General:
Dragons are warmblooded, so even through they are reptilian in appearance their skin is warm to the touch. Their blood is called "ichor" and it's green. The hide of a healthy dragon is supple and resilient, requiring frequent oiling as they grow to prevent cracking and drying and to ease the discomfort caused by itching. Betweening on a dragon with fissures in the skin could be fatal to the dragon. When ill, a dragon's color may become dull and lusterless.

Head:
A dragon's head is wedge-shaped, topped by two head knobs. Their eyes are protected by protruding eye ridges. They have three sets of eyelids called first lids, second lids and third lids. The first lid is transparent. Dragons have no "ears" though their headknobs serve as sound receptors. They are primarily telepathic. Their eye color tends to reflect their mood. Green=Contentment, Blue=Contentment, Yellow/Orange=Alarm/Worry, Red/Deep Violet=Anger/Sexual Arousal.

Blue=Contentment/Pleased		Red=Anger/Hunger
Purple=Anger/Sexual Arousal	Yellow=Worry/Alarm	Green=Contentment/Pleased

Neck and Tail:
Beginning behind the head knobs the dragon's neck is studded by a series of neckridges to their shoulders. The rider sits between two neck ridges when flying. The neckridges flatten out through the wing/back area and start again down the tail. Their anus and genitalia are located beneath their tails, the genitals revealed from their protective pouch only during mating.

Body:
The dragon has powerful haunches on which he/she crouches with flexed knees in an upright position. They launch themselves into the air with a thrust of their hind legs. The forearms are smaller, ending in five digit claws called "foreclaws". The dragon's "hands" have an opposable thumb. To assist a rider to mount, the dragon crouches down and offers their forearm as a "step-up". If you want to know the relative size of a person to a dragon, a bronzerider is shorter then his dragon's "knee". That's a lot of dragon towering above!

Wings:
Each of a dragon's wings are 3/4's the length of the body. So, from wingtip to wingtip they are two-thirds longer than from tip to tail. A "dragonlength" is the tip to tail measurement. Their wings are bat-like with translucent membranes stretching over the three sections or "sails" of their wingframe. Their shoulders are heavily muscled where the wings attach to their bodies.

Leading Edge
The front edge of the wing

Trailing Edge
The curving, batlike edge of the wing.

Primary Mainsail
The inner section of the wing from body to inner bone. It supports the bulk of the dragon's weight.

Secondary Mainsail
The 2nd section of the wing between inner and mid-bone.

Spar Mainsail
The smallest and outer section of the wing from mid-bone to spar bone. The Secondary and Spar are used for maneuverability.

Finger Tip
The end of the Spar Bone at the very tip of the wing.

Finger Sail
The area of spar mainsail adjacent to the finger tip. This area is fragile and can be prone to injury.

Batten Ribs
The thinner cartiligenous ribs veining the wing sails.

Ailerons
The sections of wingsail between the batten ribs

I found some wonderful artwork of Dee Dresloughs which allowed me to make the above graphic. Click here for some more that are relevant to anatomy. These are wonderful! Please note, Dee does not draw Pern Dragons, that is why these dragons have manes. They are from her personal world.

Growth

Dragon size is often something hard to conceptualize as well as visualize. I, as an American, was always ata loss when looking at the Dragon chart supplied in the DLG since it was given in meters. I have converted it to yards as well. Why yards? Ah, think of a football field and plop your dragon on it. Much easier to visualize, at least for me. Hope it helps some of you. I do have to say that the majority of people on Mu*s seem tend to RP their lifemates much smaller.