Cards
The world of the Cards is very strictly laid out in a monarchic government. The reptilian dragonoid creatures here all have a rank they earn as they grow and age. But the best way to explain is to start with the dragons, and move on to the system they live in.
The dragons of the Cards vary in body types, and coloration to a great deal. The Kings and Queens grow to be a quarter again as large as normal dragons. In measurements, most reach 30 feet in length, with their wingspan roughly 50 feet from the tip of one wing to the end of the other. Dragons live for what seems like forever to them(20k years), if they are not killed by disease or another dragon, and they reach mature adulthood at only 200 years of age. Their helpless baby stage of life only lasts for 30 years, and gestation can take upwards of 2 years. Dragons are only recognized as being 'old' at 1,000 years, and a few make it to 'ancients' at 5,000. It's unlikely for any dragon to last longer than that, although some have reached the age of 'great ancients' at 15,000 years and above. As such, five hundred years is considered to be a 'generation'.
They range from earthy tones to ones more resembling that of tropical fish, bright and colorful. Most dragons have thick skin with small, thin scales over that skin, more in resemblance to their lizard ancestors, instead of large, sturdy scales of common folk-lore dragons. They don't usually have complicated patterns like stripes or patchy tortoiseshell-like bodies, but it is fairly common to see solid-colors, dragons with streak patterns, and dragons with clusters of spots and dots along their bodies, along with a few other miscellaneous patterns. Their eyes can be any color, although the royal families' eye colors specifically relate to their Suit of Cards.
One of the more passive traits of the Dragons of Cards are that they, much like alligators, can go for years on end without eating. The more they move, the more food they need to have enough energy.
Names among the Dragons of Cards are often kept as a secret to those who aren't friends or in a different close relationship to the dragon, purely because keeping a title is easier than remembering many names. It is strictly forbidden for the Kings and Queens to give out their real names to anyone of a different Suit, or to any of their own subjects besides their mate and children.
The ranks among dragons is dependent on what situation they were born into, and how they better themselves as they grow. They can climb ranks only when there is a Two, Ace, or King/Queen to raise their rank in the documents of the Suit. The dragons take on these rank titles as a second-name, the name they introduce themselves as unless they feel close to someone, and feel as if they can trust that dragon with their real name. The dragons in a Suit's primary and most-used name is given the first word as the rank that they are, followed by "of" and then their Suit's name. As such, most dragons will be called something like "Jack of Spades", "Ace of Clubs", "Six of Diamonds", "Two of Hearts", etc. Most dragons will shorten these titles to the first word when they are talking to someone of their own Suit. For example, Jack, Ace, King, Queen, Two, etc. Since there are many dragons of most of the ranks, the dragons often identify each other by distinguishing marks another has, or smell in the Suit of Hearts.
The ranks, from highest class to lowest class, are marked below:
Ranks
King + Queen: Ranks inherited by bloodline, or through marriage. The Kings and Queens have the final say in what goes down in their Suit, and are the main boss in charge of everyone there. The princes and princesses are not an official rank in the list, as they hold no real power since they are considered to still be learning. Rather than be called the King or Queen of a Suit, dragons simply refer to heirs by replacing the word "King" or "Queen" with "Prince" or "Princess". Example, Prince of Hearts, Princess of Spades, etc.
Jack: This rank is not far under the King and Queen of a Suit, solely because the Jack, or Joker, as some call it, is usually the Court Jester rather than just a silly member of society, and is known to sometimes offer suggestions to the King or Queen's decisions, although most only hold this place in society because they have the Queen or King's favor. The Jack of a Suit is only one dragon at once, meaning that if one Jack is still young and humorous, no other will exist in that Suit. Jacks are chosen by the King and Queen, and are usually picked based of how entertaining they are, and some will be picked for their wit instead of raw visual gags. Jacks have been royal blood before, usually Princes or Princesses of a Suit that wasn't able to fulfill their duties, but did take an interest in comedy.
