#light fury concept

[the-stranger-of-the-hidden-world]

An Overview of the Fury Species

Class: Reptilia Order: Draconia Suborder: Dracoformia Family: Draconidae ('true' dragons) Subfamily: Draconinae (four-legged with two wings) Genus: Furiadraco (furious dragons; 'furies')

Genus furiadraco - or 'furies' as they are colloquially known, are characterized by oval-shaped flat heads, front-facing large eyes set just at the ends of their snouts, rounded thick legs, distinct wing and tail silhouette and shapes, strong jaw strength, born without teeth, high flying speeds, and extreme intelligence. Most of them are classified under the 'Strike' class of dragons, though not exclusively, and not all Strike Class dragons are furies. These dragons are ambush pursuit predators characterized by their abilities to soar and glide. These dragons are also generally solitary in varying degrees, though also social in varying degrees.

Woolly Howl

Species: Furiadraco lanatus (woolly fury) Class: Strike Weight: 1836lbs (832.8kg) Height: 5'10" (1.78m) Length: 31' (9.45m) Wingspan: 68'4" (20.83m) Active Day Period: Crepuscular Habitat Range: Arctic tundras and alpine cliffs Mating Behaviour: Polygyny

Description: The Woolly Howl is a large dragon characterized most distinctly by the sharp and rough scales that run down from their heads to the bases of their tails and on their chins almost like a beard, named as such because these scales can be mistaken for fur. However, underneath these spiny scales is a layer of shaggy feathers that cover their sides, tails, and legs to help keep this dragon warm in the cold mountain environments it calls home. Unlike other species, they have a belly with segmented scale plating. They come equipped with a set of tail flukes at the tips that help them maneuver around their rocky environments against the strong alpine currents of wind. They most commonly come in shades of pale beige, brown, off-white, stark white, and even blue on their undersides and darker brown, grey, black, red, and blue on their backsides and spiny thick scales. Though, they can also come in much rarer and brighter colours such as red, green, and orange, some even reversing the contrast of colours and others dark all over. Curiously, their eyes and their skin share the same bright rich shade of violet in slightly differing hues, with very rare instances of blue or red eyes. This seems to indicate some degree of leucism or albinism inherent to the species, even if it not phenotypically present, as their eyes can also come in green, yellow, and amber. Their pale wings have dotted flecks at the edges of a darker colour. They are the most unique species of the genus, their eyes smaller and possessing an underbite with their curved needle-sharp canines sticking out from their maws unlike the more uniform conal teeth of their other fellow fury species and are unable to retract their teeth despite being born without them like the others. Curiously, older dragons commonly become darker in colouration as they age and lose more of the contrast of the two main colours on their bodies, creating a rather stark contrast between the older adults and the younger ones. Older dragons also grow far more spines along more of their bodies and have longer scales, including their shins, forearms, the backsides of their wings. Older dragons also grow two sets of thin antlers without prongs - a shorter pair pointing up and back and then a longer pair growing out and up behind them - from the backs of their heads, making them the only dragon species with proper antlers rather than horns. Curiously, males shed their antlers annually while females keep them year round.

Ecology: Woolly Howls are crepuscular dragons, active during dawn and dusk when it is easiest for them to blend into their natural environment to hunt. They are solitary and rather territorial, frequently patrolling their territories to enforce them and defend them from intruders. They are not migratory dragons, however, they do have dens for the winter and the summer, the winter dens up high in the mountains closer to the summits and the summer dens closer to the base, usually by the coasts where its easiest to fish. They may switch to a diurnal hunting schedule during the winter to make the most of the daylight they are allowed. They are one of two fury species that can survive in an arctic environment.

Social Organization: As solitary dragons, they have little social organization. They're not highly aggressive as much as they are more or less indifferent or quicker to avoid than escalate conflicts, but they can be territorial if they perceive threats from other dragons - especially closer to nesting season or during the winter. They are a polygynous species, which means that the males will leave to mate with multiple females while the females will only mate with one male and then have their eggs. However, sometimes females will tolerate having neighbouring dens during the winter.

Communication: Woolly Howls are not a particularly vocal dragon, but they can perform sounds such as roaring, hissing, rumbling, growling, and purring. Instead, Woolly Howls communicate through their body language, using their stances, their wings, tails, and the scales on their bodies to do this. Notable examples are rattling their scales as a threat display, laying them flat to show a relaxed and comfortable demeanour, sticking them out to show that they're alert, or raising them up to show that they're irritated or angry. A contended or happy howl will allow their scales to ripple, like wind blowing through tall grass in waves.

Diet and Hunting: Woolly Howls are ambush predators, reliant on camouflage to hunt their choices of game. They will blend in easily against the rocky alpine cliffs that they live in to ambush small mammals and wild boars and mountain goats when they hunt on the ground, or they will fish during the summer closer to the shore. When hunting from the air, they have a rather unique breath weapon that allows them to essentially force prey to take shelter, making them easier targets to stalk on the ground. Their breath weapon is a burst of ice that explodes and, while in the air, will cause a brief hailstorm from above. The howls will then alight down to land on the ground and sense where its prey is, using its scales to pick up on subtle vibrations caused by sound and their strong sense of smell.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: Woolly Howls reach maturity at one year of age, making them one of the fastest aging species in this genus and the quickest to be able to produce offspring. Their clutches typically consist of 2 - 6 hatchlings and can have offspring yearly. They will bury their eggs underneath the tundra and permafrost, keeping them protected until they hatch in a matter of months during the spring, born shortly before the mother takes them down to the summer den to teach them to fish. Maturity is marked when they reach the winter and are able to make a catch on their own, and then they leave the nest. When they're born, their thick spiny scales are soft and pliant, almost making them like feathers to the touch until they dry off and harden in the cold air, forming a natural armour as their feathers then continue to dry. Their feathers have an incredibly soft velvety texture until they reach maturity, obtaining their more shaggy texture at adulthood. The average lifespan of a Woolly Howl is anywhere from 50 - 70 years.

Habitat and Distribution: Being one of two fury species capable of surviving in arctic climates, they don't have too much competition from other fury species. They don't even have much competition with other arctic species, as they live on the summits of mountains during the winter. It's threats from the coast during the summer that are the biggest threat to them, or being injured during a hunt while trying to take down larger game.

