Dragon Growth Guide

[Arcane]

Dragonet Growth Guide

In this guide, you will find an in-depth overview of how your dragon is growing, from hatching to adulthood, and what milestones they'll be hitting at the respective age mentioned. It includes images, percentages, rough real-life animal size comparisons, and a couple paragraphs of information, spaced out every month and a half IC, to match the usual month-and-a-half half-season changes that we undergo every month OOC.

Disclaimer: TPA's Pern does not have elephants, or dinosaurs of any kind. These are simply provided as real-life animal size comparisons.

[Arcane]

Age: 0 Months (Hatching)
OOC: 0 Months
Size: 25%
White: Border Collie
Green: Border Collie
Blue: Lab
Garnet: Lab
Brown: Mastiff
Bronze: Shetland Pony
Gold: Shetland Pony

Your dragon has just hatched! At this age, dragons aren't capable of much, and aren't very strong. They are easily tired out by excessive walking or play. The smaller dragons are able to be easily carried and moved around, as well as posing significant risk as tripping hazards to the clumsy or unwary. Right now, they eat more than someone would believe such a small creature could—almost a fifth of their bodyweight in every (daily) meal!

While it's tempting to feed them more, especially since they always seem so hungry, it's quite important to avoid that—thicktail is a serious condition, and as unpleasant for the dragonet in question as it is for the rest of the weyr that has to deal with a pained and upset dragonet. At this stage, most lessons focus on strengthening your bond between you and your dragon. You will learn proper oiling and cleaning, minor first aid, and will end up socializing with the rest of your class for a majority of the month.

[Arcane]

Age: 1.5 months
OOC: 1 month
Size: 40%
White: Lab
Green: Mastiff
Blue: Shetland Pony
Garnet: Small Pony
Brown: Pony
Bronze: Horse
Gold: Horse

Wow! Look at that! In only a short month and a half, your dragons have already nearly doubled in size, and have close to half of their adult dimensions! Even the smallest dragons are much too large to run about underfoot any more, but they still pose a tripping hazard—they're still fragile at this point, and the smallest can still be moved around, although they're now large enough it takes some effort! Thankfully, they should only really be tired out from rowdy play at this point, not simple things like walking around.

Having them help keep their tails out of the way is a good way of making certain that they won't get in the way.

Around this time, your lessons will focus on stretching exercises, proper sleep schedules, and learning how to communicate with other dragons. Sharing with your bonded and blocking them from more private details are also practiced during this time.

[Arcane]

Age: 3 months
OOC: 2 months
Size: 53%
White: Shetland Pony
Green: Small Pony
Blue: Pony
Garnet: Horse
Brown: Horse
Bronze: Elephant
Gold: Elephant

Three months have passed since hatching, and your dragonets are at least the size of whers, and more than half of their eventual size! The metallics, if there are any, will have already outstripped even the most well-fed of whers by this benchmark.

This month hails the last of the sling use—even the tiniest greens and whites are roughly the size of a very small pony so back-slings that may have worked in the past month have finally been outgrown. The golds and bronzes may find that they're inclined to buffet passers-by with their wings if they aren't mindful, which can often lead to minor conflicts if their partners aren't careful!

Lessons during this time include swimming, advanced first aid, and various trust exercises. It's important at this stage to trust your partner, and other dragonriders around you. An obstacle course might be set up to test advanced exercises.

[Arcane]

Age: 4.5 months
OOC: 3 months
Size: 57%
White: Small Pony
Green: Small Pony
Blue: Horse
Garnet: Horse
Brown: Draft Horse
Bronze: Elephant
Gold: Elephant

At four and a half months, your dragons are just about at the point where they're now starting to have difficulty moving around inside. This is the point, generally, where it becomes rude or inappropriate for a dragonet to follow their rider about everywhere. It's an important step in establishing independence, and also keeping the bathing caverns from being perilously overcrowded.

It may seem like your dragons are able to be ridden, but their bone structure is still fragile in its growth—be patient! It may seem like they're growing a bit more slowly in this period, but it's a critical time for muscle development. The last month and a half before your first glides may seem a little redundant, but it's a third of their total lifespan, at this point; it's important to be patient, especially after the strap-fitting lesson has happened! It takes time for them to be used to the chafing, and strap-chafe can set back a dragon's ability to safely support a rider by some weeks. Just don't do it!

