Or alternative title as it would breach the character limit...
You might recognize me as the writer behind the Why Males Have Snoots Headcanon which briefly summarized talks about males having the snoots to: impress the ladies; be an in-built thermometer for the eggs, making the males exceptionally good at being the main caretaker.
No other dragon breed inspires me to cook up more headcanons other than Ridgeback. They stand out from from the rest of the roster with their reptilian visage and shark-like head, topped with long thumb-claws and spines. It's that spine that gives them the breed its name. The spines have a molting cycle, one that isn't defined how often it happens.
It's where the fun game of headcanons come into play.
Dragon growth is unique to both the breed and individual and it is not stated if their growth ever stops. With Ridgebacks we can assume they have a growing pattern similar to that of reptiles, like crocodilians. In their youth, when the body development is at its peak, their molting cycle would be almost regular. The turbulent period of the dreaded teenager stage has Ridgebacks experience one of the most itchy period of their life. Generally, Ridgebacks are in a foul mood as they molt and that would only be amplified by being a teenager. Needless to say, a lot of "it's not a phase, mom!" remarks were made those days.
This cycle becomes almost regular, spines appearing to have gained twice the length during their sleep on some days.
When all hope is lost that the itching will never stop, the molting cycle will begin to slow down. As the body reaches the adulthood mark, it almost crawls to a halt, only growing a few milimetres every few years. With that, the cycle occurs once every few months to years.
This gives the spines the time to grow to new lengths. The longer the spines, the older the dragon is. This will be presented by one of my dragons, SkyTerror:
SkyTerror is an elder dragon, but he is still in his prime. He's been through countless of battles and he remains a force to be reckoned with on the battle field. He's a roughened veteran, his face and body carrying countless of scars, both old and new. The wear and tear on some of his spines is visible as uniformity lacks. With older age some spines would be suspect to breaking easily, resulting in both new and old growth.
This presents us with a question: How do we preserve the length and avoid brittling?
The answer to that would be wellness programs, ointments and oils specifically designed for Ridgebacks. Their spine is something they would take pride in, decorating it with jewelry, strings and other ornate decoration when attending events. Rolling in sand can only help so much to make their scales shine and thus Ridgebacks would seek out special assistance with their spines. Every dragon requires an individual regime and set of products to strengthen the spine structure.
Wellness is not only important for the health of the spines, but these places also offers the dragons to come together and socialize. Think something like bathhouses, built to accomodate the sheer scale of some older Ridgebacks.
How to tell Ridgeback's age by looking at their spines and other fun Ridgeback headcanons I'll keep localized in this thread.
You might recognize me as the writer behind the Why Males Have Snoots Headcanon which briefly summarized talks about males having the snoots to: impress the ladies; be an in-built thermometer for the eggs, making the males exceptionally good at being the main caretaker.
No other dragon breed inspires me to cook up more headcanons other than Ridgeback. They stand out from from the rest of the roster with their reptilian visage and shark-like head, topped with long thumb-claws and spines. It's that spine that gives them the breed its name. The spines have a molting cycle, one that isn't defined how often it happens.
It's where the fun game of headcanons come into play.
Dragon growth is unique to both the breed and individual and it is not stated if their growth ever stops. With Ridgebacks we can assume they have a growing pattern similar to that of reptiles, like crocodilians. In their youth, when the body development is at its peak, their molting cycle would be almost regular. The turbulent period of the dreaded teenager stage has Ridgebacks experience one of the most itchy period of their life. Generally, Ridgebacks are in a foul mood as they molt and that would only be amplified by being a teenager. Needless to say, a lot of "it's not a phase, mom!" remarks were made those days.
This cycle becomes almost regular, spines appearing to have gained twice the length during their sleep on some days.
When all hope is lost that the itching will never stop, the molting cycle will begin to slow down. As the body reaches the adulthood mark, it almost crawls to a halt, only growing a few milimetres every few years. With that, the cycle occurs once every few months to years.
This gives the spines the time to grow to new lengths. The longer the spines, the older the dragon is. This will be presented by one of my dragons, SkyTerror:
SkyTerror is an elder dragon, but he is still in his prime. He's been through countless of battles and he remains a force to be reckoned with on the battle field. He's a roughened veteran, his face and body carrying countless of scars, both old and new. The wear and tear on some of his spines is visible as uniformity lacks. With older age some spines would be suspect to breaking easily, resulting in both new and old growth.
This presents us with a question: How do we preserve the length and avoid brittling?
The answer to that would be wellness programs, ointments and oils specifically designed for Ridgebacks. Their spine is something they would take pride in, decorating it with jewelry, strings and other ornate decoration when attending events. Rolling in sand can only help so much to make their scales shine and thus Ridgebacks would seek out special assistance with their spines. Every dragon requires an individual regime and set of products to strengthen the spine structure.
Wellness is not only important for the health of the spines, but these places also offers the dragons to come together and socialize. Think something like bathhouses, built to accomodate the sheer scale of some older Ridgebacks.
