Native Habitat & Migration Patterns

There are several (hundred) types of living things that make their homes in the Reef. There are the well-known, the hidden gems, those that are severely lacking in casting & energy storage abilities and those that could best any who dared to challenge them to combat. Many of these are dependent on the deep-sea giant, the anglerfish himself, for light and shelter, but others, such as the focus of this article, are not. Which species will this article be focusing on? Why, none other than the semi-aquatic reef dragon, of course! 

Although they do not reside exclusively in the Reef under the Bay, it is their primary and native ecosystem, and, if they do not tread carefully when moving, they can easily wreak havoc on the delicate balance in play everywhere else. Some locations have proved able to support them easily, however, such as the lakes in the great [] islands, the hot springs in and around the adamantine volcano, and of course the specifically-designed aquariums in the City for those who don’t mind modeling for the art students of [] in exchange. 

These locations specifically have the perfect balance of heat, large stretches of deep water, and high ambient magic that allow them to thrive without needing to take in a disproportionate amount of magic to keep their energy up. Taking in too much magic from the surrounding ambience in rapid succession can lead to the draining of the ecosystem too quickly to be sustainable for anything else to live. Although some may choose to live outside of these regions, it is significantly more expensive for them, as they must keep on hand a large amount of high-energy and magic-rich foods so that they do not need to drain the ambient magic to sustain themselves. 

The Bay

The bay, as previously mentioned, is the environment that reef dragons are perfectly suited to live in, as it is their native habitat. It has plenty of ambient magic for them, as well as the concentrated magic in the coral that they eat. The temperature fluctuations are slow and mild, they get plenty of space to roam and make homes for themselves, and no shortage of materials to use for it, either. 

Although, as it has become a much more popular tourist attraction in recent years, much of the reef dragon population has chosen to move away, unnerved by the constant activity and lack of simple privacy. The remaining reef dragons have been struggling to keep the coral from growing out of control with the sudden population loss, and selling pieces of it as souvenirs has become an increasingly popular and common practice among them as an easy way to keep the coral from growing out of control and an easy way to make a quick june.

When questioned as to why they decided not to move away from the bay with so many others, most reef dragons replied with answers along the lines of either that it was their home and they couldn’t leave it, that someone has to keep the coral under control, or that the tourism doesn’t really bother them enough to uproot their entire life over it. More than a few also mentioned having lost sentimental possessions after burying them in the sand floor of the bay, and needing to find them again before they could even consider leaving.

When all is said and done, the bay is truly the best-suited place for reef dragons to live, and it’s a shame so many of them had to leave their homes behind due to simple tourist insensitivity. Ultimately, however, it is unlikely that those who left would be willing to return in the future unless major changes are made to restrict tourist visiting hours and noise regulation.

However, while it is their native habitat, the bay is certainly not the only place where reef dragons live. 

Migration

Once an individual reef dragon  reaches a specific milestone in their life (it is not known exactly how this milestone is defined) they may reach a point where they need to leave the reef. Depending on the individual, some may choose to remain in the bay (although in a deeper part of it), but many choose to leave the continent altogether and strike out on their own into the ocean. These dragons rarely return to the continent, frequently becoming too large to return safely or losing track of it after leaving and never finding it again. (This particular problem has been encountered by many who choose to leave the continent, although thankfully most of them are able to return safely with the use of teleportation or warping.)

[more information to be recorded at a later time]

Other Places on the Continent

 The Greater [] Islands

Specifically, the greater [] islands and the hot springs of the adamantine volcanic region are the best suited for reef dragons to make their homes if they cannot do so in the bay. The greater [] islands are actually located just above the bay, and have a multitude of both isolated-suspended and standard floating bodies of water for them to choose from. The upsides of this are that functionally, it’s similar to moving next door- nobody expects you to still be so close by after moving, and if you had problems with people knowing where you live, they may essentially vanish overnight. 

However, it’s much more isolated compared to the bay- most families get whatever lake or pond they choose all to themselves and have to fly to another island to visit with another family. It’s also a bit chillier and prone to unexpected gryphons with the high altitude and the fact that the [] islands are the native home of the greater gryphon species, although most of those who chose to move to the islands agree that it’s not as bad as the constant tourists, since technically, both the gryphons and themselves are now locals of the islands.

There’s not that same abundance of magic-rich coral to eat, but there’s much higher ambient magic due to the nature of the islands- although drawing too heavily from those stores can be quite risky if you’re attached to your current altitude!

Ultimately, it’s a similar habitat to what a reef dragon might be accustomed to if they previously lived in the bay, but not quite the same in a handful of small (and not-so-small) ways.

Adamantine Volcanic Region

The adamantine volcanic region, on the other hand, is a different story entirely. It’s much warmer there than in the bay, but it’s also a lot more enclosed. The hot springs are not simply isolated and heated pools, as reef dragons have discovered upon moving into them recently, but a maze of connected dormant lava tunnels. 

Getting into this system of tunnels is not something most visitors think to try, or really could even hope to accomplish- most entrances are blocked off simply by being too deep to swim to unless you’re aquatic or have something prepared to aid you in advance. The rest are usually blocked off with weak barriers and signage or the entrances have caved in too much to be able to enter without the small stature of a reef dragon. 

About three quarters of these tunnels are flooded and entirely without external light, uninhabited by anything except for hydrothermal bacteria, which are much too preoccupied with clinging to the heated walls to do any harm to the reef dragons passing through, whose internal temperature could not hope to compete- after all, they are one of the fireless dragon species. 

