weapon other than a suffocatingly cold jet of the same liquid pumping through their veins, which chokes people to death even as it freezes them and buffets them with waves of cold, expanding air.

Their bodies are shorter and heavier than the Helium dragons, though similar in overall structure, and their wings are considerably smaller. They enjoy flying, though they are a primarily terrestrial species.

Cold is not enough, you need pressure.

Helium dragons would have to swim through the lightless depths of jupiter.

hydrogen dragons exist only in the hearts of stars

>>33114870
Argon dragons are one of the most common gaseous dragons, having a very broad range of habitation. They're somewhat better at tolerating warm temperatures than the other gaseous dragons, and their scales are unusually thick among their fellows.

Unlike Helium and Neon dragons, Argon dragons actually have evolved a true breath weapon, a powerful beam of intensely blue-green light capable of burning, blinding, and killing opponents.

They are a mysterious species on the whole, and do not interact with other races unless forced to.

>>33114925
For the purposes of having these dragons interact with the other races of the setting, we took some liberties with the actual requirements of creating things with superfluid helium in their veins. I hope you'll forgive us.

>>33114957
Krypton, Xenon, and Radon dragons are extremely closely related, and are often lumped into one family by the careless observer. All three species are quite uncommon, and dwell on land almost exclusively, interacting with few outsiders.

They can be distinguished best by their breath weapon, that of Krypton a brilliant white, Xenon an electric blue, and Radon dragons are a bright yellow-green.

Additionally, Radon dragons prefer to dwell underground, in perpetually frozen caves deep beneath the permafrost of the frozen northlands. Their dwelling places are sacred and protected fiercely, though certain ones have been abandoned for reasons known only to themselves, and are hotbeds of exploration and study by those wizards seeking to understand these enigmatic creatures.


One unusual oddity with the Xenon dragons is that while they shun almost all other creatures, they have an inexplicable affinity for Fluorine dragons, with whom they sometimes form large familial groups. A single Xenon dragon male may have two, four, or six females associated with him, but no one other than them knows why this is so.

The most likely theory in academic circles is that Fluorine females are so aggressive, they will pursue other draconic species simply for the pure challenge of it, and the "noble" gaseous draconics are considered a socially valuable prize because they are so standoffish.

This thread makes me happy and I don't know why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM-wSKFBpo

>>33115128
Because blending science with fantasy is fun as hell?

>>33114640

A dragon with the properties of chlorine gas would be painful death to pretty much any organic life they encounter, and quite a few of the elemental dragons as well. I mean, maybe they don't have the intent to be evil, but they're going to be extremely nasty, just by what they are.

File: 87 francium.jpg (133 KB, 800x612)

133 KB JPG

I figure they're still creatures, with skin and bones and everything, but just have an extreme affinity for that element and related powers.

>>33115242
Yes, exactly. They're extremely dangerous, but not necessarily malicious or evil.

Individuals might be, but let's not tar the entire species with that brush, you know?

Some Fluorine dragons might be extremely friendly, in keeping with Fluorine's tendency to make chemical bonds with all kinds of things.

And some Fluorines might be savage, always looking to tear things apart, in keeping with the element's corrosiveness.

>>33115311
Hey, it's artbro! Good to see you, man, we have shit archived in a 1d4chan page now!

Go read up on the descriptions, and see if one of them speaks to you artistically! Link is at the top of the thread.

The description for Li dragons is wrong: Solid Hydrogen is the first true metal (at high pressure).

What about other isotopes of metals? How different would they be from normal?

>>33115332

At a certain point, it becomes a distinction without a difference. If something is killing everything it touches out of a desire to make friends, or out of malice, it's still killing everything it touches. Though I could see saying that pretty much everyone that isn't one of a few varieties of elemental dragon thinks they're evil, because of how insanely dangerous they are by their very nature, but the few people brave or foolhardy enough to try and talk to them in heavily insulated suits found them to be no more malicious than any other dragon; they just are what they are.

You could also have that as an element of their personalities. They're so volatile and so reactive, they're likely to be consumed by just existing, so they have something of a relaxed attitude towards mortality, not realizing that this inbuilt acceptance of mortality is very much not a feature of other species.

>>33115507

Lithium is metal at room temperature. The gaseous dragons are a special case, not true metallics. They just need to be in a solid state to have them fit with the overall setting.

Don't worry about it.

>>33115527
Isotopes are usually only important for radioactive elements. It's the electrons that determine their chemistry, not adding neutrons, for the most part. It would also add IMMENSE complexity of description and cataloguing, fro very little narrative benefit, so I'm going to vote we don't worry about it. Sound logical?

Ideally isotope properties would be in the form of additional related powers and abilities.

>>33112739
These dragons remind me of Uberstadt's periodic table elementals
http://uberstadt.wikispaces.com/Elemental%2C+Gold
http://uberstadt.wikispaces.com/Elemental%2C+Chrome

>>33115573
I mean, if you really feel a need to have their Monster Manual entry read: Always Neutral or Chaotic Evil, then go for it, if the other anons support that idea. Personally, I feel that the elemental dragons adhere to a neutral, human alignment set. They are individuals with varied natures, IMO.

>>33115606

I can see your point. I just think that for some of the more dangerous elements a human value set and human mindset would need to be altered.

Or, another option: It's a misconception that they're all evil, caused by the fact that the only ones who don't deliberately isolate themselves away from beings they might harm, tend to be the ones that either don't care or take active pleasure from how dangerous they are to be around.

added the francium picture and the noble gasses to the page

>>33115691
Misconceptions are perfectly fine, it adds depth and character to a world to have the inhabitants not have "OOC" knowledge, so to speak.

And yeah, all these dragons would have a strange spin on things from a human perspective. They have their own agendas, whether or not it means helping, hindering, or ignoring the other races. It's more difficult to write for, but I bet if we pull it off, it'll be really intriguing.

And ultimately, if a nomad comes in from the desert and tells the oasis villagers that there's a Lead dragon, or god forbid a Plutonium dragon roaming nearby, they'd damn well better sit up and pay attention, just in case.

These dragons should be respected, even if many of them have very simple weaknesses, like water, intolerance to heat, or soft/fragile scales.

>>33115103
Well, I reckon I'm done writing dragons for now. I do feel a little weird that I've personally written so many of these, I don't want everyone to think I'm trying to monopolize the setting or anything.

I feel like I'll leave the rest of the gases alone, there's not many of them once the noble gases are subtracted, and those that are left are all quite interesting. Hopefully, other anons will give them a thorough fleshing out.

What we really need now is for people to read back through the dragon entries, and start doing some real worldbuilding to tie the setting together.

Stories, anecdotes, historical records, all that would be extremely useful to give this alternate world some vibrancy and depth.

I look forward to seeing what you guys do, and I hope it's more than just me and a couple other people reading the thread, too. I'd hate for all this to go to waste, especially the dragons that have actually been drawn for us.

>>33115800

Here's a whack at Chlorine Dragons. Suggestions for changes/improvements are welcome.

One of the most feared of the elemental dragons is the Chlorine dragon. A close cousin to the Argon dragon, the Chlorine dragons are immediately identifiable by their yellow-green coulour and the distinctive sharp smell in the air detectable wherever a chlorine dragon is or has recently passed through. Their breath weapon is a fearsome jet of high pressure chlorine gas that can quickly leave a large area blanketed in a choking, blinding, corrosive cloud.

Chlorine dragons naturally exhale this gas while breathing, though in a less concenctrated form, and this has given Chlorined dragons their fearsome reputations, as their simple presense is enough to blind and kill the unwary.

Chlorine dragons are short lived compared to other draconic species, their volatile and reactive natures resulting in a lifespan far shorter than all but a handfull of the elemental dragons. This has a profound effect on their phsychology and perception by outsiders. Chlorine dragons are generally very aware of their own mortalitiy and tend to be if not accepting of it, far more willing to take risks and accept danger than longer lived dragons. The Chlorine dragon's casual acceptance of death and risk has only deepend a repupation for danger and ferocity.

Despite this, it is a misconception that Chlorine dragons are an evil race. Their reputation is caused by the simple fact that all Chlorine dragons who value the lives of others will deliberately isolate themselves away from beings they might harm; generally only associating with the Noble Dragons who's physiology is more able to tolerate their exhalations. As a result of this, Chlorine dragons encountered by normal peope tend to be the ones that either don't care or take active pleasure in the destrucion they cause around themselves.

>>33116627
wouldn't they also have to be in the cold, since they'd turn to gas if they were in a warmer climate? This would automatically limit the exposure of most other races.

>>33116826
Given the setting's reliance on dragons, it's not to unimaginable that there are rather large settlements of people who make their living in cold regions thru use of the dragons.

>>33116826

Depends on if they're literally made of the element or if as above >>33115311 they're just creatures that have an affinity with the element.

I was operating on the latter assumption, but if the former is decided on, please feel free to disregard.

>>33112916
Natural carbon nano tubing?

>>33117098
Essentially, yes. Some anons wanted Carbon dragons to incorporate more types of carbon-based structures, so I added them and graphene.

>>33117009
>>33116826
It's a little of both. Obviously, they can't be made of pure, actual metal as we know it, they'd be inflexible. They are made of the element though, to represent their status in this fictional universe, with some license taken, in much the same way that D&D had dragons made wholly of crystal.

These dragons embody their element more completely than Red dragons embody fire, however, they're more than just dragons that happen to breathe gouts of Neptunium, for example.

Observable only from afar, the Fluorine Dragon is a yellowish, ever-aloft affair with smooth monocline scale structure. These scales grow and regrow at an alarming rate, necessary for survival by the race due to their worldly interactions. Fluorine Dragons feed off fluorinated compounds, with a respiratory system merged into their digestive, obtaining all of the nutrients they require in this fashion.

Light and not particularly dense, Fluorine Dragons are ludicrously quick to please or anger, but relatively talkative at range. They lack the inherent defenses common to many dragons such as the protections against lesser magics or an aura of unnatural fear, but make up for it in several other ways. The aura of a Fluorine Dragon is entirely natural and may vary by exposure. Nearly all things react violently, causing explosions, acids, narcotic and volatile gasses, and so on and so forth. Only certain, particularly resilient Noble Dragons, and other Fluorine Dragons, can safely interact with them.

Attacking a Fluorine Dragon is a folly for any man. To whether the constant overpressure shell, acidic mists, concentrated toxins, flame and even electrical discharges requires nearly draconic might, any violent contact as devastating for the assailant as the dragon.

