Hydrogen Dragon

Order - Draconis (Western Dragons)
Colors - Varying shades of purple
Size - varies, primarily between 30-50 feet in length, 75 foot wingspan
Weight - 1/2 Tons
Breath Weapon - Fire, Plasma Vent

Description: Hydrogen dragons are large creatures that live in the highest habitats. Hardly ever touching the ground, they live, hunt, mate, and die in the upper atmosphere; returning to the ground only to lay eggs or due to territorial disputes with other dragons.

Hydrogen Dragons are carnivorous, and more often than not they are forced to dive down on prey in order to kill it. Given their lifestyle, however, they often do not expend much energy while living higher than most animals can breathe. As such, they can last for months without a meal. However they often are forced to replace just as much energy that they have lost over time, especially if they do a lot of activity, which means they often consume their entire body weight or more in a single sitting. Their guts have the unique ability to convert the most out of a single meal into usable nutrients, which means they can digest over 90% of a carcass with minimum waste or excrement. Often they consume the entire animal, bones and all, regardless of the physical state of its prey.

Hydrogen Dragons are very hostile, and rarely come in contact with one another. When they spot another dragon of any species in what they consider their territory, they will chase them down and attempt to kill the intruder, more often than not cannibalizing the remains (when living where few other animals can survive, nothing is wasted). They do this most often through the use of their flame breath, which can get so hot that it can actually transform into plasma, though this only happens infrequently.

When Hydrogen Dragons do get together peacefully, it is only to mate. Hydrogen Dragons have the unique properties of being able to produce viable offspring that mix and match with the genetic material of said mate, which often means that the resulting hybrids can appear strange and unique. This means that they can mate with just about any other dragon, resulting in unique hybrids. Oddly enough Hydrogen Dragons prefer creating hybrids instead of mating with their own kind, though they still do this often enough that Hydrogen Dragons are still around. An ancient legend indicates that the first dragons were among the Hydrogen lineage, and that from them came all other Periodic Dragons.

Hydrogen Dragons share unique traits whenever they are together, which is odd considering that they don't tend to stick around with each other's company. A pair of Hydrogen Dragons will sometimes combine their bodies together, spreading their plasma flame around each other and creating a powerful and deadly wave of plasma similar to fusion energy. This can cause their combined bodies to form together and create a powerfully bright light, like a miniature star. This act can be seen in the courtship between an actual Hydrogen/Hydrogen pair, though this courtship ritual is absent between Hydrogen/Other dragon pairs.

Trivia:

• Some Hydrogen Dragon clutches rarely create Helium Dragons, coinciding with the legend of Hydrogen Dragons being the first dragons
• Hydrogen Dragon markings glow when they reach adulthood
• It is believed that Hydrogen Dragons do not physically age beyond adulthood; some cultures seek their blood or body parts to discover the secrets of immortality
• Hydrogen Dragons are highly reactive and are physically weak against their own flame, one of the reasons believed to be why Hydrogen couplings are rare
• Hydrogen Dragons can in fact spontaneously combust under the right circumstances. This is part of why they stay in the upper atmosphere