Dragon's Anatomy
Overall skeleton
As Dragons are beasts of flight, they have hollow bones. This may sound as if their bones are delicate and fragile, but think of the size of Dragons! Even though the bones are hollow, they aren't likely to snap like twigs. More like bricks, actually. Also, all Lorian Dragons have exactly this anatomy. No matter what other people say.
The head
The head of today's Western Dragon is generally thick and broad. A massive skull protects the squishy brain, as no organism wishes to have its brain mashed. In the roof of the mouth lies a faux palate, which opens to emit flame (or whatever element that they control). Thus, the soft esophagus is not burnt by the searing heat. In addition, they boast powerful jaw muscles, strong enough to "Om nom nom nom" any unlucky fellow. Dragons' olfactory receptors are quite well-developed, as they should be. After all, Dragons need to be able to smell a knight sneaking up on them from behind. What honorable knight would want to fight a dragon with a stuffy nose? The beasts' eyes are keen as well; they must look for prey (and maidens) scurrying about on the ground. The ears of most Dragons are small, or even non-existent, but they can hear both higher and lower frequencies than we Humans. The auditory capabilities of the Dragons are certainly not their most-used sense, but you are not likely to see one with a hearing aid anytime soon. That would just be silly.
The brain
I considered grouping the brains of the Dragons in with the head, but it is far too complex an organ not to be given its own section. They are often considered the most intelligent non-sentient beings on Lore. This is not always true. Many Dragons are actually sentient beings, some even more intelligent than some Humans. What are you looking at me for? Anyhow, their brains are quite proportionate to their bodies, unlike the dinosaurs of Terra, who were quite unintelligent. Perhaps the largest portion of the brain is dedicated to memory. This allows them to learn virtually any language; they tend to learn the language of their territory within only a few months after their birth. The second-largest section of the creatures' mind is the olfactory bulb, and the related sections. This is what gives them the aforementioned keen sense of smell. Dragons also have very large portions of the brain dedicated to logic and reasoning (This is possibly the least important part - I get along fine without it). The most important, of course, is the lower part of the brain, which is called - even in Humans - the Reptilian Brain. This controls the autonomic brain, breathing, and heart rate, as well as emotion. Dragons, needless to say, are quite emotional creatures.
The personality
As most Dragons are sentient beings, the personality of each is as individual as a snowflake, but less melty. However, they do share certain traits. Dragons tend to be quite territorial. If they weren't, many quests would be a lot easier. They like to have an area to call their own, and to defend from pesky would-be warriors. Also, they like to hoard treasure in said territories. Treasure is as dear to Dragons as it is to Humans, perhaps even more so. They hate parting with a single coin of it, much preferring to add to it. Come to think of it, Dragons remind me of myself.
The torso
Western-style Dragons tend to have massive, muscular torsos. This is a necessity, because their ribcages are quite large. After all, it requires massive lung power to provide enough oxygen to their entire bodies, or to launch their breath attacks out far enough. Huge pectoral muscles give them the typical image of being powerful beasts. In fact, these are perhaps the largest muscles in their body. Then again, most Dragons have iron-hard abs. Despite the fact that some people portray them as cold, unfeeling creatures, they actually have large hearts. Wait, what do you mean that the heart doesn't control emotion? Hmm. Well, it still has the ability to pump blood to the entire body, which takes huge muscle-power.
The forelegs
The forelegs can vary greatly from breed-to-breed. Some forelegs are hoofed, some have talons, and some are a mixture of the two. Also, various Dragons have forelegs that resemble arms. These are generally employed in picking up maidens/treasure."
The hind legs
These, much as those of their lizard compatriots, are mainly used for walking or jumping. The musculature allows them to spring deftly into the air when they are ready to take flight. Similar to the forelegs, these may have hooves for balance, or claws for gripping rough terrain.
The wings
What separates a Dragon from a Salamander? Two things. Intelligence and wings. For a normal winged creature, the Dragons' wings would not be sufficient to sustain them in flight. However, due to the magical natures of the beings, they are also supported through inherited, subconscious magics. Of course, they need not flap their wings constantly; they rely also on air currents and thermals. Big air currents and thermals.
The air sacs
Though magic, wings, air currents, and thermals may seem like more than enough to sustain a flying Dragon, there is one more factor: air sacs. These inflate with air whenever the dragon breathes in, adding buoyancy. Also, as with birds, they empty into the lungs whenever the Dragon breathes out.
This is the fifth time that Dragons are the main theme of the Battle Challenge since I am writing these articles. Dragons are an amazing creatures and I always try to bring something new to my readers, when this magical beasts are in the spotlight. This time I found the Anatomy of the Dragons, which I think is fascinating as I never really understood how they operate! 😅
Sorry for the long introduction about their anatomy, but I didn't want to leave anything out as it was interesting to read for me!