Fluorine Dragons do not breathe (though they endlessly inhale the poisons of their body), are immune to chemicals and toxins of all forms in a metabolic fashion (it could still be crushed with enough poison), naturally deflect explosions, siege weapons, projectiles and light assailants through the explosions of their aura, have no true breath weapon, and contrary to popular belief have no teeth (nor claws), prefering a blast-shaping wing-buffet or direct contact with scales. A truly dedicated assailant could overwhelm these defenses with blasts from Uranium or Transuranic Dragon, though one should be wary of allowing such a corpse to react with their own lands.

>>33117158

I swear by the holy Sun above us, and by Mok'Te, the name given to me at my coming of age, that the tale I'm about to tell is true.

Many years ago, when I was but an unnamed child of eight summers, well before my initiation into manhood, I was playing inside my house to escape the heat of the day. My father burst in suddenly, shouting that we must keep our heads down, and not show our faces outside, for one of the great beasts was upon us.

I had heard tales of these creatures, overhearing snippets from the campfire of the men, for I was a curious child and did things I was not supposed to, and knew some of what I should not.

I was consumed by curiosity, and though my father shouted curses at me, and said I had doomed us all, he did not dare move to stop me as I went to the door and opened it, for he feared what lay outside.

A mighty creature I beheld, black as the night sky, but gleaming with a strange luster. The sand and dirt shuddered at its every step, and it left footprints deep enough that I could have hidden myself from sight within.

I saw it was headed towards our oasis, and toward our crops. I should not have done this, but I yelled out to it, for I was but a child, and knew not the ways of the world. I begged it not to crush our field, for we would starve.

The creature paused, and looked at me, and I feared I my father was right, but it looked around, as if it had not even known where it was before then. It turned aside, and left our crops alone, going by a different way.

The village cheered me then, and my father had to beat me in secret, where no one could see. I didn't care, such was my joy.

Now, I am a man of twenty five summers, and I have seen many tracks in the desert since then, though not what made them. I seek them even now, that I may understand them.

If you have seen any, I beg of you to tell me.

(good, not good, does it fit with the universe properly?)

>>33115311
They could have scales of said element with all the normal flesh and bones underneath it (and immunity to whatever radioactivity or toxicity may be present in the scales)

>>33117226
>narcotic
necrotic?

>>33117316
it's fantastic

>>33117381
Thanks! Basically, it's my take on a child turning aside a lead dragon from his desert oasis village, and then going forth as a man to learn more about the various dragons. Glad you liked it.

>>33117364
Well yes as well, but that's not a typo!
Fluoromethane smells nice and has narcotic effects in moderate concentrations. It also burns colorlessly... into hydrogen fluoride.

>>33117695
Oh, also, using fire breath in high oxygen content against a fluorine dragon might be a very very bad idea.

FOOF is not something anyone should ever have to work with.

There was a nice tidbit of info on Manganese dragons where they had spellbooks carved into their scales that I thought I'd expand on somewhat.

The life of a dragon-hunter is an obviously dangerous and often short-lived one, with nearly all of their kin being extraordinarily lethal and difficult to kill depending on the nature of the particular species. However, there are very few things than a dragon whose scales have been carved into spellbooks by loyal followers. While the exact species of magic-wielding dragons can vary, they all earn the title of "Runic" that precedes their element. Even the most basic of spells carved into the dragon's scales can increase it's might exponentially and the more powerful and dedicated the dragon's followers, the greater the spells the dragon can cast. Fortunately Runic dragons are extremely rare and those who are powerful even among their ranks are even rarer still thanks to the extreme difficulty in finding followers who are not only trustworthy enough to be allowed near a dragon's prized scales, but also skilled enough to etch the complex runes required for such magic. Those lucky and skilled enough to slay such a creature for it's scales shall find themselves a great deal wealthier as any magician or noble would gladly pay vast sums of coin for such artifacts to use in their experiments or to be crafted into personal wargear.

>>33117718
Chemical compounds, while very cool, do increase the scope, complexity, and scale of this worldbuilding project immensely, just because so many of them exist.

It's not wrong to think about them, and perhaps incorporate some, but do be careful, friend, and choose judiciously what is included so it all still makes sense.

>>33117718

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride.php

"The sulfur chemistry of FOOF remains unexplored, so if you feel like whipping up a batch of Satan's kimchi, go right ahead."

There are also chlorine compounds:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/02/25/things_i_wont_work_with_chlorine_azide.php

Chlorine and Florine dragons might be prone to just blowing the fuck up if hurt too badly. Possibly nitrogen dragons as well depending on the chemistry.

>>33117907
Well, we know that the gaseous dragons live on the cold, and we know that at least the Noble Gas ones use the release of their blood, expanding the liquid into a blast of freezing cold gas (and remember kids, expanding gases drop in temperature EVEN MORE), as a defensive mechanism.

Halogen dragons would take that a step farther, being corrosive as well as freezing cold bursts.

And yeah, if they were hit by a cannonball or something, they'd probably explode, which is their great weakness. They'd never be as tough as the metallics, so if the metallics could hit them quickly enough to minimize corrosion, they would just shatter them.

It'd become a game of attrition by corrosion, versus swift death by fracture and explosion. I like that dynamic of the draconic ecosystem, how about you all?

>>33117770
few things more dangerous than*

really should have proofread...

>>33117979

Another complicating factor would be differing lifespans between various dragons. You could make their ages a function of their elemental natural corrosion rates for metals and their reactivities for non-metals. So some dragons are going to be immortal barring accidents, and others are going to be 'live fast die young' (in dragon terms, natural lifespan will still be multiple hundreds of years). Which will influence their attitude towards fighting. If you might be immortal, it's a mugs game to get suckered into a war of attrition against much shorter lived beings.

That "metal dragons corrode, gas dragons shatter" idea would probably also make life rather abrupt for anyone near a dragon-fight. "Oh. Fragments of a dragon containing 30 tons of liquid chlorine just rained onto the local market town. What do you suppose that *choke* *die*"

>>33117979
>so if the metallics could hit them quickly enough to minimize corrosion, they would just shatter them.
and then get out before shattering themselves, considering what happens to most metals when subjected to extreme cold

>>33118206
Well, we know that radioactive decay rate influences lifespan, at least, see the entry for francium dragons in particular.

For the stable element based dragons, they probably all live for extremely long times, but I'd say they shouldn't be truly immortal, since they clearly reproduce and the world's not overrun with them.

Lifespans in the thousands or tens of thousands of years for the toughest is probably reasonable, but aside from things like Osmium and Tungsten, they probably meet violent ends far more often than a peaceful death from old age.

And yeah, a dragon fight is something you need to stay the FUCK away from, for sure.

>>33118276
Yep. It'd be a very strategic kind of fight, both sides trying to go for their best win strategies and minimizing the enemy's strengths.

Probably a relatively long period of sizing up the foe, then either a quick retreat for one side or the other, or a really brutal engagement.

>>33118306
JEEZUS, just think of a fight between a plutonium and…well, anybody.

Shit'd be nasty, yo.

>>33118347

Dragon fights might also consist of a preliminary display. "Hi, here's how tough and dangerous I am." The Dragons stomp, roars blasts with it's breath weapon, flies as fast as it can, circles, dodges, whatever it's best able to use in a fight. They then work out the odds of surviving a fight and either leg it, negotiate, or roll the bones on a fight to the death.

Again, lifespans are going to come into play here, "Yeah, you'll kill me 9 times out of 10; but if you keep on this way, you're going to have to fight 20 more like me".

Again; this probably does not endear them to anyone in the immediate neighborhood.

>>33118586
Many animals do such things in the real world, it's not unreasonable to think that these dragons might incorporate similar ideas.

And i think that in particular, Carbon dragons might be among the shortest lived dragons, based on their descriptions. It's mentioned that they're commonly preyed upon by the metallics (carbon alloys, etc, presumably)

>>33118462

I think most non-Lead dragons would just "Nope" it right away from a Uranium or Plutonium. Florines, Chlorines, and Oxygens might have a go, if they're feeling particularly aggressive.

>>33118663
or bred with them... I don't think we've got the 'do they feed or fuck' question worked out for how alloys are formed.

We seem to be leaning toward breeding, but there are allusions to eating too.

>>33118663

Shortest average lifespan maybe? I really like the idea that you get very long lived diamond/fullerine Carbon dragons if they survive long enough. They'd probably be particularly dangerous to other dragons as well. "How do you like me now you bastards!"

>>33118737
In general, it seems that the radioactive dragons occupy something of that "rare, but very powerful" niche among the metallics. They have weaknesses, and predators, but in general, their ability to create energy gives them a critical edge, since they're one of the few categories of these elemental dragons that has a long range attack worth a damn.

>>33118761
I think it's a little of both. A dragon can make itself stronger by eating others, perhaps, or it can make its children stronger by proper breeding.

One choice is for the present, one is for the past. In the rare instances where long term draconic habitation occurs, I'd imagine one's exact lineage would be of supreme importance in determining one's political worth as a breeding partner.

>>33118810
maybe alloys can be formed by eating, but it's a one-off deal, the scales that are formed later are whatever they would normally be, and when they're bred the alloy is permanent

>>33118801
I don't like the idea of transforming over time, because it's cribbed a little too much off of the D&D age progression from wyrmling to great wyrm, but that's just my opinion.

>>33118831
I like this, actually. A dragon can alter itself temporarily by eating those it can form alloys with, but eventually its true nature erases the transformation. Drives home the fact that they're "elemental" dragons, not esoteric combinations of dragons.

I'd also suggest that most crossbreeds are recessive, to prevent the issue of all metallics eventually becoming just one species. Successful, true crossbreeds should be difficult to achieve, i think.

>>33118874
in regards to >>33118801
There was a carbon description that had them changing with age as long as they exposed themselves to constant heat, and since carbon is one of those elements that has a bajillion different 'pure' forms, it kind of fits

>>33118874

It could be unique to Carbons; which makes sense, given how unique carbon itself is. It's very nearly got a branch of chemistry to itself.

>>33118923
Yeah, i think we had two different people writing for carbon or something, it got kinda confusing. and then the guy who posted the first version posted an addendum to his original post near the beginning of this thread.

>>33118961
I guess there could certainly be worse ideas. Carbon is a very important element. My only fear is overcomplicating the setting before the overall world is established, it leaves us open to a lot of plot holes, inconsistencies, and even retcons later on, and that's never a pleasant thing. But, if you guys see it as a good addition, then go for it, just try not to create canon conflicts so early on. :)

>>33118801
The Eldest Carbons, called the Adamant Lords, sleep deep beneath the mountains, only venturing forth to war or woo. Their claws can cut the sides of mountains, though they are curious among dragons in that they have no breath weapon. Instead, they communicate and dazzle with blinding flashes of light from their many faceted hides.

Grooming is especially important among males, for females only choose the most brilliantly shining for their mates.