Ace: This rank is perceived as equivalent to dukes or duchesses in other worlds, and Aces of note hold the power to influence the Kings and Queens if that monarch will listen to them or take their ideas into consideration. The Aces are the ones that get set up in place of a monarch if the Queen and King need to leave for a while, die, or are otherwise unable to continue their duties without an heir. The Aces hold a great deal of power over all of the other cards beneath them, and are usually seen as a sub-leader of large cities in a Suit, and are commonly believed to all hold some blood connection to the King or Queen of their Suit.
Two: Also known as Deuce(s), the Twos hold a position under the Aces, and are often rich and born into families that have power over companies or trade routes. Although they can't change official decisions in a city, the Deuces are known to befriend Aces in order to have a say in what goes down. The Deuce Dragons are seen as the counts and countesses of the Cards' world, and usually have control over lesser cities.
Three: Also called the Trey(s), the Threes are certainly not as powerful as the monarchs, the Aces, or the Deuces, and instead count as a middle-high ground between the ranks below them and the ranks above. This rank is often given to sons or daughters of Twos or Aces, and their opinion is deemed more important to the Kings and Queens than the ranks of Four and above are. Treys are often given titles of land purely because of their bloodline, rather than an important act, like the Fours need to do to become a Four.
Four: The Fours are just slightly above the middle-ground of the Cards, and have the nickname of the Broken Aces from those more disrespectful. The Fours are dragons of great note, who have either served well in the army or done some deed that gained a lot of positive attention. Because of this, most Fours are in their older stage of life. However, this is a very well-received rank, specifically because they need to have done something worth the monarchs' attention to climb to the Fourth rank. Fours, once they've received the rank, are often given a deed to a part of land in the Suits' territory, can set up their own city within the Suit, and are often the way the capital has warning of what's going on outside the major cities.
Five: Five is a rank earned by those who are a part of the army, or are a guard, and this is the only way to gain the rank of a Five. There's many, many Fives in every city and every Suit, and they serve in every war, border skirmish, or invasion. Fives have all the rights of knights and guards, two words that are usually scrapped when referring to the rank, since Five serves just as well.
Six: Whereas Eights are primarily hunters and scavengers, Sixes are usually healers, and respected quite a bit simply for the fact that other dragons want to be healed. Sixes have a good deal of income that keeps a shelter over their head and keep themselves fed if they don't have time to go and hunt. Sixes have a reputation for having flings with Fives, but, regardless of the distasteful reputation some bitter dragons give them, they are still one of the more respected in the lower ranks, and one of the more important, since they heal sick and injured dragons. In the Heart Suit, these Sixes have the nickname of "Grace's Card"
Seven: Lucky Seven, The Sevens are dragons who hold a respectable job, family, and place in the world. They are quite loyal by repute, and they usually have control over a business of some kind, and are the ones that get spoken to when the Aces see a problem in the way something is being run. Good money can be seen in this rank, and it's unlikely for a Seven to become bankrupt. In the Diamond Suit, these cards have the nickname of the Beer Cards, in light of their wealth and opportunity to have parties and the like.
Eight: This rank tends to be well-off enough not to have to worry about money overly much. They are usually part-time hunters, or Sevens can be seen making their own way in life as self-employed traders or hunters, although many simply work under Sevens' in already-established businesses. Eights frequently work with Sevens, and Eights are seen as respectable members of society, but not a rank of high note.
Nine: Nines are dragons that do have financial problems and trouble making ends meet, but still manage to earn enough to avoid being homeless, and capable of affording already-made food, if they are unable to hunt for themselves. They are the lower-ranked dragons in cities, and often looked down upon or mocked by more pretentious individuals.
Ten: Tens are considered to be one of the lowest kinds of dragons. These dragons are ones that have had a bad hand dealt to them, and survive by scrapping plants to the Sixes or scavenging for things to hunt in the land outside the cities. More often than not, these dragons are too frail to be able to hunt well enough to make enough money off selling deer meat, or they can't find land that isn't already claimed by Eights. Tens are a rank above Coat-Tails because they haven't resorted to thievery or other traitorous acts, but they do have to beg for some food or scavenge it for themselves. Tens, to avoid the torment and mockery of other city-dwellers, often move out to live in the land outside the cities, where they rely on themselves for resources. This ends well for many, but horrible for the rest.
