My take on Dragon Shifters

[Eclipse Sovereign]

In my setting, dragon shifters occupy the ruling class of a nation called Urnova.

So, the main thing to realize is that dragon shifters are the only ‘dragons’ in the world. There’s no ‘true dragons’ out there.

They aren’t born able to shift, it comes in at some later point in their lives (or not at all). It’s often triggered by extreme emotion, such as rage or love, although sometimes it’s triggered by injury or fire.

As the undisputed power of their little continent, the dragonlords have a lot of cultural arrogance- they’re basically seen as living gods. They’re arranged into a hierarchy of Nobles (i.e. “common” dragonlords) and Royals, who’re bigger and stronger than Nobles. They’re led by the Kaiser, who is always a dragonlord- if the heir turns out to be unable to shift, he’s stripped of his status as Kaiser-in-waiting.

Dragons all breath fire, and their bodies are incredibly hot- when enraged, their bodies leak heat and smoke like a furnace. Dragonsblood is hot enough to melt steel and stone. They have two wings and legs, with muscular tails and necks. Armored scales harder than steel cover their bodies, protecting them from harm. Dragon teeth and claws are inky black, and sharper than razors, while the rest of their bodily scales are varying colors depending on the individual.

Their dragon shapes grow throughout their lives, based on how well-fed and healthy they are.

Towards the end of a dragon’s life, they become locked into either their human or dragon form. If locked into dragon shape, it’s referred to as “going to scales”, and essentially leaves them as a gargantuan dragon. The biggest can have skulls up to fifty feet long.

They’ll eventually die of old age, at a mostly human age of 70/90+. They’re not supernaturally long-lived.

Thoughts, questions?

 

[Prince of Spires]

My main thought is that 50 feet is overdoing it. That puts the skull at 11-ish times that of a Tyranosaurus rex, which would make the dragon something like 130-150m long (which is something like 400-500 feet I think). Which just sounds silly.

Other than that, they sound like pretty run of the mill standard dragons.

 

[Eclipse Sovereign]

My main thought is that 50 feet is overdoing it. That puts the skull at 11-ish times that of a Tyranosaurus rex, which would make the dragon something like 130-150m long (which is something like 400-500 feet I think). Which just sounds silly.

Other than that, they sound like pretty run of the mill standard dragons.

Well, they are the pinnacles of the species in size- that’s a hundred-year old person.

Such size also comes with reduced speed in flight, and less agility.

 

[Glykeria]

This is a nice idea.

From what I understand, they aren't able to transform on their own, but something else will have to trigger it? (a strong emotion or injury/fire?)
I'm not sure if this is a silly idea, but do these people live in big houses (in case their emotions overwhelm them and they accidentally transform inside the house)?

Do they, um... mate only in their human or dragon/or both forms?
I assume that as a ruling class, they only mate/marry other dragon shifters? (if not, I assume it could be a problematic relationship)

Do they use their dragon form to physically provide something to society? (other than being big and intimidating and ruling the nation)

 

[Eclipse Sovereign]

This is a nice idea.

From what I understand, they aren't able to transform on their own, but something else will have to trigger it? (a strong emotion or injury/fire?)
I'm not sure if this is a silly idea, but do these people live in big houses (in case their emotions overwhelm them and they accidentally transform inside the house)?

Do they, um... mate only in their human or dragon/or both forms?
I assume that as a ruling class, they only mate/marry other dragon shifters? (if not, I assume it could be a problematic relationship)

Do they use their dragon form to physically provide something to society? (other than being big and intimidating and ruling the nation)

Exactly, they need something to “wake the dragon”. Many potential dragons amongst their bastard children never woke because they never even considered themselves to have the potential.

They do live in large castles, yes. Most dragons waken in childhood, so they’re small enough to avoid causing mass destruction by accident.

Dragons can mate in their dragon forms, with other dragons, but to have children they need to take their human forms. Becoming a mother takes patience, and preparation, because they can’t feed their dragon form while pregnant. A mother-to-be essentially fasts for nine months to bring a child into the world.

Indeed, they only wed dragons, or people who have a rich amount of the blood. For instance, the main character’s older brother marries a girl from a noble family who isn’t a dragon herself, but she still has dragon blood from her father and her mother.

Dragons who have children with ordinary people run a greater risk of “drowning” the spark. Their children might have no chance of waking a dragon.

Dragonfire is used to melt a rare metal almost unique to their nation, ‘dragonsteel’. It’s heavy, and incredibly hard, which makes it capable of being used for munitions that can actually hurt a dragon. Their battleships and tanks and such are made of the same material, which gives them a massive advantage over other nations even without their dragons.

 

[Iapetus777]

I have one question since you mentioned that their blood is hot enough to melt steel and stone, which gives it a temperature of about 2800 degrees Fahrenheit/ 1500 degrees Celcius. That would mean that there is some intense heat generation and that their blood would let off quite a glow. I'd imagine even though they have large castles, they would likely be very hot in there. So, do they have some magical heat dispersion method or is it something they have to deal with?

 

[Eclipse Sovereign]

I have one question since you mentioned that their blood is hot enough to melt steel and stone, which gives it a temperature of about 2800 degrees Fahrenheit/ 1500 degrees Celcius. That would mean that there is some intense heat generation and that their blood would let off quite a glow. I'd imagine even though they have large castles, they would likely be very hot in there. So, do they have some magical heat dispersion method or is it something they have to deal with?

Well, generally their scales are insulating enough to prevent issues. They’re also creatures of fire, so they don’t mind the heat. Magic is a factor too.

In human form, their internal temperature is far lower, and magic keeps them “merely” feverish instead of constantly burning.