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Dragon Types in our World; A guide by Grim Kanakuta
Topic Started: Aug 21 2008, 01:13 PM (423 Views)
The Grim Lich
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Legitimate Businessman

((As I'm taking an In-Universe approach to this, I figured I'd do it as a researched and published book. And yes, this means I'm taking liberties with "me". I'm just another character in this.

I'll put up Chapter 1 once it's done; right now, I've only got the intro done, but I may as well post that.))

Front Cover:

DRAGONS IN OUR WORLD
A guide to Dragon-types in the wild

By Grim Kanakuta, Pokémon Researcher

Back Cover:

This guide is intended to introduce the budding naturalist to the many splendorous Dragon-type pokémon that inhabit our world. From Dratini to Garchomp, they're all in here.

©2008 Pewter City Publishers. All rights reserved.

Dedication:
To my father, who introduced me to pokémon research and its allure
To Professor Rowan, whose field research techniques have revolutionized the discipline and helped me gather data
And to my understanding wife, who's been kind enough to put up with my wild goose chases as I researched this book

Introduction

Why Dragons?

Because, quite frankly, the Dragon Type is underappreciated.

To touch on the real cornerstone, however, there seems to be a large amount of misinformation about Dragons, including the reasons for the rarity of the type among pokémon. While it is certainly true that the Dragon type is an extremely rare type, this is not - contrary to the accusations of environmentalist groups - entirely the action of humans. There are a large number of factors explaining the lack of Dragon-types, and humans play only a small part.

One of the largest factors in the low occurrence of Dragon-types is that Dragons are, by nature, contentious with other Dragons. Historical records show that at one point in the past there may have been as many as fifty distinct Dragon-type pokémon wandering the world; in modern times, this has dwindled to a paltry thirteen.

Hunting by humans has impacted it slightly, although humans have not (as of yet) caused the extinction of any one type of Dragon pokémon. This may be due to the domestication of certain Dragon-types as guards, as Dragon meat tends to be tough and bitter, and thus the only ones who would eat it would be desperate for food. Guarding, meanwhile, seems to be a task that the combat-ready Dragon type was made for. The most notable exception to this is the hunting of Dratini, whose coats were desired in high fashion one hundred years ago; were it not for concerted efforts from fifty to as recently as ten years ago, these noble Pokémon would no longer be around.

A final factor is that Dragon-types tend toward solitude. This is unsurprising, given how much contention between species there has been. Still, it is unfortunate, though thankfully Dragons live very long lives.

This book deals almost exclusively with Dragon-types, and so the pokémon families containing Dragons are focused on. Certain non-Dragons are included in this text for completeness's sake; understanding why certain non-Dragons evolve into Dragons is necessary to understanding the Dragon type.

So what is a Dragon-type, anyway?

In biological terms, there are a great number of differences between a Dragon-type and a Draconic pokémon. Dragons' hides tend to be much more porous than non-Dragons' hides, making them especially susceptible to cold weather and Ice-type pokémon. In addition, Dragon-types' bodies metabolize food using different enzymes than other pokémon, creating a semi-unique weakness against their own type, a type of weakness shared only by the elusive Ghost-type. Thirdly, dragons have a tough, rubbery underhide that protects them from fire and electricity. The underhide's purpose seems to be the cooling of the Dragon-type. Finally, the Dragon type's underhide is watertight, making water-types less effective against the Dragon. The underhide also provides some measure of suport against attacks by Grass-types.

Above all else, however, Dragons are rare and tend to be solitary, characteristics shared only with some of the more powerful Ghost-types.
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Kiki
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Kiki Martius Chantico

Very interesting.
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Erik the Appreciator
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Master of Trivia, Grand Patron of 5 Gens

In concept: For you to write something like this, you give me the impression you're really obsessive yourself. lol

In execution: This is really interesting because it's like, the Pokemon world's so immersive and in-depth it wouldn't feel ridiculous for the fictional Pokemon professors/authorities within that world to write treatises and reference books like this for each other. A thumbs up from me. :D
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Delfeir
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Adachi is not amused.

Can't believe I didn't see this earlier.

I personally love this approach. It feels really... real. Like if I were playing Pokemon, I could visit one of the bookshelves in game and read this here. It's most excellent, and I would love to read more. Dragon Pokemon are by and large my favourite, after all.
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ShinyGirafarig
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Giraffes are adorable.

I like these kinds of topics. I have a severe dislike of the anime for making Pokemon appear more like humans in fuzzy, scaly or feathery suits being ordered to fight by humans who lack these kinds of suits. No wonder there are so many Pokemon are/are not slaves arguments. Which reminds me I need to type the in universe attitude towards Pokemon battles.

So what do you think about Altaria? Is it a dragon that happens to have feathers or are the feathers really an illusion that it is really skin that appears to look like feathers?
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Erik the Appreciator
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Master of Trivia, Grand Patron of 5 Gens

I think it's a bird with dragonlike genes and plumage that's comprised of cotton. With the genes making it more dragon than bird in spite of its appearance.
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