HopeHaven's Guide to Dragons
The dragon, without a doubt the most magnificent animal on Pern, and also Pern's only defense against Thread. Skill is required on the part of the dragonrider in order to become a productive unit in the fight against Thread. It is known that knowledge is power, so we at HopeHaven shall pass down unto all of you the knowledge required of a dragon's anatomy as well as various healing and injury treatment techniques as possible.
Anatomy:
The Head: A dragon's muzzle is more pointed than that of a firelizard's, being triangular in shape. At adulthood the dragon has 48 teeth, consisting of the front teeth and canines, which grow in during the first Turn, and the molars further back for chewing firestone, which grow in later. And not to leave out the dragon's long forked tongue. Because there is no real need, a dragon's sense of smell is, in fact, not as adequate as that of their human rider's.
The Eyes: A truly important part of the dragon, the eyes will have a section all their own for explanation. Dragon's have multi-faceted eyes with three lids for protection. The dragon does have sharper vision than humans and they also retain the ability to "see" through their rider's eyes, a concept linked through the mental connection shared by rider and dragon. The inner lid is transparent, and the others get proceedingly thicker afterward. Normally all three lids are not closed unless the dragon is sleeping. The only protection for their sensitive eyes are the protruding brow ridges, a poor replacement for the eyelashes that humans have. The brow ridges, when offered by the dragon to be rubbed, is a sign of trust on the dragon's part. The dragon's eyes often seem to whirl with emotion, the faster the whirling the stronger the emotion. We have been able to connect different colors to different modds of the dragon and they are as listed:
Of course, as often the case, the colors are mixed into a rainbow and we mustjudge by the dominant color as to the mood the dragon is in. Although riders should have no trouble identifying the mood, eye color is a good sign to others as to the dragon's thoughts.
Communication, the Mind: The dragon's memory span is very short, about 2-3 days, therefore the dragons usually depend on their riders to remember anything and everything important over a long period of time. Dragon's have a very bad time remembering names and often mess them up or shorten them, thus the honorific contraction. Dragon's are peaceful and only attack when their rider is in danger or during an accidental mauling during a Hatching, this is excused, because Hatchlings do not know any better. Dragon's have the ability to bespeak anyone whom they wish, although this tends to be a unfavorable experience and so is rarely done. The more prominent head knobs on the dragon's head are their equivalent of ears, picking up sound vibrations that perhaps their mind or sight do not catch. This probably also has to do with their exquisite spatial sense, which helps when betweening on in Threadfall.
Hide: Dragon hide is smooth, strong, hairless, and soft to the touch. Indee, some describe it as "downy". A healthy dragon hide is glossy with no grey or dry patches. Sick hide tends to be patchy or chalky to the touch. The five colors of dragons are: Gold (pale yellow to antique gold), Bronze(golden-green, although some can be more brownish), Brown(tan to dark), Blue (sky blue to deep seawater) and Green (pale green to forest green). Female dragons, gold and green, change variations of their color during their proddy period before mating. Just before, they may even seem to glow. As dragons age, their hide tends to show it, for example browns get greenish while golds tend to bronze as they age.
Inside: While nobody has really dissected a dragon for honorific purposes, we do know some facts about their insides. A dragon can hold their breath for up to 10 minutes when they fully inflate their dorsally located lungs, which makes their chests swell to twice it's normal size. Dragons have two stomachs, one for food( for weyrlings they eat 7-8 times a day, then after one turn twice a sevenday) and the other for firestone to be saved a fire fuel. A Dragon's blood is a green ichor which is why dragon's hides are a greenish tint instead of a human's pink. Dragon's also have several hearts located in their ribcage in comparison to a human's.
Skeleton: Dragon's have an extremely stong skeleton due to the fact that the bone's must take the stress of take-offs and landings. As far as we can tell, there are 10 vertebrae in the neck and 56 in the back. The most popular theory is that dragon's have a skeleton made up of light, flexible plates, with a fused ribcage of one piece. Judging also for their landing and takeoff stress, the only feasible joint they could posess would be a ball-and-socket joint, the strongest joint known. Dragon's also have a line of ridges that travel along the dragon's spine down it's nexk to the end of it's tail becoming less and less prominent as they travel further down.
