A Yellow Dragon Ecology h ain't nothing but a bunch o' salt spittin' yeller beach bum lizards - Last words of Murkof BriarFist the Unwise Introduction In my continued research on the biome of the Sea Caves, I discovered a dragon kind that intersects with my previous research regarding the Secondary Chromatic Dragons. Part of Trilldolma's brood a "minor" Chromatic Dragon is still minor by no means. These dragons are cunning predators and like with any dragon extreme caution is adviced. In fact, just avoid them if at all possible. Yellow Dragon Physiology Origins Yellow Dragons as with all Secondary Chromatics have origins spawning from Trilldolma. Most of the Yellow dragons are not ancient or very old even as their entire kind is much younger than many dragons. There are only a few generations that have died of old age to current knowledge. Although certainly represented by Trilldolma Yellow Dragons hold no allegiance to her or any dragon usually. They are reclusive and mostly selfish dragons hoarding their treasures in their sea caves. Physical Appearances As is common for most dragons they are large reptilian creatures with a more feline body structure. The easiest distinguishing characteristic is the color of a dragon of course but a close second is the head of the dragon. Yellow dragons are very different in appearances when looking at the face as they do not have horns like most and have more rounded faces. Their head resembling something more akin to a snake or worm that tapers off in a more rounded nose. They do have however 2 boney crests one at the back of the skull that comes to an oval-shaped leaf almost, then the second just behind in the same shape although slightly larger. Their bright teal eyes peak from behind the large flat edges of the beginnings of their large head crests. Sprawling Crawlers Yellow dragons are also the proportionally lowest standing dragons from belly to the ground. Their legs easily longer than they appear and by comparison maybe longer than other dragons of similar sizes. This adaptation is suited to their mostly secluded and tightly cramped homes living in the coastal crags and caves around the worlds they inhabit. They slink and crawl between cracks squeezing in tighter spaces than would seem possible given their size. They are able to compress themselves to be about half of their height and condense down to 3/4 of their width with their flexible bone structure. Burrowing over Flight Yellow Dragons like all "True" dragons, as most dragons say, do indeed have wings. However, they do not fly and the wings would not help in doing so. Their wings, in fact, are folded against their sides at most times and only come out on certain occasions. The wings when unfolded act as sails sticking out around 45 degrees from the spine with connecting membrane tissue filled with many veins. Ancient reptilian creatures such as the Dimetrodon we see have similar sails that they use to heat their bodies. While dragons are warm-blooded I do imagine that yellow dragons are too. Their reason for needing sun sails, as they do indeed sun, seems to purely be for comfort than true necessity. They are adept at both swimming and quickly burrowing in sand. Their lairs often have sandy "holes" in their dwellings which are actually just burrowed pathways and escape routes that only they can go through quickly. They will often burrow in open beaches when relaxing and sunbathing with only their "wings" or better known as sails to warm themselves for relaxation. They are quick burrowers, especially in sand. Stone, clay, and dirt are not as easily burrowed through and will hinder them as compared to many creatures adapted to burrowing. They are able to however create very stable tunnels while burrowing by slowly expelling their breath weapons as they go creating a quick hardening coating of salt around the tunnel. Poor Eye-Sight but Excellent Tremor Sense Being mostly cave dwellers their eyes are actually very poor and rarely even open unless leaving their cave homes. They instead rely on their boney plates behind their head in sensing vibrations along with a decent sense of hearing to locate threats, prey, or even friendlies. One Yellow Dragon claimed they could feel the heartbeats of all parties involved when speaking to them. This exceptional ability more than makes up for what they can't see in the dark as even a Drow or other denizen of the lightless worlds below can not so accurately sense their surroundings in caves. This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Masters of Water As mentioned they are adept swimmers and specially adapted to hunting in coastal areas. Their webbed toes and fanned tails give them the ability to swim much faster than other dragons of similar structure. A yellow dragon can average at a 40-mile per hour swim speed when at full power. They are flightless but at such great speeds can leap dozens of feet into the air easily. While swimming they can almost indefinitely use their salty breath weapons siphoning salt and heating the water rapidly with their own breath weapon faculties. This makes them even more dangerous to any who encounter a Yellow Dragon on the waves. Yellow Dragons despite being extremely adapted to the water are still entirely air breathers and can only sustain their breath about an hour underwater. This makes their trips usually only in the more shallow regions of oceans. Lairs of Stone and Sand Yellow Dragons can burrow into stone and rock but do so much slower than sand. However, this allows them much more control with the ability to craft their winding and twisting homes. Much more akin to a chaotic mess if it were to be mapped out