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AA: Cragmaw Dragon

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Description

Species Name:
Cragmaw dragon

Average Lifespan:
800 years

Habitat:
Dry, rocky mountains with little to no vegetation, at very high altitudes

Population/Distribution:
Extremely rare. Found exclusively on the west-facing slopes of the Reign Mountains, near the border between Bratkowice and Tusa.

Size:
See image for reference of an average adult.

Physical Characteristics:
Cragmaws are immense, flightless dragons with heavy bodies and extremely powerful jaws. Their teeth are comprised mostly of diamond, enabling them to crush any natural substance with ease – a necessary trait, given that their diet is made up almost entirely of rocks. Consumed minerals are digested in a highly pressurised, furnace-like stomach that can reach temperatures of up to 3500°C (6300°F). Fire and magma can thus usually be seen glowing from within the dragon’s throat and jaws, though it does not have the ability to spit or breathe these.

Their wings are vestigial and used for balance and regulation of their body temperature rather than travel. On the end of their tail is a club which is used for smashing rock faces and larger boulders into more bite-sized portions. The characteristic growth of crystals on their backs is believed to be a store of minerals for the dragon, similar to fat stores in organic creatures, and may be reabsorbed when food is scarce. To handle their massive weight, the cragmaw’s legs are short and very strong, with clawed toes that are designed to dig securely into the ground with every step. This makes them very stable even on steep mountainsides, but also very slow.

Every part of a cragmaw is resistant to fire and magma. Both their skin and mucosa are very tough and can deflect most hard objects, keeping them safe in rockslides and cave-ins.

Behaviour:
Cragmaws are very solitary dragons. They socialise with other cragmaws only once every 50 to 60 years in order to mate and, though a pair will stay with each other in order to look after their young, they separate again once the child has reached maturity (a period that takes approximately 100 years). Eggs are laid one at a time and take 3 years of constant incubation in lava to hatch.

Other than these times, cragmaws greatly dislike the company of other living beings. They will tolerate small, local animals in their vicinity as unavoidable nuisances, though anything that gets within reach runs the risk of being squashed or swallowed by the dragon – similar to how a person might smack a mosquito. If needled enough, a cragmaw can throw a tantrum that causes landslides, cave-ins or great damage to a mountainside.

When not bothered, cragmaws are reasonably calm and content to ignore everything except their own lives. They carve burrows within any suitable rocky wall to live in and, unless moving to a mate's burrow to care for their hatchling, they will stay in this same burrow for centuries.

Diet:
Cragmaws are obligate mineravores, meaning they can only digest inorganic materials such as rocks, metals and crystals. Precious gems, iron and copper are their most favoured foods and they can consume large amounts of ore in order to gather these. They are also known to consume anything they perceive as a threat, not for sustenance but to destroy it with their powerful stomachs. Organic materials are simply incinerated and passed through the dragon.

Uses:
Given the rarity of cragmaw dragons, all parts of them are said to be useful to legendary degrees – ‘their blood will gift eternal youth’, ‘their bones will cure all diseases’. These are, of course, all wildly false, and their actual uses – if any – are not known. (Please do not dabble in any cragmaw parts without mod permission! :'D)

Additional Information:
There exists only one reputable research paper on the effects of cragmaw parts, written by a Bratkovan scholar many centuries ago. It concludes that their claws – the only part researched – do not have any effect when ingested except mild diarrhoea.    
Image size
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