>>33119015
well, in order to avoid being driven to extinction, there would have to be a LOT of them, and if you have some super-old diamond-types laying clutch after clutch to keep the population up it would explain how they never die out despite all the hunting

>>33119080
True.

>>33119074
I like the idea of these guys calling themselves Lords, though Adamant might be a bad description, seeing as how it's a reference to a metal. The Shining Lords, the Crystal Lords, maybe something like that?

But the really funny bit is that in a species of already small dragon, these guys would be even smaller, representing diamond's compressed status relative to coal or graphite.

Big title, big importance, little teeny dragon. I find that pretty amusing, how about you all?

>>33119126
ULTRA COSMIC POWER.

Itty-bitty living space.

With this idea , the very oldest of the diamond carbons is comparable to the size of a newt, whilst the youngest could pass for a coal hill.

The eggs look like common everyday diamonds. Human/elf/dwarf trade helps ensure a demand and a wide species distribution.

I was gonna go with the Crystal Lords, but I didn't want to accidentally confuse us with the Bismuths.

>>33119126

AFAIK the etymology of "Adamant" is for a greek word for diamond. Although it could also refer to a hard metal, or more generally to any hard or unyielding substance.

Diamond Lords might also work. Simple, and descriptive.

>>33119373
Size of a newt might be a bit too small, since they're supposed to be warriors also, but maybe the size of a child or large dog would be reasonable. The largest of the young ones should still not be much bigger than a horse though, I think. Not all these dragons should be gigantic species.

What are some words that diamond sellers use to advertise their rocks? I bet one of those would make a perfect adjective.

>>33119405
brilliant, shining, fiery, sparkling, eternal, enduring...

>>33119373

I was thinking they should be huge; but because they're made of exotic carbon allotropes horrifyingly tough, light and fast for their size. Something huge is awe inspiring. Something the huge that can move faster than your eye can follow and has claws and teeth as hard as diamond and sharper than a scalpel is the stuff of nightmares.

>>33119483
maybe they start out small, about the size of a large dog, then grow to titanic size around maturity, then shrink again

>>33119483
Don't forget though, that in the ecosystem, carbon dragons serve as much as prey animal as predator. They prey upon organic creatures, and are preyed upon by metallics, and probably gaseouses as well, should the carbons wander too far north or south.

Carbons are, by and large, not threatening to anything other than the mortal races. To a human, of course, it's like getting attacked by a black Deinonychus with wings and diamond claws/teeth, which wouldn't be fun.

>>33119479
I like Enduring Lords. They're not immortal or unkillable, but they do last a very long time compared to the many, many carbons that die young.

>>33119574

I was thinking specifically of the Enduring Lords as being fast. In my mind regular carbons are basically made of coal/graphite and have similar properties.

>>33119619
if in doubt, double check the descriptions on the 1d4chan page, i'd say. that way we keep things straight between threads and authors and whatnot.

>>33119479
Oooo, I like the sound of the Enduring Lords. Adds a nice mystical element.

Why not have them be about the size of , say, a rhino? Not elephantine, but not ridiculously small either.

Our other dragons are gonna be FUCKHUEG, so this seems reasonably tiny.

Huge enough to intimidate with speed and ferocity. Tails that can crack boulders, teeth that shred steel, claws that could cut mythril, and wings ABSOLUTELY impervious to all attacks.

But hideously vulnerable to sharp impacts, and hunted ravenously by both man and dragon.

Tend to really hate irons, (feeling's mutual) unless mating. Since irons like to eat them.

Zinc dragons look similar to many other varieties of dragon, being of average size with a dull silver luster, though shortly after molting their scales are a brilliant blue-silver. However, they are easily identified at closer ranges by the mottling on their scales, said to look like large overlapping crystals or flakes. They can be identified tentatively at a distance by their hexagonal head crests, though it is inadvisable to depend on this unless using a telescope.

The scales of Zincs are highly prized by alchemists for a wide range of applications, from glowing paint to preventing rust in objects of iron and steel. Small amounts of ground scale, administered to a sick or injured person, can even speed healing. As such they are zealously harvested whenever they are shed. Indeed, those Zincs who regularly interact with humans have amassed fortunes by collecting their molted scales and selling them.

Zinc dragons crossbreed easily with many varieties of dragon, including the dreaded Mercury dragons, but the most interesting hybrids come from mating with either Manganese or Copper dragons. These two pairings produce individuals with astonishingly powerful lighting attacks, capable of turning an armored human to slag with a single discharge.

When kept wet for extended periods of time, Zincs develop white rust or wet stain, which if left untreated will cause their scales to rot away, causing death in extreme cases. This malady is most common in young and newly-molted dragons, those with older scales seem to have greatly enhanced resistance. It should be noted that white rust only occurs when there is liquid water present, with humidity having no effect whatsoever.

Zinc dragons avoid Lead dragons at all costs, remaining in a Lead dragon's aura for more than a few hours results in zinc pest, an irreversible disease that is similar to white rust, but rather than only affecting the scales of the dragon, it will cause even those scales that grow back to crumble to dust.

>>33119786
Lol, i like how you wrote the same thing about zincs breeding with manganeses as the guy who wrote manganeses did about breeding with zincs.

>>33119805
That was deliberate. :3

>>33117316
Wow, this is really nice. We need more stories to add depth to the world and make it more than just a monster manual.

>>33112739
>going dragon hunting with your helicopter and guns
>breed captured dragons
>make them your allies
>create alloy dragons, exceeding their parents in power
>prepare for taking on a lead dragon
Fuck yeah

What's the deal with dragon eggs?

>>33124000
What's the deal with them? I guess they would have the color and texture of the corrosponding element.
Maybe alchemical symbols ornamenting them in a pattern?

>>33124014
I was thinking that they were made of crystals of the element in question, or at least had crystals growing from them

>>33115527
we've been making sub-species if there are varieties with marked differences, see P for example, but for the most part we're ignoring them.

>>33125160
perhaps instead they start out as unremarkable spheres and then grow crystals as they get closer to hatching. That would give a nice defense mechanism as well.

Remember that the irons were mentioned to lay unfertilized eggs that they used as canon balls

>>33112916

COOL!

>>33124014
>>33125160
>>33126335
The eggs would probably look rather indistinct early on, as much for camouflaging the egg as anything else.

We know the Noble Gas dragon eggs at least are pale in color and look more fragile than others, and have to be glued to the nest with ice to keep them cold.

I propose that we keep them simple, and that metallic dragon eggs all look pretty much the same, aside from probably Gold, Copper, Lead, and other distinctively colored elements. Even Bismuth looks like a simple gray metal if you don't try to let the crystals grow.

It'd add to the mystery of the traditional "wandering explorer finds abandoned egg" story too, to have it so that identifying an egg's species before it hatches is fairly difficult.

Some dragons that have close social relationships or are similar species to each other might even use a Cuckoo's methodology of switching the eggs so that another parent raises their young. The deception would become apparent quickly upon hatching, but any species that would choose that reproductive strategy would probably also have hatchlings that can fend for themselves very shortly after birth, and GTFO from a surprised parent of another breed.

>>33127417
I like this

any lurkers?

>>33128589
Well, speaking as the anon who wrote many of the dragon entries, I'm here, but I'm trying not to drown out the voices of others, and leave some elements for other anons to describe.

As much as I like this setting idea (it's why I took the effort and time to write so much earlier), I know that one man can't, and shouldn't, try to do it all, because it gets very egotistical and circlejerky. I've seen enough other doomed homebrews and shitty quest threads to know not to do that, at least.

Nothing ever gets completed properly without a reasonably large pool of interested people working on it.

>>33128726
do you think it's appropriate to flesh out someone else's description? the Coppers are really slim for such an interesting element

>>33128589
yep

>>33129279
I think any of the ones that don't have much description are open for expansion, certainly. And someday, when we've mostly/totally completed the Table, the different dragon species will get extra description too, perhaps.

Or perhaps we'll keep it as just a couple paragraphs each, in keeping with the idea that these dragons aren't well understood by most races. It's mostly up to you all.

I mostly just want to make sure we don't have plot holes and canon conflicts out the ass, is all, so keep that in mind, please, since it'll be a lot of work later on if we have to go back and fix things, as opposed to doing it right the first time.

I look forward to seeing what you do with Copper.

>>33129337
yeah, if I mention an element I'll go and make sure it's not conflicting with what that element already says. (see my Zincs with the Cu and Mn mentions)

>>33127417
I like the idea that noble gas dragons have semitransparent eggs, sort of froglike but with the transparent goo replaced by ice to hold the eggs down.

>>33126335
This is a good idea.

....

Also, dragon eggshell = high-purity ore of the element, good idea or not?

>>33130841
Sounds reasonable

FULAREN DRAGONS

CARBON DRAGONS RUNNING IN BIGASS HAMSTER WHEELS

>>33131310
WRITE IT I MUST SEE THIS

>>33131352
>>33131352
I can't think about anything else than a 30+ dragon mating orgy.

Fuck it, at least I'll try to make it scientifically accurate.

>>33131449
so THAT'S how you get some of those weird steels...

>>33131352
One of the rarest sights in nature is the elusive ritual of carbon dragons. Those gatherings often take place in the stormy valleys and remote islands, where Helium dragons are known to lay for their younglings. Presence of the concentrated gaseous Helium dragon remains and traces can act as an aphrodisiac attracting many lesser carbon dragons. Their usual progenitory prowess is naught compared to the libido awakened when exposed to them in a stormy season. The uncommon accounts of witnessing this unusual gathering tell that the ceremony begins with a strike of lightning, upon which the fierce wyverns amass, grabbing more than one usual partner. Groups and circles of twenty, thirty dragons all start going at each other. The twisted masses of flesh, scales and tails quickly begins to shed soot, as the piles forms sphere-like formations, with dragons periodically sweeping in and out of it. The beasts lose themselves in a powdery mess, driven by desire, with electric sparks and arcs emitted, as well as attracted from the clouds. The ritual is fierce and energetic, not bound to one location, but rather being a highly mobile event. Scarce stories of the sailors who happen to voyage around these report a ball of black bodies tumbling down the side of the rocky cliffs until the cold shower of water manages to separate them.

Based on Fullerene production designed by Donald Huffman, Wolfgang Krätschmer and Konstantinos Fostiropoulos. First writefaggotry, pls be gentle

>>33131769
>jesus christ that grammar of mine all over the place

>>33131596

You might also have a rule that hybrid dragons are typically sterile. Just to explain why there aren't a lot of Stainless Steel or Tungsten Carbide dragons running around ruining everyone's shit.

>>33131950
Honestly, nobody likes mutts and fantasy worlds don't run dragon orphanages.

