Periodic Table of Dragons
A short /tg/ thread asking about the nature of draconic colors lead to a discussion about metallic dragons, and all the various metals on the periodic table of elements. Glorious writing and drawing results.
Boron 5
Many of the larger metallic dragons are deadly not because of their strength or speed, but because they are surrounded by a strange force, akin to heat or a very bright, penetrating light. Simply being near them is enough to kill an unprotected man, and the nations of the Material Plane fear their blessedly rare incursions.
One species of metallic though, barely deserving of the name, is the Boron Dragon. Relatively small, and quite fragile, they are astoundingly swift creatures, with gigantic, gossamer wings disproportionate to their size. High altitude fliers, they can take to the air with nothing more than a slight breeze and a well angled wing. On the ground, they are nimble, seeming to defy gravity as they scamper around with a decidedly un-draconic glee.
These strange dragons were once more common than they are now, because the Material Plane denizens figured out that their bodies could absorb and block that deadly force of the greater Metallics. A great slaughter ensued, hunting the Borons nearly to extinction for their skin and wings, which could forge protective cloaks and armor for an entire human or orc tribe.
The Borons now live in extremely isolated areas, and are profoundly reclusive and distrustful. Gear made from their bodies is a relic now, and fetches astronomical prices.
Entire tribes die each year hunting the remaining beasts, but when a single corpse can buy a mighty town or army, the lust for greed eternally fuels the hunt.
Scandium 21
Scandium dragons are very rare. They are silvery-white, sometimes tending to yellowish or pinkish. They are very lazy and don't do much of anything at all unless accompanied by aluminum dragons, with whom, for reasons that are not fully understood, they make highly productive partnerships.
Arsenic 33
Arsenic dragons are lightweight, greyish creatures, often found in the company of Lead dragons. For most of history, they spent their time wandering the world, driven from place to place by an endless stream of mysterious deaths that seemed to follow them around. Long eons have passed, and there is as yet only the vaguest of explanations for the phenomenon, but the breed has a reputation for being cursed, and have taken to acting as oracles and seers, given their association with death.
They're not particularly strong dragons, nor do they have any breath weapons, but those around them almost inevitably succumb and die, unless they are metallic or more exotic races. The land withers and dies, and remains uninhabitable for generations where they pass.
Lead dragons are almost the only ones who will tolerate them, and the halfbreeds are terrifying creatures indeed. Stronger, smarter and faster, these are the scholars and generals of their kinds. So long as they are left alone, the Arsenic dragons are mostly harmless, but if attacked, the repercussions can linger for millennia.
Yttrium 39
Yttrium dragons are born in very special locations in the far border zones of the Elemental Plane of Earth. They are highly rare, and are part of a broad family of similar draconic subspecies, genetically divergent from most of dragonkind. They intermingle freely with many other creatures, and in general, these halfbreeds offer no real significant properties of note, beyond enhanced hybrid vigor with many other elemental dragons.
But, rare even among these rare breeds, is a subtype, the Ybacuo tribe. This tribe lives in a conflux of local energies within the Plane of Earth, which has attracted other metallic dragons for centuries like a lodestone. The inevitable crossbreeding, blending bloodlines from a dozen different species, has given rise to a group of dragons ignorant of their true power until recently.
A surge of energy from the Plane of Ice cast the region into an unnaturally cold winter for several years, and the Ybacuo dragons discovered that the energies of the leylines flowed into them with tremendous force as their bodies cooled.
So long as they remained chilled, they could fly with trivial effort, summon whirlwinds of magnetic force, and most intriguingly, store titanic quantities of magical energy with no difficulty. Drinking deeply from the leylines, the Ybacuo could shatter mountains with no more effort than picking up a quill pen.
Once the winter subsided, the energies dissipated, and now the Ybacuo are considering immigrating to colder climates, to study what their true power might be. Other elemental dragons are conspiring against them, though, for fear of what their super-magical powers might allow them to do.
