Frozen Male Hatchling
Name: unnamed
Species: Black Ice Dragon
Birthday: Friday, December 31, 2010
Owner: Astateria
Element: Neutral 
It is with great attention and care that one raises a dragon. Fickle creatures, if you injure their pride they will retaliate with little sympathy. Hatchlings are more active and vindictive than their elders, and will not pause before blasting someone with a stream of icy air. This cold flame grows ever stronger with age, and will one day be quite the powerful weapon. For now, these little creatures are content with practicing on nearby trees, making them crack and occasionally shatter. This is great fun to them, and they will dance about with glee, their paws freezing the ground underneath them. It is important to teach them their own strength, though, lest they accidentally harm another creature or magi.
Capable of slumbering for decades, black ice dragons are strange, ancient beasts. Their cold exteriors blend in perfectly with the icy tundra in which they make their homes, making them very difficult to find. Up in the farthest reaches of the Arkene is where they can be found, where the air is too cold for most creatures to survive. Dragons are one of the few magical creatures that have never been known to die of natural causes. These giant animals are considered to have become immortal because of their great powers - even one small scale from a draconian will boost the power of a spell tenfold. They are one of the oldest known magical species, and as such have a mixed history. If one reads the tales from the human perspective, dragons turned on humans, ruining homes and whole villages in their rage. As is usually the case, this is not all there is to the story: these dragons, like unicorns, were hunted relentlessly, until there were not many of them left. It was their valuable magical properties that almost caused them to be extinct, and they were killed mercilessly by those intent on gaining their powers. Much like the unicorns, the draconians chose to leave the human world, finding lands where they would not be bothered. The dragons retreated ever further north, until seeing one anywhere else was a strange sight. They are not trusting of most humans, and it is considered an honor that ice dragons deem magi worthy companions. It is an even higher honor that they will leave their cold lands to reside alongside magi. The dragons who make their homes at The Keep still only do so during the winter, when the temperatures do not bother them so much. When these beasts begin to be seen again at the castle, it is a sure sign that fall has ended.
Sprite art: Niwer/GlassWalker (hatchling) | Description: Damien