I thought it was about time I wrote down some definitive 'facts' about my world of Dragons
Dragons, eggs and
mating
The normal colours for dragons are Amethyst lore-wyrms,
Diamond spell-wyrms, Beryl speed-worms, Ruby war-wyrms and Topaz nurture-wyrms.
Under normal circumstances, only Ruby and Topaz are sexually
aware and fertile. There are a
preponderance of male Ruby dragons and female Topaz dragons. The mix of the two gives the full normal
range of eggs with a small chance of an Opal egg on which more anon.
A male and female Ruby can mate.
A male and female Topaz can mate
Eggs from any single-colour pairing significantly reduces
the number of other colours.
A female dragon will come into season every 4-6 years, and
will lay 3-18 eggs
Normal matings of Ruby x Topaz produce:
5% Amethyst
10% Diamond
9% Beryl
31% Ruby
44% Topaz
1% other, which may be Opal or it may be an infertile egg, a
sport or a deformed dragon.
In a mating of Ruby x Ruby the results are as follows:
90% Ruby
9% Topaz
1% other which is more likely to be sport, deformed or
infertile than one of the other colours.
In a mating of Topaz x Topaz
1% Amethyst, Diamond or Beryl
9% Ruby
89% Topz
1% other which is more likely to be sport, deformed or
infertile than one of the other colours.
In times of warfare, there tend to be more female Rubies
laid to increase Ruby x Ruby matings for more war-wyrms. Dragons have an unconscious
level of divination. As the eggs can be
stored, this can be a long-term divination, when times are good, for when times
are bad, as with the production of an Opal egg in normal matings.
Topaz do carry latently the other colours but without the
Ruby stimulation it is less likely to express.
Unusual eggs.
The unconscious divination causes the occasional Opal egg to
be laid. The sexual maturity of an Opal
dragon awakens a sexual drive in Amethyst dragons, which the intellectuals of
the dragon world find unnerving so they prefer not to talk about it.
An Opal dragon matures at around 5 years old like other
dragons, but typically only comes into season every 10 years or so; the result
of this is 2-12 eggs.
The other colours are Onyx Leader-wyrms, Tourmaline healer-wyrms, Rose Quartz
empathy-wyrms, Emerald truth-wyrms and Sapphire talent-wyrms. Opal
dragons can also lay Amethyst, Diamond and Beryl eggs, and rarely, other Opals.
Onyx wyrms are produced if there is going to need to be a
cohesion between dragonkind. Dragons
like to lair together, but on the whole are pretty unco-ordinated in large
numbers, finding co-operation difficult.
An Onyx wyrm is, however, immediately obeyed by all Rubies.
Tourmaline dragons, like Amethyst dragons live a very long
time, expand the lifespan of their Bonded, and though nobody knows this yet at
the Legr will Bond, like Amethyst dragons, more than once.
Rose Quartz dragons and Emerald dragons tend to be shelled
when increasing numbers is desirable, to better check out the hearts and minds
of potential Bonders.
Sapphire dragons also live longer, and expand the lifespan
of their Bonded but will not survive past the loss of their human Bond. The muse is too deeply intertwined.
Eggs from an Opal x Amethyst clutch
2% Onyx
15% Tourmaline
13 % Rose Quartz
4% Emerald
15% Sapphire
28% Amethyst
15% Diamond
5% Beryl
2% Opal
1% Other – sports, deformed or infertile. Opal matings have a slightly higher chance of
a sport which might become a new type.
There have been no known Opal x Opal matings.
As Opal dragons awaken awareness in Amethysts of the
appropriate gender, there have been no Amethyst x Amethyst matings. If there
was the very unlikely situation of a male and a female Opal dragon, both on
season at once [and I do not rule out that a female Opal could drive a male Opal
into season] then it would be possible
for sexually awakened male and female Amethysts to mate.
I want this clarified in case of this series generating fan
fiction and also to be a laid down set of rules for if I should extend the
stories after the six books about Bess.
