The Compass of Dragons: A Design Guide

Within the Kingdom Draconis, dragons are not merely creatures but living embodiments of elemental order. Their forms and affinities are guided by the great compass—north, south, east, west, and center—each bearing unique traditions, shapes, and elemental alignments.

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Northern Dragons – The Wyverns

• Form: Lean, winged, often two-legged with sinewy frames. Their silhouettes cut sharp against blizzards and mountaintops.

• Affinities: Wind and Ice.

• Nature: Northern dragons thrive in high altitudes and frozen wastes. They're swift and elusive, favoring cunning and agility over brute strength.

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Southern Dragons – The Manticores

• Form: Muscular, leonine frames with barbed tails, often adorned with fiery manes or stony ridges. Their wings may be leathery or vestigial.

• Elements: Fire → Ice → Earth (a strict southern progression).

• Nature: Southern dragons embody extremes of heat and endurance. From desert firelords to glacial tundra beasts and volcanic guardians, they channel primal survival and elemental rawness.

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Western Dragons – The Drakes

• Form: Wingless, ground-bound dragons with serpentine torsos or heavily muscled quadrupedal bodies.

• Elements: Fire or Earth.

• Nature: Embodying raw might, western drakes are rooted in the world’s foundations—lava veins and bedrock alike. They crush obstacles through ferocity, not finesse.

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Eastern Dragons – The Lungs

• Form: Long, serpentine bodies that coil through air and sea. Whiskered faces, antlered brows, and flowing, wave-like movements.

• Elements: Air and Water.

• Nature: Eastern dragons are revered for wisdom as much as their power. They slip between clouds and tides with equal ease, never bound by one realm.

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Central Dragons – The True Dragons

• Form: The archetypal six-limbed dragon: two wings, four legs, horns and scales in countless variations.

• Elements: Any affinity not tainted by corruption.

• Nature: Central dragons represent balance—no single form dominates, no single element limits. They are paragons of adaptability, embodiments of the “ideal” dragon shape.

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Classification Notes

• The compass is a tool of taxonomy within the Kingdom Draconis, akin to how “Animalia” names beasts in mortal sciences.