DRAGON BREEDS

SHOW DRAGONS

GOLDENBROW

A very rare dragon variety bred directly from wild dragons and nearest to them genetically – the draconic equivalent of a mustang. Named for the golden blaze on their foreheads, Goldenbrows are strong, durable and excellent fliers but have a reputation for being temperamental and even wilful.

Skydancer is a Goldenbrow.

DARKEYE

Thought by many to be the most graceful of show dragons.

Moonflight is an excellent representative of the breed. Darkeyes have distinctive dark patches on their muzzle just below the eye, which may reduce glare from the sun: they are also reputed to have good night vision.

FINBACK

All dragons have dorsal fins to aid directional stability, but the Finback’s are unusually large.

Hortense’s sometime mount, Valeweaver, is a Finback.

BEARDED

All dragons have ‘beards’ – actually elongated scales below their chins – but in bearded dragons these are luxurious and brightly coloured.

SHADOWHIDE

Shadowhides have very dark scales which do not take a shine easily: for this reason, while they are fine show dragons, they seldom win prizes for presentation. White Shadowhides such as Snowstorm are extremely rare.

Ernestina’s Stormbringer is a Shadowhide, as is Hortense’s mount, Thundercloud.

FIRECREST

All dragons have a crest, but in this sub species the crest is prominent and brilliant red. 

Cloudbreaker is a Firecrest.

SPLAYTAIL

This dragon has an unusually large, flat tail spade – diamond shaped – which gives it more manoeuvrability but more drag, hence less speed. Splaytails are usually favoured by formation display teams because of their manoeuvrability.

Wony’s, Bumble, is a representative of this breed.  

All of these species are bred for aerobatics, having swept-back wings of medium size for the optimum combination of speed and manoeuvrability, and differ only marginally in their capabilities; so choice of a show dragon is usually made according to the individual preference of its rider.

 

RACING DRAGONS

Racing dragons are bred for straight-line speed. They have relatively short, narrow wings and small fins and spades. Though fast, they are temperamental and generally less suited to guard duties or hunting. Racing is essentially point-to point, and the only rules are against homicide – and draconicide!

SILVERTIP

The Silvertip variety is the fastest dragon for racing. Breezeskimmer is a Silvertip, as is her Clapperclaw rival Torolf’s Galereaper.

WORKING DRAGONS

MESSENGER DRAGONS

These are usually show dragons that didn’t quite make the grade. 

CALASH DRAGONS

The RAMHORN (whose horns, unlike those of other breeds, curl and twist like those of the ram for which it is named) is a heavy, powerful dragon, strong but neither fast nor manoeuvrable, so is used for pulling calashes. Ramhorns work alone, or in pairs, pulling air-calashes for the transport of important personages. Many of these prefer to ride tandem on dragonback, but if the passenger is infirm or status-conscious, a calash is used. 

Calashes are basically small and robust gliders. There are two pilots, one guiding the dragon and the other, operating the control surfaces of the calash: obviously, both must work in harmony! A good team of calash dragons, and a good team of pilots, are equally prized. 

GUARD DRAGONS

Kept by the aristocracy and the leading studs. Larger, more heavily armoured and more potent firebreathers than show-dragons.

RIDGEBACK CHARGERS like Nightrider are the heaviest guard dragons. These dragons are trained to fight if necessary, but their usual tasks include escort duties, Search-and -Rescue, watch-keeping, transporting officials on law-enforcement tasks and generally looking impressive and intimidating! They tend to be arrogant and aloof, and regard show-dragons as beneath their notice. 

HUNTING DRAGONS

Bred for hardiness and stamina rather than speed.

COURSERS are popular hunting dragons, as are GREYBACKS. This variety has a distinctive grey streak either side of the dorsal ridge, and a relatively large wing area to aid soaring. 

In practice, however, no individual lord or stud can afford a guard flight composed only of Ridgeback Chargers or a hunting flight made up entirely of Coursers and Greybacks, so hunting parties and guard flights usually comprise a mixture of guard, hunting and show breeds, with each rider assigned a role compatible with the capabilities of his or her dragon. 

WATCH DRAGONS

Dragons kept to watch over a great house, town or village. These may be retired or injured guard dragons, or the cast-offs of dragon breeding deemed too useless to be employed even as messenger dragons.

UPON THE NAMING OF DRAGONS

On this side of the veil, pedigree horses are named by incorporating the initial letters of the names of the sire and dam. In a similar way, Bresalian owners mix and match names:

Male Prefix Names  Female Prefix Names

Storm.............................. Wave

Sky.................................. Moon

Breeze............................ Star

Sun................................. Wind                                      

Cloud.............................. Breath

Male Dragons        Female Dragons

Stormrider................... Wavedancer

Skyrider....................... Startoucher

Cloudburster................ Moonflight

Breezecatcher............. Starskimmer

Skydancer.................... Breathdancer

Cloudskimmer.............. Moonwing                              

Skyfeather.................... Windskimmer

Skydiver....................... Starsweeper    

  

DRAGON SIZE

Length (nose-spade) from 35ft [10.5m] (eg. Bumble) to 57ft+ [15.5m] (eg. Nightrider) 

A standard Dragonlength is 53 ft 4 ins [16.27m]

 

DRAGON SPEED

Cruising speed........... 50-60 mph

Top speed.................. 70-80 mph

Stooping..................... 100-110 mph