Traits

Night dragons appear at a very specific time of year, no matter what world a person might find themselves on. They will usually appear at the start of Winter and depart at the Winter Solstice. Things get tricky when more than one sun is involved, but the concept is roughly the same. They appear as the coldest time of year approaches and leave when it reaches peak intensity. Night dragons are rumored to have power similar to the great Ancestors of all creatures. Rather than being original or basal forms, they are a mutation that further advances the magical capabilities of elemental dragons.

Purebred dragons with completely mythical-tier traits only occur once per year. These legendary dragons are influencers which can affect the dragons around them. A Night dragon enhances the bonds of dragons it encounters in its youth, leading to some strange elemental pairings between dragons and Riders. It learns to control this ability and support others as it ages.

PHYSIOLOGY

Night dragons do not have default physical traits. This means that purebred Night dragons cannot swap out traits. Crossbreeds may still switch out for their secondary element's traits. It is exceptionally rare for the Night element to pass through breeding. When the Night element does not pass to offspring, a random element from a certain pool passes instead. These are the same elements that Night is compatible with.

Ocean | Storm | Wind | Dark | Metal

TEMPERAMENT

Night dragons do not appear to look for specific temperaments in their Riders. It is noted that their own temperaments are a mixture of their affiliated elements–with Night dragons being slightly introverted. This varies from dragon to dragon, especially since Night dragons might inherit a bit more adventurous spirit from their Wind affinity. They may bond with any element of Rider. Further preferences are difficult to understand due to their extreme rarity.

Night MAGIC

The incredible physical versatility also reflects in the magic they can learn. They are born knowing Tier II magic in the following elements:

Ocean | Storm | Wind | Dark | Metal

They may show minimal effects of these forms of magic--in example, a short tuft of feathers on their tail, softly glowing eyes, or a few tiny metal scales scattered among their normal ones. Additionally, if they have a Rider, they may choose one of these elements to rank up to Tier IV for its normal Tier IV magic. In this case, they skip Tier III learning.

Along with these learned magics, the Night dragons are rumored to possess innate abilities. The night dragon can look up to a year into the past. The extent of this ability–or if it even exists–is only known by their Riders. When a conversational dragon is asked about it, they will quickly dodge the question. Whether the magic comes at a price, or is forbidden, or is much more meager than believed, is something the general populace can only speculate on.

COLOR RULES

Night dragons are treated as being melanistic and follow those design rules. In addition, their scales will sparkle like stars and shimmer with iridescence. Crossbreeds may show partial melanism with either a hard or soft edge.

The following traits may display their normal colors over the melanism effect, if desired:

• Appaloosa
• Tobiano
• Vampire
• Zebra
• Hailstorm
• Nebula
• Aurora
• Starry
• Dust
• Grunge
• Veil
• Pollen

Additionally, Somatic may create patches of any coloration where they cover the Night dragon, so long as all markings are distinguishable and follow regular brightness rules (IE: sooty is still black, inside of rosettes is still lighter than outside, etc.).

DEFAULT DISPLAY AND MODIFIER TRAIT RARITY

They inherit markings of affiliated elements as if they were that element. Night semi-customs are not normally available.