Sand Wraith

Species: Furiadraco arenosum (sandy fury) Class: Tidal Weight: 1687lbs (765.2kg) Height: 5'6" (1.68m) Length: 27'1" (8.26m) Wingspan: 59'9" (18.21m) Active Day Period: Crepuscular Habitat Range: Coasts and shallow waters Mating Behaviour: Serial Monogamy

Description: Large rich orange-brown dragons with dark speckling and sharp spines all over their bodies, giving them a rather thorny appearance. They have dark tipped spins along their wings, down their spines, and along their foreheads and out the backs of their heads in a crown-like crest. They have dark masks across their eyes that help reduce glare from the sun when they're awake during the day that help them see better when they hunt. They possess the same rudder fins at the base of their tail common with other fury species, however they do not have pronounced tail flukes like many other members do, instead possessing two sets of much smaller triangular tail fins closer to the tip, the smallest pair almost at the tip of the tail. Their eyes can come in green, yellow, and amber. Older Sand Wraiths have more spines along their bodies, particularly along their brow ridges giving them a more rugged and intimidating appearance compared to the younger ones. Sand Wraiths that live much deeper underground than usual can sometimes come out of the ground with beautiful gem growths emerging from their scales. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be harmful to them. Though their most common colours are earthy tones with darker mottling, it is not the only colour they can come in and they can actually come in a rare, but wide variety of bright colours that can actually help stun victims when they come out of the ground by essentially flashing them when they suddenly burst out from the sand as opposed to their more common colourations that seamlessly blend into the sand. Although they are a diurnal species, their scales aren't as tough and they are susceptible to sunburn, so will remain buried under the sand for the majority of the time or stay in large tidepools and shallow waters. They're capable of retracting their conal teeth back into their wide set jaws, extending back further than their eyes set on the fronts of their heads.

Ecology: Due to their sensitivity to sunlight, they are crepuscular, able to take advantage of the light of day without risking too much bodily harm while they hunt. They sleep at night, buried in the sand so that they can sense their surroundings and be protected by their camouflage, and will bury themselves during the day underwater to shield themselves from the sun while waiting for stray prey to wander close or to keep watch for predators from below and will briefly come up for air when they need to intake it. The biggest threat to Sand Wraiths are other coastal dragons and especially larger aquatic dragons such as Scauldrons and Thunderdrums.

Social Organization: Sand Wraiths are not closely social, but are quite amicable and easy-going around other dragons and members of their species, sometimes even congregating in groups by the shore during the dawn and dusk if they're in the same place at the same time. They're not particularly territorial, often moving to different nearby beaches and coasts by the time the sun is up or goes down. They are the only member of this genus to practice serial monogamy, mating during the spring with an elaborate courtship ritual consisting of a dance and demonstration of den construction before they stay together for the remainder of the season until their young reach maturity and leave the nest.

Communication: These dragons have a standard range of vocal communications, roars, snarls, shrieks, hisses, growls, purrs, warbles, and chortles. However, these dragons are known for their guttural chittering that they use to communicate while in groups, presumably as a method of warding off intruders by indicating that there is a large congregation nearby. It is also a form of greeting and can be an invitation for a congregation. When they're threatened, they will arch themselves in such a way that will cause their spines to bristle, making them seem more threatening and much larger to opponents.

Diet and Hunting: Sand Wraiths are ambush predators, burying themselves underneath the sand in the water to hunt them. They are primarily pescatarians, though they may also hunt small wading birds or small mammals hunting by the shore if they happen to be close by and within range. They will both hunt in the water and on land, depending on the time of day. While they don't use their breath weapon to hunt, they do have one and a rather unique one at that - hardened balls of sand compacted in an organ similar to a gizzard, and whenever they need to expel it, they will fire it at the same time as their (comparatively weak) fire, which causes a searing explosive spray of sand to blind and disorient their enemies.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: These dragons typically reach maturity at one year of age, able to produce eggs at that time as well. They will usually have clutches of 2 - 3 hatchlings at a time. They are capable of having clutches yearly and typically live on coasts year round south of the arctic shelf. Once they couple during springtime congregation, they will then lay their clutch on a beach, burying them underneath the sand and in a matter of months, they will then hatch and instinctively make their way into the water to bury themselves in the shallow water and begin hunting for food. The hatchlings are born with their teeth and their canines will actually grow to extend out of their mouths the older they get. The parents will take turns protecting the hatchlings until they are a year old and no longer need supervision. The parents will then separate and then will find a new mate the next breeding season. The average lifespan of a Sand Wraith is anywhere from 50 - 70 years.

Habitat and Distribution: As a semi-aquatic species, the Sand Wraith stays predominantly near coastlines and will prefer to stay away from colder climates further north. They cannot survive in deep water and are not very adept swimmers, so they are restricted purely to coastlines not situated in the arctic regions. Their sensitive scales in the sunlight makes it impossible for them to migrate reliably, so their distribution is quite limited.

Desert Wraith

Subspecies: Furiadraco arenosum desertum (a raging sandy desert) Class: Tidal Habitat Range: Coasts, shallow waters, and deserts

Unlike their parent species, the Desert Wraith subspecies is capable of migrating and is a nomadic species unlike the Sand Wraith. Its pale rose scales broken up by the black stripes across its body help protect it from being harmed by the sun. Desert Wraiths will migrate to the deserts south of the equator to congregate and participate in the breeding season and will lay their eggs in the sands of the desert and will bring the hatchlings on a mass exodus back north after the spring once they're able to fly under the guidance of the adults.