Down Card: Down Cards, or Downs, are dragons that were born outside of a Suit. This is incredibly uncommon, but some Coat-Tails will have children before they get killed. Down Cards usually possess some knowledge of the Suits, but the Downs are disliked and scorned, as they are seen as feral, uncivilized, or simply known as the children of Coat-Tails. Downs that show interest in the Suits can be accepted into one, always starting at the rank of Nine, although most usually slip to the rank of Ten thanks to their lack of understanding. However, if they don't show interest and instead only run away, it's common for the Suits to send Fives out to kill the Downs so they aren't a threat to food supplies or dragons of the Suit.
Coat-Tails: Coat-Tails, sometimes shortened to Tails, are the most loathed rank, and there is never a dragon that will be called "Coat-Tail of [Suit]", as the Coat-Tails are banished from all of the Suits for whatever traitorous act they were caught doing. Coat-Tails are, most commonly, thieves, although they tend to become Coat-Tails only if they were caught stealing something highly important that deserved punishment worse than time in the prison. Aside from thievery, Coat-Tails could also become that rank by disobeying any important law in the Suits(disobeying direct orders from an Ace/Deuce/Trey/or Four, thievery, attempted murder)They are not respected at all and Fives are allowed to kill a Coat-Tail if it sees one. Coat-Tails often possess two scars along the front of their face, which are made by the Fives or King and Queen if a Coat-Tail is physically caught before being banished from the Suits. This scar serves as a way for the other Suits to recognize it as not a wild-born dragon, but, rather, a Coat-Tail.
There are two ranks that stands out from the rest, and aren't a part of the regular ranking system. Both are considered to be incredibly powerful, but could be seen as the main leaders of the Suits, since they have such control over them.
Wild Card: Only one dragon at a time is the Wild Card, or, as it is alternatively known, the Dealer, thanks to the name the current Dealer has dubbed himself for ages. The dragon that the Dealer is is definitely not a normal one, as no dragon would have eight legs and seem like such an amalgamation of the Suits. This rank seems to be outside of normal rules of the world, as the current one seems unaffected by age, and seems to be able to guess what the Suits are doing at any given time. The Dealer, or Wild Card, has no Suit, and follows no laws that the Suits are aware of. He always carries a deck of cards with him, always shuffling, and those cards are what he uses to change things. Near everybody holds a deep loathing for the Dealer.
Although he only shows up on every few decades, Dealer's cards give him the power to change luck, an all-too-real variable in this world. Every time the Dealer shoes up to a new area or Suit, he tends to wait until he can meet with a monarch, and then join them in a game of cards, a game modeled after the Suits of Dragons themselves. The winner of the game influences how the luck will change: if the monarch wins, the card the Dealer draws from his own deck seems to be positive more often than not, but if the Dealer wins, it's his call, and he favors the unlucky cards purely for entertainment value. It would seem easy to turn him away, but the Wild Card doesn't much care for that, and he is perfectly capable of drawing a card to change luck regardless of whether or not he's gotten to play a game with a monarch. When he's not challenged, it seems to be a 50/50 shot whether or not the card drawn influences the luck of the Suit positively or negatively. For that reason, having the monarchs play him in a game is seen as a gamble. Then again, that's what Dealer thinks the world is: just a big game of gambling.
