Arturian Dragon

Weight: 900-1,300 lbs

Length: 14-18 ft

Tail: 3-6 ft

Social Unit: Individual

Status: Fluctuates

Native to: Arturia

Habitat: Forests, Grasslands

Known variants: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Death, Meteor, Blackfire, Whitefire

The Arturian Dragon is the smallest of the 4 known species of dragon in the galaxy, with the largest specimens measuring only about 18 feet in length and weighing about 1,300 pounds. However, they are also the species of dragon that is the most aggressive towards sentients. Arturian dragons are the only species of dragon that actively hunts sentients, often burning down and eating entire villages. In addition to this, it will also attack livestock such as sheep, cows, goats and pigs, picking them up in its claws and taking them back to its nest to kill and consume. Livestock and sentients are so readily available and easy to obtain that Arturian dragons rarely prey on other wildlife. When they do, the victims are usually centicores, unicorns, and Arturian elk. They will occassionally kill and eat alphyn pups, but will never attack a fully grown alphyn.

These dragons nest exclusively in caves and abandoned buildings, which are often littered with the bones of their victims. Arturian dragons are unique in that they are the only species of dragon to reproduce asexually, vomiting up eggs at random intervals ranging from a few months to a few years. The eggs usually take about a month to hatch. When the hatchlings emerge, they are fed meat from the beginning of their lives, unlike their wyvern and fire drake relatives, who produce milk for the first few months of their offspring's lives. Arturian dragons grow extremely fast, reaching maturity at 3 years of age. Arturian dragons can potentially live for over 300 years, but the average life expectancy is 27 years because Arturian dragons are slain by knights extremely often in retaliation for attacks on villages. In fact, this happens so often that it causes drastic fluctuations in the Arturian dragon population: knights will usually come close to wiping out the entire species one year, and the next the population has rebounded due to the species' asexual reproduction.

Like all other dragons, Arturian dragon hatchlings will imprint on the first living creature they see after they hatch, making it possible (but extremely difficult) to raise a tame Arturian dragon if an egg is stolen from a nest. However, like their Ryuan counterparts, Arturian dragons do not breed in captivity, making full-scale domestication impossible. Unlike other dragons, Arturian dragons posess a strong venom that makes their bites even more extremely dangerous than they already are. One drop of this venom will kill a sentient in about three hours. Until then, symptoms include extreme fatigue, swelling around the bite wound, nausea, vomiting, rapid internal bleeding, seizures, decreased heartbeat, decreased breathing, and loss of consciousness. As a result, Arturian alchemists have developed a working antivenom made from mixing the venom with garlic powder.