Spotted Sea Fury

Species: Furiadraco abyssus (abyss with a furious dragon) Class: Tidal Weight: 3552lbs (1611.2kg) Height: 13'7" (4.13m) Length: 64'8" (8.74m) Wingspan: 129'5" (39.44m) Active Day Period: Crepuscular Habitat Range: Seas, coasts, and caves Mating Behaviour: Polygyny

Description: The largest species of the furies and speculated to be the oldest, these semi-aquatic dragons are perfectly suited for the water. One of the few species to display slight sexual dimorphism, females are typically a bit larger than the males. It is speculated that while these dragons still exist alongside the other fury species, that this species is the genetic progenitor of both Night Furies and Light Furies, due to the dark colouration on their backsides and their sharp intimidating shapes lending to that of the Night Fury and their pale glittering undersides and semi-aquatic natures lending to that of the Light Fury, although this is purely speculation. The Spotted Sea Fury is a equipped with a series of fins that run along its tail down to its flukes that help it maneuver gracefully both in water and in the air, however they're not as adept at flying as they are at swimming and aren't capable of taking off flying immediately from the ground due to their long and thick tails, thus they need more of a push in order to get airborne. Strangely enough, unlike other species, their scales are reported to be incredibly smooth when touched from its snout to its tail, but extremely rough in the opposite direction. This likely makes them even more adept swimmers, able to easily cut through the water without much resistance. Although they're called 'spotted,' they don't exclusively come in spots. They come in a variety of different shades of mottled grey in varying degrees of contrast between the undersides and backsides, though the underside is always paler and covered in glittering scales and their backsides are always grey and mottled. It helps them camouflage both from above and from underneath the water as they swim. They can just be mottled, speckled with a series of dark flecks like flurries of dark ash, painted with dark rosette spots not unlike that of big cats, or even stripes in some very uncommon cases. Their eyes can come in varying shades of silver to dark grey and even almost black, which is incredibly unnerving to come across, blue, and more uncommon colours like green, yellow, and even amber. The appendages on the backs of their heads resemble ears and serve the same function, the others surrounding the two large ones just as integral to their adept senses that help them sense a variety of different things, such as creating an auditory soundmap of their surroundings, sensing pressure changes, acidity, and salinity changes in the water around them. They also serve as a method of scaring off opponents, flaring up to make themselves seem bigger and more threatening. The little ones that line the undersides of their jaw can be used to tell the age of a Spotted Sea Fury, growing more of them the older they get. Their echolocation is also exceptional for life underwater, though because they don't have gills, they do have to come up for air despite being able to hold their breaths for hours at a time. Though they lack a breath weapon, they make up for it with their powerful teeth and incredibly strong jaws, able to shatter a dragon's femur with a single full-force bite and tear through tough sinews and tendons like paper. Despite being the largest member of the fury species, they have proportionally shorter legs, which suits them well for life underwater while making terrestrial living and locomotion a bit of an inconvenience.

Ecology: Spotted Sea Furies are crepuscular, which means they are active during the twilight, periods of dawn and dusk. The low light makes this period of time ideal for hunting, as it allows them even better camouflage as they hunt. Few aquatic dragons are as feared as the Spotted Sea Fury, though its extremely elusive and solitary nature makes them rare to come across, though terrifying to be pursued by. However, they are extremely vulnerable in the air to other dragons more adept at flying, and as such are extremely cautious of large airborne dragons. Though, they will actively avoid Thunderdrum territory due to the painful strain of their thunderous calls on their extremely sensitive hearing.

Social Organization: Unlike the majority of fury species, Spotted Sea Furies are extremely solitary, territorial, and aggressive even to their own kind and rarely seek out other dragons for company. They are a polygynous species, which means that the males will leave to mate with multiple females while the females will only mate with one male and then have their eggs.

Communication: Spotted Sea Furies are not particularly social dragons and aren't very expressive externally otherwise, only visibly being 'at rest' or 'threatening.' They will let out a warning low bellow throughout the water or up above land as a method of marking their territory to other dragons, and can make vocalizations like grunting, chuffing, roaring, bellowing, and moaning. They will chuff as a neutral greeting to one another, but otherwise will vocalize as a warning to others to stay away.

Diet and Hunting: As solitary hunters, they will not work with other dragons to hunt for fish. Though, sometimes they will pursue land animals too close to the water and stalk them until they have a chance to drag them under the water to drown them and then eat them. When hunting larger animals, these dragons will clamp their strong jaws and sharp teeth down onto their necks to either suffocate them or break their necks in order to kill them and eat them. They are pursuit predators and persistent ones at that and will track their prey down for miles and even hours completely unnoticed until their unfortunate victims tire and let down their guards.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: Spotted Sea Furies typically reach maturity at 2 - 3 years of age and females will begin to be capable of producing offspring at this stage. They will usually have clutches of 1 - 3 hatchlings at a time. They are capable of having clutches yearly and typically live in abyssal waters throughout most of the year until they couple in the winter and are found more commonly in shallow waters. They will lay their eggs in tidepools on craggy coastlines since their rocky eggs camouflage as large boulders against the cliffs and crags, the mother leaving the eggs alone to incubate in the tidepools and only coming back to check on them twice a day until they hatch. Unlike other species of their genus, they are born with their teeth and they cannot retract like a majority of them can. The hatchlings age very quickly, fully independent in a matter of months and leaving their mothers by the end of the year to start their own lives. The average lifespan of a Spotted Sea Fury is anywhere from 30 - 110 years.

Habitat and Distribution: One of two fury species capable of surviving in arctic climates, Spotted Sea Furies live north in the arctic waters in the depths, only surfacing when they need air and inhabiting shallow waters during the mating season, when they venture slightly south during the winter to have offspring. They're extremely elusive to people and even other dragons, but are known to be alive. By how many, it's not known, but they are a living species. They can't live in high places like mountains and never venture far from the coasts by the water, only able to sleep in the craggy cliffs due to their colouration allowing them to camouflage along the rocks.

