In the early days of the colony, the geneticists altered the dragonets’ feet and “hands” so that they had four fingers and a thumb (pentadactyl) rather than the original single pincer, two-claw combination (tridactyl). This pentadactyl arrangement was carried over to the dragons as well. Dragons were given a stronger set of back legs than dragonets, ideal for propelling itself off the ground and into the air. Their forelegs were also shortened, and their skeletal frame and musculature designed to allow them to sit and stand upright.

The earliest dragons were only about ten feet long, but each generation hatched larger dragons until they reached the present day sizes, listed below. Their full tip-to-tip wingspans are roughly one and two-thirds times their full length, making even the smallest green dragon (20 meters = 66 feet in length; wingspan = approx. 110 feet) a truly impressive sight. The metrological term dragonlength refers to the average length of green dragons, 22.5 meters or 74 feet.

The dragons have the same teleportation capabilities as their smaller cousins. The earliest dragonriders discovered that when their dragons teleported between two locations that the process was not instantaneous. The dragons passed through an in between space, which was totally black and devoid of sensation save for an icy cold nothingness. The time required to cross between and emerge in the new location was no more than a few heartbeats, but the experience was very unnerving. Experimentation with going between revealed that dragons could not only go between geographical distances, but temporal distances as well. However, the latter capability is presently only used in extreme cases, as a careless move across time could have a rider bumping into him/herself or worse.

Dragon hides, like the dragonets, are smooth not rough or scaly. Their colors have the same range as the dragonets: gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The gold dragonets and dragons are always the largest. They are also female. Next in size are the bronzes, the largest males. Brown dragons are also male, but smaller than the bronzes. Blues are male and smaller than the browns, and the greens are the smallest of all, and the only other female dragon/dragonet beside the golds.

Dragon eyes are multifaceted and protected by a protruding eye ridge and three sets of eyelids. The eyes do not have a single color; it changes depending on the dragons mood: blue = contentment, green = pleasure, yellow = fright or anxiety, red = hunger, anger, or sexual agitation, orange = suspicion, purple = stress, white = danger, and rainbow = general agitation. Dragon eyes also whirl, and the speed they move at indicates the degree to which they are feeling a particular emotion. Dragons do not have ears per se, but sensitive head knobs, which receive and interpret sounds.

Although dragons communicate through the mental link with their riders, they can also be very vocal creatures. They will often rumble by way of greeting or when expressing themselves in general. They can croon when they are pleased, or if they are trying to reassure their riders or each other; they will warble when happy; bugle as a form of excited greeting or as an expression of joy; squeal in surprise or when hurt; and even moan or whimper when profoundly sad or distressed. They always utter an ear-piercing keen when one of their species dies, and they always hum deep in their throats at a hatching.

Dragon personalities are as varied as human personalities. They are usually distinct from their riders, but also completely compatible with them. In general, dragons act as a calming influence on their riders and curb their excesses. They are generally docile and friendly toward humans, and only ever display aggression during mating flights or if their rider is in physical danger.

The following are the dragon sizes within IoP:

Color	Length	Wingspan	Height
Gold	38 - 42 m (125 - 140 ft)	63 - 70 m (210 - 230 ft)	16 - 18 m (53 - 57 ft)
Bronze	35 - 38 m (115 - 125 ft)	58 - 63 m (190 - 210 ft)	15 - 16 m (49 - 53 ft)
Brown	30 - 35 m (100 - 115 ft)	50 - 58 m (165 - 190 ft)	13 - 15 m (42 - 49 ft)
Blue	25 - 30 m (82 - 100 ft)	41 - 50 m (135 - 165 ft)	11 - 13 m (35 - 42 ft)
Green	20 - 25 m (66 - 82 ft)	33 - 41 m (110 - 135 ft)	9 - 11 m (28 - 35 ft)

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If dragons calm their riders, riders provide their dragons with purpose and direction. In order to fulfill their duties as protectors of the planet, the dragonriders have to train and drill themselves and their dragons in the art of destroying Thread. Dragons have an inborn hatred of Thread, much like the dragonets do (it is the planet’s one true and ancient enemy after all), but without their riders to guide them in Fall, the dragons would not be nearly as effective in destroying the deadly spores before they hit the planet’s surface.

Once a person Impresses a dragon s/he is bonded for life. Riders feel whatever their dragons feel and vice versa. Because of this, riders are always very conscious of their dragons’ needs. When dragons are too little to fly and hunt, their riders spend time chopping up hunks of meat for their lifemates. Later, when the dragon has grown large enough to fly on its own, it will either take down the wherries and herdbeasts in the Weyr’s feeding pens, or go on a hunt in the wilds with its rider. In general, a full-grown dragon will only eat once every four or five days.

Riders spend much of their time bathing and oiling their dragons. Dragon hide, though resilient, can become flaky and dry if not frequently oiled. This can lead to lesions, which are exacerbated by trips between, and they can become very serious if not treated immediately. If a dragon is wounded in Threadfall, its rider will see to its hurt immediately, even if the rider is wounded. When a rider dies, his/her dragon will not survive; it will go between rather than continue a life without its lifemate. When a dragon dies, its rider generally dies as well. Although some men and women have managed to survive and even thrive in a dragonless state, most prefer death to the daily pain of living without that vital part of themselves.

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Mating flights are the only time that dragons become aggressive and competitive. The males will compete with one another fiercely in wild acrobatic games in order to fly the rising female. When a queen rises, usually two to three times per Turn, all the bronzes, many browns, and even some blues will rise to try to catch her. To give her strength before the flight, the queen will blood her kills on the feeding grounds; the hot blood gives her a burst of energy so that she can fly fast and far. Generally it is only the bronzes who stand a chance of catching up with her, but occasionally a particularly strong or agile brown will win the flight (though never the flight of a senior queen; she has to mate with a bronze in order to produce a large and healthy clutch of eggs).

Browns and blues fare better with the greens who rise for mating flights three to four times per Turn. Greens may or may not blood their kills before a flight. Unlike queen dragons, greens do not lay clutches because they are sterile from chewing firestone. For this reason, gold dragons never eat firestone.

The effects of a mating flight on the riders whose dragons are involved can be very dramatic, especially during a gold’s flight. The intensity of the dragon’s mating frenzy are overwhelming, and riders generally become one with their dragon mentally for the duration of the flight. Win or lose, the dragonmen are usually indisposed for some hours afterwards as this experience is very draining. Mating flights are a daily occurrence in weyrlife. Because of this, dragonriders, if they form permanent emotional attachments with others, tend to do so only with people who understand that a won mating flight means that their partner will be sharing someone else’s bed.

Unlike humans, dragons are rarely possessive of their prospective mates. The one exception to this is when a gold is close to rising; she becomes very possessive of all the male dragons in her Weyr. The safest thing to do when a gold rises is for any other gold dragon in the Weyr to leave the vicinity. Fortunately, gold dragons rise only a couple of times per Turn, and there are not usually very many of them in a Weyr. The green dragons, of whom there are always plenty, can rise around one another without facing these difficulties at all.

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Information gathered from...

The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey
The Pern novels of Anne McCaffrey

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Written by Keith G.
Last updated: 03/19/2006