“And in that cave, I saw the glint of gold, jewels, and silver worth more than the Serene Monarchy's treasury, I swear it. But before I could take a step further, I heard - a terrible, vicious screech. There was a flash, some bright spark of magic, and then it, this winged creature, fell violently mere meters from me. This was their hoard. They were killing each other over it. I turned back, and never returned.”
Vouivre
Dragons are said to come in all shapes and colours. The vouivre, in particular, is the smallest of the current living lesser dragons—but, it compensates with unusual intelligence and the rare ability to wield magic. Notorious for its greed, ferocity, and its hoards of valuables, the species most often dwells in deep natural caverns throughout the Ashlands, Mist Isles, and scattered, nearby islands.
The vouivre is a bipedal lesser dragon with two large wings. In terms of size, it is most comparable to a griffin - 4m long with a 7m wingspan (4 blocks long, 7 block wingspan). Though it possesses four limbs, its forelimbs have evolved into large, leathery wings capable of carrying it short distances. A journey from the Ashlands to the Mist Isles is much too far for a direct migration, and as such, they’ll make rest along the way at the islands scattered in between. Because of this, they tend mostly to be found in the aforementioned places, in the northern mountains of Ko’ram, and on the western coast of the Northern Kingdoms. On occasion, some may find their way further down the eastern continent, not by natural migration, but by the hand of illicit smugglers. Dragon eggs and baby dragons, and in particular vouivres, are an expensive and highly-sought commodity on the black market.
Similar to the rocky terrain they inhabit, vouivres have tough, rock-like scales along their head, back, and legs. These grow atop their more reptile-like, scaled flesh. Vouivres are seen in shades of blues, greens, reds, and greys, with their rock-like growths appearing a darker, more muddled colour. At night or in their shadowy dens, they’re said to almost blend in with the rocky surroundings - if not for the glimmer of gemstones naturally sprouting between their rocky growths. Curiously, over a vouivre’s lifetime, precious gemstones will grow upon its body. Only a fool would seek to slay a vouivre for material found in the earth itself, but it does, sparingly, produce a particular gemstone found nowhere else: the dragon ruby. This is what makes these lesser dragons such a prized part of the black market, not only for their rarity as a dragon, but their innate ability to produce precious gems.
Vouivres are rather intelligent creatures, able to understand basic conversation (though unable to speak back), recognize behavioural patterns, and remember people. When hunting or even exploring, they will travel in pairs, and in their cavern dens, up to a dozen may reside. These dwellings are cutthroat, though - vouivres often fall victim to violence among themselves as a consequence of their unmatched greed. As fierce carnivores, vouivres will frequently hunt for prey, even taking down creatures larger than themselves with pack-hunting techniques. Unlike other lesser dragons, vouivres possess an innate sensitivity to the arcane, allowing them to manipulate minor elemental energies. Using flight to their advantage, vouivres stick to the skies, swiping with their talons and casting magic from above. For this reason, combating them with a melee-only approach proves rather difficult.
Aside from prey, these lesser dragons also hunt something far stranger: gemstones, precious metals, and other objects of great worth. They’ll seek out these things ferociously, amassing large hoards in their caverns from numerous successful hunts. Highly protective of their precious hoards of value, this greed and protectiveness is what causes infighting among packs of vouivres living in shared dens.
These items aren’t only collected to sate a sense of greed: in addition to meat, vouivres also enjoy consuming from their hoard of wealth. As these precious items take a longer period to digest, often months, their diet largely remains carnivorous. Scholars theorize that this unusual diet somehow contributes to the formation of gemstones within the creature’s stony growths.
Written by Electric