The Players: Thirteen dragons can hold this rank at a time, but more often there seems to be only five. Similar to the Wild Card, they are an amalgamation of the Suits, and their bodies don't always hold by the rules of the normal dragons; the reason for Players that have had hooves in place of claws, fur, Players with sandpaper-like scales or Players with other irregular parts of their body that isn't a regular part of the Suits. The Players are less well-known than the Dealer, but still disliked. While the Dealer is the leader of the Players and takes up a role as the indirect boss of the Suits, the Players take up a position as a sort of court, that makes more serious decisions than the Dealer is capable of making. They keep an eye on the balance of the biomes and the monarchs, and have been known to use essence of the Dealers' cards to change their shape temporarily into a regular one of the Suits so that they can go down and, well, play the game, as it were. They don't have the power to change luck, but they do have the power to take up a role in a Suit for a few decades at a shot, and change what happens if they have a high enough rank. Players have been killed in the past, but every time one is killed, another immediately takes that one's place in the Court of Cards.
Suits
Court of Cards
Details of the Court of Cards are minimal, and, in fact, is more of a conspiracy theory than something confirmed. The Court of Cards is where the Players and the Wild Card(or Dealer)are said to lurk. Descriptions of it range from Suit to Suit, with some saying it is a magnificent utopia where dragons go when the die, to others saying it is a series of tall, black, twisted structures with rooms at the top, but none daring to fly into the bottomless pit the twisted structures grow from, saying that it is so deep that any dragon would starve trying to go down into it. The Players have never confirmed nor denied any suspicions, but it is for sure that that is the place they go to discuss things with the Dealer, or prepare to change things when next they go back to the land the Suits own. Nobody is quite sure how to get to it, some say that they have tried and were chased off, and others claim that a relative tried but got killed and never returned. Either way, it is a place known only to the Court of Cards and the Dealer.
Dragons of the Club Suit
The Dragons of the Club Suit are often seen as gross or just generally unpleasant, simply because of the land they live in. These dragons are usually coated in swampy plants from being underwater, but, beneath the brackish muck covering them, they are very bright colors, usually blues, and tend to have white or black spots on their body, much like poisonous frogs. They are very slinky dragons, with shorter legs than the others, and leaving them resembling winged skinks or snakes more than a regular dragon. They have proportionately small wings that are not suited for flying long distances, at only 20 feet across to their more noodle-like body at 45 feet in length. These wings are set wider apart than usual, and the webbing connects and stops at the base of the tail instead of at the thigh, like most dragons. The webbing is sturdy and has its own tiny scales on it, to help protect it from thorns or insects or other things while the Dragons of Clubs are swimming. These are the only dragons that possess gills as well as lungs, able to breathe both air and water. This is useful thanks to the environment they live in, where both are very useful, and they have teeth that hook backwards at a sharp angle to keep fish unable to escape from their mouth.
The royal family of the Club Suit has one nickname for its queen, given after an ancient queen who was said to have restored life to the swamp the Dragons of Clubs live in after a horrible invasion from the Diamond Suit, where everything was burned to a crisp. This ancient queen is often referred to as the "Flower Queen", and that title has been applied to several other Queens of Clubs down the generations. The royal family has vibrant green as the main color of their body, with deep brown eyes the color of chestnuts, that most dragons find absolutely gorgeous.
The Dragons of Clubs are completely immune to drowning, and their fin-like wings help them swim in the deeper waters of their swampland. However, they do not live under the waters, as the waters are their primary source of food. Instead, the Dragons of Clubs make their homes in the tall trees that fill the bug-infested swamplands, and this is where their long, prehensile tails come into play. They are known to sleep curled up in branches, or dangling from their strong tails from sturdier branches, although having a branch snap and falling into the water in the middle of the night is not unheard of. Their scales resemble that of fish, capable of keeping rocks from scraping and harming them, and better suited to water. Their main source of food is fish, although they are the primary source of wood for the other Suits as well.
