Althalos

Beach Glass
Creator: yukitsukihana

Beach Glass dragons live in shallow burrows in the sandy shores of the Sea of a Thousand Currents. Hatchlings begin life with rough scales the same color as the sand, but over the years, their lifestyle in the sand smooths their scales down to a glassy texture. Various impurities in the sand coat and meld with their wings and bodies, forming beautiful opaline patterns.

They attract mates by spreading their wings, showing off how the sun refracts through them onto the sands beneath. The most desirable mate is the one with the widest array of colors and the most intricate pattern. Some dragons will even spend hours searching for stray beach glass, and then several more hours sanding it into their hide for this purpose.

Because of their thick hardened scales, they form cracks, instead of the wrinkles and folds other dragons have. Injuries, too, will cause cracking before anything else, but said cracks only enhance their appearance, they say, as it just adds to the intricate patterns caused by reflected and refracted light.