The lineages

What you climb out as

Every lineage is a route up, and the route explains the body. Wings arrive late on the drake because wings are useless in a tunnel. The lung has none at all, because it swam. The wyrmling’s plates are cut stone because it hatched in a seam and the seam got into it.

Each owns one kind of ground on the surface, and that is enforced rather than decorative: a lineage that does not change how a fight is fought is a reskin.

One domain each

Who owns what, once they are out

lineage	route up	ground it owns	born holding	signature attack
Western Drake	the dry vent	open air	sustained burn	fire
Eastern Lung	the drowned route	water	waterlung	gale_breath
Crystal Wyrmling	the mineral seam	rock	stone-softening	charge
Thicket Hatchling	the root ways	forest	the small	spark_puff

Western Drake

Route up · the dry ventOwns · open airBorn holding · sustained burn

The only lineage that can stay up and stay lit at the same time. Wings arrive late because wings are useless in a tunnel, so it surfaces and flies the same season.

It can do these, and one of them is its own — the signature attack, which is a different shape from every other lineage's rather than a different colour:

wingbeatmaulground_idleprowlflinchfire

It grows through four stages, fed and irreversible. A hatchling is not a smaller cute version; it is the adult's anatomy at a hatchling's size:

hatchling

0.48 m

juvenile

1.05 m

subadult

1.85 m

adult

2.60 m

Rotate the model →Contact sheet

Eastern Lung

Route up · the drowned routeOwns · waterBorn holding · waterlung

Born holding what everyone else has to eat eels for. Owns rivers, coasts and anything flooded, and arrives at the surface without being hungry -- which is why it is the only lineage anyone has ever managed to talk to.

It can do these, and one of them is its own — the signature attack, which is a different shape from every other lineage's rather than a different colour:

coiled_idleswimspiral_climbrear_roarstrikegale_breath

It grows through four stages, fed and irreversible. A hatchling is not a smaller cute version; it is the adult's anatomy at a hatchling's size:

hatchling

0.30 m

juvenile

0.62 m

subadult

1.02 m

adult

1.40 m

Rotate the model →Turntable Contact sheet

Crystal Wyrmling

Route up · the mineral seamOwns · rockBorn holding · stone-softening

Does not use tunnels; makes them. The slowest lineage to the surface and the only one that arrives underneath you, which is what a wall is least ready for.

It can do these, and one of them is its own — the signature attack, which is a different shape from every other lineage's rather than a different colour:

resonancehoverstalkguardcharge

It grows through four stages, fed and irreversible. A hatchling is not a smaller cute version; it is the adult's anatomy at a hatchling's size:

hatchling

0.20 m

juvenile

0.40 m

subadult

0.66 m

adult

0.90 m

Rotate the model →Turntable Contact sheet

Thicket Hatchling

Route up · the root waysOwns · forestBorn holding · the small

Soft-shelled, stays small, and is the only lineage that can turn inside standing timber. Its four sparks and a cough are not a weapon -- they are a way to set a forest on fire and let the forest do the work.

It can do these, and one of them is its own — the signature attack, which is a different shape from every other lineage's rather than a different colour:

hatchlingwobble_walksleep_curlpouncesit_upspark_puff

It grows through four stages, fed and irreversible. A hatchling is not a smaller cute version; it is the adult's anatomy at a hatchling's size:

hatchling

0.15 m

juvenile

0.28 m

subadult

0.42 m

adult

0.55 m

Rotate the model →Turntable Contact sheet

Not shown

One lineage is held back

The Fire Wyvern climbs the chimney and owns the crag, and it is still one of the five. It is not shown here yet: the current static model is not at showcase quality. It will be, when it is good enough to stand beside the others.