than many other Dragon Dens they are complex at best impossible at worst. False passages to traps rooms overlapping rooms, halls to loop back to the same room, and many more confusing structures. Sand tunnels are a particular danger to intruders as most wouldn't be able to tunnel fast enough through one. The tunnels are actually how a Yellow Dragon will normally navigate their homes as they serve as direct pathways to key areas. As with most Dragons they do however usually contain certain rooms. Audience chamber for any guests, Sleeping chambers, Dining Room, and despite many dragon thieves and hunters claiming not so Treasure Hordes. Many who claim to have been in a Yellow Dragon's den inside and out, usually after the home is vacated, that they do not keep treasures. This is simply not true, they are just well hidden. The aforementioned sand tunnels also usually lead to a treasure hoard if they know where to go. The Yellow Dragon's own tremor sense knows a hollow tunnel from stone easily as seeing a clear path. Dynamic Salt Breath Weapons Yellow Dragons possess a breath weapon like many dragons and they put it to use not only in combat but even their daily lives quite often. The breath weapon itself is a heated saltwater mix that can be extremely harmful to unprotected creatures. This breath weapon is also faster charging than most other dragons as they not only naturally produce the saltwater compound themselves but can also create it and replenish their breath weapon simply from intaking salt water. They drink both fresh and saltwater but due to the need to filter out salt for drinking briny waters, they store that salt. This creates a plentiful reserve to be expelled as the breath weapon. Unfortunately, for the dragon, it is also a curse as they absolutely need to expel the salt several times a day in order to not poison themselves. They do this in many creative ways. First is their powerful breath weapons in which they pressurize the water to a point of near boiling to expel it rapidly towards foes. With the force, heat, and high salt content metallic gear can be harmed after multiple attacks rendering the steel of an armored knight useless quickly after a few blasts of the salt breath. They can lower the pressure to a light coating for when tunneling to keep the sand from collapsing for a short while. They are also able to spray the salt in a heavier salt content mixed with their own acids in a thick almost gel liquid. This is often used to make traps and the moats in which their bedchambers are in the center of. Treasures Worthy of Sunken Ships Like all dragons, yellow dragons hoard treasures in their home as a matter of pride and just pure enjoyment. Their treasure is a status symbol that is never shown, most dragons do not lie about their treasure hoard. Yellow dragons, in particular, prefer bounties of sunken ships, rare minerals, metals found in oceans, and pearls. Quality above quantity is a yellow dragons motto. They are one of the few dragons that will refuse treasure based on quality. This does make their hoard on average smaller than other dragons but no less valuable. Their favorites pearls are collected based on size and quality. It said that if it isn't larger than a halfling fist then it's not in a yellow Dragon's Hoard. These dragons go treasure hunting almost as much as hunting for food. Often it is both as they scour the shallow parts of the oceans for hundreds of miles looking for both food and bounty. It's not uncommon for a yellow dragon to have a clam farm to harvest Pearls at their leisure some of the biggest clams ever discovered in existence have been found close to a yellow Dragon's Den. Life Cycle Like many of the Dragons in Trilldolma's lineage, Yellow Dragons are solitary dragons from birth. They hatch in clutches of a dozen or so eggs and usually, the first one or two hatchlings have a healthy supply of food by 10 or 12 other eggs in their nest to start with. From this nest usually buried within a small nook of a cave many hundreds of miles from any other dragons, the mother may know about the solitary creature benefits from the one gift their parents gave them aside from life, a decent area to build a home. After resting from the ordeal of birth and the melee immediately following for survival the Yellow Dragon will slumber for a few weeks and will rapidly grow to roughly the size of a pony from a small pumpkin. After waking they start on their first hunts and learning of their new territories. Until they are an adult they will usually focus on necessities such as food and the construction of their home until the age of adulthood after 30 or so years. This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Yellow Dragons are long-lived like many other dragons reaching upwards of 2,700 years usually at their oldest. However, this is still a working theory requiring more data as only 3 or so generations of the breed have even reached the ages of twilight. Like many dragon kind, they pursue to elongate this life even further by un-natural means. While no real established pattern exists the majority of Yellow Dragons actually become ghosts or other aberrations of undead forgoing much of themselves to simply haunt and guard their homes. The phenomenon of "Back Perls" or large pearls that can cause mayhem and destruction in their wake are possible the spirit of Yellow Dragon haunting their treasure. Only by returning the pearl or pearls to the hoard will the curses bestowed upon the owners cease. Behavioral and Social Interaction Intelligence All dragons are intelligent by any humanoid standards. Yellow dragons by no means exceed the average intelligence though. While