>>33131950
actually we were kicking around the idea that alloys are a recessive trait, so when they mate with a pureblood the children are the same breed as the pureblood

>>33131800
Nah, your grammar's not too bad, you just need to put some spaces in between a few sentences to break it into a paragraph or two to improve readability.

>>33132063
This, and if the alloy dragons mate with each other, the likelihood of a "breeding true" alloy child is still very low.

I'd imagine there are cautionary legends among the metallic dragons of ancient metallic lords of their species, who sought to breed the perfect dynasty, only to succumb to inbreeding and crippling genetic illnesses in the quest for a stable family line of Vanadium Steel dragon kings.

>>33132652
though there are Brass Bronze and Steel clans mentioned, so perhaps there are rare instances of a stable hybrid line

>>33132893
Well, the current entry for Copper, where Brass and Bronze clans are mentioned, was written pretty early on, before this setting really started to get some consistent rules.

I'm not sure that that entry should stay as it is, since it's somewhat conflicting with most of the other dragons.

>>33129279
This anon was going to revamp the Copper dragons, i thought, but it seems he's been absent for a while. He might come back though, with a more complete entry for the element.

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>>33132937
actually we're the same anon...

>>33132893
I think Steel dragons are actually Irons that get the chance to eat a lot of Carbon dragons, since a few anons liked the idea that children of different breeds can be alloys, but for a living pureblood dragon, consuming another dragon creates an immediate, temporary change in their chemical makeup.

For example, a Manganese dragon that attacked, killed, and ate a Zinc dragon, would find itself able to store and attack with electricity, for a short time, perhaps a month or two. But, eventually it's "true nature" would return it to its original state.

Irons breeding with Carbons would produce Steels, but as per the other hybrids, those Steels would be sterile, or their traits would not be passed on to the next generation.

Again, this is primarily a necessity to prevent having some sort of Copper-Gold-Iron-Manganese-Uranium SUPER ORIGINAL THE KING DRAGON GOD DONUT STEEL Mary-Sue popping up by generation 4 or 5 of these dragons interbreeding. Better to nip that kind of Bleach style "But now he's a Quincy AND a Shinigami AND a Hollow AND a blurdehurrdurr......" nonsense, you know?

>>33133087
well, in order to produce a stable hybrid line you'd need to breed two of the same together, otherwise it just comes out as either a throwback (brass+bronze=copper) or the pureblood's line (copper+steel=copper)

>>33133183
No, we decided the traits were recessive, meaning that two halfbreeds would actually produce nothing but purebloods. Simplistic Mendelian genetics, but good enough for our purposes. Some of those crossbreeds are also going to be sterile.

Additionally, crossbreeding would cause inbreeding problems eventually, and it's just more trouble than its worth.

This is because narrative, this is the Periodic Table of Dragons, simple, clean and efficient, with a theme that everyone can quickly understand with a minimum of chemical knowledge, not "Every chemical combination in existence is its own dragon", because holy fuck that would be complex and bloated as hell.

I love a good Doped Semiconductor dragon using Hydrogen Sulfide, Gallium Arsenide, and Sulfur as much as the next guy, but it's really not necessary.

Why do our discussion about dragon sex always turn out more productive than our discussions of actual games, /tg/?

>>33133183
Ok, so you accounted for
>like hybrids
>hybrids with a common metal
>hybrid with a pureblood of an ancestral metal

What about
>hybrids without any common ancestor metals
>hybrid with a pureblood distinct from their acestry

>>33133347
Because when we don't stray into Magical Realms, sex and genetics are both intriguing, and a part of life. Discussing them adds depth to a setting, if you have the discipline to remember why you're discussing those subjects.

>>33133368
Yes, but it seems we have discipline in the subjects were there should be more MR than anything. Hell, even the MtG threads get more MR than this.

>>33133347
Sex has some bearing on reality, unlike the systems in most games, and sex is central to the life and lore of any animal, fantastical or not.

>>33133355
.......

let's go with what >>33133318 said

>>33133396
Who knows. I know I've tried to treat this potential setting carefully and respectfully, because I believe it could become something great. Thus far, other people have also done the same. I hope it continues.

>>33133318
THE TRYPTOPHAN DRAGON! BELOVED OF INSOMNIACS EVERYWHERE!

Isotope dragons must have one hell of a bad day, specially the radioactive ones.

This is a joke, do not take it seriously.

>>33133479
Pretty much. Just speaking as a chemist, we could EASILY broaden the setting into uselessness beyond the point of no return, as there are millions upon millions of chemical combinations.

I wonder where artbro is? I hope he'll grace us with another dragon image or two.

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>>33133513

I think we decided upthread that we weren't going to deal with nuclear isotopes; properties are too similar. Also, if you've ever seen a table of nucleides, it would be hella complicated.

>>33133534
Cobalt dragons are interesting beasts, preferring to live below the surface in deep warrens. Unlike most elemental dragons, who were identified by humans, orcs, elves, and other surface races, first contact with the Cobalt dragons came through the race known as Kobolds. It is known that one was named after the other, but the truth is hidden so far back in time that it is unlikely we will ever know.

The association these two races have with each other is most distinctly shown in the art that Kobolds make; their warrens are filled with blue glass, blue pigmented murals and ceramics, and blue hued clothing. Blue is the color of the Kobold, and their goods are traded across the worlds at very high prices, helping to stabilize the Kobold economy.

The Cobalt dragons themselves are content to interact with surface dwellers through Kobold intermediaries, direct contact with other races is quite rare, and earning their trust is difficult.

The Cobalt dragon is a relatively small breed, no more than 6 or 7 feet at the shoulder and about 10-12 feet in length. Their wings have atrophied, used only for temperature regulation and digging tunnels. The leading edge of the bone, where a human hand would be, is a long, hard spike of metal, which the Cobalt dragon can use as a scraper to make small tunnels taller, while they shovel out the floor with their powerful forelimbs. .

>>33133665
I have, I was just making a joke due to the fact fully covering all possible variations upon chemical and atomic properties would drive even the best of men insane.

>>33133696
The Nickel dragon is a pleasant creature, enjoying swimming, sunbathing, and generally living life with a freespirited air. The breed is dispersed widely upon the earth, and does not form large social groups, usually just a mated pair, their children, and in rare cases, one or more elder Nickels, who pass their knowledge on to the young in their travels.

The Nickel dragon flies well, and makes some of the longest migrations of any metallic dragon species, carried aloft with an ease that defies simple muscle strength. Indeed, some invisible force seems to move at the Nickel's command, allowing them to stay in the air for days on end if they so choose, though they cannot fly very high.

They are relatively hefty creatures, and do not hesitate to lash out with claws, teeth, and tail if threatened. They have no breath weapon, nor any defensive equipment beyond their scales, preferring flight to fight.

Copper Dragons would be considered one of the more attractive breeds, older ones wearing their green patina with pride. A side affect of this attractiveness is the sheer volume of bastardized offspring that Copper dragons produce, most notably the clans of Brass and Bronze dragons. (While the Brass and Bronze hybrids do not breed true, enough of them exist that they band together to form miniature societies of their own.)

Copper dragons have powerful electric breath, and offspring with Zinc dragons have electricity visibly crackling across their skin, though neither comes close to Silvers in terms of voltage.

They are incapable of living near saltwater, as they and their offspring will exhibit Bronze Disease, a corrosion that appears and green and blue lesions on their scales and continued exposure will eat into their skin, causing immense pain and disfiguring scars.

An interesting side note: Nickel-Copper hybrids are notorious counterfeiters, one should only accept goods as payment from them since any money is likely their own scales carved into the likeness of coins.

>let me know what you think (looking at you, chemistbro), I adjusted some things and expanded a bit

Gallium 31
An enigma to be sure, Gallium dragons are elusive and masters of misdirection. Often mistaken for unusually large Carbon dragons, this is actually part of their disguise. Underneath several layers of 'dead' scales, is the small silver colored metal dragon.

If its shell is broken, one may first notice that it bears a strong resemblance to a juvenile Mercury Dragon, but Gallium Dragons are seldom bigger than this. Also unlike Mercury Dragons, a Gallium Dragon will 'melt' into a liquid form and hide in deep narrow crevices until it feels the threat has passed. Then it will find a safe place to regrow its shell.

How Gallium Dragons are capable of melting themselves is a matter of strong debate even today, and their elusiveness has kept them safe from captivity for generations. There is a high price for one who can capture a live specimen in an attempt to put this mystery to rest.

>>33134120
also, enemies of aluminum

>>33133944
Titanium dragons are some of the most dangerous dragons there are, even when compared to the energetic "radiant" species, or the overwhelmingly large Leads, or the nearly indestructible Osmium and Tungstens.

A Titanium is easily overlooked in a draconic lineup, being barely larger than an adult human or orcish male, with an alert countenance and eyes that are ever roaming, seeking danger and threats.

Their most distinctive feature is an extraordinarily elongated tail, being nearly half again as long as the dragon itself. Some of the largest males have been recorded as ten feet from tail base to tip. The dragon itself has very small scales, almost invisible from a distance, but the tail scales are much larger and more hexagonal.

These impressive structures are used for both defense, lashing out as a deadly whip, and for mating displays. By raising the tail into the air, the Titanium dragon male uses his scales to reflect the sun in brilliant flashes, attracting mates.

The Titanium dragon tends to be aggressive in the wild, living in large social groups of several dozen and constantly competing for status among their peers.

Most impressively, the Titanium dragon is lightweight for its size, but its claws, teeth, scales, and bones are disproportionately tough and strong. Many a larger dragon has been brought down first by surprise, when its assault fails to kill the tenacious Titaniums, and then by the rest of the Titanium's family swarming down upon it, cutting it to ribbons with darting attacks, slashing with tail and claw. Titaniums are also very resistant to corrosion, and are one of the few species willing to take on Sulfur and Chlorine dragons, though even a Titanium keeps a wary distance from the deadly Fluorines.

>>33134179
we already did titanium...

Nitrogen dragons are a relatively common dragon. While fragile and preferring cold temperatures, nitrogen dragons range where they will, and go largely unchallenged. This is due to their unique body chemistry, which has also earned them the nickname 'Bomb Dragons'.

I realize I'm stepping into Pratchett dragon territory here. I'm just thinking that a dragon sloshing with exotic nitrogen compounds is probably going to go boom if hit too hard. It's either that or just have them confined to the very coldest regions and breathing liquid nitrogen. What does everyone else think?

>>33134077
Not too bad. I might also add that in this world's ancient history, Copper dragon scales were widely used as weapons by tribes too primitive to forge the tougher types of dragonscale.

The Nickel-Copper halfbreeds being cheating thieves is a nice touch.

>>33134225
Oh damn, so we did. Well, you guys can add whatever pieces from mine you like to what's already been done.

