Dracovix of course come in a lot of beautiful colors and shades, but understanding how they work is a different and fascinating matter!

What you should first know is that there are three core base coats: Cinnamon, Cream, and Ink.

These base coats are represented by the following genetic codes and swatches:

Now what the heck do these codes mean? 

The genetic locus EE/Ee/ee refers to eumelanin levels in the coat, which is responsible for the production of black pigments and brown pigments in lesser degree. The Cinnamon coat carries black-tipped multi-toned hairs that turn it a rusty brown tone. The Ink coat has a lot of predominantly black fur in it. But the Cream coat does not carry any black fur in the base coat at all.

On the flip side, the genetic locus AA/Aa/aa refers to the word "agouti", which indicates whether the hairs of the coat are solidly colored with their eumelanin toner, or patterned with varying doses of eumelanin to a weaker extent.

Since the Cinnamon base coat has both Ee and Aa, it carries black pigment, but the black pigment is broken up or weakened in the hairs with agouti, giving it its rusty brown color.

The Cream coat does not have any Ee, eumelanin, or black pigment. But you may notice that cream can have aa, Aa, or AA. This is because it does not matter whether the Cream base coat has agouti or not. Agouti ONLY affects black pigmented fur, which Cream has none of. So a Cream dracovix could carry the genes needed to produce Ink or Cinnamon offspring, but you wouldn't know which without knowing its genotype.

Lastly, the Ink coat must have Ee, or eumelanin, and must also not have Aa, or agouti. By losing the agouti pattern, the Ink's fur becomes solidly colored with black pigment, giving it its stark black coloration.

The way the base coats interact with each other when being bred to one another works the same way that real life genetics work. It's a little bit complicated to explain, but yes, it does use the punnet square! There are tons of resources online that explain how the punnet square works. :) For each genetic locus, ee/Ee/EE or aa/Aa/AA, the offspring of a breeding have a 50/50 chance of receiving the letter from either side of both of their parents' base coat genes.

It'd be tricky to list and organize all possible combinations and their pass rates, but here are some examples below:

There are so many different combinations, and the rates change drastically depending on the underlying genes within the base coats! But as you can see, for example, a Cinnamon dracovix with the genetic codes EE/AA will ALWAYS create offspring with the Cinnamon base coat, no matter what other base coat it is bred to, and any Sand dracovix bred to another Sand dracovix will always make Sand offspring.

Next are the uncommon base coats. These are the same core base coats, Cinnamon, Cream, and Ink, but now with a new modifier gene, Oo or OO. This gene brightens the base coat. But these are less common coat colors - the Oo gene doesn't seem to pass as easily as Ee and Aa do.

Uncommon base coats are represented by the following swatches, genetic codes, and OO variants:

Rare base coats, like Uncommon base coats, introduce a new modifier gene to the core three base coats, Xx or XX. This gene, rather than brightening the coat like Oo, seems to intensify the temperature and saturation of the base coat, with very unexpected results! Just like Oo, Xx doesn't pass as easily as Oo does, and seems to have a slightly lower pass rate than Oo.

Rare base coats are represented by the following swatches, genetic codes, and XX variants:

If you've figured out how these genetic codes and pass rates work by now, you might be wondering, what happens if both Xx and Oo, in the extremely rare occasion, happen to pass together? It'd be an extraordinary occasion, but it's not impossible!

When both Xx and Oo are present on one of the three core base coats, the base coat color is both intensified and brightened, resulting in a brilliant color you almost wouldn't expect to see in nature.

Ultra rare base coats are represented by the following swatches, genetic codes, and OO or XX variants: