Nyaare:
** Please note: Since there's been some confusion regarding sexuality in riders, the standards below reflect the standards of Pern. Gold riders are expected to be heterosexual, male Green riders will be expected to be homosexual. These are therefore the standards In Character.
We allow deviations (to a reasonable extent) on this but IC actions = IC consequences. The IC perspective will not be altered for you, there will be prejudice and discrimination.
Pernese Dragons
The Gold dragons, also known and called Queens, are the largest dragons with their 26-31 meters long bodies. They're also one of the two female dragon types and the only ones who are fertile. Every other dragon invariably obeys the Queen even despite what their riders think. During Threadfall the gold dragons are part of the low flying wing, destroying any Thread that has gotten past the other fighting dragons above. While incapable of digesting firestone and therefore unable to breathe fire, the goldriders use custom made flamethrowers to eradicate the loose Thread. When othr eggs in the clutch don't give out hints about the colouration of the dragonet inside, the Queen hatchling is in a golden egg that is also slightly bigger than others. Usually there's only one golden egg among the clutch but having two is not unheard of, especially during Threadfall. Golden dragons do, however, remain as one of the rarest of dragons so having one golden egg is already a grand feat. It is believed that the golden hatchling usually prefers to be Impressed by a young woman coming from outside the Weyr, however exceptions to that rule are frequent. The Queen dragon only Impresses to females that have heterosexual alignment.
Bronze dragons are the largest males with their 24-26 meters. Normally smaller than Queens, they are second rarest of the dragons on Pern. Almost always the ones to mate with the gold dragons, they are the only ones that have the stamina to keep up and catch a Queen during her mating flight. Aside from mating with he golds, the bronzes that have lost the gold flight battle, usually go for the smaller green dragons. Strongest and most authorative of the dragons below the Queens, the dominant bronze is determined through the mating flight with the gold and the rider of that male is therefore the Weyr's military leader, the Weyrleader. Bronzes only Impress to heterosexual males.
Brown dragons are the second largest males(19-24 meters) and make up about a 15% of all dragon population. The bigger browns may occasionally mate with Queens but it is rare and not encouraged due to several reasons. Firstly it's rare that a smaller Brown would keep up with the Queen dragon through a long mating flight and secondly when they do, there is never a golden egg in the clutch. All brownriders are men, mostly heterosexual but bisexual and homosexual brownriders are not unheard of.
Blue dragons are the most common and the smallest(14-19 meters) male dragons, a third of the dragons on Pern are Blue. They are almost as agile as the Greens and often have the stamina to last a whole Threadfall at a time. They only mate with Greens since they are by far too inferior in stamina to keep up with the massive golds during a mating flight. Bles are sensitive and therefore are often used as Search dragons. Blues are Impressed to males that are most commonly bisexual or homosexual though heterosexual blueriders have occured. In theory it is possible for a homosexual female to Impress a blue dragon.
Green dragons are the smallest dragons(9-14 meters) and also the most numerous(nearly half the Weyr's dragons are green). They're female but infertile and can breathe fire. Despite the incapability to produce eggs, the Greens rise to mate frequently, being among the most promiscuous of the dragons. During Threadfall, Greens are invaluable with the agility and speed though they can't fly the whole Threadfall and therefore switch out in shifts of two-three. Originally Greens only Impressed to girls of any orientation but by this time, they are also Impressed by homosexual males. Due to the female greenriders' frequent pregnancies or miscarriages when going Between, they are often needed to be rotated out of Flights during the Pass so many Weyrs prefer males to Impressed Greens.
Written with the help of Wikipedia.
Nyaare:
About dragon sizes by SR
Average Sizes of WoF dragons[/b]
Gold – 26 – 31 meters // 85 – 105 ft long Bronze – 24 – 26 meters // 78 – 85 ft long Brown – 19 – 24 meters // 62 – 78 ft long Blue – 14 – 19 meters // 45 – 62 ft long Green – 9 – 14 meters //29 – 45 ft long
This is not exact science and we're not too fussed by how big or small you make your dragon (within reason) but if you make one exceptionally tiny or exceptionally big... IC actions = IC consequences.
How we got these figures
9th pass dragons – pinnacle of their engineered height
Green – 20-25 meters // 65 – 82 ft long & 33 – 41 meters // 108 – 134 ft wingspan Blue – 25 – 30 meters // 82 – 98 ft long & 41 – 50 meters // 134 – 164 ft wingspan Brown – 30-35 meters // 98 – 114 ft long & 50 – 58 meters // 164 – 190 ft wingspan Bronze – 35-38 meters // 114 – 124 ft long & 58 – 63 meters // 190 – 206 ft wingspan Gold – 38-42 meters // 124 – 137 ft long & 63 – 70 meters // 206 – 230 ft wingspan
The first clutched dragons were only 3 – 3,5 meters // 10 – 12 feet long. It took 25 centuries to make it to full size (9th pass) WoF takes place in the 17th century (7th pass) so the dragons would be exponentially a little smaller. Since the first generations had the biggest growth spurt and after that it became gradually less and less.
The average 9th pass gold is 40 meters in length. The average first gold was 3 meters in length. So in 25 centuries they grew 37 meters. 37 / 25 = 1,48 meters per century. Let’s say 1,5 to keep things simple.
1,5 * 17 = 25,5 meters of total growth by the time of the 7th pass. 25,5 + 3 meters = 28,5 meters on average. So say 26 – 31 meters long on average.
(This all assuming dragons grew at a steady rate, which we know they didn’t, so if you want you could add a little more to this figure to account for their initial growth spurt, dragon's growth isn't exactly an exact science.)
Counting backwards from there we’d get the following:
Gold – 26 – 31 meters // 85 – 105 ft long Bronze – 24 – 26 meters // 78 – 85 ft long Brown – 19 – 24 meters // 62 – 78 ft long Blue – 14 – 19 meters // 45 – 62 ft long Green – 9 – 14 meters //29 – 45 ft long
To get the wingspan it’s as easy as taking the length and adding 1 and 2/3rds of the length of the dragon to it.
E.g. a gold of 30 meters: 30 / 3 = 10 * 2 = 20 + 31 = 51 meters wingspan.