>>33134308
Well, pretty much all the gaseous dragons require cold temperatures to survive, and breathing liquid nitrogen gels well with the other gaseous dragons means of attack.

If you want them to be a "bomb" dragon, to contrast with the Halogen dragons and their OH GOD WHY DOES THIS GAS HURT SO MUCH ITS EATING MY FLESH, you could say that Nitrogen dragons hunt other draconic species whenever they can, consuming them and brewing interesting concoctions within themselves, as well as being highly predatory to the lesser races, and omnivorous.

A Nitrogen dragon might think nothing of eating rocks, trees, and meat in equal measure, according to their "cravings". They shouldn't be capable of applied, methodical chemistry, but their bodies might instinctively seek out sources of useful material.

Sound logical?

>>33134120
not the writer, but I'd like to add...

The touch of a Gallium is the bane of Aluminums, as it will cause their skin to crumble like rotten leather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaMWxLCGY0U

>>33134465
I hope that the guy who was updating the 1d4chan page shows up sometime, cause there's a lot of new material that needs adding.

Some sort of summary post describing the "rules of the universe" regarding half-breeds, eggs, and all that sort of thing might be good to have too.

>>33134579
That kind of shit is why I became a chemist. That, and all the interesting chemistry of plastics and color-producing chemicals.

>>33134663
>not becoming a chemist to learn how to blow shit up

>>33134764
I'll be honest, I was a Lego kid from way back. Building big things out of little things was always more interesting to me. In this case, polymers.

>Promethium Dragon

Luminous dragons with a radioactive aura to them. Males are Red, females are Pink. Their breath attacks seem like beams of light but suddenly become charged with electric currents. They are a very rare breed of dragon, which can go without being seen for decades at a time. Humans who spend extended time in the presence of their aura are prone to disease and a slow, painful death without the proper shielding. Their scales can be used to power generators and to enchant weaponry with the power of light and electricity.

Anyone want to help me with this one?

>>33134179
ended up including most of it

>>33134957
Their breath weapon is an electrolaser, I like that.
>>33134225
We can always add to what's written up

>>33134957
Unfortunately, because the Lanthanide and Actinide elements are all so broadly similar within their groups, there's not tons and tons that can be said about them.

And, the extremely rare, and extremely radioactive elements are so poorly analyzed that there's not much to say there either, regarding their nature, color, chemical combinations, etc.

It is my thought that maybe for the elements about which there's not many distinctive facts, that it's ok to leave them mostly blank and mysterious.

Seeing a Livermorium dragon should be rarer than seeing two unicorns fucking a woolly mammoth, the stuff of myths and legend. Do they even exist? Who can say? But no one is willing to say absolutely that they do not, lest they be visited by one.

>>33135064
>Seeing a Livermorium dragon should be rarer than seeing two unicorns fucking a woolly mammoth
this made me laugh way more than is should have

>>33134978
Did you add that writefriend's story from earlier?

>>33135123
Then my day has been a success. :P

>>33135131
I didn't make the page, I've only been keeping it up to date, I don't know how to make a new page

>>33135210
I guess just make a subheading below the elements as a holding area for any stories we may pick up. It can be organized later, although there's obviously been just the one story among these two threads.

>>33135232
two, if you count the rather silly Carbon orgy thing

>>33135257
May as well add it too. It may be deleted later, or not, but we should make sure it gets recorded.

>>33133534
artbro is currently digging steel splinters out of his hand and will draw something shortly

>>33134978

Was there a decision on the Chlorine and Fluorine dragons?

>>33135343
Oh shit, what happened?

>>33112739

Why is there no Hydrogen? seems like 1 is the place to start.

Next question: I get that this probably started with someone saying; "We have dragons based on classic elements, why not modern ones?," but looking at this I want a pack of dragons to form a molecule and gain power over that substance.

>>33135290
Seconding this motion. For now, let's play it generous with what we add, though it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure that separate descriptions and ideas about the same thing are clearly noted as separate from each other. We'll clean it up once we start consolidating our ideas together.

>>33135392
He got too close to an irritable Steel dragon trying to ask about how hybrids work, obviously.

>>33135361
I wasn't sure whether to add them or not, they seem so disjointed that I was hoping the author would rework them a bit

>>33135393
There was a hydrogen description, i think it was in the first thread. It was overall pretty good, but somewhat different from the other gaseous elemental dragons we've since created.

Might not be a bad thing, since Hydrogen is a different kind of gas anyway, but I think it didn't get recorded.

And as far as molecules go, it's just gonna get waaaaaaaaaay too complicated of we take things beyond pure elements, and rare, temporary hybrids/alloys. Read the earlier posts for more info on that topic.

>>33135393
we had one written up, I don't know where it went though.

>>33135442
Hydrogen author here, I do have it saved

>>33135465
Go ahead and repost it, and we'll look it over.

Hydrogen dragons are an unusual breed. At an early age they are little more than sea serpents, unintelligent and voracious.

Once they reach adolescence they begin to grow extremely quickly, putting on as much as a foot of length in a single day. However, the most unusual thing that happens is that during this growth spurt is that they begin to grow massive amounts of excess skin, enough to cover themselves ten or fifteen times over. During this time their appetite increases to truly legendary proportions; a hydrogen dragon has been known to eat an entire whale in a single day, and will happily eat the same again the next day. What happens next is a mystery, for they dive deep into the ocean and do not surface again until they are fully grown.

A fully grown hydrogen dragon is a truly enormous creature, dwarfing all other breeds in terms of volume. However, they are unbelievably light for their size, swimming through the air like a fish through water. Known to follow storm clouds, there are accounts of them deliberately getting struck by lightning, though determining the purpose of this has proven difficult. According to other sources, a hydrogen dragon deprived of lighting will eventually sink to the earth and will be unable to fly until struck again.

Certain rare types are known to glow in the dark and give off the same deadly force as the Radiant types, though in lesser quantities.

Hydrogen dragons produce a blinding flame which is believed to be used in mating rituals, though these take place inside of storm clouds and are rarely seen anywhere else.

>comment too long

They are notoriously difficult to hunt, given the altitudes they live at, though it is possible to find one that has been downed by bad luck. Even after finding one there is little to gain from them beyond a large amount of extremely tough leather. The gas inside of their hides escapes through the smallest puncture and should it be exposed to a flame a large explosion will result. If sufficiently startled they will produce a brilliant flame of sufficient force to launch them several hundred meters into the air, though reports of this ability should be considered anecdotal at best.

>comments?

>>33135525
>>33135548

The dual life cycle is interesting, beginning in the water and ending in the air. Hydrogen flame as a mating ritual rather than a weapon is fitting, considering the way hydrogen burns more as a thruster than a bomb.

Occupying the middle atmosphere between the low flying metallics, the slightly higher flying gaseous dragons, and the REALLY high flying Heliums provides a nice vertical ecosystem.

Being a blimp may not be the most original ideas in the world, but I think the life cycle makes up for it. Maybe expand on that a little more, particularly how their young get from the high altitudes where adults live, to the water where juveniles live.

>>33134534

The thing is the two concepts are (at least in my mind) incompatible, a dragon that's cryo-cooled is going to be pretty stable. A dragon that's a mass of high energy nitrogen compounds is not going to also breathe liquid nitrogen.

The other idea (related to the bomb dragons) would be that farmers pay nitrogen dragons a portion of their crops to root around in their fields when fallow; they deposit enough nitrogen to revitalize the soil and break up and turn over the earth.

See: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39869/39869-h/39869-h.htm "Farming with dynamite"

Again, I realize the concept is straying pretty far from the "Elemental dragon" but things that go boom are a lot of what's interesting about Nitrogen.

>>33135656
I wasn't sure how much detail to add, given that this is supposed to be an extremely elusive species that little is known about, too much would wreck that feeling

capcha: courteously tochurch

>>33135697
Well, the sea serpent phase is probably pretty well known, since most species use the sea in some fashion. For the most part, the adult Hydrogens might be what's nearly unknown. Many races might not even know the sea serpent Hydrogens *are* dragons at all.

>>33135695
Well, I guess the only thing I'd say you should adhere to is that gaseous dragons need cold temperatures to avoid sublimating their flesh back into lifeless gas.

Other than that, go nuts, bro. Maybe the Nitrogen dragons are relatively friendly, and allow this setting's equivalent of Inuit to farm tundra at high latitudes, making otherwise useless soil productive enough to give useful returns despite short growing seasons.

They'd fertilize the fields in the bitter winters, maybe just as a part of their mating rituals, totally unrelated to the Inuit-analogues, and the tribes follow the dragons around to use the land in the summer?

>>33135786
How do noble gas dragons even work?

>>33135857
Well, reading their descriptions would be a good start, so I don't repeat what people have said already.

>>33135727
so, yea or nay?

>>33136155
Like I said, I think there's some room for you to expand on their life cycle a bit, and explore their literal place in the ecosystem, operating at their preferred altitude above most dragons and below the Heliums.

As it stands, the only thing that might not be good to include is the reference to Tritium, since we're not doing isotopes. Everything else seemed fine to me, personally, though I'm certainly not the King Shit arbiter of everything.

>>33136208
>Hydrogen dragons are an unusual breed, the eggs are laid in typhoons during the hurricane season to be spread throughout the ocean. Early in life they are little more than sea serpents, unintelligent and voracious.

how's that?

>>33136332
Sounds fine to me.

Tungsten dragons (also known as Wolfram dragons in most tongues) are a species that is well known in one area of the world, and yet unheard of in others. Usually found in hilly areas, they are a relatively friendly species, when it comes to interactions with other beings that approach them without hostility. However, as a general personality, they do have a reputation for leaving nothing intact of things that do approach with a malicious intent.

Tungsten dragons are known for the hardness of their scales as well as their sheer weight. Not as heavy as an Osmium dragon, nevertheless, they are a formidable living battering ram. Therefore, flight is impossible, the wings having atrophied into smaller, more maneuverable limbs that fetch incredible prices as tower shields. They also have a significant resistance to the 'radiant' types, though not as much as a Boron or Lead dragon. Their most well known trait however, is their sheer heat resistance. They can survive the breath weapons of even the hottest types of dragon without a scratch, the only type of dragon more heat resistant being the Carbon dragon. This brings us to our third topic.

Tungstens also are a species that seeks out other species to form hybridized children with. For this species, most often they attempt to find Carbon dragons to mate with. The offspring appears to combine traits from both, being born with a hardness comparable to relatively old Carbon dragons, the power of weight on their side and the extreme heat resistance of their parents. Other elementals that the Tungsten seeks out exist, but these are rare to find.

Tried my hand at my second favorite element. Been a while since I wrote up a species description... Would like feedback.

