Tylor

Tylors were the product of dragon and hatori crossbreeding, notable for their variety, insatiable appetite, and natural knowledge of the arcane. They were often compared to a dragon kin version of half-elves.

"When it comes down to it, tylors are best described as the illegitimate dragonkin. I’ve heard that they occur when an Evil dragon mates with a hatori, though why a dragon would do this (other than for the specific purpose of siring a tylor) is beyond me."

- Caramon Majere

Description
Tylors resembled a mix of a dragon and a giant crocodile. Unlike many of dragon kin, tylors did not have wings. These cross-bred creatures could have blood of various dragons as well as their traits and scale hue. They usually had long tails, sharp as a blade, two horns, and two fins on the sides of their heads.

Tylors inherited their physical appearance from their draconic parent and low-bearing stout bodies from the hatori parent. Rare creatures, chromatic dragon tylors were the most commonly encountered of the bunch, and their metallic brethren were even sparser. Regardless of the type of dragon who parented a tylor, they always had that dragon's head and hatori body. The scale coloration was the brightest on the head and slowly mixed and melded into the earthly and duller tones of the hatori body.

Red-scaled tylors had thick and muscular necks of red dragons with low-bearing thick and stout bodies. They had knob bulging ridges that stretched along the creatures' spines and reached their thin tail, shaped like a sword's blade.

Abilities
Tylors received their dragon parents' draconic abilities, vulnerabilities, and immunities; however, their alignment did not have to be the same as their parents'. They also did not possess their parents' breath-weapons.

Red and green tylors, like their dragon ancestors, had auras of terror surrounding them, that could render opponents helpless in the face of scaly and always hungry death. Reds were immune to fire, paralysis, and sleep, but were vulnerable to cold magic, abilities, and effects. Tylors were natural magic users and had access to many spells, such as bull's strength, cat's grace, burning hands, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp, detect magic, flare, light, mage hand, read magic, and resistance. Additionally they had spell-like abilities that allowed them to pass without trace at will, cast blur or invisibility three times per day, and use longstrider once a day.

Some tylors were said to have uncanny camouflaging abilities, making them almost impossible to notice until the creature moved to strike.

Combat
When in battle, tylors were a tough mark. Highly intelligent, they worked with each other to strategize against opponents and continued to do so even during combat. Trained tylors with riders on the backs were obedient and followed their masters' lead; however, once the rider was gone, or in the wild, these flightless dragons started combat with an assault of spells. They were direct fighters and often took the most direct approach in battle. They used their claws, deadly bites, and tails against opponents.

Society
Tylors were known for being intelligent, quick learners and more trainable than wyverns. Some talented trainers could claim tylors as mounts. Tylors were social beings and could be accustomed to training with other creatures. However, they also had no qualms with killing, eating, or abandoning their incapacitated in battle masters, then fleeing to save their own lives. In the wild, tylors could be encountered in isolation from others, in couples, or in big moots of up to thirty individuals. Tylors liked to lair in shallow underground holes, preferably close to often-traveled roads.

Tylors formed their loosely-knit group as their dragon parents often shunned them.

Tylors usually spoke Common and several Draconic languages.

Ecology
It was theorized for a long time that tylors were sterile. This theory proved to be untrue. Tylors bred only with tylors of the same dragon type and heritage. A large group of similarly-colored tylors gathered once every few decades to find partners and procreate, preserving their draconic bloodline.

Tylors often migrated, living nomadic lives, mainly because they quickly depleted all food sources around them. Tylors were slowed by the low temperatures and cold climates. In such cases, they had to consume even greater amounts of food to remain powerful and battle-ready. Tylors reached juvenile age at twenty-six to fifty years, adult at one or two hundred years, and old at four hundred and up to six hundred. When advancing from one age group to another, tylors went through a painful metamorphosis over the course of two days; they shed their skin, with the new layer gradually hardening as the monster grew.

Tylors, along with other strange and exotic creatures like hatori, horax, and skrits, were known to inhabit the scorching sands of Anauroch desert. There were rumors that these little-known monsters carried via a gate to the world of Krynn, open somewhere in the desert's northern Sword. Tylors could also be found on the world of Athas.

History
It was theorized that original tylors were created through manipulation of the dragon goddess Takhisis on the distant crystal sphere of Krynn. Her goal was to spread her power by spreading and breeding her chromatic dragon servants as widely as possible, eventually creating these wingless wyrms.

Appearances

 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards