Editing Age Of Dragons: Biology (section)

==Physiology of a Dragon==

===Internal Physiology===
<br>Dragons appear reptilian, but have only some reptilian traits. Though they have scales and are hairless, they are warm blooded capable of maintaining their body temperatures in a wide range of environments. Dragons require food to survive (a strictly carnivorous diet), need to drink water to stave off thirst, and must sleep regularly to fight tiredness. They are able to contract diseases and suffer other infirmities, but due to their stronger constitutions tend to be vulnerable only to the most potent of infections.

The most curious property of a dragon's physiology is complete immunity to fire and heat. A dragon can be exposed to the flames of a raging blast furnace, and neither feel pain nor come to harm. In fact, extreme heat is a somewhat pleasant sensation for dragons, and courting rituals will often begin with mutual dousing in fire-breath.
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===Pneuma, Life and Aging===
<br>Dragons believe that the key element to animation and life is their ''breath''. A dragon feels quite physically nauseous if forced to hold his breath for any length of time, and is most comfortable when taking slow and deep breaths. Dragons perceive breath (or ''pneuma'') as being synonymous with life and with magic and regard that which does not breathe as being without soul. Dragons note that as they are able to breathe deeper than lesser creatures, they have greater command of the magic of the world. Without the animating ''pneuma'' their bodies are little more than dead stone and clay.

This belief is not entirely unfounded - as a dragon ages, his internal magic stagnates somewhat, and his body begins to calcify. In the last century of his lifespan (which tends to be just over a thousand years in all) his scales will slowly transmute to stone, and his breathing will grow shallower and more quiet. Eventually, when he takes his last breath, his flesh will into grey unmoving stone, and he will cease to move altogether. Dragons call this the ''"Sleep of Stone"'', regarding it as terrifying as true death. 

In the ''Sleep of Stone'' a dragon will not rot: instead its physical form will become still and hard as a stone statue. Their petrified flesh will not weather easily, and only the most determined assault will have any chance of shattering them. Their mass seems to gain density and weight also - as much as if they had been transformed into solid marble. Dragons who die before old age of other causes (such as violence, starvation or disease) do not attain the ''sleep of stone'', but instead rot away like other mortal creatures, though the older they are at time of death, the longer they take to decompose. However, regardless of decomposition and manner of death, a dragon's bones will almost always remain, being made of the same hard substance as a stone-sleeping elder.
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===Reproduction===

* For more on this, see: [[Age Of Dragons: Reproduction and the Birthing Sickness]]

<br>Dragons reproduce through male-femate mating pairings, with intercourse typically taking place belly-to-belly in mid-flight, but sometimes (less romantically) in mounting position on the ground. Dragons are blessed with great fertility. When two dragons engage in sexual intercourse, conception almost always occurs, and likely a small number of eggs will result from that encounter. Furthermore, for most breeds every egg laid will result in a healthy hatchling. 

Pregnancies last around thirty six months, and at the end of this period the mother will lay a hatchery of one or more eggs. The eggs then become dormant, and will not hatch until exposed to a high degree of heat. This is usually in the form of draconic fire-breath, though a simple bonfire will also suffice. 

Hatchlings at birth are around half as tall as a human being, and in the first dozen years of life will grow extremely rapidly, achieving two thirds of their adult size during that time. They will continue to grow gradually until the age of fifty years or so, after which they will not get any larger. They reach their adult intellectual capacity at the age of fifty years as well, though by 12 years of age they are already able to outreason and out-think most adult humans.

Though most dragon couplings happen between two dragons of the same breed, occasionally two dragons of different breeds will mate. This is a rare occurence, thanks to societal prohibitions and a tendency to find one's own breed more desirable, but it does happen. In this case, a mating pairing will only ever produce one single egg, and the resultant hatchling will be a ''Harlequin'' - a hybrid creature with features of both its parent breeds. Harlequins are always sterile, and often androgenous, and many more puritanical and conservative dragons will seek to destroy them on sight, as an abomination against the Mother Goddess.
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===Firebreathing===
<br>Mortal races often associate dragons with firebreath, and assume it to be a natural ability of dragons. In fact, firebreath is the product of pneuma-driven spellcasting, rather than a result of draconic biology. Though most dragons will spend some time learning how to breathe fire (it is one of the simplest of spells to master) the knowledge of how to do so is certainly not universal.
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