>>33136379
Pure Carbon actually has pretty variable heat resistance properties, diamonds puff into vapor when exposed to a flame of about 1400 degrees, burning like a charcoal briquette, and carbon fiber will decompose as well unless carefully prepared.


Other than that, this seems good. Maybe describe their external appearance some more, and add a little character to it? It'd be a cool reference to tungten filaments in lightbulbs if Tungsten dragons had fine filaments extending from them in areas, be it whiskers, spinal ridge hair, or a tuft of filaments on the tail or what have you.

>>33136379
it seems a bit like notes from a lecture rather than a bestiary.

>>33136558
Well, this is the Periodic Table of Dragons. Some overlap is to be expected, I think.

>>33136510

I went off Wikipedia's description... Which states that carbon's the only element more heat resistant, though carbon sublimates and tungsten melts.

Anycase:

Wolfram dragons, to use the other name, are quite an interesting sight. Their scales are a deep, lustrous gray, at times confused with slightly aged silver. Their most iconic feature however are the razor-thin filaments that appear to grow through a narrow channel in their scales, giving the dragon a slightly furred appearance from a distance. This is exclusive to the species, which makes a tungsten-scale very recognizable. Another fascinating adaption of the species are larger, forward facing spines in the head, usually right next to an eye. Long thought to be a form of armor for the eyeballs, in fact, these are natural projectile weapons, capable of being fired at a surprising speed through specially evolved muscle groups, used in lieu of a non-existent breath weapon. Plate is of no defense against them, the projectiles of the largest Tungstens having enough mass and speed to pass straight through a fully armored man.

There, also added another well known application of tungsten, armor-piercing penetrator rounds.

Added Tungsten to 1d4chan, also added a little extra to my Hydrogens

File: 2 Helium.jpg (151 KB, 1200x800)

151 KB JPG

I don't think their flesh should necessarily sublimate at normal temperatures, but they should prefer the cold/high altitude climates for sure.

>>33135392
I went to work

>>33136820

That is the most alien thing I've ever seen when it comes to dragons.

I love it.

>>33136727
Looks good. Quills are a very logical form of defense/attack for a species. Putting them near the eyes is kinda odd, just because the head is usually prime real estate in an animal, so to speak. Not much room for things right next to sensitive structures like the eyes, although if they were passive spines, that would work. Just that muscles take up a lot of room, is all, and I'd hate for them to squish their own eyeballs.

That's just a minor biological niggle though, nothing big.

>>33136820
Fukken sweet, dude. I had envisioned them with a kind of bluish hue, but being pinkish means maybe they use sunrises and sunsets to ascend and descend, timing the color of the sun to hide them from sight at a distance?

>>33136820
That's gorgeous

>>33136862

I went with right next to the eyes so they could more easily estimate angle and such. But you're right.

>>33136820
Once again, my raging jealousy at being totally unable to draw anything more than a stickman with Parkinsons is warring with being insanely happy that someone is willing to bring these dragons to life.

>>33136820
if their flesh subliminated there wouldn't be any of the corpses mentioned in the He entry, and no one would even know they existed

Writefaggotry incoming.

When today I finally arrived upon Endro Claffroy, which certain rumors claim to be a traditional gathering spot of the Bismuth dragons, I immediately found the speculations which I had gathered in the Andomen metropolis to be a mixture of grains of truth and laughable jokes. In a manner of speaking, I had spent my two weeks in that city with my eyes to the book and my ears to the merchant. If I wasn’t perusing one of Andoma’s many libraries, I was walking its market district making conversation with the people running stalls. Unfortunately, I did not keep my hand to my coin purse, and now I find myself liberated of a not-insignificant amount of money. It seems the future of this dracologist shall include more meals of turnip and bread at shoddy inns.

Andoma’s pickpockets aside, I found that most merchants weren’t so talkative after they realized I wasn’t seeking to buy any of their bismuth-scale dyes or crafted bismuth trinkets (beautiful as they were). Fortunately, I was eventually able to get audience with one of the more well-off bismuth merchants who shared my interest in collecting scales (I shall miss my Iodine dragon scale, but at least I know it still rests in the hands of a collector that acknowledges its value). With his advice and directions, I was able to locate Endro Claffroy, which is a small valley in the northern part of the Endro Hills.

It should be noted here that bismuth traders are, for the most part, a stingy and greedy lot who would rather keep secrets for the sake of profit than help a man wanting to learn and record knowledge of the draconics for the benefit of all.

>cont

>>33137225
True to the claim of most I spoke with in Andoma, Endro Claffroy is a place where many bismuth dragons go to lay eggs and raise young- even the attention-hungry bismuths like a bit of peace and quiet when it comes time to rear the next generation. Despite what some people might think after watching a brazen mating display, I have found that most bismuths do draw a line between public and private affairs- as I often have to remind the uneducated, the inclinations of a small few do not necessarily match those of the greater majority. In speaking with the bismuths at Endro Claffroy (who were surprised not to find in me another merchant come to barter food for scales), I learned that those “flashing ones”, as they refer to the most shameless of their kind, are rare and generally regarded with some contempt for embarrassing their kin.

Make no mistake though, bismuth dragons are certainly more open and show-offy as a species than most other dragons. It took a bit of effort and glib on my part, but the fact that I was able to talk my way into seeing a nest of eggs soon to hatch when most other kinds of dragons would at best have sent me running off before I could speak a word speaks for itself. The mated pair was cautious at first, understandably so, but once I had made myself a friend to them, they were excitedly watching for my reaction just as much as they were watching their eggs! An astonished reaction they must have seen on my face as well, for while most of the eggs I had seen walking around (the nests being made on the open ground, distanced from each other typically by at least 50 meters) were the familiar dull grey, these ones had taken on a distinct shine. The father jokingly stated that “the showiness of a bismuth starts before they do!”, while the mother told me it was a sign that the egg would soon hatch. A rough sketch of the scene has been scribbled on the opposite page.

Excerpt from the journals of Callsi Omalfen, Wandering Dracologist

>>33135427

Reworking Chlorine dragons if anyone else wants to have a go, feel welcome:

Chlorine dragons have a distinctive pale yellow green color, and a thin, sinewy frame that gives the impression of hunger or even malnourishment. Like all gas dragons, chlorine dragons prefer colder climates and are relatively fragile. However, chlorine dragons are short lived by draconic standards. This limited lifespan will often drive the Chlorine dragons to take risks that their more stable cousins would not countenance, and as a result they may be found ranging far from their natural habitat.

Chlorine dragons are best known for the exhalations of chlorine gas that their physiologies constantly produce. The Chlorine dragon's breath weapon is a supercooled near-liquid jet of this same dangerous corrosive gas, and is extraordinarily dangerous to dragon and human alike. Many dragons will find themselves corroded or poisoned by the blast, even the normally impervious Gold dragons. This breath weapon is considered particularly insiduous, as the gas warms, and diffuses, it will linger near the ground in great choking clouds.

Little else is known about the Chorine dragons physiology, personality, or temperment, and there are few brave enough to investigate this species further.

Thanks for the compliments, hopefully I can get at least one drawn a day, more or less. I love this idea as much as I like hoard- collecting elements
>>33136850
I guess you've never played Chrono Cross or Breath of Fire 4 then.

>>33136862
Colors are actually based off of the discharge tube color

>>33136820

That is excellent.

I decided to try my hand at a sodium dragon, tell me what you think.

Sodium dragons are one of the smaller metallic dragons, but not quite on the scale of their Lithium cousins, growing to about the height of an average- sized man and having a little less mass than one. Unmistakable in shaped they grow with hind legs, clawless wings, and frills along their neck that expand when threatened.

These frills allow for sodium dragons to scare potential enemies in an attempt to prevent a fight as they have flesh and scales that barely match the defensive strength of human skin. Though lacking any claws, these dragons have exceptional speed and their lightweight frames allow them to jump and fly exceptionally well turning their powerful hind legs into formidable weapons against small foes.

Sodium dragons can also be identified by their distinctive bright yellow flame and the white powdery coating on their silvery scales. The properties of this white powder and the scales that produce it are sought after by many as cleaning agents and as flux in glass making. However due to the relative difficulty of catching or killing these speedy creatures, the market remains fairly lucrative.

The sodium dragons live in deserts, mountain tops, and other areas with low moisture as do its close relatives as water is caustic to it’s flesh, sometimes to the point of ignition, making water a useful agent for protection, but at the same time an unreliable method for obtaining any sellable materials from their bodies.

>>33137491
Frills are always a good thing to add.

>>33137556
I'm going to try and do a few others. I'm intending on giving them all different body shapes and structures. I think a bit more variety in those terms would make them more interesting.

>>33137166
Well, since they fly over the polar regions, their remains could persist for a while on the ground. Some liberties are taken regarding the sublimation temperature of these dragons, since nowhere that most fantasy settings work with have temperatures that near 0 degrees Kelvin.

Don't worry over it too much. Despite using scientific themes, we're not trying to make a perfectly scientific setting, based on the rules of physics as we know them IRL.

>>33137365
Ah, that makes sense as well.

In that case, anon who's upkeeping 1d4chan, please definitely add in that the Helium dragons use their pinkish color as camouflage, choosing sunrise and/or sunset whenever they need to come to earth.

(mostly, i just like the idea of a nontraditional camouflage color being used, adapted to their atypical habitat and lifestyle. Accentuates the unusual nature of the dragons.)

>>33137860
The fact we are dragons sort of makes the whole "strict physics, guys!" attempt to be silly, if I'm honest.

>>33137924
Well, yes. I don't think anyone here thinks that if half of all the Francium dragons don't die within 8.5 hours of their birth, that we need to make it so. "Strict" physics isn't what we're about here.

It's derivative traits referencing physics, to be specific. When the physics work nicely, we can use them, and where they don't, we distort them a little for the sake of the narrative.

>>33137491
Here's my take on aluminum

Aluminum dragons are one of the most common of the metallic dragons, and although abundant they are not generally a danger to the mortal races unless provoked. The dragons are slightly larger than a horse and serpentine in nature with a series of vestigial wings along the sides of their bodies that are used as reflective plates to attract mates as well as to control their movement in bodies of water.

Unusual to the metallic dragons, aluminum dragons are not particularly adverse to water and due to their unique physiology are often found living near sources of fresh water. The dragons use this water to produce a low-density gas in a specialized bladder that not only helps them maintain buoyancy, but also can be exhaled and ignited in an orange flame as a breath weapon against intruders.

Aluminum dragons’ vestigial wings and scales, despite being fairly weak as a form of armor due to their softness and flexibility, are found to be quite useful as heat sinks and electrical conductors. This gives the aluminum dragon a natural strength against heat and electric attacks, as well as a product to sell to the mortal races.

