Walking with Dragons (Update 1/28/2004)

[mythusmage]

Ravin,

Hollow bones make lots of sense. Even with an innate magical ability weight is a huge concern for flying creatures. In addition they act as air chambers, much as they do in birds.

In effect dragons have something very much like flow-through ventilation. A big help in flight when the animal needs the extra air to fuel his muscles.

On bones:

Bones are not static, rigid objects. They are living organs, being constantly broken down and rebuilt. It's a dynamic partnership between muscle and bone when it comes to movement, or even just standing still.

Dragon bones, while hollow, are still as thick as one would expect for an animal of that size. I don't know about buckyballs or even buckytubes, I think a laminated structure, with colloidal tissue interlayed with true bone in a 'plywood' structure is more likely. But research in that area has been lacking. (Scientific controversy in a fantasy world.)

In a sense dragon bones are made or cartilige with calcium phosphate stiffining. In such a manner as to produce a much stronger structure than one would expect. Add in innate magic that enhances bone performance, and you've got yourself good old dragon bone.

In archery circles limb bones are what bowyers actually use. What is needed is good, stiff bone to use as part of the back. Rib and alar phalange bone are actually too flexible. What you what is not a material that bends easily, what you what is a material that resists bending, and which rebounds quickly. Dragon bone, when properly prepared and enchanted, has the right mix of resistance and rebound. (In game terms, a dragon bone bow can be rated as a Str. bow +1 through +5, but with a required user Str. 1 or 2 points below it's rating. Yes, dragon bone bows are expensive.) The subject of bow construction is beyond the purview of this effort, I recommend research on archery and bow making in a public library or on The Internet.

Note to my fans: Part Two of dragon ages is coming up. It will cover adolescents. Once dragon ages is done we'll be getting to the species themselves (at long last). Starting with your favorite and mine, the black dragon. Including a scientific name I'm in the process of researching.

But before I get to Part Two of dragon ages I direct your attention to the posting below...

 

[mythusmage]

Archeodracus

It is a small creature, no more than a foot in length. Of the bones it had in life no more than the shoulder and pelvic girdles remain, along with bits of limb and spine, and faint traces of rib. It is old, going back to the Middle Triassic. It is also a quadruped. The mid-limbs have yet to make their appearance. There is something of the thecodont about it, but it is different enough to be placed firmly in the Class, Dracus.

Archeodracus bensoni, after the town in Arizona near where it was discovered. A forest animal, arboreal. Scrabbling around in the primitive trees of the time. An insectivore, it hunted the insects, arachnids, and like invertebrates of its time. The stance was erect, its lifestyle was likely active. It may even have had primitive dragon scales, though the jury is still out on that score. It may even have been warm blooded. After all, standing 'erect' does require a complex and constant set of muscle/skeleton interactions. That requires constant muscle activity, and that produces heat.

It is primitive compared to what was to come, but it shows signs of future greatness.