No one seriously expects you to keep your dragons forever and ever (if they do, chances are they are a big hypocrite). And on that note, every dragon in your lair is by definition yours, even if someone else owned it before you. Unless it's explicitly borrowed, more on that later.
I'm going to be firm on this because I remember when I was new and fricken terrified because damn, I could find my dragon's previous owner by looking at the lair the parents live in. What if I really hurt the previous owner by not giving the dragon the prettiest name ever and keep it in my lair forever? Eventually I voiced my concerns in a thread and as crowned the most hysterical little nooblet (not really, but I crowned myself that when I looked back on the thread many months later).
So here's the important bits:
As long as you're not intentionally hurting someone, almost any name is good.
And when I say "almost any" I mean "any except the very obviously hurtful and Mulch". Want to name all your dragons Root? That's what my sister did for a long while (though she has recently switched to "Merry" and "Toots"). Want to leave all your dragons unnamed? They'll be tricky to tell apart and you won't be able to use them in the coliseum, but if that's your desire then it's okay!
Some argue that you should name before exalting, and it is considered common courtesy to name before exalting. But you're not actually doing something wrong if you exalt a dragon without a name (I've heard of people who do it for lore reasons) and anyone who doesn't want a permanently unnamed dragon on their offspring list should name the dragon themselves before selling.
You decide what you want to do with your dragons
Regardless if you bought, won or was donated your dragons, they're yours. However, keep on guard against people who will sell you a dragon but then act as if they still own it, sending you messages dictating that you're not allowed to exalt it for example. That's a load of snapper poo.
The exemption is of course if there are dragons in your lair on a visit, for example if you are lending a nest to someone or if you are housing a travelling dragon. There's also some donation threads where it's part of the agreement for receiving a free dragon that you don't exalt it. Read the rules of sale and donation threads carefully.
Most dragons you'll come across will most likely come without that kind of agreements though. Dragons bought on the auction house in particular can't really come with any kind of agreement - you pay for them and they are yours and only yours for as long as you want to keep them.
Exalting is not bad
There's a lot of trash talking about exalting as if it was the trash bin where you send ugly and unwanted dragons. That can be the case, but most likely it isn't.
Exalted dragons are, in the site-lore, exactly that. Exalted to a higher purpose, following a call of the deities themselves. Exalted dragons will aid your deity and give points to your flight in the weekly battle of dominance (which you can learn more about in your flight forum, I'm sure there will be people there absolutely delighted to tell you everything about dominance and then have links to massive threads packed with even more information about it).
As a matter of fact, for many people with lair lore (our own little stories and beliefs about our lairs), exalting is often considered the greatest honour imaginable. I personally believe that my lair arrange beach parties whenever a clan member is honoured with exaltation - regardless of which deity they are exalted to. Exalts are the best of the best chosen by the gods (and you). I have seen hatcheries dedicated to producing the prettiest exalts they can think of.
So, if you one day look at your dragon and find yourself thinking you want to exalt it, do it. It's a little scary, because you will never be able to get the dragon back. That's a huge step for both you and the dragon, so of course if you don't feel like exalting you of course don't have to. The important thing is that it's your decision.
ALSO!
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PROGENITORS!
Progenitors (the two dragons you get when you join) are the only dragons that won't get you any treasure when you exalt them. All other dragons will give a bit of treasure (ask dominance people about this they'll show you spreadsheets) and if you're lucky a gem or two. Your progenitors will leave you nothing except the two spots in your lair they used to take up. For some people that's reason enough to exalt, but if you've spent a lot of time working with them in coliseum it may feel pretty sour to see all that effort disappear without leaving you a single coin. Greedy progens.
ALSO ALSO!
Less important but kind of annoying since it's been almost a year. The dragon breed Nocturn suffers from a bug in their script that makes them, well, bug-sized, for the most part. They are supposed to be roughly 5 meters, give or take a meter I don't have the exact numbers. However, unless they are ready to breed (meaning you can plopp them on a nest with a partner) their size numbers will display as something below the meter. They're not really that small and since it seems other breeds have suffered such bugs in the past we can assume that the devs will fix it eventually. One day. When they have time.
The point is, if someone asks you how large your smallest dragon is, you shouldn't even look at your nocturnes unless all your other dragons are coatls or larger. If you have faes, those will almost guaranteed be the smallest.
Oh, and here is a thread if you are interested in dragon statistics. That thread is soon going to be replaced but the new one is still a work in progress it seems and the old one still has a lot of useful numbers in it.