An aluminum dragon’s greatest weakness is the touch of a gallium dragon, which immediately poisons their flesh causing it to rot and fall apart. Depending on the location, this can often be quite fatal, especially if the dragon is affected around its gas bladder which in conjuncture with the gallium rot can rupture or even explode due to the pressures within. For this reason aluminum dragons avoid gallium dragons at any cost, sometimes even fleeing their homes at the slightest sign of ones prescence.

>>33138553
Potassium dragons, although quite similar to their lithium and sodium relatives, have some clear distinctions from them. Being one of the lightest metallic dragons by volume, growing to be slightly larger than good sized horse but remaining substantially light, have taken full advantage of this adaptation in the form of flight.

On both their forelimbs and hind limbs, potassium dragons have sets of wings as well as frills adorning its neck, body, and tail being used to maintain stability as well as act like rudders in the air for enhanced maneuverability. Although more clumsy on the ground than its other relatives, its powerful legs allow it to launch into flight from almost any dangerous situation, trading land traversing for skill in the air.

Being so well adapted for flight makes them difficult to kill as they are quite adept at dodging incoming attacks, making them a danger for travelers despite their soft flesh, quickly striking them and then retreating to safety.

Another identifying trait of the potassium dragons are their lilac colored flame breaths, and their extremely valuable scales that can be used in potent fertilizers, explosives, and, in combination with the scales of a bromine dragon, as a powerful sedative.

Like lithium and sodium dragons, water is a danger to them, causing them to live in extremely arid or even desiccated environments. In fact water is an even greater danger to potassium dragons than their brethren, with its touch not only bubbling and burning their flesh, but also violently producing large amounts of highly flammable gas and heat, which can lead to an even more violent combustion.

>>33136820
Wonderful drawing.

>>33137225
>>33137249
Working on another piece now, this one about Iron dragons. It discusses why Iron dragons are willing to help other races as smiths. I think their willingness to do so, and to mingle relatively freely with other races, is relatively strange in this settings. I'm chalking it up to most dragon species not wanting to share the advantages of their associated element as much as the more pragmatic Iron dragons (who understand the arrangements can be beneficial for all), but if I recall, a lot of the stuff we have so far references the practical uses of the scales of various dragon species.

I think scales would rarely be just given out freely, and aside for scavenging for shed scales, the only way to collect them is either barter or violence. Killing dragons for their scales is undoubtedly a dangerous profession and one that probably has protesters among the non-dragons (and certainly among the dragons), so how do you suppose you barter with a dragon for scales and still walk away with the best profit?

I imagine food is the most commonly offered trade, but it's probably not the only thing (this brings up the question of what dragons in this setting eat, meat or their own element). What else would you offer a dragon in trade for some scales? They've got a cultures, surely, so they have more interests than just food, mates, and territory, right?

>>33139056
*They've got culture, it's midnight, I should save the writing for when I'm not half-asleep.

The tl;dr of it is how do dragon-based economy?

>>33139056
It was talked about that eating another dragon of a different element could temporarily alloy it. So maybe in exchange for information of such dragons or even for the capture of such the dragon wishing to alloy would promise to give their newly shed non-alloy scales as payment.

Another thing is that maybe some dragons are just as interested in the world as mortals are, and wish to trade scales for knowledge.

Even further they may have interest in the properties of the scales of other dragons, so maybe a merchant would make the exchanges and keep a cut as the middle man, since we've discussed how dangerous dragon to dragon interactions are for everyone involved

>>33139184
Yeah, scales would be the lowest form of alloying, because the sacrifice is low. The more significant the consumed part is, the more effective the transformation.

This prevents obtaining alloy abilities from being "And I consumed a potion of +3 Being A Steel Dragon", or some such triviality.

>>33139184
Those ideas seem plausible. Trading other dragons for the purpose of alloying is probably seen as despicable by many (dragon and non-dragon), but I can certainly believe there are those on both sides of the trade that would be willing. As for the people and dragons sickened by the thought of it, trading intellectual assets like knowledge or entertaining stories works as an alternative. I like the idea of runic dragons that with spells carved into their scales, so that might be another market avenue- carve this fancy symbol onto one scale, and you can keep a couple uncarved ones in exchange.

I also like the idea of people working as a middle man for the dragon's own inter-species scale trade (which would be a more acceptable means of alloying than out-right consumption of others, I'd think), because it's certainly true that a lot of dragon-to-dragon interactions end badly for everybody- plus, I see dragons as relatively low in numbers and inclined to large territories, so actually finding other dragons of a specific type, is probably something that's hard for an individual dragon to accomplish. With the help of a friendly scaler-barterer, though...

>>33139290
Should the effect of scales versus more significant parts in terms of alloying be time or strength focused? If strength focused then a dragon could "experiment" or just make very particular alloys by consuming certain amounts of others scales on conjunction.

>>33139368
Not only could scales be used to alloy, but even for scales that can't necessarily be alloyed with that dragon, he may wish for the more standard properties of the scales.

>>33139424
Probably both. Larger parts have more complete effects, and the effects stick around longer.

Keep in mind, the longest an alloy effect can last should be no more than maybe a month at max, this is intended to be a limited ability, and an ability that comes at a high risk/cost.

Limits breed creativity and legitimacy. You have to earn your power for your story to ring true, this much above all else I know.

>>33139290
I see it less as "the sacrifice is low" and more as there's less of the material to consume. It probably effects the duration of the alloy transformation. Eating a single dragon scale prompt a change that only lasts for part of the day, but feasting on an entire dragon can leave you changed for weeks or maybe even months. So for those who want to remain alloyed all the time, you need a pretty constant intake of scales, which can be achieved by working with the scale-trading races in order to get yourself two or three scales to eat in each day in exchange for some of your own (or for some other commodity/service, as I'm sure a dragon is good for more than just their scales). Only the violent and vile dragons would trade in the death of other dragons to supply them their alloy-feed, especially since killing a particular kind of dragon for such a purpose is a short-term solution, since it actually reduces the number of that species of dragons and could eventually, in theory, leave it extinct (or more likely, just in really low number).

>>33139424
>>33139469
I prefer it purely being a matter of more consumed = longer transformation. Stuff will get too complicated if we have to sort out the variable strength of alloying based on the amount consumed. The aspect of alloying dragons is going to be the area where complexity can most exponentially increase with this setting, so we should try to leave it simple. That's my two cents, anyway.

>>33139482
The willingness to engage in trading dragon deaths could be tied to a dragons species and longevity. Certain dragons last for millennia, who would be more inclined to see the long term effects of such a trade would be against it. Though some have extremely short lives such as Francium dragons and others that live about as long as elves (Fluorine) might be less willing to think about the potential consequences of such actions. Furthermore amongst dragons some maybe not be bothered when this is done to extremely common dragons such as Carbon which have been described as hunted by other dragons for the purpose of alloying.

>>33139565
Actually, I agree with that. Either you are alloyed, or you are not. There's no being halfway to a Tungsten Carbide dragon.

What out of the recently posted stuff still needs to go up on the 1d4chan? As far as I can see, the newest thing on there is the Helium dragon drawing from blessed drawfag, so there's a fair chunk of writings on different dragons to add.

>>33139565
Not to forget the fact alloys do, in fact, differ based upon the percentage of any given material within the alloy.

>>33139933
Well, eventually we're maybe going to want a sort of guidebook for how the setting/dragons/alloys/climates works, so we don't forget what we've decided, and it's all in one place as a series of bullet points or something, so that new contributors know how to structure their additions?

That'll require reading back through this and the first thread, compiling the relevant comments, and then once it's all together, having the anons double check. It need not be a perfect gathering, so don't go nuts over it or anything looking for every fragment, but once the general ideas are in one place, it'll be much easier for us to get everything polished, I think.

And even if you add in something that was discarded, that's ok, it's all a rough draft at this stage anyway. Everything can be edited or changed as we need.

>>33140002
So just a bunch of nested bullet points with everythign said for a later simplification.

>>33139984
That's a little too complex to worry about, methinks. The key properties of the alloy are what they are, and either you have them, or you don't. We don't need to make a table describing the properties of a Vanadium Steel dragon, depending on the Iron, Vanadium, and Carbon sliders iterated from 0 to 100% each.

>>33140006
Pretty much, yeah. Many of the concept posts are overlarge anyway, just try to grab what seems like ideas that garnered consensus, relevant to the worldbuilding. Copying the entire post isn't necessary, if you can grab the key points made, and save yourself some time.

>>33140008
That was my point, anon: if we were to worry about percentages, it would get mightly complicated because by its nature, alloys have very different properties even if the materials are the same but the percentage is changed.

Ergo, if you want to keep your sanity, you can't go full metallurgist in this thread.

>>33140033
Ah. When you said "not to forget" i thought you meant that we needed to keep that fact in mind, and therefore incorporate variable alloys into the setting.

>>33140053
I was more focused on the fact that varying strength wasn't really the only thing you need to think of with variable alloys, but I can see why you would get confused, as I didn't make that clear.

>>33112739

TASTE THE RAINBOW MOTHERFUCKER!

>>33140487
If you want to die of Bismuth poisoning, who are we to stop you.

>>33140512
This is 4chan.

There's a good chance we'll be actively encouraging you.

Helium Dragon
Sounds high

Mixing science and fantasy is dumb.
If you want to make thematic dragons, theme them after something evocative and powerful and not boring nerd stuff.

>>33142976
Truly /tg/ has never soared to such heights as great as now if we must sink to such puns.

>>33143150
>/tg/
>not boring nerd stuff: /d/ lite edition
It's like you don't understand this board in the slightest.

>>33112916
The older a carbon dragon gets the harder and hotter it becomes like diamond?
Like perhaps they reach an age where they start getting smaller and denser?

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I fucking love this thread, just thought u gents should know. by the way stealing this for a 13th age game! and a bump for justice

As the anon who made/was updating the 1d4chan page, I'm indisposed for the day so I'd appreciate if someone could update the entries before the thread gets trimmed.

And as the guy that wrote the original copper entry, I definitely appreciate the revision that was done, but I don't feel my original writing was up to the quality and tone of the thread, I'd like to open the floor to some to write their own.

So we don't have any of the elements past curium, right? What should we do about the super-heavy, super-unstable, created-only-by-slamming-heavy-atoms-together elements, like seaborgium? I would think that they probably won't really be known in this setting, if they exist at all. Given the complex situations that would be required for their birth, and their short lifespan, dragons of those elements would probably be akin to Bigfoot or Loch Ness x10.

updated with stories, all the elements after the picture

>>33144683
See:
>>33135064

Some of the metallic dragons are going to be extremely mysterious, the stuff of myth and legend. Perhaps so rare, they don't even exist.