At this time, you will have your dragons fit for their first straps, and learn proper maintenance for them. Your lessons will primarily be fittings, proper adjustment, and sewing techniques.

[Arcane]

Age: 6 months
OOC: 4 months
Size: 60%
White: Pony
Green: Pony
Blue: Horse
Garnet: Draft Horse
Brown: Draft Horse
Bronze: Elephant
Gold: Elephant

Already, your dragons are a third of the way to adulthood, and they're ready to be ridden for the first time! While they won't be flying for a while yet, even without you weighing them down, this is an important first step towards fighting Thread.

Some especially large or heavy-set riders may be asked to wait a few weeks, sometimes up to a month before they have any extended glides with their smaller partners! This isn't any sort of discrimination, but rather a concern of making sure that your partner has enough time to grow to match your stature. Don't feel bad, they'll be more than able to catch up for the lag, and riderless gliders are generally quicker to pick up on flight!

At this stage, you would have done advanced swimming and ground exercises, with tests for distance running - as awkward as it may be. The first glide done at this time is done without a rider, and it is up to the weyrlingmaster's discretion on when you will be able to take your first glides with your dragon. You should be at least able to ride around on the ground at this age.

[Arcane]

Age: 7.5 months
OOC: 5 months
Size: 68%
White: Pony
Green: Pony
Blue: Horse
Garnet: Draft Horse
Brown: Elephant
Bronze: Elephant
Gold: Wooly Mammoth

By this point, you and your partner should be comfortable with gliding. They're closer yet to being fully-grown, but growth at this point is fairly steady, with only a few small growth spurts left. It's at this point that whites and greens are finally discouraged from wandering inside, and where the largest dragons can no longer fit in any human passages.

Watch out for any sudden weight gain or loss with your dragon, and be constantly vigilant about the condition and wear of the straps—loose straps can be dangerous, as this strains the leather, and overly-tight ones will cut into your partner's skin.

At this point, you're ready for your first short flights together! Very small, short distances around the weyrbowl, or even running errands up to higher weyrs. You will review gliding, and your dragon should be flying on their own at this point. You will be assigned chores that involve flying at this time.

[Arcane]

Age: 9 months
OOC: 6 months
Size: 75%
White: Horse
Green: Horse
Blue: Draft Horse
Garnet: Elephant
Brown: Elephant
Bronze: Woolly Mammoth
Gold: Woolly Mammoth

By this point, your dragon should be getting tired of the same old dead wherries, and may even be insisting on going after the feral furbeasts that terrorize the weyr's vast collection of weeds. This next month and change of steady growth will lead into one of the most important lessons of a dragon's career, but it's important not to rush things—kills and betweening both are dangerous business!

Green and garnet riders, this is the time to start watching your life partners for signs of rising early. Early-blooming females will start at or after this point this is generally accepted to be the beginning of a sensitive three-month period for greens where they may wind up mothering a weyrling clutch! However, it is a one-off and not an indication that your dragon will be rising over and over until they are fully grown.

Lessons in this stretch include the first hunt, and the first Between. Dragons and riders who are not yet ready for their first Between may be asked to wait, or work with their weyrlingmaster to reach such a point. Queenriders will learn the difference between feeding and blooding, an important skill later!

This is the time when flying drill formations and group communication starts, to learn how to fly thread with the best of them!

[Arcane]

Age: 10.5 months
OOC: 7 months
Size: 83%
White: Horse
Green: Horse
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Elephant
Brown: Woolly Mammoth
Bronze: Stegosaurus
Gold: Stegosaurus

At nearly a year old, your dragon is now larger than every other terrestrial or avian species on Pern, save for greens and whites which are still smaller than the largest whers. Even the smallest dragons have massive wingspans, giving them more bulk to them than even the largest of bred livestock.

This period is generally when measurements for the final set of straps to be made will be taken. They'll be made with plenty of extra room, in case a dragon proves to grow exceptionally in the last three seasons of growth, but the craftsmen at the weyr generally take a little over five months to complete the full sets of straps for the entire weyrling class, as well as accommodating for the rest of the Weyr's needs in leatherworking.

Lessons in this time include studying the skies and roads around the Weyr, practicing going on Search, rescue drills, and practicing bagging firestone. Flight lectures are had around this time as well, and anyone who hasn't had the sex talk by now will have it here.

