Adult Rat Dragon

Also known as street dragons or vermin dragons, the rat dragons are small, slender and agile dragonkind. Distantly related to true dragons they are more closely related to wyverns and drakes. Growing up to 23 inches (54cm) long and can weigh up to two and a half-pounds (1100 grams), their scales are narrow and elongated, forming a sleek protective layer on their. Typically colored from deep dark blue to dusty brown in coloration along their back and outside of their limbs while varying from light blue to a light tan on their stomachs, inside of their limbs, on their feet and around their mouths. Two pairs of small, straight horns grow from the back of their heads while a large expandable and collapsible sail-like crest sits at the top of their heads. When touched their scales are described as feeling as feeling 'hairy' by many a people when moving their hand towards the tail, while many describe them as feeling like sandpaper when moving their hand in opposite direction. Their heads are short and stout, with large speudo-ears growning from just behind the eyes similarly to a deer. They have large nostrils and a pair of almost perfectly circular, amber to yellow eyes, inside of their mouth they have a row of varying teeth, from teeth what crush and chew, to four large canines and two pairs of sharp cutting teeth at the front of mouth, which distantly resemble the teeth of a rat as they stick out when the rest of the mouth is closed, hence why their name. The tail is long and slender, ending into a small stinger similar to that of a wyvern, while it does contain a potent poison that can potentially kill a single sentient being with a single sting, they are known to be relatively reserved in it's used. Like their teeth suggest, they are omnivorous and are capable of eating meat, whether cooked, raw or rotten, fruit, berries, grain, seeds of various kinds, nuts, insects and sometimes other small dragonkind, although the latter has been only been known to be done by particularly cruel individuals or those on the brink of starvation. Their general body shape is slender while their legs are best described as slender, muscular and surprisingly powerful. Interestingly, all of their feet have five digits, with three forwards and two backwards on the rear limbs while on the front they form a human-like hand that they have been known use to grab onto food, objects and sometimes even weapons. Their wings are sizable allowing for long-distance or short-distance flight, making them fast and agile flyers, despite this they tend to not fly much unless they are in open areas or are looking for a mate. They also have the ability to breath fire although they will only use this when in severe danger or backed into a corner.

Cunning and Social

The rat dragons are more intelligent than an average human, and are perfectly capable of speech. Most tend to stick to however themselves and their social groups. It is not uncommon to see a group of Rat dragons nesting on the roofs of many an urban city center, as cities provide both easy hunting grounds, ample food and relatively safe environments from larger dragonkin that might often feed on the small rat dragons. If asked most Rat Dragons will be happy to tell you that they have a 'clan' that they belong to, with many such a clan occupying a fairly large districts inside cities. Rivalries between clans can be fierce and sometimes turn bloody, although the rat dragons typically solve such issues with diplomacy, complex competitions or duels between the strongest members of each clan. Outside of cities such rivalries are rarer as clans typical occupy much larger areas. When in the wilderness the dragons tend to prefer large open grasslands with thick shrubbery with light forestation or lightly forested hills. These 'Wild' clans tend to look down on city-born Rat Dragon as 'soft' or 'weak', due to the perception that they do not have to struggle for food.

When inside cities Rat Dragons can become pests if they are not kept in check, usually a simple whack from a stick or a broom is enough to drive them off. Their bites however hide a surprisingly strong and fierce force, which can be enough to kill a single person in one bite depending on where they are bitten as such it is not recommended to attack rat dragons without provocation. While rat dragons can be annoying, they are perfectly capable of hunting down rats and mice, which is why they are often tolerated, even in fairly large numbers. Some individual rat dragons seem to however enjoy conversing with humanoid races, and many are perfectly capable of speaking common, dwarfish or elvish. These individuals will often have entire conversations with the city's more scholarly or otherwise intelligent individuals, as it seems that they take a dislike towards less intelligent individuals. Some of them may even become life-long friends with humanoid races.

One should, however be always wary of rat dragons as they are highly individualistic and certain clans have been known to tend towards evil or good, while most of them tend towards more neutral alignments they are very rarely of any lawful alignment. This may be because of their scavenger-hunter lifestyles that they typically have in inside cities.

Companions and Friends, not Pets.

Due to their high intelligence, it is practically impossible to permanently 'tame' a rat dragon, however they, if captured while young, can become permanent additions to a family and fairly good companions and friends. In particular many of them do seem to enjoy playing with children and each other. These rat dragons typically do not join a clan and thus can be considered 'semi-domesticated', but they can never be fully controlled and keeping just one without companionship of children or others of it's kind can easily be seen as cruel, in which case these rat dragons typically leave their humanoid companions behind. Do keep in mind that when it comes to rat dragons, nurture matters more than nature, so treating them well will result in a friendly, talkative and loyal companion. And seeing as a rat dragon can live up to 120 years old, although normally they life to around 70 years of age, it is not uncommon for a single group of rat dragons to keep companionship to several generations of a single family. These rat dragons do in fact eventually form a sort of clan, but not in the same sense as the more rough and rugged street-born rat dragons, as they tend to be more refined and have a stricter, better organized hierarchy.

Rat dragons typical reach adulthood at around 7 to 9 years old, at which point they are not yet fully grown as will continue to grow in size until they are around 45 years old, at which point they have reached their maximum size. Those raised by people tend to be larger than street-born while those living in the wilderness tend to be larger still. In general the longer the dragon is compared to it's height, the less time it has spent around people. Still, a fully-grown rat dragon is more intelligent, more agile and more durable, if slightly less physically strong than a human, making them excellent protectors and watchers of less-intelligent companions, such as pets. An entire subspecies of rat-dragons that live as companions and friends among humans and other humanoid races seems to be forming currently, as these dragons tend to be more brightly colored than others of their kind.

Rat dragons mate around late spring and females lay between 3 to 7 eggs in late summer. While in the wilderness the number tends to be higher while in cities the number is lower, as many more die in their youth outside of cities. This has led to some speculation that Rat dragons maybe eventually become two completely separate species of dragonkind, one that lives in cities, and one that lives in the wilderness. Rat dragons do not form any sort of permanent mate bond with one another although they typically do mate with the same partner multiple times. Many of them state the reason to be 'we think alike', suggesting that rat dragons will seek out mates with similar world views and attitudes towards the world, although there are exceptions. However individual females will only typically lay eggs once every 5 to 10 years, depending on the number of rat dragons already present. In relatively low-population density they will lay eggs more often while in higher population densities they typically lay eggs less often, presumably due to the supply of food. They are also intelligent enough not 'overeat' any civilized race they maybe living alongside with, so that the city or town continues to remain standing.

Among the 'lesser' dragonkind, the rat dragons maybe the most interesting of the bunch and perhaps the most widespread as they can be found anywhere on the surface where there is a large enough supply of food to sustain a clan of them, assuming that the area is not heavily forested or too high up in the mountains. This practically means that they can be found anywhere on the surface where there is civilization or open grassland, which leads to some difficult in telling their exact number due to sheer amount of habitats they cover.