River Dragons
The River Dragons are a beautiful, sleek race. Their irridescent scales are soft and almost invisible under a fast-racing current. As long as a long riverboat, they propel themselves upstream with occasional flaps of their powerful wings.
From their streamlined tails to their narrow heads, these are perhaps the most elegant of Dragons. Their beards flow seamlessly behind them and could be nothing more than a passing clump of weed, tossed along by the current. Or rather, it could be if it were not for the fact that the weed was travelling faster than the river and against the current.
For many miles of their long journeys the River Dragons cannot flap their wings for want of space. They must rely on being perfectly shaped to sail unhampered against the current, in search of the mountain pools where they were born. Like salmon, these beasts must spawn in the still breeding grounds high above the lakes where they spend their otherwise sedentary lives catching fish.
Perhaps most impressive is the passage of the Dragons through the caves at Holdaggar. To emerge into the higher passes of the Holdaggar hills, they must launch their immensely strong but sinuous forms upwards, and scale in a single leap the Falls where the water enters the caverns.
River Dragons are associated with good luck by the Lakemen of Bordobba, since their presence indicates a plentitude of fish, and several guilds in the town incorporate a leaping River Dragon into their emblem.
It is not known if River Dragons can breathe fire, despite several (unsuccessful) experiments by enthusiastic young scholars endeavouring to determine the answer one way or another. They mostly ended up being eaten.
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? Responses (6)
A good idea that could well stand some more elaboration. So far they strike me simply as salmon-dragons.
Do they have legs? Is there anything to these guys beyond the image of an oriental dragon jumping like a salmon?
Maybe they taste good with Fiddleheads?
RE: Scras's comments: I didn't see a need for legs, or for making them into things to mangle a characters, though I am sure if the characters are stupid enough to engage them in their environemnt....
They are just part of the environment. You could express a sense of time or season by seeing the creatures. Of course Bears are part of the environment as well.
One question nags me: What exactly do they use their "wings" for? Are they used for swimming or can they actually fly? If they can fly, it sort of begs the statement of them being river creatures. So we can infer they use them for swimming... but it is unclear.
As part of the environment, I could see a River Dragon Festival happening along the rivers they spawn in. Since the creatures are focused on "going upsream" they are not focused on "eating people", so hanging out and watching the spectacle (like whale watching) would be interesting. Add to that festival food or a mug of grog, and you have the makings of a party.
Thus you can have plots revolving around the crowds near the riverbanks.
While this may not be useful for direct encounters, I think the presence of these critters would provide excellent flavor for a region in some campaign world.
Of course, it could be that they provide necessary ingredients for some alchemical concoction that the PCs desperately need, or that one has swallowed an important item (possibly while ridding itself of an annoying scholar) which must be retrieved.