Robin Hobbs dragons

In the book of "Ship of Destiny" from the series liveship traders Robin Hobb portrays a complex lifestyle of his dragons. In his world his dragons have a four step lifestyle. The different components being the egg, the serpent, the cocoon, and the fully grown dragon.

Life Cycle.

The first stage is the egg which is laid on a beach. When the serpents are ready to hatch from the egg they use their egg tooth on their snout to break open the egg. Then they will crawl to the sea. In the sea the serpents will eat and grow to help them gain enough food reserves to complete the migration back and the metamorphis. Most serpents at this stage will not remember truly who they are and will forget more the older they grow. But some serpents are gifted with the memories of their species and are called the "Ones that remembers". Not only do they have their own history but also the memories of their ancestors that went before them.
These special elite are trusted to find others of their kind and share their memories with them. They share their memories with their group or "tangle" by secreting powerful poisons through the water. These memory poisons are stored in special glands at the throat that swelled during migration time. All serpents have poison glands that are used to catch and stun fish. But only the "Ones who remember" have poisons potent enough to bring back the racial memories. These toxin are released by swirling their manes.
In time the migration back to the cocooning grounds will start. The serpents will try and find a "One that remembers" to lead them back to the cocooning grounds. The guardian dragons will also try to help them reach they grounds. Once there they will digest the special memory sands in the ground to form threads in which they form the cocoons the sun will then bake the cocoon hard. They over winter in that state under the ground. When the summer sun returns the cocoon will be unearthed and melt and be absorbed by the newly hatched dragon. Then the dragons will emerge as "Lords of the Three Realms".

More on Dragons

They don't like humans much and tend to dominate over them. They can cast a glamour on themselves to intimidate the humans. They tend to be arrogant in their assumption of the dragons superiority. But you can get around them slightly by flattering them.

Society

The dragons used to have a flourishing society. Where Elderlings, a cross between humans and dragons, lived in cities with the "Lords of Three Realms".
As far as I can tell from the book "Ship of Destiny". This society was matriarchal. Because they continued their species, though the name they call themselves as "LORDS of the ..." will suggest that this might have not been so.
This society was destroyed when a large disaster and volcanic eruption changed the landscape. The cocoons were buried under volcanic ash and the serpents couldn't find their way to the cocooning grounds through the changed landscape. Eventually the dragons were forgotten by the humans till the events of "Ship of destiny".

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This page was last updated 10/10/02