Bronze dragon

Bronze dragons were the third most powerful of the metallic dragons.

Physical description


Physically, the bronze dragon was quite fierce in appearance, despite its good nature. While most of its body was a reflective bronze color, the wings were often tipped with green. The dragon had three large horns protruding from each cheek, pointing back towards the tail. The tips of these points were black and very sharp, and were often used for grooming. The tongue was purple-gray, long and pointed, and not forked. A large frill ran down the upper part of its neck. They smell like sea-spray. These dragons possessed the ability to alter their form, assuming the appearance of any type of animal or humanoid creature they choose. As such, many could have encountered a bronze dragon without ever being the wiser. A friendly dolphin that saved a drowning child; a mercenary sailor eager to fight pirates; a diver specializing in searching undersea shipwrecks for possible treasure… all of these could have been a bronze dragon. Many bronze dragons will have used their shape-shifting abilities to get close to an enemy target; bronze dragons prefer melee combat.

Combat
While bronze dragons are often fascinated with battles, especially fighting to defeat evil, they have strong moral compunctions against killing living beings unless absolutely necessary. They will often join good-aligned armies to fight the forces of evil, either in human form or their own. In battle, their weapon of choice is to breathe repulsion gas, which is so putrid that it forces absolutely everything away. They also like to relocate a foe to a remote location where it can do no harm when possible. When absolutely forced to kill, the bronze dragon is a deadly combatant, roasting enemies with bursts of lightning or ripping them open with its clawed forelegs.

Breath weapon
Bronze dragons had two separate breath weapons. The first was a line of electricity similar to a lightning bolt, and the second was either a cone of gas that affected the minds of creatures caught in it, causing them to flee for a short time, or a cone of repulsion energy which physically pushed enemies away.

Ecology
They truly enjoyed observing and interacting with smaller creatures, most especially humans. They would have often gone out of their way to help them, such as rescuing humans from a shipwreck or a dangerous foe. In many of these instances, the bronze dragon will transform itself into a human, so that those who it helps never know who really did the rescuing. They would never seek payment for their help, in any form. They always sought justice as best they could, and could not abide to see any creature being treated with cruelty of any sort. The older the dragon, the more pronounced the passion for justice becomes. They were probably the most social species of dragon, and often swam and played together in groups. They also love to attend human festivals and parties, although usually in human form. The bronze dragons were spiritually connected to silver dragons as they have similar personalities and were each involved in an ancient ritual.

Powers
Bronze dragons could speak with animals, create food and water, make fog, control water and weather, and detect thought.

Lair
Bronze dragons were often found along the coastal regions of the world. They liked to dwell along the sea, to make use of their aquatic abilities, while staying close to humanoid settlements. Many ship merchants would pay a bronze dragon to protect their trade routes. More nefarious bronze dragons would demand bribes for “protection” while accepting similar bribes from pirates to operate within their territories. Given its exceptional abilities as a swimmer, the entrance to a bronze dragon's lair was quite naturally underwater, and was often disguised with seaweed and coral. The bulk of the lair was above water level, however, consisting of multiple tunnels and large chambers, some as much as a thousand feet above sea level. They preferred to make their lairs in an island volcano, if possible.

Parenting and development
Bronze dragons mated for life, and took their duties as parents with the utmost seriousness. They would have protected their eggs and their wyrmlings at any cost. Although bronze dragons always lived near water, they laid their eggs in a dry cave. Apart from a dry, relatively warm environment, bronze dragon eggs required no special conditions for incubation like those of most dragons. Upon hatching, the wyrmlings were raised, taught, and protected by their parents. A newhatched bronze wyrmling appeared yellow with a tinge of green, and the scales will gradually shift to bronze as it matures. Bronze wyrmlings loved to swim in the ocean, and frolic in much the same manner as dolphins.

Known bronze dragons

 * Lhammaruntosz
 * Nymmurh
 * Felgolos
 * Liiravre
 * Quelsandas
 * Umsheryoth