Osmium 76
Osmium dragons are the heaviest of the naturally occurring dragons (that is, those that are not the result of powerful atomic magic). They are also the rarest sort of dragon that is not universally radioactive. Theirs shiny, bluish white or gray scales are extremely hard, but can be rather brittle. Their touch is highly poisonous to most creatures and their meat even moreso. Even more than their cousins, platinum and iridium dragons, osmium dragons are curiously prone to writing. They seem driven to collect and record information, though the specific interests of individual osmium dragons vary widely. They resistant to heat, even by the standards of dragons.
Gold 79
Gold Dragons are noble creatures indeed, their fiery gleam recorded in countless stories across time. Heavy, solid beasts, they can fly though rather poorly, and prefer to spend their time on the ground when possible.
They're great swimmers, and no matter how long they spend in the water, their scales never tarnish in the slightest, as do some other metallics.
Though valuable and hunted, unlike the Borons, a Gold is perfectly capable of smashing human-sized enemies asunder, though they come off decidedly the weaker in clashes with Iron, Tungsten, Titanium, and other such draconics, as their scales bend under the pressure those dragons can produce.
The true strength of the Gold is its ability to produce and channel enormous blasts of electrical energy, enough to sear flesh from bone and turn bone to charcoal, though they still cannot match their Silver cousins' utterly titanic electrical capacity.
The Golds fear Mercury dragons above all else, whose cloying touch will slough their flesh off their bones like so much pudding.
When crossbred with Silver or Copper dragons, the halfbreeds are not much stronger than either parent, and sometimes weaker, but they attain an incredible array of subtle variations in hue, with rose, whitish, greenish-yellow and reddish hues all observed. These dragons are commonly considered among the most beautiful of all Metallic dragonkind, across the various species, and often become something rather like cultural idols.
Bismuth 83
Bismuth dragons are a strange breed indeed. In their early life, they are dull metallic gray, looking little different from most other metallic dragons.
As they mature, though, a strange and wondrous change occurs in their scales. Both genders develop large growths all over their upper bodies, with the male's being much larger. These extended scales are jagged and rough, with no two looking alike, and no two dragons having the same growth patterns. Similarities exist between families, but for this species, their scales are their fingerprints, and they take inordinate pride in them.
Growing to about the size of a man's head, the scales have all the colors of the rainbow, and reflect brilliantly in the sun. Mating displays are wondrous to behold, a riot of color and flashing lights. Though intended for their mates, the Bismuths are unapologetic attention whores, and love it when tourists come to observe their shimmering rituals.
When ground up, shed scales can be used in makeup and pigments, creating a beautiful pearlescent color, and it is highly in demand across the worlds.
They are also much less toxic than most of the heavier metallic dragons, and as such are far safer to interact with, which encourages their tourism trade.
Francium 87
Francium dragons are a tragic case of genetic instability. Once in a great while, Uranium and Thorium dragon mothers lay a silvery egg possessed of incredible heat, enough to melt the other eggs in the clutch and sometimes, even injure the mother itself. The female dragon cools the egg inside the body, but the birthing process often causes fatalities.
These eggs are sequestered well away from the rest of the family, for their tremendous heat precludes the need for incubation, and they hatch phenomenally quickly, within a matter of days, compared to the usual months.
The young dragon emerges, and within hours is walking, talking, flying, and growing. By the young dragon's fifth day of life, it is fully mature, a silvery creature blazing with radiant, flameless heat. For the safety of its family, Francium dragons are immediately exiled upon reaching maturity, with no small degree of sorrow.
Their emotional and mental stability is questionable at the best of times, and Francium dragons keenly feel their own mortality ticking forward minute by minute. Oftentimes, they lash out at anything and everything near them, enraged at their minute lifespan.
Even the most heat resistant dragons, Osmiums and Tungstens, fear the Francium dragon, whose sustained torrent of energy will eventually penetrate their carapace.
Whatever the chaos their lives may cause, a Francium's rampage is cut short quickly, limiting the damage to a local scale. Whereas their mothers may live for tens of thousands of years, these mutant children burn away within a single year at most.
A rare handful do manage to achieve some measure of stability, and have produced musical art, for no other form of art could survive their heat, of great beauty and poignancy.
Only two known instances of Francium dragons meeting in the wild have ever been recorded, and no details of the incidents have survived. The breed's reproductive potential is unknown.