Night Fury

Species: Furiadraco noctus (a furious night) Class: Strike Weight: 1776lbs (805.6kg) Height: 5'9" (1.75m) Length: 28'8" (8.74m) Wingspan: 50'3" (15.33m) Active Day Period: Nocturnal Habitat Range: Coasts and caves Mating Behaviour: Monogamy

Description: The Night Fury is a large dragon equipped two rudder fins at the bases of their tails, and a set of flukes at the ends of their tails that allows them not only to fly, but to be able to take off immediately from a stationary position. Females are slightly larger than the males, one of the few dragons to display slight sexual dimorphism. These dragons are known for their black scales, coming in various deep shades and hues of black and even coming with subtle patterning of spots and blotches, though these patterns fade with age, and their eyes can come in blue, green, yellow, and amber. The appendages on the backs of their heads resemble ears and serve the same function, the others surrounding the two large ones just as integral to their adept senses that help them sense pressure changes in the atmosphere and help with auditory triangulation. The little ones that line the undersides of their jaw can be used to tell the age of a Night Fury, growing more of them the older they get. They walk on thick muscular legs and plantigrade feet that allow them to stalk silently on the ground. They're capable of retracting their conal teeth back into their wide set jaws, extending back further than their eyes set on the fronts of their heads. The row of spines along their backs can split apart into two flexible rows of them, which grants them exceptional maneuverability in the air. They also are capable of harnessing the power of electrical storms to heat their scales up hot enough to cause them to have a reflective quality that allows them to cloak themselves, though their natural colouration already allows them perfect camouflage at night when they are most active, as they are nocturnal. It is theorized that it is a last defense for when they're caught in a lightning storm and thus can't hide as easily in the flashes of lightning from one of the few dragons that can rival them - the Skrill. They're also exceptionally suited for life in caves as they're also capable of using echolocation to navigate in the dark cramped spaces.

Ecology: Night Furies are nocturnal, one of the few species of dragons strictly so. Their natural adaptations make them the most successful and feared hunters of all dragons, even other fury species. As such, they have very few rivals when it comes to competition - the Skrill, the closest genetic relatives of the fury species, and Deathgrippers, a known predator of the vast majority to other dragon species. They're most active on nights when the moon isn't full, tending to avoid hunting when exposed under the light of a full moon.

Social Organization: These dragons are primarily solitary once they come of age. They're not particularly territorial or aggressive to other dragon species by default, though they may have aversions towards dragon species that burrow underground due to their solitary nature being a vulnerability in close range combat. They're small compared to many other dragon species and their fins are extremely vulnerable, so they will avoid skirmishes whenever possible. Although solitary, Night Furies mate for life and once they choose a mate, they bond permanently and will have multiple litters over the course of their lives.

Communication: Having a wide range of vocalizations, including purring, roaring, warbling, crooning, chortling, gurgling, hissing, snarling, chuffing, shrieking, and bellowing. They also communicate through their eyes, tails, ears, and even their teeth. They're an incredibly expressive dragon and quite proactively communicative and they will adapt their communication style to whomever they are addressing. Though not highly social creatures, they have excellent social skills and are incredible communicators even to other dragon species. They will more often warn before they attack, more keen to resolve conflicts rather than escalate them. They also communicate with their body language, resting their wings when they're relaxed and comfortable or arching their backs to flex their spines and flare their wings to make themselves look bigger as a threat display when threatened. They're not aggressive by nature and respond well to conciliatory gestures and clear communication. They will often show their retracted teeth as a sign of demonstrating absent ill will or absent threat.

Diet and Hunting: They hunt alone, though sometimes they may aid in a hunt already in progress by attacking their enemies to allow the main group to hunt with less danger to themselves. Since they are extremely stealthy, especially at night, their involvement is never contested since even if they aid in a hunt, they prefer to hunt for themselves rather than take the spoils from another even if they contribute. They are primarily pescatarians, their naturally sleek aerodynamic bodies making them excellent for hunting at sea, but a fearsome foe for any other dragon species unfortunate to be out at night. They are characterized most strongly by their extreme speed and their unique plasma blasts as a form of fire they breathe. These dragons are the fastest known dragons of any species, capable of reaching top speeds exceeding the sound barrier - that being 761 - 770 mph (1224.7km/h - 1239.2km/h) when they dive. When they hunt, they will typically dive into the water at high speeds and come back up with fish, but when hunting on land, they will dive bomb their victims and hit them with a plasma blast to kill them, the force of the blast due to the speed more dangerous than the heat of the fire itself.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: Night Furies typically reach maturity at 2 - 3 years of age and females will begin to be capable of producing offspring at this stage. They will usually have clutches of 2 - 4 hatchlings at a time. They usually have clutches between 1 - 2 years between each other and will lay their eggs deep in caves where it's dark and they cannot be easily found, the parents taking turns watching the nest and the hatchlings and bringing back food for them. Night Furies hatch without their teeth and will slowly grow them in as they age within a year and then are able to retract once they grow into their wings. Their wings are rather small when they initially hatch, but outgrow the hatchlings rather rapidly, making them a bit clumsy when they're growing up. By the end of the year, they will be able to fly and hunt on their own and leave the nest within 1-2 years after they're able to and will lead solitary lifestyles, though siblings may stay together for a short period of time before they separate from each other. Mated pairs will return to the same nesting site to lay their next clutches of eggs. The average lifespan of a Night Fury is anywhere from 30 - 70 years.

Habitat and Distribution: Night Furies live in the northern hemisphere just below the arctic shelf, unable to survive in consistent arctic temperatures and climates. They live in island archipelagos in caves by the coasts, considering that they cannot fly considerably long distances without tiring. Although before, they were rather seldom in number, rarely seen by humans and even anomalies among other dragons, they were a sizable number once...but now, they are unfortunately functionally extinct. Despite being the most dangerous species of dragon among others, with only a couple competitors and genuine threats from other dragons, it seems that the greatest threat to them...was humans, Grimmel the Grisly having made it his personal mission to hunt them into extinction. For all intents and purposes, he succeeded, only one living member left of the species remaining by incredibly astounding luck - Toothless, whose current residence is on Berk and is protected by the island's chief, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Though they are able to hybridize with other fury species, the Night Fury is functionally extinct, unable to survive with only one surviving member.

