His Majesty's Dragons

[Cynical Cat]

As to Firewalker, I request player comment.

The player of the White Ninja Dragon says that Firewalker may play when he creates a character who would actually captain a dragon. Try again please.

[frigidmagi]

Jason, if I may make a suggestion?

Your character is a commando, a noble lord, and a dragon captain. Don't you think that's overloading it a tad?

Plus the whole "I hate being a noble!" is kinda Valdemarcliche at this point, can I suggest you either make someone okay with their birth rank or stick to plebes for awhile?

[LadyTevar]

This is the third time you've tried to pass this same idea thought, Firewalker. Doesn't No mean No anymore?

[Jason_Firewalker]

Okay I will try a new idea, I will discuss options with the good General ASAP

[Jason_Firewalker]

Alright.... new character time, with the good General's assistiance, I have created another character, a bit more detailed in history, for approval.

Captain's Name: Lucas "Luke" "Sand Demon" Tennebaker
Captain's Age: 45

Captain's Personality: Once a man of great learning and respect for the British Empire and the British way of life, Lucas had little respect for other cultures and the ways of the "primitives" that inhabited the world outside civilized Europe. When he joined up for the First Great War, he was forced to assimilate into Syrian culture, which was soon revealed to him to be rich with an amazing history and lore. He soon fell in love with the culture and embraced it. He has become much less rigid after the hatching of his new life-partner and is certainly much happier now that he has found his life's calling, being a beacon of the fact that the British way is not the only or the best way but just one of many many ways.

Captain's Physical Description: An oddly tanned man with blonde hair and green eyes standing about 5' 11" weighing in at about 170 pounds of mostly swimmers build muscle, Lucas is freshly shaven at most times and prefers it that way.

Dragon's Name: جني الرمل. but refered to as Janni
Dragon's Age: 22
Dragon's Breed: Sandstorm (or Khamsin to the local Arabs)

Dragon's Personality: A slightly hyper prankster, since she was little Janni has been likened to Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck, from William Shakespeare's "Midsummer's Night's Dream". Always planning a prank or ready with a joke, she is constantly on watch for such a time as to tell a fart joke to even tell a poingiont piece of comedy that makes even the most intellectual of us all think.

Dragon's Physical Description: A 30 foot long, 16.9 ton beast with a 40 foot wingspan, with a gorgeous spotted coloration of light browns, dark browns, yellows, and some light oranges in there too for good measure. She could easily blend in with the desert if she were to ever remain motionless which seems to be hard for her to do.

Captain and Dragon's History: A former member of the British Royal Expeditionary Force to Arabia during the First Great War, where he grouped up with a traveling band of Syrian nomads to fight the Ottoman Turks. As a great honor for his prowess in the battle and skirmishes against the Turks the Syrian gave to Luke a dragon egg, whom they had named جني الرمل. or "Little Sand Janni" in English. Luke proceeded to call the egg Janni for short. Hatching several days after the end of the first great war, Luke was assigned to remain in Arabia and monitor the progress of the Syrian people until they gained some major freedoms in 1932. Luke then chose to remain in Syria and assist the people he had come to love so much come into the new age but not loose themselves and their beautiful culture in it.

When turmoil struck home with the death of his father in early 1935 Lucas returned to England with Janni and their crew. At the outbreak of the Second Great War, as Luke refers to it, Luke, Janni and their crew signed up with the Royal Air Corps only to be bounced from squad to squad because of Janni's mischevious nature. As a note because of the fact that Janni is a desert creature and not used to the excessive moisture found in Britian her crew has constructed for her a easily portable lean-to under which she can sleep and created a sort of rain slicker for her to wear on rainy days so that she does not catch cold.

NOTE: Sandstorms are filter feeders (they use their interlocking teeth to filter out prey), only they do it with sand rather than water. They scoop up huge amounts of loose sand and sift out insects, snakes, and scorpions. That loose sand can then be blown back into the faces of an enemy dragon like... well... a sandstorm. It's more disorienting than anything, but it requires large quantities of readily available loose sand. Not a problem in Southern Arabia. More of a problem in Sussex. This little factoid will little pertain to game probably but as an additional note after speaking with the General, Janni and other Sandstorms are capable of eating non-filtered out prey but are really in a sense a combination of baleen whale and camel, able to filter feed in sand and survive long periods of time without large ammounts of nutrition or water.

SECOND NOTE: So you all know the Sandstorm type dragon is not known for speed or strength but rather for its outstanding manuverability.

THIRD NOTE (Which is reason for edit): During extra cold days with little sun Janni's crew sets up a charcoal brazier in her lean-to for her to curl around and sets her up with a large woolen cloak to keep her warm. (Thank you LadyT for these ideas)

[LadyTevar]

I like the idea.