[Arcane]

Age: 12 months
OOC: 8 months
Size: 90%
White: Draft Horse
Green: Draft Horse
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Woolly Mammoth
Brown: Stegosaurus
Bronze: Stegosaurus
Gold: Megalosaurus

Almost fully grown, this phase sees almost every dragonet fitted for their final straps if not done already, and final lectures on flights, clutches, and threadfall are had now. Lessons now are all hands-on, involving drills, archery practice, and learning about what your duties as guards, searchers, and watchriders all are. In this time, you and your partner will also learn about various crafts, though it will be strongly encouraged to pick one up only as a hobby, as there will not be enough time to specialize in both a craft and be a dragonrider. The most exciting lesson at this point is the upcoming first flame.

Hand to hand combat is also practiced in this time, as a refresher of self-defense courses.

Additionally, at 90% of their final growth, dragonets now have all of their growth spurts behind them! From here it's an increasingly slow creep to their final size.

[Arcane]

Age: 13.5 months
OOC: 9 months
Size: 94%
White: Draft Horse
Green: Draft Horse
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Woolly Mammoth
Brown: Stegosaurus
Bronze: Megalosaurus
Gold: Megalosaurus

By this point, your dragon is several sevendays past a full turn old. They're almost completely grown, and the largest dragons will be the first to receive their adult straps, while smaller ones will have received their last set of temporary hand-me-downs. Your dragonet should have been practicing with firestone at this time, and will spend your lessons practicing such with a mentor. You will also discuss the uncomfortable topic of dragons fighting one another.

There is another set of lectures on flights. Fake chase drills are done to familiarize you and your dragon with the concept. Queenriders are handed over to the Weyrwoman for private lessons on running the weyr at this point, if applicable.

Greens who rise early around this point will not clutch once given firestone. Garnets, even if they abstain from chewing firestone, are not guaranteed to clutch. Remember that, even if your dragon has risen for the first time by this point, you must still respect the prohibition on sexual contact and use of drugs or alcohol rising early is generally a strange, one-off occurrence, and is not an indicator of a dragon's maturity having been "reached".

[Arcane]

Age: 15 months
OOC: 10 months
Size: 97%
White: Draft Horse
Green: Draft Horse
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Woolly Mammoth
Brown: Stegosaurus
Bronze: Megalosaurus
Gold: Megalosaurus

At this stage of their late development, most dragons should have seen their last growth spurt, within the last month or two. Some late stragglers may take a little longer, but your dragons will likely be close enough to fully-sized that without size cues, it may be difficult to notice the last of their growth.

This is also the point at which your partners will start very strongly reacting to the presence of thread, what with lessons having to focus on flying in formation. It is imperative to keep them engaged in their tasks of carting firestone or assisting the injured to the infirmary at this time; a young dragon breaking into the formations and rank of adult dragons is as much a danger to them as they are to themself.

Lessons in this point are reviews over threadfighting, drills, and practicing in Threadfall. You fly your first Thread at this time, as terrifying and as exciting as it is.

[Arcane]

Age: 16.5 months
OOC: 11 months
Size: 99%
White: Draft Horse
Green: Draft Horse
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Woolly Mammoth
Brown: Stegosaurus
Bronze: Megalosaurus
Gold: Megalosaurus

By this point, all dragons should be fit and ready for Thread. If a fall has not happened in the previous month, you may be flying your first Threadfall at this time. Everything else is various reviews. Late in this time you will have your final exams and one final growth examination. Early bloomers may reach sexual maturity around this age, though it's not particularly common.

At this point, weyrlings are generally encouraged to seek out and apply for the wings they are interested in joining, and if they wish to transfer to another weyr, should apply at this time.. Applications are generally due by the evening after the completion of final examinations, otherwise a room will be assigned.

[Arcane]

Age: 18 months
OOC: 1 year
Size: 100%
White: Draft Horse
Green: Elephant
Blue: Elephant
Garnet: Woolly Mammoth
Brown: Stegosaurus
Bronze: Megalosaurus
Gold: Diplodocus

At long last, your dragon has reached adulthood! Eighteen months is generally accepted to be the final benchmark in a dragon's growth. Graduation generally occurs formally a couple weeks to a month after final examinations, as there are occasional riders that need the opportunity to retake their examinations for various reasons.

Most males will begin chasing soon after this point, and while some late bloomers may yet have some surprise growth in the next month or so, it is generally negligible enough as to be basically unnoticeable. Green and garnet dragons may start rising around this point. Golds usually do not rise until they are 2 turns old, but late bloomers are not unheard of and not something to be worried about.