Light Fury

Species: Furiadraco lumen (furious light) Class: Strike Weight: 1600lbs (725.74kg) Height: 5'7" (1.71m) Length: 22' (6.7m) Wingspan: 42' (12.8m) Active Day Period: Diurnal Habitat Range: Alpine cliffs and coasts Mating Behaviour: Monogamy

Description: A large sleek dragon characterized by their smooth, white, scales with glittery phantom stripes almost invisible to the naked eye. They are the smallest members of this genus and the most vulnerable to other dragons due to their smooth and soft scales and lack of defensive or offensive properties, making them easy targets. Their physical build is most similar to that of the Night Fury, sporting two rudder fins at the bases of their tails and tail flukes at the tips, though with a pair of small additional triangular notches at the bases of their flukes. In place of having defined spines, they instead have something of a smooth dorsal fin running down their spines from their necks to the base of their tails and similar fins attached to the outer edges of their legs from the elbow down to their ankles. Older individuals may gain additional dorsal fins beside their main one along their spines. They're capable of retracting their conal teeth back into their wide set jaws, extending back further than their eyes set on the fronts of their heads. Though they are in various shades of white, they can also come with a myriad of darker patterns on their backsides, such as spots, speckles, mottling, blotches, patches, waves, and even stripes. The most common eye colour is blue and silver, though they can also have yellow, amber, and green. Their physical shape allows them to take off flying immediately from a stationary position on the ground, making them adept and incredibly fast fliers. Their foreheads are round and slightly more pronounced, better facilitating their ability to echolocate, and they sport appendages on the backs of their heads - two large ones serving as ears and two small ones on the sides of their heads as additional sensory aids that help them sense things like pressure changes in the atmosphere and auditory triangulation. There is slight sexual dimorphism in the species, females having rounder wings and fins and shorter ears than the males, whose wings and fins are more angular. Some females can even have more elaborately shaped fins on their tails and their backs. They walk on muscled plantigrade feet that allow them to stalk silently, though their musculature is more lithe and built for speed and agility rather than raw strength, indicating that they’re quicker to flee than they are to fight. Due to their lack of defensive properties, they’ve instead developed an evasive adaptation, able to cloak themselves by flying into the fire of their plasma blasts to heat up their soft and smooth scales and turn them into a reflective mirrorlike quality, making them invisible in the air. Their pale colouration grants them perfect camouflage in flight during the day in the clouds, but the glittery quality of their scales when they’re not cloaked also provides another important defense, able to blind their foes at the right angle when their scales reflect the light of the sun in just the right way.

Ecology: Light Furies are diurnal, the only species strictly so due to their stark white colouration making them vulnerable to attack before sun rises and after the sun sets. However, their natural adaptations make them fearsome daytime hunters, able to remain mostly invisible in the skies until they strike. Though, due to how small and vulnerable they are especially compared to species in their own genus, they are extremely skittish around other dragons especially in large groups. They will prioritize getting back to their nesting sites before sundown over a successful hunt or avoiding a storm. A Light Fury caught out at night is an easy target for many species of dragons, especially dragon-eaters like Deathgrippers. Skrills are also a dragon they fear because they have no natural defenses if they’re caught in a lightning storm, especially at night.

Social Organization: Of all the species in this genus, the Light Fury has the most complex and variable social system in comparison. There are actually several social groups Light Furies fall into: solitary females, solitary males, mated pairs and/or their hatchlings, male coalitions, and matriarchal dominance hierarchies. Individuals typically avoid one another, but they do remain generally amicable. The most common groups are the solitary males and females, followed by mated pairs, male coalitions, and last by matriarchal dominance hierarchies. Though primarily solitary, Light Furies mate for life and their mate selection process is rather complicated, individual preference playing a huge part. Though, generally the males are the ones tasked with impressing the females through various rituals, including demonstrating the ability to stay hidden. Most of the time, brighter scales are more desirable on average, though some individuals demonstrate particular preferences and will refuse many mate potentials until they find one they are content with. Then, there are male coalitions. Male coalitions are typically formed by brothers born in the same litter after leaving the nest, but sometimes unrelated males can form or be accepted into coalitions and typically only leave once they've found a mate. And then finally, the rarest social group Light Furies partake in is a matriarchal hierarchy where a female will have control over a group of unmated females, typically her daughters and granddaughters, and her sons and grandsons will leave the group once they reach maturity. Females will either leave the group once they find a mate or assimilate their mate into the group and raise their hatchlings within it.

Communication: Having a wide range of vocalizations, including purring, whinnying, chirping, warbling, crooning, chortling, gurgling, hissing, snarling, nickering, shrieking, meowing, and bellowing. They also communicate through their eyes, tails, ears, and even their teeth. Though they are capable of a variety of expressions, they are also rather reserved and will be more likely to keep their motives and true feelings more hidden underneath the surface than show them openly. They are not highly social creatures and would rather avoid contact if possible, skittish and evasive by nature. They tend to keep their body language closed and restrained, keeping their extremities close to their body and always ready to leave at a moment's notice if necessary to flee from a potential conflict.

Diet and Hunting: Solitary hunters alone, cooperative group hunters in coalitions and matriarchal hierarchies. When they live solitary lives, they only need provide for themselves and thus find more success, however when they hunt in groups, there's more depending on them so their hunts come with more risk and thus more chance of failure. They hunt during the day when they are best adept to blend in with the sky and ambush their prey from above without warning. They are primarily pescatarians, though when they are in groups, they will hunt for larger game on land. They are characterized most strongly by their extreme speed and their unique plasma blasts as a form of fire they breathe, similarly to the Night Fury. When they hunt, they will typically dive into the water at high speeds and come back up with fish, but when hunting on land, they will dive bomb their victims and hit them with a plasma blast to kill them, the force of the blast due to the speed more dangerous than the heat of the fire itself, usually cloaked so that their victims don't even see them coming in order to react. However, an unfortunate byproduct of their stark colouration and weak offensive and defensive builds, if they're caught by other stronger dragons, it's not uncommon for their kills to be stolen from them and for them to be driven away, forced to either attempt another hunt or go hungry. The dragons they avoid the most that will actively pursue them to hunt them are Skrills, Light Furies having an instinctive fear of them.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: Light Furies typically reach maturity at 2 - 3 years of age and females will begin to be capable of producing offspring at this stage. They will usually have clutches of 1 - 8 hatchlings at a time. They usually have clutches between 1 - 2 years between each other and will lay their eggs either in a cave, a rocky alcove on a cliffside, or in a tidepool on the coast hidden away from sight. Females will guard the nest while the males hunt, though sometimes they will trade positions closer to hatching. They hatch without their teeth and will slowly grow them in as they age within a year and then are able to retract once they grow into their wings. Compared to other dragon hatchlings, Light Fury hatchlings are more vulnerable due to their stark colouration and curious nature, necessitating close supervision by the mother until they mature. Many hatchlings do not survive, either due to environmental factors or being hunted by other predators and dragon species. By the end of the year, they will be able to fly and hunt on their own and leave the nest within 1-2 years after they're able to and will either lead solitary lifestyles or form into coalitions. Mated pairs will return to the same nesting site to lay their next clutches of eggs. The average lifespan of a Light Fury is anywhere from 20 - 50 years.

