Ryuuki

Ryuuki are like small dragons. They are larger than a phoenix, but not as large by any means as a fire dragon; about ten feet high at the shoulder, and 35 feet from nose to tail. Their build is a bit catlike and as a result, they tend to be more agile and faster both in flight and on land. They can travel on the ground as easily as in the air, with hind legs strong enough to let them stand comfortably upright as well. They are scaled in summer and have thick, soft fur in winter. The hatchlings break shell furred no matter what time of year and will not know what true color they will be till the next warm season when the scales form over the underfur because in some rare cases, the summer scales are a different color than the winter fur. Common ryuuki come in any combination of colors. They have the sharp teeth of a predator and can breathe concentrated blasts of frigid wind like the dragons do fire.

The royals can be male or female, they all have either white or black winter fur that will sometimes change from from white to black, and back again between seasons and the scales are metallic in color whether silver, gold, pewter, copper... The strange color switches of the fur of royals is attributed to the genetic changes made to the species thought to perhaps alter the hormone release of the royals at random, bringing about a rather interesting side-effect.

Ryuuki have the same mating habits as the fire dragons, mating flights, only the ryuuki flights tend to be at higher speeds. The royal vs. common clutches are the same as for pheonixi. The clutches for common ryuuki are usually only up to about four eggs; for a royal it can be up to fifteen and in rare cases, more. Names end in "TH".