Muscles: Dragons are heavily muscled for the ability of flight along with extremely muscled hind-legs for power during take off.
Legs: The dragon's front legs have 5 taloned fingers that can hold things like human hands, the front talons are retractable, the rear talones (on three toes) are not, much like that of felines. The forelegs are shorter than the rear ones causing a lopsided gait while walking on the ground, and when resting dragons usually either lie entirely down or sit on their haunches.
Tail: Dragon's have forked tails which contains the means for them to excrete waste. They can hold their waste for up to 5 days in the event of illness, then go between to release themselves. In the event that a dragon cannot go between in 5 days to relieve themselves, there will be quite a mess to clean up. Dragon's genitalia are concealed under a pouch - like cover of skin under the tail-body junction, and is only shown during mating.
Wings: Dragons can fly as soon as their wings are dry after Hatching, but to prevent injury they are not allowed to until they are one Turn old. Their wingspan is usually 1 and 2/3 the length of the dragon. As dragon's age, their elbow and finger-tip joints harden, which makes maneuvering in the air difficult, but gliding is still feasible as that is done at the shoulder.
Wing Terms:
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Healing your Dragon: guidelines for healing techniques
Some short notes: Fellis is deadly to dragons and firelizards, in the place of that painkiller, numbweed or another remedy can be used. Don't between when a dragon is in pain, their concentration is compromised, and that could leave both dragon and rider lost forever. The queen dragon can help steady the injured dragon by locking gazes with him or her. Weyrfolk don't usually get ill, except for the occaisional stomach ache from over eating, or the more common kidney or liver infection. A untrained dragonrider in regards to healing can administer some relief to his or her dragon without a present healer such as: purging the dragon if constipated, applying numbweed to a bitten tongue, rubbing unguents to weary muscles.
Cardiovascular: in older dragons, age and strain weakens the heart. Signs of overexertion of a strained heart are irregular beating(usually second or third heart), lethargy, and water retention. REMEDY- light daily exercise, avoid stress.
Chafed skin: the hide of a dragon can become cracked from improperly made, sized, or improperly oiled straps, or some other irritant. This can become quite painful, and could be dangerous when between. REMEDY- oil the chafed or irritated area, numbweed if needed, make sure the straps are PROPERLY OILED and maybe extra padding in the chafed area until it is healed would be helpful.
Constpation: this usually occurs from overeating in hatchlings and weyrlings, and is shown by a thickened tail. REMEDY- purge the system of uneliminated excreta. Massage down the tail to help him or her relieve it. And yes, you have to clean it up.
Cuts: caused by many things. REMEDY- clean with redwort, and allow to heal uncovered. If it's deep, suture it. Use numbweed to deaden the pain, assist in clotting, and keeping the injured area moist.
Fractures: a dragon's bones are difficult to break, and equally as difficult to set and heal. Broken limbs can be caused by many things from poor landings, over zealous flying in mating flights(where'd that rim come from?), etc. Simple fractures don't have the abnormal angle of bones, even rupturing the hide surface, like compound fractures. REMEDY- Simple fracture: if the bone is unaligned, move it back in place, then splint the limb and wrap in bandages. Compound: Clean the injured area with redwort, align the bone edges and lock into place, you can splint with wherry gut inside if it's needed. Suture the damaged muscles and veins from inside or outside. Wrap the splint around the injured area, using reeds and cloth. Check for signs of infection and poor healing. Coat the area with numbweed 3-4 times a day until the hide has healed over.
Over Stressing: another common ailment of weyrlings is caused by growing muscles and overdoing things. Sometimes it's cause by older dragons from flights, sweeps, and Fall. The signs of it are the injured area being favored, limping, or in case of a wingbone, the sail will be misshaped. REMEDY- wrap the area with cloth, using reeds to immobilize if necessary, and have the dragon rest. Sometimes swimming helps regain control of the stresses tendon. No flying if the hindleg or wing is injured this way.