Habitat and Distribution: Light Furies live in the northern hemisphere just below the arctic shelf, unable to survive in consistent arctic temperatures and climates. They live in island archipelagos in shallow caves either by the coasts or up on mountains and alpine inclines where they can better camouflage against the pale colouration of the summits, considering that they cannot fly considerably long distances without tiring.

Skrill

Class: Reptilia Order: Draconia Suborder: Dracoformia Family: Draconidae ('true' dragons) Subfamily: Draconinae (four-legged with two wings) Species: Falsumwyvern electrica (electric false wyvern)

Class: Strike Weight: 1800lbs (816.47kg) Height: 6' (1.84m) Length: 22' (6.7m) Wingspan: 40' (12.19m) Active Day Period: Nocturnal Habitat Range: Mountains, forests, and glaciers Mating Behaviour: Monogamy

The skrill is the sole member of the genus Falsumwyvern. It is the closest genetic relative of the genus Furiadraco despite being classified as a wyvern (two-legged two-winged dragon) phenotypically. It also does not display the social inclination nor amicability of its fury cousins.

Description: A large dark-coloured dragon with a paler underbelly with brighter markings that run from its eyes down to the tip of its tail in a cloudy line like fire. They can come in various shades of black, dark blue, dark violet, and grey with their underbellies and markings following a similar hue scheme to match, though they can come in rarer colours like brown, red, green, and even white. Their wings have defined hooked thumb claws that allow them to climb with ease when they have to crawl on all fours, as they only have two legs. They have flat, round, oval heads with small typically yellow, amber, or red eyes and a single hooked horn growing out from the tips of their snouts, with a crown of narrow sharp spines on the backs of them as well as as a line of similar spines that run down their backs all the way to their tails. These narrow metallic spines help to channel lightning and electricity through their bodies, almost making them a living conduit or conductor. These spines also help them sense barometric pressure changes and ionic charges in the atmosphere as well. They have long narrow tails, almost whiplike in nature. Their physical build is similar to that of birds, their legs equipped with opposable claws capable of grabbing and snatching their victims with three in front and one in back. They also possess an underbite with hooked narrow teeth poking out from their maws. They’re characterized most notably by their ability to channel and even fire lightning in concentrated streams and sudden blasts, these streams likened to ‘white hot fire.’ They’re even capable of outspeeding Night Furies by riding lightning bolts during electrical storms, though due to the fact that they can only do this through electrokinesis, it cannot be counted towards its top flying speed generally. Older Skrills are not much different than the younger Skrills other than size, though the older ones do possess a distinctive green glow at the base of their spines and the spines on their backs are significantly longer in comparison to the younger Skrills.

Ecology: Skrills are most typically nocturnal, which makes them especially dangerous to encounter. However, they are also capable of hunting during twilight if necessary and will sometimes travel during the day if it’s darkly overcast or if there is an electrical storm to take advantage of. They’re especially dangerous to encounter in an electrical storm due to their typically dark colourations and their mastery over electricity, making conflicts with them practically a death sentence. Though, the one advantage that others have is that because they generate a natural electric field, it can telegraph their proximity before they’re properly spotted, reported to make all the hair on someone stand completely on end. There are very few dragons that can truly rival them, only having a true competitor in Night Furies, though even then, the small population of them doesn’t make them an active threat. They’re one of the few dragons capable of hibernating in frigid environments, and even able to be completely frozen in glaciers for centuries and emerge as alive and fierce as before.

Social Organization: Skrills are extremely aggressive and intelligent dragons with a profound sense of loyalty, retribution, and justice. They are capable of holding grudges for decades and may even pass that grudge onto their young. However, despite this, they are capable of recognizing when retribution has been satisfied and if someone helps them in a meaningful way, they will demonstrate a profound sense of loyalty towards the one who helped them. They will often reciprocate this effort, if someone has gone out of their way to help them, they will find a way to repay that favour. Though aggressive and primarily solitary, they are not entirely incapable of making social bonds, mating for life and sometimes travelling in very small flocks. They are deeply devoted to those it bonds with and aggressively protective and territorial over them.

Communication: Roaring, screeching, clicking, growling, snarling, barking, and cawing are its numerous vocalizations. Many of these serve the purpose of marking their territories, warning away any potential aggressors and intruders. They are not often heard during thunderstorms, though the sounds of the storms can often drown them out. However, they have a unique method of communication being the electrical fields and current they can naturally store and generate, the frequency of the natural humming they emit being able to communicate nonvocally with others of their kind.

Diet and Hunting: Skrills are opportunistic ambush predators that hunt from the dark sky and especially during thunderstorms. Though they are primarily pescatarians, they do eat land animals and even other dragons as well - which is what makes them so dangerous to other dragons. They are also one of the only species of dragon that eats and hunts electric eels as an essential part of their diets. Due to the shapes of their opposable claws on their feet, it makes it quite easy for them to snatch their prey from above and then electrocute it before killing and consuming it.

Reproduction and Life Cycle: Skrills will begin courting at 1 year of age, but may not bond with one another for another 2 or 3 years. They will scope out and establish a territory before they create a nest and will aggressively defend said territory and food. They will return to the same nesting site every year to have another clutch of eggs. Depending on the habitat, they can either build their nests high up on mountain cliffs, in the canopies of trees, or within a glacier cavern. They typically lay their eggs in the winter, usually 4 - 6 eggs at a time. The female will stay to brood the nest while the male goes out to bring her food and will bring food to the hatchlings once they emerge. Within two months, the hatchlings will be able to fly but will still stay close to the nest for the rest of the year until they leave to start their own lives. Skrills can live from 50 - 120 years.