Dragons of the Diamond Suit
The Dragons of the Diamond Suit have a mixed reputation: the Heart and Spade Suits think of the Diamond Suit as being pretentious and too focused on beauty, while the Club Suit hails them as skittish dragons who simply love parties and dances. These dragons are the smallest dragons, at 20 feet in length with a wingspan of 38. The Diamond Dragons are known for their style of scales, which mimics facets in a gemstone, and seems to make them almost look as if they are made of layers of glass. They can shoot a blue fire from their mouth thrice a day, and have the strongest claws of the dragons, capable of digging through solid rock. These dragons have vibrant, intense colors that span through all of the colors of the rainbow and in between, although the color seen as the most beautiful is the red or blue hues. They possess a narrow ridge of webbing all down their head and neck, and are known to have wings like a fairy rather than the regular bat-style wings, and the arrangement of these dragonfly-like wings gives them the ability to hover in one place. Their wings are papery and shimmery, in a bit of contrast to their faceted, transparent scales. They can very easily hover in the air or cling to walls or roofs, thanks to their hooked, sturdy claws.
There is a nickname given to the King of Diamonds, one that hails back generations, to a great king who was said to have gone insane, and had an obsession with beheading traitors instead of simply banishing them to become Coat-Tails. This king has a mixed reputation in the current years, but it is common for the Diamond Suit to hail him as a great leader who simply took action, and for other Suits to see him as a crazy madman bent on chopping heads off. Either way, his most used weapon was a large ax, more capable of ripping off heads than just his claws or teeth would be, and his legacy has left a nickname for even the modern King of Diamonds to use: The Man with the Ax, a phrase used to refer to an opinionated king with no hesitations about fighting if he needed to. The royal family of the Diamond Suit are very proud of their personal coloration, varying between the many shades of vibrant reds with bright blue eyes and thin, smaller facets in their scales than most, making them shimmer like jewelry every time they move and give the effect of changing color, albeit slightly.
The Dragons of Diamonds are, much like the Spades, quite cold-resistant, although not as much as the Spades are, since the Diamonds possess fire to keep themselves warm. These dragons make their homes in the wide span of mountain ranges that goes on for thousands of miles. They are known to lurk deep inside of their caves and tunnels within their mountains, leaving the outer mountains very sparse and uninhabited, but a thriving underground world underneath, and, as such, live a very isolated life that makes them one of the more mysterious Suits. Their cities are connected with miniature crossroads-style tunnels up at the ceiling, along with many other paths to get out of the cities. It is for this reason that the Diamond Suit is the hardest to invade, since they are very aware of the paths that lead out and how to confuse dragons from other Suits that don't know where they're going. The Dragons of the Diamond Suit pride themselves in having easy access to many gemstones and precious metals, which they trade other Suits so they have enough food to feed their Suit's cities. The Diamond Dragons are often compared to shiny little spiders, as they are very quick and skittish when it comes to other Suits, although very showy in their own homes and underground kingdom.
They do not hunt as much as the other Suits, and instead supply the other Suits with metals for building or manufacturing tools, although the Diamond Dragons do tend to eat large bugs or rodents that wander into their tunnels. While they are hard to invade, they are easy to flush out of their tunnels if times are hard and none of the other Suits will provide them with food in a war.
Dragons of the Heart Suit
The Dragons of Hearts tend to have sharp spikes all down their neck and spine, with comparatively thin membranes on their wings, and possessing barbed, scorpion-like tips to their wiry tails. These barbs hold a sedative poison, and the full dose of that day's venom can knock an adult dragon unconscious for upwards of an hour, and even longer for younger dragons, and even make an Elder or Ancient drowsy. Although they also possess barbs on the tips of their wings' final joints, these barbs have no venom, and are instead only there for show and to scratch up attackers with their flailing wings. The Dragons of Hearts are immune to poisons, making their barbs useless against each other, and leaving poison out of the list of ways to murder a King or Queen.
Their King and Queens tend to possess more vibrant brown colors than the rest, although it is still the color of clay, with bright yellow eyes. The King and Queen of Hearts have no nicknames like some of the other Suits' ranks do, although, due to a historical King of Hearts from eons ago who supposedly stabbed himself to put his son into the rank so he would have a better right to marry a princess of another Suit, the King of Hearts in the current time is sometimes given the unpleasant nickname "Suicide King" by the other Suits.
