Imprinting

Imprinting refers to the empathic bond formed between a dragon (a winged drake to be specific) and a dragon rider.

History

Before the War of Dragons

Little is known about the imprinting process prior the rise of the Scaled Tyrant or whether imprinting even occurred. While there are some historical records of dragon riders in the past, they were few and far between and never organized. They were mostly confined to folk tales. Any other records that may have existed were either lost to time or destroyed by the Scaled Tyrant themselves.

During the War of Dragons

The Scaled Tyrant clearly identified some means of imprinting dragons to people, even if only for the winged drakes. They used other less savoury means to control other draconic species.

Imprinting during their reign was deadly. A clutch of eggs was separated and each egg placed in separate enclosure, then a dozen people were put within the chamber. Given the sensitive, empathic nature of imprinting subjecting a newborn hatchling to a dozen minds trying to secure their place knowing that the rest will be either killed or sent to the front line did not make for the best environment.

Most of the ones attempting the imprinting were inevitably killed or severely wounded by the hatchling itself. In many cases it was merely the last person left standing that the dragon would end up imprinting upon.

After the War of Dragons

With dragon riding fully under the control of the Dragon Rider Conclave, the imprinting ritual is a much less dangerous practice. Those chosen for the imprinting are also highly vetted. Only the best are taken as aspirants for the imprinting process.

A clutch is also not separated, allowing the dragons to also be able to bond with one another during the hatching. The DRC swears by the process and that it creates for a more cohesive unit when the riders are working toegether.

When a hatching occurs, aspirants are gathered into the chamber where the eggs have been prepared and are aligned based on the type of dragon that they are aiming to imprint upon. Patience is encouraged at the dragons hatch, take stock of their surroundings and their fellow hatchlings before they feast upon their eggs. Only then do the aspirants step forward after taking time to identify as best they are able the type of personality the dragon holds.

Aspirants to not attempt to force the dragon to imprint, making it more of an unspoken conversation between the aspirant and hatchling. No aspirants have been injured using this process and the imprinting process has not failed under these new conditions.

Unlike the Scaled Tyrant's imprinting process that seemed more a punishment, imprinting has become what many dragon riders call a spiritual awakening. Non-dragon riders often equate the description of the connection to the concept of finding a soul mate, but most riders merely shake their head at the comparison.