[LordGrizzle]

Hello everybody! I have read quite a bit of Shadowrun Background stuff in my days but I've always avoided Dragon Sourcebooks so I have two questions:

First: I know that Dragons are usually cunning and their plans act so slowly that some might exceed a Metahuman's Lifespan. But are their also Young Dragons, that might be brash like imagine Dragons growing up like Punks in Redmond?

Second: Which book would you recommend on introduction about Dragon culture and biology (I don't even know if Young Dragons are still being made)

[Namikaze]

Dragon lifespans and evolution is a topic that isn't covered much.  Mostly this is due to the fact that (I think) only one dragon has ever evolved to Great Dragon status in the Shadowrun timeline.  Wyrm Ouroboros might be the best person to answer this question though, as his knowledge of events and the things that precede them is pretty much the best around.  For that reason, you might consider re-posting this or asking it to be moved to the Secret History board.

[PiXeL01]

Dragons have done their utmost to keep anything about them secret (well except for one notable exception on the late president). The recent war between humanity and the scalesnouts (Clutch of Dragons) has done nothing to improve the relations.
To date no books within the SR game touch on the stages of life for dragons. Most information focus on the present dealings of the plotting lizards and not how they got there.
All we know if they are egglayers and that great dragons watch over the eggs until they hatch. From that point in lots of stuff happen and then one day (centuries, possibly millennia later) a great dragon appears.
As far as I know even the Earthdawn books that used to be related to SR don't do much to cover the gap.

Back in the day wyverns were rumored to be dragons in puberty but of course that claim was never confirmed. 

[LordGrizzle]

So, let's say if I wanted to have some low powered draconic beings slaughter some People in the Barrens I'm probably better off tossing in Drakes (ported over from Runner's companion 4th Ed.), right?

[Namikaze]

So, let's say if I wanted to have some low powered draconic beings slaughter some People in the Barrens I'm probably better off tossing in Drakes (ported over from Runner's companion 4th Ed.), right?

Definitely.  Consider making the killings retaliation for selling or being associated with selling/trading dragon parts and dragon-based telesma.

[Shaidar]

Chimera and Drakons (Fire, Ice, or Sea) from Running Wild might be better lower powered dragonesk enemies.

[MijRai]

Running Wild and Clutch of Dragons from 4th Edition do some fleshing out, and there's an Earthdawn book written about dragons from a dragon perspective. 

In both the Shadowrun and Earthdawn books, there's evidence to suggest (but not enough to prove) that wyverns are pubescent dragons; when they reach a certain age, they morph into their intelligent, ready to rumble draconic variant. 

[Quatar]

In the Grocery List adventure (in Elven Blood at least), there's a "Young Adult Western Dragon" as an optional endboss, instead of a group of mercenaries. There's honestly not much on it in there, but you might wanna take a look at it. (Personally I dunno... Some stats look impressive, but I'm not sure he'll survive the first round really.. but then it's a young one, so maybe that's ok)

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Thanks, Namikaze.  Grizzle, everyone here is correct - there's bits and pieces here and there.  For my money, the one (unreleased?) EarthDawn sourcebook (Dragons of Barsaive is what's poking my brain) describes there being four basic stages of a dragon's life - hatchling, adolescent, adult, and great.  As told to the in-game-world author, the issue with the second stage is that the dragon reverts to a primal level, dominance challenges and attacking other Namegivers, etc. etc.  It is implied strongly that these adolescent dragons are, in fact, wyverns and the like, but the Great Dragon being interviewed denies it almost to the point of physical violence, which seems to me a case of 'The dragon doth protest too much, methinks.'  Guilty conscience, shame for descending to such a state, whatever.

For pure Shadowrun, however, adult dragons are still breeding, and (generally) turning their eggs over to Great Dragons to be cared for and, eventually, hatched.  Great Dragons rarely actually breed (one of the first mentions of Masaru has him/her having an egg that gets stolen, etc. etc.) and if they were to do so, it would undoubtedly be have pretty serious impact.  Clutches of eggs exist (check into this thread for some notes on current groupings of eggs), and considering history, it is entirely possible - even likely - that some of those eggs are left over from the end of the 4th World and are getting ready to hatch soon.

In regards to dragons in the Barrens, Seattle does now have a couple of hometown lizards, one of which is experimenting with anti-radiation magic ...

[MijRai]

A friend sent me the PDF of the Earthdawn book, which I don't have anymore.  I think you're right on the name. 

I'm pretty sure the denial of wyverns being dragon teenagers is more out of a desire to protect them than anything else, though.  If you know how tough and horrible dragons are, and how comparatively easy it is to kill a wyvern, then targeting wyverns is going to wipe out the next generation of dragons, thus harming the race as a whole. 

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Yeah, but I daresay that those who made a name for themselves as wyvern hunters would wind up being particularly hunted by dragons for just that sort of reason ...

EDIT: Found it.  "Book of Dragons" was apparently a working title - I have it in my folders as 'Dragons of the Fourth World', to parallel the 'Dragons of the Sixth World' SR product. 

[MijRai]

Well, there's nothing to say they haven't been.  Either dragons can be subtle when protecting the secret and getting revenge, or they treat wyvern hunting as a 'survival of the fittest' for their young.  Provided no-one goes on all-out wyvern pogroms, they'll still have a boost to their population over time. 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/097041918X?ie=UTF8&qid=1415866438&tag=as_li_tl-20&sr=1-1

Here's the book, by the by.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Seems to be some conflict as to who the publisher is.  FASA is said here, Living Room Games there ... I suspect that LRG received what was completed on it when they bought the rights, got some art for it, then went ahead and published it.

In any case, Grizzle, there ya go.

[Namikaze]

Fantastic resource-hunting, Wyrm and MijRai!  I have a sneaking suspicion that Wyrm has given over his physical meat-brain for a digital one.  Otherwise, how could anyone remember so much stuff?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

"Kid, you don't need to know everything; you only need to know where to look it all up."  -- The Wyrm Ouroboros, to a new <redacted>