This is… not strictly a biology headcanon, but I figure it’s close enough to fit, insofar as it’s a headcanon about a species culture and traditions?
Warning –
looong post ahead.
Anyway: I quite like the idea of dragons being very good at advanced, complex metalsmithing. There are two reasons I like this headcanon – one, it would give them an unambiguously positive cultural characteristic (since as it stands now, their identity revolves around being aggressive, hoarding treasure, being hostile to other races and living in caves, which is… not terribly flattering), and two, the variety of armor the teenaged dragons were wearing in “Gauntlet of Fire”.
Their suits of armor are all very complex, highly distinctive and unique (and between that and their already wildly diverse anatomies, they all seem to be custom made) and by all appearances quite sturdy and effective. This doesn’t seem to be the kind of stuff that the dragons can obtain by raiding other species and hoping they’ll happen to have armor that will fit the dragons’ current size and shape and will also be able to withstand the kind of punishment that would make a dragon feel the need to wear full plate armor, and the dragons don’t seem like the types to give up their wealth even for trade, so to me the most logical conclusion is that they made their armor themselves. The only major question after that is whether there are specialist armorers among the dragons who make this stuff, or whether each dragon makes his or her own armor for personal use.
So, here’s how I see it happening:
While raiding and plundering is naturally enough a big part of how dragons expand their hoards, they also do a lot of individual mining and foraging for gems and metals – this was how they did things in their world’s prehistory, and the highly volcanic areas they live in are rich enough in these materials to still make it a worthwhile method. In pursuit of gold and silver and gems, they also unearth baser metals like copper, tin and iron, and they also acquire this material in their raids, as most people are going to own more in the way of iron, copper or bronze tools, objects, armor and weapons than gold, silver and gemstones. While they habitually toss a lot of this “chaff” out, dragons will also keep a good deal of it and store it in their lairs. Unlike the materials destined for their hoards, this stuff is gathered for a more practical purpose.
Dragons lead habitually very dangerous lives. There’s not a whole lot that can genuinely threaten a mature or older dragon, but they seem to go out of their way to find such things – other dragons in fights over territory, food and treasure, the defenders of the civilizations they take their wealth from, the extremes of temperatures and the elements in the places where they make their lairs, the highly dangerous fauna of the dragon lands, that sort of thing. As a result, proud of their strength though they are, dragons are aware that extra physical protection can be a very good thing – hence the armor.
Dragons prove to be naturally suited for blacksmithing. Their fiery breath provides them with flames hotter than all but a very few forges, and ones much easier to modulate and control. Their fireproof scales mean they can handle glowing metal directly and with little or no protection, and often they just beat and fold the metal with their bare fists and claws. Their raiding and prospecting means they rarely want for raw materials when they decide to forge a new suit of armor, although of course they often find themselves short of this or that component they need to make that extra plate or get an alloy like they want it and have to go and get some (which has on a number of occasions resulted in the rather odd situation of a dragon storming a town and making off with every pot, pan, knife and spoon it could carry, while leaving the valuables…
mostly untouched).
Between their long lives and the fact that dragon culture goes back a very long time, the dragons have built up a fairly substantial store of metallurgical knowledge, mostly developed through trial and error and passed down from parent to hatchling. The actual details in technique vary from dragon to dragon and from family to family – dragons guard their secrets as jealously as they do their treasure – but overall dragon metal crafts compare very favorably to the best of what most other cultures have to offer, including extremely advanced knowledge of alloys, folding techniques and specific methods of firing and forging.
This knowledge, it should be noted, is largely confined to armorsmithing. The dragons don’t make particualrly extensive use of tools, have a limited appreciation for purely aesthetic objects, and they’ve never had any need for weapons beyond their brute strength, teeth, fire and claws.
Now, while most dragons make their own armor for personal use – as I said, most dragons not terribly given on giving out their wealth for any reason, and they don’t like others getting their claws on their stuff – there are, as in any other craft, experts and specialists. Some dragons have had reason or interest to further their skill in smithing over their very long lives. These rare individuals become absolute masters of their craft, producing some of the very best metalwork in the world, stuff of high enough quality to make other dragons willingly fork over their own gems and gold (or someone’s gems and gold, at least) for a set of custom armor.
In the present of the show, this is largely not known to the rest of the world beyond generalities and individuals’ hunches and experiences. I like to imagine that over time, however, as communication between the various species improves, dragon metal crafts (besides becoming more varied, as dragons start to value things beyond fighting and sustenance living) will come in very high demand in the rest of the world, especially once enough dragons develop an… appreciation… for the market economy. Capitalist dragons. The markets are in for it, I tell you…
