Dragon, wher, and fire lizard biology

[Wit]

Dragons

Note: We will be using feet, instead of meters. I know it's a huge controversy, and I don't much care either way. So I'm using feet.

Colors
Gold dragons, also called queens, are the largest dragons (40-45 feet long) and the only fertile females. Gold dragons are by far the rarest dragons on Pern, at just less than 1% of the population. They are dominant over all other colors; any non-gold dragon will invariably obey a queen's orders, even against the wishes of its own rider. Queens are incapable of digesting firestone and producing flame; however, they do fight Thread - they fly in the lowest wing, with their riders armed with specially designed flamethrowers to flame any Thread missed by the above wings. An egg that is going to hatch a gold dragon is notable: It is gold-colored and larger than other eggs. A gold dragon will always Impress a heterosexual female.

Bronze dragons are the largest males (35-45 feet long), although they are generally significantly smaller than the queens. Bronzes only comprise of about 5% of all dragons. They are almost always the ones to mate with queens, as the smaller colors generally lack the stamina to chase and catch the gold dragons when they rise to mate. Due to the 5-1 bronze/gold ratio and the infrequency of gold mating flights, they often mate with greens (the losers of a gold flight almost always seek a green for their needs), but their size often puts them at a disadvantage in chasing the agile, smaller females. The senior bronze of a Weyr is determined through which bronze wins the mating flight of the senior gold. A bronze dragon will Impress to a heterosexual male.

Brown dragons are the next largest color (30-40 feet long). About 15% of all dragons are brown. They may occasionally mate with queens, although this is rare, and becomes even more rare as the dragons increase in size; by Ramoth's time in the Ninth Pass it is unheard-of. All brownriders are men; most are heterosexual, but bisexual or "masculine" homosexual brownriders are not rare.

Blue dragons are the smallest males (24-30 feet long) and make up about a third (30%) of all dragons on Pern. They are nearly as agile as greens, but unlike the greens, they often have enough stamina to last for an entire Threadfall. They mate only with greens, as they are simply too small to keep up with a massive queen over a long mating flight. They may Impress to men of any sexuality, and may Impress to homosexual or bisexual women [at this time, it is not known that they can Impress to women, however].

Green dragons are the smallest normal color (20-24 feet long), and make up about half of all dragons on Pern (50%). They are female, but unlike the queens, they are infertile due to the chronic use of firestone and can produce flame. They are extremely valuable in Threadfall because of their agility, but they lack the stamina to last an entire Fall and generally fly in two or three shifts. They may Impress to bisexual and homosexual men, and to women of any sexuality. At this time, greens Impressing to women has become extremely rare, and almost unheard of, thanks to a more socially restrictive culture.

Mating
Both gold and green dragons experience a periodic mating urge. During a Pass a gold dragon will rise roughly once per Turn, and more often at the beginning of a Pass, yet less often towards the end of a Pass. During an Interval a gold dragon may rise to mate only once every four or five Turns. Greens will rise to mate three or four times a Turn, whether this increased or decreases depending on whether or not it is a Pass is unknown. Greens will mate with any male, usually blues or browns. As they are smaller and have less stamina, a green mating flight is much shorter than a gold one.

When a female comes into estrus, interested males compete to catch her in a mating flight. Usually, the female chooses the male who impresses her the most with his skill in the flight, although inexperienced females may be caught before making their choice. The pair actually mate in midair; thus, the higher they get during the flight, the longer their mating can last. The Pernese commonly believe that longer matings result in larger clutches. For this reason, queenriders are strongly encouraged to restrain their dragons from eating heavily just before a flight, instructing them to drink blood instead for a quick burst of energy. Greens do not blood.

Eye colors and emotion
Dragons have multi-faceted eyes that change color to reflect their emotions at the time.

Blue/Green: Calm, Pleasure, Enjoyment
Red: Hunger, Anger
Yellow: Fear
Orange: Suspicion, Uncertainty
Purple: Lust
White: Danger
Gray: Sick, In pain
Rainbow: Impression

Dragon sounds
Dragon sounds also correspond to emotion.