[Avian Obscurities]

Biologist consult:

As youve described it, I imagine Janni could learn to adapt her filter-feeding to collecting fish (should she have the stomach for it). Id predict such fine teeth wouldnt be very strong, so if she was forced to a ration of sheep or cow she wouldnt be able to rip chunks off the carcass. Rather, shed have to tear it up with claws first or have someone cut it for her.

I agree that desert dragons would need to be very good at conserving food and water and going without for long stretches, but keep in mind that flight is very energetically expensive. For general flight--like she would do in the wild--im sure she could go for at least a week without food or water, but for extremely active combat-flying and fighting, she will plow through reserves much faster.

Just my opinion, however. I like the characters, I like that they bring in some new color. I was intrigued by the Sandstorm breed myself, before I settled on my current characters.

[General Havoc]

It is time for layman's corner:

The vision I had for the Sandstorm was a dragon who could filter-feed loose sand. My theory as to how this was done was that the teeth on the Sandstorm were smaller (and thus weaker) than those on normal dragons, but more numerous (as many as six to eight rows rather than the three on most dragons) and interlocking, to form a filter of sorts. Sandstorms are not looking for something as small as plankton, and therefore need not have baleen like a filter-whale, but would still want some sort of system to separate prey (snakes, insects, moles, scorpions) from the surrounding sand.

Sandstorms don't swallow all the sand they filter (they do swallow some to aid in digestion, much like the Petosky Stone-Spitter). I have not decided on an effective mechanism for them to automatically expel most of the sand that they take in. Perhaps they "breach" the surface periodically and spit it out? I did figure that they have some kind of storage pouch in their mouth or throat to hold a quantity of it for a brief period, and can blast it back into the faces of anything threatening them (hence the name).

They can and do eat things besides desert creatures. Sandstorms are known to raid caravans crossing the open desert and seize horses, camels, or even people on occasion. Like all dragons, they can stomach livestock (goats and sheep mostly in Arabia), and even fish if they have to. They can survive in England. They just will be sickly, uncomfortable, and a general mess in doing so.

Have fun :)

[Jason_Firewalker]

Well goats and sheep are readily available in England so I doubt there will be much of a digestive issue in keeping her well here.

[General Havoc]

There is however a climatological issue (I can invent new words if I like). Sandstorms are used to a hot, dry climate. Yes, I know how cold it gets in the desert at night, but they're diurnal dragons and they tend to bury themselves in the dunes to avoid the cold at night. It's more of a wetness issue. Sandstorms are not accustomed to cold, wet climates, and Britain is the very archetype of what they're not used to. Expect to catch head colds constantly, to be assailed by rain and fog and inclimate weather, and to be generally miserable much of the time, until such time as the squadron relocates elsewhere.

And God help you if I should send you all to Russia.

[Cynical Cat]

But on the plus side, think of how miserable Frostfell will be if you send us to Africa.

[Jason_Firewalker]

Ah, that was understood from our conversation and taken into account in my preparations, take a peek at my notes.

[Avian Obscurities]

But on the plus side, think of how miserable Frostfell will be if you send us to Africa.

Hahahahahaha is true

[Cynical Cat]

Seems good. He has the White Devil Seal of Approval.

[Charon]

But on the plus side, think of how miserable Frostfell will be if you send us to Africa.

What do you mean "if"?

And yeah, this has my approval definately. Looks like a good character.

[General Havoc]

But on the plus side, think of how miserable Frostfell will be if you send us to Africa.

*Immediately begins plotting an African campaign*

[Jason_Firewalker]

Think of how miserable he would be in the middle of what is now Iraq!!!!

[LadyTevar]

No sand there, just rocks?

And it's Persians, not Arabs

[Jason_Firewalker]

My character is Syrian, not Iraqi, I was talking about how bad it would be for Frostfell

[General Havoc]

Sandstorms are Arabian dragons. Their Persian cousins, the Hashishim, are constantly mortified by them.

[frigidmagi]

No sand there, just rocks?

Iraq actually has a good amount of mud and swamp.

And it's Persians, not Arabs

Actually not by this time, Arabs have taken over as the dominant group via the Ottomen's rule and later the British. In fact Iraq is a British Protectorates of sorts.

[Avian Obscurities]

Iraq actually has a good amount of mud and swamp.

True, people forget that Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent were in what is now Iraq.

Modern day, in our world, though, most of these wetlands have been destroyed or drained.

[Haizu]

Hey everybody, Jason let me in on this little shindig you guys've got goin on here. I'd like in if that's alright?

[General Havoc]

We're always open for new victims.

To play, simply propose a character, using the template found at the beginning of this thread. For breed types, you can either select one that's already been explained, or you can request information on breeds according to whatever criteria you wish (size, region, salient characteristics), and I will give you a list of possibilities.

[LadyTevar]