The Dragons of Hearts are incredibly heat-resistant, and to help with that heat resistance, they have no scales at all, only skin capable of sweating to keep them cool when they're flying or hunting. These dragons are one of the few who don't mind getting on the ground instead of trees or the air, and are incredibly good at sneaking on the ground in the open, which has helped multiple invasions where dragons of other Suits are watching the sky and are too inexperienced to expect the Dragons of Hearts to come from the ground. They have a keen eyesight and vibration sense.
The Dragons of Hearts' bodies favor somewhat darker, more earthy reddish and orange hues that help them hide in the land they have control of, deep in a tree-less chaparral, where speed or stealth is key and they have room to spread their wings. They are the only omnivorous Suit of dragons, capable of eating root-plants that grow under the ground of the chaparral if they cannot find any of the larger mammals in the land, although these plants don't offer nearly enough energy to keep a dragon living solely off plants alone for more than a few decades. They will eat any large animal they can get their claws on, and many dragons in this Suit can feed themselves off a large herd of mule deer or horses, although a coyote will suffice for a lone dragon. They will also hunt flocks of birds during migrations, which can feed a city for ages if the hunt is done well enough, and enough birds are left to continue the flock after they get where they're going.
Their land spans from their favored and more inhabited chaparral to a heathland at the edges, which gives way, thousands of miles in any direction, to the Spade Suit's tundra on the east, the Club Suit's swamp on the west, and the Diamond Suit's mountain ranges at the south.
Dragons of the Spade Suit
The Dragons of Spades possess thicker scales than most, and have thick armored plates all along their neck, shoulders, back, and tails, with some moderately thinner plates along the backs of their wings, making those much harder to break through. They are the most sturdy Suit of dragons, growing to be nearly 37 feet in length with a wingspan of 58 feet, making them the largest Suit of dragons. They pride themselves in a square, sturdy jaw and a large sturdy body, with a layer of hollow scales over their regular ones to help keep them insulated. They possess only two sets of lightly curled horns on their head. These dragons are thickly-built and incredibly cold-tolerant, and have a reputation for being the big lazy ones. However, they are recognized reluctantly as the most capable in fights, and in survival in icy areas. These dragons have very pale coloration, more often than not. It tends to be cooler colors to shades of white, reaching from sunrise-pink, pale purple, to just plain old white.
Only a few nicknames are given to some of the ranks in the Dragons of the Spade Suit, but one of the most noteworthy ones is given after a pitch black Spade dragon, one of the former Queens. She is said to have wielded an iron fist when it came to wars, and be a wonderful leader. It is because of this former Queen's reputation that the Queen of Spades is sometimes called the Black Lady when they have earned their subjects respects. The royal family of the Spade Suit is noted for its beautiful pale lavender scales, with pinkish-white armor plates, made to resemble the sun reflecting off of snow in the morning. They also have the notable feature of white speckles on the underside of their wings, and sclera a shade of blue so dark that it appears black in most lighting, giving their eyes a marbly, solid black appearance.
The dragons in this Suit are noted to have a few tricks up their sleeves, thanks to their knowledge of the snow and ice. First and foremost, refrigeration has been figured out in the Spades' land; the dragons in this Suit will bury food in underground reservoirs, and cover it back up with dirt so that they can access it again when they start running out in a city. They also know a few tricks for staying warm, including huddling, tunneling into snows to avoid the wind and stay insulated, and a few others.
The Dragons of Spades, as previously mentioned, are incredibly cold-resistant. The polar opposite to the Dragons of Hearts, the Spades live in a tundra with icy cold air with very little trees. It is for this reason that their wings are so large, in order to be able to carry them longer distances without breaks, since they don't like having to wait on the ground. This Suit can last the longest without food, and are known to be very slow moving, although they can hang in the air for hours, waiting for a sizeable prey to come by. Reindeer are the most common prey for the Spades, since they are so plentiful, but polar bears, eagles, goats, caribou, ox, bobcats, or other large mammals are also preyed upon by the Dragons of the Spade Suit.