Patchy Hide: this is usually seen in hatchlings and weyrlings, or in dragons with harnesses of the wrong size, or IMPROPERLY OILED STRAPS. the hide will seem dry, patchy, and itches. REMEDY- oil. The growing dragons should be oiled at least twice a day, and if this is te case more oil or a switch in the strength of it.
Repiratory: colds are evident by runny nose and lethargy. REMEDY- plenty of water and rest. Pneumonia is rare, and caused by a secondary infection after an extensive thoracic injury (like Thread). Sign of it are high temperature, labored breathing, coughing with no phlegm, dull eyes, cold or hot, clammy, hide. REMEDY- warm water, keep warm with blankets, he or she will need the breathe in steam -vapor of hysop, thymus, and / or aconite.
Ruptured Veins: this can be caused by Threadscore, and is evident by seepage of unclotted ichor. REMEDY- cover with numbweed to clot the ichor. Stitch area plus a finger's breadth on either side of the wound, using fine stitches of treated thread. Apply numbweed and keep area moist until healed.
Sprains: see over stressing.
Stomach Complaints: either over eating or bad firestone causes discomfort in the dragon's stomachs. REMEDY- if it's bad firestone, this usually clears up after expelling the ash. Over eating can lend itself to other problems such as constipation.
Suturing: clean the area with redwort, threat the needles and thread. Gut thread is osed for inside since it dissolves over time. Treated tanner thread is used for outside. Cross stich heavily used areas. Back stich to end of the suture.
Talon Loss: weyrling dragons commonly lose a talonduring the flying and hutning lessons. REMEDY- the talon will regrow in several sevendays.
Threadscore: minor scoring can be treated by the rider. A dragon is supposed to go between when scored to kill the Thread. The worst injuries occur to the wing's edges: leading, tailing, and finger sail. REMEDY- cleanse with water, and douse with numbweed for pain. Let heal uncovered.
Transfusions: rarely needed, they are used to replenish ichor by drawing, through a large needlethorn syringe, ichor from a healthy dragon and placed over the injuries of the hurt one. Bones and cartilage will soak up the new ichor.
Tongue Bites: when learning to chew firestone, weyrlings tend to bite their tongues. REMEDY- apply numbweed to bitten area.
Wing: wing tears can be quite dangerous. Minor ones will heal in a few days, and major will take a few sevendays. Fragmented Leading Edge: the cartilage of the leading edge is torn, stretched, bent. Wrenched finger tip: the forestay tip is broken, or bent back from the joint above. Stretched Tendon: tendons around any one of the bones stretched, misshaping the sails. Tattered Mainsail: the wing itself is torn or broken through. REMEDY- the healer will need a table, bolt of cloth, basket reeds, assistance, jug of oil, pot of thin numbweed, needle box, spool of treated thread, and a washing bowl. Survey the damage from dragonback, then put a table in front of the wing to stand on. When the dragon landed, assistants should have already slathered numbweed on the wounds to promote clotting, and to deaden the pain. Coat hands with oil three times then dry, then two more to lessen the effect that numbweed wil have. Have everyone wash up in redwort. Have someone cuts lengths of cloth as long as the leading edge. Have someone treat needles with armslength of thread. Support the wing underneathwith cloth, then stitch it to the wingbone and stretch it tight from dorsal to the finger joint. Make neat tacks along the dorsal, and use liberal amount of numbweed so that there is no pain. Fasten to the underside, pull taught again, and attach the cloth and basket reeds below the wing to substitute for shattered battens and sails. Take numbweed paddle and smear cloth with salve thin enough so that wing tatters can be placed on the cloth for regrowth and formation. Lay on the cloth what wingsail fragments remain. Brace the trailing edge with reeds and gauze. If all goes well, the dragon's wing will mend with overlapping of growth. The wing will be scarred for a few Turns, but it will eventually be worn down to smoothness. He / she will learn how to compensate for the change in the wing's form once in flight.
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