Where Smoke Bleeds Gold

The Complete Guide to the Seven Scales of Adalinda

(This is just a bit about the dragons, the next page is a bit about their religion. Otherwise you can just skip straight to chapter one if your uninterested in this)

FireScales
FireScales, as the name implies, are one of the only dragons with the ability to breathe fire. They, like the bombardier beetle, have an organ in their body that ignites when it meets their stomach acid. When these acids react they create a fire that dispenses off their Firehorn, a horn on the edge of their snout. When their Firehorn can no longer be lit, excess fire can build in the throat letting them spit fire. With their stomach acid constantly being burned, their skin is unusually hot for reptiles.
They had the longest lifespan, but for recent reasons in their kingdom, the average lifespan has been cut down due to recent hunting failures and outbreak of diseases.
These dragons used to be the fiercest and fastest of the scales able to run up to 80 mph, but due to the wealth of their kingdom, most dragons have grown thin and small. Their bones protruding through their thin red or orange scales.
They walk on four legs with giant wings, orange or yellow scales coating their jaws to the tip of their tails. At the tip of their tail, three sturdy spikes grow short in patterns passed down genetically.
The FireScale kingdom is located in the Glass Desert, in five main "nests" or cities. These are the Kingsnake, Sidewinder, Coachwhip, Viper and Boa nests, ordered from wealthiest to poorest.

FrostScales
FrostScales are almost the opposite of FireScales. FrostScales are coldblooded, literally. Their tongue is dense with an element that can freeze any liquid with a touch. The element can either retreat to the back of their throat or to the tip of their tongue. Often these dragons use what they call a frost bite. They freeze their spit and inject it into the bite wound to let it freeze their opponents flesh. Because of this their skin is unusually cold.
These dragons are, as of right now, the biggest and boldest of all seven Scales of Adalinda. The caves that surround their divided kingdom are rich with precious metal full of nutrients that any other dragon would pay a wing and a leg for.
These dragons can be many variants of colors. Most white or icy blue like their habitat but some are gray and even blackish blues. Female FrostScales have a frill like the ancient triceratops. Male FrostScales are born with antlers that begin to grow when hatched. Dragons born with royal blood are born with both antlers and a frill.
They are disconnected from the rest of the continent, living in the Northern frostlands near the polar cap, where it is too bitterly cold for any other dragon to last more than a day in, much less their neighbors in the Glass Desert.

SpectrumScales
SpectrumScales are the most unpredictable of the seven scales of Adalinda. Reports of shapeshifters and mind readers have been reported from these dragons, yet none of them have been confirmed. The only supernatural powers that have been proved is their unparalleled ability to blend into their environment. No other dragon has ever completely disappeared into a cloud or shadow quite as these dragons.
Although these dragons had amazing cooperation, after a mysterious event a little less than a thousand years ago these dragons have been divided by their scales. There used to be dragons of all gradients but now the only SpectrumScales are black and white just how they view the world. Since they have seperated, they have decided on the new names of LightScales and DarkScales, and although they are yet to be used globally, they are technically now two different scales.
The SpectrumScales are technically thin four legged dragons that can hide in plain sight. When someone says SpectrumScale, imagine a small winged dragon, and try not to think of the color of it's scales before you know them, otherwise you might upset the wrong dragons.
Otherwise the only information we have on SpectrumScales, since both scales have refused leaking much information to the other kingdoms, is that the LightScales are hidden in the Tranquil Hills and the DarkScales are somewhere in the Dire Tip.

CavernScales
CavernScales are a peculiar species. They've only adopted the name about a millennium ago, their old name lost to the ages. CavernScales are drakes, a wingless dragon. Unlike most of the other scales, they are bipedal -making them the tallest dragon when measuring from ground to shoulder-, only crawling on four legs when attacking or climbing.
CavernScales are extremely tough dragons, with a bite force higher than any other known dragon and top speeds of 80 MPH. Their scales are over half an inch thick and sturdy enough to deflect a strike from the sharpest sword. Even if they were hurt badly at most it would take a season for them to recover with nothing but scars and possibly a limp.
CavernScales are different shades of black, gray and brown with bone protruding their scales like blunt rocks.
Since they began their kingdom of rock under the Jagged Peaks, no one is quite sure where the entrance to the labyrinth they made is. Yet the CavernScales were the most economically stable kingdom. Though their numbers were few they have made themselves the center of trade and allied with DarkScales, LightScales and FireScales. So far their Kingdom has flourished unlike any other. They have made the furthest advancements in herbs and healings, and even the most sound structures, and yet since their new ruler has taken over, some royalty no one really knows, all progress has stopped and the skeleton of their kingdom is becoming frail.

DuneScales
DuneScales are a type of wyvern. They have two strong hind legs to hold themselves on. Two giant wings making the largest wingspan of all scales. One stocky tail strong enough to whack any opponent down.
Like the FireScales, they are able to shoot sparks, just lacking the necessary organs to create a fire. But other than that all they have is brute force to keep their tribes safe.
These uncolonized dragons are different shades of sand, some even becoming the shade of a dying acacia tree. They have a frill something like the female FrostScales and a stocky tail like a CavernScale. Researches being conducted with volunteered DuneScales to figure out why they have so many similarities to other scales.
They live exclusively in the Glass Desert, sharing territory with FireScales. Most DuneScales are very territorial and live in tribes instead of a kingdom with the FireScales. Others may be more civil, even going into the FireScale market to earn themselves a coin.

VineScales
VineScales are shifty dragons, only slightly bigger than SpectrumScales, they are the third smallest dragons with a peculiar supernatural power. VineScales are, like the name, dragons with a plant based culture. With scales that look like an entire forest painted on their skin, they hide in the rainforests of the Tangled Web Islands.
They aren't the fastest or strongest, but with quick thinking and easy maneuverability with their small sizes, they can easily out think any opponent. They have four spindly legs and a whip thin tail often in a curled position. Two thin wings and they say they speak the way of the forest.
At the end the tails of all VineScales -beside those with medical conditions- are buds. The buds blossom with age, and in females by maturity the flower is in bloom until death. Some theorize the flower was to lure prey before they became tribes, but now they are mostly used for pharmaceuticals.
In males the flower bud simply grows until it is overgrown into a mace-like weapon on their tails. While females are slick scaled, males have a skin around their head like a frilled lizard -or the chlamydosaurus kingii-, that springs up when frightened or attacking.
VineScale cultures are heavily tied with forests. Most if not all believe nature is a force not to be reckoned with, abiding by the laws the spirits of the forest have bestowed to them. Some have even gone as far to cast away the light of Creation to uphold their standards of the forest.
VineScales live in the Tangled Web Islands, a group of Islands in the nook of Glass Desert, disconnected from the main continent, separating them from most of the most common thoughts and cultures.