>>33144867
with this in mind I added

>Given the distinct characteristics of most of dragon-kind, the existence of Hydrogen dragons is a hotly debated topic among zoologists, some argue that the creatures called Hydrogens are not dragons at all but rather some unusual form of sea serpent or snake. However, until another kind of Hydrogen is found, these will continue to be called Hydrogen dragons.
to the beginning of my hydrogen dragons when I was updating the 1d4chan page, since if a hydrogen dragon existed in the way we've been writing them, they'd be nearly impossible to discover. This leaves it nice and open.

>>33144911
Sure.

In my mind, anyway, the Hydrogen dragons aren't *totally* inaccessible, the way the Heliums are. Rather then living in the Mesosphere with the aurorae like Heliums do, they'd live closer to the Tropopause, using that stable boundary layer as a place to easily control their altitude.

Hydrogens would still be very mysterious, but not completely absent from academic records.

>>33144496
I think your copper was just fine and only needed to be filled out a bit. The tone is fine.

has the writer of N finished what they were doing? I remember there was some argument about how they'd work so I didn't add them

>>33139056
http://pastebin.com/W8GFdsGY

Here's the writefaggotry I promised. This one is longer than the last, so I'm shoving it in a Pastebin instead of splitting it into three pieces at awkward points in the middle of paragraphs.

Thoughts? Should I do some more pieces in this style?

>>33146603
added to 1d4chan

>>33117770
>rune
I was thinking, due to the fact that we've been having scales being shed, would it make sense for scales that have spells carved into them not be shed or be enchanted so that the spell transfers to the new scale when it sheds? otherwise people would just follow these dragons around hoping to find a scale with a spell on it.

actually, the second idea would even introduce a period where a dragon wouldn't be able to use a spell because the scale recently fell off and the new one isn't big enough to contain it.

>>33147287
Why not just make it so that when the rune scale sheds it looses it's effectiveness as the energy for the magic was somewhat drawn from the dragon, and that they may not shed as quickly or easily as non-runes scales. However, they would inevitably need to be replaced otherwise a dragon could eventually just have every scale runed through out their life. Also adding that the runes draw energy from the dragon prevents a dragon from having infinite runes

>>33146603
It's good writing.

Just be careful, for you and any other writers considering doing stories, that the focus of this setting is mostly on the pure elementals, not the alloys. Try not to muddy the waters, ok?

Having some stories referencing alloys is fine, but they should be in the minority.

>>33147673
perhaps. when I read the original description of runed dragons and the one I replied to I assumed that getting any spells engraved was a monumental task and it could take a century or more to find someone to engrave them, and then humans and the like don't live long, so that would limit it as well. These people would be in high demand among dragons (perhaps even a kind of status symbol?) and there would be many more dragons that wanted spells than any one person could carve.

How much longer would it take the scale to shed then? And how long do normal scales stay on? (this could even be a factor in certain kinds of dragons, whether they molt or shed single scales, and how often)

I was thinking that a normal scale would last for a few months on a young and fast-growing dragon and years or decades on one that was mature, unless it was damaged in some way that affected the scale bed. (like if your nails grew faster if you tore it to the quick)

also in regards to
>when the rune scale sheds it looses it's effectiveness
But if the scale is taken from a dragon that was killed I was thinking that the essence of the dragon would power the spell which was what makes it so valuable, you could have a spell that didn't require your own energy to power.

was just updating 1d4 with basic rules that we've agreed on when a thought occurred to me

so if eating can change the properties of a dragon's scales, would eating an alloy's scales grant the same thing? like if a chromium dragon ate a steel dragon, would they become stainless steel?

Also, would eating a copper/zinc hybrid confer electric abilities or only the structural properties of the alloy?

>>33149425
I think first order hybrids, a combination of two purebloods, is enough.

Second order combinations, hybrids hybridizing with hybrids, exponentially increases the complexity. I move that we assume any such attempt leads to critical birth defects, retardation and brain damage in mature individuals, and stillbirths.

>>33149623
you misunderstand, I'm not talking about genetics, we've established that if two hybrids mate it'll just throw back to one of their ancestors

I'm talking about eating. like could a dragon eat the scales of an alloy and get an effect? this wouldn't increase the complexity as much, limiting it to three-element combinations

perhaps hybrids are poisoned by the scales of other hybrids, but can eat the scales of pures, and pures can eat anything?

>>33149425
>>33149623
>>33149723
Sounds like an interesting idea, as long as it is established some how that only 3 can be alloyed and some alloys reject each other. I think less poision and more that the dragons body can really only process 3 different metals for alloying at any given time, with hybrid on hybrid taking the non-rejected or most prevalent of the two.

>>33149723
My guiding rule is always to keep it simple. I would say that the scales of an alloy dragon confer no bonuses on the one who eats them, nor does eating an alloy dragon give you any bonuses.

If the other anons feel differently, then that's fine, to have alloy scales offer minor abilities, this is just my opinion.

The spectre of the almighty five class gestalt combo minmaxing munchkin is ever in my thoughts, is all.

>>33149762
I had this thought shortly after I posted >>33149723 actually.

Also, there would be some things that certain dragons would be poisoned by, like if a Gold unknowingly ate the scales of a Zn/Hg hybrid they'd become extremely weak and/or turn to pudding

The problem with alloys not giving any bonuses is that then no one would be a pure, since pures are hunted and alloys wouldn't be

I kind of like the 3-element combination limit, it means that a pure can eat many things and has a lot of versitility, but a well-chosen alloy will have strengths that a pure wouldn't, but at the same time is more limited with what they can become

>>33149902
An alloys scales could have the properties of that alloy, so for Gold/Sliver alloy it would gain better conductivity, Stainless Steel never rusts, etc. If non-metal dragons can alloy then that opens up F/Br which makes sedatives, or N/O which forms laughing gas.

>>33143277
>Ancient Carbon Dragon

>looks like it's made of diamond, only around a meter long

>TPK stats

>>33149968
Pretty much. They've survived being hunted by most species of metallic dragon, they've survived the depredations of humans, orcs, and elves, they've lived through hundreds, probably thousands of years where most of their species dies extremely young, and they've got the experience from all those events.

Their claws, made of diamond with carbon fiber sheathing, can cut through basically anything that's not an Osmium dragon, or just so incredibly thick they can't dig all the way through it, and their bodies, while still vulnerable to being crushed, deflect arrows and swords with ease. Beams of energy pass right though them, and because they're small, they can hide anywhere.

They can see in the dark, and because they're transparent, they're hard to see unless you get lucky to catch the gleam of moonlight off their scales.
Do not fuck with a Carbon dragon that lives to old age. It's seen, beaten, and eaten better adventurers that you before, guaranteed.

>>33150033
and good luck hitting it at the right angle to strike a cleavage point while it's trying to gore you

>>33150086
Really, the easiest way to handle one would be to try and grab it, and throw it somewhere inconvenient, and then run like hell. They wouldn't weigh very much at all, compared to most things their size. Casting some sort of force or wind magic would also work.

You might be able to bull rush them and crush them against a wall, *if* you could move fast enough to catch up with it, since they'd be very fast and agile.

>>33149968
Young carbon dragons are food and fuel, child, and we hunt them as our ancestors did. Why, you ask? Because if we did not, they would return as elders and destroy us all.

We hate them, and they hate us, and it is sad that we must dance this dance of death forever, but they cannot be allowed to gain advantage over this world, and over us.

>>33150119
>grab and throw it

>it has diamond-edged scales

>basically equivalent to grabbing a rotating chainsword by the blade

>>33150251
At least you'd have some control over it. Beats letting it chainsword you wherever *it* chooses. :P

(not by much, mind you)

>>33150033
>eaten

I just had the mental image of the tiny carbon dragons ambushing people so they can burrow in their torsos so they can ambush that unlucky fucker's friends by bursting out of the corpse xenomorph style.

>>33114870
Just looking at the entry might the Noble Gas Dragons breed just be reffered to as Noble Dragons. It has a better ring to it and brings along the idea that the inhabitants of the world don't realise the dragons connections to gas (as they only ever see the m as big weird solid things). Perhaps they are reffered to as noble due to their more elaborate apperances or an aloof nature. I just think it sounds better along side the metalic and radiant classifcations of dragons.

>>33150432
I like it, but what would we call the other gaseous dragons and non-metals?

>>33150512
Metallic, Crystal and Liquid (gas) with Nobles as a special subset of the Liquids

>>33150385
Old Carbons play dirty. They've had to, to become old in the first place.

>>33150543
Maybe use Fluid instead of Liquid? Liquid's a bit on the nose in reference to chemistry, and the gaseous dragons are known for the "mysterious vital fluids" running through their veins in lieu of blood.

Fluid sounds more "fantastical" to my ear.

>>33150619
Wouldn't their "blood" evaporate at room temperature? Cut one and get a cloud of suffocating gases?

>>33150836
Yes, that was mentioned before as a good concept to include. We're taking some artistic license regarding the requirements of having ACTUAL liquid helium for blood, and all that, so there is a bit of "a wizard did it", but yeah, if you cut a Fluorine dragon, or an Argon dragon, you're gonna have a very cold, possibly corrosive, suffocating cloud of high speed gas slapping you in the face.

Which one do we want a picture of next? Or should I just start at the top?

>>33152169
I think just starting at the top and going down would be good

Sodium Dragon guy here, I'm going to try writing a few more.

Germanium dragons are strange species, bearing the appearance of a lustrous gray-white metallic dragon, whilst also having properties of a crystal dragon, but truly being neither.

Growing to the size of a small shack with 4 limbs a pair of broad wings, the germanium dragon looks similar to the standard dragon form, but with crystalline horns on its head and a row of crystalline spikes on its tail which seem to crackle with electrical energy.

Although lacking a powerful flame weapon, the germanium dragons make up for it with a powerful shock breath and a tinge of power in their melee attacks with their sharp crystal claws and tail spikes.

Germanium dragons’ scales, despite their strength against sharp weapons, are fairly brittle and shatter with relative ease. Even in their shattered state, however, they are sought out by wizards and healers alike for their properties as an electric magic focus and for their mysterious disease curing properties.

>>33152169
None of them strike your interest?

>>33140512
I am going to be a pedant and point out that bismuth isn't toxic.

>>33152333
All of them do, that's the problem

>>33152169
You're the artist. And you're providing art for free. Choose anything that strikes your fancy.

If you can't decide, I'd suggest... Lead. It's featured in one of the stories, and it's described in its entry as a fairly distinctive creature, physically, very bulky, very massive.

The thread's on autosage, so I'd appreciate it if the drawfriend would wait until the next thread to post the picture, just in case

>>33152561
Then lets start a new thread

Which is right here
>>33152667