Carina Dragon

Carina Dragons are a hybrid breed released on August 28, 2017, alongside Khusa Dragons. As a hybrid breed, Carinae cannot be found in the habitats. They are produced by cross-breeding Nebula Dragons and Ridgewing Dragons.

Official descriptions[]

Egg[]

This egg shimmers with dazzling constellations.

Hatchling[]

Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. At night, it spends hours staring longingly toward the sky.

Mature hatchling[]

Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. At night, it spends hours staring longingly toward the sky.

And look! Its wings have become strewn with starry patterns, and blue fire has erupted across its body! It must be close to maturing.

Adult[]

Carina Dragons, though a rare sight, are quite brilliant to behold. Typically gentle, they abhor violence and have developed a rather unique method of camouflage to avoid it: their wings and bodies blend into the night sky while the cobalt flames that adorn their bodies burn brightly, making them appear to be shooting stars when they fly. Their fire also wards off predators and shields them from unwanted brawls. However, despite this enmity toward bloodshed, Carinae can become dangerous when faced with peril, especially if their young are in jeopardy. Legends speak of young Carina Dragons consuming entire constellations, which then become emblazoned on their wings.

Credits[]

Pixxelation (All sprites, descriptions)
Sumoka (All sprites)
gotw3 (Descriptions)

Sprites[]

Series	Egg	Hatchling	Mature hatchling	Adult
Female
Male

Egg sequence[]

Stage 0	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Dead

Retired sprites[]

Temporary event sprites
Series	Egg	Hatchling	Mature hatchling	Adult
April Fools' Day 2018 Female	–	–	–
April Fools' Day 2018 Male	–	–	–
April Fools' Day 2022 Female	–	–	–
April Fools' Day 2022 Male	–	–	–

Retired sprites
Series	Egg	Hatchling	Mature hatchling	Adult
Original female	–	–	–
Original male	–	–	–

Encyclopedia entry[]

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Appearance/Basic Anatomy

Their skin is highly resistant to heat in order to withstand the flames they conjure.
They are one of few breeds with earlobes, allowing them to sense a predator from farther away than most breeds might.
Their hides, though coated with thin scales, are rubbery in texture.
Due to the constellations their wings display and the aforementioned heat resistant properties of their hide, poachers have a history of targeting them.
Armed with retractable claws.
Eye color varies widely, though green and yellow colorations are the most common.

Hatchling Behavior

Although they hatch with wings, they are largely incapable of flight until they develop their wing patterning.
Timid as young hatchlings, but become more daring as they mature.
Despite folklore to the contrary, mature hatchlings appear to obtain their wing patterns through the same process as Nebula Dragons.
Once they develop the ability to fly, they tend to take to the air as much as possible.
Orphaned hatchlings dig deep holes around dawn, which they hide in until nightfall. Once they can fly, this behavior ceases.
It’s not uncommon for younger hatchlings to occasionally swim. The habit dies once they begin to produce flames.
Usually unable to fully control their flames until they approach adulthood, and can be quite dangerous to be around as a result.

Adult Behavior

Carinae are wary of humans, given their history as poaching targets.
Due to their affinity with fire, it is often very difficult for poachers to mortally wound an individual.
Spend much of their time in flight and can thus be very hard to keep track of, given their camouflage.
It is rare to see a Carina during the day. Rumors claim sunlight never touches them, as they follow the movement of the moons.
Their flames burn so brightly during mating rituals that it would appear new constellations are being drawn by their movements.
Adults are protective of hatchlings—especially younger ones—whom they shepherd around to keep out of the daylight.
Relatively playful, even into adulthood, and enjoy chasing smaller creatures much like a dog chases a bird.
Superstition claims that wishes accidentally cast upon a Carina instead of a shooting star are heard by the dragon.

Habitat

Although they can survive in colder regions, they much prefer hotter climates where fire mana is more likely to be found.
Even the rare daytime sightings of a Carina have still been in dark places.
Heat resistant skin allows them to exist in even the harshest of deserts, so long as water is obtainable somewhere.
Prefer areas with higher humidity or fewer inflammable landscape features so as to avoid triggering wildfires.
Absolutely hate rain.

Diet

Omnivorous, though much of their diet consists of scavenged meat.
As young hatchlings, they consume large amounts of fire mana-containing foods—plant and animal—so as to build their ability to create fire at will.
If their vicious side is brought out, they often fight for the kill as the act of fighting works up an appetite—a snack’s a snack.
One of the few dragon breeds that cooks food before eating it.
Love rabbits. One of the few creatures they will readily hunt.

Additional information[]

“

Hey, guys! Hope you like the Carinae. Or Carinas. Whatever you wanna call the plural. I don't have a strong preference, though I lean toward the former.

Some questions I've seen pop up:

Wasn't their name different in DR/Why are they called "Carina Dragons?"
Good memory! In DR, they were called Blueflame Galaxy Dragons. Which is a mouthful, and also really obvious. Thus, they got renamed "Carina Dragons," since Carina is a beautiful nebula that happens to contain many of the colors used in the sprites' wings.

Why aren't there alts?
It didn't feel necessary, given that the only differences are color. Plus, the parental combinations are already enough variety for a hybrid. As such, we ended up having the wing patterns represent two of the Nebula colorations each--purple and red for the male, and green and blue for the female.

Where does the fire come from?
[Sub-quote: it comes from for because FIRE]

guys, i've answered this already, pls2read thread

Actual answer: These were a public dragon request, as many of you recall. The original concept art had four legs, Ridgewing-like wings, Nebula-like patterns, and the fire, so it was suggested to make them Ridgewing x Nebula hybrids so as to not be a rehash of the Nebula while still maintaining the original appearance. Yes, the fire ended up being a 'random feature,' but anatomically, the dragon blends both parent breeds. If it had been a Falconiform hybrid, for example, the dragon would have to be a wyvern and would have very different wing anatomy.

My personal belief is that there's some gene on each of the parents that, when present in combination with the other parent breed's gene, produces a strong affinity for fire, but present alone does not create a fire affinity at all.
But then again, talking genetics when you're breeding two dragons with wildly different anatomy, including limb count, is mostly nonsense anyway, so I'ma just say that the magic be like the magic do, and something about the parental combination produces the fire affinity that allows them to conjure flames.''

– Pixxelation^{(Forum Post)}