Habitat and Distribution: These dragons have a wide range in and above the arctic shelf, able to live and hibernate in frigid environments as well as living on mountains and wooded boreal forests. They typically prefer living in higher altitude closer to the sky, as this allows them optimum hunting opportunities as well as quicker and easier access to thunderstorms as they appear. They typically chose darker places to nest and create dens as their typically dark colourations allow them perfect camouflage in these environments, especially at night.

[seafoamdew]

Yeah I got a few more planned for this au 😊 Dragonwalker au will never leave me

[thereweredragonshere]

Little guys round 4

[httyd-art-requests]

Concept art light fury? She fits in so well, I wish we got to see her

EXCELLENT REQUEST!!! I love this thing so much, look at her widdle face

Dragon #118 - Concept Art Light Fury

Requests are currently closed!

[ttamiartt]

Light Fury art concept... Follow me for more

[kirran906]

Concept art light fury

[justhauntley]

So remember that thing I reblogged? Yeah technically, it's not a fic-

(Click for better quality)

100% inspired by Mahogany_Rust's Forever Is My Tomorrow on ao3 by the way, it's great I really recommend it.

[mahoganyrust]

Which Light Fury?

or

(^art creds to @tehyacreates on TikTok (love their stuff))

[orkimi]

I am now a concept artist for “Berks Riders”, a work in progress HTTYD inspired game. It will be pvp orientated with many different attacks that match the dragons species.

Tail fin side view has temporarily been erased so I can rework it as its not the best I know I can do.

The game is set in a futuristic world where the dragons have evolved and even new species have popped up so artists may put their own little spin on things!

I cannot answer many questions, if you are interested then please join the discord server and ask there as I will NOT have the info you want answers to.

Discord server: https://discord.gg/zrbfcAF46K

[prettypinkeel]

the beauty of hiccup&LF in my au

[headfullof-ideas]

I’d like to mention that I’m not just expanding on other regions of the world. On characters and their dynamics with one another in this crazy project of a crossover that I’m doing. I’m also expanding on the dragons themselves. Playing around with the fact that they’re like people, and not all people are good. Some people just really, genuinely suck. But the thing this post is about is to showcase all the dragons who I am adding depth and lore to that we didn’t see in the films. Or the games. Because I am bringing in dragons from the games. So to all the School of Dragons players (RIP, that game was my childhood), here are the dragons from the games that I am bringing into this story (that I can immediately think of, especially since there’s a ten photo limit) (pictures supplied by Rise of Berk)

And then dragons that showed up in the films/shows that I’m adding lore to that wasn’t in the films/shows

It’s going to be so much fun (adding this after doing tags HOLY CRAP I FOUDN THE TAG LIMIT)

[the-stranger-of-the-hidden-world]

The Death of Slate

That little human was getting on the last of her nerves… so many nesting sites and helpless hatchlings put in danger all because that stranger that Moondance took in decided to cause some mischief with her adoptive brothers. What a mess those Rumblehorns had caused… all because of the irresponsibility of one scrawny human pretending to be a dragon. Those nesting sites were going to take years to become safe to use again… and the replacements were far from suitable, but would do for now. If Slate had her way, she would have done away with Stranger the moment Moondance had brought that little whelpling into the Hidden World.

But Moondance was willing to fight for Stranger, willing to refuse the command of her alpha to keep the little human she had found at the rim of the Mothermouth. She did fight Slate to keep Stranger… and so, the decision was made for her.

Though Slate wasn’t sure if that would last. She swore, she was one mishap away from banishing Stranger in spite of her adopted family’s wishes. Maybe even kill her depending on the severity.

A pity… for as much as Slate didn’t trust or care for Stranger’s presence in the Hidden World, Stranger did have a healthy respect for the large sea dragon. At the very least, the human respected Slate’s authority.

Hopefully there would be some peace now… Slate had far bigger problems to worry about. Why she needed to stay vigilant instead was still out there… she was sure of it. She thought she could defeat the former alpha, the Midnight Wrath and better defeat the Pack Killer… but when the Midnight Wrath came back and hid herself away in the depths away from any and all who would dare approach her, Slate knew why.

The Pack Killer had gotten to her… it had slain her mate and undoubtedly her hatchlings. And in all of her travels and her searchings, Slate hadn’t seen even one Night Fury left outside of the Hidden World… not a one.

They were gone. Midnight was the only one left… and although Slate didn’t want to admit it, she hadn’t seen a member of her own species in some time either. And if the Pack Killer could wipe out an entire species… then perhaps it could have the power to kill all dragons.

Slate thought she could better protect them from the Pack Killer, but if it was led to their home, who could say that it wouldn’t wipe them all out, slaying every last dragon one at a time? Whatever it was, it wasn’t a dragon… dragons didn’t kill for the sake of it, they didn’t kill to wipe out entire species. They killed to defend and they killed to eat. The Pack Killer wasn’t a dragon…

So who was to say that the Pack Killer wouldn’t come for Stranger someday? If any creature was smart enough to hunt down and wipe out an entire species over time… it would be a human.

Hopefully Slate would stop that. After all, if the Pack Killer was dead, then Slate wouldn’t have to constantly live in fear. She wouldn’t have to constantly watch her back and the backs of all so vigilantly… if she could have the assurance of knowing that the Pack Killer was dead and that their home was safe. And perhaps then… Slate would be able to accept Stranger, knowing that her presence wouldn’t lure such a threat closer to them.

Shadows had been spotted dangerously close to the Mothermouth. Peculiar shadows. They smelled like dragons, but they didn’t look like dragons. There was a particular scent, too… not all dragons were born in the Hidden World. Some didn’t even originate there. These dragons didn’t smell like they did, if they even were dragons.

Something was wrong. The dragons that kept watch always managed to draw this strange presence away from the Mothermouth, but every time it was spotted… it was closer. That wasn’t good.

Slate couldn’t rely on anyone else to protect the Hidden World anymore. She had to take matters into her own claws. This was her responsibility, so now she had to take drastic measures once and for all. It was time to end this… for good.

Setting out to hunt down the strange anomaly herself, Slate left the Mothermouth and stayed in the water. If she could find the source of these bizarre disturbances, maybe she could find out what was going on. Under the water, she could stay vigilant while staying hidden. Her natural coloration made her camouflage seamless in the water and on the rocky outcrops where her kind flourished. Grey scales broken up by spots and mottling to obscure her from above the water and silvery pale scales underneath to disguise her from below. If she could see them, they could not see her. Finding the disturbance would be easy like this. She would only need to breach the water for air every now and then, but she could hold her breath for a long time… it was natural for her kind. She would have this dealt with soon.