Apparently, however, living underground in the flooded tunnels isn’t a half bad way to live, if you’re not a huge fan of flying. It’s never chilly, there are no terrestrial species coming down to take tours or selfies, and there’s never any lack of visibility- the bacteria stick to the walls, the waste has long since become a part of the floor, and making your own light is hardly any hassle. 

Really, the only issue is finding food. Some dragons have begun trying to grow microplanktons for consumption, some brought along a chunk of coral that can easily sustain them, others do frequent trips to the surface to scavenge and store foods that can’t be submerged, and a rare few have given up on food entirely, relying on the heavy amounts of ambient magic to keep their bodies running smoothly. 

Trying to subsist solely on magic is not something that could have worked in the bay- there’s not enough of it to go around for that- but apparently it’s not working out too poorly for the few dragons trying it now, in the much less densely populated tunnels.

One even asserted that it could be sustainable far into the future, when the population is much greater, given the self-gravitating nature of magic: more dragons relying on magic consumption won’t drain the ambient magic, but multiply it once a certain threshold is reached. How well that hypothesis will hold up can only be told with time, but there’s not much opposition to the theory at present.

Individual Instances of Living

Not everyone moved to one of these popularized locations en masse. In fact, nearly quarter of the dragons who left the bay didn’t go to the [] islands or the adamantine volcanic tunnels. They didn’t all centralize in some third location- a handful settled into art schools for modeling or educational aquariums as live-in ecosystem managers, and most of the rest simply made a home by a large, otherwise-unoccupied river or pond. 

One notable exception is the famously-displaced Faith Grayson, who has been searching for any extended family members for nearly eight years. Faith joined the traveling guild Crystal’s Company (not a formally-recognized guild by the office of adventuring party regulation) and was a major participant in the battle that took place while defending the mages who were sewing shut the tear in reality. 

She later claimed, along with many other members of the guild, that Shard had tampered with her memories and forced her to forget her origins. What, exactly, these origins are has not been revealed to the public, although she has stated that, due to her part in the battle against the Dark Void dwellers, she will not be able to return. The fact that this implies that she came from the Dark Void or needs to travel safely through it to return to her home is something she has not given any comment or statement on.

The other notable exception is Blue Limelight, who famously crashed the Gathering of the Reef Dragons and hijacked the stage and sound system to insult everyone who had gathered there and claimed to be moving to the bay to spite them (although he did not specify at that time where he had lived before, and until recently his claims had gone entirely unverified). 

Blue is now known to have been living in the Light Void for most of his childhood up until that point, and had in fact been searching for his cousin, Faith, who he believed would not be among those leaving the bay because of tourism. Whether or not Faith is the same Faith as the famous Faith Grayson is something that both of them have given contradictory statements on (Faith denied it, while Blue stated that she was).

Celebrity Culture

Prior to Faith and Blue becoming widely-known individuals, the only reef dragon celebrities tended to be powerful historical mages and influential community figures. However, due to the sudden rise to fame the both of them experienced, much more attention has been directed towards reef dragons, both in pop culture and in the challenges they are currently facing. The overrunning of their native habitat with tourists of other species and keeping the fast-growing coral from wreaking havoc on the rest of the continent with lowered numbers to fight it down have both been getting much more attention from the general public as of late.

[more on celebrity culture here later]

Relation to Other Ecosystems

Reef dragons are the smallest and least physically threatening of the dragon subspecies, but the most magically powerful. They are the farthest removed from the Standard Western Dragon of any of their relatives, and might even be more closely related to Eastern Dragons, despite their dissimilar body structure.

They may need unusually specific environmental criteria to be met before they can thrive in monospecies communities, but when they congregate, they are one of the most social species and the communities they form are easily one of the most interconnected and long-lasting due to the strength of those connections and social bonds. 

Most reef dragons choose not to live in mostly-monospecies communities of other types of dragons, but it is not unheard of. It is more common, however, for them to cohabitate with feline species or phoenix roosts. They are a common sight in places with a great variety of species, except for the City, which tends to be too big for them to feel comfortable in.

Reef dragons almost never live in the forest, unless there is a sizable lake somewhere in it. Preferably one that was initially formed as a sort of colossal tide pool as ocean levels sank, and thus has the same salination as what you might find in the ocean or the bay. It is theorized that reef dragons may be the reason why coral reefs forming in large, landlocked lakes historically was not seen as unusual or even uncommon.

Today, many of these localized coral reefs are still alive and thriving, although much slower-growing than the coral found in the Reef in Blunder’s Bay. They are also not nearly as magic-rich or saturated as the coral from the bay, although that is likely due to the lack of suffocating ambient magic from a centuries-old being who is a member of a possibly otherwise-extinct species to draw from.

In Conclusion

Overall, the unique balance of the reef’s ecosystem is not something to be trifled with, and yet trifled with it was. We can only hope that the most vital species in the ecosystem will return to resume regulating it and stop the native flora from spiraling out of control and wreaking havoc on other delicately-balanced ecosystems in turn.

Ultimately, however, all that can be done is reducing the amount of tourist activity and noise pollution in the area and hoping that they will return. They may not have any obligation to do so, but without them, their home will fall into disrepair in a matter of decades. And no one wants to see that happen to a place as beautiful and loved as the reef.