Dragon Colors

[PhazonDragon]

* * * Canon Colors * * *

Gold dragons are the Queens of the weyr. They are the largest dragons ranging from 38 to 42 feet long, but also the rarest, accounting for less and 1% of the dragon population. Golds have superiority over all the other colors, and non-gold dragons will listen and obey a Queen. They are fertile, and unable to digest firestone. On Pern, goldriders used flamethrowers to combat thread, but Earth does not have that threat. They Rise to mate about once a Turn, and lay clutches of 25 to 40 eggs, depending on the winning male. Bronzes and Browns Chase, though a Brown/Gold pair is rare and unlikely. Gold Impress to heterosexual females.

Bronze dragons are commonly called the kings of the weyr. They rank up there with the Golds, though they will obey a Queen when ordered to. They are the second largest dragons of the weyr, reaching around 35 to 38 feet long. Bronzes are able to digest firestone, and often act as wingleaders. They are fertile, and primarily Chase Golds, though they are known to Chase Greens as well. With Golds, they sire clutches up to 40 eggs. The Bronze that Catches the senior Gold becomes the weyrleader. Bronzes mostly Impress to heterosexual males.

Brown dragons are the third largest of the dragons, under Bronzes, ranging at 30 to 35 feet long. They are fertile, and Chase primarily Greens, though they have Chased Golds as well. Browns are able to digest firestone, and commonly act as wingseconds in a wing. Browns Impress to heterosexual and bisexual males, though a masculine homosexual male or bisexual female is also eligible to Impress a Brown.

Blue dragons are the fourth smallest of the dragons, and the smallest males. They tend to be in the range of 25 to 30 feet long, and make up for about 30% of all dragons. Because of their size, they are nearly as agile as Greens, but also possess enough stamina to last an entire Threadfall. Blues are fertile, and can digest firestone. They Chase Greens only, being too small and lacking the stamina to Chase a Gold. Blues Impress to homosexual and bisexual males, though they will also Impress heterosexual males and homosexual females.

Green dragons are the second smallest of the dragons, and the only other females. They range from 20 to 25 feet long, and account for nearly 50% of all dragons. Greens are one of the most agile, though they are unable to last a full Threadfall. They are fertile, and can digest firestone, though digesting firestone renders them sterile. Because Rocky has no need for firestone, our Greens lay eggs. They are Chased by Browns and Blues, and occasionally Bronzes, and can lay clutches of about 10 to 20 eggs. Greens Impress to females of all orientations, as well as homosexual males.

White dragons are the smallest of the dragons, about 15 to 20 feet long. The only exception to this is Surth, Weyrwoman Faizah's dragon, who is about the size of a Gold. They tend to be genderless, while their mindvoices can sound male. They are agile, rivaling that of greens, and are fertile as well. However, Whites have no urge to mate, and thus do not Chase females. Their hide is not purely white, instead being made up of all the colors together. Whites Impress males and females of any sexual orientation.

* * * Uncanon Colors * * *

Chimera dragons are perhaps the most interesting of the dragon colors. They are not a single color in themselves, but a combination of colors. Chimeras result when two colors are combined in a single dragon. The main examples of this are Blue-Green Brynath and Green-Gold Isath (as seen above). Previously thought to be just a rare hermaphrodite case, Brynath wasn’t identified as a chimera until after he Caught Isath, and their clutch produced chimera offspring. As such, chimeras tend to hatch if one of the parents was a chimera, thought it’s not unheard of for a chimera to come from a normal color pairing (as seen in Brynath, Isath, and Halderoth). Clutch, Rising, and Chasing information is the same as the dominate color’s information, so Brynath would classify as a blue, and he would sire as many eggs as a blue would.

Chimeras can be any color combination, but the dominate color will determine the gender of the dragon. In Brynath’s case, he is blue-dominate, meaning, Brynath is male. In Isath’s case, she is green-dominate, meaning she is female. With the exception of the genderless Halderoth, all chimeras are fertile for their dominate half. Meaning, Brynath can sire clutches, but he cannot lay them, because his green half is sterile. Also because they are any color combination, green-dominate chimeras tend to be more common than gold-dominate ones.

There are also two types of sub-chimeras, those with a shine and those with markings. The shine is the most commonly found of the two, with the dragon’s hide being one color, but if a light were to shine on them, there would be a distinct second color reflected off. Brynath is an example of a shine chimera; his green shine cannot be seen unless the dragon is in the sunlight. The second kind is the marked chimera. Isath is an example of this. Marked chimeras have their dominate color as the main color on their hide, but their recessive color (gold in Isath’s case) is visibly present as markings on their hide.

More information on dragons can be found the the Guide to Dragons
Dragon Template by Kusuri
Dragon Sprites by Khiitan
Information compiled from the Pern Wiki