Dragons

Covered in scales, possessed of four legs and a long, writhing tail, a dragon appears to be a giant reptile at first glance. Nevertheless, dragons are a classification unto themselves, with characteristics of predatory mammals as well as reptiles. In fact, a dragon’s external anatomy—with four legs directly beneath the body rather than splayed to the sides—is more mammalian than reptilian.

Although the specifics of mating rites and relationships vary from one kind of dragon to another, several commonalities exist. Young dragons can mate, and might do so out of sheer biological urge—or even, at times, for love—but they are rarely prepared to rear young. They might abandon clutches of eggs wherever the eggs will have a decent chance of survival. Few eggs left in this way survive—and dragons that hatch from them might not learn to fend for themselves well enough before becoming prey. By the time they reach adulthood, even careless or selfish dragons have developed a measure of parenting instinct. They keep their eggs in their lairs, watching over them to ensure safe incubation. Most mated pairs remain together until the eggs hatch, though at other times a single parent—often the female, but sometimes the male—cares for the eggs alone. Sometimes the adults stay together even after eggs hatch.   Both male and female dragons become fertile roughly halfway through the young stage of life and remain so until well into their ancient years. The urge to mate emerges at roughly the same time that fertility takes hold, grows to its height during the early adult stage, and fades—sometimes slightly, sometimes to nothing—at the late elder or early ancient stage.

Eggs

True Dragons begin life as eggs, laid by their True Dragon parents. The incubation time varies between each type of dragon but generally the total incubation time runs the gamut from just under a year, to just shy of three.  

Wyrmling

A wyrmling emerges from its egg fully formed and ready to face life. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it is about twice as long as the egg that held it. A newly hatched wyrmling is ready to fly, fight, and reason after about an hour. It inherits a considerable body of practical knowledge from its parents, though such inherent knowledge often lies buried in the wyrmling's memory, unnoticed and unused until it is needed. In all respects, the newly hatched wyrmling instinctively knows how to pull magic from its environment into itself to fuel it's growth. The rate it does this varies by dragon type, and it must be supplemented with a healthy diet, but a typical dragon will grow enough in this way to exit the wyrmling stage after about five years.  

Young

At this stage the dragon has grown enough to double its length, though its head and feet still seem too big for the rest of its body. Its new size generally requires it to relocate to a new lair, as it begins the hunt for magical sources to further speed it's growth. Barring the consumption of powerful magical items, or living near a powerful source of magic, a typical dragon will experience a growth spurt that carries them to their adult size after about 25 years, although their head and feet are still a bit too big.   At this point, a dragon begins to feel the urge to collect treasure and to establish a territory. Soon after, they grow to their full adult size but does not truly enter adult hoot until it passes the half century mark.  

Adult

As it enters adultbood, a dragon's scales have developed into armor formidable enough to turn aside all but magic weaponry or the teeth and claws of other dragons. Some exhibit the first signs of harnessing the magical power they feed off of for other uses, namely spells and their ability to change shape. They continue to grow, but the required magical energy needed to fuel such growth becomes ever greater as well. Without access to a powerful magical source, a dragon may not gain the strength or power of an Ancient until nearly eight centuries have passed.  

Ancient

By this stage, female dragons have reached the end of their reproductive years, but all dragons have reached the end of their natural mental and physical development. It often reaches the peak of it's magical power at this time, and will grow no further in any respect without a constant source, of extremely potent magical energy. Yet as long as they remain in an area that has some modicum of magic, they can persist indefinitely, though few choose this route of life as the mental strain of living so long often leaves the dragon apathetic to any current going ons.     

Death

Many dragons prefer to avoid a slow descent into madness and apathy and leave the mortal coil with their dignity intact. Many great wyrms seem to just disappear at the ends of their lives. No one knows exactly where they go, but scholars have identified at least two possibilities: departure, and guardianship.   Departure
A dragon can simply will its spirit to depart. Upon doing so, the dragon dies, and its spirit is released into the hereafter. A dragon prepares for its departure by consuming its entire hoard. Most dragons will also travel to an area particularly bereft of magic and die there. When a particularly old dragon's heart beats its last,the magical energies it has collected over the course of its long life return to the world, sometimes violently depending on if such a death was violent.   Guardianship
At the end of its normal life, a dragon can elect to become a guardian, literally transforming into part of the landscape.After the dragon consumes its hoard, it changes itself into a geographic feature: hills, mountains, lakes, swamps, and groves seem to be the most common choices. The geographic features created in this way by older dragons are often fonts of magic themselves, and often are prime examples of how magic can warp reality. Forests that can never be navigated into, or out of; Mountains that none can reach the summit; Lakes that boil, or whose water is always pure.

At the center of a dragon’s eye is a thin, vertical pupil, like that of a cat. Whereas a cat’s pupil expands to admit more light in dark areas, however, the expansion of a dragon’s pupil allows magical energy flowing in the creature’s bloodstream to emanate from the pupil. This minute seepage of magic grants a dragon its darkvision.   Dragons do not have external ears. As with snakes, an internal mechanism detects sounds. From the outside, the only evidence of this mechanism is a tiny hole between the scales. Some dragons have frills or fringes of scales along their heads; in such cases, one such set of scales might surround the auditory canal, focusing sound inward in a manner similar to that of a mammal’s external ear. These scales are not, however, a necessary part of the design.   Due to their scales and thick hides, dragons have a poor tactile sense. Hence, a dragon can be comfortable sleeping on just about anything, as long as it vaguely conforms to the dragon's shape.   A dragon's sense of smell is split between its nostrils and its tongue. The nasal aperture can detect odors from a great distance, but that aperture is less capable than the tongue of differentiating an odor’s components. When a dragon draws near the source of an interesting scent, its flickering tongue identifies and pinpoints various odors, much as a snake’s tongue does.   The tongue is also a dragon’s organ of taste. Dragons can detect nuances of flavor better than humanoids can. For example, a dragon could describe every ingredient of a stew after ingesting a single large mouthful.