Today I would like to show one of my best airdrop card I received, which is the Carnage Titan. Like the rest of his fellow Dragons he has huge mana cost, but the stats and abilities are well worth the 11 mana cost. As long as the mana is over 45 in a battle and of course with certain rulesets the Carnage Titan is an auto-pick for me. 😊
He has 2 attack damage on Level 1, which is not the best, but he has the ability of Reach, which let him attack from the second position in my lineup. Also he has the ability of Double Strike, which enables him to attack twice in each and every round. 💪
Combined with Daria or with creatures with the Inspire ability (which gives +1 Melee ⚔️ damage to everyone) truly makes him a Titan without a competition.
| Ruleset | Description |
|---|---|
| Silenced Summoners | Summoners do not give any stat buffs or debuffs or grant/use any abilities. |
Quix the Devious
I never really used Quix the Devious before, when I was using the Dragon splinter, because in Wild format I had a whole other different approach with the other Summoners. In Modern format there is less choice and even those are very expensive. Quix is the cheapest option at the moment and I used him to level myself up to Silver League.
In the fight below the ruleset was Silenced Summoners, so it was pointless to choose a Summoner just for their ability, so instead I choose my cheapest mana cost and highest level Summoner available. 😇
Robo-Dragon Knight
I have played with the Robo-Dragon many times before and he is almost my number 1 option as a main tank. He has an immensive Armor 🛡 and Health ❤️, which makes him an excellent monster to sustain damage from the enemy team.
He has the Void (Reducing damage from Magic attacks) ability and Divine Shield, which blocks one attack completely. 😁
Carnage Titan
The Carnage Titan like I said in his intro is an amazing monster. The Reach and Double Strike ability allows him to deal significant damage to the tank of my opponent. With some boost from Inspire he is truly a killer. The high Health ❤️ and Armor 🛡 helps him to survive few attacks until his backline deals enough damage to kill the creatures of my opponent. ☠️
Chaos Dragon
The Chaos Dragon is one of the strongest creature in the whole game, hence the mana cost of 14 😎. I rented him on Level 2, because he receives the Blast ability, which does additional damage to Monsters adjacent to the target Monster. He is a Magic 🔮 attack type creature, which is one of the strongest in the game.
This particular Dragon has an interesting ability, which is the Scattershot. This monster's attacks hit a random enemy target when attacking making him quite strong if it hits the correct monster in my opponent backline. 😜
Khmer Princess
The Earth Splinter has got the best healers in the whole game, they are cheap such as the Wood Nymph or the Goblin Psychic, but the Khmer Princess is not one of the cheapest. She is quite expensive, because she receives the Tank Heal ability on Level 4, which increases the demand and the price of her. 🤑
She cost only 2 mana and gives a huge upper hand over your opponent, because of the extra heal she can do! 😇
Diamond Dragon
The Diamond Dragon has got a huge Armor 🛡, which is protecting him from the enemy sneakers or snipers. He cost 10 mana and his most important ability is the Slow, which is reducing the Speed of all the enemy Monsters. The less speed they have the more chance they will miss their attack. 😁
Djinn Biljka
The Djinn Biljka cost only 3 mana and stats wise he is quite poor, but the Camouflage ability is there to protect him, because the enemy team cannot target him unless he is the only monster left on the battlefield. Need to be careful with Blast, because thats hurt him a lot! 😬
Usually I play him with Obsidian for the +1 Magic* 🔮 damage, but if there is only 3 mana left to setup my team than he is an excellent choice! 😉
The battle was a tough one as you can see I had around 35-40% chance for winning. Their Sporcerer reduced my armor by 2 on all of my monsters. Luckily my Diamond Dragon negated the effect of speed buff from their Supply Runner. 😊
Grund is a bit stronger attack wise than my Carnage Titan and managed to kill my tank in the first round. 😕 My enemy tried to diverse my attack using the Mycelic Slipspawn, which is almost worked, but he didn't think that I would bring a healer to the fight.
My *Khmer Princess healed my monsters 5 times for 15 extra Health ❤️, which makes her clearly the Winner of this battle. 🎉 Icould not believe that a 2 mana card could be my opponent, whom even has The Legionnaire title. It made this victory so much sweeter! 😊
Giveaway Time!
I love giveaways as I personally think it is a very good way to reward those people in the community who are willing to read and support others contents.
So, I will run a raffle and this tiem prize will be a Naga Assassin and a Twillight Basilisk for two lucky winner.
The Winner 👑 will be chosen and notified when this post pays out and will be chosen with this tool.
In order to participate just need a comment. Any upvote, re-blog, tips are not necessary, but it is much appreciated. 😊
I like to help new players 😉, so if you are just starting this game and you can use my referral link to sign-up, write me a message on Discord (LordDiablooo#3750), so I will send you 100 DEC and few key cards (delegated for an entire season) to kick off your career in Splinterlands. 😊
I hope it was informative and you liked it. 🤞