sadistic and cunning in nature they rarely see the bigger picture with their own self-serving goals. They're able to lay out cunning traps and even deceive and outwit some of the best-planned attacks but this is purely based on defense and preservation rather than thinking outside of themselves. They are able to understand and even converse on many realms of knowledge but care little for such conversation unless it fits their 2 goals of living and gathering of treasure. However, they are excellent engineers and can quickly assess and even improve designs of even the most complex structures as it is the first endeavor of many Yellow Dragon lives. This can lead to the constant upgrading and improvement of their homes becoming from simple caves to complex structures of both beauty and death. Language and Communication Like all dragonkin, they are fluent and near perfect experts of the dragon tongue Draconic. Yellow Dragons prefer not to speak as much as listen though so such use of the language is seen as a great gift of their time. For any adventurer seeking a Yellow Dragon for information, this can be a heavy load in treasure. Yellows are also fluent in many if not all of the languages spoken in their wide territories. They will often listen in on conversations especially from pirates, sailors and other wayfarers of the seas in hopes of finding clues as to where to go on their next hunt for food and treasure. While Yellow Dragons are still rare it seems they have still made enough of an impact that speaking openly of treasure is forbidden by many wise captains these days. Although few even know the true reasons as to why other than prying ears. Great efforts are taken on their parts to learn any and all languages they hear enough to understand the gist of what is being said. Thus if they do come in direct contact with other sentient creatures, they are quick to anger if a language they do not understand is being spoken. Yellow Dragons prefer to hold all of the cards in a conversation with little compromises. Lives of Solitude While Yellow Dragons may be listening to many conversations in their time they are almost always alone. With little interest in sharing their valuable time with other creatures, they hide in the sands, waves, or even shadows of the land to remain unbothered. They eat, hunt, and die alone for the most part. Other Yellow Dragons rarely care to leave their own territories unless forcibly removed thus aside from mates other Yellows are ignored and never acknowledged unless they overstep the bounds such as hunting in lands not their own. This transgression of the territory is usually a quick solution, such as an ambush to a brutal death. If the fight is prolonged for even a few minutes usually a winner is decided by a logical debate on the fight and who would be the clear winner given more time. If this conversation is still not enough to resolve conflict a test of wills by staring contest with the winner simply remaining while the loser moves into new territory. This GentleDragon's agreement seems to be what keeps numbers from dwindling from rare to almost nonexistent during confrontations. Mating Yellow Dragons are unfriendly at best and deadly at worst to other Yellow Dragons. Thus mating is a careful yet often successful process. Yellow Dragons are very fertile for dragons and can actually produce young yearly if possible. They are also helped that all Yellow Dragons are hermaphroditic, although they identify as males usually. Finding a partner to mate with isn't usually very difficult as every spring they tend to wonder in larger territories. Eventually, the dragons will cross paths and understanding the primal urges within them will engage in violent combat with the loser being the one inseminated. The burden of producing eggs is a large task as now they must travel to find a suitable area clear of other Yellow Dragons, including themselves, for a home. They have 4 months to find this area or they will eliminate the eggs themselves. Yellow Dragon and Other Creatures Humanoids Yellow Dragons despise most humanoids but rarely attack them. They have their uses especially in divulging information about treasure and shipping treasure into Yellow Dragon territory. Yellow Dragons tend to follow and spy on any individual they deem as particularly useful. If it gives them more of an advantage they will make themselves known to a target and intimidate them into the role of an informant. Catching a Yellow Dragon's interest is rarely a good thing. This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Other Dragons Yellow Dragons are not fighters, despite having many tricks up their scales, and avoid confrontation from powerful foes at even sometimes great cost. They try and keep away from any dragon, especially other Chromatics. Most dragons know of the Yellow's "cowardice", possibly where the phrase originated and can use this opportunity to their advantage. While Yellow dragons are not willing to aid other dragons they are often forced just as they do to humanoids themselves to assist in some way. Reds often take the opportunity to have another ally when the time for conquering is upon them. Gold dragons are also usually in contact with a few Yellow Dragons but are willing to pay for information if absolutely needed. Then again payment isn't required if they perish in some other way either. Prey Mostly sticking to fish and other aquatic creatures Yellow Dragons are not voracious predators. They eat their fill quite quickly and with their incredible swim speed and control catching even the fastest prey is of no challenge. Thus even their prey don't seem to take notice of them