Emerald dragon

Emerald dragons were a breed of gem dragon known to be inquisitive and often more knowledgeable than most sages and for their similarity to emerald.

Description
When a wyrmling, an emerald dragon had translucent sea-green scales. As it grew older, its scales hardened and developed countless different shades of green, with everything from a minty hue to a deep emerald. These scales scintillated in any light and, owing to the wide range of shades, its hide appeared to be constantly moving. Conversely, their pupils faded with age, so a great wyrm's eyes were naught but blank green glowing orbs. On the whole, however, they were quite beautiful.

A hatchling had a body and  tail, while an adult had a body length of  and a tail length of. The biggest great wyrms grew to long in the body, with tails  long.

Personality
Emerald dragons were deeply inquisitive, with a keen interest in local customs and history. They often exceeded the greatest human scholars for knowledge in particular fields of study. Nevertheless, they would rather only observe, not get involved.

However, they also tended to be paranoid and distrustful of visitors, and their lairs often had many traps. They were reclusive did not like anyone going anywhere near their hoards. Hence, it was very hard to make even a casual acquaintance with an emerald dragon, let alone learn what they knew.

Combat
Emerald dragons could breathe a cone of sonic energy. They might also generate a cloud of fog to blind opponents.

Society
Emerald dragons were especially protective as parents. They took good care of their young and wished them to stay in their lairs with them for as long as was possible so they could protect one another. Families raised clutches of two to five offspring, and they were likely to be encountered alone or in such clans.

They were omnivorous, but favored the flesh of giants and lizards.

Emerald dragons spoke Draconic and both their own language and a language shared among all gem dragons. Moreover, more than one in seven hatchlings could communicate with any sentient being, and the others gained this power as they aged, with almost half possessing it by the time they were mature adults and over two-thirds when great wyrms.

Relations
Emerald dragons were afraid of red dragons for their rapacious greed and were openly aggressive to fire giants.

They would occasionally have sapphire dragons as their neighbors.

Lairs
Emerald dragons preferred to live underground. Their favored spots for their lairs were the cones of volcanoes that were dormant or extinct, or at least rarely active. Although reclusive, they did prefer to dwell in areas close to some sort of civilization and people of any race, though not where they were likely to make their presence known. Even while on the Inner Planes, they kept an eye on their favorite places back in the Material Plane.

Notable Emerald Dragons

 * Smargard, a thane of the gem dragon deity Sardior, the Ruby Dragon.
 * Behrshimmer
 * Raulothim
 * Esmerandanna
 * Vercevoran

Appearances

 * Card Games
 * Blood Wars