This post became much much longer than I had intended, sorry about that! Hopefully it's not too intimidating. Welcome to Flight Rising!
I'm going to be firm on this because I remember when I was new and fricken terrified because damn, I could find my dragon's previous owner by looking at the lair the parents live in. What if I really hurt the previous owner by not giving the dragon the prettiest name ever and keep it in my lair forever? Eventually I voiced my concerns in a thread and as crowned the most hysterical little nooblet (not really, but I crowned myself that when I looked back on the thread many months later).
So here's the important bits:
As long as you're not intentionally hurting someone, almost any name is good.
And when I say "almost any" I mean "any except the very obviously hurtful and Mulch". Want to name all your dragons Root? That's what my sister did for a long while (though she has recently switched to "Merry" and "Toots"). Want to leave all your dragons unnamed? They'll be tricky to tell apart and you won't be able to use them in the coliseum, but if that's your desire then it's okay!
Some argue that you should name before exalting, and it is considered common courtesy to name before exalting. But you're not actually doing something wrong if you exalt a dragon without a name (I've heard of people who do it for lore reasons) and anyone who doesn't want a permanently unnamed dragon on their offspring list should name the dragon themselves before selling.
You decide what you want to do with your dragons
Regardless if you bought, won or was donated your dragons, they're yours. However, keep on guard against people who will sell you a dragon but then act as if they still own it, sending you messages dictating that you're not allowed to exalt it for example. That's a load of snapper poo.
The exemption is of course if there are dragons in your lair on a visit, for example if you are lending a nest to someone or if you are housing a travelling dragon. There's also some donation threads where it's part of the agreement for receiving a free dragon that you don't exalt it. Read the rules of sale and donation threads carefully.
Most dragons you'll come across will most likely come without that kind of agreements though. Dragons bought on the auction house in particular can't really come with any kind of agreement - you pay for them and they are yours and only yours for as long as you want to keep them.
Exalting is not bad
There's a lot of trash talking about exalting as if it was the trash bin where you send ugly and unwanted dragons. That can be the case, but most likely it isn't.
Exalted dragons are, in the site-lore, exactly that. Exalted to a higher purpose, following a call of the deities themselves. Exalted dragons will aid your deity and give points to your flight in the weekly battle of dominance (which you can learn more about in your flight forum, I'm sure there will be people there absolutely delighted to tell you everything about dominance and then have links to massive threads packed with even more information about it).
As a matter of fact, for many people with lair lore (our own little stories and beliefs about our lairs), exalting is often considered the greatest honour imaginable. I personally believe that my lair arrange beach parties whenever a clan member is honoured with exaltation - regardless of which deity they are exalted to. Exalts are the best of the best chosen by the gods (and you). I have seen hatcheries dedicated to producing the prettiest exalts they can think of.
So, if you one day look at your dragon and find yourself thinking you want to exalt it, do it. It's a little scary, because you will never be able to get the dragon back. That's a huge step for both you and the dragon, so of course if you don't feel like exalting you of course don't have to. The important thing is that it's your decision.
ALSO!
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PROGENITORS!
Progenitors (the two dragons you get when you join) are the only dragons that won't get you any treasure when you exalt them. All other dragons will give a bit of treasure (ask dominance people about this they'll show you spreadsheets) and if you're lucky a gem or two. Your progenitors will leave you nothing except the two spots in your lair they used to take up. For some people that's reason enough to exalt, but if you've spent a lot of time working with them in coliseum it may feel pretty sour to see all that effort disappear without leaving you a single coin. Greedy progens.
ALSO ALSO!
Less important but kind of annoying since it's been almost a year. The dragon breed Nocturn suffers from a bug in their script that makes them, well, bug-sized, for the most part. They are supposed to be roughly 5 meters, give or take a meter I don't have the exact numbers. However, unless they are ready to breed (meaning you can plopp them on a nest with a partner) their size numbers will display as something below the meter. They're not really that small and since it seems other breeds have suffered such bugs in the past we can assume that the devs will fix it eventually. One day. When they have time.
The point is, if someone asks you how large your smallest dragon is, you shouldn't even look at your nocturnes unless all your other dragons are coatls or larger. If you have faes, those will almost guaranteed be the smallest.
Oh, and here is a thread if you are interested in dragon statistics. That thread is soon going to be replaced but the new one is still a work in progress it seems and the old one still has a lot of useful numbers in it.
This post became much much longer than I had intended, sorry about that! Hopefully it's not too intimidating. Welcome to Flight Rising!
Don't forget to ping me @Aryllia to get my attention.
