Hollow Earth - Known Dragon Variants

There are 3 known types of dragons within the realm of Hollow Earth. They come with a variety of powers (Ice, Fire, Wind, among others) that can be used in many different ways.

Variant A: The True Dragons

The most well known and populous of dragons are the true dragons, or dragon shifters. Beings who walk around in the form of humans from the surface, but are capable of transforming into monstrous beasts with scales and wings. They are born with dual entities. Man and beast. These two pieces coexist within a single body. Most of the time such coexistence is peaceful. Depending on power level, true dragons are able to change at will between forms. The stronger the dragon, the faster they can shift.

Exception: The weakest denomination of true dragons are unable to shift at all. As such, they have been classed as the grounded, or ‘Wing-Clipped’, on account of never being able to take dragon form.

Variant B: Pure Dragons

The result of a fated match between true dragons.

Although blessed with a lifespan measuring in multiple centuries, the human half of a true dragon is not meant to live forever. Eventually, as one, the true dragons release the hold on their human halves, and become only dragon. They will continue to exist for hundreds to thousands of years more, before they will deem it time.

A rare sight among Hollow Earth, occassionally a mated pair of Pure Dragons can be seen flying west, over the ice kingdom lands and to the Great Abyss. A solemn and revered sight, it is idealized by all young dragons as the peak achievement of their species: taking that one last journey with their fated mate.

Note: Nothing is known of what lies beyond the Great Abyss. No other species has the stamina to fly that far, and none who have tried have discovered anything but more emptiness. It is possible that this is where the pure dragons go to die, but no evidence has been found to support this.

Variant C: Scale Dragons

Although highly illegal and punishable with immediate execution upon discovery, there does exist a third type, or class, of dragon in Hollow Earth. When a true dragon is killed in dragon form, Hunters will often harvest the largest scale on their body, located over the heart.

When placed upon another being, of any variety, this ‘Heart Scale’ grants the wearer the ability to change into a dragon at will.

Note: Unlike pure dragons, scale dragons are not conferred with the innate ‘beast’. Thus they must learn how to control their new body from the beginning. It can take many years to become proficient. All the while, they are hunted.

Meet Casimir Dvorak IV.

Ice Tyrant of the frost dragons of Hollow Earth.

He rules from the Ice Citadel, a palace of brutal scheming, politicking and backstabbing, where the most powerful ice dragons, the Elites, do as they please. Punishment is wicked, and frequent. Only the strongest survive.

So what happens when “Caz”, one of the most powerful dragons in all of Hollow Earth, finds his fated mate is a Wing-Clipped, the weakest level of dragon, who can’t even shift?

Trouble. That’s what.

The pull is irresistible. His dragon is a monster of a beast who won’t take no for an answer, and demands to claim her as soon as possible. The sooner she wears his mark and the bond is complete, the sooner she will be protected by him.

But a ‘Clippy’ doesn’t just walk into the Ice Citadel and announce her presence. Not if she wants to survive for long…

***

Casimir might be the big, bad, all-powerful dragon shifter, but he’s about to be brought low when he discovers Anna, his fated mate.

Anna Carradine is a Wing-Clipped. The weakest of all dragon designations. She can’t shift, and her dragon is so weak it’s little more than a bit of background noise.

For years, Anna has travelled with her two friends, Milly and Ella, the only family she’s ever known. With no memories before waking up in a ditch years before, already an adult, her life is a blur of running. Always running.

Because in Hollow Earth, the Wing-Clipped, or ‘Clippies’ as the powerful elites call them behind sneers and disdain, are not welcome anywhere. They are never safe. Hunters prowl the wildlands outside the dragon cities, looking for Clippy’s to bring to illegal markets, to sell to elites.

It’s in one such market that Anna and her ‘Caz’ cross paths for the first time. She immediately knows he’s her mate, but Casimir has a much different reaction.

Anna is swept up into a world that’s been little more than fantasy to her before then, but it gets real very, very quickly.

Because even as her mate bond with Caz begins to grow, she discovers that life at the top is just as brutal as anything she’s known before, and there are more players who wish to see her fail, than succeed.

But for the first time in her life, Anna isn’t going to run. Not now. Not ever again.

No matter the cost…