Bellow: Alarm, irritation, attention call
Bugle: Joy, triumph, happiness, challenge, greeting
Croon: Pleasure, reassurance, apology
Growl: Warning, anger
Humming: Sounded at a Hatching
Keen: Mournful sound signifying death
Moan: Sound of distress or anxiety
Roar: Anger, confusion, pain
Rumble: Amusement, happiness, laughter
Trill: Curiosity, pleasure, enjoyment, satisfaction
Wail: Sadness, worry
Warble: Gratitude

[Information from wikipedia and Alevynn Weyr.
alevynn.spleafnet.com/]

[Wit]

Whers

Whers are the result of Wind Blossom attempting to improve the work of Kitti Ping, her grandmother, in genetically manipulating dragons. Sadly, it didn't work, and she ended up with stunted and deformed versions of the graceful fire lizards.

Nocturnal because of their lamp-like reflective eyes, these creatures have a terrific sense of smell and are sometimes used in mines to find "bad air." Thick hides protect them from the harmful elements. Each of their feet has four gnarled digits on it. Like their fire-lizard and dragon cousins, whers have jewel-like eyes. Their smoothed out eyes swirl with colors that reflect their emotions. As with Pernese dragons, whers come in five colors - gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The golds and greens are females, and clutch eggs. Bronzes, browns, and blues are male.

They are flightless (though they can hop and glide for limited periods) and cannot carry a rider. Gold and bronze whers are slightly smaller than a horse. They are capable of limited telepathic communication, and speak in simple words and sentences, the grammatical structure similar to that of a toddler.

At birth, whers can Impress on a single trainer and can recognize when that person is in danger. However, their choice of who to Impress is usually closer to fire-lizards, in that they look for whoever has food available. It is important for the would-be handler to bond with their Whers using a 'blood-bond'. Generally this means the Handlers cuts their own hand or finger to allow the Wher to 'taste' them. The blood acts as a conduit to allow the Whers to form a stronger bond with their Handler. Bondings without the blood bond are not as successful or close as those with.

Once bonded, the whers will do everything in their power to protect that person, as in Dragon's Kin. In that novel, the wher, Dask, gave his life for his handler. Whers bond on the deep telepathic level to their handlers as dragons do to their lifemates. A wher handler will only have one wher at a time. Bonded whers tend to be more intelligent than their non-bonded cousins, being able to learn and comprehend everything more easily when they are connected to the human mind.

However, unlike dragons, whers do not 'have' to Impress. They can live their life without the bond that is so essential to their cousins. These wild whers tend to be untrustworthy, unreliable, vicious animals,. Without a human there, the wher hatchlings will leave their mother and go wild. Generally if a Wher hatched from a domestic Wher does not bond with a Handler, they are killed. Otherwise, they will become vicious and unpredictable, quite often turning even on those who feed them.

Watch-whers can tell you their names but they take the name from their handlers and add sk in the end. Example; Kindan's green watch-wher's name is Kisk. Kindan gave her to Nuella and her name changed to Nuellsk.

If a hold owns the watch-wher, the name of the wher is taken from the name of the hold plus sk in the end. Example; the Lemos watch-wher's name is Lemosk.

Wher mating is conducted in 'runs', which is exactly as it sounds. The female runs for an extended period of time and the males chase. Wher eggs are generally sold.

[Wit]

Fire Lizards

Fire-lizards average around 2 feet from nose to tail, although size varies with age and colouration (sex). Because their DNA was used to manufacture dragons, they are superficially similar, with gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green colors. Golds and greens are capable of clutching, though greens typically lack the maternal instinct and often abandon their clutches. A gold clutch numbers 10-15 eggs, while a green will usually only clutch 3-5.

All colors of fire lizard are capable of chewing firestone and flaming. There have also been reports of fire lizards 'eating' Thread, but they are no disregarded and forgotten.

Unlike the dragons which are capable of speaking telepathically with their human riders, fire-lizards are limited to conveying 'images' or emotions to their human friends. Like whers, they do not need to bond, and will go feral if a human is not present at their hatching. People may Impress more than one fire lizard.

Fire lizards can be easily trained to do basic tasks, such as ferrying messages. Many are of a musical frame of mind, and their humming makes a pleasant counterpoint to most music.

[Wit]

Mechanical Fire Lizards

Mechanical fire lizards are, as the name replied, automatons made to resemble real fire lizards. They are used most often as badges of wealth, as they are quite expensive, and often made of precious metals or containing jewels. They are a favorite gift to give to the children of wealthy parents, as a mechanical fire lizard will never rise in Flight lust, quelling many parent's worries.

As they are automatons and not biological creatures, mechanical flitters do not truly 'bond', and are not capable of telepathy. They can carry out basic tasks, including sending messages, and their behavior is quite life like, but they are in no way a substitute for the real thing.