At least… so she thought. Finding them was easy and her scouts were right. This was a strange disturbance. She recognized the creaks and rattles of a Viking ship, but there was no ship in the water. The scent of dragons was on the wind, and indeed… not ones of the Hidden World. No one knew where these dragons originated from, but there was a concentration of them situated on an island far from most settlements. Vikings knew it as ‘the Isle of Certain Death.’ Both Vikings and dragons sent there were said to never return… except for these ones. While there were some dragons that ate other dragons, there was only one kind that ate them exclusively.

All dragons knew to fear them… they brought death with them. This was that scent, Slate was sure of it.

Leading them away from the Hidden World was the easy part. They followed dutifully, trailing after her just as she intended. She was worthy target, a worthy foe… which meant that she was a far more interesting quarry.

Now that she had led them away, she now faced a different problem - trying to figure out how to slip away from them without leading them back to the Hidden World.

Unfortunately… it was in this aspect that she had vastly underestimated her opponent.

She had led them to an island, one that was cold and without much greenery. More of a discarded bluff than an island, but it served her purposes well. However, her enemy was far more clever than she had anticipated. Day and night, they lurked about. She never saw them, never directly… but she could always smell them. She could feel them, sense them. Every time she tried to leave the island, she knew that they were following. Every time she tried to sleep, they drew closer to her. Flying was out of the question. Slate was better in the water than flying and these were flying dragons. There were multiple of them, which would explain why she couldn’t seem to escape them. They were taking shifts so that she could always be hunted. What clever beasts… far more clever than dragons usually were.

Days began to stretch on and Slate was beginning to grow exhausted and mad with each passing day. Little sleep, little rest, even her opportunities for food and water had been stolen from her. Metal traps had been set by the seawater, denying her the opportunity to flee. She could smell them and avoid tripping them, but not without being caught. Not without being followed… but the fresh water was tainted. It smelled like dragon fire, but there was no fire. Only a sickly sulphurous scent from the water that stained it a pale ill green, the fish that lived within dead from whatever had been put in the water.

The sounds of hissing and chittering drew closer every passing moment, her mind unraveling at the seams. Slate had never been hunted before, but once she knew that she was the prey… she knew she had found what she was looking for. Only the Pack Killer could be this conniving, this clever, this patient.

What a fool Slate was… Midnight was the better alpha between them. Midnight had managed to escape the Pack Killer at the cost of her family. Slate couldn’t even escape with her own life…

Within a week, the alpha of the Hidden World was nothing but a mad husk of her former self. Starved, dehydrated, exhausted, and paranoid. She couldn’t even consider consequences, any longer. Her wings still had strength, and so she attempted to fly to escape, just to find somewhere with food and water to give her the strength to somehow flee and shake these persistent predators.

But like death itself, her capture was inevitable. The beasts descended upon her with pincers that gripped her without mercy, forcing her back down to the ground as she struggled and flailed. Slate was overwhelmed by the powerful creatures, their chittering making clear exactly what it was that they intended to do with her. “Finally! Food! Hungry! Fresh meat!” Her commands could not force them to release her, they were immune to her authority. They came equipped with venom that made them immune… her fate was sealed. She had no fire, no strength, nothing that could save her.

“So, you are the one who escaped me last… clever girl.” A strange voice drawled in a language that the dragon couldn’t understand, but the threat behind it was beyond barriers. “A pity… I had hoped that you would be harder to hunt after you had disappeared. But, you tried your best. I must commend you on how long you’ve lasted, but alas… our fun must now end.”

Holding her down while the dragon eaters chittered in her ear, Slate was finally face-to-face with what she had been hunting this whole time. It was, indeed, a human like Stranger… but this human was nothing like Stranger. His eyes, hair, and skin were pale and he held himself coldly and collected. He didn’t have the wild youthful abandon like Stranger did. No, this man was calculated and cruel… not like Stranger at all. Even draped in dragon skin like her, they were nothing alike.

Hers was a gift given freely to her by her adopted family, harmlessly collected from their shed. This man’s… was dark in colour and taken from the dragons he had killed.

The scent of which was confirmed exactly what Slate was afraid of… this was indeed the Pack Killer. Midnight was right… and Slate was wrong. How many dragons did he kill to make that skin? Were any of them hatchlings? Were they once her family? Was he wearing the skin of their corpses as a twisted trophy?

Either way… Slate knew only one thing, now: she wasn’t going to make it back alive, anymore. Perhaps she never was.

Midnight was right… she was right all along. Slate should have never taken her position from her… she was unfit for it. She always had been.

The Hidden World would be better off without her… Stranger would be better off without her.

Maybe… a human would know better how to protect dragons from humans after all.

[countlessofvoids]

Randomly came across one of the trailers for HTTYD: THW and watching it I realized; What you learn in the movie, is something you'd already know if you watched the trailers.

The Hidden World itself is supposed to be main mystery of the story and it's reveal is meant to take your breath away — yet it was already shown in the marketing material.

The reason why the dragons left is not really explored beyond " We reduced them to instictual animals Toothless gets a girlfriend and they have to fight another bad guy." You'd think there will be some big plot twist, something that'd change the formula a bit. Like doing something else with the antagonist(s), instead of pretty much what was already done with previous one (Drago)? Why not have it so every movie has an unique take on it's antagonist, instead of "evil man abuses dragons pt. 2: electric boogaloo"? (I'm getting a little off-track here sorry).

Then there's the characters — the same amount of depth given to them in the trailer, is the same amount they get in the final product. I mean, the side characters get more scenes, but that's about it.

The biggest surprise I can think of would be some scenes/lines being altered or removed.

[thereweredragonshere]

I’m so deeply in love with the concept art style of httyd. I regularly study how it’s drawn it’s so fucking delicious

(The image in the bottom left is official httyd concept art! The rest of the drawings are mine!)

[tillythemenace]

All of this.

[ttamiartt]

Stormfly and Astrid