often. Yellow Dragons will have eaten their fill usually within the first few hours of the day and will not hunt again for another day. However, whales dislike yellow dragons as they seem to be one of the few creatures that will attack or harm whales. Battle Tactics While not fond of fighting even the meekest animals are ferocious when trapped. Yellow Dragons are good at judging a situation if it will turn violent and will often extract themselves from the situation. When this is not possible they prefer to strike quickly with their breath weapon at full blast often aiming for the head and eyes to make for a quick escape. While in comparison to many humanoids a Yellow Dragon is a formidable and dangerous adversary. A Yellow Dragon never fights fair though. Attacking intruding adventurers is an art that lies in both careful planning, traps, ambushes, and deception. When faced against more powerful foes such as enemy dragons, behir, beholders, and many other powerful creatures, Yellow Dragons aim to maim and leave. They are also known to make disturbing squealing and screeching roars. It's said that it sounds like thousands of Dragon wyrmlings being slowly crushed pleading for their lives. This can put even the most resolute attackers off if only for a moment. Rarely, but not unheard of if the Yellow Dragon feels they can gain the advantage they will ambush a previous attacker if any treasure was stolen or if they can assure never being attacked again. Pets Yellow Dragons are solitary but not against keeping pets of animal intelligent like beings with them. Usually, they can be found around the areas of the den for protection. Sharks, Barracuda, and other large predatory fish are fed easily by these waters ensuring extra protection. In the den of the Yellow Dragons, anything from mimics, dark mantles, ropers, cave fishers, and other ambush predators are kept in the systems and also fed just enough to keep them around but keep them hungry enough to attack intruders. While they have many pets not all of them are dangerous. Yellow Dragons also tend to have many amphibians such as frogs, salamanders and the like kept in their homes. These are also fed to a degree. They are particularly fond of large frogs petting them and hand feeding them. While the largest varieties could easily devour a humanoid the Yellow Dragon doesn't seem to use them as a guard for any reason just as a silent companion. Variations Dragon Spies Some Yellow Dragons take their ability to gather information to heart and actively seek employment but other dragons or more powerful beings as a means to gain treasure. They specialize in not only stealth but also the ability to garner information from afar, force, or conversation. They will travel far and wide. It's rumored that a network of these spies exists for their own gains. This may be true, or it may be they are the few loyal to Trilldolma herself acting as her source of the surprising amount of information she has on most affairs. Water Attuned Yellow Dragons Some Yellow Dragons take their connection to water seriously and seek connection with the material plane of water. These Yellow Dragons harness their learned abilities to their own personal use. They often establish a connection with elder elementals and seek training in harnessing the power of water. Tidal Dragon is the title associated with such Yellow Dragons. They not only use this talent with water to increase the strength and deadliness of their breath weapons but also manipulate it to whip around at shorter distances ensuring accuracy. Most also are able to extract water from a creature like water elementals themselves, even the blood of a creature for the more advanced and eldest dragons. Water manipulation is used for defenses too surrounding themselves in water flowing armor that can stop most flames, projectiles, and dull powerful swings. Despite this massive increase in ability to fight they still prefer to avoid such a confrontation, they are just far less likely to lose. This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
I Black Pearls In the effort to guard their most prized pearls they attune themselves to the treasures haunting the items at death. These pearls if disturbed will then attune the dragon's spirit to the thief giving them the ability to haunt the offender for as long as they are alive. The dragon will manifest in many ways often to other individuals causing confrontations that could be deadly to the subject. Sometimes with great effort even manipulating physical objects to move. Some cases have reported far worse fates such as disease and harm coming to all around the holder of the Black Pearl. This behavior normally stops if the pearl is restored to the location of the hoard it was taken from even if the den is no longer intact. Despite this rarely has this deterred other dragons claiming their hoard much to the now far weaker Yellow's chagrin. Easy ways to tell black pearls aside from their dark and swirling nature is the body of the Yellow dragon must be in contact with it usually appearing as an emaciated and dried husk of the former dragon or a skeleton clutching the item. DM's Notes Dragons are iconic and varied even within the bounds of the most popular 10 dragons. Yellow Dragons subvert normal dragon behavior in being powerful yet acting in a manner more befitting a weaker creature. This can lead to confusion for a party but can also lead to a deadly trap if they are not careful. Thanks for Reading f you like this and would like to read more click below: Fortuan's Ecologies This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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