Welcome to Gaia! ::

Actually, the most visitors we've had in over one thousand years have been in the last two. And they were all brought here, one way or another, by me.

Ryugi chuckled. The storms prevented almost anyone from entering the borders of the Continent. The modern world simply avoided the storms when shipping goods, and no map existed with Angara's location. They'd all been destroyed or lost through time throughout history. Now, only a select few knew of Angara's existence, and they were all close, trusted friends of Ryugi's.

Ryugi grinned. He was a bit surprised that his friend in all his talent couldn't figure that out. But then again, Angaran Dragons had been hiding themselves away from the prying eyes and minds of people for thousands of years. It wasn't surprising that even Max's talented and highly trained senses would have difficulty telling one kind from the other.

It isn't really a matter of seeing, Max. Its more... A matter of feeling...

Ryugi would hop down from his spot on the tree and take up a position next to his friend, leaning against a rock for support. As another passerby walked along the road, Ryugi pointed him out and began to talk to Max.

Generally speaking, our elements and powers correspond to our type or coloration. This is the basic rule, but it isn't ALWAYS true. In rare cases, dragons and their powers are opposite, or in even rarer cases are seemingly random. Let's take this man for example.

Maximos would see a somewhat haggard looking old man walking down the trail with a cane. His hair was grey mixed with some leftover smatterings of brown, but his eyes were still a bright green.

He is a very old, very powerful green dragon with an elemental attachment to wind and nature. His powers likely include plant based attacks and strong bursts of wind, as well as healing abilities that shouldn't be scoffed at.

Ryugi turned to face Max now, explaining himself and his odd ability to seemingly pull this knowledge from thin air.

The way I know this is partly due to my draconic energy sensing abilities, and partly due to my regular senses. My nose can pick up a somewhat earthy smell on him and the dampness of plants. He's likely a gardener in The City, and travels back and forth between Presea and The City for business. Dragons often take jobs suited to their elemental nature as well.

What I can really sense from his energy is a strong feeling of winds being held back by thousands of years of training, and the strong spirit of life and its tenacity to grow and flourish which represents his earthy plant abilities.

Lastly is his appearance. Dragons in their human form can only mirror their element and dragon form in colors and personality, unless their a shape-shifter, then everything breaks down. But even a shape-shifter dragon can be spotted by their spontaneous personalities and appearance. They also love playing tricks and making jokes.

This man is calm, cool, collected, but still has the strong desire to get where he's going. This is a green dragon trait, and also representative of nature and wind. His hair was once brown, suggesting a tie to the earth, and his bright green eyes suggest nature and the spark of life.

Ryugi looked back to the man and watched him walk off down the road.

Its tricky at first, but you'll get the hang of it. Here, you try the next one that walks by.

The next person to walk down the road was a young man who appeared to be about 25. He had red eyes and blond hair, and was of a muscular build. Behind him he pulled a cart or sorts piled high with ores, minerals, and rocks, as well as a few weapons such as an axe, and broadsword. An anvil also sat on the cart, half covered by a thick leather cloth. He wore dark brown boots, brown pants, a red sash around his waist, a tattered red shirt and a brown vest over it, and on his left ear, he had a single gold earing.

Thats exactly right. He's a red with an elemental focus on fire and earth. See? It wasn't nearly as hard as you were making it.

Ryugi grinned and took another bite of his sweet bread.

Ryugi chuckled a bit and scratched his head. To be honest, Ryugi WAS a little bit of an oddity for his kind, though not entirely, as he'd try to explain to his friend.

My characteristic red eyes are common of gold dragons. And while my color scheme doesn't appear to match my personality, in a way, it does now that I think about it.

Ryugi sat down on the rock he was leaning against and put his hand to his chin as he thought.

While its true that my main element is fire, my secondary element is light, which is also called positive or holy energy. These two elements combine to form a slightly different personality than say...the more common combination of fire and earth. Instead of the powerful destructive nature of fire being its main focus, with the solid control of earth to balance it out, it shifts more towards passion and determination when mixed with the light element. White is a color of purity, so its no surprise that, when in human form, I wear alot of white. Even my hair is silvery white.

Ryugi's face and eyes squinted a bit as he thought it out more and continued.

Its strange really...

Gold dragons like me are very rare here on Angara. Sure, there are rarer or more powerful types like emerald, sapphire, aurora, or crystal dragons, but those types follow bloodline traits of a few select families. Vargus, for example, is an aurora dragon, as is her father. They only occur within those bloodlines, and no where else among the entire population, which is why they're so rare.

Gold dragons are stranger though, and even less predicable. Golds seem to pop up randomly among the more common types. Other metallic dragons like silver or bronze seem to pop up among earth or white dragons and typically have more powerful abilities of that type. Golds don't seem to follow any pattern whatsoever, and have been born into families of all types. I'm an oddball, just like my type I guess...

Ryugi sighed and shrugged as he finished, hoping he'd answered his friend's question.

Ryugi chuckled.

As far as I can tell, no. Though most gold dragons in Angara's history have had a knack for strong leadership and have an inclination towards heroic tendencies. Most gold dragons have been leaders, heroes, or both.

As for strength and endurance, metallic dragons on average are a bit stronger than their pure chromatic counterparts. As for the crystal or jeweled dragon types, they have stronger powers, but are weaker physically. There isn't any solid documentation on the elemental strength of golds other than legends and stories about them, and we both know how exaggerated some of those tales can be.

Well, there isn't too much to say in legends about them, at least none that I can recall. But shadow dragons like my brother are very quiet. They keep to themselves much, and are generally very cold and logical. That isn't to say they don't have emotions, they just use logic more than feelings to go about their business.

Ryugi had knowledge about many different dragons types. Growing up on a continent full of them would do that to a person. But since his brother was a shadow dragon, he had alot of personal experience with them. Or at least one of them.

We had a falling out some hundreds of years ago, but we came to terms recently. But, we've always been close one way or another.

Ryudo and Ryugi hadn't always seen eye to eye, but they were always brothers, even while fighting one another all those years ago.

I'm afraid not.

Ryugi chuckled.

He's back on the mainland. But, perhaps we could meet him sometime afterwards.