Actually setting up a subspecies seems like too much work for too little interest, but I was trying to write lore and I came up with an idea I'd like to share.
The Sea of a Thousand Currents is godless right now, meaning I presume all bordering flights are trying to get a piece of the realm. Plague doesn't share a border with Lightning, but - it's a lot easier to cross the sea than it used to be, and because of Plague's mutagenic properties, there's tons of rare ore in the Scarred Wasteland that can't be found anywhere else. (I think this is canon, but it might just be somebody's lore that I picked up.)
Not many Lightning dragons would want to set foot into the Scarred Wasteland, for obvious reasons, but they would build contraptions to send over and mine, with maybe a few overseers controlling them from the border regions. Or those operators might be couched as ambassadors, where they can work for months undetected.
If they're sending machines, you want a plague that corrodes them into disuse. If they're sending dragons... Plague is good at handling dragons. But that only cuts off the problem as it arrives. Destroy machines and they'll send more - if you sicken a dragon with any kind of clan loyalty, they won't return back home with your disease. If a clever and powerful Plague dragon wanted to cut off the problem at its source...
The plague I'm envisioning is harmless to dragons unless they have Metallic/Alloy scales. That will probably eat their skin off, and there's a sub-subspecies for you, but the idea is something that grows stronger with time, long enough for dragons to leave the Wasteland thinking they're clean, and something that never adversely affects the dragon themselves - so they don't realize anything's wrong with them until they reach their workstations back in the Shifting Expanse. The perfect kind of enemy mine.
Basically, the infected dragon sheds spores/oils/secretions that corrode certain elements and alloys, especially copper, bronze, aluminum, and steel. It's strongest in the lungs and the joints above the claws; anything they work on will rust and fall apart within a matter of days. As the disease progresses, the concentration and potency of the shed increases, to the point where any machinery near them will deteriorate within hours. These dragons must be relegated to full protective suiting and quarantine-grade oxygen tanks in order to continue working - more often, it's easier to chase them away, where they wander seeking shelter and bringing ruin to other Lightning clans. Some can find homes if they leave the territory*, but Lightning's pretty eager to get rid of them. It's like Steve, but worse. Well... no, that's crazy talk, but almost as bad?
*Arcane, Wind, and Ice dragons care the least about the disease, and might see an influx of these dragons seeking safe harbor. Nature is the least affected, but wary of allowing Plague-touched dragons within the Labyrinth in case they contain more surprises from their old enemies. They do, however, take these refugees - which is probably a huge culture shock to the Lightning dragons, but the alloy-decay is near-entirely harmless in Nature's glens and they can live very happily there. Light may have a means to counter the disease, but they aren't keen on letting metal-destroyers near their excavation sites. Earth feels the same way, though there are cases where a dragon that destroys metal deposits but leaves organic materials untouched can be useful. One of these guys could pair well with a geomancer for precision-extracting fossils. They might even be able to destroy impurities within gemstones by corroding the metals that cause them.
But the fun one I'm thinking is that particularly patriotic Lightning dragons, even after being banished, migrate to the Ashfall Wastes to comingle with their rival Fire dragons. Put one of these guys near a smelter and not only do you have some ruined equipment, but the ore you were refining is riddled with impurities. Dragons that learn to use the disease can slash through armor or intentionally contaminate a source by manipulating the glands above their claws, and this can be used to great effect against anyone reliant on metals.
Walking back a step - the disease doesn't jump from dragon to dragon (unless you like the idea that it does), but it can be passed down to offspring, if unreliably. And Plague saboteurs are known to sneak into the Shifting Expanse to spread it directly.
I say subspecies because this plague would be widespread and pretty uniform in its effects, but I'm not even sure what colors or genes would be involved here. Firefly, Crackle, Circuit? It's mostly just a fun lore idea I thought I'd share. Maybe somebody would be inspired to use it with a Plague or Lightning dragon in their lair.
The Sea of a Thousand Currents is godless right now, meaning I presume all bordering flights are trying to get a piece of the realm. Plague doesn't share a border with Lightning, but - it's a lot easier to cross the sea than it used to be, and because of Plague's mutagenic properties, there's tons of rare ore in the Scarred Wasteland that can't be found anywhere else. (I think this is canon, but it might just be somebody's lore that I picked up.)
Not many Lightning dragons would want to set foot into the Scarred Wasteland, for obvious reasons, but they would build contraptions to send over and mine, with maybe a few overseers controlling them from the border regions. Or those operators might be couched as ambassadors, where they can work for months undetected.
If they're sending machines, you want a plague that corrodes them into disuse. If they're sending dragons... Plague is good at handling dragons. But that only cuts off the problem as it arrives. Destroy machines and they'll send more - if you sicken a dragon with any kind of clan loyalty, they won't return back home with your disease. If a clever and powerful Plague dragon wanted to cut off the problem at its source...
The plague I'm envisioning is harmless to dragons unless they have Metallic/Alloy scales. That will probably eat their skin off, and there's a sub-subspecies for you, but the idea is something that grows stronger with time, long enough for dragons to leave the Wasteland thinking they're clean, and something that never adversely affects the dragon themselves - so they don't realize anything's wrong with them until they reach their workstations back in the Shifting Expanse. The perfect kind of enemy mine.
Basically, the infected dragon sheds spores/oils/secretions that corrode certain elements and alloys, especially copper, bronze, aluminum, and steel. It's strongest in the lungs and the joints above the claws; anything they work on will rust and fall apart within a matter of days. As the disease progresses, the concentration and potency of the shed increases, to the point where any machinery near them will deteriorate within hours. These dragons must be relegated to full protective suiting and quarantine-grade oxygen tanks in order to continue working - more often, it's easier to chase them away, where they wander seeking shelter and bringing ruin to other Lightning clans. Some can find homes if they leave the territory*, but Lightning's pretty eager to get rid of them. It's like Steve, but worse. Well... no, that's crazy talk, but almost as bad?
*Arcane, Wind, and Ice dragons care the least about the disease, and might see an influx of these dragons seeking safe harbor. Nature is the least affected, but wary of allowing Plague-touched dragons within the Labyrinth in case they contain more surprises from their old enemies. They do, however, take these refugees - which is probably a huge culture shock to the Lightning dragons, but the alloy-decay is near-entirely harmless in Nature's glens and they can live very happily there. Light may have a means to counter the disease, but they aren't keen on letting metal-destroyers near their excavation sites. Earth feels the same way, though there are cases where a dragon that destroys metal deposits but leaves organic materials untouched can be useful. One of these guys could pair well with a geomancer for precision-extracting fossils. They might even be able to destroy impurities within gemstones by corroding the metals that cause them.
But the fun one I'm thinking is that particularly patriotic Lightning dragons, even after being banished, migrate to the Ashfall Wastes to comingle with their rival Fire dragons. Put one of these guys near a smelter and not only do you have some ruined equipment, but the ore you were refining is riddled with impurities. Dragons that learn to use the disease can slash through armor or intentionally contaminate a source by manipulating the glands above their claws, and this can be used to great effect against anyone reliant on metals.
Walking back a step - the disease doesn't jump from dragon to dragon (unless you like the idea that it does), but it can be passed down to offspring, if unreliably. And Plague saboteurs are known to sneak into the Shifting Expanse to spread it directly.
I say subspecies because this plague would be widespread and pretty uniform in its effects, but I'm not even sure what colors or genes would be involved here. Firefly, Crackle, Circuit? It's mostly just a fun lore idea I thought I'd share. Maybe somebody would be inspired to use it with a Plague or Lightning dragon in their lair.
